plus, i will be joined in just a few minutes by a man who is currently suing a handful of donald trump's inner circle, accusing them of running an intimidation and retaliation campaign against him after he became a whistleblower and key witness in donald trump's first impeachment. then, we will introduce you to one of the moms who organized together and fought back against attempts to remove a book about racism from a school reading list. spoiler alert, the moms won. you will want to hear about how they did it, and pushed back against book banning in america. velshi starts now. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> good morning, it is sunday, february the 6th. i am ali velshi. we've been calling in the insurrectionist former president, and the failed former president, both being accurate descriptions for the reality tv host turned 45th president of the united states. now, we are learning we could add another moniker, shredding former president. let's call him the shooter for

the moment. that is not about his guitar skills, or his downhill skiing skills. this morning's washington post describes the former president of chauvin with shredding paper, including briefings, schedules, articles, memos both sensitive and mundane, all in violation of the presidential records act. it adds quote, the ripping was so relentless, that trump team implemented protocols to try to assure that he was abiding by the presidential records act. aides from either the office or the staff secretary or the oval office operations team would come in behind trump, to retrieve the piles of torn paper that he left in his wake. then, staffers from the white house office of records management were generally responsible for jigsaw-ing the documents back together, using clear tape. this is important, and a timely new reporting as the former president's documents are set to open up the elect committee of the january 6th attack for

the national archives. the national archives also sending over on march 3rd, the former vice president, mike pence it's documents, who less than two years ago offered's most public repudiation of the insurrectionist. trump is wrong, when he says pence has the right to unilaterally overturn the results of the election, while also seeming to acknowledge that the big lie is a threat to democracy. as i mentioned, the house select committee continues its work investigating that dark day, to also quote pence and. this morning's new york times says in an effort to break the impasse of at least 16 trump associates, family and others who simply refused to cooperate or even appear so far with no repercussions, the committee is employing an aggressive strategy using tactics more commonly reserved for criminal cases involving mobsters and terrorists than a congressional inquiry. that is important to note that the january six committee in

investigative committee has no authority whatsoever to pursue criminal charges. however, it appears set on a strategy of, unofficially building cases for the attorney general. merrick garland. and trying to convince him to pursue criminal charges. of course, if these become a criminal case, those refusing to a cooperate will be forced to under threat of arrest and prosecution, participate. private times quote, armed with reams of telephone papers and metadata, they used a data mapping technique, the former fbi agent says was key to identifying terrorist networks in the years after the september 11th attacks. the fbi says it used a similar tactic last month to identify the seller of a gun to a man in texas, who took hostages at a synagogue. but that is not all. quote, investigators have taken a page out of organized crime prosecutions and quietly turned at least six lower level trump staff members into witnesses

who provided information about their bosses activities. the public hearing phase of the january six committee's investigation has been pushed back. it is now set for late april or early may. as representative jamie raskin says, those who have avoided cooperation, quote, they have sand bagged us enough. meanwhile, the former president, the shredder, let's call him, faces legal trouble and a hose other friends from new york investigations to civil suits. now, the retired lieutenant colonel, alexander vindman, who played a central role in the first impeachment of donald trump is suing donald trump jr., rudy giuliani and two other trump white house aides. he is accusing them of conducting an intimidation and retaliation campaign against him, which not only had quote, severely, deeply personal ramifications for vindman, but quote, left a stain on our democracy. joining me now is the retired

general colonel alexander lippman. colonel, good to see you. as i just alluded to, you are the former nsc director for eastern europe, the caucuses and russia. in a moment, a lot to get to that. you're also a member of the remarkable an important book, here, right matters. an american story, a book that is particularly informative as we await a russian invasion of ukraine. first, let's talk about the stuff that you are talking about, the damage that you faced as a whistle blower. you heard donald trump make some sort of a deal, offer some sort of a deal to the president of ukraine. you admitted we went to your brother at the white house, whom you confided, and understood you had to do something to fix this. but you knew in that moment you would suffer for it. >> absolutely. frankly, you can set aside the facts of the first impeachment, the phone call, as the so-called perfect phone call, just the mere intimidation and

