for. i'll be watching for what her plans are and whether she is ready to kind of step out in a more public area. i think even this award may be a sign that she is ready to do something a little different from what she's done in the past five years. >> all right. and thank you very much. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. i'm stephanie ruhle. we have a lot to get to, so sit down, relax sh and let oogs get smarter. a major move to the fight against covid. multiple states announcing that will drop mask mandates as cases and hospitalizations drop. breaking news at the white house, reports that he bullied

his own staff. republicans trying to distance themselves from the rnc after they dismissed the january 6th insurrection as legitimate political discourse. and documents president trump possibly illegally took from the white house down to mar-a-lago. and a major supreme court ruling that could limit voting rights in one state. we'll dig deeper into that. jo we start with the standoff between russia and the u.s. emmanuel macron met with ukrainian president zelensky one day after macron had a five-hour meeting with russian president vladimir putin. he said it could serve as the basis to end the standoff and agreed to speak to macron later today. back at home, president biden met with german chancellor and again warned of dire consequences for moscow if it invades. a key part of that, cutting off

a gas pipeline that runs from russia straight to germany. >> the notion that nord stream 2 would go forward with an invasion by the russians is just not going to happen. >> on the military front, a western intelligence official tells nbc news that russia should have enough forces in place to take over ukraine in two to three weeks. the official also said that the long they are goes on the less it looks like a bluff. this morning we learned russia is sending half a dozen of its warships to the black sea, adding to the massive military presence still on ukraine's border. president biden said yesterday that any american civilians still in ukraine would be wise to get themselves out. let's discuss. i want to bring in nbc's chief white house correspondent kristen walker, mautz bradley in northeast ukraine, garry kasparov, russian pro democracy leader, chairman of the human

rights town day, and the renewed democracy initiative and of course world chess champion and former u.s. ambassador to ukraine bill taylor now with the u.s. institute of peace. ambassador taylor, on one hand, putin says he's willing to keep talking. on the other hand, you have this official saying that the military buildup is looking more and more like a real thing every day. >> steph, i think president putin wants it to look more and more like the real thing every day. president putin is trying to intimidate president zelensky or president biden into giving president putin what he says he wants, which is some compromise of ukrainian sovereignty. so he's telling his generals, do everything that looks like -- everything you need to make it look like we are ready to invade. and i believe, steph, that he's looking for a way out. i believe he recognizes that the cost of that i know vaccination

-- invasion would be so great it would be a bad mistake for him. it could destabilize his regime. he's looking for a way out, steph, and i think we'll see that. >> gary, what do you think? gary? >> yeah. i tend to agree with the ambassador. there are so many troops on the border, any accident could lead to a real war. and i wouldn't be so confident that putin already made a decision. he's still playing the game, and unfortunately macron's visit to moscow emboldened putin's confidence. he loves these kinds of meetings. he's back at the table. and also that's his dream. while biden was talking to the german chancellor, putin was receiving the french president. i'm still skeptical about a peaceful outcome because as the ambassador pointed out, putin's goal was, is, and will be to

destroy ukrainian sovereignty. whether he does it with tanks, banks, other forms of war remains to be seen. he doesn't accept ukraine as an independent democratic state. >> kristen, biden said if russia invades the nord stream 2 pipeline from russia to germany won't happen. here's what i don't get. that pipeline has nothing to do with the united states. how can we thereto -- threat on the shut it down? >> reporter: that's right. i put that question to administration officials earlier this morning. and they said essentially that both in public and in private chancellor schultz was very clear with president biden that there will not be any daylight between the u.s. and its nato allies and stopping russia if it does move to invade ukraine. so, that is what the administration is saying, but in terms of specifics, they're not giving any. look at what happened at that

press conference yesterday. president biden said definitively that if russia were to move in even one troop that they would cut off the nord stream pipeline, when chancellor schultz was given the same opportunity, he stopped short of being that definitive, steph. and that raised some eyebrows. i was told he was very clear there won't be any daylight if that happens. in terms of the developments overnight, steph, i asked the white house, what is the direction? do they hope there is room for an off-ramp here? they said it's too early to know exactly what transpired in that meeting between president putin and of course the leader of france, president macron. but they are going to be briefed on that throughout the day. they'll be talking to their french counterparts. and we anticipate that we will have some reaction from the white house a little later on today, especially when jen psaki holds her daily briefing. >> gary, how important is this pipeline to putin? will this get his attention?

