online at jdbalart @msnbc. thank you for the privilege of your time. good morning. i'm wendy riser. western officials fear the window for a diplomatic solution may be closing. president biden says the u.s. will act decisively and swiftly to any further russian aggression, and today more u.s. troops will leave fort bragg for europe. if there is an attack, ukrainians say they are ready to defend their homeland. >> if my people needs me to

defend and be next to people who will stand against the russian invasion, i will. >> and take a look at this. picture says a thousand words. the woman you see there is 79-year-old retired accountant and great grandmother handling an a.k.-47 as part of weapons training. richard engel spoke to her. and the white house got a briefing. i'll talk to adam smith who was in that briefing. and the state of the gop. is former president trump as potent a force as some think he is? how the mid terms and endorsements are exposing new fissures in the party. >> and we'll have the latest on

the federal hate crimes trial. richard engel is in southeast ukraine, kelly o'donnell is covering white house. kelly, action from the white house seemed to intensify through the weekend. the white house says diplomacy is still open but they're, quote, equally prepared for other scenarios. are you getting a clear idea of what that means? >> reporter: the president just returned from camp david just a few minutes ago, and i was one of the reporters on the south lawn as he arrived. he did not take any of our questions. i wish everybody a happy valentine's day. he's got a full plate ahead of him. at 12:30 today he'll speak with british prime minister boris johnson and that is a part of the ongoing diplomacy with key allies who are a part of nato and the message that these al

-- allies have been trying to give is there will be a unified response that will be painful to russia economically and by acting together they can really shut down key parts of the russian economy and levy a severe cost, not only on the kremlin but on the russian people and to try to use that as deterrence. that's also a message going to the ukrainian leader who the president also spoke to over the weekend after he spoke to putin and those conversations tend to go happened in hand, where the u.s. has taken a position that they don't want to do anything about ukraine without including ukraine. so there have been conversations with zelensky as well. the president has wide to take a position there is room for diplomacy. the national security adviser has been on capitol hill giving the latest intelligence

assessments to select members of congress and key committee senior representatives, the leadership of key committees that have jurisdiction here. that really brings us to where do things stand now? the u.s. says it cannot know what's in the mind of vladimir putin but it is certainly observing and collecting data on what his movements are in terms of his physical assets militarily and what they are learning about through other means, and it is worrisome. and they believe there is a window that is fast approaching. they have encouraged all americans to leave the country. we're already seeing signs of commercial transport becoming more difficult as individual airlines make their own decisions. for the white house this is a very tenuous time where they want to keep diplomatic channels open but make certain there is a united plan among western allies to act when and if russia does take further steps.

>> so richard, biden and boris johnson are expected to talk over the next hour. the ukraine wants a meeting of its own with moscow in the next 48 hours. meanwhile where you are, you are starting to see communities take matters in their own hands. >> reporter: so i have not seen this much diplomatic activity perhaps in the 20-plus years that i've been doing this business. so there's been so many calls between european leaders and the white house and the president of the united states and so many shuttle diplomacies. first with france and macron going to moscow and now it's germany's turn and so many calls between biden and putin, one that lasted an hour and then one between biden and zelensky that

lasted an hour. so far diplomacy doesn't seem to be achieving anything and the two sides' positions still remain far apart. so far apart -- this has been a while we've been doing this -- remember back to the first reports, was it all just an attempt to stall? right from the beginning putin has said that he doesn't want ukraine to ever be allowed into nato and doesn't want to see nato further expand. from one of reporting about a month ago, it was clear the two sides' positions were far apart. even now after this tremendous diplomatic activity, we don't seem to be getting any closer, which is why the situation is so troublesome, because the troops on the borders still continue to amass and we do feel like according to the sources i've been talking to we're in a critical period, that between now and, say, the end of the month, that one official said we would be fortunate if there is not some sort of military action

between russia and ukraine. so this is believed to be a critical time period. but how are people reacting here in ukraine to get back to your original question, really depends on where you are. i'm not far from the russian border and there is a pro-russian population here, a population probably 20% of society. it's hard to know exactly, that to would welcome the arrival of russian troops. and then there is probably about another 20% who are active supporters of the government and some of that population was meeting this weekend to try and get themselves prepared to defend the city and defend their families should russian rooms move over the border, including a great grandmother i spoke to. >> reporter: did you think you would actually be doing this?