retaliation against an official, for doing wrongdoing, from personal channels, both through classified channels, and behind the scenes, and one called to testify, while being subjected to intimidation is wrong. it is part of this whole tapestry of wrong, criminal violations of regulations and so forth that we saw unfold throughout the entirety of the trump administration. but in this case, it also has a long lasting, chilling effect. other officials that have, but an understanding of wrongdoing, but witnessed these kinds of events were intimidated as well from coming forward. so it has a chilling effect on just the good governance. and then the basic notion of rules based society, where officials can attend to their duties without fear of reprised by anybody. that's why we brought the suit under the ku klux klan act,

because what you have here in this situation, this evident abuse of power, evident retaliation by the administration against an overthrow, both in my case and for other officials. >> but title of your big book, here, right matters, if no one heard your testimony during the impeachment, they might not know what that means. but it was a phrase that you used in your introduction. you were addressing your, father who had taken you from the ukraine to america as a young child for a better life. and the point to your dad was don't worry about me, i know that you think this is dangerous what i have done, but here in america, doing the right thing matters. i am doing the right thing. it matters. the implication, is that justice prevails. and in your case, you are marking this lawsuit because, justice is not completely prevailed. it does make it hard to be a whistleblower. it makes it hard to be the person who stands up against corruption, because it did hurt

you. how did it hurt you, personally. >> an excellent point. sometimes there is a simplistic notion, that just because you do the right thing, the skies part, the sun shines down, that is not the case. there were significant costs, to my career. basically, i continued on as a military officer, i thought a dear friend promotion to colonel, his future, how it will continue to contribute to the u.s. national security, that's something that i had to give up, was forced to because of retaliation by the former administration, by the president and really, his enablers. we are going after those enablers, because without them, he is a hollow man, not capable of realizing his plots. but we should recognize, oftentimes, doing the right thing has to be, should be a choice based on the merits. not because you are going to get a reward, he will suffer severe consequences, especially if it is an important situation, like i had to experience.

you just have, to be able to live with the consequences. in my case, i am following through. it's not just but you have, but what is right matters here, i will make things better, i will make right matter, follow-through, and hold these officials accountable. >> what does success look like for you? you actually had to leave the army. you probably would have been in a higher position in the army, had you not done what you did already. but what else does right look like to you right now? >> frankly, the question of restitution, it is a back burner, that is years away. for me, success is discovery. now, we are learning a lot about what the administration did to records, through witness testimony. and, there was a far right legal analyst who said, discovery is going to be lit. thinking, i have nothing to hide. i am relishing discovery, i am

relishing the opportunity to show my cards and see what the other side has. because that is where we will see a mountain of wrongdoing. but we are now just seeing the tip of the iceberg. there's so much to be discovered about all of the conspiracies and wrongdoings, the intimidation against other folks. i am looking forward to exposing all of that corruption. >> i have come to know you, sir. i would not want to be on the other side of this equation. thank you for joining us this morning, retired lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, a former national security director of eastern europe, the caucuses and russia, the author of an important book, not just of the story and impeachment, because what is going on between russia and ukraine right now. so pick up a copy of here, right matters on american story. for more on this, let's bring in my old friend jeff bennett, now the chief washington correspondent for the pbs news hour, and an msnbc political contributor! i can never introduce jeff bennett on my show, without a big, big smile! it is so good to have you back.

but first, let's talk. let's talk about what's going on with the january six investigation. every week seems like there are developments people like us, follow closely. we've seen massive developments, both at the committee level and at donald trump, who seems to be campaigning, and revving up his base but the big line, mike pence finally came out and said, donald trump was wrong, i didn't have the right to overturn the election, and the center of the two republican members of the committee, it is been a busy, busy, big week. >> yes. it seems like everything is happening at once. in large part, because it really is. i will start with the committee. i think the committee members know that the passage of time is really the enemy of the committee's work product. that is one of the reasons why, when you see the committee playing hardball, trying to get people to sit through interviews, and when they can't, look what they are doing with the trump allies, who are refusing to cooperate.

they're calling them an underling. the calling in vice president mike pence but will they have done is calling mike short, jacobs. they talked to all of the former white house spokespeople, and can't get mark meadows, but i spoke to ben williamson. so the idea is to bring in younger staffers, who don't have the national profile, who don't have the means to afford a law firm to put up obstacles. so in many ways, the question that i have, is is the testimony from folks who were in the room, not necessarily big names, served as a proxy for the testimony, four were my pence, mark meadows, evenly mccarthy's and other folks, sitting members of congress who so far refused to cooperate. >> which is, why my early reference, the idea that sort of the way that they prosecuted gangs, or organized crimes people you can squeeze in work your way up.

