♪♪ hi there. 4:00 in new york. i'm chris jansing in for nicolle wallace. in just a few moments president biden will be landing in brussels for an emergency nato summit and greeted by belgium's prime minister as attacks wipe out ukraine. here at home supreme court nominee ketanji brown jackson still in the midst of another long day of questioning that at times so contentious senator

leahy called it a sad day for thest senate after jackson's repeatedly interrupted by lindsey graham. other subjects of abortion to immigration to voting rights. and tributes are pouring in for madeline albright who passed away at age 84 from cancer. we begin with developments in the war in ukraine and efforts by the united states to put an end to that war. which is now entering its second month. on the agenda for president biden at the nato summit set to begin tomorrow keeping the west united in a pressure campaign against russia and reassuring allies that the u.s. will support them. to that end the administration is reportedly set to unveil a new round of sanctions targeting russian lawmakers and nato secretary-general announced did deployment of troops in eastern europe. all of that is happening against

the backdrop of intense fighting and a spiral crisis in ukraine. in a statement secretary of state blinken say it is united states has evidence that russian troops have committed war crimes. the state department citing attacks on civilians as well as the situation in mariupol where an estimated 100,000 people remain without power, food or water and now are under near constant russian shelling. russians targeted apartment buildings, schools and hospitals. overnight russian air strikes hit residential buildings in kyiv. one ukrainian journalist told msnbc this war is sparing no one. >> around 20 killed in my native kyiv. i see neighborhoods bombarded and incinerating. seen a shopping mall obliterated. friends of my colleague, she was

caught by a missile strike. they barely got her out alive to kyiv to a hospital and has to have the leg amputate jd a girl that has an amputated leg survived miraculous. because of the insane attack on ukraine. >> ukrainian forces continue to push back. the pentagon now reporting there are signs that ukraine is trying to recapture territory that had been taken over by russian forces and trying to ensure that russia pays a steep price. in fact, a stagger 40,000 russian troops killed, captured or injured in the month since the war began according to a nato estimate. richard engel got aesz to a war room. >> reporter: we are in the municipality, a control center

in kyiv and saw a very interesting map. not classify jd the deputy mayor and a liaison officer said it is not risking any operational details or putt troops at risk and very revealing. this is kyiv here in the center and red areas are all russian controlled territory. you see just to the north of kyiv a big russian area and the northeast there's another russian area. what's interesting is blue spots. these are all areas that have been captured by ukrainian forces, recaptured from russian troops. just over the last 48 hours with many of them particularly here in this sector over the last 24 hours. this they say is the biggest

counter offensive since the start of the war. the most blue they have ever had on the map and finding it very encouraging saying the goal is to get rid of the red splotches but so far with the counter offensive 48 hours in is significant changes around the capital. >> richard engel, thank you. joining the coverage, josh letter marn live from brussels. cal perry in lviv, ukraine. cal, we talked about the meeting against the backdrop of the widening destruction. tell us what you are seeing and what it is like on the ground right now. >> reporter: look. i think richard as usual set it up perfectly. you have two fronts one month into the war and one is a counter offensive that ukrainian forces seem to be able to make. i think it is surprising and hearing mostly in the

northwestern part of the capital in kyiv. other side is civilians punished and targeted. we talk about mariupol. mariupol is a city that's quote hell according to the mayor and 100,000 as he puts it hostages held by the russians. they're targeted on the quote/unquote green corridors. none of them leading from that city you see on the left part of the screen. kharkiv, wrung on all sides and starved out and the targeting not just of food supplies in the cities but medical workers. at least ten hospitals destroyed in a month. over 80 damaged. at least two dozen ambulances destroyed and a backdrop that president biden is going to be arriving in with one hand

ukrainians making military advances and the civilian punished for that. and the backdrop for a peace talks and makes the job of the ukrainian president particularly difficult because he wants a cease-fire to relieve the pressure on the civilians and said to negotiate with someone negotiating to buy themselves time doesn't do them any good and the backdrop that president biden is arriving in europe, chris. >> this is an extraordinary, urgent meeting. they're lookinging at i think broadly, right, two categories of vladimir putin. deterrence and defense. what is it that president biden is coming to brussels hoping to accomplish at this summit? >> reporter: the challenge here is that the u.s. and europe have been pretty united already. they have taken steps in the fist month of this war that

people thought not possible. there wasn't enough unity for sanctions, to kick russian banks off the s.w.i.f.t. system and sarks president putin himself and send more troops into the eastern flank of defense of the alliance and shipping the weapons to the ukrainians but the reality is none so far is enough to deter president putin and u.s. officials say they see no signs this changed his calculus and an impetus for the u.s. and the west to do more and where president biden is facing a real challenge. we know that he's coming as his administration is discussing putting more u.s. troops in the eastern flank countries as they look to announce a new round of sanctions on thursday. potentially to include the european union weaning itself

off russian energy a way that vladimir putin is financing the war and then other steps that president zelenskyy is calling for and likely to call for in the address to nato tomorrow including a no-fly zone that nato said is not going the happen and sending fighter jet toss the ukrainians and a real challenge for the international community as well. they look for ways to do more than what they have done so far but they find that the tool box is largely exhausted. >> we have sinlg, josh, that president zelenskyy is incredibly successful with the powers of persuasion but the things he asked for that he thinks they need is a nonstarter. could the needle be moving?

>> reporter: there really isn't. things they can use to shoot down russian planes and missiles but coming to anything that resembles putting u.s. or nato troops on the ground in ukraine it is a complete nonstarter and continued to be and a new polish proposal they xebt to present here at nato to put a peacekeeping troop into ukraine which is different than a no-fly zone to accomplish the same purpose. the u.s. and nato officials have been said they don't entertain that idea. you don't have peace. if you put them in there now they fight russians and a potential to drag the u.s. and nato into a european-wide war with a nuclear armed russia and something the officials say they

cannot allow to happen. >> cal, we have seen the signs of russia escalating and the u.s. is putting the phrase war crime to it which is not insignificant. having said that, we have watched the ukrainian people in awe and admiration week after week after week loss of loss after devastation saying that are doermed to fight russian aggression. are you seeing an impact on morale? what's the mood there? >> reporter: i think president zelenskyy is rallying people to the cause that we know what we are fighting for, the homes, against an invading army and the russians don't know what they are fighting for. the war crimes thing we have

been hearing from president zelenskyy from day one. you have the targeting of shelters. you have according to the ukrainian government russians in hospitals and using them as human shields. we have been hearing from president zelenskyy and crying out for the international community to do things like a no-fly zone in the name of war crimes. nato's position to broaden into world war iii and cause more casual anies in european the government's take on that is what is the red line on? president biden is concerned about use of chemical weapons and what president zelenskyy has been saying to the nation which is what is the red line to push nato do more? chris? >> thank you so much. let me bring in peter baker, a