>> absolutely crucial. yeah. that's his weapon against europe. that's what happened under the leadership. she was very tough with rhetoric. if putin believes that a threat is real, he might reconsider. but as was pointed out, german chancellor dodged this question, maybe in private, i don't know, but in public, he's still not committing for germany to join the european allies to punish putin. >> matt, for days, weeks at this point, we have been talking -- you have been in ukraine saying for the most part the people there aren't that concerned. is the concern growing in any way? are they ready militarily if russia does invade? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, stephanie, that's a great question because at the end of the day what we're talking about is really such a big disparity

between the ukrainian military and the russian military. that's not to say that the ukrainian military is still as bad as it was when russia last invaded back in 2014. they've improved a lot. just this morning i was at a tank factory. what they were doing was taking these old decreditic soviet-era tanks sorpt of left here back when the soviet union collapsed, and refurbishing them and turning them into what they told me were nato-caliber tanks with advanced communication system, and they looked pretty smart. really what we're talking about here is a really big disparity between ukrainian forces and russian forces. that's why when i was speaking with former defense officials here in ukraine, they say they're really prepared not necessarily to fight on an open battlefield. you remember that intelligence assessment a few days ago from the u.s., which said that the russian could take kyiv within 48 hours. the ukrainian officials recognize that and understand the weaknesses of their

military. and their main strategy, i'm told, is going to be operating an insurgency or a guerrilla-style campaign under a russian occupation. this is the most realistic thing they have going because they know with superior airpower and naval forces, the russians will be able to really attack a lot of these positions that are already there along the border for the ukrainians without even necessarily having to enter the country. so, that's why we're starting to see these civilian volunteer forces coming up. there's been a lot of reporting on that from every outlet here. these are civilians learning training, how to fight, essentially the kind of insurgency that has upended american forces in afghanistan, iraq, and this sort of thing is something that vladimir putin will remember. back in the '80s, when the soviet union invaded afghanistan, that was a long war, and eventually the soviet union had to withdraw. a lot of political thinkers say

it was the afghanistan conflict that ended the soviet union itself. so when ambassador taylor was making that point a moment ago but how taxing this conflict might be for vladimir putin and how he may be looking far way out, i think he remembers the soviet union's upending in afghanistan, the grave yard of empires. ukrainians are willing to fight. a recent sur say said more than 50% of ukrainian civilians said they would pick up a gun and fight russians if they came into this country. so really this would be an insurgency rather than a conventional fight that we'd be seeing face-to-face on the border. >> that's what we're look at right now on our screen. ukrainian civilians being trained to potentially go into battle. ambassador, i want to talk to you about china and russia because they basically announced an alliance between their two countries. what do you think about that? do you worry that beijing will stem in to help moscow if the u.s. imposes more sanctions? >> steph, it's very interesting to take a look at that long

release they put out, that the chinese and the russians put out. one thing you notice is they didn't say the word "ukraine." china has a lot of investments in ukraine. china is going to be very hesitant to get involved in that battle. my bet is they're counseling putin not to invade ukraine. we remember, steph, that back in 2014, matt referred to earlier the invasion of 2014 when the russians invaded ukraine. and they went to the security council. we took them to the security council. of course the russians beat the resolution, but the chinese abstained at that time. and my bet is there's a strain there that the chinese are not eager to see the russians invade ukraine. >> gary, what do you think? >> you saw the real putin in

beijing. they put in delegation. they cut the visit from three days to one. if you look at this declaration, it's not an alliance. putin gave everything china wanted including recognition of their rights to taiwan and promised to fight the so-called disinformation about the origin of covid. but china didn't mention ukraine, didn't mention crimea. basically putin is doing china's bidding. the way in beijing demonstrates that xi jinping knows that putin is bluffing. he's seen his cards and knows he has a lousy handle. >> he's got a lousy hand. kristen, what is the white house saying about this potential alliance between china and russia? >> reporter: they have made the point, steph, that diplomacy is key here, not just in terms of

