as we come on the air, help is on the way to ukraine with president biden announcing nearly a billion dollars in new security assistance, machine guns, drones, grenade launchers and more. a lot of stuff, but not everything that president zelenskyy is asking for. some of the rest might now be up to congress where house leaders are wrapping up a new classified briefing, top senators getting ready for one of their own later this hour, and somebody who will be in that room is joining us before heading in. jon tester, the head of the veterans affairs committee, joining us live in just a couple

minutes. also this hour with president zelenskyy is telling our own lester holt in an exclusive interview you will only see here about talks with russia and the risk of a world war. the other breaking news in just the last hour affecting nearly every american, the fed hiking interest rates. wall street almost immediately giving up a 500-point gain. what it means for you and inflation in just a in int. i'm hallie jackson in washington. our busy team, shannon, ali in western ukraine, and lee ann is posted up on capitol hill. shannon, we'll start with you because here's what president has announced is going to be heading ukraine's way. 800 stinger anti-aircraft systems, 9,000 anti-armor systems, including 2,000 javelins, right, meant to hit tanks, the u.s. will provide 7,000 machine guns, shot guns, rifles, grenade launchers, 100 drones, 20 million rounds of ammunition. this feels, shannon, like the

president, president biden, saying to president zelenskyy, hey, we know you want a no-fly zone, but here's what we can give you, we have your back in the other ways if you will. >> right. i think there's two other important things to note about this. one is that this is a real significant ramp up of the amount of equipment we have been giving ukraine up until this point. until this point it had been a few hundred of things like these anti-aircraft systems or guns or, you know, some of these weapon systems. we're talking thousands. this is a major increase in hardware, military equipment and support that u.s. is giving to them and the president indicated there will be more to come. the second thing it indicates how the u.s. sees this being a conflict that is going to only expand. the fact that ukraine needs this many tens of millions of rounds of ammunition indicates where the white house is going and the president really said as much

earlier today. have a listen. >> i want to be honest with you, this could be a long and difficult battle, but the american people will be stedfast in our support of the people of ukraine in the face of putin's immoral, unethical attacks on civilian populations. we are united in our ab hor rence of putin's onslaught and continue to have their backs as they fight for their freedom, democracy, very survival. >> reporter: but to your point, hallie, the president did not announce any moves towards that no-fly zone or any aircraft, the two things that president zelenskyy was pleading for with congress today. those are things that continue to be a red line of the white house because, they say, they fear it could escalate the situation to the point where you will have u.s. and russians shooting at each other, something where you would trigger what the white house keeps referring to as a world war iii where you have two great nuclear powers now fighting directly with each other. >> we have some breaking news

coming in to us as you were speaking from the white house. that is a new comment from president biden. we want to listen in. listen carefully. >> thank you so much for everything that you do. >> thank you. >> oh. >> best appointment i made. >> oh. i think he is a war criminal. >> poland. >> so let me repeat what you heard from president biden there because it is significant and make sure shannon and lee ann and ali, he was asked by a reporter in the room at the white house this happened in the last 3 1/2 minutes, do you believe that vladimir putin is a war criminal. you saw the president turnaround, come back to the camera, ask the reporter to repeat the question and they say yes, he says putin is a war

criminal. this is something that, you know, we're hearing from the president. other members of his administration have stopped short of going so far as to this point. >> yeah. and impromptu moment as you can see there, reporters in this room after the event, the president was mingling. our colleague kristen walker was in the room and heard the comment firsthand where the president seemed to indicate no and then came back that yeah, he does believe putin is a war criminal. we have been asking administration officials about this for weeks now, why they have not been accusing russia of war crimes when they are bombing hospitals and civilians and the things, historically, have been considered war crimes. they have deferred. but clearly the president choosing in this moment to share his feelings and what he thinks on that. >> ali, let me go to you, words matter on the international stage and the words from the president of the united states matter. vladimir putin will hear those

