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russian invasion of ukraine would look like from america's top military leaders. the january 6th committee issuing new subpoenas focused on trump's fake elector plot. and then later on this hour, a tennessee school board bans one of the most celebrated books about the holocaust in history. why they claim that they're doing it. we want to begin, though, with what could be a historic, mind-blowing blizzard. if you spent any time outside this morning, dumping snow, knocking out power, causing major travel issues all up and down the northeast. airports in new york, new jersey, specifically, canceling more than 2,000 flights. and then in manhattan, public transportation facing systemwide delays as well. both states as well as connecticut remaining in a state of emergency as the storm is making its way through, but nowhere has been hit quite as hard as massachusetts where more than 117,000 residents so far,

and that number continuing to climb, losing power and more than 2 feet of snow is expected to fall and is still coming down as we speak. we have a team of reporters stationed across the northeast to give us the very latest on that but we want to begin with nbc's chris pollone, who's in boston for us, where the heart of this thing is just coming through, chris, and we're hearing, obviously, in massachusetts, as i mentioned, these massive power outages, more so than anywhere else in the new england area. what are you seeing so far? what are you experiencing there on the ground? >> reporter: yasmin, it's been snowing here since about midnight, and just as forecasters predicted, right around 10:00 in the morning, this really kicked into high gear. i didn't think it had it, and then it did. it just really started dumping snow, and we started seeing these incredibly high wind gusts. to the south of us, down on the south shore, places like cape cod, they saw wind gusts of 99

miles an hour, hurricane force wind gusts, and that started to move here into the boston area. you've got heavy blowing snow, at times snowing 2 to 4 inches an hour in just, you know, the last couple of hours, we've gained a ton of snow here on the ground. it's hard to tell exactly how much snow because of all the wind. there's a lot of drifting, a lot of blowing, and that's hampering clean-up, as you might imagine. for the most part, it appears that people are heeding the warnings. public officials here, the governor, the mayor have said it's a saturday, please stay home. don't go on the roads. if you do, it's going to be whiteout conditions and be incredibly dangerous. we've heard of some spinouts and some accidents on route 24, route 93 around here, but for the most part, in the city of boston, i see any people who are out are just walking around. there were some people playing with their kids in christopher columbus park here behind me on their sleds but for the most part, people seem to be staying inside, staying off the roads, and allowing the plows and the

clean-up crews to do what they can, but like i said, it's a futile effort as the snow continues to dump here on the city of boston, upwards of 2 feet, maybe up to 30 inches in some isolated areas here in eastern massachusetts. and as you said, those power outages are probably the biggest concern right now, more than 100,000 people without power, because the temperature today has dropped from about 32 now down to the upper teens, 17, 18 degrees, and that will continue to go down as the night continues. yasmin? >> yeah, really troubling for those 100,000-plus folks without power right now. thinking about those pretty cold temperatures ahead for the night. chris pollone, thank you for now. stay safe. good to see you. i want to take a break from some of the reporting that we're doing when it comes to weather because we do have breaking news here coming out of the sports world. just in to us, it is sure to be of particular interest in boston where chris is, legendary quarterback tom brady is retiring from the nfl after 22

seasons. the 44-year-old is considered one of, if not the greatest quarterbacks of all time with seven super bowl wins. his last few seasons were spent as quarterback for the tampa bay buccaneers where he led them to their second super bowl championship in his first season. brady is best known, however, for his 20-season run, of course, with the new england patriots. so, we're going to continue to follow the story and bring some people on as we get more information on this and we're getting this report now from espn, but of course, this is developing as we speak. so, i want to get now back to that winter storm that we're following, hitting hard parts of long island as well, with more than a foot of snow. we were just in boston. they're seeing lots of snow there. now to long island. coming down in some areas, seeing snowfall at a rate of 3 to 4 inches an hour. i want to get right to emily, who is in plainview, long island, just east of new york city. emily, talk me through it. i've been out already today in

