follow us online. garrett haake is indeed in for chuck todd starting right now. >> if it's monday, putin appears to address the people at any moment. so what's next for eastern europe as they brace for war? we'll speak with a former military commander who led forces in europe the last time russia invaded ukraine, as well as a top world leader who just returned from munich. and later, the impacts of the war abroad at home as the president and his party prepare for a prolonged political battling while also preparing to reset their messaging. welcome to "meet the press daily." i'm garrett haake in for chuck

todd. we're getting more information on how tenuous is in ukraine right now. we expect vladimir putin to make an address to his country at any moment. it comes as he says he's deciding whether to recognize the independence of ukrainian breakaway regions, a move that would likely incite tensions even further. putin already met today with his security council with a spokesman for the kremlin acknowledging that tensions are rising in ukraine. at the white house president biden is meeting with his security team with secretary of state toney blinken and cia director william burns. and today's developments even further diminish the likelihood of that potential meeting between biden and putin, which the white house agreed to in principle providing russias did not invade.

intelligence indicates russian military commanders have already been given an order to proceed with an invasion. just this morning national security adviser jack sullivan offered a grim depiction would look like. russia denies this. >> we believe it will be extremely violent and cost the lives of ukrainians and russians, civilians and military alike. this will not be a conventional war between two armies. it will be a war waged by russia on the ukrainian people, to repress them, to crush them, to harm them. >> russia now has as many as 190,000 troops along its border with ukraine and moscow has

extended its military drills with belarus, that were supposed to end yesterday. secretary of state tony blinken says everything the u.s. warned would happen ahead of an invasion has already taken place. >> we're seeing false flag operations taking place in eastern ukraine. the manufacturing of provocations and justifications for russia to go in. so all of this seems to be following the script that i laid out at the united nations security council that president biden talked about to the nation just the other day. joining me now is mike memoli at the white house. richard engel is in ukraine. courtney kube is here with me and keir simmons is in moscow and we have andrea mitchell sticking with us from washington, d.c. just how likely is it that we'll get to this stage where we might see a biden meeting with putin? >> this has been building over the course of several months.

in recent weeks the warnings have been much more dire and grim as far as what russia is capable of. but we do appear to be going from simmer to boil with all signs pointing to an imminent invasion. you see that in the public and private choreography. publicly the president for the second time in nearly as many days meeting with his top national security team behind closed doors. at this point you also see much more clearly these two paths that have been laid out by the u.s., by our allies for the russians. diplomacy versus deterrence. you have the president making it clear, the u.s. making it clear that biden is willing to sit down with vladimir putin if they were not to invade. and also the flurry of diplomacy from the vice president and secretary of state in munich with our allies making sure all

deterrent steps are also in line. both sides have been clear they're open to this meeting but both sides basically signaling today that that is very unlikely. andrea of course will have the first signal as we see a potential meeting first with the foreign minister level, secretary blinken and sergey lavrov. all indications is this is a without that has been very public with the warnings being ever more public about potential consequences as well. >> the president was supposed to go to delaware last night, he decided to stick around. do we expect to hear more from the white house today or are they in the same wait-and-see posture the rest of us are? >> the white house has not given any indication the president will speak from the white house today. we have not gotten a lid for the day. this is a holiday of course. washington largely closed. the call time for the pool in

which the earliest possibility of seeing the president is not until this afternoon. clearly this is a team monitoring events very closely and the president would be prepared to speak in and when is necessary. obviously they're waiting to see what the russian president wants to say first. >> we've got this reporting that the instel has been given to start this unvags. do we have any idea what that looks like when the word is given? >> the reality is it's already begun. that's not the ground invasion. the military campaign includes cyber attacks, the false flags or pretense attacks that we've been seeing only increase over the past several days. it also includes, we've not seen this yet but we're expecting to see more electronic warfare. that's jamming. we'll hear about the lights going out and about the internet no longer working in some of these places. those are the kinds of things we need to watch for over the next