>> yes, we have to see if that will be successful. time is the enemy of this committee's work. and if they are trying to have public hearings in a couple of months for now, they want to stream that narrative together in a way that is seamless. in order to do this, they will need to have both the documents and testimony in hand. >> we have seen tweets, responses and statements from republican senators murkowski, romney, cassidy, the republican governor of maryland, larry kogan. probably stronger tweets than i have seen republicans use against republicans because of the censure of liz cheney and adam kinzinger, but i have seen since january 6th, really. this idea that is no fisher in the republican party, no internal battle. sounds like that might be more than you think, there might be more republicans willing to stand up against absolute lies and insurrections then we might have thought. >> i think that is the case. the thing i keep coming back to,

though, is what is the constituency for these tweets, the self professed moderate republicans? certainly is not democrats. it is not even the republican at large. every major poll taken since 2020 shows that majorities of republicans believe the lie donald trump was telling about the election that he lost. even the speech the vice president, former vice president mike pence gave before the federalist society, which as you know is a buttoned up group, a legacy organization. these folks cannot be confused with some of the crazy conspiracists who lay siege to the u.s. capitol. one former vice president mike pence said trump was wrong, i haven't authority to overturn the election, that was not the applause line. the federalist society said -- sat silent for that. they applauded when he said, and kamala harris will not be able to overturn the election in 2024 when we win. so, the republican party has been, i think we made entirely

in one of the cult of personality of donald trump, so when you have folks like larry kogan, and murkowski, romney stating, verifiable facts, i don't think that moves the needle much in terms of where we are right now in our politics certainly, it does speak to officially within the gop, but i don't know what the odds are. my friend always good to see you. thank you for coming back to join me, i have -- i hope we have many more of these conversations like we have in the past. he's a chief correspondent for this -- he's an msnbc contributor, is a great friend to me. we are continuing to break down trump world shredding compulsion at the top of the hour, with former white house official -- its black heritage month, we will dive into the truth behind three fifths compromise, and the situation between ukraine and russia appears to be nearing a breaking point, as new intelligence suggests the invasion could begin. at any point. egin at any point at any point

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we hear about different confederate soldiers and generals, every single year. but then we get to black history month, and we hear about rosa parks, malcolm x, and martin luther king, every single year, for 12 years, as if they were the only three black heroes of the country. >> that was part of a really eye-opening conversation for me, that i had in october, in jackson mississippi, as part of our velshi across america series. you heard, she was only taught about the same three historical figures during black history month. malcolm x, rosa parks, and martin luther king day. appreciation is that, there are a lot more black heroes to discuss. at that and, i want to discuss another pioneer about whom some of you may not know, who had an outsized impact on the quest for civil rights. his name was --

he was born in 1912, raised by quicker, parents who and an early age, instilled in him a long-standing commitment to nonviolence in peace. it was that in her piece, in the support of his grandmother, that allowed him to be comfortable in his own skin, and come out as gay and an early age. as a young adult, he began to focus on socialism through the mentorship of a philip randolph, allotted civil rights activist himself, and labor unionist. together they advocated for workers rights and equality. he spent years traveling across the country, giving speeches, organizing, in hopes of achieving a better america. he spent years doing that, in pursuit of trying to improve the situation, that the situation -- the country is facing. he spent two years in prison for avoiding the world war ii draft, because his pacifist beliefs did not allow him to support the cause. in the early 19 50s, at behest of his mentors, he traveled to alabama to meet with a young up and coming civil rights leader

