week. and the fight against book bans, is personal for a man who grew up in post world war ii germany. why he's throwing down half a million dollars of his own money to fight book bans. "velshi" starts now. good morning, it is saturday, february the 19th, i'm ali velshi. this morning we are continuing to keep al very, very close eye on the situation along the border between ukraine and russia. u.s. officials have been warning about the possibility of a russian invasion of ukraine for weeks now. but president biden has tempered those warnings with a cautious note while an invasion remained a distinct possibility, the russian president, vladimir putin, had not thrown his full weight behind the idea yet. that's changed. for the first time yesterday afternoon during a public address from the white house, president biden said he believes that putin has made the decision to invade.

>> do you have any indication about whether president putin has made a decision on whether to invade? do you feel confident that he hasn't made that decision already? >> as of this moment i'm convinced he's made the decision. we have reason to believe that. >> to be clear, you are convinced that president putin is going to invade ukraine, is that what you just said a few moments ago? >> yes, i did. yes. >> so is diplomacy off the table then? >> no. until he does, diplomacy is always a possibility. >> what reason do you have to believe he's considering that option at all? >> we have a significant intelligence capability. thank you very much. >> one defense official also commented to nbc news that, quote, the destabilization campaign has begun. russia has been amassing troops along the border with ukraine for months, reportedly waiting for a reason to strike. there are a number of russian troops in belarus, along

ukraine's northern border, it's allied with russia and where russia held troop exercises earlier this week. russia has already surrounded the eastern portion of ukraine. there are upwards of 190,000 troops, according to some estimates, currently surrounding ukraine. nearly half of them are reportedly in attack position. russia also announced yesterday that president putin will personally attend and oversee a nuclear drill scheduled to happen today. if russia indeed attacks, this would be the biggest military action and ground war since world war ii. ukraine's eastern border is a tinder box right now that could ignite with the slightest a spark for more on the situation we go to matt bradley who is standing by in kyiv. matt? >> reporter: as you mentioned, those nuclear drills, they're not exactly nuclear weapons being deployed, of course.

they're testing nuclear capabilities, that's not the only major warning sign. you went through the long list of all the things that have changed in the past 24 to 48 hours. there's been a lot of stuff happening here on the border that's made this so incredibly incendiary. we saw last night there was an increase in the exchange of fire. that's been happening on a daily basis. we've seen the number of incidents -- this is not between russia and ukraine but between ukrainian regular soldiers and russian backed separatists in two enclaves backed by russia. these two regions are sort of -- they say they're autonomous, they're backed by russia and have been fighting for the past eight years against the government in kyiv and, you know, 14,000 ukrainians have been killed in these fights. just this morning we heard one more died from shrapnel wounds

in an attack launched by these separatists against ukrainian regs. the ukrainian soldiers are under strict instructions not to fire back. they can't really defend themselves. if they do, the ukrainian government in kyiv worries that could give vladimir putin exactly what he wants. which is a pretext to invade. we're seeing something like that happening. this is exactly what the white house has been warning for weeks. we saw a car bomb that allegedly was supposed to have targeted the leader of the military branchs of one of these separatist enclaves, that was provided by this separate enclave, a video of the aftermath of that car bomb, that's very threatening. that's the kind of false flag operation that the biden administration has been warning about over and over and over again. again, as you mentioned, we could see something like that happening in the next couple of hours or days. as you mentioned, joe biden is convinced that putin has decided

he's going to invade. if he does, it will be with combined arms, fighter jets, tanks, all sorts of major weapons like the kind we're seeing drilling across the border in russia today. that's very threatening. biden also saying that he thinks that vladimir putin could go all the way in to ukraine and take the capital of kyiv. >> thanks for your great reporting we'll see you in the next couple hours. let's go to malcolm nance, he was previously with the united states navy for more than 35 years working in naval intelligence, the executive director of the terror asymmetrics project. i want to pick up where matt left off, the president talking about a major offensive, not a small incursion. he believes that vladimir putin has made the decision and this concept of taking kyiv, the capital, which is not close to the eastern border of ukraine,

