♪ good day. this is andrea mitchell reports. i'm kristen welker in washington where president biden is honoring his commitment to support ukraine by moving 3,000 u.s. troops to eastern europe in what white house is calling a response to current conditions. administration officials say the officials are not going to fight in ukraine. but the decision is one day after president putin's comments that the west is ignoring his security concerns in diplomatic negotiations. >> to be prepared for a range of contingencies, the united states will move additional forces to romania, poland and germany. moves designed to respond to the current security environment. they're going to insure the

robust offense of our nato allies. all of these are in addition to the 8500 personnel on heightened alert poster i announced last week. those 8500 are not currently being deployed but remain ready if called for the nato response force. and president trump taking it to the fellow republicans coming to the defense of mike pence. lindsey graham after days of admitting he believed pence could have overturned the 2020 election. of course, that is false. on the coronavirus, pfizer's request for emergency use authorization for children under five years of age is getting a mixed reaction from both vaccinated and unvaccinated parents. i'll speak to dr. zeke emanual about their concerns this hour. and millions americans are in the path of a massive winter

storm. by far the biggest of the season so far. the three-day weather event will slam states with sleet, freezing rain and potentially record-setting snow totals along the rust belt. we begin this hour with the crisis in ukraine. joining me is the chief foreign correspondent, richard engel in you chain and my chief white house correspondent, peter alexander. i want to start with you, peter. you've been at the white house throughout the morning as the story has been developing. what are your sources telling you about the strategy and timing of all this? >> as we've 3rd president say in recent days this was his intention that he would send additional u.s. troops to eastern europe to support those nato allies that are close to the border with ukraine right now. the president saying it wouldn't be a lot. it would happen in the near term and now we're seeing that happen.

specifically to the nrm numbers we're hearing from the white house and the pentagon, we know there will be an addition 1,000 u.s. troops, already stationed in germany, moving forward to romania and troops presently at fort brag in the united states will go to germany. the vast majority will go to poland as the spokesperson just communicated a short time ago. the effort, notably, is to communicate this is a temporary decision to deter russia from invading ukraine and demonstrate to the russians that the u.s. stand by their commitment to their nato allies. these troops will be serving under u.s. command. they are not suvrg as part of a nato response force. which is significant because the president still has the 8500 u.s. troops who he recently put on a heightened state of alert, who could travel overseas if necessary and the number could

grow in the days ahead. there's a desire for a diplomatic solution to this situation. the white house does not believe -- privately you hear the suspicion that if there is to be a russian invasion, nothing would happen until after the olympic games. we know vladimir putin is meeting with the chinese president in the days leading up to the olympics. friday of this week. you can circle the end of the olympics as february 20th when there might be real urgency. the u.s. wants to put itself in a strong position to deter and defend nato allies if necessary. >> you're smart to highlight that potential timeline, peter. courtney, i know you've been tracking everything that's been happening at the pentagon throughout the morning, including from the press secretary john kirby. he was prelszed repeatedly about what the troops heading overseas would be doing. thousands of troops still on

high alert. so, what are you hearing about what this actual mission is going to look like, courtney? >> the 3,000 we're hearing about today, these are going to go forward and basically just sit in these countries and train and do exercises with the u.s. counterparts in that area. so, the polish troops, the german troops, the roam in ian troops. they'll exercise and work with them. that's the oilgs word. the reality is neither pentagon press secretary nor secretary of defense are ruling out the possibility that some troops could be used if there is the need for a noncombattant evacuation for ukraine. and of course, that's going to immediately draw parallels to august when some of the same troops, including the 82nd airborne were brought in to help evacuate people out of kabul airport. this is a very different situation. ukraine verses afghanistan. yes, troops being used in many different ways to help get

americans out of ukraine in advance of an invasion. that is very possible for these troops. but we are also hearing are a couple of key words. one is toemperary. that this is not a permanent deployment. they're not sending troops forward for anything long term and also that they will not be in combat. that's another very important thing to point out, that even if russia invades, the troops are not believed to be put in ukraine to fight against russia. >> richard, you're there in eastern ukraine. pick up where courtney left off, the fact that they're not supposed to be on a combat mission. what has the reaction been on the ground, particularly in the wake of defiance from president putin yesterday? >> reporter: well, the ukrainian government has said repeatedly that it feels that it is getting support. it's getting help but that it

