or abdominal discomfort? taking align can help. align contains a quality probiotic to naturally help soothe digestive upsets 24/7. try align, the pros in digestive health. deon, hand it over. now how does that make you feel? like a part of me is missing. gabrielle? this old spice fiji hand and body lotion has me smoother than ever. that's what it does. and good morning, 10:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m. pacific, this morning, high stakes diplomacy, secretary of state blinken and his russian counter part speak after a hostile back and forth between russia and the u.n. over ukraine. i'll speak with the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, congressman gregory meeks, just back from a trip to ukraine. and breaking this morning,

pfizer reportedly expected to ask the fda to authorize its covid vaccine for children under 5. also this morning on the first day of black history month, four historically black colleges and universities have reported another round of bomb threats prompting lock downs, and police investigations. and beyond our borders, an update on a story we have been following for you, the soul survivor of a capsized boat filled with migrants reunited with his mother. senior correspondent will join us with more on his exclusive interview. and breaking news for football fans across the country. nfl legend tom brady has officially announced just moments ago he is retiring after 22 seasons. we begin with the latest on the escalating tensions between russia and ukraine. russian president vladimir putin is expected to hold a news conference at any moment. you are seeing this live feed

from moscow following his meeting with hungarian prime minister viktor orban. it will be the first time in weeks that we have heard directly from putin about the crisis. also today secretary of state tony blinken and his russian foreign minister sergey lavrov are expected to speak by phone for another round of high stakes costs. it comes one day after the united states and russia got into a heated exchange of words with both countries blaming each other for the escalating crisis. and president biden promising a strong response if russia should invade ukraine. >> we continue to urge diplomacy as the best way forward, but with russia's continuing its build up of forces around ukraine, we are ready no matter what happens. >> but an anonymous sign russia is said to be moving blood to

locations along the border with ukraine. here at home, a bipartisan group of senators appear to be working on a deal for stiff sanctions, and punishing russia if it does. the white house says it has developed specific sanctions packages targeting russian elites who are in or near putin's inner circle if he attacks. with me now to talk about all of this, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel. susan page, washington bureau chief of usa today, and public affairs and msnbc political analyst. richard, is putin likely to give us any clues about what comes next? >> reporter: well, he's late, like he often is, he's late coming out to the press conference. yes, i think he is likely to give clues. everything rests on his decision right now. he is ultimately in charge of all decisions on levels of

national security in russia. so russia up until now from meetings at the united nations to statements from the foreign minister and perhaps we'll hear this again from putin himself has said that russia has no intention of invading ukraine, that it is merely carrying out military exercises. and then on a parallel track, it has been saying that it is the west. it is the united states. it is nato that is threatening russia's security. it is ukraine that is provoking this crisis. that has been the traditional line. so we will hear clues if he deviates that in any way. if he starts talking about the possibility of diplomacy. if he talks about dialing back. if he talks about specific agreements that there is room to negotiate on. so i think the world will be watching what he says very closely when he comes out and speaks with the hungarian prime

minister at any time now. >> yeah, and richard, i mean, i just love having the opportunity to speak with you. there is no one more understanding or more seasoned than you are on this issue. richard, one thing is, military exercises, bluff, possible trying to pressure through force, but you know, when they talk about putting blood, sending blood to the border areas, it doesn't sound like that's just a bluff or military exercises. >> reporter: it depends how willing you are to bluff and how far you're willing to take this bluff, and no, it certainly does not sound that way to many u.s. officials, it doesn't sound that way to many nato countries which is why they are sending equipment east, why they are telling ukraine that it needs to be ready. they are not convinced that russia is bluffing this time. they think that it is very possible that russia could either launch an all out invasion, although many

officials that i have been speaking to think that's the least likely scenario, but they think it's still possible or that he could try to take a piece of this country, most like a piece of the country in the east or the southeast where i am right now, and if you move blood, it means you're expecting casualties, it means you're expecting to have to treat some of your own soldiers. but it could be a bluff. it certainly could be. i've spoken to many putinologists, criminologists they used to be called who watch vladimir putin, and they say don't think of him as a chess player, think of him as a poker player, he does bluff. he's very good at it, because in poker you can cheat, you can try and intimidate your player, that he's much more of an instinct poker player than he is a chess player. so is it a bluff moving to the border? let's see if there's clues in the next few minutes when he comes out. >> yeah, that's a good one to