the new york area. it's pretty treacherous out there. i mean, there's a lot of snow. it's fluffy, and then underneath that snow is ice. and it just keeps coming. >> reporter: yeah, it's not stopping yet. right now, it's difficult to tell what is actually new snow coming down and what is just being picked up by these massive wind gusts and blown around, really reducing visibility, but i would say roadway conditions right now are nothing short of treacherous, and for more reasons than just street signs being buried in massive amounts of snow. obviously, this is partially the result of snow plows coming through, but this area has seen double-digit snowfall totals so far, and again, it just keeps coming down. we were just actually out on the roads, trying to get a feel for what they're like in the long island area, and you know, obviously, the snow has made it very difficult to drive around. we were in a four wheel drive car but it's really the winds that are so unique. they hit you in the face when you step outside but when you're

behind the wheel, it's picking up the snow and visibility is so incredibly difficult and that's what we're hearing from officials, forecasters, that's why they warn of these nearly impossible travel conditions. the other thing i will notice and i have been reporting throughout the day and the thing that is really starting to move in is a biting cold. parts of the northeast region will see windchills drop to negative 30, so you want to layer up if you're planning on shoveling your car out or shoveling any parts of your yard, because it is just absolutely frigid, yasmin. >> all right, emily for us, stay safe, my friend. great to see you. thank you. i want to bring in michelle grossman now who's been following the track of this storm and want a 30,000 foot above big picture thing on this, michelle, as we are feeling the storm ourselves every hour, it seems like the snow just continues to pile up. the winds are picking up throughout the day. getting worse, it seems, as this snow eventually will subside. >> yeah, i mean, it's really a

three-part concern, scenario, we're looking at the snow, yeah, we can see three feet in some spots. we're looking at winds at hurricane force speed so we had an 80-mile-per-hour wind gusts in parts of massachusetts that knocked out a gauge. really ferocious winds and coastal flooding. we had video earlier of inland flooding so there's a lot of going with this system. it's a typical nor'easter with those strong winds coming out of the northeast and we still have several hours of really terrible weather in parts of new england. so this is what it looks like right now. we notice the banner, 2022 blizzard, and it has met blizzard criteria, which, by the way, is pretty difficult to do. we met that criteria in parts of new jersey, parts of connecticut, parts of new york and no doubt we're going to meet that in massachusetts, and we're seeing blizzard-like conditions right now. so this is what it looks like on radar. you can see lots of blue. it's a huge storm. it's a powerful storm. it's dropping lots of snow, but it's really bringing those gusty winds too so. as we zoom in a little closer, all that blue, that is the snow. where you see the white, that is the heavier snow, so really

intense bands coming down in boston, parts of cape cod, nantucket, parts of martha's vineyard, into rhode island where you saw chris, we're seeing really heavy snowfall there, it's blinding, whiteouts, so 2 to 4 inches per hour and that will extend over the next few hours, so good news with this storm is it's moving pretty quickly, so even though it's superpowerful, it will be out of here by this evening, but for clean-up, we're looking at really frigid temperatures. 44 million of us still under some sort of winter weather alert. where you see the white, that's the winter weather advisory. winter storm warning is in pink and blizzard warning is in purple. that matches up where we're expecting the highest impacts over the next several hours so near to impossible travel conditions and then that 2 to 4 inches per hour in terms of that snowfall. we could see 2 to 4 feet in many spots, even 3 feet as chris mentioned in parts of southeastern massachusetts. we're going to watch that over the next several hours before it's out of here later on this evening and no doubt we're going to have troubles in the airways,

