on comcast business mobile and for a limited time save up to $750 on a new samsung device with eligible trade-in. thank you at home for watching "the sunday show." i'll be back next sunday from montgomery, alabama, to commemorate the anniversary of bloody sunday. but stay tuned because my friend alex witt has the latest. hi, alex. >> i very much do. safe travels to montgomery, we'll look forward to that. i, however, will be right here. thank you very much for the lead-in. >> thanks, alex. we bid all of you a good day from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. breaking news on russia's invasion of ukraine and two big

stories developing this hour. first, russian president vladimir putin has put all deterrence forces on alert, notably including nuclear weapons. second, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy confirming on his telegram account today that russia and ukraine have agreed to peace talks. first let's go to nbc's senior international correspondent keir simmons in moscow. keir, russia's president putin has put nuclear deterrence forces on alert. what does this mean and how should we interpret it? >> reporter: let me give you a little breaking news first, russians are claiming they have hit 1,067 management sites. no notably, though, in their statement, they also for the first time acknowledged russian

soldiers and been killed and wounded and a few have been captured. now, to answer your question about the clear threat that president putin made in a piece of television footage that was shown of him talking to his military leaders a short time ago, he said that the nuclear deterrent, russia's nuclear deterrent have been put on a special mode of combat duty. now, we don't know exactly what that means. but i can tell you that russia's nuclear protocol in the main prohibits the use of nuclear weapons except for when there is an existential threat to this russian state. so when the russian state's very survival is at risk, that is when russia, according to its own protocol, says that it could use nuclear weapons. we've heard president putin when he launched this campaign in

ukraine, mention his nuclear deterrent, russia's nuclear capability. i think what this is, is him trying to send a message to the u.s. and nato to threaten the u.s. and nato, because as you'll remember, when he launched that campaign in ukraine, he openly then threatened nato not to, he said, interfere in the campaign. it's worth noting too, alex, so far russia appears to have launched a limited campaign, so just remember, despite the fact that russia is clearly having difficulties with its attempts to target kyiv, despite that fact, it does have the compatibility to launch missiles to a greater extent than it has so far. so it would be quite an escalation to go from that to the nuclear threats president putin appears to be trying to

make. in that sense you could call it posturing, although it will worry people, clearly. >> absolutely, a topic for discussion for the next three hours for sure on this broadcast. at the top when you said officially russia has announced there have been casualties and fatalities in this war, that means russians will be coming home in body bags from these front lines. given the fact that there have been protests in russia, the russian people do not seem to be anywhere near completely on board with this invasion of ukraine. how is that likely to cause reaction there throughout russia? >> reporter: there has been a lot of opposition. even oligarchs coming out today and saying that they think that they should be at peace. we've been talking about all the examples, the different places in which russian society honestly is being shaken by what is happening in ukraine.

but i would say this, though. i think there is -- there will naturally be some concern in washington and western capitals that this may be russian moving towards justifying a greater onslaught in ukraine. you mentioned at the top, the potential negotiations. talking to one former official with close contacts in the kremlin, he tells me that he doesn't think that contact between the ukrainians and the russians is very likely to be productive. the russians have sent a former culture minister for those negotiations. >> absolutely, and keir, there is a different kind of negotiating going on to the left of you on the screen, that live picture is from st. petersburg. there you guys see a line of russian police, they're moving in towards those protesters. we've had different views of this. we've seen more protesters. there's one right in front of that camera there. certainly conflict going on between russian police and them

trying to keep track of everybody who is trying to protest and come out against this unprovoked attack by russia on ukraine. first let's go to mike memoli at the white house for us where administration officials are reacting to the dramatic escalation from vladimir putin. as we promised, keir, we'll be talking about this. mike, what is the white house saying about it? >> reporter: alex, as you can imagine, the white house is monitoring every comment coming from the russian president and every russian military move. we're hearing from a senior military official and from our colleague courtney kube that there is no reason to doubt that vladimir putin has put the nuclear forces on alert but they're calling it escalating and unnecessary. they point out that the russians maintain significant military capabilities they haven't deployed yet. roughly two-thirds of the

