10:00 a.m. eastern for another jam packed edition of "the cross connection," now sitting in is corey kaufman, who used to be here in d.c. >> as soon as i saw the program, it brought the feels back from d.c., and i'm sure the weather is just as spectacular as new york. >> beautiful. cherry blossom season. thanks, corey. and a good day to you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports," i'm corey kaufman, we begin with breaking news, a fallout from the deadly attack on a train station, new images of the moment of the attack, as you might expect, this video is difficult to watch. some viewers will find it disturbing. also new at this hour, we are hearing from survivors describing fear and panic as people ran into the terminal to escape the shelling.

>> translator: i remember a really loud noise, and there was something landing, shells or rockets. everybody hit the ground. that's all. a nightmare. everything starts to burn. everyone was panicking. >> translator: it was terrifying, the horror, the horror. heaven forbid to live through this again, no, i don't want to. >> ukrainian officials say at least 50 people were killed and more than a hundred wounded in that attack. russia continues to deny responsibility but claims its military attacked an air base in central ukraine destroying a ukrainian air force mig 29 fighter. an mia helicopter, and ammunition depot. nbc news has not been able to verify the claims or where this video was taken. also breaking at this hour, the ukrainian governor putting out this photo of british prime minister boris johnson in a face-to-face meeting with volodymyr zelenskyy in kyiv.

they say that meeting took place today, and a new pledge today for the european union as the chancellor of austria also visited zelenskyy in kyiv. the eu is pledging 1 billion euros to support ukraine and other countries taking in refugees. the search for body intensified in the city of borodyanka, describing the scene as worse that bucha, and provides further evidence that war crimes had been committed and also asked about war crimes in an interview with 60 minutes. >> translator: the ukrainian security service has intercepted communications, he told us. there are russian soldiers talking to their about what they stole and who they abducted. there are records of russian prisoners of war who admitted to killing people. there are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. >> we have a panel of reporters and analysts joining us today to go over today's major

developments. we want to begin with that deadly missile attack. here's nbc's molly hunter. >> reporter: now, it wasn't just a train station. it was also a meeting point for civilians fleeing the violence of the east, trying to get to the safety of the west. now, the regional government this morning is telling civilians their window to evacuate the donbas region is rapidly closing, and this morning, trains out of that station are suspended and that means there are fewer ways out. >> outrage from president zelenskyy as the civilian death toll continues to climb. he says this is an evil without limits and if not punished, it would never stop. 52 people, including five children were killed on the train station. there were thousands of civilians waiting right there, and the russians knew it. the calculated target, one of the main exit points a gateway to safety. there are children lying there, this woman says, and a few feet away, the remains of the rocket.

u.s. intelligence official says they believe it was a short range ballistic missile fired by russia. >> it is again of a piece of the russian brutality in the prosecution of this war. >> suit cases left behind, strollers, anything people grabbed on their way out. this man still in shock said he pulled the body of his dead grandmother out of their car. kramatorsk is in the region putin claims he wants to liberate. instead he's trapping them, preventing anyone from leaving. in bucha on the outskirts of kyiv, body bags, mass grave exhumed, carefully documented as another apparent war crime. >> president putin is a war criminal of the 21st century. he's responsible for all of this, what is going on now in ukraine. >> reporter: in the shadow of the church, officials telling nbc news, all of these people civilians so far. and all of them died a violent death. the head of the eu, ursula

vander -- van der high visited the site. >> we've seen the cruel face of putin army. >> reporter: president search says it will be worse elsewhere. in there are more victims of russian occupiers. on the battlefield, the attention turned to the east, the regional governor warning there's no secret, the battle for donbas will be decisive, we have already experienced all of this horror, it can multiply. the u.s. says russia was behind the attack, russia has denied responsibility. the regional government in the area is taking precautions at train stations, trying to avoid huge crowds from gathering because russia is quite clearly targeting big groups of civilians. i'll send it back to you. >> molly hunt e thank you, now