>> translator: yes, if putin comes, i should be able to do this. i think every person in the country should be able to should from the window or the streets if the enemy comes. >> reporter: if you have a monolithic kind of political stance far to the west where i think universally or almost universally where people would stand in the government in kyiv against a russian move against the country, here it's different with perhaps 20% active with the government, 20% would support russia and maybe 60% in the middle who would take whatever comes. so that i think explains why we've seen a lot of people here being relatively passive but with one segment of society now starting to take things more seriously and get prepared for what could be coming. >> there certainly has been a change in sentiment. when i saw your photo you

tweeted yesterday, it stopped me in my tracks of that great grandmother learning to shoot and fight. we often learn a lot about russia's plans by just the messaging they put out there on state tv so what are you hearing and seeing? >> thank you. the main narrative has been and continues to be this is all hysteria being perpetuated by us basically. but we've seen over the weekend a slight uptick in narratives that kind of warn russians that ukrainians are committing atrocities, for example. one that stuck out for me was one from the "russia today" editor in chief on one of the flagship programs. let's listen to what she's telling the audience. >> translator: russia cannot start the war. what should we wait for, for it to be concentration camps, for them to gas their own people? it has already started, it is

going on and it's even starting to get worse. >> reporter: so that's some very incendiary rhetoric. i flagged it because the editor in chief of "russia today" is an opinion maker, a very influential person. we're looking for now comments like that to replace the more mainstream assertion this is all western hysteria. and i want to also note something we're not seeing in the russia media and that's a definitive explanation to the russian people of what their military is doing. the sense i get from the people on the street here in moscow is they're not aware that basically almost half of their combat forces have been relocated from places as far as siberia to the ukraine border. it leaves them very susceptible to the nation that what we're doing now is propagating hysteria. >> thank you. and just this morning white

house national security adviser jake sullivan briefed top leaders in congress on the situation with russia and ukraine. that's according to a white house official. i want to bring in one of the members who was in that meeting, congressman adam system, a democrat from washington and chairman of the armed services committee. thanks for being with us. >> good morning. >> we know that the u.s. ordered non-emergency staff to leave. did sullivan tell you how many people are left working at the embassy? >> he did. i'm not sure what we want to share. it's a very small number. it emphasizes the point that russia is in a position to invade. there think would be no time to react. so we want to make sure that we get americans out of ukraine because if the invasion comes, we don't really have any way to protect them. so we're down to a very small number in the u.s. embassy right now. >> i mean, that said, if we

learned any lesson from the withdrawal in afghanistan, it that getting people out early will be critical. did you learn anything on where we stand getting american citizens out of ukraine in. >> like i said, we did. i think the numbers are reducing. certainly in the embassy, they're down to a very small number of people. the bulling of the call was about what can we do to stop this invasion from happening and i think there is frustration that russia continues on the path that they appear to be on and doing our best to rally u.s. and our western allies to deter that. i think one of the biggest things that we have accomplished and your report from moscow i think was telling because i think putin's plan would be to claim this was a defensive invasion, that ukraine somehow had done something to provoke them to coming in. the u.s. and our allies have done a very good job of shining a bright light on what russia is doing and that this is their decision to start a war period.

that puts more pressure on russia certainly in the international community. >> the white house has been saying that the window for diplomacy is still open but there really haven't been any breakthroughs, especially after biden's call with putin so how much longer will that window be open? >> i think it can be open for as long as russia wants it to be open. as you were reporting, there a whole bunch of discussions going on between top leaders in russia and various leaders in the u.s. and across europe. that window can be open as long as we want it to be open. there is plenty to talk about, even if you don't get to an immediate resolution. we're trying to keep it open and have it be about diplomacy, not warfare. >> did anybody push sullivan for any particular action they want to see the administration take in. >> i think the focus is in several areas. one, we want to make sure we are able to provide support