look for. and how do people in mariupol feel about it. >> reporter: we are in an area held by separatists, this is an industrial city under the soviet union. there are still many soviet style factories in and around the city, and it is now a sleepy, rust belt kind of town and the population is torn. there is a segment of the population here that is in support of russia, that thinks life would be better if neigh -- they went back to the days of the old soviet union, not that that is on the table but they are nostalgic about the time this was a commercial city and a great empire. that's one segment of society, and that's the segment of

society that vladimir putin and russia media are appealing to. if you listen to russian media, and you can listen to russian media here, they often talk about the glory days of the soviet past, and people who live in the city where there are not that many jobs and the economy is relatively depressed are welcoming to that kind of messaging. then there are those who want a totally different path for ukraine, who have embraced the fact that since 2014 this country had a popular revolt and broke away from the russian's sphere of influence, and they don't want to look back. they want to join up with europe. they want to join closer to the eu. they want to join up with nato one day, and this fundamental divide is what's at stake here. can ukraine as it continues as many want look west, change, look toward nato, and look

toward europe or will vladimir putin in the coming days, weeks, months, who knows, pull this country back into russia's sphere of influence, which some people even here wouldn't mind. >> i mean the glory days of the soviet union when millions of people were starved in 1932, 1933, those glory days seem to be forgotten by so many. susan, the u.s. says it will respond strongly to russian action against ukraine. members of congress and the white house are developing sanctions packages but are the white house and capitol hill on the same page when it comes to how the u.s. should respond? >> there have been some differences here in washington. you know, you talk to people in the administration here in washington. they are pretty convinced there is an invasion coming and that you might hold off on sanctions until it comes, so you're punishing russia for when it comes. on capitol hill, members of the senate and the house are

prepared to move ahead of sanctions in the hope of preventing an invasion from taking place. that is the calculation going on now in washington. given putin's rhetoric, is it still possible for him to walk away from the threat of an invasion with ukraine, with the threat of sanctions, the push of diplomacy, and the response from the west that has been pretty united. that's the test we're going to see in the next few days, jose. >> hey, rick, let's take a broader look at what's happening here, what can we learn from situations in the past to help deal with this crisis, how do you see it, richard? >> well, jose, you have made yourself a hero to ukrainians by mentioning the forced russian starvation of millions of ukrainians in 1932, 1933. it was a manmade tragedy. but i think, you know, richard has put it well. the ukrainians have lived next

to russia and been part of russia off and on for a thousand years. they know the russians infinitely better than we d. and yes, some people are positively disposed toward russia and some are not. they all speak russian as well as ukrainian. it's a complex situation. i think we should also not look at it as an all or nothing situation. richard also pointed out that, you know, putin can take a slice of ukraine. you know, the minsk agreements in 2014 talked about more autonomy for that eastern ukrainian region. putin might say that's what he wants, let's make that an autonomous region. there's not going to be an all out invasion along the lines of world war ii, and i also think as we wait for putin to speak today, it's a good thing that he's talking. when they did invade crimea in 2014, he didn't talk for two weeks. the fact that he's out there talking about it is a good thing. while he's talking, he's not

invading. >> that's a great point, rick. i'm just wondering, on the issue of taking a slice, for example, of a sovereign nation, be it a small one or a large one, you know, how that slice is taken is going to be really crucial. and if it's taken, we saw what happened in 2014, should there be, rick, a massive response from the west, from the united states, ie sanctions, et cetera, or should it be depending on how big of a slice, if any, is taken. >> you know, jose, those are all good questions, and by good questions, i mean impossible to answer questions. i mean, in the news conference that president biden had, you know, he mentioned this idea of an incursion, a lot of people weren't happy about that. obviously the u.s. is thinking about that. do these sanctions that russia

does an incursion, i would say probably yes, but in order to prevent them from doing something like that. there's just a million ways that this could shake out and putin could skin the cat. i'll be interested to hear what he has to say today. >> ukraine has always been the focus of the desire of others, right, and it just wasn't the soviet union, rick, we remember the czars, the hungarian empire, the ottoman empire, it goes on and on and on. it was always a pleasure to speak with you. thank you, susan page, richard engel, thank you so much for being with me this morning. turning now to the latest in the covid pandemic where there is some promising news for parents who want to vaccinate their young children. nbc news has learned the fda could expand the use of pfizer's covid-19 vaccine to children ages six months to five years by the end of february. joining me now is dr. joseph varon, the chief of critical