has to fight against russia, that it is going to be fighting alone. it is not a nato member. and the troops that have been sent from nato allies to the east and now more troops are heading east from the united states, are there to prevent nato, a russian invasion from spilling into nato countries, not to protect ukraine itself. so, the ukrainian government, president zelensky has said time and time again that what nato is doing is protecting itself, not really ukraine. he wants sanctions put on russia now. he wants russia to start feeling pain before territory is potentially taken from this country. they're also not quite as convinced of the timeline that you mentioned.

peter mentioned a february 20th deadline. they're not so convinced that putin might wait until the end of the olympics. it could happen at anytime. russia has the forces capable of carrying out an invasion tonight if it wanted to. and the last time china hosted the olympics in 2008, during the olympics, vladimir putin carried out an invasion, very similar context in georgia and under the guys of defending a separatist movement there. so, it is possible that putin doesn't wait until the end of the election and that guessing game here. will he act? will he not act? will he act during the olympics? leaves people in the country feeling very unsettled. >> a good point and president biden has said only president putin knows what is in his own mind. it's the guessing game that keeps everyone on edge for sure.

thank you all for your great reporting. joining me now is new hampshire democratic senator, a member of the foreign relations committee, who recently travelled to ukraine and met with president zelensky. thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. we appreciate it. let's start with this breaking news. your reaction to the administration 's reaction that they will be moving in more troops. what is your reaction and the timing of it? >> i think it's a response, not just to russian aggression in the ukraine but to what we're hearing from the allies in eastern europe and the baltic nations in poland, in romania about their concerns about russia and nato's concerns about russia. and ironically, what putin is doing now is he claims that he wants to reduce tensions along his western border. the eastern border of ukraine. but in fact, what he's doing is

escalating the tensions in a way that's getting a response from nato and uniting nato in ways totally ant thetical to what he's been hoping to accomplish. >> you heard richard engel make the point that president zelensky says okay. good start but the troops do not go far enough. we need more sanctions. i know that's being debated on capitol hill. would you support imposing sanctions in an effort to deter putin? in other words, before he moves into ukraine. >> the bill being worked on in the foreign relations committee by the chair and ranking member would have some pre-emptive sanctions go into effect now, based on the aggressive actions that russia has already taken. but if we edo all the sanctions now, then we take that off the table as a deterrent for vladimir putin. i think we need to make it very

clear what the consequences of their actions. it's important we work with allies to present a united front with both nato and the transatlantic alliance to what putin is doing. what we're seeing is a replay of what vladimir putin did in georgia in 2008. a replay of what he did in crimea in seizing crimea and going in 2014 and it's the same playbook. so, we know what's coming and we need to work together to deter and let him know that he's going to be held accountable. >> on this issue of making him feel pain now though, is he feeling enough pain from the u.s. from the united states nato allies at this moment? are the troop movements enough? >> we don't know that yet, obviously. what russia and putin decides to do is totally in the hands of vladimir putin. he's been given an off ramp to

go a diplomatic route to avoid blood shed, to avoid sending russian troops home in body bags and the question is will he take it? and does he listen to anyone? or is he sitting in sochi totally isolated, just doing what he thinks he wants to do and not paying any attention to what the impact would be on the russian people? >> and in terms of the timeline, i know we cannot know, again, as we have all stressed what is inside president putin's head but there's a theory he may wait until after the olympics. because he has this meeting with president xi. do you think that is something that is a possibility? what's your take on that theory? >> you know, i can't get into vladimir putin's head. but what i think we've got to continue to do is work on pointing out what the deterrents are to his taking action. that's why bipartisan legislation in congress is going to be very important and showing

