breaking news as we come on the air. we are about to get an update from president biden on the push to avoid a russian invasion of ukraine. we're going to bring you those remarks when the roosevelt room when they happen in just about 60 minutes from now. you will see it live right her on msnbc. and before that speech, it's all about working the phone with our allies. the focus, diplomacy and deterrence. in munich, you have vice president harris, secretary of state blinken showing a united front with nato and baltic leaders. we've got one of our correspondents posted up there, and we'll bring that to you. plus, ukrainian president zelensky set to meet with harris in germany tomorrow, but nbc news is reporting u.s. officials are now sounding the alarm about

zelensky's trip. they're worried putin could try to exploit his absence if zelensky does leave ukraine, and the backdrop in ukraine? russian-backed separatists are evacuating civilians. a signal, right? when you tally all that up, it adds to what feels like an air of grim certainty creeping into the tone of u.s. officials. we've got live reports from the white house, from munich, from moscow and from ukraine as we have a very busy friday afternoon for you. i'm hallie jackson in washington along with that powerhouse nbc news team. shannon, we'll get to you in a second with the president's remarks coming up at the top of the hour, but andrea, there are these new alarm bells we talked about about what happens if president zelensky leaves ukraine. i know you have been working your sources on this in the last hour. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, our team frankly in washington and here

have all been working on this because there were reports that we have confirmed that secretary blinken and other officials have warned that it's too risky for him to leave. there are people within ukraine. there have been counts and sanctions against russian -- well, ukrainian members of parliament who have been sanctioned for being loyal to russia, not to ukraine. so it's a perilous situation, and now the reporting is there's all kinds of action in eastern ukraine with the russian separatists claiming that they have been attacked by ukrainians, trying to create false narratives according to the u.s., conflicting reports. zelensky is the centerpiece of kamala harris' visit here. she was supposed to be visiting with zelensky tomorrow, and now in response to a question that

we put to zelensky's office, zelensky's spokesman confirms that while they had planned on coming, they are now going to make a last-minute decision, a last- minute call tomorrow morning because of what they call the dramatic events going on, and they're going to decide whether or not it is safe for them to come to munich, and let me just point out that in talking to former national security officials like jeremy bash and ben rhodes, you know, others whom you know, they point out that right now putin in effect, with those s-400 missiles that have been placed in belarus have been turned on according to the pentagon correspondent. they now control the air space. they can knock out air defenses. they can knock out airplanes, and so they're concerned, these former national security officials, echoing what is being told privately that if zelensky flies out, he may not be able to

safely fly home. >> which is stark. it's a stark warning, andrea. it is a real concern. >> reporter: right. >> shannon, are we hearing about that from the white house? what do you expect from president biden's speech? as we were coming on the air, we heard from one of the top officials predict directly attributing the cyberattacks in ukraine to russia, right? yet another as we talk about tallying up these signals, yet another potentially dire signal here. >> reporter: right, hallie, which turns it more into a not if scenario, but a when scenario. >> yeah. >> and seeing the white house increasingly talking about what the u.s. is doing to prepare, what it's doing with its allies to prepare about a potential invasion by russia. administration officials will still say the diplomatic path is still open, and we are told to expect president biden again to talk about the diplomatic efforts and those diplomatic path that's still going forward, but as you mentioned in this press briefing by press secretary jen psaki, some of the

top national security officials are coming out and warning americans about the type of tactics we could see from russia and reassuring americans that the administration has been taking steps to ensure that u.s. companies, financial institutions, airlines, energy companies, are putting the safeguards they need in place, and that you also mention the top national security in charge of cybersecurity. she specifically talked about attacks this week on ukraine banks and attributing that to russia now at this point. here's a little bit more of what she had to say. >> we believe that the russian government is responsible for widescale cyberattacks on the ukrainian banks this week. we have technical information that links russian -- the russian main intelligence directory as known gru infrastructure with high values of communication to ukraine-based ip addresses and domains. we've shared the underlying

intelligence with ukraine and our european partners. >> and we also heard in that briefing a little bit more of a window into what these sanctions could include. one of the officials said that they would include things like export controls that would make it essentially impossible for russians to get access to certain types of u.s. technology and products. also moves that would make it a lot more difficult to do foreign borrowing and foreign financial transactions. look for the president again to reiterate that, to reiterate the steps that they're taking, but to also again provide this increasingly grim assessment of the potential that we are now looking at for a conflict here. >> increasingly grim as you put it, shannon. erin, what are you hearing and seeing on the ground there with the west concerned about these signals that russia as shannon laid out, as we had actually talked about right before coming on the air, this seems more and more potentially like a matter of when and not if. you've got these pro-russian separatists in the eastern part of ukraine evacuating their people essentially. tell me more.