several days. this is phase one. we are formally in it. phase two would be air missiles, cruise missile strikes, artillery fire and tanks and mechanized units coming across the boarder. phase three would be a potential occupation. would russia actually have some large scale occupation force. that's one thing we don't really know yet. they've been calling up sop national guards or reservists but nobody in the area of the 100,000 to 200,000 people it would take to occupy ukraine. >> you just laid out what sounds like a pretty specific path. is the military establishment in this country confident that not just a decision has been made but a specific decision mass been made about how russia wants to go about this in. >> there is among officials a

high degree of confidence that putin has decided on large scale invasion. if you look at map and draw a lien from kyiv down to odessa and everything east of there, there is a high degree of confidence that is what putin will focus on right now. that is about half of the eastern half of the country for now. that is a large-scale invasion, in and of itself. it is more than 50% of ukraine's military forces are in there, a large part of the population and kyiv is the capital city. there's the intelligence, military analysis and assessments from the united states and many allies is he has decided a a large scale invasion. >> richard, how has the situation changed on ground there? you had zelensky saying he

didn't think this would happen. we had reporting at the top of lists of folks who would be killed or essentially disappeared. what's been the reaction in ukraine to that and from zelensky's government in particular? >> reporter: so the ukrainian government for the last 24, 48 hours has not been reacting so much to statements from u.s. officials. they have been fighting a full information war against comments coming from russia, coming from russian intelligence, coming from russian state media. there has been a constant barrage of accusations that not only are the ukrainians attacking separatists in enclave that they control in eastern ukraine, but that starting today the ukrainian military has begun assaults directly on russian territory. and without providing evidence, the russians are saying that they are now facing a threat,

direct military threat, from the ukrainian military. and the ukrainian government using what's app and other social media channels have been reaching out to reporters, trying their best to swat these false rumors and reports and false information down as soon as it comes up but it's almost a full-time job. there seem to be new allegations every few minutes coming from russian media or from russian officials. so there is a definite concern here that as courtney was saying, we are in an information war phase of this where russia is trying to build a case for a larger invasion. what i'm not sure ukrainian officials are completely convinced about is that it will necessarily be an all-or-nothing operation, that the only option is for putin to come in and take all of the country or half of

the country. in the next hour or so putin is expected to come out, make an address to the nation. he's expected to either acknowledge the independence of the separatist regions or not. by acknowledging the independence of the separatist regions, he could be creating a cause for intervention. if russia were to come out and publicly acknowledge the independence of the separatist areas, which russia has been saying for a long time are under threat from the ukrainian government, that the ukrainians are carrying out a genocide in these areas. he comes out and recognizes their independence, the next logical step would be to offer protection for the separatists, which could come fairly soon. we'll see what putin has to say. >> when we talk about the ukrainians facing this on every metaphorical and literal

multiple front here, talk about those exercises that were supposed to end in belarus and the challenge that presents for zelensky and the ukrainian armed forces to have that sort of damn a clees of all theser groups hanging out at the border to the north. >> so the belarusian border is about 50 miles. it used to play a game where it would try to balance russian and european interests and it put itself somewhere in the middle. roughly a year ago belarus faced a mass uprising, a street protest to try and overthrow the government. i was in belarus at the time and i watched some of the crackdown and we had to play cat and mouse, hiding from authorities, but putin moved in and he backed up the belarusian government, backed up the dictatorship.