certainly to our nato allies in eastern europe, poland, romania, the baltics, what can we do to continue to shore up their defenses, make sure we're doing at that. and, second, how do we get weapons into ukraine? how do we help support their ability to defend themselves? and i think the other thing we were talking about is what's the off ramp here? if we're going to prevent a war, putin has to get something out of this. he has to be able to have some sort of diplomatic face-saving mechanism to back down and to continue the effort to come up with that. we can talk about negotiations on arms reduction between the u.s. and russia so we don't have that threat out there. there are certainly things they can do working directly with the ukrainian government and president biden's been very clear we're not going to make decisions for ukraine. we want to help empower president zelensky and the

ukrainian people, but if ukraine and russia could get to some understanding, that could help make this diplomacy and not warfare. >> congressman, would have a lot of time left with you but i want to play part of my conversation with retired general dana pitard yesterday. he made a good point about ukraine joining nato. >> president putin at this points needs an off ram many where he doesn't completely lose face. that may be a moratorium -- temporary but a moratorium on his talks with biden. >> is that reasonable or would that play into his hands?

>> i think it's playing into his hand. is the principal that ukraine, romania, poland, all of those countries should be free to form the alliances they want to form. if putin can brow beat those countries into pushing away western allies, that gives him greater power not just over ukraine but potentially over other countries in the reason. that's why the principle is so important. ukraine could make a different individual decision certainly. >> we'll have to leave it there. thanks for your time. and coming up, how much or little will rudy giuliani cooperate with the committee. >> and in florida, it's republicans versus republicans. the fight brewing over the state's redistricting plan that has governor ron desantis making

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we'll hear from rudy, that's what republican congressman adam kinzinger says about former president trump's lawyer and confidante. he said the january 6th committee expects giuliani to cooperate. they say his appearance has been rescheduled, according to an aide. joining me is john allen and michelle sindor. leann, do you get a sense here there's momentum can giuliani potentially testifying and the panel could get substantive information from him? >> potentially. the fact that he has not come out and said he's not going to

cooperate and he's been some under case he perhaps will. we don't know what cooperation means, if that means he's going to try to continue to have discussions with the committee on when he might come before the committee or if he will actually appear to be deposed. will he answer questions or will he plead the fifth? there a lot of questions about what he's going to do moving forward. over the weekend representative adam kinzinger said on "face the nation" he's at least talking to the committee. let's listen. >> our expectation is he is going to cooperate because that's the law, the requirement. we're getting a lot of information and we're looking forward to wrapping this up, showing it to the american people but not rushing it. >> reporter: the committee has revealed they've spoken with more than 500 people. we don't know who most of these people are. we do hear about the people who

have been subpoenaed and we definitely hear about the people who have not cooperated. on the same day rudy giuliani was supposed to appear to be deposed last week, there were other counsel to the former president. the committee told me their depositions have also been rescheduled so they have also not indicated they're not going to cooperate so they might be in play as well. >> how significant would it be for the committee to hear from giuliani? could this essentially be game changing? >> it really just demands on what rudy giuliani wants to say. history do not bode well for rudy giuliani having a penchant

for the truth. he was spreading all sorts of lies. he was the face of the lie that president trump had been cheated out of the election. it is clear that rudy giuliani is not interested in a big, expensive legal fight over the subpoena but i'm not holding my breath that rudy giuliani is going to come into the committee and talk at length about all the different ways that he and former president trump and this band of legal advisers that president trump had at the time, how they were trying to overturn the election, what their strategy was. it is interesting that rudy giuliani is at least in talks with the committee. it's not going to be did he show up. what did he tell lawmakers? did he substantively answer their questions? it's really unclear at this point. >> call her cynical but if her prediction turns out to be right, which based on history,

still giuliani potentially testifying may be an indication of him waning. what does this signal about former president trump's hold over the party? >> i think, lindsey, the very first thing is to acknowledge that president trump for so long had such an iron grip on the republican party. what you're seeing now is an effort to fight back, led mostly by mitch mcconnell in the senate among republicans but we see evidence of it in other places. the folks who were sort of pushed out by trump, the establishment republicans, are gathering their forces and make sure the senate doesn't get trumpier. donald trump's grip on the republican party remains strong, even if it's a little bit