political analyst and brendan kearney. thank you both. peter, we're seeing air force one on the ground with president biden in brussels. talk about a little more the stakes for this summit. >> as josh said from brussels, this is the largest important stakes that the president has seen since taking office. russia is seeking to redraw the lines of europe with the use of force and devastating thousands of civilians. the challenge is keeping the alliance unified and presenting a resolve to force putin to understand that this isn't going to go well for him and will continue to go badly and the u.s. will not abandon ukraine

and facing a challenge that he's not likely to overcome and i think that may get into the decision calculus. what does putin think? what is the end game and trying to get to? >> yeah. to the point of abandoning ukraine, we hear from person after person and playing the ukrainian journalist grateful. they still don't think it's enough and watching the carnage pile up. talk about the job tomorrow for volodymyr zelensky. as we said an incredible messenger but what can he say tomorrow to lead to a change in nato's response? escalate the response to what we see on the ground there? >> i think look. he has done an exceptional job of not only rallying his people but the world.

addressing the congress and parliaments, keeping visible and bringing the message to video chats to the international audience he kept the pressure on the west to respond in a aggressive way and you presume he'll continue to push that and things that nato won't do. that is a shooting with a were rushl. what you are saying is committing a nato airplane, american airplanes shooting down russian airplanes. but the pressure that president zelenskyy puts on them makes them feel they have to find other ways to get pressure on russia. like the anti-aircraft batteries being shipped to ukraine. things like that. his pressure is important because it keeps the moral high ground on the ukrainian side and forces nato look for ways to keep the pressure up on russia.

>> colonel, very few people would have predicted that ukraine would have held the way it is and estimates russian soldiers killed, captured or killed in ukraine. put that in context for us. >> 40,000 is a staggering number. if we look at what we think was a number that crossed a month ago in the ukraine in the invasion that's roughly 200,000. so when you start seeing military rate at 20 to 25% is casualties you have ineffective military units. they will send in reinforcements, no doubt, but they come in from mother russia that know they go into combat and morale is going to be even

worse. >> as nato and the united states look at what can be done to help ukraine you have to look at that and where we have on the ground. tell us your sense of how the war is going and what we might see next. >> great question. the bottom line is that the war, the initiative has shifted from the russians with the invasion and the ukrainians primarily in the defense to where the ukrainians are taking limited offensive action to regain lost grounds and territory from the russian forces. if the initiative continues to go with the ukrainians i think what we are going to see and ine itible is russian forces will be in retreat. they won't be able to hold up against an increasing momentum from the ukrainians. and so the possibility is of course this can go on for weeks

or months or years. but i see a dramatic shift here to be the ukrainians and marvel the world. to us professionals we stand in awe of what they have accomplished. >> peter, there's reporting on the war in the skies over ukraine. a biggest surprise is russia's failure to defeat the ukrainian air force. analysts expected them to paralyze the air defenses yet didn't happen. instead top gun style aerial dogfights rare in modern warfare rage above the country. the ukrainians are hanging on. we have said in again. a month after the war started. i wonder how this fact has changed the western response and from folks you talk to at the white house are they prepared as

the colonel said for a conflict to go on for weeks, months, years? >> yeah. i think it has surprised a lot of western analysts. you heard from american officials that the russians could be in kyiv in two days and then control a lot of the country but that wasn't the case. and i think we overestimated and vladimir putin did the capacity out russian military and the air war is a great example of that. we wouldn't go to an invasion without controlling the air space first. first control the air space. they didn't do that. the russians didn't do that. they used close air action combat support from the ground units and ukrainians taking ad of that and the equipment given to them over the years. a thing i would at to what the

colonel said is not the casualty levels having an impact on the units but the home front. while vladimir putin controls the media 40,000 wounded and injured and killed soldiers is a hard thing to hide coming home. the body bags and coffins and mothers and fathers see the sons coming home is not hidden and have you think an impact on the russian people's view of the war against people they consider to be brotherly neighbors. >> since the president has just come off air force one and ready to head to brussels for as we have sads the high stakes meetings, talk about this moment in the presidency and the skills that he brings to it. for his approval ratings in the 40s, for the criticism for inflation at home, he is getting

relatively high marking for handling this and internationally is looked at very differently and rebuilt an alliance that had basically gone away. talk about him going in to this as joe biden, as someone who has the months behind him. >> this is a defining moment for joe biden's presidency. you can argue that his career led up to this moment. spent years as vice president building relationships with people and the world. spent time in ukraine. i traveled with him to ukraine as vice president. he knows this group of leaders. has a strong history of support of the alliance and felt frayed with an american president berating the nato allies and talking about getting out of nato in a second term.

the mission statement seems clearer than it has been since the cold war and going into a room there i think where he is the leader of that alliance and that they take the cues from him and he's trying to push them forward to take actions and see how far they're willing to go on issues like energy, sanctions against russia to arm ukraine and help them deal with the refugee crisis that's going to overwhelm some of ukraine's neighbors in these days and weeks to come. >> colonel, as horrific as what's happening and "the new york times" has another article that's frankly terrifying about a smaller nuclear arms and might be deployed by russia if vladimir putin feels backed into a corner. from a military stand point how important is it for military

leaders from the u.s. to know that there's in coherence and that joe biden is going to go into that room with the years of experience? >> you know, the nato and the u.s. military are fully prepared to fight under virtually all adverse systems. we have trained for that for decades because we knew this threat would be there even from the old soviet union and they could rapidly escalate from conventional to these types of weapons of mass destruction. i think it's very important that whoever is going to be the leader of this group within nato and the united states has got to convey a solid political statement to russia that it is unacceptable to go ahead and escalate this warfare to the level where we are looking at

tactical nuclear weapons and chemical and bio. it is just is uncontrolled once that type of thing happens and the winds in europe are blowing from the west to the east. that's just the weather pattern and that is a greater threat to russia as it is to the ukraine. hopefully calm heads prevail and got to get that message to russia. >> nighttime has fallen in brussels, belgium. president biden arrived for those important meetings with nato. thank you to both of you. we are going to talk about the life of madeline albright, did first secretary of state that passed away today. we'll hear from two friends that knew her well and turning back to the confirmation hairing for judge ketanji brown jackson. there's republican senators at

it again, political posturing. we'll break down how day three is going. all those stories and more when we continue after this. don't go anywhere.