care united medical center in houston. always good to see you. what's your reaction to the expected move by pfizer? >> i think this is something that was in the making. we were expecting this was going to happen. the data in children's vaccinations is interesting and that was a natural progression of pfizer, for such request to the fda. i think it's good that we are moving in that direction. but i'm also interested in seeing what the american academy of pediatrics is going to say, i mean, you know, are they going to be pushing for parents to get their kids vaccinated in those age ranges. that would be very interesting to see. >> give us a status report, what are you seeing on the ground in houston? >> well, you know, over the last couple of weeks, we've had another surge of patients, and i am again seeing patients that come in with two to three weeks of symptoms before they come to the hospital. they are coming in very very ill. now, most of the other hospitals in the houston metropolitan area

are reporting a drop in the number of cases where number of positivity cases, that means the number of patients we are testing outside has gone down from 40%, that was four out of every ten people that were getting tested were positive, to 30% over the last two weeks, but we still have three out of ten people are positive when they come and get tested in our centers. >> and doctor varon, how sick are they? is like what we have been seeing pretty much now i guess for some weeks, is omicron less lethal? what are you seeing? >> what i'm seeing is what we have talked about over and over again, 95% of people that come to my hospital are unvaccinated, and they're quite sick, but those who have been vaccinated, that 5% that have been vaccinated have very, you know, mild illness, even when they have to be admitted and they leave the hospital. in general, what i'm seeing in my clinic, my private practice,

a lot of people have a very mild, if you want, illness, but the most important part, the limiting factor that gets them to be either very sick or not sick is how early do you seek medical attention. if you come to me as soon as you have the first symptoms, you're going to be okay. if you come to me three weeks into your course of illness, you're going to have an issue. >> dr. joseph varon, thank you for being with me. it's always a pleasure to see you, sir. >> pleasure. a new role president trump played in a scheme to overturn elections by seizing voting machines. a second consecutive day of bomb threats at historically black colleges and universities. we have the latest. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports". e e diaz-balart reports"

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20 past the hour, we have breaking news out of the nfl, tom brady, the seven time super bowl champ, and considered the greatest nfl quarterback of all time announced he is retiring in a social media post just moments ago. at 44 years old, brady just completed his 22nd season in the league where he helped lead the tampa bay bucs to the playoffs. joining me now is mike luca, columnist for the "new york daily news" as well as author of the novel "horse woman," rumors that swirled over the weekend whether or not he would be retiring. nbc nightly news saturday we had a story about the fact that it

seemed he was going to retire. what do you make of his decision today? >> you know, jose, i just think that he was a little miffed that somebody got out ahead of his own story because tom always likes to be in control of the narrative. i never doubted over the weekend that he was going to retire, and i've been thinking a lot about him over the last couple of days, and only tom brady, as great a winner as we have ever had in professional sports in this country could go out a winner even in a game he lost because he brought his team back from 27-3 down the last time he played and nearly won the game. jose, he was the babe ruth of football. ruth won seven world series, tom won seven super bowls. ruth lost three world series, tom lost three super bowls, and in my mind because he did this until the age of 44, when we have all of those g.o.a.t. discussions about the greatest

of all time, i believe when you add it all up, he's the greatest we've ever had in professional sports in this country. >> that's a really good way of putting it, and that comparison, but mike, i mean, it's extraordinary what one person, one athlete can accomplish in a team. i mean, the tampa bay bucs getting to the playoffs, i mean, it's one person's incredible, indelible impact on a team. >> yeah, and i mean, after everything he did in new england, this to me, these last two seasons, jose, were like one of the great curtain calls that we will ever see in sports. he went and he did it again, and he damn near was going to do it again this year, and it shows the impact of a quarterback. we talk all the time about how it's the most important position we have in sports. it just became more important in the hands of tom brady, once