him there's bipartisan support for ukraine and opposition to what he's talking about doing. it's why continued diplomatic efforts are so important. why the actions of nato and the work with our allies is so important. and we've got to keep doing that and hope that at some point he may get the message that what he's planning to do is not only not in the interest of ukraine and europe but it's not in his self interest or the interests of russia. >> very quickly. because i want to ask you about afghanistan. but how quickly can we expect -- i know you talked about the bipartisan effort to potentially get the sanctions package through. how quickly do you think you can move on that? >> what we've heard from the chair and ranking member is they're on the one-yard line in terms of an agreement. hopefully that happens in the next day or so. i think as soon as the package is done, there will be an effort to move it in the senate and

hopefully the house will take it up. >> national security council this morning responding to an axios report that talk about leaked documents inside the situation room and a lack of preparation over the withdrawal from afghanistan and saying cherry-picked notes do not reflect the months of work that went into the withdrawal. what is your reaction to this latest reporting? and are you satisfied with what we have seen in the wake of the withdrawal? has din there been enough attention on women and children? >> no. i think we need to do more to think about how we can support women and girls in afghanistan. and it's no secret that i was not supportive of the president's decision to withdraw and was uncomfortable with the way that was carried out. but at this point, what we need to do is find out what went

wrong and what was done right about that evacuation. what are the lessons that we can carry forward? that's why a commission that has been sponsored by senator duckworth and a number of other folks, myself included, is important to make sure we don't make the same mistakes in the future. >> and to put a fine point on it, do the leaked documents we have now seen underscore your concerns about how the withdrawal was carried out? >> they do. >> all right. thank you so much for your insights. we really appreciate it on a very busy news day. coming up. closing in. the january 6th committee grilling the leader of the oath keepers and top aids to mike pence. what do they hope to learn? pence. what do they hope to learn

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and on the capitol they're questioning oath leader rhodes. he's been charged for his alleged role in the riot and expected to plead the fifth. this a day after former aid to mike pence testified to the panel for nearly nine hours. last week the committee heard from pence chief of staff mike short. joining me to discuss all of this. politico national correspondent and chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney and fbi official. i want to start with you on capitol hill. get us up to speed. what are we anticipating they're going to be teasing out? >> probably not much is the reality here. rhodes is testifying from in federal custody and his attorney has said he's expected to plead

the fifth on those questions. not hard to see why they would want to talk to rhodes. he's one of the most seriously -- any january 6th defendant. he's been charged with seditious conspiracy. excuse me. he links the violence inside and outside the building with the broader, as the committee believes, to overturn the election results. he's a linchpin character in the whole drama. unclear how much information he's going to be able or willing to bribe given he has charges over his head and an attorney saying he won't be talking much. >> another big character on that day. former vice president, mike pence. any idea if or when he may talk to the committee? >> i talked to a committee about this yesterday who said they were facing this very seriously. given the fact i think they're

pretty clear eyed about what would be his presumed unwillingness to talk. they've got some of his closest aids, including mike short. he would have been involved in any decision pence was making in the lead up to this. in every meeting and with the vice president on that day, on january 6th. for it's possible the committee may decide they don't need mike pence's testimony but they're going to be very careful about how and when they formally ask for it, if indeed they do. >> if they do, all eyes will be on the former president and what happens there. let's talk about this term and prosecutors say as early two days after the election, saying, quote, we aren't getting through this without a civil war. then in late december, he messaged we need to make those

senators very uncomfortable with all of us only being a few 00 feet away. talk about how rare the charge of seditious conspiracy is. >> it is rare. not a lot of people are trying to use force and violence to overthrow the government of the united states, kristen. like lots of sachutes,s all kifrant ways to violate it. as i mentioned. force to overthrow the government is one way. but that's now how these particular conspirators are charged. they're charged with using force or violence to hinder or impede or thwart a -- the electoral vote act and the constitution by trying to prevent the vote counting. so, it's not an overthrow of the government. but you find the same language thing statute.

i would be careful about trying to draw lines from a seditious conspiracy case from a decade or three ago to this one. every case rises and falls on its own set of facts, as this one will. >> i think that's a really important point. you're basically saying what has happened in the past, this is a unique circumstance, that even though time this is tough to prove, give us more information on what specifically you need. and he has to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt to a unanimous jury. but more to the point, what happened in the past doesn't prevent what will happen in the future. if the government loses a case, it may not lose another one. it turns on the facts, the jurors, the witnesses, the prosecutors, defense attorneys.

