dr. seuss and the news produced interest but it wasn't just that goose in sales that came as a result of the cancellation. the -- more broadly, there is a netflix series, there is an amazon series. dr. seuss enterprises, which are his descendants who manage his rights, are making a bunch of big, new deals. so a comeback for the cat in the hat. >> i like it. mike alan, thank you very much for being here today. and thanks to all of you for getting up way too early with us on this friday morning and all week long. have a great weekend, everybody. "morning joe" starts right now. good morning, we have got new developments this morning in russia's invasion of ukraine. the kremlin hits back at the u.s. intel that shows vladimir putin is being misled by his advisers about the war. and new reporting that there is no russian commander on the ground in ukraine. we will dig into that all of this as russia keeps up its relentless assault.

in just a few minutes, we will have a live report from ukraine. here in the united states, president biden tapping the nation's strategic oil reserves in an effort to bring down gas prices. and a number of other stories we are following this morning. former-president trump's son-in-law appearing before the january 6th committee. the house passes a bill that would cap the cost of insulin. and we are hearing now from the producer of the academy awards on how police were there in the building, and ready to arrest will smith on the spot after he slapped chris rock. lot to get to on a friday morning. it is april 1st. happy april, everybody. joe and mika have the morning off. with me for the morning, i have got msnbc contributor mike barnicle, host of way too early and white house bureau chief at "politico," jonathan lemire. and former aide to the george w. bush white house and state departments, elise jordan. good morning to you all. let's get right into it. the russian government is denying claims by u.s. intelligence that vladimir putin is being misled about the russian military failures in

ukraine. a spokesman for the kremlin said at a press conference yesterday, quote, neither the state department nor the pentagon have real information about what is happening in the kremlin. he also warned, quote, such a complete misunderstanding leads to erroneous and rash decisions that cause very bad consequences. meanwhile, one u.s. official telling nbc news the united states government has intelligence indicating some senior-russian officials likely disagreed with with putin's decision to invade ukraine. we know that's true. the official said, quote, their disillusionment is probably amplified by the russian military's underperformance, which includes many friendly-fire casualties including shootdowns of russian aircraft by russian air defense, wide-scale missile launch failures, and stiffer than expected resistance from the ukrainian people. inside ukraine, russian forces continue to launch attacks around the capital city of kyiv, despite saying it planned to pull back from the area. this as ukrainian officials say russian soldiers have withdrawn

from the chernobyl nuclear plant after being exposed to high doses of radiation. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel begins our coverage this morning from eastern ukraine. >> reporter: russia's military has suffered shocking setbacks in ukraine. some, self-inflicted. ukraine's state nuclear company says two columns of russian troops left the chernobyl nuclear disaster site, still contaminated from the 1986 meltdown. the company said the russians are leaving after digging trenches in the contaminated soil and receiving significant doses of radiation. the russian military has said radiation levels have remained within a normal range in the area. but is putin even being told? a day after the white house said russian generals were afraid to give putin the truth about the war, president biden saying this -- saying this - >> that is an open question. he seems to be self-isolating. >> reporter: the u.s. official

tells nbc news, the united states has assessed some russian government senior officials likely disagreed with putin's decision to invade ukraine. despite promises to reduce attacks around kyiv, russia is already striking again near the capital, destroying this warehouse. ukraine's president zelenskyy, who spoke with president biden, says he needs more american help to defend his country, including fighter jets and tanks. u.s. aid is essential for us, he said. while president putin is making new economic threats. saying unfriendly countries, which include europe and the united states, must pay for russian natural gas in rubles in russian banks or risk being cut off. >> nbc's richard engel reporting from ukraine. let's bring in columnist ask associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius and former nato supreme allied commander, retired four star navy admiral james stavridis.

he is chief international security and diplomacy analyst for nbc news and msnbc. gentlemen, good morning to you both. admiral, want to get your take on this out of "the new york times." they are reporting russia is running its military campaign out of moscow with no central war commander on the ground in ukraine. senior-u.s. officials and independent analysts tell "the times" the lack of a unifying military leader in ukraine has meant russian air, ground, and sea units are not in sync. they are their disjointed battlefield campaigns have been plagued by poor logistics, low morale, and between 7,000 and 15,000 military deaths so far. at least seven russian generals, also, have died in the war. now, the kremlin reportedly is turning to syrians to help turn the tide of the war. according to a western diplomat, who spoke with "the times," hundreds of syrian mercenaries are on their way to join putin's army with with some having already arrived in russia for training. two sources tell "the times" this is effectively seen as syria returning the favor to moscow for russia's help in

crushing rebels amid syria's ongoing civil war. "the times" also writes many more syrians could be on their way to ukraine with recruiters reportedly drawing up lists of thousands of candidates interested in becoming mercenaries. at the pentagon yesterday, press secretary john kirby confirmed about 1,000 mercenaries, many of them syrian, already are in ukraine after being hired by private russian contractors. so, admiral, take those two stories together, if you would, if there is no russian military commander on the ground, that explains a lot of the failures but also the desperation having to call on syrian mercenaries to back up russian troops. what do you make of that? >> it is a campaign that is floundering and floundering badly. and let's start with the generals. you know, there are seven dead. maybe as many as eight or nine. that's unheard of in 20 years of war, the u.s. didn't lose a single general in actual combat operations. and, you know, there may be

seven in the ground as opposed to on the ground, so to speak. so, that is problem number one. and you cannot run a big campaign like this without dedicated, on-the-ground generals who know the feel of their troops. they are capable of bringing that kind of jointness, air, sea, land, cyber, intelligence. bringing it all together. second point, um, you know, you get the feeling that the kremlin's turning a little bit into a game of thrones there with factions going back and forth. um, and i think the administration is doing a very good job of fostering that by trying to get kind of behind the mind of putin, if you will, and certainly if you go for the king, you better kill him. and i think those around putin know that. but that's problem number two. and then, third and finally, willie, very concerning, the syrians coming in.

um, this is yet another dirty trick, if you will, out of putin. but these are going to be forces that are the ultimate undisciplined, looting, raping, it's going to be a very ugly part of the campaign. and all of it is inclined to terrorize the people of ukraine because their fighting spirit is the center of gravity. >> david ignatius, let me take up that point about the distention in the ranks around vladimir putin. obviously, as admiral stavridis said, the united states and the west has been putting out this information and we have got reporting from inside russia, as well, that says he's being lied to by his own advisers, by his own commanders for fear of the consequences of telling the truth of how badly things are going inside ukraine. what's your sense of how much of that is sort of sci-ops from the pentagon and american government, or versus truly what is happening inside which is that he is a man alone being lied to by his own advisers?

>> it is a combination i think. we have been hearing since january at least, that there were many russians who were skeptical about what they saw as putin's plan to invade ukraine as -- as the plans were -- were being made, as the u.s. was beginning to discuss detailsment we heard reports of distention from some frontline commanders. there is obviously more of that. what we are seeing now i think is a new dimension and what you can only call the information war that the united states has been running toward russia. using what is top-secret intelligence, this must come from intercepted communications from russian commanders. and -- and declassifying that and pushing it out of the public so we are hearing about -- about dissension, sabotage of equipment, complaints about poor morale. the effect of this, obviously, is first putin begins to doubt

his generals. the one theme of this has been that putin's generals misrepresented how bad it would -- it would be. second, the generals themselves get furious because they are taking the rap for this campaign and many feel that they have been unable to get their views to -- to the leader. putin has been isolated. taking counsel of very few people. and finally and most important, for the extent this can get through to the russian people, they begin to wonder does this war really make sense for us? are we -- as -- as the bodies come home and the bodies are coming home in the thousands, russians ask is this a war that -- that we're really comfortable with? >> hey, david, it's jonathan. i want to stay with you on something on the point you there you just made. one more reason why the u.s. is putting intelligence in the forefront. a senior administration official put it yesterday, put it to me that they want putin to be rattled. they have got an asset close to him. the u.s. is hearing things and

putin in particular ex-kgb officer himself unnerved that perhaps the u.s. has someone in his backyard. even if perhaps all the information is not fully true, they want him to be guessing what we know or don't know is what the official said to me. i wanted to get your take, though, on this as all this comes as the backdrop, we have another round of talks between ukraine and russia today. it is a virtual meeting. just a few days ago, there seemed like there had been a glimmer of progress coming out of those talks. both sides suggested they might have found some common ground. and yet, since then, russia's pledge to deescalate around kyiv and other northern cities has completely not come to pass. they have only stepped up bombardment there. what is your latest sense of people you are talking to, does the u.s. have any faith whatsoever in these peace talks? and what do they make of russia's current redeployment of forces within ukraine? what are they targeting? >> so -- so couple things seem to be going on, jonathan. first, russians on the ground do

appear to be moving towards bands that they can hold that might form the basis for future cease-fire lines. uh, the kinds of things you saw in the korean war, that you see in the india-pakistan occasional conflict. lines of control between -- between the two sides. so that consolidation of positions is something you often see in advance of peace talks. it's not surprising that even as peace talks are going on, there is more fighting on the ground. each side wants to consolidate its position being the strongest possible bargaining position. putin doesn't want to give this up without something he can call a win, and i just talking last 24 hours with with ukrainian diplomats, they don't want to give up what they feel is hallowed ground, hallowed by -- by the fighting and dying of brave ukrainians who in this month, and really for the last eight years, have been

battling -- battling the russians. so, for all the peace talk this week, i don't sense that we are quite at the point yet where either side is willing to give up on the ground. they're -- they're fighting for peace that they can sell to their publics, that they can describe as a win. >> admiral, i believe we are a month in to this war so far. it is hard to believe because just every day is so horrific. and you see the images, and hope that it's going to end immediately. but we are a month in, and one of the surprising factors for putin, i believe, has been nato's unity. and how nato has actually come together to counter putin in a way that he probably didn't necessarily see coming. and could you talk a bit about what nato is doing now? and how you see that evolving over the next couple of weeks as the former-supreme commander, of course? >> indeed. um, well first and foremost, um,

you're absolutely correct. the unity has been surprising even to, for example, a former-supreme allied commander. it -- it's really heartening, and it -- it speaks to the way the west has come together in this particular instance. um, in terms of nato, i will give you three quick things that are happening. one is moving troops forward to the borders of nato. saying to the russians, don't even think about it. you know, to quote the president from his speech. so, real military power moving forward. number two, the alliance has become the forum, in which these conversations about sanctions and oil and gas and how we stand together and holding onto the russian reserves, which has become crucial. and then, third and finally, the alliance, without question, has been central to supporting the ukrainians.

and -- and that means each of the individual nations are helping move weapons to the ukrainians. so, nato is firing on all cylinders and it is very heartening to see, and i think it's very disheartening for vladimir putin. >> yeah, mike, that is certainly true and president biden and the west have turned the screws in terms of sanctions. it's true that the war is not going well for russia. but they do continue. we have got new reporting just this morning that they continue to bombard outside kyiv, a place they said they were going to pull back during these peace negotiations. um, chernihiv, as well. also being bombarded, another place they said they were going to get out of. so, this -- this assault continues and as we talk about failure of the russian military, it sure doesn't feel that way to ukrainians inside the country whose lives have been upended, whose cities have been leveled, whose children have been forced into poland -- 4 million people or more says the u.n. this is despite the russian military failures, this is a complete devastation for the

people of ukraine which continues right now. >> willie, the russian playbook of war has never changed at least not over the course of the last 20 or 30 years or so. it's to destroy and terrorize. destroy whatever is in front of them and terrorize any civilian population. and those two goals have clearly been met in the ukraine. it's going to be decades before that country is ever rebuilt and fully back up on its feet, and yet the war continues and will probably continue for too long a period of time. one more day is too long. but, admiral, on that score, let me ask you what if the russians pull together their forces in the east of ukraine, make a push, a successful push, to capture odesa? what happens to the landscape of war and diplomacy if that took place? >> well, you're asking an admiral, so i'm going to give you a maritime answer, mike.