military buildup we have seen over the last few months outside ukraine's borders now has deployed, that means they still have one-third outside, that's not insignificant. white house press secretary jen psaki this morning was echoing the concern of white house officials and indicated that the biden administration is willing to call out every russian statement. >> this is the kind of manufactured threats that president putin has been using since the beginning of this crisis to justify further aggressive action. what is fact here is that russia is under no threat from nato, has never been, is under no threat from ukraine, has never been. it is russia and president putin who are taking the aggressive action. so this is just an attempt, an escalatory attempt to justify action on their part. we have the ability to defend ourselves, as does nato. but we have to be clear-eyed and call this out for what it is. >> reporter: as we see this

concerning military escalation on the part of the russians, we continue to see greater diplomatic alignment on the part of the united states and our allies. japan is joining the rest of the g7 countries in blocking russian banks from the s.w.i.f.t. messaging system. we heard from the u.s. ambassador to the united nations this morning, linda thomas-greenfield, indicating that the u.n. security council is poised to do something it hasn't done very often, in fact only ten times in its history, voting to convene a special session of the entire u.n. general assembly here on this matter of international concern. this would be a significant move because russia, as one of those permanent members of the security council, would not be able to block that move. so we're continuing to see, in addition to these defensive steps, sanction steps that the u.s. potentially is continuing to rally our allies for potential further steps down the road. >> thank you, from the white

house, mike memoli. nbc's cal perry is joining us from lviv, ukraine. cal, both sides have agreed now to talk? what do we know about it? >> reporter: look, it was early this morning when we started to hear that the russians were possibly open for discussions. we heard from ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy saying it was a nonstarter, when the talks were going to be in belarus. the russians helped stage some of their attacks from belarus. belarus is seen as a satellite state for the russians already. so zelenskyy said that's a nonstarter. a few hours later it came out that they would meet along a river that divides the two countries. the ukrainian president said he would send a delegation. highly unlikely that he will be a part of that delegation. this man has become not just the face of ukraine but the face of resistance against the russians.

every morning he puts out a video to try to rally the country together. we heard from the ukrainian embassy on one of the morning shows. take a listen. >> look, the devastation from the russian actions and the war crimes is huge. and our president from the beginning, even before the war started, always focused, was focused on the diplomatic solution. even after they started the war, he called for peace talks all the time. he always said we're ready for peace talks, we're not ready for surrender. of course we're ready for peace talks that would stop the war and get them out from our country. >> reporter: so the hope is that there will be some honesty at these talks, but a great deal of suspicion on behalf of the ukrainians, and i can tell you why. when you look at what's happening in the eastern part of the country, heavy fighting in the city of kyiv.

people have continued to sleep in shelters overnight. where i am, the western part of the country, a refugee crisis is only growing, the u.n. saying 365,000 people have already fled the country. we know those numbers will only rise as we continue to see that border become a choke point, some folks giving up on waiting in their cars and walking now ten miles to try to get into poland, alex. >> let's underscore the reason why president zelenskyy should not be going to any sort of talks along the border, the fact he, he has stated that vladimir putin has made him target number one. so it would be foolish in fact for him to get right there in the midst of russians, to have a face-to-face, honest discussion. so that also adds to the good reason why he should stay in kyiv. thank you very much, we appreciate, cal perry. back to moscow and keir simmons. keir, regarding these talks, are those hearing anything from the russian point of view? >> reporter: well, the russians have been saying they want to negotiate.

they made that quest to meet, and frankly people were quite skeptical about it, to be honest, clearly the idea that they would meet in belarus just seemed so unlikely. and the ukrainians, understandably, saying, well, why would we go there when they're a part to this conflict. as cal is setting out, they seem to have found some kind of neutral ground. but again, talking to one former official with close ties, close contacts inside the kremlin, his view, i was speaking to him earlier today, is that, to be honest, this is kind of russian trolling, as he described it. you pose as if you want to negotiate because you're trying to manage the message, but actually you're not really that interested in negotiating. the other thing to point out is that there have been negotiations. there were multiple talks with world leaders running up to this. and we know what the fundamental demands from russia are and