and since then belarus has been beholden to putin so he has now a satellite country in belarus, which he got without toppling the government by supporting the government and now that government is allowing russian troops there probably for as long as vladimir putin wants to keep them there. ukraine is a very different situation. it was exactly eight years ago tomorrow on the 22nd that their pro-russian dictator, president, was overthrown by a popular uprising and put a government in place that has been a constant source of trouble and annoyance for vladimir putin ever since. >> richard engel, i know i've got to let you go. thank you for your reporting there. stay safe as whatever happens next starts to unfold. keir simmons, i've got you in moscow now. we watched some of this extraordinary meeting of vladimir putin and some of his visors today appearing to set the stage of whatever decisions

he might make of these breakaway stages of ukraine. what can you tell us about the meeting and what you expect him to say tonight. >> it's really important to differentiate between what we know and what we do know. we do know that president putin at that security council meeting had advisor after advisor stand up and tell him whether they thought that region of donbas should be recognized by russia as independent of ukraine. at the end of that meeting president putin, highly choreographed, took an hour and a half and was broadcast on all the russian major channels. at the end of that president putin said i'm going to decide today. now we're seeing on russian television that he is preparing to make an announcement. so we assume that announcement is whether or not he recognizes this region of donbas and it looks highly likely given the open advice he was given in this fairly stage managed meeting, it

seem highly likely he will recognize that region. will he recognize just the area controlled by the separatists or an area that goes further than that area, close to where richard is right now. that's a really important question because that will impact what kind of military action russia believes it ought to take. if president putin tonight does announce that russia has recognized that area, will russian troops then openly move in to just that space controlled by the separatists or will there as courtney has been describing something of an all--out war? one thing we do now, as courtney was saying, russian troops,

military, are poised along the border near belarus near kyiv and near the region of donbas. they can't stay poised for so long and that's something western officials are seeing and reading and taking some implications from. and we heard from western officials in a briefing i was listening to, they said that they're aware of russian military and security officials who have serious doubts about whether this conflict would be a good idea. that suggests that western intelligence do have insight into what the thinking within the russian government. however, do always remember that president putin has a very small clique around him, fewer than were sitting at that council meeting and it is very, very difficult to know what's being said in the confines of that

group. you don't use computers, phones, don't say things on electron uk media. >> so we're left to wait. if putin makes the decision that this highly choreographed meeting and either recognize or lay claim to these breakaway regions in ukraine, how much further does that box zelensky and the west in? here you've got putin saying these places are no longer part of your country, what are you going to do about it? >> that's just the last step or a penultimate step, if you will, before an all-out invasion. zelensky said he's convening his own national security council. it's difficult to imagine that announcement would not be followed by military strikes. and courtney has laid out the stages that we are anticipating. one of those stages certainly would be cyber, would be knocking out command and control

from the ukrainian forces. so there's a lot that would tack pla. he does not seemed to be deterred by the calls from macron, by the unity of the nato alliance in munich this weekend, by the congressional delegations who have without the participation, i should point out, of some republicans lick ted cruz and marco rubio who are saying this is going to force biden to pay a political price, we're going to blame joe biden for losing ukraine but at this point they are outliers, but that's certainly going to be part of the political calculus. it seems president biden has done everything to unite the allies, to declassify, to try to set putin off his game, to send every single one could possibly send from everyone around him

and whether or not you can penetrate this circle, this closed circle, which is vladimir putin, his defense minister and former k.g.b. buddies. it doesn't seem to be working. >> andrea, i think we have keir simmons back from moscow with some news. keir, what's happening there? >> reporter: reports have just come over and handed me a note here. this is obviously unconfirmed by nbc news but the russian state media is now reporting that french president macron that he will sign that recognition of that donbas region. in that russian state media report, it does cite the kremlin. confirmed by one russian state media outlet now reporting that

president putin will recognize that don pass region independent of ukraine and that he will sign that recognition. so an indication of the announcement that we think we may get from president putin at some point this evening here in moscow. >> andrea, with all the relevant caveats as we work to con fourm that information, i suspect if it's true we'll hear from the french and germans about those conversations, what does that mean. putin has apparent not only made that decision but is communicating it to western leaders. >> we have heard that from other sources as well. let me just share other reporting from nbc news exclusionily. this comes from -- court dmi was working on this i know and she's sitting next to you as well and carol lee, our sources indicate president zelensky has been given options and discussed plans with him to leave kyiv in

