you all did that [ applause ] >> this was because of wanda and because of marcus, so we'll take a few of your questions, but this moment really belongs to wanda cooper jones and marcus arbery. you will hear first from the queen, wanda cooper jones. all right. >> i want to first say thank you to everyone who stood by us for this fight for justice for ahmad. it's been a very long, stressful fight, but the members of the community, for the city of brunswick, the state of georgia, for the people who stood with us through the nation of the united states of america, we couldn't have -- we wouldn't have this --

we would not be standing here today without each and every one of you. i want to address -- i now want to address the members of the doj. i'm very thankful that you guys brought these charges of hate crime, but back on january the 31st you guys entered a plea deal with these three murderers who took my son's life. marcus and two of ahmad's aunties stood before the court and begged the judge not to -- to take a plea deal that the doj -- that the doj went before the judge and asked them to take a plea deal with these guys. attorney ben crump just called

her name, kristen clark. as i traveled to brunswick on that sunday afternoon i spoke to kristen clark and -- and the lead attorney tara lyons begging them to please not take this plea deal. they ignored my cry. i begged them, even after the family stood before the judge and asked them, asked the judge to not take this plea deal, the lead prosecutor tara lyons stood up and asked the judge to ignore the family's cry. that's not -- that's not justice for ahmad. what we got today we wouldn't have gotten today if it wasn't for the fight that the family

put up. [ applause ] what the doj did today they were made to do today. it wasn't because what have they wanted to do. they were made to do their job today. yes, ma'am. >> as a mother what role does this play today for you in any healing? >> healing -- healing, i as a mom, i will never heal. i want to go back to the doj. i told the doj that, yes, they were prosecutors, but one thing they didn't have, they didn't have a son that was lying in a cold grave, and they still didn't hear my cry, okay, so, again, we got a victory today,

but there's so many families out there who don't get victories because of people that we have fighting for us. okay? >> can i ask you about the jury. >> yes, ma'am. >> one particular juror became very emotional. can you talk a little bit about you would like to say to the jury in this case. >> i'm very thankful that a good jury was selected. i wasn't worried at all that we wouldn't -- i knew ahmad's hands was in this from the very beginning. the way ahmad left here, i knew that we would get victory on the state level and in the federal level. i knew that from day one. i do appreciate that they took the time out of their busy schedule to come and listen to the nonsense because the way ahmad left was pure nonsense,

senseless, but i appreciate their time, and they gave us a sense -- a sense of a small victory, but we as a family will never get victory because ahmad is gone forever. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> if they made the decisions that the mcmichaels made they will be going to the same place that they are going. they can make the same decisions, but they will face the same consequence. >> wanda said a lot. number one, give all glory to god. number one, i'm going to give all glory to her because without her i wouldn't have three wonderful kids. i wouldn't have had three wonderful kids and i wouldn't

have three wonderful grandchildren. she is the root so i always going have the heart for her. i give all glory to wanda, you but one thing i want to say i'm thanking everybody who stood by us in this town with what my family going through losing ahmad because ahmad was a kid you can't replace because the heart he had, that will be missed by him. he loved his family. he called us every day. if he one word to tell you, guess what that was. i love you, pop. i love you, momma. he always toiled that. not each time you don't hear that, i'm struggling with that every day. it hurt me every day so i can imagine what it's doing to his momma and his sister, his brother. his little nieces because he was a family boy. he loved his family. that's all he ever wanted, was

for the family to be happy. pop, i'm going to tell them to be happy. i'm all right. i'm going to be all right. you know i always love your mom, a. you already know that. no matter how i look. i ain't go no kid nowhere. this is the only woman that gave me one. i didn't make none nowhere and after her i said -- after that i stopped. i'm not mixing my children up. i'm not having a half brother. i'm not having that. lord, i tell you, i give all glory to god and we got justice for ahmad. we god it from the federal and the state. i'm going to tell you, your families better fight like this family did. justice for ahmad. >> justice for ahmad. >> that's right. that's right. >> marcus, we'll take a few more