its nato allyings but its other partnerships around the world. and if that diplomacy is ongoing -- in fact, the secretary of state is on his way to australia as we speak. he'll be meeting with leaders of the quad alliance. it's really about keeping up the pressure and making sure they are creating a counterbalance to any type of relationship that could be created between russia -- i should say strengthened between russia and china, steph. >> all right. we'll leave threat. kristen welker, garry kasparov, matt, thank you. coming up next, a number of states dropping mask mandates as cases and hospitalizations fall. very good news. what that means for you and kids in the schools across the country. plus, we'll take you to canada's capital where a state of emergency has been declared and anti-vaccine protests have paralyzed the city. paralyzed the city

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developing this morning, a number of states are ending indoor mask mandates as cases decline. over the last two weeks, new cases are down overall more than 57%, hospitalizations down 22%, but deaths, which are often weeks behind hospitalizations, are up more than 24%. because of this drop in cases, california will end mask mandates for vaccinated people

next week. delaware and oregon by the end of march, and connecticut, my home state of new jersey, lifting mask mandates for schools. gabe gutierrez right here in new york with me, ellison barber in canada covering the vaccine mandate protest, and dr. gupta, a health policy expert. gabe, you got back from visiting two different school districts in ohio taking very different approaches. what did you learn? >> yeah. it came on the same day that several states had announced plans to get rid of their school mask mandates. new jersey, connecticut, delaware. we went to ohio, where two different school districts, one had kept its mask mandate, the other one had let it expire in january. take a look. just outside cleveland, this intermediate school no longer requires masks in classes, only recommends them. how effective has mask wearing been? >> i think it's been very, very effective. >> reporter: of its 550

students, 83 have tested positive this school year. staffing issues also forced the school to close in cement during the omicron surge when masks were optional. >> we have to learn how to live with this. >> reporter: this school, 31 have tested positive. it has not closed due to an outbreak. >> we believe wearing masks is a barrier to try to prevent the spread. >> both school districts told me they're going to wait on guidance from public health officials before they decide the future of their masking policy. the biden administration said yesterday that the cdc still recommends mask wearing in schools, stephanie, but really it's up to the local school districts. thing is, the data is all over the place. there are studies that the cdc has conducted that shows that cases, pediatric cases in school districts have dropped for those that kept their mask mandates,

but there are still questions about not a whole lot of data on the downsides of mask wearing. some parents are concerned that especially for younger children they may not have developed as much because they were wearing masks, couldn't read the language from their teachers. an extremely devicive issue two years into this pandemic. >> i spent time back in december with an elementary school in new jersey talking to students about how they felt wearing masks. here's what i learned. you mind wearing a mask? >> yeah. i don't like it. sometimes it can bother my ears but i wear it for my safety and my family's safety. >> how do you feel about wearing a mask, luca? >> i don't like it because i can hardly breathe. >> i don't mind it at all because i wear it sometimes in the house and i don't even realize it's on me. and then i also wear it outside, too, sometimes. >> that's great. wear a mask, you're extra safe. how do you feel about wearing a mask? >> fine, but kind of annoyed

because when i'm speaking and i have something to say to the whole class, i can't really talk that good. it's, like, blocking the voice. so i have to talk louder, but you never know how you're speaking so it might interrupt more people when they have the door open and never close the door in the classroom. >> i'm so surprised i didn't bring all of those children home with me. but amazingly, i didn't. dr. gupta, do you think it's time for school mask mandates to end napgs wide? i live with kids who are more than willing to wear their mask, and it's my parent who is complain about my children wearing masks, but my kids don't mind it. >> good morning, stephanie. not yet. here in february, not yet. by i think as we proceed, march 15th towards april 1st, which i think will be a watershed moment for the country, where we will