words. >> that's right. vladimir putin will hear those words and that's something that most people here in ukraine will also agree with. quite frankly, hallie, they have much worse things to say about vladimir putin than a war criminal. that's because the situation here on the ground is just so devastating. i mean take mariupol for today the city has been laid to siege. we've gotten reports that a theater in mariupol where hundreds of people were taking cover from the relentless shelling has been hit. we don't have any numbers of how many civilians have been killed or injured in there, but you can only imagine that it's the worse case scenario. the red cross says it is a worse case scenario in mariupol. on some good news out of mariupol, maybe 20,000 people got out yesterday and about 2,000 cars, but most of those people in the city laid to siege over the horrifying reports that russian troops had taken over a hospital in mariupol, keeping

hostage about 400 doctors and patients. they're using that hospital to fight the ukrainians and using those civilians in that hospital as cover so they don't get hit so the ukrainians don't shell that hospital. the human toll is astonishing, hallie. the unicef says one ukrainian child is becoming a refugee every second. 1.5 million children have had to flee their homes. we spoke to a ukrainian family this morning that had stayed in kyiv as long as they could. they didn't want to leave their city but they had to leave their city for the sake of their children. they're now living with friends here in lviv. i asked them what would happen if the bombing comes to lviv, they're going to try to go to poland but her husband has to stay and fight. he's never picked up a gun in his life. he's never been in the army but he'll pick up arms and fight them because he feels a responsibility for his children, his country and the following generation.

you ask all of these people and yes, they'll tell you vladimir putin is committing war crimes. >> again, what we heard from president biden in the last literally the last four or five minutes here is this assertion for i believe the first time we've heard it said directly from president biden that vladimir putin is a war criminal, coming in the impromptu moment. shannon petty piece stepped away for a moment but we've heard there is a difference right, between president biden saying it, which carries some weight, and vladimir putin formally being charged with war crimes. there is an investigation, of course. it is open at the international criminal court on that front too. >> that's right. the international court of justice has said there's absolutely no justification for this war, that there's no evidence that vladimir putin has been saying that ukrainians are committing genocide in the east of the countries amongst russian speakers. they called for an immediate end to this war saying it is

illegal. it is a legally binding document, but it's very difficult thing to enforce. there's no real way of enforcing that. so whether it will actually have any effect on vladimir putin's thinking, is probably unlikely. it is an important document to show what has been happening here and to refute all the claims that putin has been making in this war. i mean, even the russians even said when i spoke about the hospital in mariupol they blame it on the ukrainians. they said that was an operation done by the ukrainians to blame the russians. >> this is the backdrop, ali and lee ann, to why we're hearing from the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy for more help. we talked about it before the breaking news unfolded, more military assistance that the u.s. is providing. lester holt spoke exclusively with president zelenskyy within the last couple hours.

i want to play for you and our viewers what he had to say. watch. >> president biden has been clear he's worried about provocations that could trigger world war iii. do you understand his concern there and do you agree that its wouldn't take much to end up in world war iii? >> translator: well, nobody knows whether -- it may have already started. what is the possibility of this war if ukraine will fall, in case ukraine will fall. it's very hard to say. we've seen this 80 years ago when the second world war had started and there were similar tragedies in history. nobody would be able to predict when the full-scale war will start and how it will end. in this case we have the whole

civilization at stake. >> he's laying out the stakes clearly ali and this is what you're seeing on the ground as you're talking to people in ukraine with more an more news coming out about how bad it's getting and, for example, as you mentioned, mariupol, some of these cities that the russians are taking. >> that's right. the situation is becoming increasingly dire along the east of the country, the south of the country, the north of the country. zelenskyy is saying listen, we need all the help we can get. a lot of stuff he asked for, he didn't get. he wanted the no-fly zone, he wants the s-300 defensive anti-aircraft defensive systems. they didn't have them. but they are getting more stuff, more than we anticipated. you know, anti-aircraft systems, anti-armor systems, light armament, possibly the javelins we've spoken about before. they'll take anything. the reality is n this country, anybody from the age of -- any