it means taking over the country's infrastructure and controlling ukraine, which is what vladimir putin wants. >> right. well, i've been here in kyiv, and in ukraine for the last month with the terror asymmetrics project, analyzing the russian order of battle and driving down the routes we think would be the main invasion routes through the country to see what is the possibility, the viability of the russians actually invading, one, and two, taking the capital of kyiv. some of the key findings that we've found is despite the fact that russia has 70% of its actually nation's bttalion task groups, the combat elements, around this country, they could get to what we call their phase line one, which would be an axis just northeast of kyiv, south central and down, they could

probably take that area in about a week. and the reason i'm saying a week and not a matter of hours or days is because there is a ukrainian army, they are very well quipped for what they need to do, which is slow the tank assaults down, using u.s. javelin anti-tank missiles, u.s. stinger missiles and their own weapons capability. but with regards to taking the capital of kyiv, the study that we've done shows they have have to invade on three axes, one straight down from belarus through the chernobyl nuclear reserve, but they have weapons and vehicles that could bring them to the west headed down and coming in from the west around kyiv. and then they would have to break through the northern

command's main army forces to come down to the city to the east. they can get to kyiv and the assessment was that they could do it in 72 hours if they dedicate a lot of combat power, but they're not going to take the city. it's the size of chicago and the people here are ready to fight. so russia can get here, but within the first phase line, it will be a tough slog, they will lose a lot of people. >> but they are reported to have as many as 180 or 190,000 troops ready to do this. as matt bradley was saying, it will be land, sea, and air. that's unheard of. i mean, since world war ii we have not seen that massing of troops. the ukrainians may have a military but it can't stand up to that. >> well, it just depends on what the factors are. i've taken part in two invasions with over 150,000 men and women, a lot of people aren't the front

line combat troops, they're fire support, logistics, intelligence, all the assets and enablers you need to sustain a war. but this country is not small. it's not the desert of kuwait, the roads of iraq. this country is the size of germany, switzerland, and austria, it takes 17 hours to drive at high speed from east to west in the mud with tanks trying to avoid ambushes, not get ahead of your infantry with helicopter fire support. it will still be a slaughter, the russians can do it, but they're going to have to take very heavy casualties. the weather here is extremely warm right now. it's 44 degrees. whereas it should be 20 degrees, like it was three weeks ago. when i was down at the donetsk battlefield a week ago, it's a mud bit down there.

tang tanks can go through mud but it slows them down, and the terrain of wide open fields, it's an anti-tank ambush nightmare. so the ukrainians can fight. there's a history of partisan warfare here. russia can't take the whole country. they may be able to take the approaches up the river and maybe get parts of kyiv surrounding, but there's no way, even with the numbers they have that they could take all of ukraine and that would expose them to counter attacks and insurgency. >> malcolm, stay safe, good to see you, my friend. malcolm nance in kyiv, he's a veteran of the united states navy. major heads of state from eu and nato are gathering in munich, including the ukraine president, volodymyr zelensky,

he'll speak live at 9:30. and in 30 years time, sea levels are expected to rise at three times the normal rate. can anything be done to stop it? and the ceo of one of the biggest publishing houses in the world is bucking the book banning trend with a serious donation. he joins us later this hour. donation donation he joins us later this hour.mp , or...oh! i can't wait to go there! oreunite there, ♪ ♪ start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free covid-19 booster today.

most bladder leak pads were similar. until always discreet invented a pad that protects differently. wherever you go. with two rapiddry layers. for strong protection, that's always discreet. question your protection. try always discreet.

