hey, everybody, good morning. it's friday. we're almost there. i'm yasmin vossoughian, in for my friend. all signs of a high threat from russia, moving towards an imminent invasion. this morning one of ours ands said russia has likely between 169 and 109,000 personnel near ukraine. earlier ukraine's defense minister saying the possibility of a, quote, large-scale invasion of ukraine is still relatively low. the dissonance and this crisis is center stage in munich where the u.s. and allies are meeting at a security conference. earlier secretary blinken

emphasized the importance of staying united in the face of russian aggression. >> i think president putin's been a little bit surprised at that solidarity, at the wait way that nato and the european union has come together. we've come together individually as partners and institutionally. as long as we maintain that solidarity, we will either way, which ever path president putin chooses, we'll be ready to respond. >> in moments i'm going to talk with congressman seth moulton, who is in munich right now and is going to speak to secretary blinken. and we have our eyes on that minneapolis courtroom. former police officer kim potter being sentenced for killing 20-year-old daunte wright.

we just heard emotional testimony all talking about how this has completely changed their lives forever. we'll stay close to the story and bring it to you. plus the legal setbacks for our former president is piling up. donald trump and his children are going to have to answer some questions under oath about the trump organization's finances. and could there be an end in sight to this pandemic as we know ton the horizon? california have now the first state to shift to an endemic approach to covid. could more states follow? that's the big question we'll try to answer this hour. we want to start first with the crisis in eastern europe. seth moulton is a member of the armed services committee, served four tours are iraq. he's in munich for the security conference there.

welcome to you both. thank you for joining us this morning. an incredibly important day ahead as things are changing and shifting hour to hour. josh, i want to start with you and touch on where we are. the president meeting with his transatlantic partners. later today we know secretary of state blinken will likely next week be meeting with lavrov. that is off course if moscow decides not to invade ukraine between now and then. talk me through it. >> in the last 24 hours or so, we've seen an all-out diplomatic push by the united states, fairly unparalleled in recent history, taking place here in washington at new york at the united nations security council as well as in munich where both the secretary of state, as you mentioned, but also vice president kamala harris are now for that key security conference. the vice president meeting with baltic leaders, meeting with the nato secretary-general, trying to really put on a display of u.s. unity with its nato allies

amid these fears and president biden expected shortly to have this phone call that's going to really include all the key players here, nato, the e.u., the u.k., france, germany as well as romania and poland. the president trying to make sure everyone is aligned as they try to push back on what the u.s. says is increasing disinformation from the russians. and there's really two developments over the last couple of days that have really stoked concerns for the u.s. one is the comments from the russians that seemed to suggest they were de-escalating to find out in fact it was the opposite, russia moving even more troops near the border with ukraine. the other development is these continued signs that we're seeing on the ground that the u.s. is concerned could be the start of those false flag operations they have been warning about for so long, including this various reports of shelling going back and forth and now the osce ambassador,

michael carpenter, saying it could be as many as 190,000 russian and russian-backed troops. we should point out, though, that figure that he mentioned including russian-backed separatists in eastern ukraine, some of whom have been there since 2014. it's not an apples-to-apples comparison but it goes to show you the increasing level of concern the u.s. has about what russia could pull off in short order in eastern ukraine. >> josh letterman for us, thank you. i'm going to let you get back to your reporting. we appreciate it for now. congressman, let's talk through some of this. i know you're in munich for that security conference. i just saw andrea mitchell walking behind you. the president spoke a couple of hours ago. i want to play that for you before we get started. >> we remain desirous of diplomacy as it relates to the dialogue and discussions we have

had with russia, but we are also committed if russia takes aggressive action to ensuring there will be severe consequence in terms of the economic sanctions we have discussed. >> i know, congressman, it's pretty hard to hear the vice president there speaking. but talking about the fact that the united states is committed to diplomacy but if russia decides to invade ukraine, there are going to be severe sanctions against moscow. i know you're going to be speaking with the secretary of state in just a couple of minutes we appreciate you taking the time. what do you want to communicate to blinken? >> so we're actually speaking with the secretary later. we're meeting first with vice president harris. the bottom line is we have to do two things, which is exactly what the vice president laid out. we have to make it very clear to putin that there will be massive consequences if he chooses to invade and that comes from a united nato. and we also have to lay open a