>> reporter: yes, some surreal scenes playing out there in donbas which as you mentioned, separatist leaders evacuating their citizens saying that they believe that the ukrainian military is planning some sort of attack. they're distributing videos and photos on telegram channels. pro-separatist telegram channels showing long lines at the gas station, long lines of traffic evacuating the area, showing children boarding buses, and the ukrainian government saying, this is an example of hybrid war fair. this is an example of disinformation that is designed to create confusion and sow division and instability from within, and tonight we just heard from ukrainian military intelligence, put out a statement accusing russian security services of planting explosives inside a

separatist-controlled warning citizens inside donbas. ukrainian government officials to not leave their homes, to stay at home, to not board public transportation because of these alleged explosives, and separatists were claiming that a car bomb went off near a government building earlier today, and ukrainian officials are pointing to that as an example of these explosives being planted. we're hearing from the defense minister here pleading with the people of donbas to ignore what they argue is false disinformation, and there's growing concern here in kyiv. what we're seeing play out in donbas could potentially be the beginnings of some sort of attempt at a pretext for a greater invasion, hallie. >> erin mclaughlin live in kyiv. thank you for being with us. matt, i'll go to you because you are there in russia. tell me what you are seeing and hearing. >> reporter: thank you, hallie. well, we have seen definitely a dramatic shift in the narrative here in russia since all of

these events that erin just laid out started happening. you know, i want to rewind real quick to this morning when president putin met with president lukashenko, and at the press conference he said the two countries need to actually strengthen their defense ties to kind of defend themselves from a more aggressive nato. they've then shifted gears to ukraine saying they are seeing an escalation in donbas which is what we have seen after that press conference today from the russian side on that after the rebel leaders announced an evacuation area claiming an imminent ukrainian attack. president putin gave the order to help refugees come into russia into one of the closer russian cities offering them 10,000 rubles, about $130 if they make it. medical assistance, hot meals and he sent down his emergency administration minister to help

this out, and on russian state media, we have seen them go wall to wall on this story about evacuations. we've seen all the rebel leaders on russian state television saying basically war could be happening. so we're seeing a lot of the things that we're worried we would be seeing at this point. >> you nailed it, matt bodner, and andrea and shannon, you know this so well. the warnings coming out about something just like this happening have been sounded for, you know, at this point days, if not weeks. shannon, let me go to you because you have the u.s. sending more troops to europe to back up our nato allies there. that announcement is something else that is one of these new pieces of data points today. >> reporter: a continuation of something the u.s. has said it was going do, and i will say, hallie, you mentioned that the u.s. has been openly communicating the possibility of these false flags for weeks now, and i think that is part of a trend we have been seeing from the messaging of them to be very open about what they know and to try and get ahead of some of

these tactics they have seen because members of this white house, and this administration are certainly no stranger to the putin playbook. they have been through this before in 2014. they have learned a lot of lessons from them, and they often bring it up themselves saying that they have seen this playbook before when it comes to cyberattacks. when it comes to false flags, precursors or sneaky, deceptive tactics. this is everything the administration is prepared for, and the two presidents there meant to -- of course, these troops are not going to enter ukraine to fight russians in any sense. the president has been clear about that, but to show support for the nato alliance, the countries along that border to show that unity that the u.s. is trying to make sure it is also crystal clear as another form of deterrence. >> shannon and matt. andrea mitchell, i know you will be joining us later in the show as we prepare to hear from

president biden at the white house and those remarks. i appreciate your time and your reporting, all of you. we'll keep an eye on you. if there's any news out of that, we'll bring you any updates. and we've learned about more gaps in what the trump administration was supposed to preserve for the national archives and what they actually did according to a brand-new letter the archives just sent congress. we'll explain in a second. and kevin mccarthy turning on a member of his own caucus. this will not surprise you, but the new escalation creates a rift between those loyal to donald trump and those who have called him out. we've got a lot to get to. out out we've got a lot to get to.indee. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire

wondering what actually goes into your multi-vitamin.