they're just not meetable by the ukrainian government or by western capitals. so the problem is it's hard to see how the two sides come to any understanding. the contact i was talking to described these really as not negotiations but as a contact meeting. so we shall see. again, though, you know, you shouldn't underestimate that there is a propaganda war here as much as a war. what we know about the russians is they do value the messaging on the world stage. and so, you know, they will want to look at if they're trying to come to an agreement, but that could presage ramping up of the war at some point. it can never be said enough, a lot of russians have contacts in ukraine including president putin himself, one of his closest friends, we believe, is still in kyiv. that's another aspect that may be limiting whether or not this turns into what you might

describe as a kind of all-out war or an all-out urban warfare or an air campaign. again, we weren't in the room in the kremlin with president putin so it's not easy to judge tonight what his thinking is. >> keir, thank you for that. as we've been looking at the live video coming in from st. petersburg, these protests, what i believe those yellow jackets are, are a designation of press. they seem to be using their phones to take videos, they'll be able to use that down the road. we've seen that camera swing to police that are in a uniformed line there up against protesters, not sure exactly what is being said of course because we don't have the audio, but nonetheless we're keeping a close eye on things in st. petersburg, a remarkable show of force against the actions of vladimir putin for the unprovoked invasion of the neighboring ukraine. meantime, the united nations

says at least 368,000 ukrainians have fled the country, that number doubling since yesterday. nbc's kelly cobiella is in eastern poland. we were talking about cal perry about what he's seeing in the western part of ukraine. but the natural progression would be to go into poland. what are you seeing from there? >> reporter: alex, we're seeing those numbers of refugees coming to poland go pretty drastically day by day. we've spent a lot of time in a very small train station close to the border. this is a kind of station that is not used to processing, you know, hundreds of people from ukraine on a single train, but that's what they're trying to do now. they're receiving trains of anywhere from 1,500 ukrainians on board, they're coming into the train station, they're making it across the border. it's a very perilous journey for these people on the train. it's coming from lviv, it should

take two hours, it's taken 16 hours now because -- for various reasons, they're having to stop because of fighting nearby, waiting until it's safe enough to continue on with their journey. and these trains are loaded with women and children. and people who are really distraught over having to leave family members, particularly husbands, brothers, fathers, behind in ukraine. take a listen. >> i want my husband to be with me. >> reporter: where is he? >> he's somewhere in lviv. he did not did it through the border. >> reporter: can't get out? >> yes. we tried everything. yes, i feel like an ocean of blood is -- when you leave your family and think that your

father, your mother, are dead in kyiv, and then you go to the border and they take everything away from you. >> they stayed on ukraine. >> reporter: on the train? >> on the train all the time. we didn't move. >> no one checked our passports. >> reporter: we were told that four more trains were waiting at the ukrainian border, trying to get into that train station today, earlier this afternoon. just to give you a sense of these numbers, again, alex, you mentioned the big number, 368,000 ukrainians crossing over into neighboring countries since this conflict began. but take a look at the breakdown. half, almost half of those, 156,000 people, have arrived in poland. poland says they will take as many as are able to come.

but to be frank, these small border towns are having trouble processing these huge numbers of people. and again, they're growing day by day. yesterday the numbers were 77,000 in a day. on friday, it was 47,000. you can see those increases day by day, alex. >> i've got to tell you, kelly, i don't know how you do it, listening to that one story, one i'm sure you've heard repeated time and time again, i'm fighting back tears, what these people are being forced to go through for no reason whatever. kelly, thank you. congressman jason crow of the intelligence and armed services committees are going to weigh in next. services committees are going to services committees are going to weigh in next. wahoooo! (vo) you can be well-groomed. or even well-spoken. (man) ooooooo. o) but there's just something about being well-adventured.

(vo) adventure has a new look. discover more in the all-new subaru forester wilderness. love. it's what makes subaru, subaru.