we've been telling you about

this munich security conference, this is it. that is volodymyr zelensky, the president of ukraine. he has gone to this conference, a number of european and nato leaders are there, as is kamala harris, they were just moments ago, taking a photograph together. he's out there looking for support. there's actually some concern and criticism about the fact that he's out of the country. people are worried that vladimir putin will take advantage of the fact that the president of ukraine is not in ukraine right now while it is -- while there's a war footing going on. zelensky has said he will return to ukraine today, it's late in the day now, probably 4:15 p.m. in ukraine. so he's going to fly back obviously it's going to be after dark by the time he gets there, but that is the munich security conference, you can see that volodymyr zelensky is making some sort of impassioned plea to those around him right now. we'll keep a very close eye on that. he's also expected to speak in just over an hour.

he speaks english clearly. you can see he's there in front of vice president kamala harris so it seems that many of his comments are directed, including to the americans. we'll keep a close eye on this. one component of america's strategy right now to deter russia from going to war is the threat of sanctions, including all those people around that table. president biden has warned russia there would be quote swift and severe costs to their action. and this morning, vice president kamala harris at that conference reiterated the sentiment. >> i can say with absolute certainty if russia further invades ukraine, the united states, together with our allies and partners, will impose significant and unprecedented economic costs. we have worked intensively with many of you in this room to

ensure we are prepared to move forward with consequences. we have prepared together economic measures that will be swift, severe, and united. >> democratic senator bob menendez, who chairs the committee on foreign relations has called the possible sanctions against russia that the u.s. can impose the mother of all sanctions. they've imposed a lot of sanctions against government officials, banking institutions and private individuals to weaken their influence and economy. the aim would be to hamper russia's biggest banks and financial institutions and put restrictions on russia's ability to export oil and natural gas and seek to hurt sectors of the russian economy and society. joining me is ann simmons.

good afternoon, thank you for being with us. on president biden's somewhat surprising comments about 18 hours ago in which he said we have solid intelligence that says vladimir putin has made a decision to invade ukraine, that's not necessarily what vladimir putin has been signaling. what are you getting on your end? >> thank you, ali for having me, first of all, and the kremlin finds this extremely hysterical. the foreign ministry has come out in recent days saying all this talk about invasion is hysteria, we're not doing anything. having said that, of course, the intelligence shows that there are these, you know, upward of 190,000 russian troops amassed on ukraine's border. russia has actually said they have been drawing down some of the troops, but that's -- you know, we've seen contrary evidence to that. now the kremlin is also saying

that, you know, we have no intention of invading. why would we? today, however, vladimir putin and his russian counter parts, alexander lukashenko, they oversaw the testing of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. these are tests, they had made clear the exercises are part of what they call deterrence exercises. but it certainly shows and extends kind of a signal to the west that russia is a nuclear power and if you mess with us, you're messing with a country that has nukes. >> interestingly enough, today there appears to be some sort of -- some nuclear activity. it's a test or demonstration of some sort that apparently vladimir putin is attending. nobody who's been discussing this potential conflict seems to believe the two most powerful

nuclear entities in the world, the united states and russia, are planning to bring nuclear weapons into this discussion, but everybody is showing off their goods at the moment. >> that's certainly the case. it's kind of a warning, kind of a signal again to the west that, look, we have this potential. so please, hands off ukraine. but it also goes a lot beyond ukraine. the kremlin has made clear that it wants to kind of address the security architecture if you wish of europe. the kremlin very much wants the situation to go back to before 1997 when areas that it considers to be in its area of influence, its sphere of influence were not part of nato and have made that really clear. nuclear weapons are terrifying. if you know it's kind of a signal to the west that look we have this potential. and in terms of sanctions, yes, the west has threatened these

punitive sanctions in 2014, sanctions were also levelled against russia after its annexation of the crimean peninsula but russia is still in control of crimea so the sanctions had very little effect. this time around they'll be more targeted, not just to individuals. they'll be more wide ranging. but russia is also preparing for that, ali. there's been a level of sanctions proofing by the russians. they trimmed their budget, been more conservative fiscally in terms of their policy. they beefed up foreign exchange reserves. they're also trying to diversify their trade portfolio and become less dependent on the european union for exports. so the russians are getting ready. the last thing to add there, they have china in theircorner.