and it's quite simple. um, it would strangle the economy of ukraine. and odesa is the principal port in and out of which flows the -- the lifeblood of the nation's economy. it would be a very smart play on the part of the russians, and they have a flotilla in the black sea not far from odesa and it would be kind of like in the civil war, abraham lincoln created a plan to choke off the south. it would be a smart move and a dangerous move, so i think the question is what should we be doing about it? and that is, giving the ukrainians all the intelligence we can provide so they are prepared. giving them specific weapons systems that can go after ships who try and come in and conduct that amphibious assault. um, and those are anti-ship weapons that could be put in place. and then, finally, um,

continuing to push on the rest of the combat scenario so that putin doesn't feel as though his forces have the latitude to conduct an attack like that. um, it's a point of real vulnerability, you're right to point it out. >> yeah, mariupol is the city that's perhaps been hardest hit during this war, and there is now another attempt to deliver relief so desperately needed by the people there this morning. an aid convoy trying to make its way into mariupol after russia and ukraine agreed to a temporary cease-fire. dozens of red cross trucks also trying to get as close to that port city as they possibly can. according to a statement, quote, it's desperately important that this operation takes place as the lives of tens of thousands of people in mariupol depend on it. that's from the red cross. here's what one official from the red cross had to say. >> it's about many things. we have -- to treat people wounded by explosions or ammunitions, food.

food. water. essential what we call essential hygiene parcel. many, many basic necessities. >> today's operation comes after russian forces blocked an aid convoy yesterday. they have been doing that. ukraine's deputy prime minister said russians seized 14 tons of food and medical supplies, and stopped 45 buses that were trying to evacuate civilians. hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in that strategic seaside port that is very low, desperately low on food, water, ask medicine. every attempt to deliver aid has been thwarted by russian shelling. joinings now, nbc news correspondent molly hunter live from lviv, ukraine, with more on the situation there. molly, good morning. >> reporter: willie, good morning to you. i just want to pick up on the conversation you guys were having on odesa. i just got back from a few days in odesa. of course, it is on the southwest of the southern coast far from mariupol on the other side. but everyone there is talking about what happens in mariupol.

the fate of mariupol is going to dictate how quickly, you know, russian warships free up in the sea of azov. how quickly troops on the ground start to move from kherson even further west to odesa. even in odesa, they know they are on the target list. they are fortifying that city. they have been waiting anxiously to see what happens. they are watching mariupol very, very closely. today, our understanding, willie, is that another aid convoy is standing by. so our understanding is that 42 buses. another coastal city, it is on the evacuation route from mariupol to zaporizhzhia. those 42 buses are ready to carry about 2,000 people out to zaporizhzhia but part of these humanitarian corridors and the agreement that is made and brokered by the icrc is that humanitarian aid gets in. so as you said yesterday, humanitarian aid convoy was blocked. the icrc put out a statement, made a huge deal announcing, making sure both sides, making sure the world knew they were planning to bring in lifesaving aid this morning and we do not have word whether or not that

has made it inside that city. mariupol, of course, has been besieged, starved out, our understanding is that about 100 to 170,000 people remain inside. but, willie, when you combine this picture in the southeast with the fact that there is no deescalation in the northeast around chernihiv and kyiv, the trust on the ukrainian's side and i can only speak to the ukrainian side is extremely low going into virtual peace talks today. and no reason anyone here feels they can take putin or moscow at their word either kind of agreeing on humanitarian corridors, deescalating in the northeast or any kind of longer, more lasting cease-fire, willie. >> yeah, vladimir putin and russia just starving the city of mariupol out in plain sight after bombing it, flattening many of those buildings. nbc's molly hunter, thanks so much for your reporting this morning. we appreciate it. and admiral james stavridis, thank you very much as well. always desperate to have your insight. still ahead on "morning joe." president biden is planning to tap strategic oil reserves as a way to fight rising gas prices but is it enough to make a

difference at the pump? plus, former-president trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, appeared before the house select committee investigating january 6th. what we know about his six-hour interview with lawmakers just ahead. and the producer of the academy awards ceremony is now speaking out about will smith slapping chris rock. he says police were on the scene and ready to arrest smith. we will tell you why they did not. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. (johnny cash) ♪ i've traveled every road in this here land! ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ crossed the desert's bare, man. ♪ ♪ i've breathed the mountain air, man. ♪ ♪ of travel i've had my share, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere. ♪

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organizers of sunday night's academy awards said in a statement that will smith refused to leave the oscars after slapping chris rock and added they quote recognize we

could have handled the situation differently, like maybe hiring younger security guards. you got to go! you got to go. >> we are learning more about what happened in the moments after will smith slapped chris rock at the academy awards on sunday. according to oscars producer will packer, officers from the los angeles police department were on the scene sunday night, and ready to arrest smith if rock decided to press charges. >> they were saying, you know, this is battery was the word they used in that moment. they said we will go get him, we are prepared, we're prepared to get him right now. you can press charges. we can arrest him. you have -- they were laying out the options. the lapd officers finished laying out what his options were, and, um, and they said, you know, would you like us to take any action? and he said no. he said no. >> chris rock declining to press

charges. that is a tough call for a producer. have will smith arrested 15 minutes before he was about to get best actor academy award. the house passed a bill that would cap the monthly cost of insulin at $35. the measure now heads to the senate, and could be taken up in a matter of weeks if there is bipartisan agreement. if approved, the bill could significantly reduce out of pocket hooif drug costs for millions of americans with diabetes. critics argue the measure does not adequately address rising prescription drug prices and warn it could raise premiums, and make inflation worse. march madness into a new month tonight with the final four women's tournament games taking place with three top seeds still remaining. number one overall south carolina plays louisville before stanford meets second seeded uconn. the men's final four tips off tomorrow night. second seated villa nova takes on top-ranked kansas and number two duke looks to extend coach k's final season against rival number eight north carolina.

severe weather swept across the south yesterday with dozens of tornados reported. let's go right to bill karins for more on that and a check on the forecast. hey bill. >> hey, good morning to you, willie. unfortunately, we did find out our latest tornado outbreak did turn deadly yesterday with two fatalities in the panhandle of florida and washington county. and when you see what is left of their homes, i mean it's no wonder that they didn't survive. i mean, you can't even really tell where the homes were located previously. you see a vehicle there to the left. and just not much else. everything, just completely scattered. we had other numerous tornados reported yesterday, too. we had a few in north carolina. one in pennsylvania. and we also had this one that did significant damage in chelsea, alabama. roof was knocked off. lot of tree damage. there were no fatalities or injuries with that tornado. so let's give you the summary from yesterday because we did have significant damage from the winds also in pennsylvania. each of these blue dots shows you the thunderstorms. at one point, we had tornado

warning in washington, d.c. area. no confirmed tornado there. was just some wind damage and the month of march, i am happy to say good-bye to it. we had 233 tornados reported in march. look at all the locations that had tornados. typically, in march, we have like 95. we have potentially broken the record for the most tornados ever in the month of march. no tornados today. just a cold, snowy weather pattern in the ohio valley. watch out for snow squalls driving through ohio, pennsylvania, and western new york today. kind of a similar setup to where we had snow squalls about four or five days ago with with horrific accidents. and that is after driving on highways that will have nothing. so just be prepared for that driving through that area today. so the rest of the south, today is your cleanup day. the sun is out from new orleans to atlanta. still kind of stormy in florida and as far as our first april weekend goes, willie, kind of quiet conditions out there. chicago, not the best with a little bit of rain and snow

showers, only in the 40s. but no severe weather for our first april weekend. >> we will take that and let's hope we fully turn the corner. no more of these 20-degree days that we had this week. bill karins, thanks so much. bill, we appreciate it. coming up. we are going to look -- go live to poland for a look at the journey of ukrainian refugees now hoping to make it to the united states. and "washington post" columnist, our friend eugene robinson, has a proposed re-brand for the republican party. his new piece is titled "that's no party, that's the republican hot mess." he he joins us next on "morning joe." "morning joe. ual customizes car insurance so you only pay for what you need, and we gotta do it fast. [limu emu squawks] woo! new personal record, limu! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ vo: as vladmir putin wages war,

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6:35 on a friday morning at the white house. jared kushner, former-president trump's son-in-law, then senior adviser, met with the january 6th select committee for more

than six hours yesterday. kushner is the first family member and highest-ranking trump administration official to speak with the committee so far. an nbc news source described him as cooperative and friendly saying he did the talking instead of his lawyer. kushner voluntarily agreed to appear before the panel, and at least one member of the committee said kushner's interview provided much-needed insight. >> what i will say is that, you know, we were able to, um, ask for his impression about these third-party accounts of the events that happened that day and around that day. so he was able to voluntarily provide information to us, to verify, substantiate, provide his own, you know, take on -- on this different reporting. so it was really valuable for us to have the opportunity to speak to him. >> so jonathan lemire, you have written an entire book about this episode about january 6th. the days before and after. and the attempt to steal the 2020 election away. um, what does this committee specifically do you think want to know from jared kushner? it sounds like he was

cooperative. that's nice but what exactly can he offer? >> that book out july 26th, i should add. uh, friendly, cooperative, voluntary. those are not words we are used to hearing about trump foyers meeting with the january 6th committee. at least senior ones. and it should be noted, though, kushner himself wasn't in the white house on january 6th. he wasn't at that rally. he was traveling back from saudi arabia. he had been in the middle east on business there. official business there and was not present for any of this. so, there is limited insight to what he can talk about in terms of what he witnessed that day, although of course his wife, ivanka trump, we know was in the oval office repeatedly trying to get the then president to put out tweets or something to get the crowd to calm down at the capitol. but certainly, kushner could speak to other efforts. even though he, after the election, was not as involved as other senior officials with the effort to challenge the results and attempt to overturn the results, he had pivoted largely to the middle east piece.