man from 18 to 60 is eligible to fight and those things, if this becomes a war of attrition, those things are going to go into the hands of these young men, middle-aged men that will be going on to the front line and fighting the russians. not something they don't want to do at all, but something they feel a responsibility to do and they need all the help they can get doing that. >> ali arouzi live in ukraine, thank you. lee ann, let me turn to you, 3:12 eastern time the white house briefing has just begun with white house press secretary jen psaki. you see her live at the podium. if she makes news we will bring it to you particularly after the comments her boss made not just ten minutes ago declaring vladimir putin a war criminal. you have what we saw on the other end of pennsylvania avenue not long ago, that virtual appeal from president zelenskyy for what ali was talking about, more help. basically trying to leverage lawmakers to help put pressure on the white house to get more

support from western countries. what has the reaction been, lee ann, as you've been talking with your sources and members of congress on the hill? >> hallie, last night actually, the senate passed unanimously a resolution to start investigating putin for war crimes. now, this doesn't really mean much but it is a sense of the senate and like what congress has been doing throughout this entire process, is speaking out, passing things that might not have teeth, but pressuring the administration, president zelenskyy this morning thanked the senate for passing that resolution, but there's more things that zelenskyy asked for. like we've been talking about, the no-fly zone and that is the one thing that continues to be off limits, not only for the administration, but for congress as well. although, zelenskyy's speech this morning has really persuaded a lot of people that any way necessary to get the ukrainians, these russian era mig 29 fighter jets, and also,

this s-300 soviet era missile system that zelenskyy asked for specifically today. now, members of congress seem to be rallying around this saying that they have to do more. there has to be more sanctions and there has to be more defense mechanisms they can provide to the ukrainians. they're getting a briefing. members are getting a briefing right now, some members of the house got one. the senate is about to get one in about 15 minutes. some members of the senate anyway. and i am told that questions they're going to ask is, is exactly that, what are the plans for the future? what are the plans in the coming days? what other help is available that they're going to be able to give to the ukrainians. but senator john thune, the number two republican in the senate, kind of summed it up really well to me just a few minutes ago when he said that zelenskyy's speech was very powerful and the congress is united on trying to do more, but

the question is, what more can congress do? that's what they're trying to figure out, hallie. >> leigh ann caldwell, thank you for that reporting. we mentioned, of course, that white house press secretary jen psaki was holding her briefing, a q&a wip with reporters and apparently told them that the president's remarks on vladimir putin being a war criminal speak for themselves. i think we want to listen in for a half second here. >> so s-300s are anti-aircraft systems. we are providing stingers, also anti-aircraft systems. there are a range of anti-aircraft systems that different countries have around the world. so as i noted, i know that president zelenskyy called out specifically s-300s and while i'm not going to get into specifics for security, we're work for soviet or russian anti-aircraft systems which is what that is. what we're talking about is how

to provide them a rang of anti-aircraft systems that will help them do exactly what they've been doing to shoot down planes and part of what the president announced today was additional stingers that serve exactly that purpose. >> given a much longer range than the stingers, is that part of the administration's plan to find a way to facilitate that? >> you have been listening to jen psaki, we'll bring you any other news as we get it. you also just a minute ago heard parts of lester holt's interview with the ukrainian president. more of that tonight on "nbc nightly news." we want to get to another developing story, come back to what's happening in ukraine, but you at home, you, me, may be about to pay more for everything. in the last hour you had the federal reserve are for the first time since 2018 raising interest rates up a quarter of a percent, part of a push to knock down inflation which is up nearly 8%.