so if there are sanctions, measures to prevent russia from importing or actually obtaining certain products, they have a friend in china. >> ann, good to see you again. thank you for joining us with your analyst. ann simmons is "the wall street journal" moscow bureau chief. back in the states, a judge fold former president trump his least favorite word no. and now he faces lawsuits for inciting the january 6th riots. inciting the january 6th riots depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. staying up half the night searching for savings on your prescriptions? just ask your cvs pharmacist. we search for savings for you. from coupons to lower costs options. plus, earn up to $50 extra bucks rewards each year just for filling at cvs pharmacy.

♪ i see trees of green ♪

plus, earn up to $50 extra bucks rewards ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ the failed former president is kicking off this weekend with a big, fat rejection courtesy of a federal judge. in a 112-page ruling a u.s. district judge denied the ex-president's request to toss lawsuits filed by members of congress and expolice officers. he wrote that trump's january 6th tweet admonishing then vice

president mike pence as the attack on the capitol was ongoing suggested a, quote, tas sid agreement with the rioters. remember the boxes that the president took from the white house to his sand castle. those 15 boxes have been recovered however the agency has confirmed some of the materials were items marked classified national security information. those developments come as the house oversight committee begins its investigation into those records that the ex-president took from the white house. carolin maloney said the national archives has been in communication with the justice department after identifying classified information in the boxes. the national archives isn't done handing over january 6th documents yet. president biden has directed the agency to send the trump administration's white house visitor logs to the house select committee despite the former

president's numerous attempts to get this from happening. joining me now is stacey plaskett from the virgin islands. thank you for being with us, congresswoman. a lot of developments. i want to start with the one in new york, largely because you worked as a prosecutor in new york, and what a judge has said is that donald trump and his two adult children, he has more than two adult children but two of them, ivanka trump and donald trump jr. are going to need to testify. they're going to need to be deposed having to do with their finances and their company. what's the relevance of that? >> the relevance is that these are two individuals who are intimately involved with the president in his business dealings as well as his campaign and they also took offices, positions within the administration. we know that there's a -- intimate information that these

two individuals have. i don't want to call them his adult children. these two other individuals who are named trump who are very involved as business partners with the president in some way, his business associates, so the court having that information is going to be incredibly important to see the connection, also, i believe, between the president's business, his campaign, and his presidency. >> let's talk about the material that will end up with the january 6th committee, which is something you're very interested in, by virtue of the fact that you were an impeachment manager. you made a case before the united states congress about the impeachment based on a lot of material and a lot of detail and evidence and yet there's so much more out there. all of which seems to lead to the same conclusion that you had drawn more than a year ago, but there's more and more detail. what was the president doing taking boxes of stuff that are classified information. the fact that he's taking photographs and stuff like that, it's illegal and it shouldn't be

happening. but there's more to it than that. there are boxes that went to mar-a-lago go that should have never left the archives of the government. >> sure. this is a president who much of the premises of his own campaign were insignificant emails that were lost by secretary of state hillary clinton, never mind president of the united states donald trump who are taking physical evidence, physical materials that belong to the people of the united states for prosperity, as well as national security interests to his private home. we've heard evidence about the president doing things like shredding papers, potentially throwing things down a commode as well. this is outrageous. particularly from someone who believed that a secretary of state should be sent to jail for these kind of actions and the president of the united states having done them himself. i think, you know, the criminal

conspiracy that is donald trump is being exposed. whether it is his dereliction of duty, whether it is infractions of the emoluments clause, using his office for his own financial and pecuniary gains it's all coming out now. while at the same time the president that we do have, president biden, is doing ali, the things that you said, trying to fix the economy, trying to advance and protect voting rights, as well as trying to stop a war from happening in europe. the nonsense that we have to clean up from donald trump is just profound. >> it is worth reminding people that donald trump actively worked to undermine nato while he was the president and everything going on in eastern europe now is focused on nato's response to a russian invasion of ukraine. >> and let's not forget the first impeachment which is squarely what we're dealing with now, the ukraine. >> that's right.