troubles on the roadways so portland, boston, new york, certainly seeing lots of delays, major delays, and the roadways, philadelphia to bangor, boston to buffalo, really difficult travel. we have some really light fluffy snow just sticking on those roadways. yasmin? >> i got to tell you, i got a 3-and-a-half foot 3-year-old and a 5-year-old that's a bit taller and my 3-year-old is telling me, mommy, there's too much snow. he can barely walk in almost 2 feet of snow. >> they are the cutest. >> what we're seeing on the ground there. >> those two are the cutest. >> pulling him by his hood. michelle grossman, thank you. >> i see them on instagram. they're the cutest. >> oh, thank you so much. appreciate it. all right, guys, so i kind of dropped a nugget for you there, if you're a sports fan, a football fan, a pats fan, a buccaneers fan, we broke into the weather coverage that we have been doing, that we're going to be continuing to do all hour, telling you that tom brady is, in fact, retiring as being reported by espn. legendary quarterback, brady, retiring after 22 seasons. i want to bring in dave, sports

editor for the nation, and host of the edge of sports podcast. it's interesting, dave, because i was talking to one of our reporters on the ground in boston about this, bomb cyclone hitting boston right now and i'm sure you got a lot of pats fans that love them some tom brady, for 20 seasons, and then some, by the way, they couldn't, you know, give up that love, even though he went to the buccaneers, thinking, what? tom brady is retiring? 44 years old. he's still at the top of his game. but now announcing this retirement, i guess, reporting that we're hearing from espn, this retirement. >> yeah, leaving at the top of his game after another mvp caliber season in tampa bay. age 44. look, i'm from new york city, so i'm genetically predisposed to disliking anything from the new england area, and so it actually -- it hurts to say it, but you have to say it. in the most culturally dominant sport in the united states, in the most popular sport in the united states, he is the best to

ever do it. and it's not even an argument. you know how basketball fans argue, magic, michael, lebron. you don't do that in the nfl. even if you're a casual fan, you know that tom brady stands on top of the mountain. when you go to ten super bowls in 20 seasons as a starting quarterback, that is so remarkable, it's one of those numbers in sports that i don't think will ever be reached. >> seven of which he won. seven of which he won. >> yes. seven of which he won, and the three he lost, he didn't lose by much. and of those seven that he won, in five of those games, he was the game's most valuable player. we're talking about also somebody who's been part of american life for over 20 years, and it's a story that, in a lot of ways, i think a lot of people see as being uniquely american. this was somebody who came out of college at michigan where he barely started, only to be drafted 199th overall. you know, this is not the person who had the best arm. this is not the person who had

the best athleticism. this is certainly not the person who could beat you in a foot race. but what he could do, at least according to, you know, the mythology, is the concept of no days off, that he will outwork you every step of the way and will do so over the course of an entire career, and by doing so, he became the standard. and i just keep thinking about, like, so many great players in the national football league, these days, we know who they are when they're 12 years old. they come out high in the draft, win awards in college, there's all this mystique surrounding them before they even step on a professional field. that was not tom brady. he literally came out of nowhere to become the greatest to ever do it. >> what comes after football for tom brady, do you think? what are your predictions here after he has just killed it in football for so long as the greatest of all time? >> i mean, there's a lot of speculation. i heard somebody saying, well,

you know, maybe a future in politics. but he's actually somebody who's always stayed far away from politics. he rather famously was seeing with a make america great again hat in his locker in 2016. he's just smiled and said, yeah, trump's my buddy. we go golfing. and the backlash stung him so much that he didn't even go to the white house after the patriot won the next several super bowls. he realized, like, whoa, i guess people are pretty polarized over this trump guy i play golf with. it was literally like this out-of-the-blue realization so i can't see him getting into politics. he's very into his training method, tb-12. he's very into this idea of spending time with family, and i know every athlete says that, but usually they say that when they're being rolled off the field on a stretcher or something. you know, it's like, yeah, you want to spend time with your family. there's not really an alternative for you at this point in your career. >> there's nothing else to do. >> he's coming off this amazing season, he's talked about his family for years as something that he wanted to really invest