named martin luther king jr.. he became a close adviser to king, he began teaching him about mahatma gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence, passive resistance to injustice. introduced came to a variety of civil disobedience tactics. those lessons became cornerstones of kings philosophy, and the civil rights movement in the united states. rawlston also organized, or help king organize, the montgomery bus boycott in 19 -- for refusing to relinquish her seat on the bus. king knew rust and was gay, which was tough at the time in america, regardless of color. regardless of his strategy and organizing skills, skills that king had just honed as well. he viewed his sexuality as a liability, it all came to a head at a democratic national convention in los angeles, in 1960. king and him had planned a

march around the event, that would nominate him and lyndon johnson, to protest the democratic parties underwhelming position on civil rights. democratic leaders were upset about the march, so they black -- blocked congressman, to squash it before it started. powell used his sexual orientation as a weapon. he said if he went ahead with the march, he would openly accuse king of having an affair with rustin. feeling -- dealing a crushing blow to the movement as a whole. king gave in, and distance himself from rustin for a while. walter, rustin's longtime romantic partner said at the time, quote, it was a personally painful time for rustin. he was disappointed that dr. king did not stand up for him, or did not have more backbone. but, he said boston did

understand that the motive was political. rustin from the front line for a while, to not distract from the civil rights movement, but reemerged in 1963. once again, working with martin luther king, as the architect of the legendary march on washington, where king delivered his iconic i have a dream speech. the march was much more successful than anyone had imagined, it was a true turning point for both the country, the civil rights movement, and rustin himself. following the success of the march, rustin and king would continue to work together, for several years, until king's death in 1968. from there, rustin continued his role in activism. not only did he remain on the forefront of the fight for civil rights, he became a gladiator in the battle for lgbtq equality until the day he died in 1987. in 2013, he was posthumously awarded the presidential medal of freedom, by president barack obama. it was accepted by his longtime

partner. rustin and history may not be known, but he was important. many historians say, martin luther king junior would have not become the man he was, if not for rustin. he is one of hundreds of black americans who change the country for the better. over the past four centuries. t four centuries t four centuries tually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. - [female narrator] they line up by the thousands. each one with a story that breaks your heart. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... like ravette... every step, brought her pain. their only hope: mercy ships. the largest floating civilian hospital in the world. bringing free surgeries to people who have no other hope.

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pretty high. according to the cook political report, the race is ranked as a toss-up right now. yesterday, the pennsylvanian republican party declined to endorse a candidate in the race, leaving them with little guidance on who to support. in a field of one dozen candidates that includes a tv doctor, hedge fund manager and the former u.s. ambassador to denmark, a lack of party unity may be, well, one of the only things in the state that is bipartisan. because last weekend, pennsylvania democrats also declined to endorse a candidate in the senate primary. now, with me is another democrat running for that senate seat, state representative malcolm kenyatta, who represents philadelphia the pennsylvania house of representatives. also, the first openly gay person of color elected to the pennsylvania general assembly, i believe that you also just got married? >> i just got married yesterday! i'm excited to be with you this morning! >> congratulations! i am not sure how happy your husband's, but you are up first

thing in the morning talking to me. but thank you for being with us, welcome. good to see you. first of all, let me ask you about the parties, is that important to you, whether the democratic party endorses you are not? >> well, what is important to me is that we build a coalition across pennsylvania of people who believe that we need to restore, and extend the basic bargain to every single pennsylvanian. that is the idea, ali, function and access to one good job, so that kids can go to a good school, that they could actually go to a doctor if they get sick, and get a prescription. and you know what? if they could retire, and raise their families in a community that is safe, with clean air, clean water. that is the coalition that we are building. that is really what i am focused on. >> lots of american states are like this, but pennsylvania has got a few urban centers, and a

lot of rural in the middle. how do you build a coalition with people who claim, look, pennsylvania is the state we always go to where we try to describe to america's. how do you describe the coalition, convince people who are not in pennsylvania, pittsburgh, in major centers who faced urban type problems? how do you convince the other people that you are their guy? >> so a big part of it is doing what we have always done. you go everywhere, talk to everybody about how we do in short of the basic bargain, if it is accessible. that means the bargain has to be out of reach for a lot of people. you know what? if you want to talk to working class people about their lives, about the policies we need to see implemented, to make their lives better, which will allow those things that i have outlined to be real in their lives, you know what is helpful? to actually nominate a working person. you have somebody like me in this race, i actually grew up