questions. >> [ inaudible question ] >> you go, first, wanda and then wanda will go, the last two years. >> god going to fight you and i trust in god and i said i'm going to let fight this bat. i could haved did something dumb. so god told me to sit still and god worked it out. >> you've been listening to the family of ahmaud arbery alongside attorney ben crump reacting to the verdict of the three men found guilty of federal charges, hate crime charges in arbery's death. nbc's ron allen joins me now from outside the courthouse there in georgia, also charles

coleman, a former prosecutor, civil rights attorney and nbc news legal analyst, and david nakamura from "the washington post" will join us, too. he's covered this trial extensively. ron, take us through the charges. what does it mean for the men already convicted in state court? >> reporter: the jury reached their verdicts in about three hours or less. we were shocked this morning that they had just begun the deliberations and the next thing we're hearing they had a verdict. they did this very quickly, and it was a unanimous verdict, up and down the five counts, guilty on all charges. the charges that carry the biggest penalties of prison sentence, possibility of life in prison, is the interference, violations of ahmaud arbery's civil rights which is essentially the charge associated with him, hunting him down, chancing hi, cornering him, capturing him and then killing him there on that street on that day two years ago

tomorrow. that's another thing to point out tomorrow, february 23rd, will mark exactly two years since his death, and it's also going to be ahmaud arbery day here in georgia. they signed a resolution that the georgia lower house passed a few months ago. another thing to point out, ben crump said this, and we need to check this. he said this is the first time in the state of georgia ever there's been a conviction for a federal hate crime and that's -- it's certainly one of the few times if not the only time, and that is something to point out because there are a lot of people who wondered why are they pursuing this because the men already were convicted of murder and already face life in prisson and the point was to highlight the fact that -- that this was about race, arbery's race, that this wouldn't have happened were he not a black man jogging through a white neighborhood and the prosecutors made the case

again and again that that's why this happened so the charges on the federal hate crimes that's the significance of it, the issue of race. >> we thank you for your reporting on this breaking story. we'll let you g.charles, i want to bring you in. we just heard arbery's mom, wanda cooper jones, say i knew we'd get victory at the state and federal level from day one. are you surprised by this verdict and given how fast this verdict was reached given that these are federal hate crime charges. >> i'm not surprised the quickness of this verdict. i think it was prince, and i think it's a sign that the prosecutors really put forth a strong case and laying out all of the reasons why the mcmichaels as well as mr. bryant had the mottive to do what it is that they did two years ago on february 23rd. i think that when you are talk about the evidence that was laid before the jury, you have to look at the amount of racial animus that you saw in the text messages, in the testimony that came out through this when they

talked about the conversations that they had with the defendants when they expressed deep disdain for black people and deep disdain for black individuals. when you talked about the social media posts, all of this evidence coalesced in what we now know was a modern day lynching, and today what we saw was the jury stand up and say we're going to hold these individuals accountable. >> david, you have been covering this case extensively. closing arguments for monday, prosecutors said that the three men didn't see ahmad as a human being and were motivated, quote, by racial assumption, racial hatred and racialing a engineer. can you tell how the prosecutors classified this case. >> the prosecutors went back a number of years to look danltal footprint to look at posts and text where they made very

disturbing racial statements. it doesn't matter that the defense had their own strategy. they don't have to prove anything. it's up to the government but the overwhelming amount of evidence i'm told by experts is not always the case in these kind of federal hate crimes trials. in fact, the federal government doesn't often prosecute something because they don't have that kind of explicit evidence, and that really made the difference here. you know, another thing i cover the justice department, some of the remarks you heard from the family right after, as exuberant as they are about the victory. ben crump, their attorney, praised doj and kristen clark, the head of the civil rights division, an african american woman and a civil lawyer herself but wanda cooper jones, ahmaud arbery's mother pointed out that the federal government wanted to do a plea deal because they thought it would give the defendants a better situation serving in federal prison than state prison and they objected to it and it was a real interesting moment.