not a shock move. one the fed has been signaling. stephanie ruhle, business analyst and host of the 11th hour on msnbc is up early for us joining us now. we're joined by cnbc's senior analyst ron ensana. glad to have both of you. steph, start with you breaking this down, the bottom line, what are we going to see a difference in and what won't we? >> it's going to cost more money to borrow money. you said it a moment ago. new mortgages or car loans, anything you're looking to borrow on your credit cards is going to cost more money. remember the reason they're doing this, is because the economy is a bit too hot right now and they're trying to cool things down. if they can lower consumer demand, lower the amount that we want to go out and spend, spend, spend, that will hopefully slow down inflation and make everything we spend money a bit more affordable. not just a quarter point raise. he said six more, so that will take us to just under 2% in less than two years. >> ron, as we said, this is not

a shocker. the market and steph knows baked in the idea it was happening. what a lot of people were watching for, what signals were we going to get from powell what's going to come six months from now? >> yeah. i think what steph said the notion we're going to get another six interest rate increases at each of the subsequent fed meetings is more aggressive than some anticipated. some folks on wall street were expecting three to four, others suggesting seven this year, which takes us to 2% at the end of 2022. that is a little steeper. the markets are handling it reasonably well. interest rates are up. mortgage rates have gone up in the last couple days. we'll see if the fed were to say that one of those or two of those interest rate increases would be a half point rather than a quarter point it would be serious. the interesting thing, too, that i saw in what the fed had to say it lowered growth expectations even as it's raising interest rates which seems

counterintuitive. >> thank you so much to you both. coming up, senator jon tester will join me before he heads to classified briefing about the war in ukraine. what he supports doing next. secretary of state antony blinken in depth new interview revealing more about a strategy on russian sanctions and what he says russia has to agree to before there's any chance the u.s. dials them back. the justice department's new national security announcement, the accusations of an intimidation effort involving china. we've got that in a minute. we've got that in a minute. hearing until you start losing it. and then you think about it a lot. this doesn't help and the whole process of getting them is a royal pain in the ..... ear. if only there was a better way. this is eargo, yes right here. incredible right? what's more you get all the support you need all from here. sitting right here.

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nbc news has learned that top senators will get a briefing on latest on ukraine. members of the house got something an hour ago. meetings the same day as the powerful speech from ukrainian president zelenskyy and on the heels of president biden's announcement of $800 million plus dollars in new military help to the country. lawmakers are thinking about

what they can do in their chambers to do more. joining me democratic senator from montana, jon tester. thank you for being back on the show. good afternoon. >> good afternoon to you, hallie, very good to be with you. >> thank you. i know you'll correct me if i'm wrong, i think you're just about to head to the classified briefing yourself. what do you want to hear from officials and what is your number one or two questions? >> well, a couple things. i want to know, you know, we passed a big bill not quite a week ago on helping ukrainians out. i want to know how that money is getting to the ground and how much has already got to the ground, and what it's doing, both from the humanitarian side and the defense side. and then i want to ask what more can we do because that was a pretty hefty package that we passed in support of ukraine a week ago. the question becomes, is there more we can do? if there is, what are some examples of the kind of things we can do? then we'll take those ideas back

if they have merit and deal with them in the united states senate and house respectively. >> we saw the newly announced aid package from president biden, hundreds of anti-aircraft weapons, anti-armor system, arms, et cetera. it's not as much as president zelenskyy asked for in the address but do you think the biden package goes far enough? are you satisfied with it at the moment? >> i do. i think it's very, very generous and i think that it does help. i think for the folks that want to put airplanes into ukraine, i think the most important thing here is we have an alliance of nato nations and the united states, everybody that's in nato, that need to be on board with that. it's not just a decision the united states makes. i think one of the things that have made the sanctions so effective is that nato is united in a way that we haven't seen since world war ii and it's having some pretty devastating impacts on russia.

we need to keep that alliance together and move forward together. so we'll make some determinations on what further can happen, but i think the $800 million that president came out with is very generous. >> i want to play for you what white house press secretary jen psaki said in the last couple minutes about the comments from president biden. i don't know if you seen them. they happened at the top of the show calling vladimir putin a war criminal. here she is. >> the president was answering a direct question that was asked and responding to what he has seen on television. we have all seen barbaric acts, horrific acts, by a foreign dictator in a country that is threatening an taking the lives of civilians impacting hospitals, women who are pregnant, journalists, others and i think he was answering a direct question. >> she was asked, you know, why now, right, after the invasion beginning on february 24th, why now is president biden choosing to make this assertion. do you agree with it, senator?

