we must complete a recovery from the embers of dead empires, in a way that does not plan us back into new forms of domination and depression. >> kenya's ambassador to the united nations, martin khamenei, gets tonight's last word. the 11th hour starts now. tonight's last word >> good evening once again, i am chris jansing, day 399 of the biden administration. today, the united states is taking action against russia, as a president putin moves against ukraine. this afternoon, unveiling what he says is the first round of sanctions, into punishing russia. he minced no words about the country's military campaign. >> this is the beginning of a russian invasion of ukraine. who, in the lord's name, does putin think gives him the right to declare new, so-called countries, on territory that belonged to his neighborhood.

this is a plea glenn denial of international law, that demands a firm response from the international community. we are implementing full blocking sanctions on two large russian financial institutions. veb and their military bank. we are putting sanctions on russia's sovereign depth. also on their elites, and their family members. if russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further as with sanctions. >> today, germany also announced its own punitive measures putting final approval of the controversial nord stream 2 gas pipeline to russia on hold. germany's russia's largest gas customer. the european union and the united kingdom also took steps against russia today, announcing sanctions aimed at crippling russia's economy. and in washington, secretary of state anthony blinken shut down plans for a meeting this week with

his russian counterpart. >> last week i agreed to meet russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. this week, to discuss the concerns about european security, but only if russia did not invade ukraine. now that we see the invasion is beginning, and russia has made clear its whole scale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time. >> blinken added he is not closing the door to future meetings, it was russia will have to show a commitment to de-escalation first. the secretary of state's comments came after meeting with ukraine's foreign minister, ukrainian about that his nation would resist moscow's move to send troops into those two regions in eastern ukraine. that russia now considers independent. >> ukraine does not, and will never recognize this absurdity. neither will the world recognized it. we have two plans, plan a, to utilize every tool on diplomacy to deter russia and prevent further escalation. and if that fails, plan be, to fight for every

inch of our land, and every city, and every village. to fight until we win, of course. >> ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy, continues to urge hazardous not to panic, but tonight he did say that he is beginning to call up military reserves. president biden is also deploying more troops to protect nato allies in eastern europe. -- as well as fighter jets, and apache attack helicopters too estonia, law, and lithuania. the heightened tensions between russia and ukraine are being felt all across the global economy. on wall street, they closed -- while the price of oil is now nearing $100 per barrel up from about $56 a year ago. today, biden tried to reassure a public already dealing with escalating energy prices.

>> i am going to take robust action and make sure that the pain overthink shuns is targeted at the russian economy, and not ours. i want to limit the pain the american people are feeling at the gas pump. this is critical to me. >> it did not take long for some republicans on capitol hill to criticize the sanctions, complaining they are not strong enough or should have come sooner. and then there was this analysis from biden's predecessor today. donald trump, who you may remember tried to hold up ukraine in an effort to get the country to dig up dirt on biden. with this take during a right wing radio interview today. here is just a portion of it. >> i went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and they said this is genius. putin declares a big portion of the ukraine, of ukraine. putin declares it as independent. oh, that's wonderful. here's a guy

that says, you know, i'm going to declare a big portion of ukraine independent. and we're gonna go in and we're gonna help keep peace. you gotta say that's pretty soggy. >> pretty savvy. we will have more on that development later in the hour. with that, let's bring off our lead off guests, philip rucker coauthor with -- jacqueline alemany, msnbc contributor and political reporter for the washington post, -- admiral james stavridis a 30 year navy veteran who retired with four stars on his shoulders, he is the former head of the u. s. southern command, and former supreme allied commander of nato. and michael mcfaul, former u. s. ambassador to russia and he and bc -- thank

you all for being here. let's start on the ground. i want to know how you assess of the situation has changed on the ground in the past 24 hours, both in the threat to ukraine, and its neighbors given the president's decision to move more u. s. troops to protect the country's nearly on the border with russia. >> it has certainly changed. there has been an invasion of ukraine. and then vision is the imposition of armed troops on sovereign territory without consent of that sovereign nation. it does not matter whether it is a squad, 22 tanks, or 200,000 troops. the big change of course is there has been an invasion. administration is using that term vividly, and correctly to rally democratic forces on the military side, the ukrainians themselves are amping up their military preparation to fight. ukrainian forces were under my command when i was supreme allied commander of nato. they are not many members, but their