time in, and i think that's what you're going to see him doing. it's going to be one of those things where maybe we don't hear from tom brady for a little while. >> yeah, i mean, it seemed to me like football was a religion to him. he never veered off course. he was always thinking about football, whether it was in-season or off season as well, and it's why it made him literally, if not the best quarterback of all time. dave zirin, thanks for jumping on for us. a lot of folks obviously wondering what's next for tom brady. why now? we're going to try and get some of those questions answered for you after 22 seasons playing football, tom brady, now retiring as being reported by espn. thanks, dave. up next, everybody, new subpoenas from the january 6th committee involving donald trump's fake elector scheme. and this is all coming as the doj is looking at whether criminal charges should be filed. joining me after the break, new mexico's attorney general, hector balderas, one of two

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welcome back, everybody, we are continuing to follow the breaking news, tom brady retiring from football. the 44-year-old is considered one of, if not the greatest quarterbacks of all time with seven super bowl wins. his last few seasons were spent as quarterback for the tampa bay buccaneers where he led them to their second super bowl championship. in his first season, brady is best known, however, for his, of course, 20-season stretch with the new england patriots. after 22 seasons, tom brady, the greatest of all time, it seems, quarterback retiring as is being reported by espn. we're going to follow the story and bring you more as we get it. we are also following new developments in the january 6th investigation. the house select committee has now issued subpoenas to 14 individuals who cast bogus electoral votes for former

president trump in states that biden won. committee chair and house representative bennie thompson said in a statement, investigators are examining evidence of a scheme to overturn the results in multiple states. that includes the planning and coordination to send false slates of electors to the national archives. the news arrives just days after two democratic state attorneys general asked federal prosecutors to investigate whether crimes were committed in assembling or submitting the fake trump slates. one of them, hector balderas, attorney general for the state of new mexico, is joining me now. thank you so much for joining us on this. we really appreciate it. you are not the first a.g. to do this. michigan attorney general dana nessel referred a similar case to federal authorities just a couple of weeks ago. and said this. the ultimate goal should not be to prosecute only the 16 individuals in her state but to find out, quote, who put them up to this and is there a bigger

conspiracy at play? do you agree with that? >> you know, at this point, i do. we all, in our respective states, are conducting state reviews, state investigations, but really, every american has a right to challenge an election in a lawful way, either auditing or through litigation, but also electors are required to certify the will of the people, and conduct themselves in an accurate and lawful manner. so, at this point, i believe the doj is in the best position because it's involving multiple states, to gather evidence and really apply the rule of law and see if there was a conspiracy. i believe that is the greatest risk, whether there were elite, powerful individuals that really pressured and coerced average americans to participate in really -- could be an unlawful process. >> two prominent republicans

from your state were subpoenaed, a member of the state executive committee and also debra, a former chair of the state gop. did it surprise you to see these individuals subpoenaed? >> no, it did not. i can assure you, law enforcement authorities are monitoring the progress of this select committee. any type of fact-finding at this point is prudent and helpful to really ascertain what occurred and why did it occur, and it did not surprise me that new mexico individuals were targeted as one of the seven states, but this process will have to take its course, and -- but it did not surprise me that they are starting to target some of the conduct that occurred in new mexico. >> anything you know about those two individuals? >> you know, new mexico is a wonderful state.

we oftentimes, it's not uncommon for us to elect a republican president or a democratic president, and so we are familiar with the individuals. they were active in new mexico politics, which is why i'm very concerned that if there was a group out of state pressuring and trying to subvert what is a very local, wonderful political system in new mexico, we love being active and following the rules and selecting our next president, but it would be a very unfortunate if these individuals were somehow caught up in a larger conspiracy in an attempt to really undermine the will of the people and the voters. it would be very disappointing. >> new mexico attorney general hector balderas, thank you so much. we appreciate you joining us this afternoon. >> thank you. i want to bring in now glenn kirschner, former federal prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. great to see you, my friend.