>> well, look, i think that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and water runs off its back like a duck, it's a duck. if you have a person go into a country unprovoked and kills women, children, bombs hospitals, apartment buildings, schools, indiscriminately that classifies you as a war criminal. >> what should the next steps be for the u.s. given that? >> i think we just need to continue to support ukraine in any way we can. these people have shown their fight and they've shown their love for democracy and we need to continue to support the efforts that they have going on. zelenskyy is a great leader and very effective leader and we need to work to help him and all the people of ukraine remain independent. that's what this is all about. >> you were in the room with your fellow lawmakers when he delivered that address that was carried live, you know, on this network and many networks here

to members of congress. what was that like when that incredibly difficult to watch and powerful video was shown? as you were listening to the words of the ukrainian. >> the he said the same thing, the difference was the video. the video was gut wrenching. it ripped your heart out to see those children and women in a beautiful country being blown apart because of a dictator that has no respect for human life. so it was very emotional. many a person in that room wiping their eyes after that video was over with because it was very, very gut wrenching. to see the kind of impacts that russia has had on a country not asking for war, it was pushed on them by russia, i just -- these are unforgivable sinz in my opinion and so, you know, i mean, the speech was very, very good, as it always is.

the video that was shown was very impactful. but as i said earlier, i think moving forward, we need to keep the nato alliance together and move forward together, and i think that's really important. i think the president has done a great job unifying nato and done a great job supporting ukraine and it will continue to do a great job. >> senator jon tester, thank you for being with us. you have to go. don't want to make you late. we appreciate your time. thanks. next up the breaking news out of the justice department. new charges against chinese government agents. plus, why steve bannon was back in federal court today. the new argument he's making as he fights criminal contempt charges from congress. ontempt charges from congress. mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth.

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of alyssa liu, and xiong yan, a new york based democratic congress for congress at the tiananmen square protest, listen to what department said about the cases. >> we will to the tolerate such oppression here where it violates our laws and we'll defend the rights of americans and those that come to live, work and study in the united states and not allow any foreign government to deny them the freedom of speech. >> joining us is justice correspondent pete williams. these people who were harassed and stalked by these chinese government agents how did it happen? what intimidation tactics did they use? >> well, in both of these cases, at least two of the ones you talked about it appears that what the chinese did is contact private investigators in the u.s. and ask them to gather information on their targets and at some point in both cases the investigators began to think wait a minute, this is really going off the rails here and they contacted the fbi, which

then began to monitor all the conversations. there's a lot of material in court documents. in the yan case, for example, the congressional candidate in new york, the court documents say that the chinese said well, can you find dirt on this guy and if you can't find some, maybe you could hire a prostitute or maybe you could make stuff up and at one point the handler for china says if that doesn't work, let's just injure him. maybe he could be in a car accident. maybe you could beat him so he would no longer be a candidate. this kind of intimidation of americans has been going on for years, but the fbi says as far as they know this is the first time that chinese have been accused of trying to influence or affect or harass an actual candidate for congress. in the case of arthur liu in san francisco, the court documents say a private investigator was hired who got a retired body guard to go out to california

who claims that he went to liu's house, posing as somebody from an international sports committee, said he wanted to make sure the travel documents were accurate and up to date and not expired and reported back to his chinese handlers that liu came out and yelled at him and said enough, enough. but the court documents say that fbi believes that liu was not home at the time it so appears that former bodyguard was sort of making up what he was doing on behalf of the chinese. in any case the justice department says these were outrageous tactics. the chinese tried to bribe agents, police officers, to get tax records from the internal revenue service, tried to bribe police officers to get passport documents, so it's in many ways, unfortunately it didn't work. >> pete williams with that update, thank you. coming up another update from officials in texas on the deadly crash that killed members