and to that end, it's february now, november seems a long way away but in the event that democrats lose control of the house republicans made clear the january 6th investigation would not look like it does now. now they're talking about targeting members of the committee who are currently on it. at some point the solution for some people is the justice department getting involved and one of the reasons it's always so useful to have you on here is because you've had a lot of jobs, including being at the justice department. what's your sense of what the justice department's role should be right now in all this evidence that is going to the january 6th committee but could die on the vine? >> well, you know, we're all hopeful that the attorney general will be the advocate for the people of the united states. i think, personally, that the attorney general needs to make a shift in his thinking. and moving from having been a judge, which he did so masterfully, to being the

attorney general. the people's attorney at this point. and listen, you've seen, ali, and the discussions are showing that the evidence is overwhelming, even circumstantially, that the president was involved. i think it's incumbent on the justice department to take this up. in the same way we're asking the justice department to take up voting rights issues. in the same way we're asking for protection from the -- by the justice department on individuals in this country to prosecute those who are rioting, who were trying to overthrow our government. while we don't want a justice department that moves at the beck and call of the president we need a justice department that is protective of individual's rights. as a virgin islander, i'm looking for the justice department to expand voting rights to support people who -- residents of the virgin islands

who cannot vote for president. so it's critical to individuals in this country, like individuals myself that can't vote for president right now. god forbid you lose your voting rights we'll never get ours down here. >> always good to have you, representative stacey plaskett, who i think made history this morning for the first use of commode on velshi since we've been on air. a new report lays out a scary scenario, rising ocean sides by a foot in 30 years. i'll speak to noaah administrator in a few minutes and why we need to include race in all of our discussions about climate change. in all of our discussions about climate change

for small prices, you can build big dreams. spend less. get way more. shop everything home at wayfair today. are you sweating? didn't you use old spice dry spray? of course, i did! don't lie to me! old spice has long lasting sweat protection! ok, i lied. noooooooo! aaaah! i'm ok! men put their skin through a lot. day-in, day-out that's why dove men body wash has skin-strengthening nutrients and moisturizers that help rebuild your skin. dove men+care. smoother, healthier skin with every shower. dove men+care. meet a future mom, a first-time mom and a seasoned pro. this mom's one step closer to their new mini-van! yeah, you'll get used to it. this mom's depositing money with tools on-hand. cha ching. and this mom, well, she's setting an appointment here,

so her son can get set up there and start his own financial journey. that's because these moms all have chase. smart bankers. convenient tools. one bank with the power of both. chase. make more of what's yours. and it's easy to get a quote at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows a whistle. [a vulture squawks.] oh boy. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪

(vo) america's most reliable network is going ultra! with verizon 5g ultra wideband now in many more cities so more businesses can do more. mike's bike shop! downloading up to 10 times faster. whoa! is that already... (mike) yeah. (vo) hello business on the go. bye-bye public wi-fi. 5g ultra wideband is faster and safer. would you look at rhea's real estate game? closing in low lag, crystal clear hd. it's a new day for more businesses! 5g ultra wideband is now in more and more places. verizon is going ultra, so your business can too. by the year 2050 sea levels are poised to rise by at least a

foot in the united states. that's an entire century's worth of sea level rise in 30 years. that's three times as fast as normal. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, noaa, released a new report -- or rather a reality check on climate change. sea level projections vary depending on where and how high you are, but the size is clear, as is the cause, global warming endeuced by human activity. water level rise is not one of the only effects but it's one of the most tangible. it'll lead to dry land being swallowed up by high tides and means profound flooding and unprecedented hurricane dam, their report lays out an ominous scenario by 2050 the expected sea level rise will cause tide and storm surge to rise without