the event of an invasion to go towards where the u.s. consulate is now, where other allied embassies are. that would indicate that they also have a game plan for the safety of president zelensky. and he has his own options as to what he does. but clearly he is now convening his national security council and they could move -- in effect move his government out of kyiv, which is directly in the targeting line of the advance planning that we see that richard engel has been reporting on from belarus. they can have ground forces in kyiv in two days. right down that highway that comes from belarus. so not ending that exercise in belarus was a real signal that the game is on. >> courtney, i want to bring you

back in. i can't help but think about the parallels to what we saw in afghanistan and the idea the american people were told the afghan military was going to fight, there would be a big doug in this evening. we dealing with a whole and abandoning kyiv, pulling back, there might be some kind of government in some other city. how does that affect command and control, whether or not they will fight. we're not even really at part one in what's going to be a multi-step process here. >> no matter how different the situation is, there's going to be pair bells. these are two situations where you'll have americans caught behind minute lines, for all intents and purposes, just like we had in afghanistan. the big question is what does the bide wrenn administration do

about it? for instance, right now there is still free throw of commercial air traffic. the highways are open. americans can get out right now versus what we had in afghanistan where the tall you been and encircled kabul. a go if air strikes again and americans are stuck there, potentially thousands of them, will this go in and get them? all indications i'm getting is they're not really planning to do that. they're urging them to get out on their own. buttism have to also say about this vote that we're hearing a little bit about. have vladimir putin recognizes these as independent states, we hear so many about these pretenses and false flag, this is an enormous pretense for attack. now he can say, well. >> they're begging me to come in and protect them. >> i'm not sending troops, i'm

sending peacekeepers to stablize and it's about sending them in there to stabilize the situation and help all these russian speaking citizens who are there. >> hugely important context. mike, keir, courtney, anderson, thank you all. in the meantime, a former military commander who led troops in europe the last time russia invaded ukraine joins me next. you're watching "meet the press daily." "meet the press daily. 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- allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from hmm. can't think of anyone!

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welcome back. as we reported at the top, u.s. officials believe that russian military officers have already been ordered to invade ukraine. on saturday ukraine's president vowed to defend his country and warned a russian attack was not

just a threat against ukraine but a threat against europe and the entire globe's security. >> translator: we are going to protect our country with or without support of our partners, but just putting ourselves in coffins and waiting for foreign soldiers to come in is not something we are prepared to do. >> joining me now on what comes next is retired lieutenant general ben hodges, was in charge in 2014 when russia annexed crimea and later the top general in europe. you said on "60 minutes" yesterday you don't think putin is going to launch a full-scale invasion like what courtney just outlined for us. can you explain why and assess how the intel released in recent days conflicts with that or how you come to that conclusion? >> garrett, thanks. i have to say i thought courtney did a terrific job of laying out some very important aspects of what an attack is going to look

like. but, you know, there's so many people, so many of us have been using this phrase "if russia attacks" and an "all-out invasion." what does that mean? there's no doubt there's going to be violence, that people are going to get killed, there's going to be destruction of property and there's going to be continue violation of international law and disrespect for international law by the russian federation. that's going to happen. but is it going to be at a level that our allies are going to have to invoke sanctions, for example? i think the kremlin will do everything they can to avoid that while conducting operations inside the donbas. i do not believe they have the capacity, and this is where i would disagree with some analysts, that they have the capacity to launch an attack, drive all the way down to kyiv

and encircle it. 150,000 soldiers, that's the big number we've been hearing, 150,000 is not a lot of troops. wembley stadium holds a hundred thousands, michigan stadium holds a hundred thousand. inside a country the size of u ukraine i think they will be absorbed. i don't think it's feasible. >> if you're right and maybe there's still time for diplomacy to have some role here, do you think the possible meetings we've been talking about having this week are a good idea? could those still be meaningful? if putin is going to bite off a chunk of eastern ukraine and just try to keep it, then what's the point? >> that's a great question. obviously i hope i'm wrong and there's no attack but i think we're past that point. of course you've got belarus is happening also.