at new chapter. matching your job description. its innovation organic ingredients and fermentation. fermentation? yes, formulated to help your body really truly absorb the natural goodness. new chapter. wellness well done. yep, it's go time on the most reliable network. you get unlimited for just $30 bucks. nice! but mine has 5g included. yep, even these guys get it. and the icing on the cake? saving up to $400 bucks? exactly! xfinity mobile. it's wireless that does it all and saves a lot. get the new samsung galaxy s22 series on xfinity mobile. and right now, save big with up to $750 off a new samsung device. switch today.

on the hill today we learned that members of the hill and house are getting briefed on the possibility that those canada-style trucker protests are coming right here to washington.

those briefings come as canadian police today are launching a crackdown on those truckers. they've arrested several protesters who have kept downtown ottawa basically stuck in gridlock, including two leaders of the protest. we have ken delaney. talk to me about the warning that members of congress are getting from capitol police. >> reporter: hallie, multiple sources are telling our team that capitol police were briefing staff on the house administration and senate rules committee. coming of course, after those trucker protests disrupted the canadian capital and shut down detroit and the canadian city of windsor. these canadian protests began in opposition to vaccine and mask mandates, and some republican lawmakers here have praised those protests. now fox 5 d.c. is reporting that metropolitan police officers were told they would not be able to take time off between february 22nd and march 5th as authorities geared up for a protest convoy.

the vast majority of u.s. truck drivers are not required to be vaccinated against covid unless they plan to control an international border. the d.c. police department said in a statement, it was aware of potential protests and have increased available resources in preparation. officials added that they have not received a permit application for any kind of trucker protest. we are working right now to gather more information on this. >> ken, i'll let you get back to your reporting. thank you. >> you bet. when it rains, it pours. we're getting more breaking news coming from us from the national archives. they're now saying in letter that has now been made public to the chair of the house oversight committee that some of the presidential records that were retrieved from president trump's mar-a-lago resort contain classified information. coming to us in a letter to oversight, and this letter also talks about how according to the archives the trump administration did not fully capture and receive all of the presidential records created by

former president trump and his staff posted on social media platforms. in other words, a gap between what the trump administration was supposed to hand over. we're talking about some high-level staffers there, and what they actually did preserve for archival purposes. i want to bring in ally vitale. this is another story that has come out in the last couple of weeks about real questions related to the way the trump administration did or perhaps more accurately in some cases, did not preserve information that they are legally bound to preserve for the archives. >> reporter: yeah, exactly, hallie. this is all in regards to the way the trump administration did not necessarily comply with the presidential records act. the national archives confirming today in two separate letters to the oversight committee those two pieces of information you laid out. one, that there are gaps in the way the real donald trump account on twitter that has since been suspended and also the official potus twitter account, there were gaps in the

way those accounts were archived not accounting for deleted tweets, but perhaps the more concerning piece of this is boxes of information, some of it classified information that were brought and retrieved from mar-a-lago by the national archives. they say in this letter to oversight chairwoman maloney that they have been in touch with the department of justice because some of that information was classified, but this is in following a letter that maloney sent to them just a few weeks ago inquiring because of media reports that information may have been taken from the white house to mar-a-lago after the president left the white house. we have a statement from just the last few minutes actually from chairwoman maloney in which she says that in response to that letter that we were just talking about, archives confirms they informed doj of trump's removal of material from mar-a-lago, and there were additional records torn up by mr. trump even after the white house was warned this could violate the law. she goes on to say --