they said. we want real justice and this is it, an actual conviction by a jury in a federal court. >> and charles, a prosecutor during the case said that the men, quote, vigilantes who assumed the worst about arbery. defense attorneys admitted that their clients expressed offensive remarks, but they were in the form of private messages with like-minded people i think we have a little bit of our answer now, but how do you think the jury analyzed that information and those arguments? >> well, i think that the prosecution did a good job of making the connection between the mindset of the defendants and their eventual action. what the defense tried to do on the case was all they could which was basically say, listen, it may be that my clients are reprehensible people. they may be racists or bigots, but that don't mean they were motivated by these things in order to commit this crime. in reality that's just a farce. that's hogwash and the jury did

not buy or believe that argument. it's nonsensical to believe that you harbor this level, this degree of racial animus, of anti-black sentiment and that when you have the opportunity to make good on these threats, when you have the opportunity or the chance to actually do something about it which was presented on february 23rd, two years ago when ahmaud arbery was minding his business and jogging that you didn't take it, and that's what the prosecutors made clear. they made clear that these individuals already had this inside of them. they just need the opportunity and, unfortunately, ahmaud arbery gave them an opportunity and he became a victim of their anti-black sentiment and their racial animus. >> david, while we have you, i want to ask you about some of your reporting on this community where this happened which is now just finding out about this verdict along with the rest us. you wrote a piece about casual gun culture where the three men lived saying residents of the mostly white mixed income neighborhood carried weapons.

they fretted on group chats when their guns were stolen from unlocked vehicles. explain how that culture was reflected in the testimony that you heard. >> it was really remarkable. certainly in the federal case the clear point was trying to establish the racial bias, the raeshl animus that these men exhibited towards black men and ahmaud arbery in particular, but the subtext in the whole thing is how many people were carrying guns? it wasn't the three men or two men convicted of the killing. william mcmichael was not armed on the day of the killing but they said they were investigating reports of break-ins or sfrans video where arbery had been seen. it was several days before the killing of aari. one man went over to check out this house and the man's wife was testified that they considered him a threat and they

may cause him harm because he was armed. she said he would be erroneously viewed as some sort of threat. it just struck me this community really, you know, saw guns as part of their daily life. experts said this is not uncommon certainly in some areas of the united states. both if not all had legal permits to carry guns, but it's another reflection of the kind of things that can contribute to names like this. >> thanks for helping us take a deeper dive to help us understand this verdict that we're reporting on this morning. appreciate this. >> thank you. tracking a lot of developments in the ukraine crisis at this hour. we expect to see president biden speak this afternoon. we'll check in on what we could hear from him and the late on the ground. plus, we'll have a live report from eastern poland. thousand of u.s. troops have arrived there to help beef up nato's presence in eastern europe. up nato's presence in eastern eupero

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we're back with breaking news. moments ago we learned president biden will deliver remarks in what the white house is calling a russian invasion in eastern ukraine. he's set to speak at 1:00 p.m. eastern. nbc's matt bradley is in ukraine's second largest city, 25 miles west of the russian border and kristen welker is at the white house, jeremy bass served as secretary of defense during the observe paraadministration and nola haines, a 2021 national security foreign affairs leader at the center of strategic and international studies. she's now director for women of color advancing peace and securities west coast chapter. good to have all of you with us. let's start with us. the president is speaking soon. we know there's been a shift from the white house this morning. they are now calling russia's deployment of troops in the two separatist regions of ukraine an invasion. what can we expect to hear from the president in less than two hours from now? >> well, i think you will hear him talk about the fact that

this administration assess the situation on the ground overnight in ukraine and it they now view this as an invasion. will he use that actual term? that remains to be seen. i'm told that they are still working on the copy, but the bottom line here is that this is a significant shift in tone because last night when we pressed top officials here on whether this was an invasion, they were very hesitant to use that language so what does that mean? this means that now there will be more robust sanctions. we know that today. the administration has said that they will impose new sanctions and in coordination with their allies, and that stopped short of stopping the biggest most punishing sanctions package that washington has been preparing, joe. they are still holding on to that as one final step that they may be able to take to try to deter, putin, i am told, but we have republicans and democrats, some of.'sclosest allies calling

for stronger action right now. earlier today the deputy national security adviser john finer was asked why not impose all of the sanctions now. take a look at that exchange. >> if russia takes further actions, we will have further significant and severe consequences that we kim pose via sanctions on russia in addition to the other elements of our response, including security assistance to the ukranians to help them defend themselves and the force posture, troop movements that you have seen the united states take in the coming tase. russia is taking significant steps away from diplomacy. we're not going to be the ones that close the door. >> so that is the administration's argument for why they are not imposing all of their sanctions right now, and there is some developing news on that point of diplomacy that you heard john finer talk about. will that meeting on thursday between secretary of state tony blinken and russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov move forward? finer has sort of been throwing