in one of the working class neighborhoods that we so often say we want to represent. those are the folks we are trying to win. you know what? working people can't speak for ourselves. we don't need a spokesperson for our concern, we don't need anyone concerned for working class -- class, people we need to elect a working class person. that is what i offer in this race. we are going to win at this moment. then we need to have somebody who can put back the coalition that just turned pennsylvania blew, what, last year? maybe two years ago now. you know what, ali, as you know, i was a big part of, that going all across the country, all across pennsylvania as one of the most requested surrogates, not just for the president, but my colleagues, red districts, blue district, purple districts. what i'm talking about now is white working class families care about. >> you say you don't examine cost plane concern in pennsylvania what do you mean by that? >> i think that there are people who we tend, the closer you get to an election, that

they are really focused on working class people. the working class experience, that's what i have. my dad was a social worker, my mom was a home health care aid. they separated when i was young, i lived in six different places by the time that i graduated high school. i've got my first job at 12 years old, washing dishes. and i buried both of my parents by the time i was 27 because they did not have good health care. so there's nobody else in this race who actually understands that in their bones, the way that i do. if you believe like i believe that the senate is broken then, you know what? if we have to fix the senate, we need to change the senate. we need to have somebody who has skin in the game, somebody whose feet are bloody walking over the glass of government's inaction, issues that really matter. that's what our campaign is about. i think we are the only campaign in this race that offers that. folks need a senator who is not just asking for their vote, but who understands their lives. >> pennsylvania, the outcome there could affect the balance of power in the united states

senate. pennsylvania state representative malcolm kenyatta, thank you for joining us this morning, running for a seat in the united states senate. by the way, i got a picture, he was married yesterday. there is malcolm kenyatta, and his longtime partner of five years, matthew. they got married yesterday which i think is five years to the day of their first date. congratulations, malcolm. good to see you, we will continue our conversation. thank you so much and doctorate math for letting me do this right, after our wedding! >> that's, right thank him for that as well! well, yesterday we debuted a new series, the velshi band book club, to highlight ligature that's being challenged or banned across the country. coming, up hundred woman who's part of a group of black texas moms who fought back against a book ban. the outcome might surprise you. a book ban the

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(music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ inner voice (kombucha brewer): i'm dramatically holding this bottle, so the light hits it just right, and people think... wow... ...he knows what he's doing... ...when i'm actually pretty lost with my payroll taxes. intuit quickbooks helps you manage your payroll taxes. cheers. 100% accurate payroll tax calculations guaranteed. >> it is black heritage month, let's get a quick but important history lesson on the three fifths compromise, from friends or imani barry's incredible new book, south to america.

the three fifths compromise is of course, the language once tried in the constitution, stating each enslaved person counted as three fifths of a person, for purposes of taxation and representation in congress. that is the part you probably remember from tenth grade american history. here's the part you might not have learned in school. quote, the enslaved, the three fifth clause explains, where property and people both. the logic that followed was insincere. as people, they must have some form of representation, but of course the three fifths clause was not representation of the enslaved at all. this is what it doesn't say. we believe in amplifying the representation of those who have dominion over other souls, and this is why those individuals must count for more in our government. it is not the case, as some argue, that the clause was a term of art meaning that black people counted for three fifths of the person, they did not count at all.

rather, slave holders were made large people by virtue of holding others as slaves, and quote. professor perry goes on to know that three excuses were all probably heard by folks who would rather not hold our founding fathers accountable for the three fifths compromise, or the institution of slavery. quote, there are three kinds of apologetic's for this disingenuous argument. one, they operated out of political necessity. to, they were men of their time and three, their version to the word slaves means that they didn't really like slavery, but they found themselves in a bind. the truth is, values are never necessities, they are priorities, choices, modes of self creation. whatever the intentions, this is the world the founders made. and a quote. this is the world the founders made. so, making black people three fifths of a person elaborate more representation in congress,

where slave states, slave holders, but zero representation, zero equality, zero justice or liberty, for any of the enslaved black people. in an intrench society, an economy, holding dependent upon the enslavement of human beings. a world where the enslavers were able to use the people they kept in bondage, to tighten the grip on power in the federal government. this is just one truth in history lesson from imani perry's new book, south to america. a journey below the mason-dixon line, to understand the soul of a nation. and there's more to come, because in monte perry join to later the show, along with the new yorker, jelani cobb, to talk about so many americans, why they are so resistant to learning and accepting the truth about the founding of this country. about the founding o about the founding o this