>> we seem to have lost ali's shot. that doesn't typically happen. we'll see if she can get this back, but to finish her thought, she was reading the response who says these revelations again that some of the information according to the national archives that they had retrieved from mar-a-lago contained classified information. she said says that these new revelations deepen my concern about former president trump's flagrant disregard for federal records laws and the potential impact on our historical record. she goes on to say she's uncovering what is the full depth of violations of the presidential records act. this is what you are looking at on screen, the social media pieces to this, and in other words i'm going to put this into layman's terms. when you are a government official and you are on twitter and you're part of a presidential administration, your tweets are part of the public record that are supposed to be saved. that wasn't happening right off the bat, but perhaps more significantly, and i think ali v

vitali is back with us. there seems to be a concern about classified information removed from the white house, apparently improperly according to the national archives. what recourse would house oversight have here as we talk about this response from chairman maloney? >> reporter: the first step in the recourse was asking to make sure that national archives got their hands on this information and that some of it was classified. now that they have that confirmation, and we'll see what happens next, but the other piece of this too is we knee the oversight committee are far from the only people trying to get their hands on documents from the waning weeks and days of the trump administration. the select committee comes to mind as a group of people keenly interested in what was being archived, the memos and all of the different pieces that comply with the records act. a lot of that is being turned over to the january 6th

committee thanks to the courts saying they should have that information, but this does leave the open question of, you can't look for something that you don't know is missing, and so in theory, you have the presidential records act so that nothing is missing. if there are boxes of information classified and not that were at mar-a-lago, it begs the question about what else they were missing out on, and what else was got complied with by the trump administration. >> ali, thank you very much for that explanation. we'll stay on top of it. appreciate it. more breaking news. it's all coming down on a friday afternoon. this time from the supreme court. with the court now agreeing to hear the white house appeal of lower court decisions that block the biden administration from ending the trump era remain in mexico policy. so again, supreme court going to take up this remain in mexico issue. this is a policy that forces migrants seeking asylum to stay out of the united states until their claims are processed. let me bring in pete williams. pete, tell us more about this. >> reporter: well, remember the

program is one of the first that president biden tried to shut down after he took office. they did initially shut it down, but then texas and missouri sued saying, you know, by shutting it down, you're basically inviting all these people to come back again. illegal immigration is skyrocketing. lower courts said the government didn't go about it the right way when it tried to shut it down, and the program was started up again. now the biden administration has asked the supreme court to take their appeal to try to get it shut down, and the supreme court has agreed today to hear that case. it'll be argued in late april. hallie, once before the biden administration tried to get the supreme court to intervene, but it declined to do so, but now it will take up this appeal, and the question here of course, is a rather technical one about how the government goes about shutting down a program like that. that has been a periodic question before the courts whenever the government starts a program, and then wants to shut it down again.

all the is are dotted and the ts crossed when they try to do that, but that's a policy issue here. i don't know if the supreme court will get involved in it, but it hangs over this case about whether this is a good idea or not. the biden administration argued that the remain in mexico policy forced lots of people to go back across the border, all those cities sprung up. they said people were victimized by criminal gangs, but the states say it's just been a magnet for people coming into the u.s. they seek asylum, and they know that they'll get released into the u.s., and many times they never even show up for their asylum hearings or their asylum requests are denied and so this program makes sense. so anyway, in any event, the supreme court is going to hear this case just before the term ends in the very last week in april. >> okay. so two questions, pete. let's start on timeline. does that mean we may hear an outcome by the end of this term or push into next year? >> reporter: they would decide the case by the end of this term.

late june or early july. >> why take it now when they declined to do so before? >> reporter: a couple of things have happened. the most notable one is now that there's a federal appeals court that has weighed in as well, it may have been that the supreme court just thought that it was too soon to step into it. that's probably the most likely explanation. it's just further along now, and the court doesn't -- i mean typically although it's been doing this a lot lately, but it typically doesn't like to take cases until they're chewed over more. >> pete, thank you very much for jumping in front of the camera. always good to see you. >> reporter: my pleasure. coming up, new pushback. new outrage over the former minneapolis police officer who says she never meant to shoot and kill a 20-year-old black man. we have reporters on the action. incredibly emotional, and really heavy stuff. that's coming up right after the break. heavy stuff. that's coming up right after the that's coming up right after the break. we can explore uncharted waters,

and not only make new discoveries, but get there faster, with better outcomes. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solus, vmware helps companies navigate change-- meeting them where they are, and getting them where they want to be. faster. vmware. welcome change. use a single hr software? nope. we use 11. eleven. why do an expense report from your phone when you can do it from a machine that jams?