be at an endemic phase based on all forecasts and based on where we currently are right now, we can head to a place where we can safely do that because warmer, more humid air will mean less transmission. we're trending in the right direction. important also to start peeling these back when we can do so safely so come winter time of 2022, concerns about what that may look like, we may have the credibility to institute some of these controls we need to. >> ellison, take us to canada. when we think of canadians, we normally think they're obedient and follow the rules. the rules in canada have been very strict from lockdowns a year ago to curfews, mandates. now you have major protests. what's going on? >> reporter: yeah. just to give you a sense of how many truckers are still here, every kind of way you look, you can see the line of scars to our left, to our right, even if you look down the road just behind us here, you can see even

further. the last estimate from the police chief was he thinks there are still about a thousand truckers here on the ground. this started as a direct response to truckers now being required to be vaccinated for cross-country travel. it has expanded beyond that. if you look just at the number of signs that are here, most people we have spoken to say this is not just about that one vaccine impacting truckers. they say they want they want it for all covid-19 pandemic restrictions. one of the issues in ottawa has been trucks blocking the way but also the noise. horns for the last 11 days. if this sign, they have been doing this all morning because a judge did a ten-day injunction saying they could not honk their horns. this has been the response. they come out and making noise. people say they will be here for months on end if they have to.

the prime minister, he has said this is a small group of people that does not represent most truckers or canadians. listen to what we heard from one of the truckers who has been out here for 11 days. he said it took him seven days just to drive here. listen. >> the nurses, doctors, they've lost their jobs because they won't be vaccinated. we want the airplane service to open up again. we want to be able to travel. >> reporter: as we walk through and talk to people, a lot of people don't like media and have not wanted to speak to us, but they are adamant that they will stay here as long as it takes. you might be wondering why don't the police just come in here and tow some of these trucks out. the city does not have enough tow trucks to pull heavy trucks like this. residents here, noise has been one of the big issues. one person in ottawa said she feels hoping there would be a mediator to come in and do something with this because for

now -- and you can see how far it all goes -- there is an impasse here of trudeau, other leaders saying, hey, this should end, and thousands of people saying we absolutely will not leave. they have gas, food, supplies to stay here much longer. this is day 11, stephanie. >> that one trucker who is sympathetic to nurses and doctor who is lost their jobs because they wouldn't get vaccinated, i wonder how he feels about doctors and nurses who lost their lives taking care of people who wouldn't take necessary precautions. also new this morning, the white house science adviser suddenly resigning after admit heg caused, quote, hurt. i want to go to mike memoli. michael, he caused hurt? what are we talking about here? >> this all goes back to a rather blunt directive president biden issued to his staff within hours of him taking the oval office. he said if he ever witnessed any member of his administration displaying disrespectful behavior toward a colleague, he would fire them on the spot.

well, politico reported that dr. lander was actually the subject of multiple complaints within the office of science and technology policy of demeaning or belittling behavior. initially, a white house investigation backed up those claims but did not recommend firing the doctor. the white house said corrective action would be taken, that his behavior would be monitored. but yesterday jen psaki was really grilled repeatedly. he submitted his resignation last night. this position, the officer of science and technology policy, had not been cabinet level. biden made it a cabinet level position. and he becomes the first member of the biden cabinet to step down. >> step down from a very important role. mike memoli, thank you. coming up, why exactly did donald j. trump, former

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now to the growing tensions within the republican party as it ties itself even closer to former president donald j. trump. senate republicans pushing bab after the rnc voted to censure liz cheney and adam kinzinger, and the rnc calling the january 6th riot legitimate political discourse. president trump took 15 boxes of records when he left office. he had to give them back. leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill, charlie sikes, editor at large with the bulwark, and karen lange, national reporter for "the washington post" and co-author of "i alone can fix it," which is about trump's final year in office, exactly when they took those 15 boxes. we haven't confirmed what is inside them, but your colleagues at the "washington post" report there are some let rs between