additional risk reductions, communities and ecosystems will face consequences. we see high tides and storm surge in hurricanes. here's a look at the most destructive hurricanes in recent history. katrina in 2005, 17 years later some communities along the louisiana, mississippi and alabama coastlines are still feeling the effects of it. in 2012, super storm sandy hit several northeastern states inflicting $19 billion in damage in new york city alone. hurricane harvey brought catastrophic and prolonged flooding to houston, texas and the surrounding area in 2017. that same year hurricane maria did not reach the u.s. mainland but it decimated parts of puerto rico. this is a random sampling. there are many more, the natural disasters are all made worse by

the climate crisis and they have something in common. the death and destruction, disproportionately cripple poor communities, many also black and minority communities. climb change is discussed as an environmental problem, sometimes as a health problem, recently an anxiety inducing problem among young people and by people like me an economic problem as well. but it's also an inequality and justice problem. natural disasters and pollution hit poor and black communities in ways that barely touch wealthy white communities. this is as true of rural america as american cities many of which are still de facto segregated with minorities living in areas that are lower elevations or more flood prone like we saw in hurricane katrina. back in 2005 more than half of those who died in katrina were black, about 500 people.

many black and brown americans by virtue of their low income and accumulated wealth lived downwind from smoky plants or down river from toxic emissions. according to a 2017 report by the naacp and the clean air task force, black people are 75% more likely to live in areas situated near facilities that produce hazardous waste. according to a 2018 epa survey, black americans are exposed to one and a half times pollution from fossil fuels. which could mean living near a coal powered electrical plant or too close to a highway. breathing in those toxins can cause lung disease, asthma, heart disease and premature death. so it might feel disconcerting to hear racism and climate

change in the same sentence but to the black communities, the idea that it, like so much else in society, negatively affects poor and low wealth people and disproportionately people of color rings very true. there is a very clear divide between those who are causing climate change and those who are bearing the brunt of it. ultimately the floods and the storms and the fires are going to come for all of us, but it's going to hit some of us sooner and faster and do more damage. if we believe we're all in this fight together, then we have to fold climate justice into our efforts. we have to fold climate justice into our ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪ ♪ before you go there, or fist bump there,

or...oh! i can't wait to go there! or reunite there, ♪ ♪ start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free covid-19 booster today. ♪ ♪ wherever you go. ♪ ♪ kim is now demonstrating her congestion. save it slimeball. i've upgraded to mucinex. we still have 12 hours to australia. mucinex lasts 12 hours, so i'm good. now move! kim, no! mucinex lasts 3x longer for 12 hours. (tennis grunts) pnc bank believes that if a pair of goggles can help your backhand get better yeah! then your bank should help you budget even better.

virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. its low cash mode℠ feature gives you at least 24 hours of extra time to help you avoid an overdraft fee. you see that? virtual wallet® with low cash mode℠ from pnc bank. one way we're making a difference. as we mentioned moments ago, sea levels are rising rapidly. scientists say it may be too late to stop that process. a new report released by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration found they'll rise by the year 2050.

the use of fossil fuels is the primary cause of the rise we know this because scientists have been observing it for decades. according to the report, coastal floods risks are expected to rise dramatically over the next 30 years. the east and gulf coasts will likely see the greatest rise in sea level. rick spinrad said current and future emissions matter but this will happen no matter what we do about emissions. looking farther out, about two feet of sea level rise along the u.s. coastline is likely by the year 2100, even if we address emissions. failing to curb future emissions could cause a total of, think about this, 3.5 to 7 feet of rising sea level by the end of this century. joining us this morning is richard spinrad, the noaa

administer. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> what's new about this. my audience understood the consequence of this climate crisis for many people and this is a disastrous big infrastructure consequence is rising sea levels. the numbers are more shocking than some of us expected. >> yeah. think of coastal communities in this country, 40% of our population lives along the coast. these populations are at risk. i appreciate you calling out in particular the most vulnerable communities at risk. in order to make the kinds of changes that this administration is moving out so aggressively on, with respect to infrastructure, building out our roads, our electrical grids, water treatment facilities, we'll have to make decisions based on the best information. what's really fundamentally different about this report is that you can take it to the bank. the knowledge, the information, the data in the report here are accessible, they're highly accurate and they're actionable.