(vo) verizon is going ultra! and so is manny! event planning with our best business unlimited plan ever! with 5g ultra wideband now in many more cities and up to 10 discover more in the all-new subaru forester wilderness. times the speed at no extra cost, the downloads are flying fast! verizon is going ultra, so your business can too. (burke) this is why you want farmers claim forgiveness... [echoing] claim forgiveness-ness, your home premium won't go up

just because of this. (woman) wow, that's something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [echoing] get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

we're back and following two breaking developments in the ukraine crisis. russian president vladimir putin has ordered all deterrence forces on alert, that includes nuclear forces.

and ukraine has agreed to talks with russian officials right on the border with belarus. earlier today democratic senator amy klobuchar told msnbc it's hard to trust putin in these situations. >> one never knows with vladimir putin. he says things that aren't true all the time. but he has showed a willingness to talk through envoys, of course. that's always a good thing, you always want to pursue diplomacy. but what we have to realize is this is a guy that was lying the entire time. >> joining me now is colorado congressman jason crow, a democratic member of the house intelligence, armed services, and small business committees. he is also a former army ranger who served three tours of duty in iraq and afghanistan. welcome back to the broadcast, sir, it's good to have you here. tell me what you think putin is doing, ordering nuclear de deterrent forces on high alert. is this a function of russia having a tougher time than it anticipated in ukraine?

>> hi, alex. it's really hard to tell what's going on in putin's mind right now. there are actually some trouble indications that he's just not of sound mind. he's acting in very erratic ways. those who have known him and have studied him for a long time have said something is off here. so i think we're in a very dangerous period as we try to figure out what he's doing, how he's posturing, but undoubtedly ordering a higher level of readiness for nuclear forces for what he claims is in response to sanctions, european aggression. that is not remotely proportional. i do think it shows there is increasing frustration that the military advances have not been what he's looking for, and there is increasing frustration by putin and his top allies. >> i'm going to ask you a question you may not be able to answer given your position on the intelligence committee, but backing up what you alluded to about russian president putin and the state of his mental

acumen, shall we say, right now, have you heard things that echo in these intelligence briefings, echo what french president macron said when he met with him in the last week? he said he doesn't seem right, that he's not making the kind of sense he perhaps would have in the past, and it may be due to his paranoia about covid and the fact that he's been virtually isolated for much of the last two years. >> well, i'm not going to relay anything i hear in my intelligence committee position or briefings. i'll talk about the publicly-related information. he is isolated, it's created an

echo chamber where he doesn't get the truth, people tell him what he wants to hear. that warps someone's mind over time and leads to a very bad situation where putin could be hearing and seeing and receiving information that he wants to receive and just kind of it already reinforces his view. >> as you describe, an echo chamber in vladimir putin's mind, that's a scary place to be. let me ask you about ukraine agreeing to meet with the russians without preconditions on the border of belarus. the fact that they agreed to talks, is this also a function of russia losing ground in ukraine? could putin be looking for some sort of an off-ramp, or given senator klobuchar who just said putin has been lying the whole time. >> he believes it's only right

for him to lie. he doesn't think lying is wrong or improper. this is his worldview, he actually thinks it's part of leadership, it's part of what you do in the world to kind of get by and achieve his goals. so he has no qualms at all, lies and truth are all the same to him. he has a history for adopting old soviet tactics, inviting people for peace talks or discussions and then imprisoning or murdering them. so president zelenskyy needs to be careful how he engages in these talks. i wouldn't put it past putin to murder this delegation. >> how extraordinary, given the eyes of the world will be on that meeting. it is extraordinary he would even consider doing such a thing. but let me ask you about what you did, leading that congressional delegation, this was in december, to ukraine. you helped coordinate a weapons transfer. after meeting with ukrainians, gauging their resolve, did you expect the level of resistance

we're seeing, including from president zelenskyy? he has refused offers to evacuate. the americans have offered to do so. he wants to stay and fight. >> i've been so impressed by president zelenskyy. he has shown himself to be an adept combat leader. he has stood up and shown resolve. he's communicated effectively with the world and his own people. it has made a huge difference. leadership ship in wartime makes a huge difference and he's rallied the ukrainian people, so extremely impressed by him. i haven't been surprised by the fierceness and resistance of the ukrainian people. i've been saying for months it was a huge miscalculation by vladimir putin to think he could roll in and meet little resistance. these are a proud, fiercely patriotic people, people who want freedom, who will fight and die for their freedom and who love their country, ukraine. we're seeing that pan out, we've known that for a very long time.