trump and kim jong-un. if we don't have these documents, is this just about preserving history or is this a national security issue? and is it legal to take them? >> steph, it's absolutely not appropriate and potentially, depending on your intention, illegal to take them. what's inside these boxes has now been revealed thanks to and kudos to my colleagues at "the washington post," who got not only the scoop on this but also got the national archives to confirm what they reported. what's inside them are the so-called lovelletters as donald trump called them, from kim jong-un, who was writing to president trump as they tried to build a relationship and set up a summit. also inside these boxes are -- is a letter from president obama to then president-elect trump that he left behind in the oval office, a tradition, kind of a charming tradition. it's not a charming tradition

for the president to throw those things in a box and take them home when thr no longer president. in fact, national archives sources have said this was extraordinary and they've not seen anything like it. of course, keep in mind, it's possible to make a mistake here and there. you know, you bring home a record, but this is a pattern of behavior by then president trump, telling people who were taking notes at meetings to rip them up when they were in the oval office. he didn't want a record of whatever they discussed. or he questioned people kind of bitterly in the white house counsel's office, do you really have to take notes? yes, for the presidential records act, it is important to take notes and to store them. you ask the central question, steph, is it dangerous? yes. as historians and political scientists have said before when this story broke, you can leave a next administration flying

blind. when you take these records away, they are left at a disadvantage. they don't know what the north korean leader last said about an agreement, and therefore you could violate an agreement, a gentleman's agreement that two world leaders had. you also could be flying blind on a national security risk or threat that a leader implied or suggested or warned the president about. so these records are serious. it's not just like stuffy history. it's also information and a roadmap for the next presidency. >> so, i remember 2016, charlie, and one of former president trump's favorite ral ral lying cry was hillary clinton and her deleted emails. if she took white house documents out of the white house to her private residence, republicans would throw a fit, open up investigations. should democrats do the same, or are people just over it at this point? what's the right political move?

>> look, i mean, there's a certain irony, of course, because what was that all about? republicans ought to be asking why the hillary email issue was a problem and let's talk about this. here's the reality check. this law, there is no enforcement mechanism. the reason is because it relies on the good faith of the president. it's an honor system. it assumes that the president of the united states will be honorable enough to voluntarily follow this law. what do you get when you have somebody like donald trump who thinks on a regular basis that he is above the law and discovered that he could flout the law without consequences over and over and over again? there's danger of having these laws, which are unenforceable and which donald trump knows that he can ignore. so, yes, this is a very significant issue. carol lays out the consequences of it. but there will be no

accountability for this, and donald trump knows that. yes, democrats should make an issue of it, but, look, they have a lot on their plate right now, and this is like outrage number 972 for donald trump and they're still working their way through the other ones. >> i'm going to talk about outrage number one, because something that is very dangerous, leigh ann, is the rnc calling january 6th legitimate political discourse, then censuring liz cheney and adam kinzinger. how do republicans on the hill feel about this? yesterday the responses were sort of coming in. now we're a few days out. are they stand big the rnc? we know there was nothing close to legitimate political discourse, not on the 6th. >> yes, steph. the senate got back into town last night, and i canvassed nearly a dozen republican senators, including most members of republican leadership, about the two actions by the rnc from last friday. this is the last thing that senate republicans want to be

talking about, the censuring of liz cheney and adam kinzinger and also calling january 6th legitimate political discourse. out of those dozen, here's just a sampling of what they said. let's listen. >> i talked to ronna, she's a good lady. and the same, she doesn't -- she was talking about things other than violence. i think all of us up here want to talk about moving forward, not backward. >> we've got issues that we should be focusing on besides censuing two members of congress because they have a different opinion. >> they said in the resolution they wanted republicans to be unified. that was not a unifying action. >> anything that my party does that comes across as being stupid is not going to help us. >> the reason they don't want to be talking about this is because they think that they have a good case for the american public heading into the midterm elections. they want fob focusing on joe