we can start to use these to make plans to accommodate change in infrastructure to make our people safer, to make ourselves more prosperous as well. so it's really having the tools to use to make the changes that we need to make in the next several decades. >> so let's talk about that. because the question becomes, there will be some costs involved in preparation -- in preparing ourselves for it, who bears the brunt of those costs. if you have a place in a coast that gets flooded, the mitigation of that, if you have insurance it's paid for by insurance. i heard it's four times as much to mitigate flood damage than it would have been to build out in a way that prevents against it in the first place. who makes that decision to take your house and protect it or take your street, neighborhood, state or county and protect it against this new data that you have? >> ali, the short answer is there are a lot of decision makers here. it's the individuals with

property, it's the insurance companies, it's the local counties and emergency managers. at noaa we're trying to provide the tools for what we are calling a climate ready nation. the kinds of tools that will allow these various decision makers to smartly plan for the kinds of things that they'll need with respect to the infrastructure. the biden/harris administration is very forward leaning with the issues of mitigation, reducing carbon emissions, increasing the use of renewables, at the same time we are going to have to recognize that without a doubt we will see this sea level rise within the next couple of decades. and consequently, making the changes that are predicted. >> we're showing some of the maps that have been provided by you. we were looking at florida, there's no part of coastal florida that's not negatively affected by this. at what point does becoming a climate ready nation mean having

hard discussions about where people should live and whether they shouldn't be living in places that are going to see potentially a 7 foot increase in sea levels by the end of the century? >> the reason why we were so eager to get this report out, first of all, is because of the accuracy and the utility of the report. but because now is the time to start planning. now is the time to start making changes to code, to building code, now is the time to start making investments. and we have to plan in order to make these bits of information and this knowledge work most effectively. failing to plan is planning to fail when you get right down to it. so to the extent we can provide the tools to help with that planning, this is why we're so eager to get this in the hands of the american public. >> we appreciate it. we always like when real data comes out that people can use, they can interpret it and do something with it. we appreciate that. we hope this is the first of many conversations with you.

appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you very much. >> rick spinrad is the noaa administer. take a look at this. these are all the books banned in the united states from one publishing company. the ceo of that company says book banning is a direct challenge to our democracy. he's dishing out his own money to stop this paperback prohibition. the head of penguin random house joins me next. of penguin randoe of penguin randoe joins me next. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination reedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in.

when you really need to sleep. you reach for the really good stuff. 'cause she's a biker... zzzquil ultra helps you sleep better

and longer when you need it most. its non-habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. ♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪

i want to point out some books to you. let me put a few of these books up here. take a look at this. "1984," beloved by toni morrison, invisible man, the jungle by upton sinclair and ulysses by james joyce. if you're a prolific reader or have a few books laying around the house chances are you'll come across a book published by penguin randomhouse and they've been banned at a curricular or library near you. >> look at this list. it seems to go on forever. all of these books have been banned or challenged in the united states. i'm sorry, these are only the books that are published by penguin randomhouse. there are many more books that look like this. to combat this assault on

freedom of expression, the ceo of penguinhouse is donating $500,000 of his own dollars to fight book bans. for dola this is personal and he grew up in post-world war ii germany where censorship was basically the law of the land. he said it is quote, dangerous, unimaginable, urgent and it ties into the future of our democracy, end quote. which say lot like what we've been saying here. joining us for a special edition of the velshi banned book club is marcus dola, the ceo of penguin randomhouse and executive vice president of the pan america board so free speech means a lot to him. for full transparency not that it has anything to do with us covering this topic, i should disclose that penguinhouse is the publisher of an upcoming