let me read for you what one of these individuals, pawdrell, jewll powdrell, told the albuquerque journal as to why they were involved in this scheme. saying this, the decision to give the state's electoral votes was at the direction of the state republican party chair and former congressman steve pearce. he would not, however, expand upon the intent of this scheme. what do you make of that defense, glenn? >> you know, if i had a nickel for every time, yasmin, i heard some defendant say, i was just following orders, that's not a lawful defense, and that's the way i interpret that statement. as attorney general balderas just said, the electors have a legal obligation to certify the results accurately. the results of the popular vote, and the first duly authorized slate of electors from all 50

states did that. then you have something that people sometimes refer to as an alternate slate of electors, but let's call them what they are. it's a fraudulent slate of electors, because they did not certify the popular vote. they had a whole other goal, and we're going to learn more about who organized that and what motivated them, but once they submitted that fraudulent slaits slate of electors, they were in some real hot water. it appears they committed state crimes and federal crimes, and michigan attorney general dana nessel said, and i quote, this is a crime. and both attorney general nessel and attorney general balderas have referred these matters for criminal investigation to the department of justice, but i'll say, yasmin, is because these also very likely violate state laws in michigan, in new mexico and elsewhere, there's nothing preventing the state authorities

from criminally investigating, and if the evidence supports it, indicting these people simultaneously with the federal investigation going on. because these are different sovereigns, different jurisdictions, there are no double jeopardy concerns, and hopefully, if doj isn't moving out quickly enough, the states will begin to move out themselves. >> so, real quick here, glenn, because it seems as if they're trying to drill down on the intent, the motive here. so if they are able to drill down on the intent, the motive here, that is one thing. it is a completely different thing to then pursue criminal prosecution based upon intent and motive. can you distinguish that for us? >> yeah, so, criminal intent people suggest is so difficult to prove, but i will tell you, in all the cases i've prosecuted, i never once had a defendant say, excuse me, i intend to commit a crime. we infer intent from conduct and statements. that's how we prove criminal

intent or guilty mens rea in court and based on what we have seen, the sort of multifront attack that was launched and the picture is emerging was coordinated, we'll figure out by whom, it seems like these are crimes that need to be pursued. when you're submitting these false elector certifications, you know, that's potentially a conspiracy to defraud the united states. it is potentially obstructing an official proceeding, which has already been charged against some of the people who stormed the capitol, and here is actually an easy criminal statute that i believe they violated. it's mail fraud, yasmin, because when you use the u.s. mails in furtherance of a scheme to defraud, and the reporting is they mailed these certificates, these fraudulent certificates both to congress and to the national archives, that's a 20-year federal felony, so doj

has got a whole lot to dig into. >> glenn kirschner for us, as always, thank you. we appreciate it. good to see you, my friend. so, a few stories that we're following this hour, everybody. we are continuing to follow the breaking news, the retirement of nfl quarterback tom brady. we're going to have reaction to that throughout our hours ahead. also, the winter blast hitting the entire east coast. that as well. blast hitting the entire east coast. hitting the entire east coast. that as well staying up half the night searching for savings on your prescriptions? just ask your cvs pharmacist. we search for savings for you. from coupons to lower costs options. plus, earn up to $50 extra bucks rewards each year just for filling at cvs pharmacy. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy.

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welcome back, everybody. we are continuing to track the powerful nor'easter pummelling new england right now with tons of snow and high winds, dangerous blizzard conditions affecting more than 60 million americans. in new york right now, for instance, you got a state of emergency continuing for at least ten counties, up to 12 inches of snow possible in new york city alone.

two feet on long island. the strong winds, low visibility causing more than 2,000 flights to be canceled so far across the city. stranding, of course, tens of thousands of travelers as they wait out the storm, now classified, by the way, as a bomb cyclone. and nbc's ellison bar we are is in brooklyn, new york, out in the bomb cyclone. you're in my hood, my friend. it's not great out there. it's fun if you can get a sled and get pulled around the streets of new york city as we do, but nonetheless, it's windy, it's cold. >> reporter: yeah, it is, and look, i want to show you, there are snowplows already coming through this area. we've started to see a little bit of cleaning efforts get under way, more and more people braving the elements, family sledding walked right by us but when the wind picks up, you notice the warnings the mayor, the governor has been giving.