close partners, they have fought with us in afghanistan, they have participated in nato notions, they are capable, they will fight, there are 250,000 of them in southeast central ukraine, 200,000 russians just across the border. it really is a world war ii level alignment of forces. i think there is still a slim hope to walk back from a major set of battles in southeast ukraine, but that window is diminishing. unfortunately, i think the chances of putin going big if you will, heading towards kyiv, really pushing hundreds of thousands of troops across the border, the percentage of that chances going up. >> the ambassador, michael mcfaul, obviously if there is any window there is hope that sanctions will push it through. and in addition to what we heard from biden today, other nations are also announcing

sanctions tonight. australia, japan, taiwan, we heard this about u. s. sanctions from a former treasury official. take a listen. >> what he is trying to do is make russia an international pariah and telling the whole world you need to partner with us and not doing business with russia. in not buying whatever good, or service they have from russia. it gives us a negotiating bargaining tip for future negotiations, to remove those sanctions, and overtime it will financially undermine russia's military. >> ambassador, how effective do you think the sanctions are going to be, and will holding back the harsher punishments, the harsher sanctions potentially deter far more violent aggression? >> first, i support 100% with the biden administration, when they announce today, and all of the other allies, especially with the germans did with nord stream 2. when there is a wrong action, there has to be a response. proud to be a punitive response, no matter what. i support it 100%. second,

i am not convinced that it will change the calculus. i don't think that putin is thinking about the stock market next, week or next month, or in your from now. i think that he is thinking about his place in russian history books 30 years from now. and remember, when we are sanctioning russian individuals and companies, it is a certain segment of the economy that we are sanctioning. there is another segment of the economy, the military, industrial complex, those that pump out oil and glass that are close to vladimir putin that want to be isolated. i think that is a very important thing to remember. the more exposed to our abroad, and therefore exposed to sanctions, the less influence you have with vladimir putin back home. so it is the right thing to do, but i do not have any illusions that it is going to change putin's calculus. >> and jackie, senator lindsey graham tweeted this after biden sanctions announcements, i am quoting. president biden is not seizing the moment, the sanctions outlined are woefully

inadequate. we also know congress struggled to come out with any -- even before the invasion of ukraine. one of the chances they will be able to come together on a response that not only penalizes russia, offers assistance to the ukrainian government? what are you hearing on the ground? >> lawmakers are at home this week. as you noted, despite some of the criticism that biden has received today, they ultimately failed to pass any sort of sanctions package. that being said, lawmakers like lindsey graham, and senators bob menendez, james risch, have vowed to cast something in a bipartisan fashion. but i think that with this case crisis is serving to do is assure the divisions that still exist. in the democratic party, but more so in the gop between the america first republicans, and some more of the quote unquote globalist republicans that trump was able to sort of demonize throughout his four years. so you see people like graham who are hawkish, who

wanted sanctions from the biden administration yesterday. being more of the outliers and the party right now, compared to those who have even praised president vladimir putin in the spirit of tearing down joe biden, and in order to i think hype up and traumatize the democrats reactions to russia. that being said, there has been some bipartisan support that house emerge today, if not muted applause for biden's sanctions announced. although even democrats say that they believe that the administration should impose more severe economic penalty going forward, as it has been clear that months of these economic threats has not deterred putin from ultimately invading ukraine. >> that is true. ambassador

mcfaul, if both you and the admiral seem to indicate that they are not likely to service it iterant to vladimir putin, do a little more deep dive will you about putin's real fears. i know that you have written that it is not nato, but democracy on his doorstep. how you see that playing out in this crisis. >> well the people last night really long rambling kind of strange speech. i listen to most of it in russian. he did not get a nato until the end of the speech. he went on and on about ukraine. the bottom line is, he has told the people of his country that we are one nation, you have the same history, but ukrainians do not exist as an independent country, as an independent ethnicity. because of that logic, he thinks that he has a right to reunite ukrainians with the russian people, and he is willing to use force. i have got to be clear, he is dead wrong about it, the history that he talked about in his interview -- and his speech