the abraham accords. but of course, he was there for some of that. that will be of interest to the committee. the president's mindset in those weeks. that would be of interest to the committee. but more than that, i think we should just note this as another first page of a new chapter in the investigation. where they really are zeroing in on the inner circle of the trump orbit, both in terms of officials and family. i don't know they will get a degree of cooperation from others but this comes a moment where the committee is broadening its probe, including to the rally before the insurrection, the one at the ellipse where so many of the other trump family members were in attendance. so that's certainly going to be an area of real focus here for the committee going forward. >> yeah, committee's certainly getting a lot of what it needs, including all those documents. before he refused to testify from the white house chief of staff mark meadows. republican congressman madison cawthorn of north carolina claimed during a podcast interview last week he had been invited to sex parties by some of his older colleagues, and then he said watched at least

one fellow lawmaker use cocaine. he was quickly criticized by fellow republicans, including house minority leader kevin mccarthy. a source tells nbc the 26-year-old congressman failed to provide any evidence to back those allegations. in an interview with "axios," mccarthy said cawthorn admitted his claims were exaggerated. let's bring in pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson. gene, good morning, are you happy i brought you in to comment on that story? i will let you -- >> absolutely. >> details of your days in washington aside but i want to get to your piece, which is titled "that's no party, that's the republican hot mess." you write in part, at this point, the republican party really ought to change its name. it is not a coherent political party anymore. to comply with truth and advertising standards, it should call itself the republican hot mess. and yes, this is an election year and the hot mess could take control of one or even both

houses of congress at a time of overlapping crises at home and abroad. that is a gamble that nations should not take and an outcome democrats and independents must do everything in their power to prevent. so, gene, elaborate a little bit on this, if you would. you know, this is something joe talks about all the time that the republican party seized to be the republican party sometime around five or six years ago when a lot of it, anyway, just became the trump party. >> exactly. this is just your periodic reminder that the republican party is no longer a functioning political party as we once thought of it. i mean, it -- it -- it has no legislative program. um, mitch mcconnell, in fact, says we're not going to put forward a legislative program before the midterms because i don't know. i guess people might not like what they plan to do. or more likely, they can't decide what they plan to do. they -- they -- their program -- their -- their platform, as you

recall in the last election, was whatever trump says. you know, we will just do whatever trump says. and that's still roiling what used to be the grand ole party. it's -- it is -- it is a still the trump cult. that's where the base is. and members of congress are all over the map. and then in the house, you have this looney bin caucus of madison cawthorn and marjorie taylor greene and lauren boebert and paul gosar and -- and others, um, who are determined to make life as miserable as possible for kevin mccarthy who as we all know desperately wants to be speaker. >> eugene, elise here. it is hard not to just laugh a little bit because this is so ridiculous and i am asking you this question. why do you think kevin mccarthy reacted so viscerally to the

accusation of orgies and cocaine when other members, you know, flirt with white nationalism, are at a white nationalist rally, do these blatantly racist thing. but what was it about orgies and drugs that really drew a line? >> well clearly, that was seen by mccarthy and by the rest of his caucus, by the way, which -- which had a fairly raucous meeting to talk about cawthorn's statement. that was seen as worse, actually, than going to a white nationalist rally which -- which is just like, you know, okay. you know, you be you. go to the white nationalist rally. the rest -- the rest of the party said, well, we wouldn't kind of do that. but -- but they did it. and -- and, you know, those -- um -- look. the -- the members of congress that the republicans, that democrats kicked off their committees, like marjorie taylor greene and paul gosar. kevin mccarthy says they will

have their committee assignments back. they will be back on committees if republicans take control. so, um, none of that stuff is all that bad according to today's republicans. but um, sex and drugs -- that's another story. >> our friend peter baker who will be on the show a little later had the best take on this where he said i lived in washington my entire life. i could have been invited to the wrong parties. what is interesting here, though, is that this is as to eugene's point, this is the line that was -- could not be crossed. we heard -- who did get stripped of committee assignments and their leadership post? liz cheney for standing up to former-president trump's big lie. for questioning his false claims of election fraud, and then for serving on the then the january 6th committee. that is the issue. and it's also underlines the struggle kevin mccarthy has right now for him, again, to condemn this is -- is significant because he is so desperate to get the approval of

former-president trump to be speaker, which he has not secured yet. as much as he has tried to cozy back up to trump, and trump has, you know, mostly sent approving signals his way. there is no guarantee that trump will back him for speaker if republicans do take the majority. he is still that angry about the exchange they had on january 6th, that phone call where mccarthy asked him to step in and trump claimed the rioters loved their country more than he did. so, mccarthy is trying to balance his competing interests there and he knows he needs some of the lunatic caucus as eugene said, willie. >> yeah, the attempted coup was just fine. but orgies and cocaine, not so much. i would also point out that north carolina's republican senator thom tillis just this week endorsed madison cawthorn's opponent in a primary run. a lot of establishment republicans have seen enough of that circus. let's put orgies and cocaine behind us and bring peggy

noonan. i say. her latest column for "the wall street journal" and titled nixon's example of sanity in washington. in it, she recalls in 1961, a stop the steal movement might well have been justified but richard nixon did the right thing, and conceded. first, here is part of nixon presiding over the formal certification of his opponent's election, and then we will read some of what peggy writes this morning. >> this is the first time in 100 years that a candidate for the presidency announced the results of an election in which he was defeated, and announced the victory of his opponent. i do not think that we could have a more striking and eloquent example of the stability of our constitutional system. and of the proud tradition of the american people of

developing and respecting and honoring institutions of self-government. our campaigns, no matter how hard fought they may be, no matter how close the election may turn out to be, those who lose accept the verdict, and we support those who win. >> richard nixon on january the 6th, 1961, presiding over the certification of john f. kennedy's victory. here is part of what peggy noonan writes about that moment. quote, we should remember the man who may well have had a presidential election stolen from him but who ended a stop the steal movement before it could take off. vice president richard nixon believed the election was stolen. president dwight d. eisenhower and senate minority leader everett dirksen wanted him to challenge the results. nixon thought he could take months and it may not succeed but his thoughts went deeper than that.

in the cold war, the nuclear age, unity at home and abroad was needed. young democracies looked up to us. if they thought our elections could be stolen, it would hurt the world's morale. when you read all this wonder why can't self-professed patriots love america like that now? maturely, protectively. and how important it is to know something of history, to know it so well you can almost trust it instead of just feeling what you feel, and making a hash of things. mike barnicle, peggy noonan, it is a really important column to read and a reminder that even richard nixon who truly believes and a lot of historians, frankly, believe that perhaps not stolen but there was some fishy business going on in the state of illinois, for example, during that campaign. that he stood there, and did something difficult which was to hand the election to john f. kennedy. >> well, that clip that we just showed, willie, and the portion of peggy's column this weekend in the "wall street journal" is a vivid example of democracy at

work. richard nixon could certainly have contested that election in two states especially, texas and illinois. but he did not. and the country moved forward. and david ignatius, as i listened to nixon and watched nixon in the clip we just played, i couldn't help but think not for the first time, i think about it too often every day but we in the media, we cover the moment. we are of the moment. we will cover everything that happened yesterday in ukraine or in the congress of the united states. but in the larger picture, out here in the country where we all live, where people get up, go to work, uncomplainingly each day to raise their families and things like that, pay tuitions. the damage that was done in the four years under donald trump has really not been addressed, either, politically by people in power or certainly by the law, thus far.

and the damage, if you watch it every day moment by moment, it is incredible the loss of confidence in our institutions. the loss of confidence in our elected officials. the lack of meaning of the word truth. the other concept that they can't believe that the lies emanating from the white house or the former white house. the former president and the white house. the idea that he has twisted this stop the steal into a reality, and it's covered like a reality. it's incredible to me that it's happened, and i'm wondering -- you live in washington. you see these people each and every day. where is the sense of either disbelief or outrage that should be epidemic? i don't feel it. is it there? >> so, mike, i think it -- it's there among members of the military, among members of the intelligence services, people who do professional work. who think of the united states

as an ongoing proposition whose stability is crucial. it's not there among politicians who -- who -- who just keep battling, um, keep -- keep fighting for the smallest increment of party advantage.ad. watching that nixon clip, i felt as i'm sure you did, that there was a sort of fundamental dignity to the men. it's hard to concede given what happened later with nixon, but it's evident there. he felt that it was important for the united states to remain united, not to sew divisions because our standing in the world mattered. that's the one thing that just doesn't seem to occur to many of the republicans today. you wonder if small splits, kevin mccarthy being angry will

lead anywhere. if jared kushner's testimony to the congressional panel will lead anywhere. some point a republican has to stand up and say defending our country and its interests is crucial to me. not just as a republican, but as an american citizen. that's the moment that we'll know we're heading in a better direction. but it sure seems far off to me. >> add al gore to that conversation in 2000 as well. peggy noonan's piece is up now. david, thank you so much. we'll see you next week. still ahead this morning, vladimir putin is demanding russian gas be paid for in rubles. a move some european leaders are calling blackmail. dig into that, next. g blackmail. dig into that, next.

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cia director william burns tested positive for covid-19. in a statement yesterday, the agency said burns is is experiencing mild symptoms and is fully vaccinated.

burns will continue his duties from home and plans to return to the office after isolating for five days and testing negative for the virus. the director last saw president biden on wednesday, but is not considered a close contact with the president. coming up, the latest u.s. intelligence on vladimir putin's shrinking inner circle and a reported disconnect between russia's president and his military leaders ahead of russia's invasion of ukraine. joe yoe is coming right back on a friday morning. come ing righ a friday morning like pulsing, electric shocks, sharp, stabbing pains, or an intense burning sensation. what is this nightmare? it's how some people describe... shingles. a painful, blistering rash that could interrupt your life for weeks.

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7:00 on the button. a live picture of lower manhattan on this first day of april. mike barnacle, gene robinson still with us. the russian government is denying that vladimir putin being misled about the russian military's failure in ukraine.

at a press conference yesterday, a spokesperson said, neither the state department nor the pentagon have real information about what is happening in the kremlin. he also warns such a complete misunderstanding leads to rash decisions that cause very bad consequences. a quote from the creme behind. one u.s. official tells nbc news the united states government has intelligence that indicates some senior russian officials likely disagreed with the decision to invade ukraine. president biden weighed in on the matter for the first time yesterday and seemed to down play the strength of u.s. intelligence. >> how abomination of desolationly is vladimir putin being misinformed? >> that's an open question. this is a lot of speculation. he seems to be self-isolate there's some indication he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers.

but i don't want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don't is that much hard evidence. >> i want to ask you again about the president's comments today when he was asked about the information that putin is being left in the dark by his advisers. he seemed much less confident than you were. he seems to be self-isolating. but we don't have hard evidence. you said from the podium we have information that putin felt misled by the russian military. why the disconnect? >> i don't see a disconnect. we were clear yesterday we shared a piece of information that helps paint a picture about how this has been a strategic failure for russia. we put forward information yesterday, and i think you can draw the appropriate conclusion from that, we would not put it forward if we didn't have confidence in it. >> let's add to our conversation, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" peter baker, washington correspondent julia yaffe, and

former senator claire mccaskill. she was a member of the armed services committee. good morning to you all. pete, let me start with you on that question that was raised yesterday, which was a bit of a surprise. president biden pouring some cold water on the reports, including from the pentagon, by the way, that the walls are closing in around vladimir putin. he's getting bad information from his advisers, who are afraid to them him how badly things are going. what do you take of that? >> i think the president was trying to be cautious, which he's been accused of being the opposite in the past. i think this intelligence, you have to recognize that we have limits on how much we know about what's happening inside vladimir putin's inner circle, but the u.s. intelligence has been pretty good in the last few months in anticipating and predicting what russia was going to do. i think that it makes sense if you think about it that the longer you have an entrenched authoritarian in there, the more the people around him tend to

shy away from delivering bad news. there's a long history of that in russia. and it wouldn't be surprising at all. the other part of your report i heard is also true from other government officials that there are people around him who thought this was a bad idea but weren't able to air that skepticism. it makes sense. this has been a disaster for russia because it's not accomplished what putin says he wants to accomplish. he's accomplished the opposite of that and that was totally and completely predictable before we started. >> julia, you spent years reporting from russia and probably way more time than is healthy thinking about vladimir putin's psyche. could you at this stage in the game, what's your read of where vladimir putin is and what's his set? >> as far as we can judge, because i think there's even less than we know than usual