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one gram of sugar, >> she's been undoubtedly one of the most consequential figures in american diplomacy. madeline albright was fist woman of u.s. secretary of state. more now from our nbc news colleague andrea mitchell.

>> reporter: by the time albright was secretary of state she had already raised a family and had a full career but this second act becoming the country's first female secretary of tate in 1997 was historic. >> this is a dream come true. actually, a dream i never thought i could have and i feel great. >> reporter: working to shape world history the immigrant status informed her approach. born the daughter of a czech diplomat arrived in the u.s. at 11. she graduated from wellesley, got a phd from columbia and advised candidate michael dukakis in 1988. a professor at joenlgtown and president of a washington think tank before being named bill clinton's u.n. ambassador in

18993. she argued in favor of military intervention in bosnia butting heads with colin powell. in 1997 she learned that her grandparents were jewish. she pushed the peace process stopping at israel's holocaust museum. >> i know i will never forget my visit. >> reporter: as secretary of state albright is moesz proud of work in kosovo. >> now an independent country and a generation of little girls whose first dame is madeleine. >> i have not found that being woman is a handicap we a terrific gender to be. >> reporter: albright's passion for pins part of the arsenal. a serpent, a do, a bird to honor downed civilian pilots.

she continued to promote democracy and democratic politics. supported hillary clinton's quest for the white house with the personal motto. >> there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other. >> reporter: became a vocal critic of president donald trump. >> i do not call donald trump a fascist. i do think however he is the least democratic president in modern american history. >> reporter: awarded a presidential medal of freedom in 2012, albright considered herself a grateful american. >> joining us from brussels is andrea mitchell. i was thinking at the last time i saw albright with a very busy schedule and she stopped to talk to some interns with questions for her. >> of course. >> young women who wanted to ask

her about career choices. you knew her well. talk about the impact and legacy not just on diplomacy but as with hillary clinton on young girls and the world. >> reporter: so much a part of who she was. her daughter, her grandchildren and the young people she taught. come here as a refugee was suchl a shaping factor of her life. a 11-year-old child coming. her father joseph was not only a dip plo mat but a professor and mentored a young student named condale za rice. so she -- she was beloved at georgetown. her class was the hardest to get into and up until the year the

family put out a statement how heart broken they are that she died of cancer and she spoke at colin powell's funeral. she ended up being a close friend to him despite the disputes over bosnia. she was the u.n. ambassador fighting for sboer vengs by nato and he was the chairman of the joint chiefs and the irony as sad as we are over losing her she was such an i con of freedom and anti-communism and sized up vladimir putin at the first meeting. first u.s. official to meet him before he was president and met him as u.n. ambassador and wrote in the diary that night that he was cold eyed, almost reptilian. she had him right and she wrote a "the new york times" op-ed the day before the invasion against,

citing that and against what putin was and always was and revealing himself to the entire world. but she understood quite the measure of the man and fought against totalitarianism her entire life and the europe she escaped in flames the last time of a great war in europe is so ironically tragic. >> a region she knew and loved so well. her family are heart broken and had a loyal staff. the people that worked for her, loved her. i wonder if you had an opportunity to be in touch with anyone. >> reporter: i just know what's going on at the state department including wendy sherman who was

a partner in the think tank when wendy was between the tenure at the state department and now coming back durt trump years and worked together closely and suzie george her long-time aide and now chief of staff for tony blinken at the state department so the women followed in her footsteps in their careers just incredibly enhanced by knowing her and following the example. i just know that has a woman covers the first woman secretary of state she was extraordinary. small story if i may. >> sure. >> she told me that one of the goals -- i stopped by and got a quick interview part of which was in that tribute we wrote about her and she could not do

an interview but if you happen to stop by outside my house i couldn't not stop and talk to you. we had that interview the day she was sworn in and cool and memorable and a thing she wanted to do is break up the gender discrimination for diplomats, women diplomats at the state department and after sworn in she invited the press corps up with those congratulating her. which in itself is unusual and a newly acquired staff person, a man in the state department said, i don't know who told you there's gender discrimination in the state department. i don't know who your source could have been. i thought to myself, you will find out and she did. >> i remember telling her i read the book and the life story is extraordinary. >> right. >> she said you got through it?

i think like 600 or 800 pages and had a sense of humor about that. we are sorry for your loss because we know you were friends and thank you. we appreciate it. >> it is the world's loss. >> yeah. >> because she was traveling to refugee camps constantly even in recrept months and years. >> yeah. even in her 80s. back to capitol hill. a democrat called the supreme court confirmation hearing a sad day in the u.s. senate with interruptions a member of the judiciary committee will join us next. type 2 diabetes zone? once-weekly ozempic® can help. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease,

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for many of senators yesterday was an opportunity to showcase talking points for the november election. your nomination turned out to be a testing ground for culture war theories. >> that's chair dick durbin opening day three of the supreme court nominee's hearings this morning defend judge ketanji brown jackson's record on sentencing and dismanhattanling the republican colleague's continued attempt to use the questioning for political posturing. the performance this week showing what a politically frayed senate can look like in an election year and can do to even one of the most important processes in this country.

not long after durbin's direct warning more republicans proved his point. >> you could be there and witness its demise realtime. if we're allowing it, the court to be packed. >> do you believe illegal immigrants should be allowed to vote, judge jackson? >> thank you, senator. under our laws you have to be a citizen of the united states in order to vote. >> can an unborn child of 20 weeks feel pain in the birthing process? >> i don't know. >> the constitution doesn't mention the word abortion. correct? >> that's correct. >> just like it doesn't mention the word marriage. correct? >> correct. >> joining us is chris coons a member of the foreign relations and judiciary committee. senator, you were in there. 13 hours yesterday.

i think at this point another six hours today and judge ketanji brown jackson calmly, clearly attempted to answer questions and repeatedly stopped from answering by graham and cruz. cruz delaying your questioning demanding more time. what is your take on what you saw and why should the american people think there's value in this? what did they learn about a woman nominated to one of the most important positions in the country and repeatedly interrupted? >> who i see is someone handling this marathon, this exceptional process with grace and humility. there's insight into the intellect. i have tried to lift up through letters read and questions asked about the experience, as a district and circuit court judge

and court clerk to understand the depth of the experience, the exemptional qualifications and credentials and the ways of which the story of her family, the arc of her life and the remarkable journey in her life to allow heifer to make special contribution to the supreme court. a number of them have questioned. there's abrasive lines of questioning of which she is harassed and interrupted. chairman durbin kept us focused. i sit on the committee immediately following senator cruz and my questioning yesterday and today followed his and both cases trying to help

redirect to the issues in front over us. her record, her experience, her qualifications. there's a number of policy issues that senators have tried to force her to answer but as has long been the case it is not appropriate to weigh in on undecided policy matters. that's what belongs to congress and not judges. >> a couple other big stories happening right now. the president landed in brussels and also bodies piling up why the suffering an escalating and the u.s. acknowledges war crimes have been committed so even with nato leaders announcing plans to deploy more troops, more sanctions, what we hear is the suggestion that while they're grateful it's not enough.