taken with the 199th pick in the nfl draft. he played with that edge for more than two decades, and again, think about this, he went out on top and turned to this personal performance. he was going to turn 45 next august, and he had always talked about playing to 45. if he'd have come back, i wouldn't have been surprised and would have been happy just as a sports fan, but oh, my god, when you look at the totality of it, bill russell was a great winner, ruth was a great winner, michael jordan was a great winner. this is the g.o.a.t. of all g.o.a.t.s. >> thank you very much for being with me this morning. it's a great way to put it. we're following more breaking news, black history month begins today. a dozen black university colleges started day on lock downs after receiving bomb threats. 13 hbus, including howard university and spelman college. nbc correspondent ken dilanian

joins us with the latest. this has been going now for two days. >> that's right, jose. howard university's lock down was lifted when police gave the all clear. a number of universities are holding classes remotely today because of this disturbing series of threats. other colleges reported having swept their campuses and found nothing. we found reports of threats at 15 colleges and universities over the last two days but the number may be higher. we don't know what this is, and that bomb threats in this country typically have not corresponded with actual bombings. you may recall a series of threats in the fall against ivy league universities, no bombs were found, and nbc news reported in november the fbi concluded a teenage gamer was involved. that said, given the heightened state of alert over far right racially motivated domestic terrorism and the targets are historically black colleges and universities, this is being taken very seriously. the fbi issued a statement this morning which i would like to read to you.

it says the fbi is aware of the series of bomb threats around the country, and we're working with our law enforcement partners to address any potential threats. as always, we like to remind members of the public if they observe anything suspicious, report it to law enforcement immediately. >> ken dilanian, thank you very much for the update. appreciate it. this morning, the ”the new york times” reports after the 2020 election, former president donald trump directed his lawyer, rudy giuliani to ask the department of homeland security if it could seize voting machines in key swing states. according to three people familiar with the matter. the times reports giuliani made the call to which dhs said it lacked the authority to seize the machines. nbc news reached out to the representatives of donald trump for comment on the story. we have not heard back. giuliani's lawyer declined to comment on the story. meanwhile, the national archives confirms some of the documents turned over to the january 6th committee from the trump white house were ripped up and taped back together, confirming the

former president's habit of tearing up all kinds of records. joining me now is "washington post" congressional correspondent, and jake sherman, founder of punch bowl news and msnbc contributor. "the washington post" was the first to report on this ripped up records story. tell us more about what you learned from these do you means? >> jose, thank you so much for having us. we know that the first trench of documents from the national archives of record administration made it to the january 6th committee investigating the insurrection but that when they arrived, some of these documents were actually torn up and pieced back together. scotch taped, reconstructed. now, we're not exactly sure how many of these documents. i think the tranche that was delivered to the committee was ultimately about 700 pages worth of records, nor are we sure what exactly these documents consisted of. we do know that from reviewing legal records over which records the former president sought to

seek privilege over that it might have included speeches, memos, handwritten note by former chief of staff mark me dose, and we don't know if it was the former president who did in fact tear up the documents. we know trump has a habilitate that was broken by politico in 2018 of shredding and tearing by hand a lot of documents that passed through the oval office, and there were records, management analysts whose jobs were solely dedicated to piecing those back together. now that's what the january 6th is dealing with as that habit might have continued all the way up to the january 6th insurrection and even more illuminating, perhaps is that nara, the national administration of records and archives told us that some of the records that ultimately arrived at the office under the presidential records act were so shredded that they weren't able to be reconstructed, so we're on this story still.

>> yeah, and please do. let us know how that goes. jake, the top republican on the committee congresswoman liz cheney spoke, pardoning people involved in the january 6th insurrection, here's how she responded. >> well, look, you know, some of those people have been charged with things like seditious conspiracy and he says it at the same time that he also says that he acknowledges that he was attempting to quote overturn the election. he threatens prosecutors, he uses the same language that he knows caused the january 6th violence. and i think that it tells us that he clearly would do this all again if he were given the chance. >> jake, as far as republicans go, is cheney alone there? >> she's alone in voicing it. i can't -- i don't have a crystal ball to tell you what every republican is feeling but i can tell you that privately i think obviously there's two different worlds up here.