about vladimir putin, in part because the circle of advisers had become so small going into this war and now it seems even some of those advisers are on the outs with him. i totally agree with peter that this fits with the largeer picture of how putin's dictatorship has worked. it squares with a lot of reporting that was coming out of russia, out of moscow in the first few days of the war that there were a lot of of people all over the government including the administration of the president in russia of of the defense ministry, other government organizations who are in complete shock and disagreement. as for where he is now, we don't quite know what he knows about this. it seems that he's starting to get information that the war is not beginning well and that it's not going as planned. it's undenial they haven't had a victory parade in kyiv in dress

uniforms, as they were planning to. but i worry that this makes it even more existential for him. if putin is seen to be losing this war or to lose this war, then he loses all the prestige, all the kind of since he can't be loved, he would rather be feared. all of that respect, however grudging, that he's accumulated over the years in trying to build russia back up, he will lose that if he is seen to lose. so i worry it makes him even more desperate to press this thing to the finish and to win whatever that looks like and whatever that takes. >> that's the fear. what is a desperate aud democrat autocrat do in that moment. there's a new article, let ukraine go on offense against russia. the concern among supporters on capitol hill and the pentagon is the biden administration doesn't want ukraine to go on offense. it wants a negotiated settlement

as soon as possible. france and germany are in a similar place. they worry that if russia suffers even greater losses, putin might escalate again in more dangerous ways that drag nato directly into the war. putin with his threats is define ing the limits of u.s. assistance to ukraine. but the u.s. and at least some countries won't be able to ignore ukraine, even if there's a frozen conflict. mr. zelenskyy will have to sell any agreement to the public who won't be eager to concede territory after thousands of innocents have been killed. now with russia on the defensive, is the time to keep the pressure on to truly achieve a strategic victory for ukraine and nato. so as someone who has been in these rooms about giving money to foreign countries to help them out, the biden administration would say we have given $2 billion worth of weapons including something like a billion and a half just in the last couple weeks that weapons

are flooding in despite the fact president zelenskyy is asking for more. is there something else? is there more that the biden administration, the congress should be doing here? >> first of all, i think it's luxurious for our nato allies and the united states to try to tell is zelenskyy what to do in regards to how he is handling the military operation in his own country. yes, we should be providing these weapons and let's get perspective here. we have given them $2 billion. their entire defense budget for the country of ukraine is only $6 billion. so we have really -- the west has really come to the assistance of ukraine in unprecedented ways. but i don't think we have the right to tell them whether they should just be on defense or offense. especially in light of the death and the tragedies that are occurring daily to the ukrainian people. but let me just say this about putin. i have to make this point.

this idea that putin double the know the war is going badly. you don't draft 135,000 people if the war is going well. he knows the war is going badly. that's not been hidden from him. he can see it as plain as the nose on his face. when you recruit mercenaries and draft 135,000 people, you are losing a war. >> the kremlin has said those conscripts won't be deployed but we can all take their word with a grain of salt. peter, i want get you in on this. there's a sense that the russians may be redeploying their forces and shifting tack ticks, but unless there's real surprising breakthrough in the peace talks, this could be with us for quite some time. the u.s. officials for a long, violent slog with russian forces.

they don't seem to be going anywhere. talk to us about the domestic political pressures president biden will face if that happens. we saw the strategic oil reserves. he tapped into those yesterday. if this continues to soar and doctorings on for weeks or months and months perhaps, how is that going to play for a president who has done his absolute best to hold this alliance together and also tell the americans to sacrifice at home. that gets harder if this goes on for a long time? >> it certainly does. it tests the patience of american voters and consumers. it tests the patients of the alliance the longer it goes on to know what can come between the united states and its european allies on this. that's something that vladimir putin is counting on. he banks on time beginning to erode that unity. but having said that, it's hard to see how this doesn't drag on for months. the shock and awe, the quick

victory that the russian military expected didn't apt had. one i one of the people close to the kremlin told my colleagues that they had expected the ukrainian military to basically fold. their plan assumed that 30 to 5% of the army would switch sides. that's a massive miscalculation. that means they are not prepared for the month-long slog that they see ahead of us. they may change that too. we should be cautious about anything we're told from the kremlin. it maybe that they change their strategy and focus on what think signal and maybe that we can set until for a long frozen conflict. they have already been fighting in ukraine in the east in a more limited way for eight years. that will be tough for president biden, for americans because the interest tends to wane. moral outrage tends to fade into concern for our own pocketbooks.

and that's a challenge for a president who is already low in the polls. >> for all the chaos and the military fill jury, those russian forces continue their attack on ukraine. officials say the past 24 hours russian troops have heavily bombed areas around the capital of kyiv and the northern city destroying several homes in the process. ukraine says its forces are pressing forward and making progress. troops destroyed a convoy of russian tanks yesterday and recaptured two villages. meanwhile, the russians declare they were handing over control of the chernobyl nuclear power plant back to the ukrainians more than a month after taking it. according to ukraine state power company, it comes after russian soldiers received, quote, significant doses of radiation from digging trenches in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. there's another attempt now to deliver much-needed relief to the people of mariupol this

morning. an aid convoy is trying to make its way into that besieged city after russia and ukraine agreed to a temporary cease-fire. dozens of red cross trucks were trying to get as close to the port city as possible. russian forces blocked an aid convoy yesterday. hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in that strategic port that is very low on food, water and medicine. nbc news national correspondent gabe gutierrez has the stories of some of the people who made it out of mariupol. >> reporter: this is the heart stopping drive out of southeastern ukraine as seen from the car. >> how hard was the journey? >> reporter: it was horrible, she says. the city is destroyed completely. these are more images from her neighborhood, now a ghosttown. this man who asked us not to show his face says he was with mariupol eastertorial defense.

his hand shattered by a russian grenade. >> do you think mariupol might eventually fall? he says the russians captured his father and hasn't heard from him in almost two weeks. here a humanitarian hub has sprung up in a mall. this organizer says it's already helped more than 2,000 refugees. >> when people are coming. >> reporter: she's been through it. she fled the donbas region after russia annexed crimea in 2014. >> i never saw my grandma again. she's died already. >> reporter: her brother was a young boy when they rushed out. the psychological toll it took still haupts her. >> he didn't talk for one year. so when i saw these children, i even couldn't recognize what would be their future with this generation. >> reporter: she came here two weeks ago from the donbas region with 14 family members. a printing company she built

from scratch was levelled. i don't know what to do, she says. here for so many, the future is uncertain, but they are holding on. >> i just believe that it will be victory for ukraine. >> gabe gutierrez reporting there. for those who made their way out of ukraine, josh letterman spoke to ukrainian refugees standing in line outside the u.s. embassy in warsaw. josh joins us now. good morning, josh. >> reporter: good morning. that announce the a week ago from president biden that the united states would take in up to 100,000 ukrainian refugees has given fresh hope to some of the more than 2 million ukraines who made their way here in poland that they could be among those who will be able to get into the united states. but the reality is the process is very complicated and very

long. for example, if you're trying to get a visitor visa to the u.s., you're here at the embassy in warsaw, your wait time to get an appointment is 125 calendar days. and the process is extremely complicated. am i supposed to apply for a visa that's for immigrants, nonimmigrants, wabt the refugee program? what about the parole program that the administration has been talking about? and i want you to hear from a woman who we met today who was standing in line along with her 78-year-old mother trying to figure out what they are going to do if they are going to be able to make their way to the united states when they have family. here's what she told me. >> so you have a green card. your mom does not. you need a visa for her. >> yes, long line. >> do you have an appointment? >> yes. i have appointment, but in may. >> they want you to wait another two months.

>> yeah. it's long time. it's very long time. >> reporter: now the state department tells me they are working right now to boost their capacity by adding more consular officers in these countries that are accepting the bulk of ukrainian refugees. they are also trying to either expand or develop new programs to facilitate the quick entry of ukraines who have family ties to u.s. citizens in the united states, but that's a work in progress. the state department saying they will have more to announce about how that's going to work in the coming weeks. obviously, that's coming too late for ukrainians who are here right now and don't know what to do. for those who are applying for visitor veto sass f they cannot prove they are going to be coming back to ukraine or to poland, that they have certain plans in place to leave the united states, those visas will be rejected. one u.s. official tells me those lining up outside the embassy hoping to get a visa are simply

rolling the dice. >> we know the united states is ready to absorb some of the refugees, but as you say, it's a difficult process. josh lederman this morning, thank you. julia, everything we're looking at here is the work of vladimir putin. the reason more than 4 million ukraines have been flushed out and fleeing their country is because of this invasion, because of this war that as we said has not gone the way vladimir putin planned it. but yet, the devastation is there. they are cutting off aid convoy into mariupol. they continue their assault on this country. so what's your sense of where it goes from here? if he's pulling back a little bit and focusing on the east, repositioning in the pentagon's term of what he's doing, what is the mind set? what does he want out of this since the trajectory of the war has changed? >> i think that's the million-dollar question. everybody wants to know how this ends and when this ends and

whether it ends soon or later. what i'm hearing from sources in both washington and moscow is that this is going to go on for a long time. one source said months, if not years. but again, nobody knows. what i'm worried about is what we're seeing out of moscow is a kind of retrenchment, and even those people in the elites who were really upset by the invasion, who were stunned by the sanctions, who were really unhappy with how things are going are now rallying around putin. the population seems to be rallying around putin in a closed dictatorship. and the country is kind of coming together and wanting vladimir putin to pursue this to the end. some of my sources in moscow are saying we hope the negotiations don't work. we hope they fail. we don't want a negotiated solution. we want to achieve our aims. we want to taip take kyiv.

we want to dismember ukraine and to fold the parts we take into russia. and i worry today marks the end of five weeks, the beginning of the sixth week of the invasion. that's not a lot of time. and given the wars that vladimir putin has waged in syria, i don't see any reason for hope that he will come out of this with a negotiated solution. i think the way he did in syria, i think he wants to pull back every inch of territory, even if there's no one on it anymore. so that's what i'm concerned about. >> hard to see him accepting any humiliation like he's suffering now. >> i also if i'm on the ukrainian side, i can't imagine them taking any kind of negotiated settlement with the russians because the russians

haven't kept their word ever in this. so how do you negotiate with a fundamentally untrustworthy and unreliable negotiating partner? how do you know that you agree to a cease-fire, you agree to let's say let go of some for toir in the east and south, how do you know it doesn't start again in another year or two years. so i think at this point neither side really has much incentive to end the war and come to a negotiated settlement. >> despite the peace talks, the bombs continue to fall. the russians are cutting off aid convoys. they are not letting food, water and medicine get into mariupol. then there are the economic repercussions of this war. president biden announced yesterday the release of 1 million barrels of oil a day from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve. that's the largest release from the national reserve in its history. >> our prices are rising because of putin's action.

there isn't enough supply. and the bottom line is if we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now. between ramping up production in the short-term and driving down demand in the long-term, we can free ourselves from our dependence on imported oil from across the world. look, i know gas prices are painful. i get it. my plan is going to help ease that pain today. i'm going to continue to use every tool at my disposal to prkt you from putin's price hike. >> so the president was pretty candid that he wasn't quite sure if americans would feel much relief or when that might happen. this is certainly an ongoing pressure point for him. so first of all, this reliance on oil is certainly very different than what he pledged to try to move off that. he's been pushing that agenda. what more can he do?