biden, inflation, rising gas prices, the economy, and they think this is a distraction and this is not good for the republican party. but once again, they are thrust into the middle of a controversy that is influenced by the former president, steph. >> that is ronna's uncle saying anything like this is stupid and doesn't help our party. nikki haley, trump's former u.n. ambassador, defending pence for saying that trump was wrong and that he could not turn over the election. i want you to watch this. >> look, might be pence is a good man, he's an honest man. i think he did what he thought was right on that day, but i will always say, i just -- i'm not a fan of republicans going against republicans because the only ones that win when that happens are the democrats and the media. >> there's nothing she will always say, charlie, because she goes against trump, for trump, when she gets too far away from him, she writes a book about him

saying thank you, sir, you are my master. are we supposed to believe this? >> no. i wonder if nikki haley knows how ridiculous she sounds when republicans criticize other republicans. who's going to tell her on what trump does on an hourly basis from mar-a-lago what he said? this is part of the problem, though, for republicans, because it's a very clarifying question -- do you agree with donald trump that mike pence could overturn the election? do you believe all the lies? or do you agree with mike pence? very simple. trump or pence. pence said donald trump was wrong. republicans desperately do not want to answer that question. and you see the kind of contortions that nikki haley is willing to go through, but the whole thing about, you know, yes, he's a good man, but i don't like it when republicans go after other rems. what do you make of the "hang mike pence"? is she going to apply the same

standard to donald trump? of course not. it was an embarrassing moment. >> hang mike pence, which former president trump said is just a phrase. we need to revisit the definition of what a good man is. thank you so much. really good to have you here. coming up next, we'll go inside the supreme court decision that could suppress black voters in the state of alabama. if you're thinking alabama, that's just one state, i don't live there, well, it could have a ripple effect in states across the country. it matters. the country. the country. it matters that help rebuild your skin. dove men+care. smoother, healthier skin with every shower. it's still the eat fresh refresh™ we're talking just two great ingredients. perfectly ripe, hand-scooped hass avocados and a touch of sea salt. it's like a double double for your tastebuds. subway keeps refreshing and refreshing and refreshing...

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rights act by denying black voters a new district. chief justice roberts joined in the dissent. pete williams has been digging into this story. pete, what's going on here? >> well, we don't know why the court did what it did because it was just an order, but two of the justices in the majority, brett kavanaugh and samuel alito, said the reason they didn't approve the change that allowed the lower court decision to take effect that would have required two districts is that the lower court ruled too close to the election. it would have caused chaos, justice kavanagh said, to have to redraw the districts, change the ballot, change how people vote, all of that, and there, in fact, is a series of supreme court decisions over the years that said federal court should not tinker around with the rules for elections close to when the voting begin, although there was some dispute about whether the court could have simply changed the date for the election, as courts sometimes do. the larger question here, and

you point out this will affect potentially more than alabama is this -- the voting rights act was trimmed back in 2013. states no longer have to go to justice department or a federal court in advance, so the way people challenge voting changes and say they're discriminatory toward minority voters, they have to wait till the state does what it does and then sue. what's left is what's left of the voting rights act. senators say it's an ominous sign that the supreme court has agreed to hear this case. lit probably be in the fall. what that means is the single district plan, the current map in alabama that the republicans have drawn will be in effect for the rest of the elections this year doesn't seem likely, stephanie, that the court will hear this case before the fall. so that means any changes probably won't happen until next year. meantime, it's a bad sign for challengers from other states who are also trying to challenge

redistricting. >> all right. pete williams, thank you so much. it may be one state, but you have to pay attention. things that happen in alabama could soon happen across the country. coming up, as athletes compete, a major cloud hanging over the olympics, amid questions about human rights abuses within china. keir simmons will dig into that next. simmons will dig into tha simmons will dig into tha next or...oh! i can't wait to go there! or reunite there, ♪ ♪ start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free covid-19 booster today. if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events