i just emailed my wife's social security number to the entire company instead of hr, so... please come back. how hard is your business software working for you? with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com for a free demo. hon? first off, we love each other... ♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ (bright music) - win at work by communicating effectively with grammarly. grammarly helps you rewrite your sentences for clarity. - ...will triple in the next yea - [businesswoman] so you get the reactions you want. try grammarly today at grammarly at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future

for those you love. vanguard. become an owner.

vanguard. riders! let your queries be known. yeah, hi. instead of letting passengers wrap their arms around us, could we put little handles on our jackets? -denied. -can you imagine? i want a new nickname. can you guys start calling me snake? no, bryan. -denied. -how about we all get quotes to see if we can save with america's number one motorcycle insurer? approved. cool! hey, if bryan's not gonna be snake, can i be snake? -all: no. a heavy and emotional day at the minneapolis courthouse where former brooklyn center officer kim potter was sentenced just a few hours ago, with even the judge seeming to try to hold back tears as she handed down a prison term of 16 months, much shorter than the seven years prosecutors had asked for.

>> officer kimberly potter was trying to do the right thing. officer potter made a mistake that ended tragically. she never intended to hurt anyone. >> the ruling came after comments from wright's mother who was extremely clear about where she stands before the sentence was read. >> i'll never be able to forgive you, the police officer who is supposed to serve and protect someone took so much from us. she took our baby boy with a single gunshot through his heart. she shattered mine. >> potter shot and killed wright during a traffic stop, and she says she accidentally reached for her gun instead of a taser.

i want to bring in shaquille bruster. you saw that. that was not what prosecutors were looking for. >> reporter: that's exactly right, hallie, and it wasn't what the family was looking for either, and we heard from them during those victim impact statements inside the courtroom. they were asking the judge for that maximum sentence possible, and you heard that emotional statement from the mother of daunte wright who as she was giving that statement, you saw tears from the family of kim potter. you seen saw tears in the eyes of a deputy in that courtroom, that emotion extending to what you heard from the judge just there as she was explaining why she departed there what the sentencing guidelines in this state suggest which is about seven years, and it's what prosecutors were asking for. you heard her say daunte's life mattered, but this was about an officer who made a mistake, and

you heard kim potter herself who turned and faced the family of daunte wright, apologized to them and also said this. >> i understand a mother's love, and i am sorry i broke your heart. i pray for daunte, and all of you many, many times a day. it is not more than one thought away from my heart, and i have no right for that, for him to be in my heart. >> reporter: now that two-year sentence that you mentioned, hallie, and far below what many people were expecting, and it's much less than what prosecution was asking for. they are asking for that seven years, but the defense came into this asking for a sentence of just probation. they said that with kim potter's age, with her record as a police officer, with the comments that have come in both to the attorneys, but also that the judge acknowledged she received

that this was a unique case, and there were unique circumstances to this case. in the end, the judge siding closer to what the defense asked for, and we know that kim potter will serve about 16 months in prison, and she will get credit. she will get credit for the time that she spent behind bars already. that time is about two months. hallie. >> shaq brewster, live for us in minneapolis. thank you for that. coming up here next, an update on a legal filing that spurred a conservative media fire storm. why the latest language seems to imply a different story. we've got that after the break. . we've t gothat after the break

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ no one thinks about their hearing until you start losing it. and then you think about it a lot. this doesn't help and the whole process of getting them is a royal pain in the ..... ear. if only there was a better way. this is eargo, yes right here. incredible right? what's more you get all the support you need all from here. sitting right here. fiddle fiddle fiddle, to loud, to soft, i'm not a professional sound mixer. now this is eargo.