there's the senate and the house of representatives. the senate by and large, donald trump is a nonissue. most senators don't really talk about him. i don't know, obviously he's important to a lot of reelection campaigns. in the house, there are trump loyalists. i think cheney is unencumbered by political associations. she has a tough primary challenge. she is going to have to weather that on her own obviously without trump's endorsement. trump has endorsed her opponent. i would say that there are republicans who privately says same thing that cheney says but no one has the courage to say it publicly. >> on the supreme court front, senators durbin and grassley from the senate judiciary committee will be at the white house later today. durbin told nbc news that several senate republicans are open to biden's eventual nominee. >> i think that's probably right. durbin said as much yesterday in a meeting with reporters. i would say a few things. i would say that we have spoken to a bunch of republicans who said they don't have a problem with joe biden saying he wants to nominate the first black woman for the supreme court.

i think most people are keeping their powder dry to see who biden nominates obviously. they're not going to make proclamations about a candidate that does not yet exist. i would say two different things, number one, susan collins has voted for every supreme court nominee going back except for amy coney barrett in her entire career. that's number one. number two, the supreme court has gotten quite polarized. we don't see 80 vote confirmations, but could this nominee get 55 votes, 56 votes, i think that's possible. i don't think this will be an overwhelming vote of the senate but i think that's what the administration is trying to do. >> jake sherman, i want to congratulate you for the success of punch bowl news. thank you for being with me this morning and i want to thank jackie for being with me as well. i appreciate both of your time. why one biden official working on immigration reform left her job at the white house. we'll talk to the reporter who has her story next. you're watching "jose

diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. g g diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. .

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week details why one immigration official, andrea flores who managed border issues for biden's national security council decided to leave her job at the white house. the new yorker reports that after flores left she could speak for hours and full ordered paragraphs about policy mistakes she felt that she was observing. the opportunities i saw them not take as she put it. but she also didn't think that it was too late for biden to revive his earlier vision. the white house, we asked them for a comment, responded with a statement that reads in part quote we all agree that our immigration system is outdated and in bad need of reform but making the necessary changes is not going to happen overnight. joining me now is the author of this article, the new yorker's jonathan blitzer, thank you for being with me. this morning, why did andrea decide to leave? >> i think she experienced what a lot of people inside the administration have experienced,

which is a great deal of frustration that there are really kind of political restrictions on how much of an agenda this administration can put into place. the reality of coming in with a sense of high purpose, a sense of big ambitious plans, then being met with the reality of, you know, political opposition, legal opposition in the courts, disagreement inside the administration, it's sort of a mix of all sorts of frustrations. and i don't think that she's alone in feeling that. >> interesting because political agendas often times are the words used for inaction, right? how much of a political agenda in action did she witness? >> you know, i think the frustrating thing for her and many other people i have spoken to over the last several months is that, you know, the republicans are going to attack biden on order issues, on immigration issues regardless, and so it really is this question of figuring out, okay, you know, to what extent should

the administration just carry out its actual plans, its actual agenda knowing full well that every move it makes is going to generate this massive response from republicans, and i think the frustration inside the administration as i understand it is there was often a feeling that, okay, the administration was trying to preempt some of those criticisms and trying to come up a little bit short or sort of, you know, maneuver around certain aspect of its own agenda so as not to generation further controversy in places like the border and on immigration more generally. and i think it leaves people who are, you know, passionate about these issues and knowledgeable about these issues feeling frustrated that, look, we're going to get hammered either way, we may as well do the right thing and the thing we agreed on doing during the transition. >> and it's so important to kind of separate the issue of immigration, immigration reform, from the border issue. they are two distinct things, even though in some things they

overlap. i was interested in your article when she talks about, she didn't think it was too late for biden to revive his earlier vision. what do you think she meant by that? >> well, your point is a great one, that first of all, the issue of the border tends to be as andrea herself told me a kind of threshold issue that ends up determining the sort of sense of political possibility around all other issues within the broad frame work of immigration stuff. i think when she speaks about the fact that the biden administration can still kind of right itself in certain key respects i think mainly she's looking at what the administration can do to begin to restore asylum at the border. that's one area the administration has come in with big plans, been met with opposition of various sorts and as a result back peddled with. title 42, which is a big policy the current administration has relied on, a policy from the previous administration, that's