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ban the book stamped, racism, anti-racism and you buy the black authors jason reynolds and abram ex candy. is a young adults adaptation of the book stamp, from the beginning, the definitive history of racist ideas in america, which won the national book awards for non fiction in 2016. the women of round rock at the ground running, knocking on doors, organizing. they were able to amass 3600 signatures for a change.org petition. the book continues to be taught in that school district, to this day. joining me now is one of his parents, qiana pits, founder in chief community catalyst of the round rock black parents association. miss pits, thank you for being with us this morning. tell me about this. how do you come across this idea to mobilize in order to stop the banning of books? >> well, we had a great teacher in our district that started the petition and brought it to our attention that hey, they

are banning books and you know that is not something that our community had wanted, you know. so we got behind the teacher and said, how can we support the effort that had already been started? so, we rallied our people together, our black families, we rallied the anti racist in our area, we have a group called anti-racists coming together. we teamed up with educators in solidarity, and all of these are anti-racist organizations. so we hit the ground running with letter writing to our school board. we had the petition, we mobilized in all of our spaces, and we just kind of kept it on the ground. >> tell me about what rationale was provided for removing this book from the school list? >> well, you know, what was crazy is mainly, it was based around having white children

feel bad or ashamed of some sort. so my question to that was, well how do our black children feel when we can't talk about race, class and this book was giving children the tools that they need to understand where could racist ideas come from, and how they are still impacting us today in america, in our daily lives, and how we come together and be better to become more anti racist. so that baffled me, that there was a concern about how white children would feel. >> have you ever encountered that? have you ever gotten into conversations with people who say, i don't want my kid to feel guilty for something they did not do. >> well, yes. and when i say that it is because, there are people who were very vocal and our school board meetings. and it was all about the feelings, it's not something that should be discussed at school. and i was like, well, where is

the conversation going to be had? because it is just the continuation of this culture of non acceptance, of banning black voices, black existence. that is what it felt like to me, why do we have this group of parents pushing back. we are only 9% black children in our school district. and you are pushing back against our voices, our experiences, us trying to tell you what it is like to live in america. >> so we have this conversation about the floundering of democracy in america, i ask experts who study this in other countries. they always say, people have to get involved, get involved at the most local level. attend school board meetings. vote in local elections and run for school ward, city council. what is next for the round rock black parents association? is this some way to be more involved in the decision-making so it does not need to be about petitions and organizing, but in fact, being right there at the front lines of the

decision-making? >> yes. that is part of why our organization started. we wanted to hold our district accountable for the academic outcomes of black children, as well as a disciplinary outcomes. so we have uplifted our community, we mobilized to getting them on two committees. in the pita, they are active on watchdog, just like any of the other local committees within our school district, we are trying to mobilize, educate our community about how to get on to those positions. we have people, walk them through the process of getting them onto the school board, what that looks like. and how you can serve in these positions, in this capacity. but it is very important to show up at school board meetings. >> what a great lesson in democracy, and the basic preservation of democracy. i hope in my travels, when i come around and have conversations with people, i

can come to round rock and meet with all of you. thanks for everything that you have done. keiawnna pitts is the founder and chief community catalyst for the round rock black parents association. now shifting gears, heading overseas with the newest intelligence indicates russia could start to invade ukraine in a matter of days. the consequences could be catastrophic. latest, ahead. ld b catastrophic catastrophic latest if you've been playing down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day,... ♪ ...it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. ♪...and i'm feelin' good. ♪ no once-daily copd medicine... has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia,