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♪ ♪ rules of disengagement as far as russian sanctions are concerned coming from secretary of state antony blinken telling npr it will take more than the end of invasion to get rid of the sanctions but a guarantee russia will not just go back in after things cool down. listen. >> they want to make sure anything that's done is irreversible that russia won't pick up and do exactly what it's doing in a year, two years or three years. >> other members of the cabinet have been touching base with allies all over europe. defense secretary austin, for example, starting his trip at the nato defense ministers meeting in brussels and visit slovakia and bulgaria. joining me the host of npr's morning edition, we're so glad

to have you back on the show. >> glad to be here. good afternoon. >> making a lot of news starting with the irreversible line, the irreversible moves by russia what it would take for the u.s. to lift the sanctions. russia seems to be not interested in that, right? >> russia is not interested and also as a layman have to mean what would that mean in practical terms. russia needs to withdraw, we know that, but what would you trust from russia? would you trust russia to say we'll never do that again? russia gave security guarantees to ukraine in 199 had 4 proved to be worth nothing. you have to ask that question. although there are negotiations going on where we begin to get some idea of what that could plausibly mean. russian and ukrainian negotiators have reportedly been talking about some kind of security guarantee for ukraine if russia were to leave the united states, might again guarantee ukraine's security, the uk and other countries might. that's one plausible form. the main thing i took away from

the word irreversible, it's it's going to be hard for russia ever to get these sanctions lifted because the united states would want to be guarantee results. >> there's the discussion and then the white house, the u.s. keeping a close eye on russia as it relates to china, right. i know that secretary blinken talked about china's role in this. >> yeah. of course, the national security advisory this week met for hours in rome with a chinese representative and ukraine was one of the matters they discussed along with taiwan and no doubt some other things. and the biden administration wants to be sure that china does not find ways to aid russia to get out of the full impact of the sanctions. it's to the clear that china would do that necessarily, but there's ban lot of talk of it. secretary blinken did not specify whether the united states and china had reach any accommodation, agreement, understanding, but he did say klein -- china is on the wrong

side of history. china has yet to forcefully speak out against russia's vanj of ukraine. >> listen, as a journalist myself, you are one too, i just keep thinking about our friends at fox news and the loss of two of their journalists killed in ukraine, ben hall, hopefully, you know, on the mend, the word we are hearing. you asked secretary blinken whether you thought russia was targeting journalists. i thought it was interesting, in light of what we heard from president biden, he said if that was happening that would be a war crime essentially. you have president biden crossing that line, very much declaring in this impromptu moment he believes putin is a war criminal. >> yeah. and from jen psaki's comments sounds like she's saying that's biden giving his opinion, answering a question. it becomes a formal legal question at some point, but there is no doubt the united states is gathering evidence, not just having to do with

journalists, but dealing with thousands and thousands of civilians who perhaps have been killed and without any doubt millions of civilians who have been forced from their homes. >> listen, steve, let's -- you had this interview with secretary blinken at a key time for diplomacy, one of the most critical times in decades for u.s. diplomacy on the world stage specifically in europe here. as you were conducting this interview, i know how thoroughly you prepare for these things did anything you heard from the secretary surprise you in this moment? >> i was looking for some way forward, how does this end, to borrow a phrase from general petraeus in a different context, how does this end? biden acknowledged or blinken acknowledged it ends with diplomacy, but it's not at all clear how that happens when blinken talks about russia not only needing to withdraw but their withdraw being irreversible. russia can't come back in year or three years and threaten ukraine again. it's hard to see hoy that

happens. even though there has been diplomatic progress or reports of diplomatic progress in the last day or two, it is hard to see the end of this war and blinken was very direct, very frank, that one thing we need to expect is further destruction of the kind that russia has visited upon syria and other places. >> steve, it's a fantastic interview. glad you joined us to talk about it. thank you very much for your time. always great to see you on the show. i want to bring in everybody lynn, former deputy assistant for russia, ukraine. i know you're still, you know, as always working your sources. what are you hearing about where things stand in ukraine? >> yeah. i mean, hallie, it's interesting, i've been hearing a little bit of a change in the tenor among my general friends, so, you know, we all of us who are --