path from diplomacy. that is what we want to hear from the secretary. we know it's a narrow path but we want to hear in detail what secretary blinken plans to offer the russians as a way to de-escalate and get out of this crisis. >> congressman, obviously as a veteran yourself, do you feel as if knowing the way in which vladimir putin operates, do you feel as if a tough sanctions package that we don't even know the details of as of yet is enough of a deterrent to keep him from invading ukraine? >> only if it's incredibly targeted at him and his oligarch buddies. it's got to be very precisely targeted to hit where it matters to putin. if we just do it against the russian people or russian economy, no, that will not be enough but what putin needs to hear and what he's hearing now from nato allies, especially at this conference, is that we're standing solidly together.

we are united on this. as he makes a picture of the germans and russians not getting along, that's not what we're hearing at this conference. we're united to deter putin and not just respond to an attack. >> i know they're open but they haven't communicated that and there's no presence of them at the security council, which is very usual. >> that's right. the motto is peace through dialogue. and it's important that the russians come and have this conversation with us. they pulled out a few days ago and there's a concern here that we could be on the prcipice of

the greatest war since world war ii. one thing about putin is he's not going to stop. we thought he might go to georgia, take crimea. now he's looking at taking kyiv, ukraine and we have to ask what comes next. if it's a nato ally, that means u.s. troops will be there and americans will die. so the stakes are very high right now here at munich. >> congressman, i want to talk a little bit about troop logistics, considering your vie in serving in iraq. you got 5,000 troops or so from the 82nd airborne by vision arriving in poland on thursday. they would not necessarily enter ukraine. they're there for a more support capacity. talk to me about the strategy there. and what happens if a mistake is made, if the life of a u.s. service member is lost, if a u.s. service member is injured, then what?

>> look, it's a great question because this is why the president has been so clear very publicly that he does not want to see american troops in conflict with russia because that could literally lead to world war iii. we're putting more troops in poland because we expect a surge of refugees, a coming of ukraine and also that we reinforcing nato. we do not have a security requirement, a guarantee to put u.s. troops there but we do have that security guarantee with a lot of neighboring nations, poland included, and we want to make it clear to putin he can't go any further. >> i want to quickly ask you one more question. you mentioned what putin does not want, that ukraine become a member of nato. if in fact that happens in the future, the united states, the world, has an obligation to

defend ukraine against any invasion by moscow that could start a world war. do you think about that? >> we do. one of the questions i've been asking a lot is if putin goes forward, what comes next? we need to be talking about that more. understandably most people right now are just focused on trying to determine if he's going to invade and how well ukraine will be able to stand up to that assault, but we all have to be asking what happens next? what does it mean for the future of security in nato and the future of europe and for the americans that are here? >> congressman moulton, thank you so much. right now, everybody, ukraine is accusing russian-backed separatists of more shelling, warning moscow might use a spike in shelling as a pretext for invasion and separatist regions

in ukraine is authorizing evacuation. it's what was laid out yesterday as the beginning of an invasion into ukraine and now talk us through it. >> reporter: i wouldn't make it exactly an equivalency. it's not that you have the two sides lobbing accusations at each other. on this side of the border, on the ukrainian side, there has been shelling and that has been well documented. journalists have gone there, taken pictures of it. there's lots of videos and witness accounts, police statements. so there has been shelling coming from the separatist areas, international observers,

european journalists have recorded it. this is a house fire. nobody was killed. there has been mortar and firing coming out of the separatist area. there has been much fire going into the separatist areas. the ukrainians have responded when they have been fired upon, but if you listen to the separatists and you listen to the russian media, which is echoing what the separatists are saying, they are saying they're facing an all-out assault and that the ukrainian military is soon about to attack those regions with major force so therefore they are ordering people to evacuate starting tonight. they've been testing the air raid sirens in the separatist areas and putting out pictures of people queueing at gas stations, lining up to take