maybe it's symbolic. how do you see this meeting that's happening in brussels and what more can the united states do? >> our assistance is much more than symbolic. the biden administration provided nearly $2 billion in hardware and assistance both before and since the russians invaded ukraine. we have sent stinger missiles, javelin anti-tank missiles and advanced systems and huge amount of ammunition and small arms and providing billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to support the refugees pouring into eastern europe why there's a number of american troops, i think more than 12,000 to have more combat troops in europe now than new point since the conclusion of the cold war. this meeting is critically

important. a number of my colleagues here in the congress are trying to litigate or set policy for the war in ukraine. the president is our commander in chief and the thing he has done best is to pull together the nato allies and european part knows in a united voice with harsh, prompt sanctions on uber and the oligarchs that support vladimir putin and military assistance. even countries like switzerland and sweden that sat out the second world war were neutral when hitler invaded poland and joined in providing support to ukraine and in joining in the sanctions and to get the swiss to join in banking sanctions is no small feat. the meetings are critical. we have to have unity in nato send a forceful that what vladimir putin is doing to attack civilians is utterly

unacceptable. >> we thank you for taking the time from the hearing and with so much else going on. thank you. >> thank you. up next, more on judge jackson's time on the hill this week. how much is about the judicial abilities? how much is about 2024? we'll talk about that next. [ doorbell rings ] oh! there's my little nephew. he looks more like dad every time i see him. -dad is old. -right. so, your message said you wanted to talk about insurance?

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i've sentenced more than 100 people. you have eight or nine cases in that chart. >> judge, you said that before. these are the eight or nine child porn cases. >> there's no point in responding. he's going to interrupt you. >> look, i appreciate the chairman trying to filibuster. if you don't like the witness' answers, you can provide your own. chairman durbin, if you want to join her on the bench, you can. but chairman, i'm not interrupting your question. she's said she's not going to answer. >> another one of those moments at the confirmation hearing with senator cruz and durbin clashing over the questioning of jackson. let's bring in boston globe's senior columnist, kimberly, and former rnc chairman, michael steel is here. both are msnbc political contributors. how much, michael, that you've

watched is about our judicial abilities? how much is about the midterms in 2024? >> oh, it's about the midterms in 2024. even the presidential election at this point. you have, you know, a number of these individual senators like cruz and holly are trying to do the jockeying position for 2024. at the end of the day, the country's looking at this and recognizing that what you just showed there for example from ted cruz is all performtive. this is not about the substance of actually getting into the judicial, you know, thinking of this judge. how she processes it. you know, judge brown put this in front of us from the very beginning. she said i write my opinions in detail. they are long for reason. it is very clear that even if you pull out those eight or nine porn cases, these individual senators were not seriously taking her judicial thinking about process into account here

as you could tell from the questioning. >> yeah, i mean, kimberly, look. you could say there's a legitimate line of questioning in say the caustic questioning of lindsey graham, which is how sentencing guidelines have changed or should since child pornography migrated to the internet, but that's not what this was about and what we got out of it. >> two things. one, trying to make her a poster child for what republicans are very disintrying to -- child drk someone opened fire here a couple of years ago. it's amazing no one was killed. this is a dangerous way to appeal to that part of the base. and also to enflame the culture war. that is the intent there. this is someone who has a strong

judicial record. it's a historic nomination and this is what republicans are hanging their hat on. i'm happy that today, judge jackson showed frustration with this. yesterday, she was the picture of judicial restraint, but so often, women, particularly black women, are expected to take that with a smile. i'm glad she didn't. i'm glad chairman durbin gave her some protection. but i hope the american people got to see who she is and get to know her despite these attacks. >> a question we heard over and over was how does she do it. even though she showed a little frustration, she's incredibly calm and measured. is there anything you saw today from the questioning on the republican side that would indicate to you that any of them are going to vote for her? >> no. i really, for the most part, you could really see how each of

them were crafting the reasons they were going to give why they would not vote for her including you know, someone like ben sass who focused on judicial philosophy even though the judge said repeatedly she's about doing the work. she doesn't have any predisposed philosophy and he treated that as if that was a knock against her. i think it's really transparent here. i don't think these hearings serve much of a purpose anymore except to exhaust the nominee. >> we've only got 30 seconds, but do you agree, michael, with pat who said this is a sad day for the u.s. senate. >> yeah, it's been a sad day in a number of these hearings. i absolutely agree. the process is so broken down that it doesn't really serve a broader public purpose to engage in this conversation because no one's coming to the table with clean hands and no one's being serious in trying to get to the idea of what kind of judge they're about to put on the bench. we saw that in the trump years.

we see that now. it's just an ongoing frustration for the american people. >> michael, kimberly, thanks. the next hour of deadline white house starts right after this quick break. right after this quick break. but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this. your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, like asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. yeah i should've just led with that. with at&t business. you can pick the best plan for each employee and get the best deals on every smart phone. you know liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need? like how i customized this scarf? check out this backpack i made for marco. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪

the decisions we take tomorrow will have far reaching implications. major reenforcements to our security will require major investments in defense. so i expect allies agree to

redouble their efforts to invest more. there's a new sense of urgency because we cannot take peace for granted. from the start of this crisis, europe and north america have stood together, united in nato and we remain united. opposing russia's aggression, supporting ukraine, and protecting all allies. >> hi, everyone. it is 5:00 in new york. we cannot take peace for granted. that stark warning from the nato secretary general on the eve of tomorrow's emergency nato summit in brussels. president biden landed in brussels in just last hour, starting a high stakes, three-day trip overseas as the war in ukraine approaches its fifth week. biden is leaving washington as

his nominee for the supreme court, judge ketanji brown jackson is facing her second day of questioning before the senate judiciary committee. we're going to break down what happened later in the hour. and the other big story we are following today. the death of a pioneering figure in global democracy. former secretary of state, madeleine albright, who served for four years under president clinton. the first woman to hold that position. she came to this country as a refugee herself at the age of 11 when her family fled from the nazis. evo dalder said of her, quote, when it came to the need to protect people from dictators and genocidal wars, she was the conscious of the clinton administration. she was 84 years old. we turn our focus to the attacks on ukrainian civilians. kyiv is still facing brutal