one area that i think the biden administration can really make progress on, going phase that policy out and making similar efforts, even though they're slow, even though it's going to be methodical and painful, and every move is going to be hard fought, really making sure that the administration starts to build up asylum capacity at the southern border. >> yeah, and i mean, we have to remember a judge reinstituted mpp, the administration decided to terminate that. yes, they're expanding, but doing what they have. tremendous article, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. >> thanks so much for having me. i want to continue our conversation, immigration activist and cofounder of "dream big vegas" is with me this morning, amiga, it's so great to see you. you're so involved and so passionate, what is your reaction to this new yorker story yesterday. >> i think involved and passionate are words to define,

this is my life. this is not just about politics. this isn't about policy to me. this is what i'm living every single day, and reading the article i think it continues to reaffirm what so many of us have been a little bit fearful of, that we work really hard putting ourselves in danger. i know throughout the entire campaign i received threats and i had people telling me they were going to deport me, and i had high elected officials saying they were going to deport me, and it didn't matter because i knew that if we had a new administration we would be able to have these incredible programs be implemented and to be here a year later, it is frustrating. it is just one of those reminders of what our community has been facing every single day for the past 30 years. >> i'm wondering, i'm seeing there are still hundreds in this last year, probably thousands for sure thousands of haitians that have been deported. we saw what happened in the border with texas. they're continuing to deport

haitians, colombians, cubans, dominicans, we're going to have in our show just a little bit from now a report about a young colombian boy who lost his sister. 39 people died on the boat that was bringing them to the united states. that just happened last week. i'm just wondering, astrid, it struck maine andrea flores was often told she was too passionate. she recalled many times in her career when someone had politely told her she needed to be more dispassionate on immigration issues. astrid, how many times have you and i and others been told, what's with the passion issue, can you tone down the movement of your hands and your passion? i'm just wondering, you know, how much more needs to be done? >> there's a lot that needs to be done.

look, i'm super grateful. i can tell you i'm sleeping better at night under this administration than i was the previous one. there's no lie there, but the reality is so much needs to be done. why was it that under the trump administration we would get new immigration memos on the daily. there would be changes. there would be terrible things attacking our community, and here we are, where we can't have those, we aren't having those. immigration reform may not be an overnight thing as the white house said, but why aren't we implementing smaller changes that could. i received my work permit last week for two more years. i can tell you, i'm blessed. that's where my passion comes from that i have that ability, i have that privilege to work for two more years legally, that my parents don't have. that my family members don't have. community members that i work with don't have, and if passion and if advocating for our community is going to be a default, or is going to be a flaw that the administration sees, then what is it that they want with the diversity, why is

it that they want to bring us on board. why is it they want to talk to us and not implement our plans. that's something they have to work on on their own because at the end of the day, every single day we're having more and more activists. i don't think i've ever had as many daca recipients going to law school because they want to become the lawyers that help our families. undocumented folks are adjusting their status, and becoming doctors and emts and all of these things. we are a community that is growing and if our passion is going to be seen as something that is bad, i think they're in for a rude awakening on what's going to happen in the future for our communities. >> i want to reaffirm, i applaud and admire your passion and your heart. i thank you astrid silva for being here this morning. it's always great to see you. emergency crews are still on the scene at a massive fire in a fertilizer plant in winston salem north carolina. the city has asked thousands of

people to evacuate due to dangerous fumes. the potential for explosion is very real, they say. evacuees could be out of their homes for up to 48 hours. so far no injuries have been reported. still ahead, we'll talk to congressman gregory meeks, chair of the house foreign affairs committee, fresh from his trip to ukraine, why he says putin should think twice about invading the country. congressman, it's a pleasure to see you, sir, we'll chat in just a minute. >> good to see you. 'll chat in t a minute. >> good to see you boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. we gotta tell people that liberty mutual customizes car insurance so you only pay for what you need, and we gotta do it fast. [limu emu squawks] woo! new personal record, limu! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ ♪ life can be a lot to handle.