this is not the ukraine from 30 years ago. this is the ukraine that has been for decades building a democracy and striving for democracy and freedom and now you see they're willing to fight for it. >> given your three tours of duty as an army ranger, give me a sense of how you perceive the street by street combat that must be going on in cities like kharkiv and in kyiv as well, lviv as well potentially down the road. is there a tremendous advantage to being on home turf? you know the streets. how does this affect the russians as they encounter this kind of resistance? >> urban warfare is the most brutal types of warfare. it soaks up infantry units. you can take tens and thousands of men and put them into urban areas and those areas soak it up and you quickly don't have the

force you need. there's a huge advantage to being on home turf, fighting for your freedom, because will matters. the odds are stacked against the ukrainians but odds don't fight and win wars, people do. and there are numerous examples in history of an outmanned, outgunned, smaller force that can beat a larger one because they have the will to fight, the will to survive, they have higher morale and they're on their home ground. that's the situation ukrainians are in right now. but they can't do it without our support, without international support. they need ammunition, they need supplies. >> on that note, nato has acted its 40,000-person response force. what could potentially trigger putting u.s. soldiers into combat? >> well, this is the first time in the history of nato that that rapid response force has been activated, that's a significant

moment for sure. so u.s. troops will be an element of that 40,000-member force. and really, that force is meant to protect nato countries. so in the event of an attack on a nato country, of which ukraine is not a member of nato, that would activate the response. it's called article 5 of the nato alliance treaty, that an attack on one member is an attack on all. that could draw that force in. hopefully that does not happen, i would be surprised if it does. but nato is doing what's necessary to protect its members, that's what the charter is all about. >> colorado congressman jason crow, thank you for your time, sir, much appreciated. a new poll asks which party do you trust more. the answer could determine if democrats can retain power on capitol hill. s can retain power capitol hill on the hedges ♪ ♪ and kenny on the koi ♪ ♪ and your truck's been demolished by the peterson boy ♪

♪ yes -- ♪ wait, what was that? timber... [ sighs heavily ] when owning a small business gets real, progressive helps protect what you've built with affordable coverage.

homegrown tomatoes...nice. i want to feel in control of my health, so i do what i can. what about screening for colon cancer? when caught in early stages it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and i detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers, even in early stages. early stages? yep, it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. consider it done. let's get more reaction. new alarm to the breaking news out of russia, president

vladimir putin ordering russia's deterrence forces, which include nuclear arms, to be placed on high alert. a senior u.s. defense official calling the decision unnecessary and escalatory. now nato is responding. nbc's josh lederman is in brussels for us. give us a sense of how allied forces are interpreting putin's comments. >> reporter: well, we've heard from the united states, for example, via jen psaki, without spokesperson, saying that it's entirely predictable that vladimir putin would, in her words, again try to come up with a pretext for an escalation in this ongoing conflict. but we also are hearing from the nato secretary general who is saying that at this moment, there is not an imminent threat to nato members from russia, despite these new comments from president putin about the readiness of their nuclear forces. but they are taking this very seriously. it's one of the reasons that nato is now activating its response force and deploying

those troops that you and i have spoken about to the eastern flank, because they don't exactly know where this could go next. nato secretary general stoltenberg saying this about the latest comments from putin about nuclear forces. take a listen. >> this is dangerous rhetoric. this is a behavior which is irresponsible. and of course if you combine this rhetoric with what they're doing on the ground in ukraine, waging war against an independent sovereign nation, conducting full-fledged invasion of ukraine, this adds to the seriousness of the situation. >> reporter: this comes, alex, as we are seeing mounting signs here in europe of the isolation of russia within the european community. sports events expected to take place in russia now canceled. russia kicked out of the

eurovision contest, a really big deal here in europe. and in the last few hours, the eu announcing they're shutting down european airspace to russian operated aircraft, that means russian airlines will not be able to fly into european union countries for the foreseeable future, making it a lot harder for russians who might be trying to get to any of the many european capitals where there's so much back and forth travel and commerce, one more example of how europe is showing up with some really surprisingly strong measures to try to push back on what putin is doing, alex. >> good points all, josh lederman in brussels, thank you for that. joining me now, chief "the new york times" white house correspondent, peter baker. peter, how do you read the news of putin saying he's putting forces, including nuclear arms, deterrence forces on high alert? is it more sinister than just