last night was wrong in many ways. he would get a really bad grade in my class at stanford for the history that he portrayed. but that is the narrative, and that is why the idea that there is some off-ramp if we just shut the nato door, or we increased sanctions, i think that we are not understanding the magnitude of about what is about to happen. and he now has made it pretty clear what he wants to do. >> there was a sense of uncertainty in the white house about the use of invasion last night. today, absolutely no hesitation. first we thought in a tweet from the press secretary, we heard with the president had to say this afternoon. in reality, are they out of place where they think that any window that there might be for a nonviolent resolution for a diplomatic resolution, that when it was just about closed right now. what is the white house the strategy? >> white house officials have said that they are holding back

on the most severe sanctions against russia that have been drawn up in order to leave open the possibility of a diplomatic solution here. that being said, they are the president and his team are using that team word invasion, that is a worth it and not use yesterday. so it indicates further -- and the that is the description that the u. s. government has of what they see playing out on the ground near the russian ukrainian border. but that being said you saw biden hold back on the sanctions today. he did not rule out the most aggressive and punishing sanctions that the u. s. could impose on russia. he has said if russia continues to advance continues to accelerate, this movement into ukraine, this invasion as he put it, the sanctions will continue from the u. s., and of course from western allies as well. but biden is leaving open the hope, the glimmer of some sort of diplomacy here in the hours ahead.

>> so admiral, what do you see in terms of that continuing advanced? what are you looking for? what should we watch for in terms of any military action in the coming days? >> i would watch for cyber and cyberattacks, particularly those directed at the overall ukrainian grid, as well as ukrainian command and control. putin will want to degrade the ability of kyiv to control those forces that are in the field. number two, i would watch for the sea. i would look at the swing of the black sea fleet. are they going to try to put forces ashore behind the ukrainian lines? the ukrainians had a fairly static defensive perimeter set up. if putin can get behind it from the sea, that would be a very effective tactic for him. number three, and finally, i would watch closely where his commanders are. are they up in belarus? do we see the general who is the supreme commander, the russian

forces, he has been there for a week to ten days overseeing the exercises out there, watch the commanders. all of that. if putin successfully rolls across eastern ukraine, we need to be ready with plan b. how do we get the zelenskyy government out of the lawn of fire. -- where do we put a ukrainian government in exile if not within their borders outside, in warsaw, or london. like charles de gaulle in world war ii. how do we?. -- these are all next order considerations that the pentagon is grappling with. >> it doesn't seem so long ago, i think all of us remember, it also seems very far away when

both parties in a situation like this wanted to prevent a united front to the international community. the house gop put out this tweet tonight, showing biden walking away from the podium after today's speech, laying out what the sanctions were going to be, and it says this is what's weakness on the world stage looks like. i mean, clearly they are not worried about going low. are they figuring it is more politically expedient to attack the president and ahead of the midterms? what is going on? >> i think that there has been some new polling that came out today, on the heels of afghanistan and the public's prescription of biden's botched handling of his withdraw from afghanistan. that biden looks increasingly weak on the foreign stage. this is politically expedient for republicans to attack going forward. but i think we are also seeing here is the accumulation of four years of criticisms from trump and

democrats, and the president -- former president trump's barely solicitous attitude towards the former -- towards the russian president vladimir putin. and the constant doubt that if you pass on the u. s. government's assessment, that russia interfered in the 2016 election. this was a former president who spoke with admiration of vladimir putin, oftentimes, and i think created a lot of norms when it came to criticizing the other party when it comes to foreign policy. this is just day one of really the biden administration's handling of the actual invasion, and more sanctions are potentially to come. i think we should probably expect to see republicans continue to try to further politicize the administration's response to putin going forward.