weaker. he won the first time when he ran in 2016, he won by having about a third of the republican party behind him. the way the republican primary nomination works, you get winner take all states or a lot of winner take all states. so you don't really need 50% in a multi-candidate primary. i think donald trump is still by far the biggest force in the republican party. >> "the washington post" piece talks about how former president trump's power over the gop is increasingly questioned behind closed doors at republican gatherings. but at the same time, the republicans that they spoke to spoke on the condition of anonymity because there remains significant fear of trump's public wrath. so the gop is still afraid of

him. >> if he had to make a decision now, my sources tell me trump would run. but it's behind closed doors. it's anonymous. people are worried about former president trump's grip on the republican party, he still has much. party. when you see mitch mcconnell, he's talking to candidates behind closed doors, saying he doesn't want goofballs elected as republicans, but it's still unclear whether or not mitch mcconnell is willing to really go on tv and really charge and really criticize former president trump in a big way, in a way in a would really change some minds in the gop. i think what we do see here and it's important to note is that most republicans, especially in state politics, they've been elected or gotten into their position in the last couple of years. that means they are trump loyalists, that means people running the party at the state level are very much in the sort of cloth of trump and worshipping at the altar of former president trump.

what you see is an interesting move here by gop members but it's very, very unlikely you're going to see this big breakout into the scene. when i talk to sources, the one thing they say could hurt former president trump's grip on the party is vaccine. he's been booed twice, he was pushing people to get their boosters and vaccines. that could be a place where he breaks with his base. it will not be because he's been lying about american democracy. >> fascinating. and real quick, is he doing that real quick because he's trying to get credit to are his administration for rolling out the vaccines? >> clearly. it's very much attached to his ego. he very much wants to take credit for developing the vaccines under his administration, and as a result he'll continue to talk about boosters and vaccines but he'll have to make the decision whether or not he's worth having

that political calculation and using that political might. his base is very much filled with anti-vaxxers. >> thank you all for your time. still to come, president biden's message to people who say they are tired of covid precautions. and new warnings about lingering effects from the virus including a higher risk of heart problems. we'll break that down. problems. we'll break that down. ♪ your dell technologies advisor can help you find the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers.

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it's 5:00 a.m., and i feel like i can do anything. we've been coming here, since 1868. there's a lot of cushy desk jobs out there, but this is my happy place. there are millions of ways to make the most of your land. learn more at deere.com right now more hopeful signs that are emerging that we may be on the other side of the omicron surge in this country. the seven-day average of new infections just hit its lowest number since december 22nd. 49 states are seeing a decline in cases, covid hospitalizations are down more than 35% over the last two weeks and more states and local governments are lifting their mask requirements. i want to turn to dr. natalie azhar, a rheumatologist.

doctor, let's listen about president biden talking about lifting mask restrictions. >> i love how people talk about personal freedom. if your exercising personal freedom puts somebody else's health in jeopardy, i don't see that as freedom. we have so many tools to prevent death, i think they should be careful. >> i think people agree but you can't talk to anybody and not hear i'm so tired of this, i just want to move on. how do you balance that sentiment with safety? >> we all feel that way but everything we do from here on out just has to be very measured. i think a graded approach back to normalcy is what is

necessary, following the signs, looking at the numbers, seeing where we can relax restrictions and moving forward tentatively, understanding that unfortunately at any turn there could be a another variant that will set us back a little bit. what the president is referring to is something we been talking about for two years, the sort of push-pull tension between civil liberty and civic duty. that is something a significant number of americans still are struggling with. and we all know that whatever behaviors we do impact other people. we can think about many other examples, seat belts, drinking and driving, a lot of things that we do in our daily lives that not only protect us but protect the people around us. >> so we have these good emerging signs of hope. there's a new study that says getting covid increases the

heart failure by 72%, heart attack by 63%, stroke by 52%. how concerned should we be about this, especially knowing we have nearly 70 million covid infections in this country? >> well, this was such an important study, lindsey, it highlighted not only very concrete and objective cardiovascular adverse effects that could happen after covid-19 but we've been dealing the last two years, again, with much more difficult and complex and ambiguous symptom complexes that are not unprecedented in the setting of post-viral syndrome. so question fatigue and brain fog and headache and musculoskeletal pain, things like that that are circling the