>> this is the urgent over the important. fighting climate change is important. it's important to the future of the planet. right now, we're faced with a situation in which we had to cut off russian oil. we need to isolate russia's oil from the world market to the extent possible. and so it's incumbent on the president to start releasing this oil from the strategic reserves. it's also politically a necessity because of inflation. because of the price of gas that people pay at the bump pump every day, the president has to be seen to be doing something to address this problem, even though he knows and economists know and everybody knows it takes some time. the effect might not be huge.

but people understand that the president he can't snap his fingers and magically reduce the price of gasoline. but they want the president to be trying his best to do something about the pain they are feeling. >> mike barnacle? >> well, you know, one of the things we do together still as a country is people lean against their car with the gas pump in their car and they watch the numbers float by on the gasoline machine. and we do it together. it's shocking the change in the cost of living that hits people just over the past month because of rising gas prices. and claire mccaskill, the democratic party is marching into the offer year elections coming up carrying that enormous burden. and i don't know when gas prices will come down, but you can see

it. i'm sure you have seen it now that you're a private citizen, you're not in the senate. you put gas in your car. you see the landscape trucks pull up and you see guys scratching their heads saying, oh, my god, i'm putting $70 worth of gas in. you see ordinary people shocked at the price. what can democrats do? they can't do anything that's going to lower gas prices tomorrow, but in the long-term, what can they do to alleviate the load that ordinary citizens are carrying and alleviate it at a time when they're going to get no help from a across the aisle? >> i think one thing they can do is start having hearings and try to do a better job explaining who is making all the money in this situation. and it's not just gas prices. it's also food. i was in the grocery store a few days ago. it is unbelievable how expenive

beef has gotten, milk, eggs, just the basics. and i do think the democrats are really in a bind here because everything is good in the economy except what people remember most. and that is what was their checkout total at the grocery store yesterday and what do they pay at the pump two days ago. that's what people remember. not that their wages have gone up because the increase in wages is being eaten by this inflationary spiral, and not that there are a lot more jobs, not that we have done so many things wel under the biden administration, what they remember is what's closest to them and that's these cost of everyday essentials. if the democrats don't begin to show where is this money going, why has beef all of a sudden gotten so much more expensive, somebody is making a boat load of money here the sooner the

senators and the congressmen show the more than people and fair it out, because in business agriculture right now, there's just a few companies that control almost everything. i think it's time to go hunting for some big game in had this inflationary spiral. >> gas is $4.23 a gallon and it's true. it rolls up into triple digits when you look at the meter on that pump. peter baker, great to have you on with us this morning. we'll see you soon. still ahead on "morning joe," the house chair say when is it comes to the economy, he's tired of republican hypocrisy. he joins us next to explain that and much more when "morning joe" comes right back. and much more when "morning joe" comes right back (johnny cash) ♪ i've traveled every road in this here land! ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ crossed the desert's bare, man. ♪

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at the united states capital. joining us is congressman jf ris, chairman of the democratic caucus. it's great to have you on the show. thank you for being with us. want to pick up on the conversation you may have been listening to before the break. we were talking about the challenge for democrats, which is to tell your voters, your constituents what you're doing for them despite the fact they are having trouble filling up their cars with gas or making it through the register at the grocery store. what do you say to swapt who is say i need some help here? >> it's important to understand that we understand that there are inflationary pressure, particularly related to food prices, increases in gas prices, exacerbated by putin's unjustified war in ukraine. it is really putin's price hike in terms of gas prices continuing to go in the wrong direction. and we understand that and we're working hard to address it.

but there's a foundation that has been laid for a strong economy. the economy was on the verge of collapse when president biden first took office the american rescue plan helped to turn that around. 7.4 million jobs created during president biden's first 14 months in office. that's a record in american presidential history, fastest rate of economic growth in 40 years. unemployment down to an incredible low of 3.8%. it was 6.4 when biden took office. all of that has been accomplished while reducing the deficit by more than $350 billion in president biden's first year. that's a foundation for us to continue to act. it also should provide some evidence that democrats will will continue to deliver and get things done for everyday americans while republicans continue to talk about it and then to nothing about it. >> so congressman, good morning. obviously, the price hike at the pump is at least in part due to

the war in ukraine. we're hearing more from president zelenskyy by the day, though grateful for the support the u.s. has supplied, he's asking for more. ukrainian officials have really built up a clamber saying they are about to run out of essential equipment that they need to continue to repel russian forces. so what more can the united states do, can the congress do in order to either slap sanctions on russia or most vitally, send more equipment, including antiaircraft missiles or jets to help the ukraines? >> we'll need to continue to ensure ukraine has everything to continue its courageous and heroic effort to push vladimir putin and the russian forces out of ukraine and to win this war. last year we provided approximately a billion dollars assistance. that was a record. this year we just authorized north of $13 billion in humanitarian, military and

economic aid. that is a phenomenal effort in terms of standing by the ukrainian people. we have to make sure they have the precise weapons that they need, stingers, anti-aircraft weapons, javelins, things that already been effective. access to the highest degree to have technology and to make sure that the intelligence communication is close and intimate, as it has been up to this date. >> has there been any discussion among the house and senate this terms of the committees at looking at the near month normal monopolies? i think if the american people understood there's a healthy all the of price gouging going on, you have a lot of investigative fire power. you're using a lot of it on 16, which we all support. but it's time to pull back the

curtain and show what is really going on. because the food supply is not as if this isn't import problem. we grow all of our own food in the united states. so has there been any thought to that? i think if the american people understood that some people are taking advantage of this situation, they would maybe be more forgiving on the democratic party. >> yes, thank you for that observation. there is serious consideration being given to the appropriate committees to engage in that conduct. some of them have already begun that process. the judiciary committee anden antitrust subcommittee under the leadership of chairman nadler have begun that process to discuss the price gouging that is occurring, particularly as it relates to food prices in the agricultural markets related to meat. you are exactly correct. there are people, big businesses

making an extraordinary amount of money. greed is driving a lot of what is occurring. and that is a story that should be told to the american people to help explain why we find ourselves in this situation that we are in right now. we also are going to continue to lower costs for everyday americans. yesterday we passed the affordable insulin now act, which will drop the average price of insulin from approximately $4,000 per year to $35 per month. and we're just getting started in terms of leaning in to lower health care costs, lower the high price of life-saving drugs, lower child care korks lower housing costs and lower education costs. we can't get any assistance from our republican colleagues because they are all about obstruction. but we are going to do the business of the people. >> chairman of the house democratic caucus representing the 8th district of of new york,

congressman jeffreys, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. coming up next this morning, vladimir putin makes a desperate ultimatum to save russia's tanking economy. it's a move one is calling blackmail. plus our next guest knows about russian intelligence. former cia officer will hurt joins us. that's next on "morning joe." joins us that's next on "morning joe.

the german government is accusing russia of blackmail over kremlin demands that foreign buyers pay for russian gas in rubles as the value of russia's currency dips due to sweeping western sanctions. vladimir putin issued a decree yesterday threatening to cut off

europe's fuel supply if moscow wasn't paid in rubles today. those demands rejeked by the top buyers of russian gas who say they will continue to pay for their energy in euros. earlier this week, four european countries said they were kicking out more than 40 russian officials over national security threats citing spying and influence operations as the reasons. most of the russian diplomats targeted were suspected to be sbelks officials. the move reportedly was part of a push to disrupt russian intelligence networks in europe and did not result from a specific threat. all of that according to people flr with the matter. joining us now former republican congressman from texas will hurd. he's author of "american reboot." congressman, good morning. it's great toof you. can't wait to dig into the book. i want to ask you about what's happening now. you write about that deade you

spent stealing secrets and recruiting spies. what do you reckon with what's happening right now in terms of vladimir putin's power and what's happening around him. you have these reports from the pentagon and media that he is increasingly isolated. that he's being lied to by his own commanders and adviser who is fear his reaction if he knows the truth about what's happening in ukraine. what do you make of that? is there more cy opts than actual information? >> it's great to be on with you and good to see you. vladimir putin is separated because he wants to be disconnected from these individuals. he's still getting reports and information and being briefed by had his senior folks throughout his national apparatus, but he's collecting information on his own. sometimes we forget that vladimir putin understands english. he's probably reading stuff in the western brass. is he being misinformed? ooum sure they are saying tomorrow we're going to do

better, but vladimir putin definitely knows things are going poorly. and that's why i think it's important now for the u.s. and the west to double down in our support to ukraine. because the ukrainians have momentum on their side. if we're able to do thing like provide them with the migs, it should have happened a long time ago. making sure ukrainians have everything they do in order to win this war. because the longer this conflict goes on, the more pressure you'll see on yaurp governments. if western europe is having the same problems we're seeing at the pump here in america, that's going to create tension and potentially cause friction within the western alliance. so that's why double down on the ukrainians. they have proven themselves. give them all the tools they need. >> it's a distinction about the

ukraines trying to win the war, rather than to not just lose it. let's talk of what next steps might be. there are some ongoings peace talks. no one is hopeful a breakthrough will be reached today. but you have studied this. if you had to hazard a guess, putin is not an easy thing to do, what would his strategy be for the war? and how can president zelenskyy sell any sort of negotiated deal here? >> so vladimir putin has the ability to continue to unleash death and destruction on ukraine. what he's done in mariupol, he can do in other cities in ukraine. you're going to see that continue to happen. this is the motive in the second war. it's the same you saw in syria. so you're going to see a continued death and destruction. what can we do? being connected to the national security space for two decades,

i wanted something simple. be nice with nice guys and tough with tough guys. make sure you're friends. and what does that mean in this case? when you look at the number of countries that are not participating and working with us and our western allies in the sanctions against russia, the number is vast. it's almost all of ra latin america, most of the middle east, most countries in asia. we need to make sure we're increasing our diplomacy with those folks to grow our posse that is trying to help ukraine. and then we also need to make sure we're giving all those weapons. i said that already, but vladimir putin is not afraid of our support to the ukrainians because we have shown we can do that. that's something that needs to change. >> congressman, let's turn to your book. it's called "american reboot." you opted not to run for reelection in 2020. you have stepped away from

washington for awhile after serving both in the cia and serving in congress. you have sort of given your diagnosis of what ails the country and offering some solutions. it's a very big question. but we do feel so divided right now. maybe the not as divided as it's portrayed from the loudest voices, but what is it going to take, in your estimation torks stitch this thing back together? >> i think it starts with recognizing way more unites us than divides us as americans. i represented a district that was the size of georgia. 29 counties, 2 time zones, 820 miles of border. i was a black republican representing a 71% latino district. when i crisscrossed that district, i hear most people care about putting food on the table, a roof over their head and making sure the people they love are healthy, happy and safe. when we focus on those issues, you get rewarded. that's why i continue to win when i was in congress and nobody thought i was going to be

able to win. part of the problem is we pander to the extremes of our party, not the middle. 72% of americans think that the country is on the wrong track. we don't have to continue the way we're currently operating. there's a different way to do that. that's one of the reasons i wrote the book "american reboot." the cia, the second lesson we learn is gt off the x. when something is going down, the last place you want to be is on the x. so we can do something different. and i hope that's what people get from the book. >> congressman, i'm excited to read the book because of nuggets like this one. you describe being a cia officer and doing a briefing for members of the house select committee on intelligence. and the members, some of them were talking about wanting to leave to go rug shopping. and there was a member who didn't understand basic sectarian differences in the

battlefield dynamics. so my question is, you probably left that briefing fairly unimpressed. were you more impressed with the caliber of your colleagues once you entered the house of representatives and their level of seriousness? >> even you bringing up that story, i still get pissed. it's one of the reasons why i left the job i loved in order to run for congress. my mom always said, you're either part of the problem or part of the solution. there were members that i got to work with that were wicked smart, wanted to help the country. both sides of the aisle, john katko from new york, a republican. pete aguilar from california. one of the things i was pretty shocked when i first got to gres was the warmth of the relationships between members. that has changed a lot even in my short period of time, but one of the things we need, we're going to start needing elected officials that understand the issues of the day.