russian bombardments. kyiv's mayor said today over 250 people in the city have died so far. 80 buildings have been destroyed. ukrainian president zelenskyy in an address earlier stated about 100,000 people are still stuck in the city of mariupol suffering from a complete blockade. this afternoon, the state department formally concluded that russian forces have committed war crimes in ukraine. previously, president biden and secretary blinken have only said they personally believed war crimes had occurred. humanitarian crisis increasing as zelenskyy continues to plea for help. earlier, he spoke to both the japanese and french parliaments. he'll be addressing leaders of nato tomorrow via video link. nato address today announced it plans to send four new battle groups to the eastern flank and biden's expected to unveil the latest sanctions. these will target hundreds of

members of russia's lower house of parliament. one of the major questions to be discussed tomorrow, what will it mean for nato if russia uses chemical or biological weapons against ukraine? earlier, biden called it a quote, real threat. that is where we begin this hour. joining us now, cal perry live from lviv, ukraine. cal, you have been in lviv for weeks now. tell us what you're seeing on the ground as we've seen this go on for much longer than experts, pretty much everyone expected. >> absolutely. here in the western part of the country, we're on the front end of a humanitarian catastrophe. 3.5 million people fleeing into europe where president biden is landing. in the east, you have this unrelenting campaign that is really punishing civilian areas or entire cities.

in mariupol, we continue to see the slow devastation. this is a city that is being wiped off the map. the mayor saying the 100,000 civilians who remain are quote, hostages. a place where the hospitals are only able to operate in basements using generated power. they're starting to have to stop some of the procedures. again, the death and destruction there is widespread and we just don't have a good figure yet on the number of civilians killed because we're starting to hear about medical workers being targeted. something president zelenskyy spoke about today. at least ten hospitals destroyed in the first month. 81 damaged. at least two dozen ambulances targeted and as president zelenskyy said today, thest the abduction of some of these medical workers and we talked about this last week. there's a very famous medic here in ukraine. her name is tara paviaski. she served during the revolution in trying to help wounded people in maiden square.

just 48 hours ago, she popped up on russian state television. we're not going to show that video because we have geneva convention concerns. we don't know the conditions she's being held in. it is the targeting of civilian infrastructure. of food. there was a grain factory hit in kyiv. a marketplace hit in kharkiv about 72 hours ago. this has the ukrainian president calling out no fly zone. >> on the question of international concern, what are ukrainians anticipating to come out of tomorrow's nato summit? >> well, we talked to ukrainians on the ground, they say they want that no fly zone. there's an understanding that politically, that's unrealistic. that nato and the secretary

general of nato saying he's worried that could turn into a world war iii scenario. the issue here on the ground though is also that you have the ukrainian military now making some gains. they are now making gains in these counterattacks, especially in the capital in the northwestern part of the capital. they're breaking through some of these russian lines. on the other side of the country, again, you have this punishing of civilian areas. all of this is what the ukrainian president is having to deal with. he has said he does not want to allow the russians time to re-group. so how does he make his way through these negotiations? he doesn't want to give the russians time to re-group. at the same time, there's a desperate need to get aid in and civilians out. >> so much support of ukraine. we're seeing americans from other countries come fight alongside ukrainians, but the flow of foreign fighters isn't just one-sided.

russia also getting help. can you tell us what we're seeing when it comes to foreign help in this fight? >> this is something i think we're going to be talking about for months and years to come. you have thousands of foreign fighters flowing in to fight on behalf of the ukrainian military. american, people from all over the world. fighters from chechnya who came here in 2000 and on the russian side, you have chechnyans as well. we heard this call for syrians from putin. it's not clear that any have. but it is a growing concern here. the president of ukraine has asked for foreign fighters to come to help protect ukraine and that seems to be happening. the question is going to be what happens in months, in years? do these foreign fighters return? and again, you have this very interesting dynamic where we're starting to see more and more social media video of chechnyan fighters on either side of this conflict, which is interesting

because it's like you sort of transplanted another conflict on top of this one. it's something you see in wars across the world and something we're starting to see develop here. >> we're going to continue to have this conversation. thank you so much, cal. joining our coverage, ben rhodes, former national security adviser to president obama and rick stengel. countering russian disinformation efforts. i'm glad you're both here. ben, the work that will happen in brussels does not begin the minute the president steps off that plane. there has been a lot of work that has been done in the lead up to this to make sure that he has the greatest likelihood of being successful as possible. and so as someone who has prepped a president for exactly this type of high stakes meeting, i want you to pull back the curtain for us. what has been happening behind the scenes by the biden team in

preparation for this summit? what does the administration want to get out of this? and what does biden need to say in order to get there? >> what's interesting is normally you have many months to prepare for an emergency summit, but the reality is they've been running their entire strategy through this group of countries. when you look at the components of what they've done in response to the war in ukraine, it's been coordinated sanctions largely with other nato countries. it's been the provision of arms to ukraine. again, largely in partnership so other countries. the fortification of nato's eastern flank and it's been responding to humanitarian crisis with refugees coming to europe. so what they've been doing in the days leading up to this summit is identifying what new measures can be taken to indicate here's the next round of sanctions on russia. here's the next round of coordinated military assistance that we're going to be providing ukraine. here's the fortification of the

eastern flank of nato that is not just the kind of temporary movement of u.s. forces, but really a new force posture for nato along the eastern border there. and so a lot of work has gone into preparing those packages so that you'll see a series of announcements leading to this summit. i think importantly though, it's also a time for them to review what the current state of the political dynamic is. in negotiations between president zelenskyy and russia include the question of whether or not ukraine gives up its aspiration to be a nato member, for instance, and nato has to consider, are there things short of an attack on a nato country that could change their calculus when it comes to getting more involved in this conflict and chemical and biological weapons could be an area of discussion. the russian attacks in and around nuclear plants. cyber attacks on nato countries, which are expected. there's a really big agenda here both in terms of what we are doing but also what we are responding to.