drain of a chronic fatigue syndrome. what was interesting about the study is while the study was conducted in a veteran's population, which is largely male and white, they in fact saw that these potential cardiovascular outcomes didn't necessarily discriminate, which means theoretically any one of us could be vulnerable to that. usually we think of patients who spent time in the icu, are older, and have heart disease but it's a reminder for some it's like a common cold or mild flu but for many, many others, it is not and it can be a disease and illness that can upend your life. >> a stark reminder. thank you. right now the ambassador bridge critical to trade is back open. authorities cleared a weekend

blockade by folks demonstrating. the bridge carries more than a fourth of the trade in our two countries and has affected an estimated $392 billion a day in cross-border trading. >> still to come, republicans seem to have a new foe and it's one of their own, governor ron desantis. and the push to get more electric cars on the road.

welcome back. today we've got our eyes on brunswick, georgia where we expect opening statements to begin in the federal hate crimes trial of the three men convicted of murdering ahmad arbery. the trial centers on whether the men targeted arbery because he's

black. what do we expect to hear from prosecutors and can you take us through the significance of this trial? >> reporter: sure. right now i'll let you know what's happening right now in the courtroom. we know the jury has officially been seated, 12 jurors, four alternates. court has recessed for lunch but when they return later this afternoon, that's when we are going to see this trial officially get under way. that's when opening statements are going to take place. as for what we're going to see in this trial, it's going to be remarkable and different because race is going to be at the forefront of this trial. this is the federal hate crimes trial. all three men have been convicted of murder of ahmad arbery, all sentenced to life in prison, two without the possibility of parole. that's already settled. why this is so notable is because of the potential precedent this is going to set. remember, we saw the death of ahmad arbery along with the

death of george floyd and brianna taylor 2020. all of them raised weeks of protest around the country of social justice. this is the first time we're going to see race come to the forefront of any of these trials. we know that the prosecution is going to try and make the case that the three defendants had racial prejudice, that they in text messages, facebook posts, social media posts had prejudice against african-americans and that they made an assumption about ahmaud arbery that day. the other thing we're going to be watching very closely is the breakdown of the jury as well because during the juror seating process, we know there were some people who said they wouldn't be able to render an impartial verdict because of race, because of how polarizing all of this is. so of course that's going to be one of the things we're going to be watching closely as well. >> we know you'll stay on top of it.

thanks so much. we're following an investigation into a brutal stabbing spree across albuquerque this weekend. police arrested a man they believe stabbed seven people. police say the suspect was reported to be carrying out these attacks with a large knife while riding a bmx style bike. they also say the attacks appear random. police say all 11 victims were stable as of yesterday evening. still to come, in fighting among florida republicans about redistricting in a largely black district. governor desantis is at the center of it next. district governor desantis is at the center of it next. to help you set up and grow. dj khaled: man, i love this scent. every business is on a journey.

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♪ ♪ here, we know you have a few reasons to slow down. ♪ ♪ but we've got one more. safe drivers save 40% with drivewise. ♪ ♪ the safer you drive, the more you save. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate for a quote today. right now there is a fight under way in florida over how to redraw its congressional districts, but it's republicans against a fellow republican. governor ron desantis has proposed a congressional map that will split up the congressional district, which is about 46% black and is currently represented by democratic congressman al lawson. desantis wants to split the fifth into several republican

leaning districts, but republican state lawmakers are pushing a plan to keep the district in tact. jane, walk us through what desantis is proposing and why the rest of his party isn't on board. >> reporter: you know, lindsey, governor desantis is gerrymander, and florida is unique in it's one of the few states that the republicans control the redistricting process. and the state has their district amendments to their constitution, and passed by voters in 2010, and try and make it so you can't do a lot of partisan gerrymandering. they try and limit the effect you can have on that. republicans tried to gerrymander in the last decade and spent many years in court, fighting about those maps, and in 2015, the courts ordered new maps that really limited republican advantage, so it's sort of prime for the taking if you're looking at this from a purely political standpoint, as governor desantis may be doing. he's encouraged them to draw a map that would give republicans an extra two seats, whereas his

colleagues who spent all of those years in court with state legislatures, say largely preserve the political balance. there's differences between the state senate and house map, but both of them keep that 5th congressional district together. we're seeing them come to a head over that one district and whether it should be split up. governor desantis says he believes the fifth district is gerrymandering and does not want to sign anything that has that. and the state lawmakers are pushing that. the courts did approve the fifth district back in 2015. they're the ones that ordered the map in the first place. >> got to be quick with you here, jane, but we know desantis is thought to be considering a presidential run in 2024, how does that tie into that? >> democrats say he's looking outside of the state, and looking to d.c. of course would be on the books if governor desantis were to enter the white house in 2024, 2025. this is definitely something he's got to be thinking about.