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let's get to a quick check of the top storys. the world health organization is out now with a new warning on covid saying the spike in china and south korea could be the tip of the iceberg since many countries are testing less and omicron is still spreading. japan on high alert for tsunami after an earthquake hit off the coast of fukushima. also getting more information from officials in texas about what they call in their words a high energy car crash in west texas. nine people were killed tuesday night. nbc's morgan chesky is in hobbs, new mexico. what is going on? >> reporter: heartbreaking day outside the university of the southwest and this is where the golf team was headed back to

yesterday evening after a tournament a couple hours away when the fatal accident took place killing six members of the golf team, the coach and then two people that were in a pickup truck that authorities have now said veered into their lane and had a head-on collision with that team van. right now the officials here at the school have made counselors available to those students. this is a very small campus. 200 to 300 students really at a time here. so everyone knows everyone and hit incredibly hard. officials say it's too early to say whether or not this accident on a rural farm to market road took place because of drugs, alcohol, distracted driving. we don't know. we did see the scene ourselves headed this direction and it is absolutely gut wrenching to see burn scars where officials say

fires took place after the collision happened making rescue efforts harder for the bystanders and first responders. two students were airlifted from the scene north to hospitals in lubbock and told they remain in critical condition but condolences are pouring out today for the students, the coach of that golf team we were told in the first season leading the men and women and you can imagine the heart break felt by so many right now and university officials are trying to reach a teammate who's a foreign exchange student and having difficulty reaching their parents abroad. a lot of challenge today for so many people and much more to come in this investigation. >> appreciate it. steve bannon leaving a federal court after a hearing on

the case. the defense team and prosecutors arguing today whether he can use what's called the advice of counsel defense. basically whether he can argue he did not willfully deny a subpoena because that's what his lawyer told him to do. you see bannon. he came in front of cameras after leaving court. >> i said, this is not maga or america first. this is for everybody. the behavior of fbi and doj is out ray jous to my attorney. >> ken delandian on this. >> the judge nichols did not rule on the main question at issue which is whether or not bannon should be allowed to make an advice of counsel defense going to trial and argue that he is not guilty of willfully

denying that subpoena because he was doing what he was advised to do by his lawyer claiming he could not testify or provide documents because former president trump asserted executive order in the matter. this is complicated. a d.c. circuit precedent which holds that following a lawyer's add rice is no defense doesn't apply because of the executive privilege claim and the judge did partially require a motion to turn over interim records regarding the policy of executive privilege and wants the records and did not rule on bannon's allegation that the doj acted improperly with the phone and email records of his lawyer. >> real quick. what's the next step then?

>> the judge is asking for more information and then may rule. the criminal justice moves at a slow pace. >> ken, thank you. thank you all for sticking with us on a busy hour. our thanks to evelyn. next time. meantime you have nicolle wallace and "deadline: white house" after this quick break.

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hi there. it's 4:00 in new york today. clarion call for the united states of america to take the place as a leaders of the free world and intervene in the war that threatens to up end the world order coming from the man leading ukraine against that invasion. president zelenskyy making as direct an appeal to the american people and president biden as he's ever made asking for arms, stronger sanctions, and no-fly zone above ukraine and then if that's off the table asking for military assistance to let ukraine protect the air space. his appeal included a video showing the ravages of war on the country. we have to warn it is importa