you have technology issues, the technological explosion we're going to see in the next 50 years is going to make the last 50 years look like we were monkeys playing in the dirt with sticks. so many things we're going to have to deal with. cybersecurity issues. imagine if the chinese government has the ability to do deep fakes today. imagine how that would impact our elections and our news cycle and potentially our markets. so these are some of the issues that we have to be ready for right now. >> mike barnicle. >> congressman, your party, the republican party, has become unrecognizable to many people over the past four or five years. yesterday, az hakim jefferies just informed us, the house of representatives voted to cap the cost of insulin at $35. which is an enormous boost for people who need insulin. it attracted only 12 republican votes.

what is the deal here? is the republican party filled with people who don't need insulin who are enormously healthy? 12 votes, that's all they could muster. what's going on? >> look, with that specific piece of legislation, i can't give you any insights. i don't know if there's things in that that the majority of republicans thought were bad, if 12 voted for it, then i think it may not be the case. here is the issue. what i want to see is the republican party actually has an opportunity to grow in some of the largest growing groups of voters. 2022, republicans are going to take back the house. almost everybody believes that. potentially going to take back the senate. part of that is because of some of the problems and the incompetence of the democrat, party, but we need to take this as an opportunity to address issues like gas prices, like rising cost of medicine, taking care of our seniors, taking care

of our kids. when we have a vision and that's based on our values, that freedom leads to opportunity. opportunity leads to growth. and growth leads to progress. then we're going to be able to be successful for a long time. that's the republican party i want to see, and those are some of the things i talk about in the book. >> before i let you go, congressman, a lot of people looking to you in this sort of vision you have laid out and see what your next move is. do you think you'll get back into public service, running for office? >> i have been -- thanks for the question. i have been fortunate to serve my country in a number of different ways. from the back alleys of dangerous places overseas when i was in the cia to the halls of congress right here in washington, d.c. if i have an opportunity to serve my country again, i'll evaluate it, but right now i'm excited to be able to put some of these ideas out and tell stories from a career that i have been blessed and lucky to have. >> we'll check in with you in a few months on that. the new book is "american

reboot, an idealist guide to getting big things done." will hurd, thanks for being with us. >> still ahead, president biden has committed to welcoming more than 100,000 ukrainian refugees into the united states. but immigration lawyers say many are choosing to cross the border illegally in hopes of getting into the country faster. a look at what is standing in their way, next on "morning joe." should all underarms be the same? so, what is wrong with these? whether they're waxed. natural. unique. shaved. sensitive. all underarms deserve the best care. new dove ultimate antiperspirant. our unique water based formula and 6x more glycerin. helps restore skin to its best condition leaving you feeling confident all day.

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sorry, verizon. a lot of news still ahead on a busy friday morning. hundreds of syrian fighters reportedly are making their way to join russian forces in ukraine. we will talk to admiral james stavridis about that development. >> plus, stock futures on the rise this morning ahead of the march jobs report. we'll bring you those new numbers as soon as they cross. we're back on "morning joe" in

just 90 seconds.

it is april 1st, happy april, everybody. joe and mika have the morning off. with me, i have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, the host of way too early, and jonathan lemire, and former aide to the george w. bush white house and state departments, elise jordan. good morning to you all.

the russian government is denying claims by u.s. intelligence that vladimir putin is being misled about the russian military failures in ukraine. a spokesman for the kremlin said in a press conference yesterday, quote, neither the state department nor the pentagon have real information about what is happening in the kremlin. he also warned, quote, such a complete misunderstanding leads to erroneous and rash decisions that cause very bad consequences. meanwhile, one u.s. official telling nbc news, the united states government has intelligence indicating some senior russian officials likely disagreed with putin's decision to invade ukraine. we know that's true. the official said, quote, their disillusionment is probably amplified by the russian military's underperformance which includes many friendly fire casualties including shootdowns of russian aircraft by air defense. widescale mission launch failures and stiffer than expected resistance from the ukrainian people. inside ukraine, russian forces continue to launch attacks

around the capital city of kyiv, despite saying it planned to pull back from the area. this as ukrainian officials say russian soldiers have withdrawn from the chernobyl nuclear plant after being exposed to high doses of radiation. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engle begins our coverage from eastern ukraine. >> russia's military has suffered shocking setbacks in ukraine. some self-inflicted. ukraine's state nuclear company says two columns of russian troops left the chernobyl nuclear disaster site, still contaminated from the 1986 meltdown. the company said the russians are leaving after digging trenches in the contaminated soil and receiving significant doses of radiation. the russian military has said radiation levels have remained within a normal range in the area. but is putin even being told? a day after the white house said russian generals were afraid to give putin the truth about the war, president biden saying

this. >> how badly is vladimir putin being misinformed by advisers? >> that's an open question. he seems to be self-isolated. >> they say the united states has assessed some russian senior government officials likely disagreed with putin's decision to invade ukraine. despite promises to reduce attacked around kyiv, russia is already striking again near the capital, destroying this warehouse. ukraine's president zelenskyy, who spoke with president biden, says he needs more american help to defend his country including fighter jets and tanks. u.s. aid is essential for us, he said. while president putin is making new economic threats. saying unfriendly countries, which include europe and the united states, must pay for russian natural gas in rubles in russian banks or risk being cut off. >> nbc's richard engle reporting from ukraine. let's bring in columnist and

associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius, and former nato supreme allied commander, james stavridis, chief international security and diplomacy analyst for nbc news and msnbc. good morning to you both. admiral, want to get your take on this out of "the new york times," reporting russia is running its military campaign out of moscow with no central war commander on the ground in ukraine. analysts tell the times the lack of a unifying military leader in ukraine has meant russian air, ground, and sea troops are not insync. they have poor logistics, low morale, and 1600 military deaths so far. at least six generals have died so far. now they're turning to syrians to help turn the tide of the war. according to a western diplomat who spoke with the times, hundreds of syrian mercenaries are on their way to join putin's

army with some having already arrived in russia for training. two sources tell the times this is effectively seen as syria returning the favor to moscow for russian's help in crushing rebels. the times also writes, many more syrians could be on their way to ukraine with recruiters drawing up lists of thousands of candidates interested in becoming mercenaries. john kirby confirmed about 1,000 mercenariys, many of them syrian, are already in ukraine after being hired by private russian contractors. so admiral, take those two stories together, if you would. if there's no russian military commander on the ground, that explains a lot of the failures. but also the desperation of having to call on syrian mercenaries to back up russian troops. what do you make of that? >> it's campaign that is floundering and floundering badly. let's start with the generals. ia know, there are seven dead, maybe as many as eight or nine.

that's unheard of. in 20 years of war, the u.s. didn't lose a single general in actual combat operations. and you know, there may be seven in the ground as opposed to on the ground, so to speak, so that is problem number one. and you cannot run a big campaign like this without dedicated on the ground generals who know the feel of their troops and are capable of bringing that kind of jointness, air, sea, land, cyber, intelligence, bringing it all together. second point, you know, you get the feeling that the kremlin is turning a little bit into a game of thrones up there with factions going back and forth. and i think the administration is doing a very good job of fostering that, by trying to get kind of behind the mind of putin, if you will. and certainly, if you go for the king, you better kill him. and i think those around putin

know that. but that's problem number two, and third and finally, willie, very concerning, these syrians coming in. this is yet another dirty trick, if you will, out of putin. but these are going to be forces that are the ultimate undisciplined, looting, raping. it's going to be a very ugly part of the campaign. and all of it is inclined to terrorize the people of ukraine because their fighting spirit is the center of gravity. >> david, let me take up that point about the dissension in the ranks around vladimir putin. obviously, as the admiral said, the united states and the west has been putting out this information and we have got reporting from inside russia as well that says he's being lied to by his own advisers, by his own commanders for fear of the consequences of telling the truth of how badly things are going inside ukraine. what's your sense of how much of that is sort of psyops from the

pentagon and the american government versus truly what's happening inside, which is he is a man alone being lied to by his own advisers? >> well, it's a combination, i think. we have been hearing since january at least that there were many russians who were skeptical about what they saw as putin's plan to invade ukraine as the plans were being made, as the u.s. was beginning to discuss details. we heard reports of dissension from some front line commanders. there's obviously more of that. what we're seeing now, i think, is a new dimension in what you can only call the information war that the united states has been running toward russia, using what is really top secret intelligence. this must come from intercepted communications from russian commanders. and declassifying that and pushing it out in the public so

we're hearing about dissension, sabotage of equipment, complaints about poor morale. the effect of this, obviously, is first putin begins to doubt his generals. the one theme of this has been that putin's generals misrepresented how bad it would be. second, the generals themselves get furious because they're taking the rap for this campaign, and many feel they have been unable to get their views to the leader. putin has been isolated. and finally, and most important, to the extent this can get through to the russian people, they begin to wonder, does this war really make sense for us? are we -- as the bodies come home, and the bodies are coming home in the thousands, russians ask, is this a war that we're really comfortable with? >> hey, david. it's jonathan. want to stay with you on something on the point you just made. one more reason why the u.s. is putting intelligence in the

forefront, they want putin to be rattled. they have an asset close to him. we're hearing things, the u.s. is hearing things, and putin in particular ex-kgb officer himself, unnerved that perhaps the u.s. has someone in his backyard. even if perhaps all the information is not fully true. they want him to be guessing what we know or don't know is what the official said to me. i wanted to get your take, though, on this. as all this comes as a backdrop, we have another round of talks between ukraine and russia today. it's a virtual meeting. just a few days ago, there seemed like there had been a glimmer of progress coming out of the talks. both sides suggesting they might have found common ground. yet since then, russia pledged to de-escalate around kyiv and other cities has not come to pass. they have only stepped up bombardment there. what's your latest sense, does the u.s. have any faith whatsoever in these peace talks and what do they make of russia's current redeployment of

forces within ukraine? where are they targeting? >> so a couple things seem to be going on, jonathan. first, russians on the ground do appear to be moving towards bands they can hold, that might form the basis for future cease-fire lines. the kinds of things that you saw in the korean war that you see in the india/pakistan occasional conflict. lines of control between the two sides. so that consolidation of positions is something you often see in advance of peace talks. it's not surprising that even as peace talks are going on, there's more fighting on the ground. each side wants to consolidate its position being the strongest possible bargaining position. putin doesn't want to give this up without something he can call a win. talking in the last 24 hours with ukrainian diplomats, they don't want to give up what they feel is hallowed ground.