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ukraine last week. congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you, sir. what message did you and your colleagues have for the ukrainians? >> that we all have to stay united. that part of what we believe is putin's motivation is trying to divide the ukrainians from their united states allies as well as our eu allies, our nato allies, that we stay together just as we've seen that ukrainians have come together after the provocations and the taking of crimea, in 2014, we see ukrainians now really standing together whether they speak ukrainian or russian, we have to stay together, all of us in unity, and that should help deter putin hopefully, and if not, it will show putin we're all together against his aggression. >> did he get congressman, any sense from the ukrainian government about what it thinks

russia may be doing. >> i think that what it's doing is, you know, and what we're doing collectively is there's a plan a, and there's a plan b, you know, i don't think anyone knows really what putin is going to do. quite frankly, i don't know putin knows what he's going to do or those that are around him, and so we have to be prepared for whatever he does. if he takes the diplomatic out and that's good for all in the region and we continue to have that dialogue and conversation. as you know secretary blinken responded to the putin and the russians' passage of information and the diplomatic foe and we returned it along with our eu partners. >> congressman, i just wonder you talk about plan "a" and plan "b." do you support the idea of preemptive sanctions against russia as a way to get putin to

stop taking action against ukraine? >> i think that president biden has done, what he has done very well is thread that needle to keep all of our european and our nato allies together, and i also think that it weakens us or it puts news a position where putin can say, well, if you put all of these sanctions on us now, we have nothing to lose by go in, so we want to utilize the sanctions as a deterrent effect, to prevent him from going in or having any excuse for trying to go in, but prepared to send devastating sanctions like he's never seen before. nothing like each what we've seen with crimea should he decide that he is going to continue his aggressive behavior and try to go over into a sovereign nation. >> before i let you go, something that's been sent to me. these bomb threats that we've

been hearing about at hbcus. what's going on? you know, how can this be? >> yeah, look, this is devastating to me. having had two daughters that attended hbcus, i attended an hbcu, it shows that we've still got problems in our own country, that here in 2022 you have institutions of higher learning that, you know, is the product of even our vice president who went to howard university as i did, and we have individual coming forward with these types of threats, and i think that law enforcement and all of us have to work together making sure that these schools are safe, but it just shows we still have an internal problem within the united states of america when we see these kinds of threats being put forward. >> congressman gregory meeks, thanks so much for being with

me. i so appreciate your time. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> thanks. >> up next, the lone survivor of a tragedy at sea speaks out. 39 other people didn't make this journey. he did. telemundo news correspondent talked to him. he talks to me next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." e diaz-balart reports. elled befor♪ one sniff of gain flings and you'll be a gainiac too! the only detergent with oxiboost and febreze. ♪ ♪

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ask your doctor about once-monthly cabenuva. homeland security officials are investigating the deaths of 39 migrants after their boats capsized on their journey from the bahamas to the united states. of the original 40 on board only one survived. after spending three days holding on to the overturned hull without food or water, juan was rescued by a merchant vessel off the coast of miami as well as the coast guard. joining me now is telemundo senior news correspondent. it's great to see you. you were the first to speak to this survivor. what did he tell you? >> jose, good morning. thank you for having me. well, when he told me at least 15 people survived the initial capsize and he told me that these people were trying to

cling to the overturned vessel, but they can't make it, jose, and one of the persons that was his sister, maria camila, and he told me also the smugglers, called for help and a small boat came for them and just for them. they promised that they would come back with a bigger boat but that never happened. let's hear what jose said to me yesterday. s hear what jose said yesterday. >> so it capsized and the smugglers were among the survivors and they called them and told them we're going to go get help. stay help. >> that's right.

>> a tragedy. >> and a crime. >> it is a crime. following troubling news out of mexico where four journalists just in the last month were killed. >> yeah. the new victim is victor three-dayo. he was working for anon line use outlet and they were dealing with delicate issues and the corrupt politicians and he said that's very risky. this has been happening for a long time that journalists are killed, but now we have four killed in a month, in the first month of the year, so almost one per week in this year. if we keep this pace. at the end of the year we've got like more than 50 journalists killed. >> and nothing ever. >> exactly. senior correspondent, a privilege to have you here. >> thank you so much. >> that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart.

be sure to follow the show at jdbalartmsnbc. thank you for your time. we continue with more news right now. >> good tuesday morning, everybody. hi. i'm in for craig melvin. we've got threats made at more than a dozen historically black colleges and universities across the country at the start of black history month. plus, a massive fire at a north carolina plan forces thousands of people from their homes and the breaking news parents have been waiting for, myself included. pfizer getting ready to submit its vaccine for emergency approval for kids younger than 5 years old according to a person with knowledge of the plan. how soon could these kids, could our kids get the shot? also, in the last 30 mut