>> rick, i want to read you something that former u.s. ambassador to russia said to nbc at the summit. quote, it will very flat if there's this giant meeting of nato, the most powerful alliance in the world and the only outcome from it is a statement of solidarity. that will not look like a strong move. that will be demoralizing for zelenskyy and uplifting for putin. i know anytime i ask you to project into the future, you don't like to do that, but it's important to know what you expect to come out of this. >> i do, i agree with mike in a sense that a statement of solidarity coming out of it is the only thing that would be disappointing. you can negotiate for months on a statement of solidarity. i thought ben made a good point which is that the emergency meeting is about what might

happen. if russia using tactical nuclear weapons. if russia using chemical of biological weapons. what happens if putin inadvertently or deliberately ventures on to nato territory. every time we saw that you know, if putin ventures, you know, we're going to protect every single inch of nato territory. what putin hears is well i guess the rest is mine. so nato has to figure out what to do. the eastern flank needs to be bolstered. what are the kinds of things where we cannot only ramp up sanctions, but ramp up kind of defensive measures for ukraine to keep ukraine in the fight because i think one of the things that putin is doing now is sort of delaying negotiations, trying to make gains so he will have a stronger negotiating position. we want ukraine to have a stronger negotiating position and that will happen with more support from nato. >> ben, speaking to all of those

ifs that rick just referenced, i want to play you something that putin's chief spokesman said on cnn when asked if putin may use nuclear weapons. >> ukraine is a country sovereign, it's recognized by the united nations. it's been around for a very, very long time, but i just want to know, i want to ask you again, is president putin, because again, the finnish president said to me when he asked putin directly about this, he's laid that card on the table, president putin said if anybody tries to stop him, very bad things will happen. and i want to know whether you are convinced or confident that your boss will not use that option. >> well, we have a concept of domestic security and it's public. you can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used.

so if it is an existing threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance. >> okay. so ben, not ruling out the use of nuclear weapons if russia faces an existential threat.

going to hold out that threat because russia has a lot of nuclear weapons. so i don't see anything tangible that suggests that the like lie hood has gone up.

>> the war in ukraine setting off questions about his military's planning capability, his confidence in his top spies and loyal defense minister and the quality of the intelligence that reaches him. the lack of progress is so apparent that a blame game has begun among some russian

supporters of the war even as propaganda claims that -- to harm civilians. a former colonel in russia's intelligence agency, former defense minister of russian-backed separatists in eastern ukraine said in a video interview posted online on monday that russia had made a cats troughically incorrect assessment. so, rick, i tee that up to ask how significant these cracks are in putin's support. >> well, it's impossible to know, but i'm sure it is significant. it's been reported in fact that the head is under house arrest. you know, all of the reporting about how insulated putin is, but he's made some catastrophic choices and the intelligence that he's gotten has been fantastically wrong. this idea that they would be met with bouquets of roses when they

came into ukraine, that ukraine he says over and over, are our brothers and sisters. that they would would be welcoming russia. was dramatically incorrect. and obviously the military plan they have wasn't made for ukraine fighting back and fighting back as gallantly as they have. so he's on to plan b. maybe plan c. and i think all of the thing that is he was hoping to avoid, that he claims were the reasons for invading ukraine in the first choice, he's brought about with the unification of nato. the opposition to russia in ukraine must be close to 100%. all of these things were things that he didn't want to have happen. so he's now has to try to figure out how to exit from it. i hope that's what he's trying to figure out, but again, as ben mentioned, the big question mark what he might do when he's cornered when his back is against the wall.

let's hope he makes a rational choice. >> we'll continue this conversation with the deputy national security adviser. we'll talk about the other big foreign policy story of the day. former secretary of state madeleine albright daying at the age of 84. talk about her legacy, her work, about how you believe she'll be remembered. >> i think she's a transformational figure in the history of american foreign policy. both because of the trail blazing aspect of her career as the first woman to be secretary of state. the period of time of support for democratic values that were spreading across the world, particularly in eastern europe. i think personally though as someone who kind of came of age in the early 2000s in democratic foreign policy circles, i cannot overstate how much she mentored everybody. thousands of people. i remember being invited to her home in my 20s. shocked that i could even be there.

she listened. she imparted her wisdom. looked after people's careers. there was not a person who is serving in democratic administration and often in republican administrations as well who wasn't in some way impacted by her. that's what sometimes missing when you look at the headlines of someone's life. this is someone who really paid it forward and backwards. who made sure that particularly women who would come after her in the senior position, but that everybody would be a part of this really missionary yield that she took to not just american interest, but defending democratic values around the world. there's a kind of tragic irony that this takes place, her death, at a time when those very values she stood for are so in question in ukraine. there's a lot of people in ukraine, europe, united states, around the world, who are standing up for those values a little stronger because of her example and direct impact on people's lives. >> rick, that tragic irony lost on none of us.

your final thoughts. >> just from the political. she was an incredibly generous person. she was incredibly fun to be with. she was irreverent about all kinds of things, but that final tragic irony, the thing that she spent her career trying to avoid was another land war in europe and here we are. the largest country in europe was invaded by russia. the people who persecuted or helped persecute her ancestors. so that's a tragic irony and you know, bless her memory because she really did influence a lot of us. >> when we return, how russia and the right wing in this country have come together on the war in ukraine, mirroring the same talking points about the invasion, but john finer will be our guest. president biden rallies the nato allies against russian

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two big things to remember about the pipeline of disinformation we have observed. you know, the one that runs from the halls of the kremlin all the way to the air waves of right wing media here in the united states. first, it predates the ukraine invasion and second, it runs both ways. it is a symbiotic relationship where by each side helps the

other develop then spread mutually beneficial narratives. think of the feedback loop associated with russians fake bio weapons accusation. a lie cooked up in the english language online media spread by the russian government and its state media and fed back to americans ready and willing to amplify it. that back and forth relationship is the subject of a "new york times" piece today, quote, by reenforcing and feeding messages, some right wing americans have given credibility to russians. they have created an alternate reality recasting the western block of allies as provokers, blunderers and liars. joining our conversation, dr. jason johnson from morgan state university and nbc contributor. ben and rick are still with us. jason, you've got the so-called america first crowd in lock step

with kremlin talking points for mutual benefit. why? >> because anything that harms joe biden is okay for the american right. you've got to remember this point. we're not dealing with people who are looking at the united states in terms of winning hearts and minds in voters. we're talking about a far right that is basically the spokesperson for the ongoing insurrection that is being covered politically by the republican party. so anything that makes joe biden look weak and putin looking strong makes joe biden look weak, they're going to support it. but i also think there's an important thing to understand here. we're seeing this sort of odd horseshoe theory with some of the rhetoric about russia and the ukraine as well. we're seeing people on the quote unquote far left making the same argument. who are claiming well the united states is just as bad as russia so what putin's doing is fine. then you have the far right saying actually zelenskyy is a

terrible thug and a criminal. you're seeing this information from the far left and right. both basically saying that putin is perfectly okay. that his imperialism is less problematic than americans and using it to undermine joe biden because to them, nato is a greater threat than what's happening in kyiv. >> talk about the relationship specifically with the far right. as i mentioned, it predates the invasion of ukraine. in your view, was the 2016 election the dawn of that relationship and in what other ways has it manifested itself? >> well, i think that actually this relationship really began to pick up around the 2014 russian invasion of ukraine when we saw a real optic and rick and i lived this together in the campaign. i talked to -- it is not about