hallowed by the fighting and dying of brave ukrainians who in this month and really for the last eight years have been battling the russians. so for all the peace talks this week, i don't sense that we're quite at the point yet where either side is willing to give up on the ground, they're fighting for a peace they can sell to their publics, that they can describe as win. >> admiral, i believe we're a month in to this war so far. it's hard to believe because just every day is so horrific, and you see the images. and hope that it's going to end immediately. but we're a month in, and one of the surprising factors for putin, where believe, has been nato's unity. and how nato has actually come together to counter putin in a way that he probably didn't necessarily see coming. could you talk a bit about what

nato is doing now and how you see that evolving over the next couple weeks? as the former supreme commander, of course. >> indeed. well, first and foremost, you're absolutely correct, elise. the unity has been surprising even to, for example, a former supreme allied commander. it's really heartening. and it speaks to the way the west has come together in this particular instance. in terms of nato, i'll give you three quick things that are happening. one is moving troops forward to the borders of nato. saying to the russians, don't even thing about it. to quote the president from his speech. so real military power moving forward. number two, the alliance has become the forum in which these conversations about sanctions and oil and gas and how we stand together and holding on to the russian reserves, which has become crucial.

and then third and finally, the alliance without question has been central to supporting the ukrainians. and that means each of the individual nations are helping move weapons to the ukrainians. so nato is firing on all cylinders. and it is very heartening to see, and i think it's very disheartening for vladimir putin. >> yeah, mike, that's certainly true. and president biden and the west have turned the screws in terms of sanctions. it's true that the war is not going well for russia, but they do continue. we have new reporting just this morning they continue to bombard outside kyiv, a place they said they were going to pull back in the peace notions. another place they said they were going to get out being bombed. this assault continues, and as we talk about the failure of the russian military, it sure doesn't feel that way to ukrainians inside the country whose lives have been upended, whose cities have been leveled,

whose children have been forced into poland, 4 million people or more, says the u.n. this is despite the russian military failures. this is a complete devastation for the people of ukraine, which continues right now. >> willie, the russian playbook of war has never changed. at least not over the course of the last 20, 30 years or so. it's to destroy and terrorize. destroy whatever is in front of them, and terrorize any civilian population. and those two goals have clearly been met in the ukraine. it's going to be decades before that country is ever rebuilt and fully back up on its feet. and yet the war continues and will probably continue for too long a period of time. one more day is too long. but admiral, on that score, let me ask you, what if the russians pull together their forces in the east of ukraine, make a push, a successful push to capture odesa? what happens to the landscape of

war and diplomacy if that took place? >> well, you're asking an admiral so i'm going to give you a maritime answer, mike. and it's quite simple. it would strangle the economy of ukraine. and odesa is the principle port in and out of which flows the lifeblood of the nation's economy. it would be a very smart play on the part of the russians, and they have a flotilla in the black sea, not far from odesa. and it would be kind of like in the civil war, abraham lincoln created plan an acond yeah to choke off the south. it would be a smart move and a dangerous move. so i think the question is what should we be doing about it? and that is giving the ukrainians all the intelligence we can provide so they're prepared. giving them specific weapons systems that can go after ships who try and come in and conduct that amphibious assault, and

those are anti-ship weapons that could be put in place. and then finally, continuing to push on the rest of the combat scenario so that putin doesn't feel as though his forces have the latitude to conduct an attack like that. it's a point of real vulnerability, you're right to point it out. >> coming up, a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning, including what happened off stage after will smith hit chris rock at sunday night's oscars ceremony. the lapd was there, and we're told ready to make an arrest. those new details next on "morning joe." ♪("i've been everywhere" by johnny cash) ♪ ♪i've traveled every road in this here land!♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪of travel i've had my share, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere.♪ ♪♪

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the situation differently. like maybe hiring younger security guards. you gotta go. gotta go. >> pacino would have taken care of that. we're learning more about what happened in the moments after will smith slapped chris rock at the academy awards on sunday. according to oscars producer will packer, officers from the los angeles police department were on the scene sunday night and ready to arrest smith if rock decided to press charges. >> they were saying, you know, this is battery was the word they used in that moment. they said, we will go get him. we're prepared. we're prepared to get him now. you can press charges. we can arrest him. they were laying out the options. the lapd officers finish laying out what his options were. and they said, you know, would you like us to take any action? he said no. he said no.

>> chris rock declining to press charges. that's a tough call for a producer. have will smith arrested 15 minutes before he's about to get the best actor academy award. the house passed a bill that would cap the monthly cost of insulin at $35. the measure now heads to the senate and could be taken up in a matter of weeks if there is bipartisan agreement. if approved, the bill could significantly reduce out of pocket drug costs for patients with diabetes. it doesn't adequately address rising drug prices and warn it could raise premiums and make inflation worse. >> march madness spills into a new month with the final four wumen's tournament games taking place with three top seeds still remaining. number one overall south carolina plays louisville before stanford meets second seeded uconn. men's final four takes place tomorrow night. villanova takes on kansas and duke looks to extend coach k.'s final season against rival

number eight north carolina. severe weather swept across the south yesterday with dozens of tornadoes reported. let's go right to bill karins for more on that and a check on the forecast. hey, bill. >> hey, good morning to you, willie. and unfortunately, we did find out in the latest tornado outbreak did turn tedly with two fatalities in the panhandle of florida and washington county. when you see what'shomes, it's y didn't survive. you can't tell where the homes were located previously. a vehicle to the left and not much else. everything completely scattered. we had other numerous tornadoes reported too. a few in north carolina, one in pennsylvania, and also this one that did significant damage in chelsea, alabama. roof was knocked off. a lot of tree damage. there were no fatalities or injuries with that tornado. let's give you the summary from yesterday because we did have significant damage from the

winds in pennsylvania, each of these blue dots shows you the wind. no confirmed tornado there, just wind damage, and the month of march, i'm happy to say good-bye to it. we had 233 tornadoes reported in march. look at all the locations that had tornadoes. typically in a march, we have like 95, so we have potentially broken the record for the most tornadoes ever in the month of march. no tornadoes today. just a cold snowy weather pattern in the ohio valley. watch out for snow squalls driving through ohio, pennsylvania, and western new york today. kind of a similar setup to where we had snow squalls about four, five days ago with horrific accidents. we'll see a brief period of very heavy snow and white out conditions after driving on highways that will have nothing. just be prepared for that driving through the area today. the rest of the south, today is your cleanup day. the sun is out from new orleans to atlanta. as far as the first weekend in april, kind of quiet conditions. chicago not the best with a

little rain and snow showers. only in the 40s. no severe weather for our first april weekend. >> we will take that and let's hope we fully turn the corner, no more of these 20 degree days we had this week. bill, thanks so much. >> coming up, former president trump's son-in-law spends six hours talking to the select committee investigating the attack on the united states capitol. what we know about his testimony next on "morning joe." ♪("i've been everywhere" by johnny cash) ♪ ♪i've traveled every road in this here land!♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪of travel i've had my share, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere.♪ ♪♪ ♪simply irresistible♪ ♪ ♪ ♪simply irresistible♪ applebee's irresist-a-bowls are back. now starting at $8.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

jared kushner, former president trump's son-in-law, then senior adviserer met with the january 6th select committee for more than six hours yesterday. kushner is the first family member and highest ranking trump administration official to speak with the committee so far. an nbc news source described him as cooperative and friendly, saying he did the talking

instead of his lawyer. he voluntarily agreed to appear before the panel and at least one member of the committee said the interview provided much needed insight. >> what i'll say is that, you know, we were able to ask for his impression about these third party accounts of the events that happened that day and around that day. so he was able to voluntarily provide information to us, to verify, substantiate, provide his own take on the different reporting. it was really valuable for us to have the opportunity to speak to him. >> jonathan lemire, you have written an entire book about january 6th, the days before and after and the attempt to steal the 2020 election away. what does this committee specifically, do you think, want to know from jared kushner? sounds like he was cooperative. that was nice, but what exactly can he offer? >> that book out july 26th, i should add. friendly, cooperative, voluntary. those are not words that we're used to hearing about trump officials meeting with the january 6th committee, at least

senior ones. it should be noted, though, that kushner himself wasn't in the white house on january 6th. he wasn't at that rally. he was traveling back from saudi arabia. he had been in the middle east on business there, official business there. and was not present for any of this. so there is limited insight to what he can talk about in terms of what he witnessed that day, although of course, his wife, ivanka trump, we know, was in the oval office repeatedly, trying to get the then-president to put out tweets or something to get the crowd to calm down at the capitol. certainly, kushner could speak to other efforts. even though he after the election was not as involved as other senior officials with the evidence to challenge the results in an attempt to overturn the results, he had piv lted to the abraham accords, but he was there for some of that. that would be of interest to the committee. the president's mindset in the weeks, that would be of interest to the committee. more than that, i think we should note this as another first page of a new chapter in

the investigation, where they really are zeroing in on thinner circle of the trump orbit, in terms of officials and family. i don't know they'll get a degree of cooperation from others, but this comes in a moment where the committee is broadening its probe, including to the rally before the insurrection, the one at thelipse, where so many of the other trump family members were in attendance. so that's going to be an area of real focus here for the committee going forward. >> yeah, and the committee certainly getting a lot of what it needs, including all of the documents. before he refused to testify from the white house, mark meadows. republican madison cawthorn claimed during a podcast interview last week he had been invited to sex parties by some of his older colleagues and then he said watched at least one fellow lawmaker use cocaine. he was quickly criticized by fellow republicans including house minority leader kevin mccarthy. a source tells nbc the 26-year-old congressman failed to provide any evidence to back those allegations.

in an interview with axios, mccarthy said cawthorn admitted his claims were exaggerated. let's bring in pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson. are you happy i brought you in to comment on that story? >> absolutely, willie. >> some of the details of your days in washington aside, but i want to get to your piece which is titled, that's no party. that's the republican hot mess. you write in part, at this point, the republican party really ought to change its name. it's not a coherent political party anymore. to comply with truth and advertising standards, it should call itself the republican hot mess. and yes, this is an election year, and the hot mess could take control of one or even both houses of congress at a time of overlapping crises at home and abroad. that is a gamble the nation should not take. and an outcome democrats and independents must do everything in their power to prevent. gene, elaborate a little bit on

this. this is something joe talks about all the time, the republican party ceased to be the republican party some time around five or six years ago when a lot of it, anyway, just became the trump party. >> exactly. this is just your periodic reminder the republican party is no longer a functioning political party as we once thought of it. it has no legislative program. mitch mcconnell in fact says we're not going to put forward a legislative program before the midterms because i don't know, i guess people might not like what they plan to do or more likely they can't decide what they plan to do. their program, their platform, as you recall in the last election was, whatever trump says. we'll just do whatever trump says. and that's still roiling what used to be the grand old party. it is still the trump cult.

that's where the base is. and members of congress are all over the map. and then in the house, you have this loony bin caucus of madison cawthorn and marjorie taylor greene and lauren boebert and paul gosar and others who are determined to make life as miserable as possible for kevin mccarthy, who as we all know, desperately wants to be speaker. >> eugene, elise here. hard not to just laugh a little bit because this is so ridiculous. and i'm asking you this question. why do you think kevin mccarthy reacted so viscerally to the accusation of orgies and cocaine when other members, you know, flirt with white nationalism, are at a white nationalist rally, do these blatantly racist things. what was it about orgies and drugs that really drew a line?