their money out. so they are whipping up a narrative that the ukraine is in the process of attacking the separatist areas and is about to launch a much more ferocious attack and there have been some suggestions from senior russian officials that that attack could be spearheaded by american mercenaries working with saboteurs to carry out a vague chemical attack against the separatist areas. it's not a he said/she said, it's the russian-backed separatists that are creating a narrative they're about to be wiped out, and it fits with the narrative that vladimir putin and the russian media have been saying for years but intensifying over the last several month, that the separatists are facing a genocide, they are under siege and they need help. it's also important to realize

about 500,000 to 600,000 of the separatists have russian passports. they use the ruble. this is a russian-speaking area. so they are very much connected to russia, backed by russia. there are about 3,000 russian troops inside the area and that number may have gone up. there is an open border between russia and the separatist areas and in addition to about 30,000 local fighters. and if there were to be a conflict here, that separate areas would very likely be involved or used as a pretext, which is what has so many ukrainian officials concerned right now. going back to the discrepancy you were talking about with the ukrainian foreign minister saying he thinks that a full invasion is a small likelihood, what ukrainians are more concerned about is that there could be a small scale war right in the separatist area that putin is trying to create a context -- a pretext to move in

at the very minimum to this separatist area but then could extend from there. >> and this is kind of showing how quickly this is developing. we just got news that the president is going to be speaking at 4:00 today. we'll make sure to tune in and bring that to you. live for now, richard engel, incredible reporting as always. we are watching the minneapolis courtroom where former police officer kim potter will be sentenced. >> and a major throw for president trump. a judge ordering him to answer questions under oath about his business. so how soon could that happen? and we have icy roads, powerful winds. we'll look at the destruction

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welcome back, everybody. any moment now we are expecting to hear from former officer kim potter. she is expected to speak during her sentencing hearing. she was convicted of first and second degree manslaughter for the killing of 20-year-old daunte wright. she said she mistakenly used her gun to kill wright when she meant to use her taser. shaq, it's good to see you. what type of sentence is potter expected to receive? and when will we hear from her in court? >> reporter: we could hear from kim potter any moment now. it will come from arguments from her defense attorney that are being presented as right now as they argue for a sentence as low

as probation. you ask what is the likely sentence here? the prosecution is asking for the presumptive sentence here in the state of minnesota, which would put that number at just about seven years in prison for that first degree manslaughter of daunte wright but they said they understand this is a unique case. kim potter is in a unique situation. they understand that a sentence as light as probation. they essentially said there's a way they could make that happen and a way to degree to that if there are certain conditions that are met. one of those conditions that kim potter goes to other places across the country. and then you have the family of dante wright. his mother is calling for the maximum sentence possible. >> dante's smile was genuine and

big, just like his dreams. you took those. you took his future, what he could have been and it was so many things. april 11th was the worst day of my life. a police officer who is supposed to serve and protect took so much away from us. she took our baby boy with a single gunshot through his heart. she was a person of authority who betrayed her badge, not only when she shot daunte but when she rolled around on the ground crying for herself, i'm going to prison, i shot a boy, call chuck, her union rep when she should have gone to him and said how is he doing, is he okay, please help him. she didn't even try, your honor.

>> the judge also hearing from dante wright's father, two siblings and the mother of his now 2-year-old boy. right now i can tell you the defense attorney is going through and reading letters of support that kim potter has received. he brought in a box of cards she's received from members of law enforcement and to go into the explanation of why they're arguing for probation, they're saying this is an officer who showed remorse, had no criminal history in her background and they said dante wright was the aggressor and he was the one that acted violently in this interaction, saying his attempt to flee officers led to his own death. that is of course happening in the presence of the family and of the mother that you just heard from there. so those are the arguments being presented before this judge. the judge will then make a decision and determine how long, if any time, kim potter will spend in prison.