>> and the president is exactly one week away from the state of the union. tonight, nbc's reporting that he has interviewed three supreme court candidates. so he has got this convergence of domestic issues, trying to show america at the same time that he is front and center, and trying to prevent the outbreak of war. what is going on behind those doors? how are they prepping for all of this? >> that is exactly right. they are taking it one day at a time. obviously the president is nearing his decision on the supreme court nominee. we expect that that could be? ? announced as soon as later this week. he had indicated he would try to have that selection done by the end of the month of february, and that month of course ends next week. on tuesday we have the state of the union addressed. i think that the imperative for the president will not only be to address the situation in ukraine, and offered some assurance to the american people that he has sided, but

also to assure americans that he is prioritizing the economy and inflation which continues to rise. obviously the turmoil in ukraine could have an impact on the gas prices here in the u. s., and in other economic indicators. i think that biden is going to have to speak directly to americans and their pocketbook issues and concerns, and anxieties in his speech next tuesday night if he has any hope of regaining some sort of political momentum this year, heading into the november midterm elections. >> philip rucker, jacqueline alemany, james stavridis, thank you. -- on how putin's greatest moves are thing out in russia and ukraine. then later, the newest eye-opening twist in an unusual geopolitical alliance that has hashtag, trader trump trending. the 11th hour just getting underway on a tuesday night. n a tuesda night.

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going to stop? >> i am afraid that he wants to keep going. >> and if he does keep going, what does that mean for you? for the people here? >> it means that -- it means that it is a time of sadness. it is a time of war, and death. >> of death. the unpredictability of vladimir putin's next move has plunged the world into a dangerously precarious position. one of my next guests point out that compared to 2014, when thousands of russian spoke out against putin's invasion of ukraine, putin is crush what is left of his opposition. julia ioffe right in her latest column, quote, when there is no one to tell putin that a war with ukraine would be a disaster, when he can afford not to care what anyone at home thinks, this is what we get. if you're isn't clearly deranged old man, threatening to drag us

all into world war three. with us tonight, offer mentioned julia ioffe, a russian born american journalist, and washington correspondent still with us, former u. s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. so julia, how effective husband important been at eliminating any opposition, and does whatever we think we know about putin's frame of mind need to change? >> well, on your first question unfortunately he has been prolific and virtual sick at wiping out what was left of the opposition. it has happened within the last year. it happened when the russian opposition leader returned from germany in mid january of last year, he had been recuperating in germany after having been poisoned by a military grade nerve agent by the fsb on putin's orders. he dared to come home. people came out and

protested, and the kremlin hit back, and everybody is basically now in jail, and exiled abroad, or very quietly trying not to end up on either of those places. this is a country where people go to jail for liking things on facebook, for sharing other peoples posts on facebook, for sharing music videos that they themselves did not make. so what happens is when you establish that climate of fear, there is no pushback. there is nobody that he has to deal with, not the opposition, and not even anybody in his own government. i can 2014, there were still liberals and western oriented people in his government. now, as we saw with the security council meeting yesterday which looked like a deleted scene from death of stalin, you just had the people around him bowing and scraping to say whatever he needed him to say, getting scolded when they stumbled and did not quite get the formulation right, and he is just surrounded by yes men. i remember one of my trips to moscow back in 2018, meeting with a kremlin reporter who said these people have no idea what's actually going on in the population. they think everything is great. and they are totally informational-y isolated. that was before covid. before putin started making everybody, even his close friends and allies

scolded when they stumbled and did not quite get the formulation right, and he is just surrounded by yes men. i remember one of my trips to moscow back in 2018, meeting with a kremlin reporter who said these people have no idea what's actually going on in the population. they think everything is great. and they are totally informational-y isolated. that was before covid. before putin started making everybody, even his close friends and allies quarantine for two weeks. he has clearly abandoned that recently, but you know, there is nobody saying no to him. >> so, michael, there is actually a column in washington post making the argument that putin has gone full stolen, even though sounds brutality failed to achieve its objective. quote, putin appears to determine to appear -- which he did in 2014, then by combining it with ukraine under russian domination. but he seems to expect a different result, which is one definition of insanity. do you agree with

that? and how does the west deal with what david centrally calls a stalin want to be. >> i am not sure that i would use the stolen analogy. i could think of many others. this actually reminds me of the inter war period more than the stalin period. when there was an aggrieved country in germany that thought that was an unfair and of world war i, they want to right the wrongs of, that and that is what mr. putin has been saying for decades. he also has talked a lot about russians living abroad after the collapse of the soviet union. and to protect them, and bring them in. but let's leave the analogy, i do not want to suggest that putin it's handler, he is his own monster in his own way. i think that with julia said is very important. 2021 will go down as the most repressive year in post soviet russia. i am a professor, we analyze these things, we compare your two year, that is would happen. that is not a