this is powdery snow so at different times when the wind picks up, you get this wall, a whiteout, where it becomes very difficult to see and that's why they've been encouraging new yorkers to stay off of the roads today, to not be out in their cars if they have to be out to use public transportation if necessary. the snow has started to let up in the last 45 minutes or so. the wind is not as intense as it was about an hour ago, but it still comes in spurts. the governor at a press briefing earlier today was warning people all across the state to not let their guard down, even if things feel a little bit more mild right now, because it's cold now, and they say it is going to get a whole lot colder. there's the potential for temperatures in new york city to be below zero from now all the way until tomorrow morning. they are saying if you see someone out and about who doesn't have shelter or if you know someone who's struggling with heat, check on your elderly neighbors and if you see someone who needs help, call 311 because right now, it's pausing a little

bit. you see all the people that have started to come out. a moment of fun, but they say it is still very serious, and it can get a whole lot colder, and if power outages come, of course, yasmin, that's not just an inconvenience in conditions like this. that can be deadly for some people, so they're saying, enjoy the weather, do it safely, check on your neighbors. yasmin? >> yeah, that's what you worry most about, you're thinking about what's happening up in massachusetts, for instance, over 100,000 people without power now, looking at new york city, we know certain residents have lost power there, not as many but nonetheless, it's worrisome according those frigid temperatures that are ahead of us, either way, though, if you can have some fun in it, always good to do that as well because we haven't been having a lot of fun lately. ellison barber, stay warm, my friend. so, we're following some breaking news, everybody, out of the sports world. a story that is splashing across the headlines, talking about tom brady, the nfl confirming moments ago legendary quarterback tom brady retiring after 22 seasons. 44 years old, considered one of, if not the greatest quarterbacks

of all time, seven super bowl wins. his last couple of seasons were spent as quarterback for the tampa bay buccaneers where he led them to their second super bowl championship in his first season. going now to tampa where we find nbc's stephanie stanton. we were originally going to be talking about covid, although you pivoted for us, thankfully, when we heard this breaking news about tom brady. i'm sure a lot of tampa bay fans are reacting there. what are folks telling you? >> yeah, indeed, yasmin, we are here at gasparilla. this is -- this parade is basically unique to tampa, and it is a very festive atmosphere, as you can see, i've even gotten in on the action with my beads, and then all of a sudden, a short time ago, this big news broke about tom brady, so you know, it kind of threw cold water on this parade, although a lot of people didn't really know, so we were able to, you know, try to pull some people

actually from the parade itself to see what their reaction is because you know tom brady is so beloved here in tampa bay. he has basically injected new life into this team, and is this parade, gasparilla, it is all about pirates and of course you have the tampa bay buccaneers, so as you might imagine, it is the perfect place to talk to people about this, but let's show you what these people said just a short time ago when i told them the news. >> he's a great man. whatever he wants to do, it's okay with me. >> no! say ain't so. >> not going to happen. >> no, he's -- >> no way. it's tampa bay. >> i love tom bradiment. kisses. please come back. >> you know what? i hope he decides to keep living here. and he'll love it. this is where his new home is. >> reporter: and as you saw there, i mean, it was basically disbelief. i think some people thought that i was trying to play a joke on them, but nevertheless, the news

is true, as we know, the nfl confirming it. twitter is blowing up right now. people reacting to this big news. in fact, tom brady's company, tb12 sports, tweeting out, seven super bowl rings, five super bowl mvps, three league mvp awards, 22 incredible seasons. thank you for it all, tom brady. he is the undisputed greatest football player of all time, the g.o.a.t., as he is appropriately nicknamed, and again, you know, the festive atmosphere continues here in gasparilla. perhaps this will turn into an unofficial tom brady good-bye party, but nevertheless, this is big news, and it is very sad for the people here of tampa bay, because they really adopted him, and they really -- thank you very much -- they really love tom brady. so, that is what's happening here on the ground in tampa, yasmin. we'll send it back to you. i can't help but get in on the action. >> now we know, stephanie, why