convincing people that putin is telling the truth or he's a leader. it's the kind of disinformation that aims to convince people that everybody's corrupt. everybody's in on the case. that your enemies and grievances are expressed and what we saw was the symbiotic relationship with the american right and putin. in 2016, what the americans did is look for preexisting narratives in american right wing and social media like hillary clinton's corruption or her health and they just turbo charged those narratives with their own disinformation campaigns. then you had american right wing narratives about a so-called deep state undermine donald trump, things like qanon and allegations of child pornography. like the two information systems merged in the trump years where

areas of corruption, about a leak, about deep state, about plots to control the global economy. those were emanating from russia and the american right with the same velocity and veracity and now i think you've seen in ukraine is most tragic manifestation of where it can lead if the entire war is bit on a pyramid of lies. unfortunately, the american right wing had gone along with a lot of those lies. remember the conspiracy theory that somehow ukraine hacked the election? not russia. it was picked up by russian bots and american right wing trolls. these are the narratives that putin served into this war and left the american right wing in this deeply awkward position where some are still willing to go along with it and some are realizing they've been accomplices to something that leads to the kind of violence we're witnessing every single day in ukraine. >> to that point, i want to read you the last two paragraphs of

that "new york times" story then get your reaction. quote, some russians have publicly commented on what appears to be common ground with far right americans. last week on the russian state backed news program 60 minutes, which is not connected to the cbs show of the same name, the host addressed the country's strengthening ties with mr. carlson. quote, our aacquaintance, the host of fox news, tucker carlson, obviously has his own interests, she said. airing several clips of his show where he suggested the united states had pushed the conflict in ukraine. but lately, more and more often, they're in tune with our own -- as ben said, the two of you lived through this together during the obama administration. how useful is american media to the russians? >> what putin has done, which i wrote about in my book about this, is he weaponized russian

grievances and the reason it connecting with people of the american right wing is that they have these similar sorts of grievances. one of the things that i think people don't understand when they were writing about what the russians did in 2016 and 2020 is this idea that the russians are super sophisticated. that they have some special sauce to persuade people of things they don't want to believe. that's false. disinformation is not a supply problem. it's a demand problem. people want to get it. you know, they're very receptive to it. if they have confirmation bias and it fulfills their need for conspiracy theory. i think that the feedback loop of us going to russia is a lot less important than what russia is doing here. the russians are insecure about everything they do and someone in america agrees with them and says they're right, they're happy as can be. but what putin is doing is putting out chum here that

people are picking up on and the whole rationale for the war, ukraine is not a country. ukraine should be part of russia, which is a false rationale. it's something that's been picked up by american right and that is tragic. >> ben, rick, thank you both so much for getting us started. jason, you are sticking with me. we'll see you on the other side of this conversation because as we've been reporting, president biden is in brussels tonight ahead of his meeting tomorrow with european allies. they prepare to show a united front against russia and putin. the president huddling with allies and is expected to announce new sanctions. nbc news also reporting today that the united states plans to permanently maintain an increased number of its troops deployed in nato countries near ukraine. joining us now, deputy national security adviser, john finer. thank you so much for being with us. the president expecting to leave troops in nato countries. nato countries hope to bolster

troops around hungary, slovakia, bulgaria. >> i don't want to get ahead of the president, but what i will say is you're going to see on display tomorrow and over the coming days, all three core element of our strategy in response to russia's invasion of ukraine. first and foremost, obviously the pressure that we have been able to muster in full alignment with our partners and allies on russia in terms of economic sanctions that have really done a lot of damage to the russian economy. they're going to continue to do so. second, the assistance we are flowing together into ukraine to strengthen its hand on the battlefield and third, nato force posture. increasing the number of troops on nato's eastern flanks to reassure our partners and allies in the space of this russian aggression. all of this has been fully consul tated. you're going to see the president on the world stage

making all of those points in the coming days. >> the first point, sanctions. the president is looking to shore up new sanctions from allies while in brussels. the ap reporting quote, one new option biden is looking at is to target hundreds of members of the russian state douma. the lower house parliament. according to an official, to discuss the move of ahead of any announcement. what new sanctions can we expect? >> well, look, again, not a very enterprising journalist here, but i'm not going to confirm new reports. i will tell you you should expect to hear from the president and from our european allies tomorrow. additional sanction steps. additional pressure on top of the significant steps that have been taken that have really done significant damage to the strength of russia's ruble. to its stock market. you've seen an outflow of russian professionals and technical experts out of the

country in light of really what our diminished future prospects in the near term for russia's economy as a result of these steps which were largely unexpected from their strength and severity by the russians despite the fact we said for quite some time this was coming if they made the mistake of invading ukraine and we are going to need to stay on top of that. >> john, one of the lingering worries has been russia possibly using chemical weapons against ukrainians. president biden addressed it this morning before taking off from the south lawn. take a listen. >> chemical weapons, how high is that threat? >> i think it's a real threat. >> a real threat. how concerned is the administration, john, and the left about the possibility of chemical weapons and how does the strategy change if they are in fact deployed? >> so this is obviously one of the scenarios about which we are very concerned.

in part because russia has struggled on the battlefield. we don't think this conflict has gone according to their plan. it's been slower. they have taken more casualties than expected. one is that they could escalate by using chemical weapons. the other reason we're concerned about them taking that step is russia is following what unfortunately is a playbook they have used over time of making accusations about the other side about something they intend to do. you heard these russian claims of ukrainians working with the united states might be contemplating using chemical or biological weapons. that is total nonsense. the ukrainians do not have these weapons, but the fact russia is talking about this is a play they sometimes run when it's a path they intend to go on. the president has said there would be severe consequences if

they go down that road. we're not going to spell that out in advance, but it would be significant. >> john, understanding that tomorrow there are going to be conversations and those conversations will be whatever they will be. i am sure that there is some anticipation on your side of what the greatest obstacle, what the greatest sticking point is going to be in those conversations. >> look, you know, to be honest, i think the greatest accomplishment up until now that the west has shown in the face of what is an outrageous act by russia that they continue to perpetrate day in and day out, which is totally unnecessary, totally brutal conflict, which rises to the level of war crimes as our state department said definitively today. is it the west has remained resolved? our allies have held together. putin has some objectives in this conflict. one was success on the battlefield. he's struggling.

he thought he could divide countries. some countries might be cautious about sanctioning russia. about increasing forces on russia's border. he's brought about a much higher degree of unity than we have seen in recent years and that he expected. third, i think he's set to enhance russian power and prestige by doing this and he's had the opposite effect. and one thing i will caution though is this is going to be a long effort. this is going to take place over weeks and months and potentially longer. so the real work is going to be maintaining that over time. >> take that note of caution. thank you so much for spending some time with us. when we return, day two of questioning for judge brown jackson and with her confirmation all but short, republicans are using their time in the spotlight to air their own grievance. that's next. grievance. that n'sext. a1c stayed here, it needed to be here.