coincidence. why do you think he did that? because he did not want the protest. he did not want the independent media criticizing him. before he launched this operation today. i was just on a radio station in russia tonight to go, it is called echo of moscow, one of the quasi-independent ones, and i was arguing with some of my colleagues that i knew, well i was like why do you not care about this? why is putin going to launch this war that is going to be bad for you, and they said michael, this is not 2014. that is when i was ambassador, i have not been back since because a lot of the sanctions, but it is 2022. it is too dangerous to protest today. >> so you listen, julia, to russian propaganda so we do not have to. i know you said talking points from american figures like tucker carlsen getting court braided. i want to get your reaction to something that he said tonight.

here it is. >> it might be worth asking yourself, it is getting pretty serious, what is this really about? why do i hate putin so much? has put never called me a racist? has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? has he shipped every single model cost person in my town to russia? did he manufacture the worldwide pandemic and kept me indoors for two years? is he teaching my children to embrace racial discrimination? >> your thoughts julia on the argument and walk us through how russian propaganda is exploiting the divisions within the u. s. for its own cause. but tucker is laying out is an argument that we have long heard on the american right, and it's this valorize a shunt of putin and russia as this white, christian bastion of conservative for western values where men and men, and women are women, and people go to church. of course, that's not quite true of russia, just like it's not quite sure of the u.s.. but the two kind of dream about

each other. and there have been links between these two communities and between the american for a wide and for example of the russian orthodox true, and the russian orthodox -- church. the russian government went back years and years, will cancel families working on helping russia makes its anti-gay propaganda laws. trying to get russia to outlaw abortion, which has been legal in russia since 1920. so there is been the symbiosis there for a really long time. what's more interesting to me is the way that the left, you, know where the american political spectrum sort of force shoes around ten you get people like tulsi gabbard on tucker show, and both of them are shown on kremlin own tv channels saying, look, people in america think that the west 's policy, the biden administration, is crazy. and what's fascinating to me about the lefts sort of defense and demonization of ukraine's --

it's like this muscle memory from the cold war where -- leftist communion government but now it's a quasi-fascist right wing government. so i'm not sure why they are defending it. conversely, they are painting ukraine as this nazi government, which is also not true. but it's just yet another -- there are two things going on, i think, in america, we are very myopic, we don't understand -- a lot of people don't understand the well past our borders and protect the american system on to the rest of the world. thinking the rest of the world 's just like us. that their politics are just like ours. and that russia is using it towards their advantage to show that there is division in russia, that russia is no longer a bipartisan -- like it was during the cold war and you can divide and conquer

if it wants. do >> implications beyond ratings, thanks to both of you. coming up, he's cheerleading from the sidelines, and tonight, critics are calling it treason. when the 11th hour continues.

>> so putin is now saying, it's independent, a large section of ukraine. i said, how smart is that? and he's gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. that's the strongest peace force.

we could use that on our southern border. that's the strongest piece force i've ever seen. there are more army tanks that i've ever seen. they're gonna keep peace all right. no, but think of it. here's a guy who's very savvy. i know him very well. very, very. well >> now the washington post put it this way tonight, trump's reaction to putin's invasion of ukraine is exactly as you'd expect. his characteristic praising of putin sitting contrast to the reaction of some republicans on capitol hill. this was close trump ally's neuter lindsey graham earlier today. >> i would like to go after putin and his cronies as hard as we can. i would like to make his life miserable for putin. and those who support him. because if we don't, other bad actors are going to move quickly in other areas. >> back with us tonight, robert, gibbs and white house press secretary under president obama.