>> it was incredibly emotional to take a listen to daunte wright, the mother of his 2-year-old child talking about how she shows pictures of him now to her child and he says "daddy." and that was just so incredibly emotional to hear knowing that that 2-year-old is now fatherless. shaq brewster, thanks for being there. i appreciate it. right now millions of americans are waking up to more weather advisories or to the aftermath of the severe winter storm that swept through a large swath of this country. states across to the midwest, all happening thursday night. it was the scene in illinois where the weather triggered a massive 100-car pileup. maura barrett is in the windy city for us. good to see you. take us through what you're seeing there and what you're hearing from folks around that area that have been affected.

>> reporter: well, here in chicago, the snow and ice has made its way through. it is bitterly cold here. this is after a tease of a spring week that we had in the low 40s, high 30s. so for late february, super abnormal temperatures. for here in the midwest. you see pileups like that on the interstate here in illinois. that interstate still closed down. they've been working overnight to try to clear those cars out of the way. we're still waiting to hear updates how people are doing. the bigger picture as winter advisories are ranging across from dallas all the way up to maine so this is the better part of the eastern section of the country. it is all the different types of precipitation that we saw. here in the midwest we saw tons of snow, ice, that wind. the south saw intense rain going up into the northeast as well. parts of new york remain under

flood watch into tonight and so while it is dus patrioting from snow and ice into rain and wind, we are hearing that it is not over unfortunately for those of you in the northeast. a lot of the northeast will be looking out for snow squalls, which could make travel and visibility really tough going into the weekend. >> thank you. we're going to let you get back inside since it's only 5 degrees there. and a new york judge has ordered trump and his kids to answer questions under oath and how they might fight back. der oath w they might fight back.

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here. the president responding saying this is a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in history. what happens? >> well, what happened and what is going to happen is that first the judge called it preposterous that the president could think that his mazars letter that was docketed and made public as a result of the civil investigation being led by attorney general leticia james that that was a clean slate and rendered her vision is somehow moot. the former president and his lawyers, their arguments before the court were rejected wholesale yesterday. the judge said he believed that there was evidence of possible financial -- copious evidence, he called it, of possible financial fraud that's already been uncovered here. so when you look at the age-page ruling and the legal arguments that have been presented, it's going to make it pretty difficult for the president,

even if he files for an appeal and his attorneys have indicated that's going to likely be the case to the first appellate division in the state of new york, it's hard to see a path forward where he doesn't actually have to sit for this deposition. if he files for this appeal and it's not stayed, essentially within the next three weeks the president and donald trump jr. and ivanka trump will have to sit down for this deposition. >> wow. i know you're on it. thank you. moments ago dante wright's family members took the stand at a sentencing hearing for the form are police officer that killed him, kim potter. we'll bring you that live. and has president biden's approach by effective? and moving from crisis to

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commander for europe. we're getting breaking news from courtney kube, that the president is set to announce troops being sent to hungary and striker vehicles as well. what does this signal to you? >> it signals there's continued worry. hungary is nato territory. they do share a border with ukraine and there may be concern about refugees, if the russians do launch a major offensive. i'm still betting it will be something smaller but obviously the administration has to take all possibilities into consideration. >> and we are getting this information according to two defense officials, i just want to be clear on that. let's pivot and talk about this

4 p.m. news conference, the president is set to speak with his transatlantic partners, giving an update on ukraine. he's done a couple of these over the last few days. the situation is getting more and more dire. we're learning the secretary of state will likely be meeting with lavrov next week if moscow doesn't invade between now and then and nobody knows the answer to that really. what are you expecting to hear from the president later on? >> an advisory from the white house explaining the president's speech so he will give an update on the overall effort to pursue diplomacy and deterrence. doesn't expect to hear from him any new policy or approach apart from the reporting of courtney kube about additional deployments. this is part of keeping the american people apprised of what's happening in ukraine.