those troops that were kept there after the exercise, i think they are there more to participate in the absorption of belarus into the so-called union state. i think that's been the long-term objective while we've all focused on ukraine, those troops in russia are probably there not only to threaten ukraine but also to help put luke shen co into early retirement. >> can you expand on that a little bit? the role of belarus has been confusing for some people, including that are allied with russia and hosting russian troops. are you suggesting that's not the end game for russia as involves belarus? >> the kremlin has been working on the creation of something called the union state for years actually. and it seemed to pick up speed here in the last several months. i think as one of your other teammates there talked about

belarus and what's been going on, i see belarus becoming absorbed into russia, into this union state. president putin then becomes head of the union state, which means he doesn't have to worry about elections for the rest of his life and he got his own guy who will not be luke shen co and whoever takes over in moscow. so this is bad news for a variety of reasons. one, that putin is going to be around for that much longer but also you're going to end up with thousands of russian troops and all that comes with it sitting in belarus right there threatening that little strip of land along belarus that connects our baltic allies to the rest of europe. this is not a good outcome. and i think that the president and others, secretary blinken, who have done a terrific job so far i think on the diplomatic front, they would have to really drop the hammer on sanctions, all these things we've been talking about if there is one

more russian soldier that enters ukraine. >> general, if all of this diplomatic effort has been largely to buy time for ukraine, just quickly as someone who commanded land forces in europe, how would you assess how ukraine ahead of what may or may not be an invasion? >> well, i think that, again, another good question. i think that in ukraine there is a strong belief and i support it, that the russian plan for ukraine was always to be like a boa con strictor, to strangle the economy until it led to the collapse of the government and until there was a new person there that might be more sympathetic and might be willing to make concessions. so the deployment of the navy

and all these troops that have basically surrounded ukraine is like this boa con stricter. they block access to all the ports. when i was in kyiv three weeks ago, you could already feel the economy was under massive pressure. i think that ukraine has recognized that was the main threat. again, i'm not sure how it's going to turn out. >> lieutenant general ben hodges, thank you. i'm sure we'll have you on as we learn exactly how it's turning out. next, we'll talk to a lawmaker who just returned from the high-stakes security conference in munich. you're watching "meet the press daily." "meet the press daily.

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and healing they never thought possible. it's a mission powered by love, made possible by you. give today. welcome back. we've been getting a lot of new information this hour so let's do a quick reset on what we know. according to a readout from the kremlin, russian president vladimir putin he will recognize two key regions of ukraine as independent states. he is expected to address the russian people coming up shortly. all this comes as u.s. officials are warning a russian invasion of ukraine is imminent.

i'm >> congressman, if president putin is recognizing these breakaway regions in ukraine, how should the president react to this and how does that comport with your time in munich? >> good afternoon, garrett. it's great to be with you. what you just described if putin does make that recognition, it's a serious escalation in the situation. remember those regions were taken by force and what we're seeing here now is a further potential of vladimir putin using his military to again take more of ukraine by force. so it's a very troubling situation. all of our nato allies along with the united states are very focused on this issue, and i give high marks to president biden and his team for everything they are doing to pursue a diplomatic outcome that

would be favorable, but in giving putin every opportunity for an off ramp possible. clearly the mood among the members that went to the munich security conference are that if vladimir putin does take military action, that there needs to be harsh and severe consequences to punish him for what he's done. >> let's go a little bit deeper there. at the conference what more did you hear from our allies about what they want from us now and what was the willingness, thinking about germany, about italy, that if economic sanctions go in and squeeze russia and it squeezes back on them that they're going to hold the line and continue this united front? >> so the sense is that all of the nato partners and countries within europe are becoming more and more resolved that what vladimir putin is doing cannot stand. you remember putin has broadcast