he also co-host the hacks on tap cause. and bill crystal editor at large at the bulwark. bill, i'm curious of your reaction of what you heard from trump in its in one way to easy to laugh it off, and we just heard julia who listens to so much brush and prop again and knows how it's used to brainwash the russian people about what the united states really thanks. what do you think? what goes through your mind when you hear donald trump had to say? >> it's just terrible, for u. s. president in this crisis is not trying to support the current american president, even though he has a few -- >> or just don't say anything. >> right, or just keep quiet, as other presidents have. but praising? ? putin? praising this aggressive dictator?

tonight, i happen -- i had dinner in d. c. with a russian dissidents who has been in exile for seven years i think. he's close to navalny and they -- talk to him. and there was no great sentimentality or anything, he was very analytical, talked about prospects, limitations, what is hopes are of what might happen in russia. i just thought, what an impressive person. he's left his country, though he loves his country, he's fighting for his country. many people are doing that in russia, out of russia, as julia said. when you listen to trump, leave aside the politics and the exportation of it, putin and the terrible effect on policy could have here, but morally so debased. especially in this moment when putin is unleashing aggression abroad to complement his oppression at home. it's so debased and to not at least have some sense of having decency.

>> robert, they are not alone. let me play with mark pompeo said last week. >> very shrewd. very capable. i have enormous respect for him. i've been criticized for saying that. no, i have enormous respect for him. he's very savvy, very shrewd. >> enormous respect for putin. we definitely noticed, he used some of the same language as his former boss. julia davis from the daily beast observed on twitter, russian state media has also taken note of the former secretary of state's comments. so, you, know backing up what we heard from joy yeah. what is your reaction to this? i wonder, robert, had it come from the communications side, but goes through your head when you hear all of this? >> well, chris, i think we watch donald trump and people around him for four years do their best to normalize vladimir putin to the american people.

quite frankly, it was something no level of russian propaganda could ever have accomplished in this country. when you listen to donald trump -- >> might i argue, robert, not just normalize, but elevate. >> i was going to say, what we have now is, we've moved from normalization to glamorize asian, to idealization. and it's remarkable when you think through the history of this country reverses the soviet union in the cold war, and to think of republican leaders who came before reagan, the great speech about turned on the wall, it's remarkable to listen to. but it's also remarkably dangerous, to sit on tv again to idolize character traits of a brutal dictator, scents just all the wrong messages, not just throughout the world, but also inside of our country. and it's spread, it's not just

those two people. we could spend the next couple of hours going through the normalization to the idealization, to the glamorize all of this, it's happened and it's happened with quite a bit of speed. bit >> robert and bill have agreed to stay with us because coming up, a new effort from the former president super pac to elevate allies and settle scores. i look at the event that kicks off tomorrow that is called the maga-palooza. when the 11th hour continues.

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rula says more anti trump as liz cheney. so, one of the big events tomorrow as they will trot out jim jordan and he is going to interview harry a tiger man who is running against liz cheney, endorsed by donald trump. what do you make of maga -palooza? is it just an opportunity for trump to say, it's still my party? >> yeah, that's an opportunity for them to say i am part of donald trump's party and i want to be a part of donald trump's party, and i think i can win by being a part of his party. and we'll see how many of them are right. this is an interesting moment now, lindsey graham, who in my view is disgraceful, who acts as though -- we worked closely with mccain, more closely as senator but we went on trips together and, it's almost as if the ghost of john mccain came to him for what he's supposed to stand for in politics. and graham remembered, i'm supposed to be on the side of freedom and democracy against

authoritarian's and dictators. maybe third will be more of that then there has been. maybe the putin problem will split them a bit, it will make it harder for them to simply go along with. trump may be -- pro trump and pro putin party. >> i, guess the cost of admission ranges from two to 3000 to 250, 000, but no one says that this is going to the harry disagreements, because trump is not announced as a federal candidates will use a lot of latitude in spending money. having said that, maybe he's raising money for his own, you know, reelection campaign, election campaign. and maybe he will use this entire episode, but he will see as an episode of joe biden allowing the invasion of ukraine as a basis for his candidacy. >> yeah, he's never stopped raised raising money. they send out dozens and dozens of emails like it's a last week of a campaign and you're trying