reaction to battlefield forces? >> well, look, this is vladimir putin trying to remind the world he has one of the nuclear buttons that can destroy the planet, there are still only two or three people on the planet who have the ability to launch a nuclear war of catastrophic proportions and he's one of them. so we shouldn't diminish him as a second rate power or write him off or assume he's weak. this goes back to the beginning of putin's reign, projecting strength and toughness is central to his core foreign policy. this is his way of rattling the nuclear saber saying, don't underestimate me, i'm still the guy who can inflict enormous damage across the world. does that mean he will actually do it? we hope not, actually. the discussion you just had with jason crow and marco rubio, the idea of rattling the nuclear

saber seems unbalanced at this point. >> what about president zelenskyy who said he would send a delegation to meet with a russian delegation on the border with belarus? is there any viable off-ramp for putin and would he take it? >> well, look, you can always take an off-ramp if you're an autocrat like putin, you can define it any way you want, you can say i achieved whatever i wanted to achieve and there's no independent media of any consequence to challenge you, you could basically sell that to your russian populace that you're a winner even if the rest of the world doesn't think so. the question is whether he would genuinely want to back down, and i'm not sure he does. we've talked about this, alex, he has this messianic mission in his mind to reestablish the core russian empire as his legacy in history, it's hard to see how zelenskyy would give him

something that would satisfy that desire. it may be that the military progress has been so frustrating to him that he's willing now, in a way he hadn't been before, to back down. it's possible he sees the international response and sees damage to the russian economy differently than he did a few days ago. but, you know, i wouldn't bet on it. >> so as you write this week, peter, the fate of millions of people are in the balance as presidents biden and putin test their understandings of one another, in dramatic fashion not seen since the cold war. something jumped out to me, it was right at the top of that article that you wrote, and it reflects on ten years ago. i'll read it quickly. as president biden tells the story, he was blunt with vladimir putin during a meeting in moscow more than a decade ago, quote, i'm looking into your eyes and i don't think you have a soul, mr. biden recalled telling the kgb veteran. mr. putin smiled. we understand one another, he said. that sent chills down my spine when i read that, frankly. how well do you think they're

reading each other today and what are the consequences if they get it wrong? >> i actually think they've had a pretty clear-eyed view of each other now these last few weeks and months. you can argue about whether president biden went into the administration fully appreciating just how much vladimir putin was going to come to dominate it. but in the last few weeks and months when they had warning about his intentions in ukraine, president biden has been right on the money. the intelligence agencies have told him and president biden has told the world that putin was going to do exactly what he ended up doing despite the lies we heard out of moscow, despite the doubts we heard out of europe, it turns out the american intelligence on this was correct and president biden had a very clear-eyed view of putin's threat here. putin i think has a clear view of biden in the sense that he understood what exactly would be the response. so far the sanctions that were put in place are predictable, they're exactly what putin would have imagined the west would do. we haven't done anything yet, i don't think, to surprise them in terms of sanctions. we have greater ability, alex, to choke off the russian economy if we choose to use it.

so far we have only taken some steps in that direction and not gone as far as we could. the question is whether president putin underestimated biden and thinking he was weak because of afghanistan, because of the dissension here at home, january 6th, trump and the whole thing. and i think at the moment he probably underestimated just how unified america and europe would be in the face of this kind of aggression. >> okay. peter baker, unfortunately i have a bunch more questions but not the time to ask them, but you know i will make up for it next sunday, my friend, thank you, peter. donald trump doubles down on his unabashed praise for vladimir putin while russian forces step up attacks on ukraine. as for president biden, in a moment the comments that are drawing outrage. comments that e drawing outrage. 10x faster spe, she can download a movie in minutes or a song in seconds. (mindy) yep! (vo) okay now let's work offsite. public wi-fi? no thanks.