>> well, clearly, that was seen by mccarthy and by the rest of his caucus, by the way, which had a fairly raucous meeting to talk about cawthorn's statement, that was seen as worse actually than going to a white nationalist rally, which is like, okay, you know, you being you. go to the white nationalist rally. the rest of the party said, well, we wouldn't kind of do that, but they did it. and you know, look, the members of congress, the republicans that democrats kicked off their committees like marjorie taylor greene and paul gosar, kevin mccarthy says they'll have their committee assignments back. they'll be back on committees if republicans take control. so none of that stuff is all that bad, according to today's republicans. but sex and drugs, that's

another story. >> coming up, some breaking news on the economy. the march jobs report just crossing. and we'll break down the new numbers next on "morning joe." as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchemel— cut. liberty biberty— cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for whatchya... line? need. action. cut. you can't say that. [phone rings] sorry. is this where they're gonna put the statue of liberty? liberty... are we married to mutual? cut. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

some breaking news just in to us. the march jobs report is out, and it shows the u.s. economy added 431,000 jobs last month. that's down from a very strong february, which you'll remember, nearly 700,000 jobs were added. the unemployment rate in march fell to 3.6%. let's bring in cnbc's dom chu and stephanie ruhle. break these down for us a little bit. looks like 90% of the jobs lost during the pandemic have returned. and that unemployment rate of 3.6% is right around slightly

higher but right around where we were pre-pandemic. what do you see in these new numbers? >> the new numbers, you mentioned the headlines. so the 431,000 represents, i want to say by my calculations, the 12th straight month we have seen at least 400,000 jobs in the mix overall. revisions were important. we got a big revision from last month, 678,000 jobs created. you mentioned before, willie, has been bumped up to 750,000. a strong revisions number there. also, when it comes to the overall picture for where we're adding jobs, if you are an accentuate the positive person, look construction. it gains 19,000 jobs. it may not seem like a lot, but with these 19,000 jobs, construction employment in america is now back to where it was pre-pandemic in february of 2020. if you are more of a glass empty, half empty kind of person, check out leisure and hospitality because despite the fact it gained 112,000 jobs,

still the leading sector in the u.s. economy adding work, it's still 1.5 million jobs below where it was in february of 2020 pre-pandemic. professional business services at 102,000. retail added 49,000. the other numbers you want to pay attention to, more than the headline jobs and unemployment rate, especially in this environment, guys, is going to be the labor and wages numbers. because it is adding to that inflation story that we have been dealing with for months now at this point. average hourly earnings on a month over month basis gained .4%. what that translates into it is a 5.6% gain year over year. that's roughly in line with expectations and continues to re-enforce that narrative that wage gains are growing in america. now, what this does not do, any of these numbers, is change the calculus for the federal reserve bank of america, which is basically in the may meeting going to likely raise interest rates by another 50 basis points

on top of what it already has done, so this is going to be the big picture. i would also add, willie, the labor force participation rate, which a lot of folks like to look at as a measure of whether or not people are entering the work force again, it ticked higher. 62.4% is where it is now. it was 62.3%, and the reason why that number is important is because it is now just one percentage point below labor force participation in america just a one percentage point below where it was in february of 2020, pre-pandemic, so just this idea that america is pretty much back to where it was without covid is a good sign for a lot of folks out there. >> yeah, this economy over two years fighting its way back, steph. if you look inside the numbers, we're still at near record job opening and near record job quits. people who voluntarily left their jobs. what do you see in this report this morn sng. >> i say if you have a teenager at home that's claiming they can't find a summer job, tell them they are liars because those jobs are out there.

people are still spending. and while domsaid leisure and hospitality is leading, you're not seeing as many hires there. we'll see more going forward. wage growth is somewhat of an issue. it is a strong story, but given the inflationary environment, people are still struggling because the jobs where you're seeing wages go up most are higher wage jobs. if you're higher wage to begin with, you can afford to spend more at the grocery store or at the gas station and people in lower wage jobs can't and that's where the real struggle is. >> it sounds like that's a personal story about you, a teenager, and the jersey shore this summer. we'll leave that to -- >> they're everywhere. >> so jonathan, as you look at these numbers on the one hand, the white house will say 3.6% unemployment. we're adding jobs again, creeping back to where we were before the pandemic. but this question of inflation hovers over everything. >> there's no question about that, willie. we're going to hear from the

president in a couple hours. he's made it customary to speak a few hours after the jobs report. and i think they will be certainly accentuating the good news. within 1% of the february 2020 market so that's an impressive recovery, if not all the way there yet. and certainly there are some industries still worrying. dom, to willy's point, obviously the president is laser focused on the war in ukraine, but there are ripple effects. we know gas prices are up, inflation remains a real concern for the white house and democrats going into the midterms, not that many months from now. what's the latest on that front? are we going to see any sign of cooling off? what are the experts predict sng. >> here's the interesting part about that. the gasoline and food narrative has become front and center for a lot of folks, and specifically it's interesting because gasoline prices are now pretty much the lightning rod when it comes to inflation in america, even though many of us don't actually use fuel for it, but

many of us actually all of us do eat. so on the gasoline side of things, when you have the biden administration coming out and announcing basically what is an unprecedented release from the u.s. american strategic petroleum reserve of a million barrels a day to try to alleviate prices, that's going to be one of the things a lot of folks will latch onto. if you're a driver like i am, i fill up once to twice a week because of my commute, you have seen fuel prices tick lower. it's not by any means where it was last year, but if you look over the last two to three weeks, fuel prices at the pump have been coming down. it's going to be very interesting whether or not president biden during his remarks talks a little more about whether or not that fuel bill is going to be a key. only because it is at the cross section, the cross roads between not just demand here in america, the economy growing, but also because of the conflict and war in ukraine and russia. if that is going to be something that can be resolved anytime

soon, you could see those energy prices markedly fall. until then, that's going to be the key. the administration, it basically has to toe this line about knowing that the american economy remains on track in recovery and the employment picture remains strong, but that it's going to be up to vladimir putin and volodymyr zelenskyy in russia and ukraine respectively to get the situation resolved and that may lower prices for things like wheat and gasoline. >> stephanie, there's a problem here, though. let's say. wage growth is up, is at about 5.6%, and then inflation, 7.9%. gasoline spiked. this affects lower income workers. you hear employers all over the country complaining they still cannot staff up. what is it going to take for these -- for the wage growth to match inflation? >> you are seeing wage growth go up, but think about all of the inflationary pressures. you have the war in ukraine

that's impacting gas prices, supply chain, and everything else. so we're in a really difficult position. and while the white house is doing something, dom just mentioned it, unprecedented, the amount of oil reserves that are being released, but here's the problem with that, a million barrels barrels a day, huge, but we already consume 20 million every day, and we haven't even hit summer when we drive more. the president said yesterday, well, we don't control it, but maybe prices will go down 10 cents, 35 cents. even if we get 35 cents, we're well over a dollar higher than last year, so from a political perspective, the biden administration could get a lot of credit for the effort they're putting forth, but they might not get the results. how many americans are really saying this is putin's gas price? in the same polls where we see people saying, yes, i'm willing to pay more because of the war, those same exact people are saying inflation is their biggest issue. >> yeah. that's not going to last. >> stephanie ruhle, smart

analysis and some tough love for america's teenagers this morning. thanks so much, steph. >> always. >> we'll be watching on the 11th hour, 11:00 p.m. eastern weeknights on msnbc. dom chu, thank you very much as well. coming up, a big weekend for college basketball. we'll go live to new orleans, the site of the men's final four where duke and north carolina, archrivals, will meet for the first time ever in the ncaa tournament. and coming up this weekend on sunday today, my conversation with the multitalented four-time grammy and oscar-winning musician, h.e.r. she is nominated for eight grammys at sunday night's awards, continuing her rise from child prodigy to music superstar. my conversation with her plus all the day's latest news on "sound today" this weekend on nbc. back on "morning joe" in just a moment.

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we are down to the final four in the men's and women's ncaa basketball tournaments. the women tip off tonight with two great matchups in minneapolis, and then tomorrow, the men take the court in new orleans. that is where we find nbc news correspondent morgan chesky. morgan, good to see you. duke/north carolina in the final four. my gosh. >> reporter: it will be a heck of a weekend. the superdome says it all -- the road ends here. after a tournament that really exceeded expectations, we had the bracket busters, the emotional wins, the cinderella stories, right? what a story for the st. peter's peacocks. but we're down to the final four college blue bloods. my dald's jayhawks taking on villanova, unc and the duke blue devils in what could potentially be, potentially, coach k.'s final game. final four weekend is finally here with one of basketball's

biggest rivalries taking center court. duke playing for its sixth national title. >> in for the big finish! >> reporter: but standing in their way, longtime rivals the north carolina tar heels. >> for the first time ever matching up in the final four is historic. it's never happened before. >> reporter: and to add more drama to the high-stakes matchup, the blue devils will try to extend retiring coach k.'s career one more game. >> you can't go into the final four just thinking rivalry, payback, or any of those things. you've got to go in -- we want to win a championship. >> reporter: the kansas jayhawks are the last one-seed left in this big dance. but they'll need a victory over villanova to make it to the national championship game. >> now that we're at this moment, we have to use everything we have. >> reporter: the wildcats hoping to upset the jayhawks for their third ncaa title in just six

years. >> we're expecting a tough, physical battle for 40 minutes. >> everybody getting a piece of the action. >> reporter: in the women's tournament, the remaining teams are no strangers to the final four. south carolina's favored to win it all. but they'll have to get past a tough louisville team first. >> we hope to make everybody proud by putting on a competitive game and e, an exciting game because that's, you know, what our fans deserve. >> reporter: and a powerhouse uconn lineup will square off against the defending champs, stanford. >> the first 15th seed to the elite eight! >> reporter: after a historic cinderella run in this year's tournament -- >> dreams do come true. >> reporter: -- st. peter's breakout coach returning home to seton hall as its new head coach. he played there as a point guard in college. >> i wouldn't be up here if it wasn't for those 15 young men. stand up. get up! >> reporter: bringing his standout team to the big

announcement. lots of great basketball to look forward to this weekend. of all the stats that are floating around ahead of the tournament, final four, willie, consider this -- under the coach k. era, duke and unc will be playing for their 100th time. as of right now, duke 50 wins, unc 49. either way, it's going to be a heck of a game come saturday night. willie? >> it's amazing for those fans to get that kind of a game with the stakes that high. morgan chesky, can't wait to see it. enjoy it in new orleans. thanks so much. onathan le mere, your picks. >> women's take south carolina and i always take new england schools so uconn. i'll seiyu continue emerges as champions again. on the men's side, give me villanova and i have a few rules in life, willie, one, never pick duke. go, unc. >> i'm going uconn.

i love the uconn women's team. they've been so fun to watch this year. they're local. i'm biased. my daughter and i have been to some games. going uconn and gino. and i'm going duke. i think they do it for coach k. he walks off into the sunset as national champion. with my head, not my heart. monday, an extended four hours of "morning joe." we'll spend the weekend watching basketball and resting up. chris jansing picks up the coverage. good morning. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york. it is friday, april 1st. we start with a possible shift in momentum on the battlefield. the ukrainian military going on the offensive, recapturing towns previously held by russian forces. there is even a report that ukraine has now struck inside russia. a russian official claiming ukrainian military helicopters hit this fuel