it's like magic. it adjusts to the environment where ever i go. perfect. can you believe someone thought this would help you hear better? genius. now this is eargo. made to be heard not seen. genius. special counsel john durham today is coming out and it seems trying to distance himself and his office from the firestorm that erupted after he dropped a new court filing last week. remember, durham's the guy that's been investigating the origins of the russia investigation against former

president trump. the firestorm is mostly on conservative media with right i saying hillary clinton paid somebody to have president trump spied on. this does not have support. here are some alies of president trump. >> it goes right to the clinton campaign. >> stunning report from john durham's investigation. >> hillary clinton's campaign paid to spy on donald trump. >> i liken it to watergate. >> i see a lot of potential charges. >> joining me is tom winter who's been covering this story. so tom, you've got durham now coming out and essentially -- well, i'll let you tell us it because it seems like he is reluctant to let his office's filing get in the middle of this political firestorm. tell us about it. >> reporter: i think so. the main concern by the main attorney who has pleaded not

guilty and denied any sort of wrongdoing here really came after this filing and said, look. essentially what he argued is durham is trying -- and you look at sussman on screen. he's trying to dirty me up. he's using this filing which is not included in an indictment, and i haven't been charged with anything here to essentially say that i have been working with this tech executive to get information, and then present information to the fbi and cia and mislead the fbi and cia who i was actually working for, and that all of this is just to drum up inflammatory rhetoric about my client, about this investigation, about this case. and durham through his response said, look. that's not what we're trying to do. durham's attorney argues that, look. from time to time, we're going to have to put stuff in filings, and they cite cases involving roger stone. they cite a case involving a capital trader when there was a lot of brouhaha in the business

community about sac capital. we have to save those things in filings, and if the press takes and runs with it, that's on them. as a matter of fact, we specifically talk about that. they say if third parties or members of the media have overstated, understated or misinterpreted the facts, that does not undermine the valid reasons for the government's conclusion. that's durham's response in his arguments but sussman's attorneys have come out swinging against this and saying trying to dirty us up in front of a potential jury pool by not charging documents, but just in a conflict of interest motion. >> tom winter, live for us with that breakdown. thank you. >> sure thing. coming up, top republicans in the house are going after one of their own, and who stands to benefit? it's coming up after the break. e of their own, and who stands to nefit? nefit? it's coming up after the break i need indeed. indeed you do.

indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire this is a gamechanger, who dares to be fearless even when her bladder leaks. our softest, smoothest fabric keeping her comfortable, protected, and undeniably sleek. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. it■s hard eating healthy. unless you happen to be a dog. manhood looks different from guy to guy. but when yours bends in a different direction, you might feel bothered by it. so talk to a urologist. because a bend in your erection might be peyronie's disease or pd. it's a condition that involves a buildup of scar tissue. but, it's treatable. xiaflex is the only fda- approved nonsurgical treatment for appropriate adult men with peyronie's disease. along with daily penile stretching and straightening exercises,

xiaflex has been proven to help gradually reduce the bend. don't receive if the treatment area involves your urethra, or if you're allergic to any collagenase or any of the ingredients. may cause serious side effects, including: penile fracture or other serious injury during an erection, and severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. seek help if you have any of these symptoms. do not have any sexual activity during and for at least 4 weeks after each treatment cycle. sudden back pain reactions after treatment may occur. tell your doctor if you have a bleeding condition or take blood thinners as risk of bleeding or bruising at the treatment site is increased. talk to a urologist about what your manhood could look like. find a xiaflex-trained urologist at bentcarrot.com

it's still the eat fresh refresh™, and subway's refreshing everything like the new baja turkey avocado with smashed avocado, oven-roasted turkey, and baja chipotle sauce. it's three great things together. wait! who else is known for nailing threes? hmm. can't think of anyone! subway keeps refreshing and re- (typing) hmm. can't think of anyone! (toddler laughs) ♪♪ (train whizzes by) ♪♪ (toddler babbling) ♪♪ (buzzing sound) ♪♪ (dog barks) ♪♪ (wine glasses clink) ♪♪ (typing) ♪♪

(toddler babbling) (typing) ♪♪ ♪♪ sales are down from last quarter, but we're hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uhhh... doug? [children laughing] sorry about that. umm...what...it's uhh... you alright? [loud exhale] [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has powerful, easy-to-use tools to help you find opportunities, 24/7 support when you need answers, plus some of the lowest options in futures contract prices around. [ding] get e*trade and start trading today. a pretty rare move we saw the top republican in the house of representatives, gop leader kevin mccarthy essentially turning on a member of his own caucus in a move that is all but certain to please former president trump. it's because mccarthy is backing the primary challenger going up against liz cheney in wyoming.