what he really wants in the long term. he said that the dissolution of the form are soviet union was one of the greatest political catastrophes of the 21st century. he's made it clear he wants to reconstitute those borders once again. think about what this means. it's not just ukraine. the question is also how far out is he going to push this? it might not be tomorrow or next year but the year after. clearly this is the direction that putin is heading. so members of nato and our european allies are becoming more and more resolved. some are taking longer to get there than others but that's where i give president biden such great credit. i met with vice president harris while we were at the munich security conference along with secretary blinken, vice president harris was giving us an update on her discussions with world leaders and nato

allies. during that meeting president biden called in and he gave us an update on the extensive work that he is doing, working around the clock consulting with our nato allies and getting everyone on the same page. vladimir putin is not dividing our european partners now, if anything, it's making us grow stronger and he's going to make nato stronger as a result at the end of the day. so i hope that we're giving putin every diplomatic avenue as an off ramp not to go into ukraine, but we are ready to respond with high sanctions if he goes it. >> i want to let our viewers now it appears vladimir putin has started speaking in moscow. while i still have you congressman, you talk about nato not being divided but there did seem to be some division coming

from president zelensky who was asking why wait to put these sanctions in place when the bombs start falling on ukraine, why not do it now? does his argument carry any water with you? >> sure. i understand where president zelensky is coming from. i was in the room at the conference when he addressed it, the munich security conference. in his voice it's both a sense of desperation but also a resolve that they do not want russia to overtake ukraine. and they want to leave nothing undone to prevent that from happening. president zelensky would like the sanctions to be imposed before russia does it. that's one cause of action that could be taken but the biden administration is trying to give putin every possible off ramp not to go into ukraine but has warned that there will be harsh, immediate and severe consequences. so i think perhaps -- i think it

would be a good idea to let putin know a significant number of what those sanctions would be. that's one of the things that some have argued we should clearly articulate and define what the sanctions will be. i know president biden doesn't want to tip our hand completely, which i defer to the president on that. i just in my mind think that -- we don't do a whole hand but we could let putin know some of the harshest hitting sanctions, what they would be and how it's going to hurt russia and the russia economy and russia's future if they go into ukraine by force. so i feel for what president zelensky is going through right now. he's under tremendous pressure but he conveyed he needs our friend and allies to be united and to come to the aid of ukraine to prevent vladimir

putin from invading. >> freshly back from munich, thank you for your i'm. as if the political challenges aren't enough, he's won into a potential war overseas with his first state of the union address a week away. we'll break it all down after this break. you're watching "meet the president daily." g "meet the president daily. but he rides alone. that's jeremy, right there! we're literally riding together. he gets touchy when you talk about his lack of friends. can you help me out here? no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. well, we're new friends. to be fair. eh, still. frank is a fan of fast. he's a fast talker. a fast walker. thanks, gary. and for unexpected heartburn... frank is a fan of pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc

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i had no idea how much i wamy case was worth. c call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ welcome back. the potential for war abroad has thrown a big wrench in the political plans for democrats here at home, as president biden and his party are attempting to reset their messaging heading into the mid terms. the white house had hoped to use this time ahead of next tuesday's state of the union address to test out a new message and a new tone. but needless to say, things haven't gone exactly to plan. joining me is simon sanders and former senior adviser to vice president harris, david frum and

senior editor at "the atlantic" and my colleague scott wong. simone, i'll start with you. how difficult is it to do this reset when you're trying to steer the country around a potential war in europe and you may not use the phrase walk and chew gum at the same time. >> well, garrett, one could argue that the white house is utilizing this crisis as a real, for lack of a better term, opportunity to demonstrate they are the adult in the room. a remember a couple weeks ago where folks were talking about the pit falls of some of the covid messaging, the pit falls of some of the pull-out of afghanistan and now you have the white house, a very coordinated effort from diplomacy with russia and ukraine to asserting and reassuring our allies across the world to the president being very clear with not only our allies but the american people on what is happening. this is a working government really putting its best foot