this is a fact-intensive case. if the government can dedeuce in court what it alleged in the indictment, which i have read carefully, i think it has a very strong case. i wouldn't look to old cases to predict what will happen in this one. >> let me turn to you. this comes against the back drop of former president trump speaking out quite a bit. he's taking a swipe at one of the closest allies. senator lindsey graham for pushing back after mr. trump dangled pardons for january 6th rioters. >> well, lindsey graham's wrong. he's a nice guy. lindsey's wrong. these people are being treated horribly. some are being treated very unfairly. yeah, i would absolutely give them a pardon. >> betsy, what's the reaction been, the potential implications? >> the fact that the former president, who's widely expected to run for re-election in 2024,

seems to be calculating that coming out on this basically pro-january 6th perpetrator side is good politics is something that is generating quite a lot of head scratching. remember, the day after the january 6th attack, trump gave remarks saying -- trying to disavow what happened. saying the people who violently broke in didn't represent him. i obtained a first draft of the remarks, the select committee also has. within less than 24 hour thoufz tack, people were putting words in front of trump knew what happened on january 6th was really, really bad. the fact that now, just over a year out, you have the former president suggesting that you grant clemency to these people is really something else. >> great analysis all around. garret haake, and chuck rosenberg, thank you very much. appreciate it.

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now to very big news for parents of the youngest kids all across the country. pfizer officially requesting the fda to authorize two doses of the coronavirus vaccine for kids under five. an fda advisory group will meet on the 15th to begin the request and evaliatory review process. we could see little kids get their first shot at the end of the month. joining me is former president obama policy advisor. thank you so much. really appreciate your joining us. let's start -- let's start with the breaking news. some people were surprised this is happening now. a lot of people remember in pfizer's clinical trial the two doses failed to produce the hoped for immune response in kids age two and under five and the company is still waiting on data about the third dose. so, why did they submit this

snow can you help us understand the timing? >> first all of, the dose was low and -- it did seem to have an effect on kids six months to two years of age and protect them. that is pretty important for the youngest children. and you're right. there wasn't overwhelming response of protection from two to five. but there weren't serious side effects either. i think that has motivated them and they're going to continue the trial to the third dose. we'll see what the committee says. it's a little surprising approach. but i think they're trying to get as many people vaccinated as possible. it didn't make it any worse and with a third dose, may substantially protect children. >> let me follow up with you there. you say it's a surprising approach but are you confident that, if approved, this is the right course to take?

>> if i were a parent of kids two to five, i think what i would like to know is do they need a slightly higher dose? and maybe the third dose will be enough to excite the immune system to protect children? and that i think is the confusing thing in this application. >> and of course -- >> if i had a kid, six months to two years i, think the answer, from my preliminary look at the data, the answer is that probably is a good thing. >> okay. the big question is going to be how many people are going to actually give their kids these shots and a new stud a eby the family foundation found study numbers just 31% of parents of kids under five say they'd vaccinate right away. 29% say they're going to wait and see. 26% say definitely will not vaccinate their young kids.

your reaction to these numbers and what can health officials, what can the white house do to instill confidence for these parents and families? >> well, look, this repeats what we've seen in older kids, five and above, where we know the vaccine does protect very well. and there we still have under 50%, i believe, of the children vaccinated and that's a serious problem for the contry. parents have to be more willing. i think they hear some of the rare side effects and think they're very common. with the omicron variant, kids are either going to get the vaccine or they're likely to get a serious condition of omicron. having omicron with the vaccine is almost invarably being to be better and safer for children. i am confused about parentsed aitude. five and above seems like no brainer.

two and five, i understand the hesitancy. two and under, i think, with the small dose, probably a very good idea. >> very quickly. we're starting to see cases fall as much as 90% in some areas. can we hope it does continue? confident are you? >> i think we can expect it to continue. but are we going to have a new variant some time? and second of all, are we going to have a situation where people rip off their mask, do lots of things prematurely and then spread this to people not infected. and we should remember they're coming down in parts of the country but not the whole country and it's much of a patchwork in the country. >> as a parent of a seven-month old, i appreciate your perspective on this a day. thank you so much. we will. thank you.