5g ultra wideband is faster and safer. and so powerful that it's not just for phones. hello 5g home and business internet. it's time to go ultra with verizon, america's most reliable 5g network, so you can do more! it's time to go ultra with verizon, meet apartment 2a, 2b and 2c. 2a's monitoring his money with a simple text. like what you see abe? yes! 2b's covered with zero overdraft fees when he overdraws his account by fifty bucks or less. and 2c, well, she's not going to let a lost card get her stressed. am i right? that's right. that's because these neighbors all have chase. alerts that help check. tools that help protect. one bank that puts you in control. chase. make more of what's yours. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ with a bit more thought we can all do our part to keep plastic out of the ocean. president trump taking the stage at cpac this weekend. he slammed the biden administration, condemned the attack on ukraine, while defending his relationship with

vladimir putin while he was pretty. nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard joins us from orlando. vaughn, big welcome to you. what all did donald trump say? >> reporter: he focused so heavily, alex, in his remarks last night, on this idea that it was the biden administration's weakness which led to this moment. of course it was just a few days prior in which the former president himself was calling the russians' incursions earlier this week remember called them peacekeepers. this is the same individual who said vladimir putin was savvy. so that all leads us up to the undeniable images all of us have watched coming out of ukraine at the hands of vladimir putin. i want to let you hear directly from the former president, last night, part of his remarks. take a listen. >> russian attack on ukraine is appalling. it's an outrage and an atrocity that should never have been allowed to occur. it never would have occurred. we are praying for the proud

people of ukraine. god bless them all. [ cheers and applause ] thank you. they are indeed brave. as everyone understands this horrific disaster would never have happened if our election was not rigged. i stand as the only president of the 21st century on whose watch russia did not invade another country. >> reporter: he also went on to call vladimir putin smart. and when he was talking about the biden administration and nato, alex, he said, quote, they're not so smart, they're looking the opposite of smart. he went on to call them dumb. >> you know -- hmm.

i have no words. okay, thank you very much to you, vaughn hillyard, you're getting an earful there at cpac in orlando. joining me now, don callaway, democratic strategist and founder of the national voter protection action fund. susan del percio, republican analyst, and david jolly, former congressman from florida and an msnbc political contributor. can i ask you to comment on what we heard, susan, from donald trump there? i mean, maybe you can articulate something better than what i had going on in my mind, because, mm-mm, couldn't say it on tv. >> and i'll be careful because we're on tv, you know me, alex. you know how i really feel. donald trump's words, seriously, were dangerous, not only irresponsible but dangerous. they're being used by russian propaganda. he does not care. the former president has never cared nor does he currently care about this country or about other countries. he only worries about himself

and how things affect him. he also happens to like an applause line which is why he put that line out about the ukrainian people, which while true, i don't think he really cares about or believes anything about them. >> you know, in fact we haven't heard a lot about ukraine heretofore. vaughn, we need to have you react to what the former president said at cpac. here it is, everything, one more time. >> yesterday reporters asked me if i thought president putin was smart. i said, of course he's smart. putin is saying, oh, they're going to sanction me, they sanctioned me for the last 25 years, you mean i can take over a whole country and they're going to sanction me? the problem is not that putin is smart. the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. >> that right there is the kind of sound bite that vladimir

putin could very easily use as russian propaganda, calling him smart and the u.s. government, our leadership, dumb. how dangerous is that, don? >> hey, don, turn on your audio. >> it's extraordinarily dangerous, alex, but this is the pomp and circumstance of it all. this is speechifying. what's even more dangerous is if we look at the history of the trump administration and who was in the trump administration, dealing with ukrainian grifters, rudy giuliani hanging out with ukrainian grifters, retired general michael flynn hanging out with kislyak and lying about doing so. we have paul manafort who lied about lobbying for ukraine without registering.

they were empowering vladimir putin to do the things we're now seeing. trump has a lot of russian debt that he's either trying to retire or get written off. you don't have to be a foreign affairs expert or an expert in european history to just put together the dots. these people were evil and they did it right in front of our faces for four years and what we're seeing now is a result of that. >> this is how senator mitt romney described americans who support putin. >> how anybody in this country, which loves freedom, could side with vladimir putin, who is an oppressor, a dictator, he kills people, he imprisons his political opponents, he has been an adversary of america at every chance he's had. it's unthinkable to me. it's almost treasonous. and it just makes me ill.