cold water on it all morning long and i'm told based on my conversations with a number of administration officials that that meeting is now in real jeopardy. they are not going to close the door on diplomacy, but it's very unclear at this hour that that meeting goes forward, and by extension that means that any possible meeting between president biden and president putin would be off the table as well so a lot of breaking developments and president biden set to update the country in just a few hours from now. joe. >> thank you, kristen and matt. i want to go to ukraine where you are, putin's crosshairs. what are you seeing on the ground and how are ukranians reanding to these developments over the last 24 hours? >> yeah, joe, this has kind of gone into an eerie silence right now. we're not seeing much perceptible difference from where i'm standing right now on the ground. the mood has shifted, i can say a little bit. for the past couple of weeks i've been telling you over and over again that ukranians are not bothered. most of them don't think that

there's going to be an invampingts would i say now most them are quite aware that there is an invasion unway, that there is something that is going to happen. the question now is what. a lot of ukranians don't believe that vladimir putin wants to kill civilians en masse, that it's something they don't see as political acceptable or palatable for the russian president, and it will not play into his hands and it will damage his standing even with his own public, because this is -- where i'm standing. this is a russian-speaking city. a lot of people here have russian relatives. some of them were born in russia. so for them this is a little different. they have some level sympathy for moscow so that has shifted just a little bit, but the fact is when you talk about bringing troops into those eastern separatist regions, a lot of people here, they are not going to see that as such a big deal. why? because they have been there for the past eight years so if you tell a ukranian moscow is sending in soldiers into luhansk

and donetsk they will say, yeah, right they have been there for the past eight years, a war that 14,000 ukeians have died in since 2014 so for this this doesn't represent the hair on fire emergency that it would seem to from probably further away in the west and that's why life continues on here as usual. i was speaking to somebody just the other day and she said look. i'm from eastern ukraine. unless i see a tank in front of my house, i'm not going to get worried. joe? >> jaire mix you worked at the highest levels of the pentagon and cia. now that russia's actions are being called an invasion and europe's troops are positioned near the border, how quickly do you expect things will move here? how quickly do you think the next steps sflb. >> we'll hear from the president's sanctions package that the president and the administration will be rolling out. they will go after russian financial institutions, to have full blocking sanctions against

the russian financial institutions that do business with europe, with the united states, with the rest world. i also think you'll see export controls that will prevent russian industrial capacity from manufacturing high technology capabilities, so i think you'll see these economic sanctions. i think you'll see our troops in our nato ally countries go on high alert. i think you'll continue to see us arm, train and equip the ukranian forces so that they can impose costs on russia if russia further advances across the ukranian territory, but i think this is interesting because, of course, we predicted -- the united states intelligence community predicted exactly this would happen, that russia would try to stage a pretext in the eastern provinces to try to provoke a conflict and therefore quite a cause, a manufactured cause for a russian military invasion. kudos to the u.s. intelligence community and also i think the biden administration did a great job of calling this out, making this information public quickly, opening up the world's eyes to the russian playbook so that the entire world is now ready for

exactly what we've seen unold. >> from what we understand right now russian president vladimir putin is speaking. we are listening in to get an idea of what he is saying right now, but this is a live look at vladimir putin speaking. we know we're also going to hear from secretary blinken at 3:15 today along with his ukranian counterpart at the state department, so, nola, i want to ask you more about sanctions. we already have one major response this morning. the u.s. and allies have long been calling on germany to halt approval of the nord stream 2 pipeline and germany has done that. susan glasser of the "new yorker" makes this point. three successive administrations, obama, trump and biden have oppose it had but it took russia illegally cutting up ukraine not once but twice for germany to kill. it will the sanctions work since sergei lavrov have already brushed off the sanctions?