to make the last media by. but i do think that this migration toward mar-a-lago for this event continues to show that the biggest animating light in the republican party is donald trump, and anywhere donald trump is. to go here, to seek the endorsement, to go back and publicize that endorsement shows that if you are looking to win a republican primary, he is the person you want the most. and it will be interesting, has bill says, to some of the comments in the last 24 hours caused some real problems for some of these candidates. we will see how it goes, or we will see how the party -- how far off the edge is gone in the direction of donald trump that he can go away with saying these types of things as he has for many years. >> we are out of time, but i'm curious what you think about

the split in the party between but we heard from donald trump and what we heard from lindsey graham. >> i don't know. grassroots work more closer to trump, but actual senators closer to graham. >> we will continue to watch that very closely. bill kristol, robert gibbs, thank you so much. and coming, up the huge win for equal pay in u.s. women's soccer that was years in the making, when the 11th hour continues. on her sleeve. so, when leaks show up, our protection helps keep them dry. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you.™

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team scored big. the settlement finally reached in a battle that has dragged on for years. not only where the athletes share millions, u.s. soccer has agreed to level the playing field between the men's and women's teams going forward. nbc news correspondent and qatar has the report. >> tonight, u.s. soccer stepping up to close the gender

pay gap after years of pressure from the u.s. women's soccer players. >> it's what we wanted to do. equal-ism all fronts. >> and a landmark agreement, u.s. soccer pledging to pay the women's and men's teams equal rights, while handing over $22 million to athletes and back pay, and another 2 million for post-career endeavors and charitable efforts. the deal said laying 28 players as gender discrimination lawsuits as long as the team's next contract is ratified. >> we have not only rioted the wrongs of the past but set up the next generation for something we can only hope for. >> the average woman earns 82 cents for every dollar a man makes. the defense even larger even sports, male athletes are paid anywhere from 15 to 100% more than their female counterparts. the -- getting to this day has not been easy. team, ford rapinoe, among the first to file a complaint in 2016.

efforts escalated after winning their fourth world cup, years later after filing the lawsuit. >> the team is, there are the revenues, they're the sport is, there one more do you want from? as >> a judge dismissed the suit, but, today a game changing agreement the athletes are dimming a w. >> just how momentous a moment is this? >> this is a big win if -- it really has the potential to translate into other areas to help us build momentum elsewhere. >> one of the largest discrepancies between male and female soccer players is the world cup prizemoney a defense of hundreds of millions of dollars. but that is controlled by fifa. so it's unclear how u.s. soccer will close the gap as they promised. back to. you >> thank you for that report. and coming up, the notorious washington traffic can be a nightmare on a good day. a potential new challenge for the nation's capital when the 11th hour continues.

>> these past weeks have been incredibly difficult for the people of our capital city. and they have been stressful and disturbing for all canadians. the situation is not anything anyone wanted and quite frankly, not anything we'd want to see again. >> the last thing before we go tonight, could there be even more gridlock in washington? the department of dispense has approved a request for you capitol police and d. c. officials for national guard troops to help control traffic

in the nation's capital in the coming days. bob toe as who owns a company and scranton, pennsylvania, says he is heading in a convoy to washington. he said that he was inspired by the truckers protesting in canada. >> it was very respectable but they did. standing up for what they believe. >> so what exactly will these truckers be protesting? well he says they are challenging high fuel practice critical race theory and people in jail from the january 6th attack on the capitol. so, just a general airing of grievances, though it's not clear whether more complaints will equal more protesters because of how large and how disruptive these protests will be is yet to be. no local enforcement agencies said they will be monitoring the situation as it develops.

and as a reminder, stephanie ruhle starts us host on the 11th hour next wednesday, march 2nd. but for tonight, that is our broadcast for this tuesday, with our thanks for being with us. on behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news goodnight nbc news goodn ight >> tonight on all in -- >> none of us should be fooled. none of us will be fooled. there is no justification. >> the u.s. takes action against russia for what the president is calling an invasion of ukraine. >> as we cut off russia's government from western financing. >> tonight, the latest on the international response to the crisis and the danger looming over ukraine. >> this is the greatest threat to security in europe since world war ii. >> then, the republican embrace of putin led by admire-in-chief, donald trump. >> so putin is now saying, it's independent, a large section of ukin