it was just yesterday the president told reporters about his assessment of the potential threat, he said he thought it was very high. it's one thing for the president to say that to reporters on the south lawn, but given the gravity, the white house views it as appropriate to address the american people directly. one, because if russia does invade, it's among the top exporters of natural gas, gas prices and energy prices in this country could sky rocket, a russian invasion to up end world markets and significant stock market gains could be wiped out. there's a imagine sort of managing of expectations that the white house issin gauged in here. the other dimension, too, and this was first roared by the "new york times" last week is that the biden administration views by discloing putin's plans

it might give them an avenue to disrupt his plans. it might buy themselves more time for diplomacy to work. they also think at the very least it could remove as a pretebs some of the lies and disinformation that vladimir putin might use to justify the information if you have putin out there with a preemptive strike. >> can we talk about the force exercises happening tomorrow. all eyes on moscow right now. we have to talk about the nuclear arsenal that moscow has, the fear that he could feesably use that if he wanted to. >> normally the nuclear exercises do not happen this time of year. he changed the calendar to

coincide with this encirclement of ukraine. in addition to that, we also should be worried because it's not just a strategic nuclear exercise that we should worry about. russia's military doctrine allows them to use nuclear -- tactical nuclear weapons if they believe that they can convince their adversary to give up and go home. so it's a really dangerous situation. >> evelyn farkas, geoff bennett, yes, sir. >> uncle, grandson, nephew and to the rest of your family. i understand a mother's love and i am sorry i broke your heart. my heart is broken for all of

you. earlier when you said that i didn't look at you during the trial, i don't believe i had a right to. i didn't even have a right to be in the same room with you. i am so sorry that i hurt you so badly. my heart is broken, devastated for all of you. i pray for dante and all of you many, many times a day. he is not more than one thought away from my heart and i have no right for that, for him to be in my heart. and i do pray that one day you can find forgiveness only because hatred is so destructive to all of us and that i pray

peace will always be with you and your family. again, i am so sorry. and to the community of brooklyn center, i do owe you an apology, too. i loved working for you and i am sorry what has happened to our community since the death of dante. and the men and women who work for you still are good honorable people and will work hard for you. thank you, your honor. >> thank you, miss potter. okay. this is one of the saddest cases i've had on my 20 years on the bench. on the one hand a young man was

killed and on the other a respected 26-year veteran police officer made a tragic terror by pulling her handgun instead of her taser. thank you to everyone who spoke. i am -- i have been profoundly moved by the comments of the wright family. dante was very loved, his son has lost a father and mr. and mrs. wright, i cannot begin to understand the grief of losing a child. i'm so sorry for your loss. kimberly potter honorably served her community for 26 years as a police officer. she was a respected officer and

consistently went over and above the call of duty. she's a wife, a mother, an aunt, a granddaughter, a colleague and a friend to many. in addition to the letters that were forwarded to me, i received hundreds and hundreds of letters in her support from colleagues, family, friends, acquaintances, community leaders and members and even strangers. i read them all. they paint a portrait of a woman who touched a lot of people in a good way. i want to talk briefly about the aggravating factors that were brought up in this case. as i mentioned before, the state

initially took the position ms. potter should receive a sentence above the guidelines and filed a brief in support of two aggravating factors under blakely. all parties agreed that i would determine whether aggravating factors existed to justify a harsher sentence than that set forth in the guidelines. i feel compelled to address the grounds for that request because they were made public and i think it is important to note that they were not proven in this case. the state did not meet its burden of proof on the first factor. it is based on defendant causing a greater-than-normal danger to the passenger in the car and two other officers when she fired but the shot only hit dante wright. the passengers and the officers

were not injured by that shot. the cases cited by the state in its brief did not support its position. in fact, they illustrate why this case does not involve a greater-than-normal danger to others. in the fleming case, he fired a gun six times in a park filled with children. in state versus omaha, defendant fired numerous shots into two apartment buildings. there is no comparison here. the state also did not meet its burden of proof on a second blakely factor. contrary to the state's claims, kimberly potter did not abuse her position of authority. in fact, it is undisputed ms. potter or officer potter was in the line of duty and doing her job in attempting to lawfully

arrest dante wright on the warrant when she mistook her gun for her taser. what's more, she drew her taser legitimately to protect a fellow if the car were to speed away. officer potter's conduct was not more serious than that typically involved in the crime in question, justifying an upward departure. turning to defendant's request for a dispositional departure. there is no question that miss potter is extremely remorseful. she showed that today. she showed that when it

happened. it is also beyond dispute that she is particularly a amenable to probation. but the court retains discretion. and the court is not required to depart, even where mitigating factors are present and that's set forth in state verses birch, 669 northwest 2nd, 276, affirmed by the supreme court, 707 northwest 2nd, 360. this has been an extremely difficult decision. and making my decision, i look to the purposes of incarceration.