>> thanks for having me. that's a very good question. there's a lot of question about did the 2014 sanctions work? did it impact the lives of everyday russians, and i think there's a mixed response to that. there's evidence, you know, especially at the dinner table, something that i talk about a lot, the real everyday lives of russians where the food costs went up 30%, so that's a very real kind of variable to pay attention to, and do i think that this round of sanctions will work? i do not think that it's a bad idea to sanction russia very heavily. economic sanctions will hurt, not just the russians. everyone will share the cost. you know, germany even talked about they are willing to carry that economic burden of gas prices and energy costs going up, so this is a collective situation in terms of sanctioning impacting everyone, but it seems like the west is willing to pay the cost, and then i also think that the russian people will also pay a very large cost, especially at

the dinner table. the lives of everyday russians will be impacted. now, how much will that factor into putin's calculation? how much does that really matter to him? i have no idea, but it definitely will have a significant impact on everyday russians. >> nola, it's not just germany. the uk this morning also announced its first slate of sanctions targeting banks and wealthy russians. british prime minister johnson appeared to signal there will be more to come. the eu sanctions package also expected today. how significant, nola, is this unified and pretty fast response in the wake what have putin did yesterday? >> you know, i am in awe. one of the things that i've talked for years in our history a lot about, you know, world war ii and a lot about the way that the security alliance did not work. i am in awe in the way that the security alliance has worked. i am in awe in terms of the way that the boyden administration has used transparency as

deterrence, the way that everything that the intelligence community has said is going to shapp happening. now i'm not happy that it's happening, but the way that the biden administration and the intelligence community is responding to this situation in 2022 is very different from 2014, and i think that that is a wonderful showing of partnership and security alliances. now how long will that hold? how long will the cost at the gas pumps start to really trigger everyday folks in europe and in russia, i don't know, but right now what we are seeing i think is -- it is really a testament to the biden administration. >> the transparency is a huge change, jeremy. that's mentioned in had a "new york times" piece based on interviews with more than a dozen senior administration officials. it highlights, quote, three critical decisions about how to handle russia's provocations. president joe biden made including sharing more intelligence with our allies and

then sending ukraine more weapons and giving the green light for an unprecedented public information campaign against putin, what we've about talking about here. what advantage do you think these steps gave the u.s. and its allies? do you think they made a difference? >> oh, absolutely made a difference t.bought us a lot of time because once we called out russian activity, rush i think he is today, and as a result that have time lapse, we've talking from december of 2021 all the way now until february 22nd, 2022 what did we do doing that time? number up, we closed our embassy and got our people out of harm's way. second, we sent troops to it the eastern flank of europe to bolster our allies and we improved the sanctions package and did the diplomatic circuit, 200 diplomatic engagements and got everybody on the same page and we sent arms and weapons to the ukranians so they can impose costs on russia. our strategy and countermisinformation strategy bought us a lot of time and

helped protect america's national security interests so i think the biden administration played it exactly right. >> matt bradley, kristen welker, jeremy bash, nola harngsz thank you all for your expertise and analysis on this big story. up next, we'll have much more on how the u.s. and our allies are working to bolster nato's presence in eastern europe in response to russia's invasion of ukraine. we're going to go live to eastern europe where thousands of u.s. troops have arrived next. ands of u.s. troops have arrived next i had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. i discovered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

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has skin-strengthening nutrients and moisturizers that help rebuild your skin. dove men+care. smoother, healthier skin with every shower. i think what the russians are seeing is exactly the opposite what have they say they want. they say they want, for example, fewer nato forces closer to their border. what they are getting is a nato buildup in nato countries along the russian border. >> that was u.s. deputy national security adviser john finer this morning. he was talking about the growing nato presence in eastern europe in response to what the white house is now calling a russian invasion of ukraine. this morning we're also getting a firsthand look at u.s. troops on the ground in poland near the ukranian border. they are part of an effort to bolster those nato forces. nbc's cal perry is with them in poland, and i'm also joined by

admiral james staviritis. let's start with cal. you're at the primary somers point where troops are arriving and you're getting a clear to the print of nato images there. what are you seeing? >> reporter: we've heard from the pentagon that these forces have multiple mission capacities that they can carry out and that's what we're seeing. we're seeing a bolstering of nato presence here in europe and the united states military doubling the number of reinforced troops here in the country, some 10,000 across poland but doubling the number across romania, and as you can see we've got video of u.s. troops on the ground. as i said, it's not just sending this message. this is an overt message. these troops are in the open. i saw them getting on transports at ft. bragg and then i saw them. last night i spoke to u.s. troops through a chain link fence. all of this is clear messaging to russia, a deterrent effort on behalf of the pentagon. the dual role that i mentioned, joe, is in case we see some sort