>> what mitt romney just said there, david, is that a minority perspective in the gop right now? he's been the most articulate and vociferous about saying this. we vociferous about saying this. we have not heard anything like that from anybody else. >> yeah. alex, powerful words from mitt romney. i would phrase it as this. if you are on the side of vladimir putin right now you're peddling in ignorance, malaise and values antithetical to the west. we are not in direct war, i'll let senator romney defend his comments. what we do know is any defender of putin right now is demonstrating values antithetical to the west. they're doing it where western freedoms are on the line. that is what vladimir putin is taking from the ukrainian people. he is taking their freedom.

to suggest willing to take the freedom of another people is somehow in a position in which americans should be defending them, right wing should be defending them. they should be defending them, that's the spirit behind mitt romney's comments. with that i would agree with the spirit. >> listen, my sunday family. we have to pay a couple of bills but i do have a few more questions for you. every president, everyone, since at least gerald forld has described the state of the union as being strong but up next the challenges president biden could face making that claim in tuesday's state of the union address. tuesday's state of the union address.

[bushes rustling] [door opening] ♪dramatic music♪ yes! hon! the weathertech's here. ♪ weathertech is the ultimate protection for your vehicle. laser-measured floorliners... no drill mudflaps... cargoliner... bumpstep... seat protector... and cupfone. ♪ what about my car? weathertech. age before beauty? why not both? visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe corrector lotion... only from gold bond. (vo) ultra meets ultra for business. the new samsung galaxy s22 ultra meets verizon 5g ultra wideband.

ultra-collaborative. ultra-secure. when you buy one, get up to $1,000 on another. verizon is going ultra, so your business can too. we are now just two days away from president biden's first state of the union. two topics likely to be at the center of the president's address, the russian invasion of the ukraine as well as his historic nomination of judge

ketanji brown jackson. what do you expect from biden's address and does this put him in a greater position of strength than perhaps a month or so ago? >> i think the default for the president's usual state of the union is to present his priorities. it will be many of the priorities and legislative victories we have seen. voters want to know what he's doing about the inflation and the pandemic. if he doesn't clearly establish it, then tuesday will go by and very few people will remember it. >> point well taken on that. what about you, dawn, in terms of the timing of the president's address? do you think he did it now so he could have something positive, an achievement to cite in his

address? >> i think you have to do it now because you know the republican party will obstruct it. i think it's a very good news story. it's an historic pick. americans of all stripes should be proud of this selection. i think it's good timing not only to get away from the war but to have something to talk about on the positive side in addition to the infrastructure that's coming down at the state of the union. i think he had to get the process going and good timing. >> as i look at your shirt, my friend, is there a reason you've worn that shirt? is that the judge? >> this is not her but this is the idea that there should have been a black woman on the supreme court and amazing women who call themselves sister scotus. she will rise. created this t-shirt. they won. >> okay.

that's very cool. thank you for wearing it. susan, last question for you. the new washington post abc poll found a, quote, deeply pessimistic nation worrying about the economy and biden's leadership writing the early thoughts are there. so far the international crisis has not given biden any boost as sometimes happens in such moments. what do you make of that? >> well, i agree with what david said. it's reflected in the poll. the economy, the economy, the economy. people are worried about inflation. as far as the situation in ukraine, the united states is not at war, which is why i think it was wise that the president made his supreme court justice pick known. i think he has to keep moving forward. i haven't seen any polling that

reflects that the american public considers foreign affairs a top priority yet. with that in mind, i think it's also a time though because people are supporting the ukrainian people is for president biden to marriage the idea of national unity, whether we do it domestically or internationally, meaning we have to come together as a nation to fight inflation and this is what i'm going to do, one, two, three. >> okay. susan, don, david, always good to see you three. coming up next, many big developments. russia's nuclear deterrence forces go on alert. what does that mean? should it signal alarm? all of this as air raid sirens blaire in western ukraine. raids blaire in western ukraine.

a very good day to