harriet hagman was also endorsed by former president trump. mccarthy calling the candidate who will, quote, focus on the needs of her constituents. it's a little bit of a do as i say, not as i do moment for mccarthy. he previously encouraged members not to get involved in primary incumbents. stefanik is one of those who joined him in what is an unusual move. i want to bring in our deputy political editor bridget bowman. it's great to have you on. how significant is it that you have mccarthy making this move against liz cheney? wyoming? >> reporter: it's really significant, but this could have an impact on fund-raising. both mccarthy and stefanik are prolific. mccarthy through his arms, pulled in $72 million last year. stefanik raised around $10 million through her fund-raising arms as well, and

hagman could use the help when it comes to fund-raising in this race. cheney's outraised her throughout the last year, and she has a bigger campaign as well. she has more than ten times the amount of money, and that primary isn't until august. this will be a long primary fight. >> you've got some differences here though between hageman and cheney. we know cheney hardly sees eye to eye with donald trump with what happened on january 6th, the legitimacy of the 2020 election. hageman has said things as well, and called him xenophobic, et cetera, and yet donald trump who is notorious for having a pretty long memory on this kind of thing has backed her, bridget. >> reporter: yeah. it is kind of perplexing and remember that hageman launched her campaign with trump's endorsement. she expressed anxiety about

multiple people splitting the path to victory, and we knew he was watching this. trump was aware of hageman's past criticism of her work in 2016, but she, you know, has changed her tune like a number of republican politicians that we've seen in recent years. the times reported that trump even briefly touched on that when he interviewed that prior to the endorsement, but he endorsed her anyway. "the times" noted that president trump sometimes relishes collecting people who are recent converts, and she's certainly one of them. >> bridget, you said this right at the top of this discussion here that this is fairly rare, right? so see for example, the top leader in the party and one of the chambers of congress go up pretty openly against an incumbent, somebody who is part of caucus. now that this has happened this time in this instance, do you see the floodgates opening at all? >> reporter: i don't think so,

at least at least not yet, and we don't see it happening as much in competitive seats. wyoming, trump won it by 40 points. whoever the republican nominee is will be heavily favored to win this district, this seat that represents the entire state, but kevin mccarthy's fund-raising arm has also helped fund-raise for a handful of republicans who voted to impeach president trump after january 6th. those are folks in competitive seats. even though they want to align with trump largely, they want to win also, and they want to win back the house. so i think these competitive seats will be key to watch. if we see leaders jumping into those primaries and going against some of those folks who voted to impeach trump, that could signal a shift, but right now playing in these safe seats maybe won't have as much of an impact. >> thank you very much for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you. we had a lot of breaking news on this friday afternoon. we were not kidding because we have more into us as we speak. a federal judge rejecting former president trump's push to dismiss several lawsuits filed

against him by members of congress. you may remember that these are suits that were filed in the aftermath of what happened on january 6th, and seek to hold former president trump responsible for his actions on that day. pete williams is back with us. bring us up to speed, pete. >> reporter: okay. so this is one of the several this is one of several civil lawsuits filed against president trump and others alleging that the people in his orbit and he himself set in motion the factors that ended up resulting in the january 6 riot by continuing to claim that the election was stolen. the judge's ruling today applies a lawsuit filed by democratic members of congress. the original plaintiff is bennie thompson but after becoming the chairman of the january 6 committee he took himself off and now filed by other democratic members of congress and the judge is not dismissing the lawsuit against the president in total.

some counts against the president have been dismissed but not a negligence claim or a civil rights claim or violating the anti-bias laws or aiding and abetting an assault. however, the judge also dismissed claims in this same lawsuit entirely against donald trump jr., against rudy giuliani and against the oath keepers so the lawsuit against the president lives on in a somewhat diminished fashion. this was the first big hurdle for the people that filed the lautsds. they filed it well just about a year ago after the riots so it's been very slowly working through the court. there were squirmishes if the claims should be dismissed and the judge said, yes, dismissing some but not all of it so the

lawsuit cleared in some fashion the first big hurdle. >> on balance as the plaintiffs you see this as a win, correct? at least able to move forward in some degree? >> a partial victory. >> thank you for bringing us that. earlier before, too. thank you. set to hear from president biden looking at the clock in just about eight minutes with an update on the border of ukraine with russia after talking with allies on the phone. we found out from the white house he hopped off that call within the last maybe 22 minutes. finished at 3:33 eastern and the white house confirmed they believe russia was behind the attacks on the ukraine banking system and said the white house is ready to put in place stiff