of wide-scale invasion and an influx of refugees. the nato forces, specifically the 82nd airborne will try to set up camps and air leave ate some of the pressure and as i'm sure the admiral will talk about, the multi-national efforts. there are 80,000 troops in europe and they are used to dealing with these countries. this is about this partnership, and undoubtedly this overt effort is a message to vladimir putin that as you sort of played in the lead-in, this is only strengthening nato. that's certainly the message that poland, germany, the united states, all of these nato allies are trying to send. >> cal, you've covered the military all around the globe for years. anything stand out about what you're seeing here in this situation? >> reporter: the overt nature of the deployment. i am so oftentimes worried when i report about the u.s. military that we're giving up what we give op-sec, operational security, where they are

deployed, how they are deployed and in this case having seen these soldiers get on planes in ft. bragg and now they are here. i'm surprised how open they are being about it. very purposeful when you look at the geopolitics of this when you look at what's happening in ukraine and the messaging to vladimir putin. >> thanks for your reporting from poland. admiral, i want to give a little background. american officials have been adamant. u.s. troops will not be fighting in ukraine. can you give us a little more context here? what is the role of u.s. troops working in conjunction with nato like this in poland? >> reporter: cal has it exactly right. the troops are not going to be put into combat scenarios. they are not going to go into ukraine and fight, but they will do a lot of things outside of that. number one, symbolic presence, and by the way, this isn't just a normal, if you will, set of u.s. troops. this is the 18th airborne, the

82nd airborne, arguably the most elite unit in the u.s. army on standby to deploy. it's a very symbolic striking effect. number two, if this thing goes sideways and there are millions of refugees and mass casualties working outside the borders, these troops are trained to assist as well as to in particular help americans who might be caught up in a flow like that. number three, if the administration takes a decision after a massive invasion, if putin really goes full blitzkreig, that would entail additional training for the ukranians, not in the country but conduct the outside the country, so these are multi-purpose troops, highly capable. it is a wonderful testament to the u.s. army's ability to forward deploy them. last thought on this, joe,

multi-national. these troops will fold in, in the case of romania, for example, with a french battle group, also part of this nato response force, so you're seeing the unity of effort across the alliance. very important >> at mill, i want to read from davidig nauseous in "the washington post." his op-ed reads, small cracks, small ones appear in putin's plan for ukraine. foreign minister sergei lavrov told him in front of other ministers. it came as world leaders gathered in munich with a huge focus. lavrov said, quote, every western representative declared their absolute commitment to a unified approach which, quote, confirmed that we need to negotiate with washington. does this unified front with nato change his next moves? >> i think it has to be influencing him, and in particular the german response which we just heard chancellor

scholz, brand new in the job coming in behind four-term chancellor angela merkel, but he has stood tall in this crisis, come to washington, stood alongside the american president, and germany just announced they will not be turning the keys, if you will, to start the nord stream 2. exactly the response we're looking for. all of the nato nations are working very closely together, and by the way, two other nations to focus on here. close nato alice and partners, not members of nato but finland and sweden have operated their troops under my command when i was supreme allied commander. you're seeing news reports about the finnish and swedish people starting to think maybe a good thing to join nateo. again, back to the theme your earlier panel. putin is getting exactly what he doesn't want here. let's hope he wakes up and walks away from this nightmare that he's creating. >> admiral what we have moments

ago. we got new information from nato's secretary general saying it has 100 jets on hoy alert. he also called this the most dangerous moment in security in a generation. what are you watching for next here? >> he is right on both counts, and so we were focussed a moment ago, joe, on these ground troops. there is a naval component and an aviation comb known. there are warships going on alert. there are aircraft going on alert alongside these battle groups that i just mentioned, so he is correct, and he's also correct it is a very dangerous moment and i'll underline one aspect of it. these are young people. these are by and large the soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines. they are people in their 20s and 30s. these are not deeply experienced statesmen like tony blinken out on the front lines. these are soldiers, and they can miscalculate, and that is applicable on both sides of the firing line, so so often we've seen disastrous situations occur