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previously thought, based on overnight reporting from nbc's pentagon correspondent, courtney kube, it could happen in days. according to a u.s. official, with direct knowledge of the u.s. government intelligence assessment, russia now has 70% of what it needs to achieve a full scale invasion of ukraine. and that operation could include capturing kyiv, ukrainian capital in the early days of the invasion, has a show of strength. the u.s. government predicts that russia could be at full operational capability around february 15th, which is about nine days away. the official cautions that russian president vladimir putin has not yet made a final decision on when to move into ukraine, but apparently quote, the window for diplomacy is closing. russia, i should note, is dismissing this reporting as madness and scaremongering. now, joining me to discuss all of this is nola hay, a professor of science and international relations at parodying university. it's 2021 u.s. national

security in florida first leader at senate's first to check an international study, and a director of women of color advancements, and security. thank you for being with us, professor haynes. i did want to ask about something. russia says, we have troop movements, we are allowed to move them anywhere we want within our country. and this is all nonsense. except we have seen intelligence reports that they are moving hospitals, they are moving blood supplies, things don't move into position for training exercises. >> exactly. it is the logistical infrastructure, frankly, that has me more worried than anything. it is one thing that russia could claim, we are moving troops within our own borders and territories which is still under dispute. but it is a logistical infrastructure with the hospitals, tents are being built, communications equipment, they can see from satellites. it's definitely a worsening situation, it is quite serious. >> however, vladimir putin is a master of manipulation. so, it could be that there is

some speculation, there is no attack planned, but that he really enjoys the fact that these conversations are going on all over the place, the united states and nato are very concerned he has the capability, within nine days, of fully invading and taking ukraine. >> absolutely. you know, we have to keep in mind, who vladimir putin is. he was a former kgb operative. he was alive during the ussr, which celebrated its 100th anniversary, to celebrate the revolution. its 20th anniversary that the fall was celebrated. he wants to recapture and reclaim land. we have seen this before in 1939, we have seen these claims of lost territory. we have to understand, vladimir putin is a genius at misinformation, disinformation and manipulation. and we are seeing that. most of the russian people believe that the united states, that we are the aggressor, we are the ones causing this.

so in terms of his skill set, being a master manipulator, absolutely. he was definitely engaging in misinformation and disinformation. >> you brought up something interesting that our viewers might not know a lot about you, you mentioned 1939, and the idea of extending protections, an umbrella protection to people who live in lost territory. the germans did this. they said, we have to go to some of these countries, because it's a german speaking population, it's a german land. they lost sense at some point, because they were in friends and places like that, that had nothing to do with germans. but russians are doing, that they do this with the baltic states, they were talking about it in eastern ukraine, belarus, these russian speaking populations in those places that they need to protect. >> absolutely. it's just an excuse, it's this kind of mid this sizing around that identity, that russia needs to go in and protect russian-speaking people in these territories and these

lands, which is completely ridiculous. once again, it is putin's master manipulation tactic. and again, we have seen this, we have seen this with hitler, with this kind of rhetoric, not to say they necessarily share similar ideologies, but we have seen this tactic. the one thing i will say they give me some sort of relief is that we are not dealing with chamberlain in the 30s, and this particular situation. when people asked the question well, what is the buildup about? president zelensky was saying something, vladimir putin says something like we are the ones that are wrapping this up. well, you have to understand is, and put it in a historical context, this has happened before. and we cannot allow russia to invade a sovereign country, period. >> we appreciate your time and analysis, nola haynes is an adjunct professor of science and international relations at pepper dining university. go nowhere, there's plenty more you need to know before you get going on this sunday morning, i want to discuss the state of the economy, and who it is not working for, with congresswoman

barbara lee. another hour of velshi begins, right now. another hour of velshi good morning, 9 am in the east, 9 am out west. i am velshi, hard to underestimate how donald trump is still out of office, yet present in the landscape. is rampant lies about the election and the attempted coup that led to the attack on the capitol on january 6th, has turned the old party into a shadow of its former self. it has gone to the point that january 6th, is now being called legitimate political discourse. that was the actual language used in the statement by the republican national committee chairwoman, ronna mcdaniel, after the rnc censored represented it -- liz cheney, for working with democrats to investigate the insurrection. those three words have caused