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i have to agree that the behavior in the kavanagh hearing was inappropriate. >> i want to compliment the democrats for using grace and dignity unlike during the kavanagh hearings. >> republicans today trying to make this supreme court hearing about them and their alleged victim hood. trying to attack democrats this

previous confirmation hearings as they continue to use their questioning of judge brown jackson as political posturing and theatre in an election year. at the crux of it, invoking brett kavanagh, the victim of all victims. quote, so far, their focus has been on their own victimization. you may be under the hot lights and cross-examination, they are telling jackson, but we are the real victims here. the average voter may not recognize all the names, but the activist base knows them. if only as victims of some long ago democratic treachery. let's bring in professor of law at the university of california at irvine, also, correspondent for new york magazine and author of the life and times of ruth bader ginsburg. michelle, i want to play some of

senators ted cruz and josh holly today pressing judge jackson again on her work in child pornography cases. take a listen. >> i've taken every case seriously. these are very horrible -- >> i'm asking you specifically -- >> i've taken every case seriously. >> so you're not going to answer that? >> these are very horrible crimes as was that one. >> gave him three months. my question is do you regret it or not? >> senator, what i regret is that in a hearing about my qualifications to be a justice on the supreme court, we've spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of my sentences. >> professor, you gave us a preview of your thoughts when you tweeted 30 years ago, anita hill brought forward her

experiences before the senate judiciary. flash backs. your reaction to the performance we saw yesterday and today. >> it's chilling and -- the body that the senate is and the committee is supposed to be. we've seen the attacks against judge jackson. she has not been alleged to have sexually assaulted anyone as we saw in the case of justice now brett kavanagh. she has not alleged to have sexually harassed employees under her situation, which was the case involving the allegations against now justice thomas. and so there are flashbacks to the experience that anita had when she came before the united states senate, this judiciary committee comprised of some of

the same people, and was treated in such a shameful and frankly embarrassing way for this body. and the attacks that she has experienced as she has spoken quite openly, honestly with poise, grace, and dignity, about more than 500 cases an they keep circling to this very narrow set of cases, which is really a bit of cherry picking. one last thing i'd like to say, this line of questioning about do you regret your sentencing is really also quite harmful i think for this body to do that line of questioning because we need judges to be able to judge and judges cannot always predict what the outcome of these cases are. they base their decisions, especially on the trial court, and based on the facts that are in front of them, weighing all manner of factors and it is hard to predict what happens next. there are many other factors outside of the court and outside

of the judge's jurisdiction that determine what happens in a person's life who was a criminal defendant. >> i want you to talk about judge jackson's responses today to some of these criticisms of her judicial decisions. you say she didn't take the bait. tell me more. >> well, it seems clear that not only are republicans wanting to relitigate the kavanagh hearings, they also somehow want to elicit a response that was comparable to the way kavanagh screamed, cried, accused the clintons of orchestrating this thing. said people would reap the whirlwind. really undignified display that still resulted in him getting confirmed. brown jackson hasn't been accused of anything, but she has been accused of being soft on child predators despite a record that shows her to be well within the mainstream considering all

different factors of incredibly difficult and disturbing cases. i think what's interesting is they seem to be trying to bait her so they can use a clip in which they peg her as an angry barring that they could feed viral clips in which they are screaming at this black woman, particularly ted cruz, a disgraceful display on a day where a lot of people distinguished themselves thee at rickly, taking things out of context, being unfair and being not factual. but what she has continued to do is react with dignity and poise, stick to the facts, be really narrow and patient in all of her answers and of course my understanding is that as a black woman she has had to do so many, many times. but this is an unprecedented national stage and so watch her for 12 hours yesterday and many more hours today and more come to come has been a master class

in dignity. >> and in patient as you said. jason, republican judiciary committee member mike lee said this on fox today. we deserve to get some answers regarding her pattern of low sentencing in this hearing. this doesn't mean we're attacking her character, i don't think you could point to a single time when republicans have used the politics of personal destruction on a supreme court nominee. your reaction? >> it is a lie. it is all a lie. they're all lying. and, look, this is probably the first time in my life that i quoted or paraphrased clarence thomas. but he said this is a high tech lynching of nun uppitiy black man. this is not a lynching. but it is certainly a flogging and it is a flogging because the republicans know they can't stop judge brown jackson from getting in. she's going to end up on the supreme court. so the only thing they could do now is publicly flog this intelligent, capable, qualified black woman to the best of their

ability with every single crazy qanon, to use her to express her bigotry in their qanon conspiracies and anti-muslim sentiments and the reason this is so problematic because it won't change anybody's votes. she's going to get on regardless. >> thank you all so much for spending some time with us. we're go -- we're going to be right back after a quick break. k

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finally an update to a story that we have been covering over the past few weeks. the state department confirming today that a u.s. official was granted counselor access to wnba superstar brittney griner. they found her in, quote, good condition. this is after u.s. officials said they have not been granted access to griner who was in detention in russia after cannabis products were found in her luggage at the moscow airport. her detention has been extended until may 19th. we're going to be right back. they may not be able to take just anything for pain. that's why doctors recommend tylenol®. it won't raise blood pressure the way that advil®, aleve®, or motrin® sometimes can. for trusted relief, trust tylenol®. when we found out our son had autism, his future became my focus. lavender baths calmed him. so we made a plan to turn bath time into a business. ♪ ♪ find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com

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"the beat" with ari melber starts right now. hi. >> hi alicia. thank you so much. welcome to the beat, i'm ari melber. today was day three of the supreme court confirmation hearing and the second and final round of questioning that we have going on today and it is expected to resume shortly and it will wrap up by tonight. rile now coy tell you the news tonight is same as last night in the sense of the votes. the white house, president biden very confident that they have this nomination still on track p. we have no public reporting of any cracks among the senate coalition she needs to make it on the supreme court. the 50 democrats. judge jackson was again calm and poised today, which is striking for the reasons you're about to see and you may have heard about some of this as we are into basically two days of a certain type of political high jinx. republican senators doubling down on a line of