because of a miscalculation, an incident and a loss of control in the ladder of escalation. that's why the secretary-general correctly says this is the most dangerous moment i think any of us can think of going back to the cuban missile crisis. >> that says a lot. admiral, as always, thank you so much. we appreciate your time and your expertise. following more breaking news this morning, this time from the supreme court rejecting an appeal from former president trump. what the justices said next. frt trump. what the justices said next. nobody told you? subway's refreshing with better ingredients, better footlongs, and better spokespeople. because you gotta you gotta refresh to be fresh maybe it's another refill at your favorite diner... or waiting for the 7:12 bus... or sunday afternoon in the produce aisle. these moments may not seem remarkable. but at pfizer, protecting the regular routine, and everyday drives us to reach for exceptional.

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act to get rid of it. but the court, remember last month, declined to grant the president's emergency request to block the hand over of the documents. they've been handed over. so, case closed. >> you're also following the upcoming course in the supreme court that could impact gay rights. whether some businesses can refuse business to gay customers. >> this is an issue the court has consistently struggled with and declined to realliance aer since 2015, when it issued a landmark ruling on same-sex marriage. when can businesses decline to serve same-sex weddings? what's unusual about this case is it doesn't involve, as past cases do, lawsuits filed by customers denied service. instead this woman, who has a website design service, wanted to start serving weddings and put a statement on her website

saying she would not do same-sex marriages. she sued colorado to say is it okay to do this? and they said no, that would violate the antidiscrimination law. the supreme court says it will take up this question whether applying a public accommodation threw compel a art to say stay silent violates free speech. her statement would, in essence, be straight couples only and that's not protected speech. and this is a question that comes up consistently in these questions involving bakers or florists or photographers. whose message is it when someone sees a cake celebrating a wedding? is that the couple's message or the baker's message? and the state says they think it's the customer's message. for all these reasons thinks the state should not take the case and it should be argued next

year in the fall. >> and is one of the questions whether this is a very narrow focus to this particular case or whether it could have broader implications. >> she wanted it to have broader implications. she said all were two questions. one about religious freedom and the other about free speech. the court is not taking up the religious freedom argument. only whether this violates the free speech. this narrows it some but gets at the basic question, which is is there a free first-amendment right to van exemption from laws that protect groups from discrimination? that's the question that's been bubbling since 2015. so, the supreme court is going to take a large bite size of it, not a huge bite. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. coming up.

02/22/22. how people are celebrating this date next. and the lawsuit over unekal pay. u.s. soccer will pay the players $24 million and promised to pay men and women's teams at an equal rate going forward. here is megan rupinot on "today." >> you know, for us, as players, i'm so proud of the way we stuck together and really just kind of put our foot down. this is just a huge win and insuring that we not only right the wrongs of the past but set the next generation up for something we only could have dreamed of. only could have dreamed of y unstopables

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sacramento is hosting a big wedding ceremony. 222 couples will get married starting at 2:00. ending at 2:22. they hope it brings good luck. for others, it's an easy date to remember. the biggest winners are the babies born today with a lifetime of 02/22/22 rolling off their tongue. take a moment and appreciate today. afterall, we won't experience anything like it until 03/03/33 mark your calendars. you can catch us weekdays at 7:00 a.m. eastern. "and andrea mitchell reports" next with an interview you won't want to miss. figure skating champion. nathan chen. >> good day, everyone. this is andrea reports in washington. where president biden will speak

about ukraine and anticipated new sanctions this afternoon. this as the white house is acknowledging what former military leaders and diplomats have saying since monday, that russian's president vladimir putin is conducting an invasion of ukraine. putin telling russian reporters that his troops will not hesitate to act with force in eastern ukraine. >> translator: as for using military force abroad, of course, we signed an agreement yesterday and in these agreements republic, republic, there are relevant points that state we are going to continue -- we will provide all type of assistance, including military assistance. ifs there trr a conflict, of course, if it's necessary we will follow through. >> so far the biggest econoc