well, to the weather now. 100 million americans across 19 states are under a winter weather alert for what could be the biggest storm of the season with snow, ice and dangerous conditions unfolding across over 2,000 miles of the country, stretching from mexico to the northeast. joining us from detroit, michigan, where the governor says residents should stay inside and prepare for difficult and potentially dangerous it looks pretty heavy. bring us up to speed. how is everyone holding up? how are prep going? >> reporter: things seem to be holding up fairly well. that's because earlier this morning it was rain and we're just starting to get the full transition into the snow. i mean, if you saw me in the last hour, now you have a little something there. you have forecasters saying and you can see anywhere from seven to ten inches.

but you're talking about areas from chicago, st. louis and all of that is heading this way. and that's why you have leaders here saying folks, it's time to stay off the road. threat snow storm came come through. you mention more than 100 million americans are feeling the snow storm. in chicago, you already have hundreds of flights cancelled, hundreds of school systems across the areas. nine states already closed or switched to virtual learning and then the concern of what happens further south. in texas wr they're going to deal with cold temperatures and possible ice. just a year ago we saw that lead to power outages and deaths. there's hope that doesn't happen this time around with the massive storm system. >> hard to believe so much of the country is dealing with so much of a storm after the

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president biden met on tuesday with two top senators on the judiciary committee to discuss the upcoming supreme court nominee and gain bipartisan support. they met with the president and vice president in the oval office, as some republicans criticized president biden's decision to name a black woman to the high court. joining me is who co authored the justice's final book "justice justice how the shalt pursue a life's purpose for a more perfect union." and susan page, washington bureau chief for u.s.a. today. susan, i want to start with you.

the president's been very clear he does want to win over bipartisan support for the nominee and looks like he might need it given we learned democratic senator suffered a stroke. chuck schumer literally doesn't have a working majority right now without luhan. so, will the biden administration be able to get republicans on board, particularly from what we heard from lindsey graham over the weekend. he seemed supportive of some of the president's picks. >> senator luhan, we hope he gets better fast, could slow the process. we don't know how long his recovery will take. we think later this spring we're going to ask for a vote. if he doesn't have republican support, they will not be able to move the nomination or anything else with only 49 democratic senators. it's going to slow down other things, other than the nomination. i think the white house is

optimistic they'll get some republican support for their nominee for the high court. afterall, we think one of the leading candidates is judge jackson on the d.c. court of appeals. she got three republican votes when she came up just recently in the conformation hearings. but luhan's illness definitely is one more part that makes this process difficult for the white house to pursue. >> and it's already a complicated process. eugene, as you know, senator ted cruz over the weekend, among those criticizing the president's pledge to nominate a black woman on the supreme court. i'm going to play the exchange. >> the number of republicans as you know and have been asked about have spoken out about the

president's pledge to pick a black wupen. how do you respond to cruz? >> he had no objection to donald trump saying he'd naupinate a wupen in 2020. no objection at all. in fact, he praised her on the grounds, during her conformation hearing quote i think you're an amazing row mod for lit gurs. what advice would you little girls. >> he seeps not to speak for many republicans. donald trump who had no prob leadership suggesting to

nominate a wupen. i think much of the pushback has been about so often peep seep not to understand the real value and represent aation and he's trying show how it can happen without compromising integrity and requirements for a person to fill this seat. >> you worked on justice breyer's nomination at the justice department. take us behind the scenes. what actually happened after president biden's does choose his nominee? we heard former senator doug jones, is going to be one of the shurpaus having him go around capitol hill, have meetings with various centers. what does that process look like? >> it's extensive. it involves outreach to the senators, obviously. management of the press. but most importantly preparation

of the hearings. it will go on in coordination with the white house and justice department and it involves pouring over every aspect of the nominee's writings. for example, judicial opinions. if she's written and given speeches or articles. all of that will be poured through because senators and their staff are doing the same thing. and preparing the nominee for the extensive questioning that happens during the hearings. >> and i know those sessions are very extensive as well. those mock hearings often held to prepare a nominee for the supreme court. fantastic information. thank you all so much. we do have some breaking news from the january 6th committee. where nbc news has just confirmed that former department of justice official is meeting with the committee this afternoon .