forward, i would argue. >> david, you have experience with this, trying to message around a war. on the one hand it is an opportunity to show the president in a moment or pocket here at home. >> it may be close, and we could be 72 hours away from mayhem in international markets, and it could disrupt the gas supply, and russia is an important oil supplier. it's different now. whoever is writing the speech better have a plan b and maybe plan c, d and e, because everything from inflation to the price of gasoline could look different. >> ron came up and met with

democrats, and after there was a notable tone difference, and they were going to talk about a set of accomplishments they wanted to safe. there was not a ton of talk of senate democrats pursuing bipartisanship. tell us what you have seen in the change in tone and change in direction that perhaps will be part of what we do hear from the president next week? >> the democratic leaders in the congress, they know people are hurting and over the last two years, there's a fatigue from the pandemic and suffering from high gas prices when they go to the grocery store, and the cost of milk and eggs and other things are more expensive, and there's a real push by the democrats to show real empathy, and you have heard that from obama when he talks about talking on the campaign trail,

and we have to show empathy with the voters, and show we understand. as david pointed out, there's a connection with ukraine. we could start to see continued high gas prices, supply chains interrupted again because of a potential russian invasion of ukraine. there's a connection here between, you know, the president and butter issues that people are facing right now and this crisis in ukraine. >> when i hear empathy and bipartisanship, you are singing from the joe biden song book, right? >> right. >> when you are looking at the midterms, which is traditionally, historically would be a referendum on this president, and does it count to cancel the other guy? >> voters want their president to work for them, and they have talked about this issue of

democracy, if you will, over the last couple -- over the last year of their administration, and a tentative democracy, free and fair elections, and people want to believe in democracies, and they want to believe that the government will deliver for them and that's what democrats will take in the midterms with the empathy and i hear you and we are working for you, and democrats will demonstrate to voters on the campaign trail and they are doing it right now, that your government can and does work for you, and we have been doing our part, and some democrats might say some of their republican friends may have not done their job, and so send us back to congress. >> the covid politics have been changing really rapidly the last two weeks or so as have the case counts with democratic governors changing their policies across the board. how do you see those policies coming into play in the midterms?

>> when a problem recedes you don't get a thank you for it. >> no credit. >> so if covid recedes by november, as we hope it will, it will just -- that means it will just cease to be a voting issue. as to the point about the bipartisanship, what else you say about president biden, he was not born yesterday. >> that is true. >> i think he cannot seriously imagine he will get anything. what i think he's doing if he's shrewd is setting the table for the politics of 2023. i am putting up my hand now not because i think you will take it but make you look worse when you don't. >> we are 54 minutes into this hour and nobody mentioned donald trump. is there a congressional republican or a wannabe congressional republican that can win one out donald trump?

>> i have yet to see one emerge. donald trump is still the dominant figure in the republican party. you know, for the most part, certainly in the house, which, you know, are much closer to the republican base, you know, those candidates up and down the ballot want to be associated with donald trump. you know, donald trump weighed in in the race against liz cheney and endorsed her primary challenger. we saw some of the top leaders on capitol hill, kevin mccarthy, elise stefanik follow suit and endorse cheney's challenger. donald trump is still the dominant figure on capitol hill and his -- those reverberations are being felt throughout the country in every single race. >> my question is, who has

donald trump gotten elected besides himself? >> well, regardless of what he does, we know what he will claim. >> exactly. which i think is extremely important. you talk about why essentially democrats themselves are not trying to center trump on the campaign trail ahead of the mid-term election is because he will not help you get any democratic votes or independent votes, and for democrats, they have to run their race because donald trump will do what he does regardless, and folks have to speak to the issues that speak to the people, and the people don't care about trump but their eggs and gas prices and things affecting their daily lives. >> he may have an impact on the senate. >> david, we have to leave it there, and international things are preceding as well as the next hour of the broadcast. thank you all for being with us this hour. chuck will be back tomorrow with

more "meet the press daily." msnbc coverage continues right now. right now.

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at helpfosterchildren.com good to be with you this afternoon. i am aaron gilchrist in for katy tur. putin is speaking on state tv after the kremlin announced he will recognize the independence of two