you're getting all these necklaces. stickers, necklaces. of course they don't want to see him go. he won them a super bowl. stephanie stanton, have fun. >> reporter: it's disappointing. >> thank you. thank you, stephanie. all right, still ahead, everybody, a tennessee school district banning a critically acclaimed book about the horrors of the holocaust. what is behind the book banning, and reaction from the author. that's coming up. ook banning, and reaction from the author and reaction from the author that's coming up for strength and energy. woo hoo! ensure, complete balanced nutrition with 27 vitamins and minerals. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪ ♪ why does walgreens offer prescription copays as low as zero dollars? ♪♪ so you won't have a medicare in the world. ♪♪ fill your medicare prescriptions with walgreens and save. it's still the eat fresh refresh™

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all right, breaking news coming in to us about the crisis in ukraine. we have learned that joint chiefs of staff general mark milley has just spoken with the commander in chief of the ukrainian armed forces. the pentagon saying both leaders pledged support to ukrainians' independence. this is coming after millie painted a very stark picture of what could be in store if putin invades ukraine.ey

painted a very stark picture of what could be in store if putin invades ukraine. >> there are many people in highly dense population centers throughout ukraine, and if war were to break out on the scale and scope that is possible, the civilian population will suffer immensely. >> so, despite the troop build-up along the ukrainian border, hope is still alive that a diplomatic solution can, in fact, be reached to stop what could be a long and deadly war once it gets started. we are joined now by nina, a professor of international affairs at the new school and great-granddaughter of former soviet premier khrushchev. thank you for joining us. and i think your analysis here, and many respects, is spot on. having lived in moscow myself for some time, and talking about the attention-seeking side of the russian president and why this is kind of feeding in to who he is and what it's about. >> absolutely.

thank you for this question, sort of the statement. a lot of it is bringing attention to putin because he believes that he didn't have enough, he has been trying to talk to the west, the west is not listening, so the build-up is something that brings attention to his worries, as he said, that later came to the -- right to the doorsteps of russia. i am not in a kind of view that the invasion is imminent. in fact, i think it is much more of a, as you said, an attention-seeking ploy. does seem to be grand and expensive, but russia is grand and expensive, so that's very, in fact, russian or certainly putin-esque to do it this way. i think what he now gets, and it is something that just essentially recently happened, that even ukraine began doubting

the imminence of invasion, which, in fact, plays into putin's hands, because the more ununited, disunited the opposition to him, the more victory he has, even if there is no actual military offense there. >> so, do you think the decision to send u.s. troops to the ukrainian border is, in fact, a bad one? what would happen if they decided not to do that? >> well, i mean, i can't say that, that it's a decision, because first of all, as americans have been very careful to say, the troops are not going to participate in ukrainian military preparation and so on and so forth, but what happens, i think, with this decision is that putin then is confirmed in his -- in his idea that the west is really breathing down his neck, and therefore, he has to arm more and more and more, and

the less he is convinced and now you, i see, showing the belarusian flag as well, where the training, the exercises are happening at the same time, the more he is convinced that he does need to show force because that's the only way to prevent russia from being taken over by nato, by western forces, and so -- and i do think that diplomatic solution is possible, still possible, but i also think that probably toning down of rhetoric, of -- and especially giving dates when the invasion happens, because now has passed some, which doesn't really -- is not a very good look for the west and for the united states. >> nina khrushcheva, your writings and studies on this are fascinating, i would love if you come back and speak to us. >> absolutely, thank you very much. >> as the situation is developing. we know it will. it's great to talk to you this