democrats say he should be thinking about the state, not about congress. >> jane tim, thanks so much. coming up, a $5 billion charge. the biden administration's big investment in an electric commute with hundreds of thousands of new charging stations. >> this is about accelerating that to keep up and get ahead of the increasing popularity of these evs. arity of these evs. your home for big savings. [ laughs ] hey, mom, have you seen m-- ew. because when you bundle home and auto with progressive, your home is a savings paradise. bundles progressive. your home for savings.

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investment into the future of transportation. in fact, the biden administration just announced a $5 billion investment to build half a million electric vehicle charging stations across the country. the funding comes from president biden's bipartisan infrastructure law. nbc's erin gilchrist talked with transportation secretary pete buttigieg to learn more about the plan. >> electric cars are cruising down highways across the country. 489,000 of them sold in 2021, according to jd power. just over 3% over all cars bought last year. what's slowing ev down, part of the problem is power. >> that's exactly why we're making sure we have the backbone of a national charging network. >> i sat down with transportation secretary pete buttigieg just after the biden administration announced a $5.05-year investment to build electric vehicle charging stations across the nation. >> it's going to take a while to have a full fledged charging

netswork. it will take across the decade to get to the goal that we have. but we have already got chargers across the country. this is about accelerating that to keep up and get ahead of the increasing popularity of these evs. >> buttigieg says to get the money, states will have to submit plans to build ev chargers along interstate highways and major roads, making it more convenient to drive electric, and resolve range anxiety. >> people have anxiety, am i going to make it. >> no matter where you're headed, you know you won't have a problem, anymore than if you need to get ambassador on the highway today. >> reporter: not every car can charge at every station. this funding is supposed to address that too buttigieg says the charging plans that states come up will have to ensure that every car make you drive will have access to compatible

chargers. >> we're not going to dictate the format. these are taxpayer dollars. it can't just be a blank check. we have to make sure they're being spent effectively. >> we caught up with buttigieg talking shop with students at heartland community college in normal, illinois, home to a degree program, training a new wave of ev builders and technicians. these are the guys who will help get more electric cars on the roads and those cars are pretty pricey. the average cost for an electric car is more than $56,000, enough to leave many americans ot of the ev market. the auto industry is going all in on electric, planning to spend, $515 billion on evs in the next five years. toyota, gm, ford and bmw announcing massive investments to catch up to electric car leader tesla. >> we got to get the sticker price down, we have to accelerate these being produced on a widespread basis in the united states, and it's why we want more tax incentives to buy down the upfront cost.

>> our thanks to nbc's aaron gilchrist for that report. stick around, my colleague andrea mitchell will speak to john kirby in a few moments. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. good day, everyone, this is andrea mitchell reports in washington at the beginning of a critical week in the ukraine crisis. as the u.s. and nato allies await vladimir putin's next move. president biden made no headway with president putin in a saturday call as well as explaining america's decision to draw down its embassy over the weekend in a sunday call to president zelensky who objected to the move. i'll discuss it all with pentagon press secretary john

kirby this hour. as the number of covid cases continue to fall nationwide, a new study is raising concerns over long-term health issues. the study found increased risk of heart failure, stroke and other problems up to a year after an acute covid infection among unvaccinated people. the january 6th committee is negotiating with rudy giuliani's legal team about giuliani answering questions about the committee. it's not clear whether he will testify. also this hour, i'll speak to david hogg on the fourth anniversary of the marjorie stoneman douglas shooting. we begin with the crisis in ukraine. joining me now, chief foreign correspondent richard engel and nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. first to you, u.s. and european leaders trying to talk vladimir putin into deescalating, no sign of that. they continue to meet both with putin and president zelensky. is there any sign at all that diplomatic talks are going