there are four. three of the four would not be served in this case. incapacitation refers to the physical remove of a convicted person to prevent them from committing future crimes. that is not an issue in this case. kimberley potter does not present a danger of future crimes. deterrent refers to the prevention of future crime and the idea that those who have committed crimes will be discouraged from re-offending after experiencing punishment. that purpose would not be served here. rehabilitation is also not a

purpose that would justify incarceration in this case. miss potter does not require reehabilitation to become a law-abiding citizen. retribution or serving time as a way for a convicted person to pay for the harm inflicted on a victim is the sole purpose that applies in this case. and in this case, a young man was killed because officer potter was reckless. the rightfully should be esome accountability. sentencing guidelines are just that. they are guidelines that inform a judge regarding sentencing for various crimes. they are not set in stone. the court has the discretion to

depart from guidelines, depending on the particular facts. of a case. a downward durational departure is justified if a crime is less onerous than typical. put another way. if the conduct is significantly less serious than that typically involved in the commission of the crime, sentencing below the guidelines is justified. i find the facts and circumstances here justify a downward departure from the guidelines. first, officer potter's conduct was significantly less serious than your typical manslaughter case. the misdemeanor predicate for the manslaughter count was reckless handling or use of a

firearm. here everybody agreed and the evidence is undisputed that officer potter never intended to use her firearm. she mistakenly drew her firearm at all times, intending to use her taser. there were police officers and experts who testified the use of her taser was reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances presented for officer safety reasons. the fact she never intended to draw her firearm makes this case less serious than other cases. second, the scene was chaotic, tense and rapidly volving. officer potter was required to make a split-second judgment.

that constitutes a mitigating circumstance. finally, unlike other manslaughter one cases, officer potter's actions were not driven by personal animosity towards dante wright. instead, she was acting in the line of duty and affecttuating a lawful arrest. this case is highly unusual. the other officer cases tried in this court are distinguishable. this is not a cop found guilty of murder for using his need to pin down a person for nine and a half minutes as he gasped for air. this is not a cop found guilty a

of manslaughter for intentionally drawing his firearm and shooting across his partner and killing an unarm aed woman who approached his squad. this is a cop who made a tragic mistake. she drew her firearm, thinking it was a taser and ended up killing a young man. miss potter, will you please rise. given all these considerations and having carefully considered the comments of the family, of both dante wright and the comments of kimberley potter as well as the arguments of counsel, it is the sentence and

judgment of this court that you shall be committed to the custody of the commissioner of corrections for a period of 24 months. you shall serve two-thirds of that time or 16 months in prison and a third unsupervised release, assuming no disciplinary offenses. or conditional release violation as. you have credit for 58 days already served. restitution will be reserved. there will be a fine of $1,000 and a surcharge of $78 to be taken out of prison wages or due within 180 days. you must provide a dna sample. you must not use or possess any

firearms, ammunition or explosives. you have the right to appeal the conviction and sentence. if you are unable to pay the cost of an appeal, you may apply for leave to appeal at state expense by contacting the state public defender. you may be seated, ms. potter. i'd like to make a few parting comments. i recognize there will be those who disagree with the sentence; that i granted a significant downward departure does not in any way diminish dante wright's life. his life mattered. and to those who disagree and feel a longer prison sentence is

appropriate, as difficult as it may be, please try to empathize with ms. potter's situation. as president barack obama once said learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes, that's how peace begins. and it's up to you to make that happen. empathy is a quality of character that can change the world. officer kimberley potter was trying to do the right thing. of all the jobs in public service, police