he met but failed to cooperate after claiming privilege to avoid answering questions. he played a key role in president trump's attempt to overturn the election. and franchise legend and defensive star joined craig melvin to announce that the commanders will be taking the field in september. washington is keeping the color scheme. so, any man caves across the greater d.c. will not need to be repainted. an exciting announcement on "today" show. striking parallels. now she's raising concerns about russia. joining me next. shw e's raisingt russia joining me next. (coughing)

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as we have been reporting

the pentagon announced today it is deploying 3,000 u.s. troops to eastern europe, but stressing these troops will not be going to fight in ukraine. joining me now is democratic congresswoman chrissy houlahan. who serves on the armed services committee. she just returned from a trip to ukraine as part of a bipartisan investigation. congresswoman, thank you for joining me. let's start with this breaks news. what is your reaction to the pentagon's announcement today? and is this the right time to send in more troops? >> i believe it's fairly consistent what i saw on the ground. we were able to visit with eu and allies and nato with ukraine and the administration and the president. what i heard as part of that trip is that eu and nato are very much united but there is a concern that so goes ukraine. so the rest of the eastern part of that area also might go, frankly, to the european

continent. so i think this is most likely to be the right thing to do, for the president to make sure we're calming, rather than provoking the incident even further. >> president of ukraine wants the u.s. to go even further. they want to see some sanctions now. not all of them, but some sanctions. should vladimir putin be feeling more pain right now? do you want to the see sanctions right now? >> so, i was able to sit as part of this bipartisan legislation with president zelensky. and he did indeed ask for sanctions to happen now. good people can absolutely disagree on what the right path is but what i believed in the conversations that we had as a delegation is that it is most likely the best path to work in unison with the european allies and with the eu and nato. and the idea there is not to move forward unless there is a provocative measure. or a triggering mechanism. to this point, we have not seen

that triggering mechanism. >> i want to ask you about a piece you quote in "the hill" with mark green. it is entitled ukrainian democracy is under siege. and why america should care. >> thanks for asking about that, and it really is an important statement that we can make in this particularly divided time when a democrat and republican and bipartisan delegation can go overseas and come back with the same conclusion, we as americans care very much what happens to ukraine. they're the tip of the democratic sphere. we've seen this play before in the past century and we know there's a vulnerability there in ukraine, if they tip, so does the rest of the area, possibly the continent. we know covid right now, we know if one side of the world sneezes or coughs, the other side might get covid. i think there's an analogy here

to the democracies that we prize and value in the world. including america. >> we heard a defiant president putin yesterday who essentially said the united states and nato had not met their demands in their response to russia. we asked the white house about that, jen psaki was very clear, she said there's still room for diplomacy, and all sides say, and yet the war of words continue. is there room for diplomacy? >> i absolutely believe there is and that the consciences are ongoing between not only the united states and russia but our allies and russia and beyond. so this is something that we can hope for that our diplomatic ties and diplomatic channels will work because the alternative is enormously worrisome. one of the people i talked to who is the ambassador, i believe it was estonia, was talking

about this was looking similar to world war ii. the last time we've seen things like this in terms of buildup. >> very quickly, you're getting a briefing on ukraine. what do you expect to hear? what do you want to hear tomorrow? >> so, ideally, i'm expecting to hear there's some progress and daylight in terms of the conversations, the diplomatic conversations. but more importantly, i'm hoping that my colleagues who weren't able to go on those trips who may be reticent with more information are able to attend and hear the same things i was able to hear in person, on the ground. so i'm very much hoping that other people are able to attend. >> congresswoman chrissy houlahan, thank you very much for your perspective having just returned from ukraine. that does it for this edition o. remember to follow us, c todd and "meet the press daily" starts right after this. "meet

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