book of mine, no relationship with that or with us. thank you for the stand you're taking with this, we are not doing a banned book club because we simply enjoy books, we believe there is a negative impact on society and democracy and that seems to be the conclusion that you've arrived at, as well. >> exactly, ali. thanks for having me on your show. it means a lot. indeed, the freedom to riot is fundamentally linked to the freedom to read and the freedom to read and having open, equitable access to basically all books and stories. that is vital to a knowledgeable, inclusive democracy. so, in other words, if the written word is being suppressed in any way, shape or form, democracy gets into trouble. >> what do you think about --

because books don't get published without publisher and how do you think about this as a publisher, when writers come to you with material, there has to be an eye whether it will be controversial, or whether it will be a needle and what does the publisher think about that, do you say this is shocking because it will sell a lot of books and it will get a lot of ink and we'll have problems with this and have school boards threatening to take our books away. what's your thought process about this? >> as publishers we stand for quality and our purpose is to create the future of books and reading for generations to come. we, as publishers, fundamentally believe that books matter and reading matters in a healthy, multiracial and multi-ethnic society. so what we are striving for, ali, is to create an expansion,

domestication of voices and ultimately of readership not the opposite. this is all about sort of contracting, you know, the range of stories and ultimately the range of voices and readers. so again, when it comes to difficult content, let me add -- again, when it comes to non-fiction and you have difficult content about, let's say history, and i think, you know, it is very important to publish that content. why? well, we can only sort of create a better future if we learn from the difficulties we've learned in history. when it comes to fiction you want to make sure that the writing has quality and that the characters and the story, you know, has quality and actually sort of presents a view to

readers that they may appreciate whether it's difficult content or an enjoyable content. don't we all sort of learn more from, sort of, like, challenges that we hear about, that we hear about in life than just the successes and the joy we are experiencing? so it's all about quality. >> so some of the books that have been challenged or banned or restricted are the same reason we've been banning and restricting books for centuries and some people are just prudish and get shocked by the content, but some of it has to do with uncomfortable history particularly in this country. you have this experience. you grew up in a place where it was difficult for germans to have to come to terms with the fact that they have a very uncomfortable history. it doesn't mean the future has to be uncomfortable, but you have to confront history. what's your response to people

who don't want to read about our own history and things that are uncomfortable? >> indeed. i grew up with a sense of history, learning from history to create a better future, learning from other cultures to sort of become a more healthy, again, equitable and -- and multi-ethnic society. so it has always been very important to me personally and that's why i'm doing this not only as a book publisher. i do this as an active citizen, and i do this also as a business leader and you combine the suppression and the sheer size and the number of books that are being challenged. book censorship has always happened in some way, shape or remember to, but it is the rise of the number of challenges. you combine that with legislation, very broadly, sort

of, you know formulated legislation that limits critical race theory education and then you have a theme here, right? it goes directly against democracy and a healthy, equitable society. >> i think you're doing this that you're doing this as an active citizen because my viewers and the ali velshi book club as an active citizen simply read books and expand your exposure to things you didn't grow up with. marcus dohle is the penguin random house ceo. that interview got me even more excited for our second meeting of the velshi banned book club. tomorrow we're reviewing a classic "to kill a mocking bird," it's a favorite of yours from english class and wish you had never opened and we had requests for the velshi banned

book club, and we give the people what they want. one viewer who describes himself as neither black nor white writes in part, it is a terrible imposition to black schoolchildren to be told that they should be grateful to read huck finn and mocking bird. >> a teacher wrote in part, it was always an option in my classes to read some other title, but few ever chose to. it always led to some conversation about race, bigotry, loss of innocence, parental influence, racial injustice, but the significance of the time period always directed understanding from a historical perspective, end quote. there is an important and nuanced debate to be had surrounding this particular banned book and we are going to have it. tune in tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern and continue to email your thoughts on this