hour. thank you. >> thank you. banning the teaching of a book that depicts the horrors of the holocaust because of its graphic depiction. what prompted one school board's decision, and how far this effort could go. we'll be right back. sion, and hs effort could go. effort could go. we'll be right back.ngredients. perfectly ripe, hand-scooped hass avocados and a touch of sea salt. it's like a double double for your tastebuds. subway keeps refreshing and refreshing and refreshing... (burke) this is why you want farmers claim forgiveness... [echoing] claim forgiveness-ness, your home premium won't go up just because of this. (woman) wow, that's something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [echoing] get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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speaking out after a school board in tennessee unanimously voted to ban his landmark graphic novel about polish jews surviving the holocaust. the pulitzer prize winning novel was removed from an eighth grade language arts curriculum after concerns about profanity and nudity. spiegelman, who only learned about the removal a day before international holocaust remembrance day, slammed the move as orwellian. here's some of his conversation with my colleague, joy reid, earlier this week. >> i'm concerned about the information content that's being withheld. you need to know stuff. that's what you're in school for. there's a good reason that you need to know stuff. it's a survival thing, you know? and i don't know that it's possible, when parents, as jerry just said, interfere with the learning process. >> joining me now, with his reporting on this, is nbc's tim stello. tim, thanks for joining us on this.

this is astounding to me, i have to say. i read this book as a child. i was encouraged to read it by both my parents, my siblings as well, who were significantly older than me, and you learn so much about what took place during the holocaust through this, these graphic novels, there's another one called "persepolis" about the iran-iraq war and i know you have been doing reporting on this specifically coming out of this town. i want to read some of your reporting here. one board member, jonathan pierce, describing himself as probably the biggest sinner and crudest person in this room, but said the book didn't meet his standard, which he described as, can i lay that in front of a child. talk more about this, tim. >> sure. so, thanks for having me, first of all. the vote was on january 10th at the mcminn county school board that's between chattanooga and knoxville, and it was a

unanimous vote. ten of the school board members voted to have this book removed from the curriculum, and the stated reason was that there were eight uses of profanity and a nude image, and their decision -- that decision to remove the book was reaffirmed just a couple of days ago in a statement that the school board released, essentially saying those uses of profanity and nudity were unnecessary. and if i can just point out, i think it's important to say that that nude image was -- depicted art spiegelman's mother, who took her own life in 1968, and was found by art spiegelman's father in their bathtub. >> you know, i have a lot of folks tweeting me about this. when i mentioned we were going to be talking about this, and i

think the big question is, what's next? we can't talk about the holocaust and holocaust remembrance day, wanting to ban books on racism, wanting to ban books on sexuality. what's next? a lot of folks are worried about what's happening. >> sure. yeah, i think this is part of a broader series of efforts that are happening in a number of states, and you know, if i could just read you one statistic that really popped out at me. this is from my colleague at nbc news digital, who reported that there were 273 censorship attempts in 2020 alone. these are often on books that are about race, gender, sexuality, but since september of last year, there have been 230, so that's just in about a quarter of the time, almost the

same number of attempts to censor books and that's from the american library association. so it is certainly part of a much broader effort. >> wow. yeah. and really troubling. tim stelloh, thank you for joining us, and reporting on this. coming up in our next hour, everybody, many consider him the greatest to ever play. quarterback tom brady retiring from the nfl after 22 seasons. his impact on the national culture and reaction from a former player who played alongside the legend. also, that winter weather blast bearing down on the northeast. live reports from the hardest hit region plus when they could see some relief. >> i'll give you a winter prediction. it's going to be cold. it's going to be gray. and it's going to last you for the rest of your life. to last r to last r the rest of your life.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we're going to continue to follow the breaking news of tampa bay buccaneers quarterback tom brady's retirement from the nfl after 22 seasons and a historic seven super bowl titles. brady is widely considered the greatest quarterback to ever play the game after an unlikely rise from being a seventh round draft pick