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learn how to make the most of yours at deere.com freestyle skier eileen gu made history overnight. the california-based olympian winning gold for china in the olympic debut of the women's free ski big air. gu landed her first-ever attempt at a double cork 16-20, a four and a half rotation trick. in 2019, the 18-year-old san francisco native decided to compete for china, her mother's home country, instead of the u.s. meanwhile, on ice, it was a huge night for figure skater star nathan chen, who received the highest score ever in a men's short routine. chen will look to clench his gold medal during tomorrow's free skate. now to a more contentious side of this year's olympic games, senior international correspondent, my friend, keir

simmons, has been looking into some of the human rights issues that has cast a shadow over these games. despite the ioc's claims, the games are never apolitical, but there's a lot about this year in particular. talk us through this, especially when you think about an athlete like eileen that could have participated on team usa. she was certainly good enough, but she chose to represent china. >> reporter: yeah, fascinating, right? the sport, steph, is incredible, but away from the competition and the olympic spirit, the sporting world seems increasingly divided over how to respond to those accusations against china and the diplomatic divisions between china and the u.s. are only deepening. this morning, the rift widening over chinese tennis player, peng shuai, seen here in beijing sitting next to the international olympic committee president, watching the big air competition, in a team china

jacket. the ioc insisting they are supporting her. >> i think we need also to listen to her and we need to read what she's saying. >> at the weekend, she told a french newspaper that the sexual assault allegation against a former senior chinese government leader was an enormous misunderstanding. her original social media post was deleted soon after it was posted, but now a series of photos emerging from the interview appearing to show a chinese olympic official accompanying her. the french newspaper calling the interview stage-managed and the women's tennis association saying that the interview does not alleviate its concerns. as we would do with any of our players, the wta ceo and chairman says, we have called for a formal investigation into the allegations by the appropriate authorities, and for the wta to meet with peng privately to discuss her situation. and this morning, continuing

controversy over china's choice of athletes to light the olympic cauldron. a member of the mainly uighur muslim minority took part today. >> uighurs are being tortured. and uighurs are the victims of human rights violations by the chinese. and we have to keep that front and center. >> reporter: china's u.n. envoy attacking, quote, wrongful, irresponsible remarks, and accusing the u.s. of a disgraceful record in violating human rights, but the president of the world uighur congress, representing uighurs around the world, telling nbc news this morning -- >> reporter: china rejecting that accusation and denying claims of human rights abuses against uighurs. >> but, steph, here's another

example of the difficult issues here. this is the olympic biog of that chinese uighur athlete. in it, it says she speaks mandarin chinese. it does not mention the uighur language. now, uighurs -- some uighurs that i speak to tell me that they are -- they are not allowed to speak the uighur language by the chinese authorities. china, of course, denies that, but we have seen, when we've been to those camps, uighur people being expected to learn mandarin. just another example, it is very complex, but there are many questions for -- >> thank you very much. still ahead, the fight playing out in wisconsin over early voting and a crucial tool many voters there use, we're going to take you there, next. ue ingog to take you there, next. , we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect.

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they're really efficient. what's going on? >> yeah, stephanie. next week's election here in wisconsin could be the final time that voters who vote by mail can return that ballot in a secure dropbox like this. and you have advocates saying that with video surveillance, with tamper-proof sealing, these boxes are more secure than your regular mailbox. i spoke to the head of the wisconsin election commission about those security concerns. listen to what she said. >> it's very secure. and then, once our teams get back, our absentee coordinator reviews their paperwork, and then unlocks the bags and double checks to make sure that all ballots that they counted the first time are still in the bag and they get checked into our computer system. more than half the people who vote by mail trust these secure drop boxes as their preferred way to return their ballot. >> it would be a big deal if you can't use these? the key thing here in wisconsin is the state law says that those mail-in ballots must be received by the clerk by 8:00 p.m.

election night. these drop boxes give voters peace of mind that they don't have to worry about mail delays and they can track their ballot once it's picked up from a box like this. >> shaquille brewster joining us from milwaukee county, wisconsin, thank you. and thank you at home for watching. that wraps up this very busy hour. i'm stephanie ruhle. my friend and colleague jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. and good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart, and just this morning, planes carrying u.s. troops and vehicles landed in poland, as the heated standoff continues at the ukrainian border. we're going to get a live report from kyiv. lawmakers jim clyburn and joaquin castro will join us to discuss the next steps for the u.s. response. also this morning, states are quickly moving to drop mask mandates as the nation enters a new phase in the fight against the coronavirus. meanwhile at the supreme court,

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