sanctions if russia were to invade. >> the cost to russia would be immense boat to its economy and the position in the world. financial sanctions impose immediate costs to the largest financial institutions and state-owned enterprises in russia. >> let's bring in kristen well kerf from the north lawn, andrea mitchell is at the conference and joined by military analyst four star general mccaffrey. the phone call as we anticipated wrapped up with president biden. the white house coming out and pointing the finger at russia for cyber attacks on ukraine. do we know what we'll hear from the president? >> reporter: i'm told that president biden is using this moment to talk about the fact that there has been this unity

among the u.s. and its allies relating to turning up the heat on russia to dissuade it from invading ukraine so there's a focus on the u.s. and allies after just having that call with the other world leaders and will talk about the diplomacy and the deterrence. expect him to mention that meeting between lavrov and secretary of state blinken that will happen next week with no invasion by russia at that time and talk about the fact they still see a path to diplomacy but obviously this is a window that's closing. why is the president speaking again? this will be his second time speaking this week. it underscores the urgency of the situation to update the american people and send a message to world leaders and the

russians in particular that the u.s. has the intelligence. and as they have been reporting on for days they're anticipating a false flag operation by russia. so this is a very urgent situation. the president will update the american people shortly. >> one of the things we talked about and the colleagues there at the white house talked about has been the discussion prior to the speech of president biden about to make remarks at all and the strategic discussions from the top advisers on that. we'll have heard from him twice in less than a week. what does that tell you about the discussions happening behind the scenes at the white house? >> reporter: i think it highlights the fact they feel like this is an invasion to

happen at any minute now and so the president wants to look like if it happens he is updating the american people with information before it does happen. if it doesn't it's an opportunity to say, look, i was ahead in the diplomatic talks. either way based on the conversations with administration officials they are aware of the weight his words hold and speaking about this crisis twice in one week i think really underscores the crisis intensifying and every hour is urgent. >> andrea, as we heard in that white house briefing press secretary jen psaki didn't address the reporting on the concerns of ukraine's president heading to munich. >> reporter: that is exactly the

fear and they warned zelensky that it is risky to leave the country as russia has the missiles just to the north in belarus. a country that he virtually controls and those forces are now -- those artillery and the forces are turned on and could control the air space. it is not clear that he could fly back in or escort planes with him. there are as we know many forces within ukraine favoring russia. some have been sanctioned already in recent weeks for being loyal to russia, not loyal to ukraine and three members of parliament sanctioned by the u.s. part of the goal of russia is to

topple the zelensky administration. doing it through a false flag operation or protest or undermining him or cyber that could weaken zelensky and make him vulnerable. he is a new, young president. ann newberger is a most experienced people on cyber in this administration and in a very effective role recently in brussels to brief the allies. had a very important role to play in this and to attribute this to russia is pretty important today. >> yeah. general mccaffrey, let's leave the conversation with you. i want your thoughts on the pro russian separatists ordering the evacuations and the air of certainty hanging over what we hear now. >> yeah.

i'm somewhat astonished by this. all the lights are blinking red and putin seeing the population of rodriguez false flag story of potentially american mercenaries with chemical weapons taking part in a ukrainian population. starting to look as if they are prepared in short order to attack at a minimum seize the entire two separatists provinces and potentially the russian speaking areas in the south. and invasion of the entire country does seem problematic. the bloody mess for him. a political disaster. looking at the situation russian armed forces have more than 100 battalion team forces are in place and if they attack only in

the east they will run into the bulk of the ukrainian armed forces. this is a bad day for them initially. >> general, with that phrase all the lights are blinking red, you certainly have a way of making things vivid. andrea, safe travels. thank you. thank you to all of you as the bell tolls for watching this hour. "deadline: white house" starts right now. ♪♪ hello, everyone. it is 4:00 in new york. i'm ali velshi in for nicolle wallace. president biden will deliver remarks on ukraine and the flurry of high stakes diplomacy as the united states and western allies attempt to stave off a russian invasion of ukraine. second time the preside