to poland, and new today, the european commission, pledging 1 billion euros, and countries receiving refugees, this after a fundraising event in warsaw, poland, which has seen millions of refugees pouring in, including mothers. dasha burns is in warsaw, poland, preparing for motherhood, already stressful, let alone trying to survive a war. how are these new moms dealing with all of this. >> reporter: nine months ago, these women could not have imagined they would flee their country while pregnant and give birth in a polish hospital. as new life emerges, even amid the war, hope is born. if you want to find joy in a hospital, head to the maternity ward where even in war, there are signs of hope. this is solomia, just 4 days

old. >> translator: it was really scary, but it went smoothly. >> reporter: scary because her mother never expected to give birth in a warsaw hospital. >> translator: when we came here to poland, i was hoping we would go back to ukraine before i give birth. >> translator: more than 600 ukrainian babies have been born in poland since the war began. when will be the name. >> emelia. >> reporter: emelia will be her first child. i know it's scary, but are you excited? are you hopeful? >> translator: of course. i'm a mom. i look forward to it and hope it will go well. >> reporter: and she hopes emelia's father will see her soon. right now he may be far away, but he keeps his phone close. what's the first thing you will do when you see your wife and new baby again?

. this doctor says nearly every day a ukrainian baby is born in warsaw. >> what you do here is you bring life into the world. how important is that now when we're seeing so much death and so much darkness. >> the happiness you get when these women deliver, at least for a couple of minutes, a couple of hours, they get the pictures, they send them over to their loved ones back home, i think this is, you know, counter effect of what's happening there. >> reporter: a little bit of light in the dark. >> yeah, salary. >> reporter: irina, is seeing that light in her little girl. what do you see when you look at her? >> a new generation of life. >> reporter: this is happiness, she tells me. this is the essence of our lives, born into war, her mother hopes she will be our future. the name, solomia, simply means peace. >> reporter: and some much needed good news today, at 1:00 a.m. local time, darina who

was pregnant there gave birth to baby emelia, 7 pounds, 7 ounces, both mom and baby are happy and healthy and hopes that she will be able to soon see emelia's father. she wants to make sure she has the freedom to choose to be whoever she wants to be. >> that freedom of choice is what is at stake right now. dasha burns, thank you for that incredible reporting. we also know there are surrogate mothers out there whose parents didn't imagine their babies were going to be born into this sort of situation, and they don't know when they're going to see their babies as well. we're thinking of all of them during this situation. dasha, thank you. s european union adopting fresh sanctions, including ban on coal imports as pressure goes for the eu to cut off russia's oil and natural gas. in an exclusive interview, nato secretary general jens

stoltenberg discussed the prospect of sanctions on russia's energy sector. >> i welcome the discussion which is going onward in the eu, also step up sanctions. >> but it's counter intuitive, no? i mean, at the end of the day, if you're going to spend all of this money funding ukraine's war machine and at the same time, the eu is funding to the tune of a billion dollars a day, president putin's ability to wage war doesn't make any sense? >> in nato, we are 30 ally, and some allies have imposed very heavy sanctions related to energy. others are much more dependent on russian energy and therefore for them it has been more difficult. also european allies, european union, imposing more severe sanctions related to energy because we all see the need to impose maximum pressure on

russia. >> joining me now is cnbc anchor, hadley gamble, thank you so much for asking the question so many people are thinking. as you pointed out frankly the hypocrisy how nato is promising to spend money on ukraine but the eu are is spend ago billion dollars a day on russian oil and gas. is that funding the war for russia? is that the direct line here. >> absolutely. at the end of the day, you have to think of the revenues vladimir putin is able to bring in off the back of his natural resources. this is something he concentrated on in the last two decades, trying to milk the natural resources that the russian economy is able to bring to the global market, he did this not just oil and gas, but goal. you mentioned that the eu has decided to ban russian coal. that was an incredibly difficult decision for them because amidst the noise surrounding their ability to wean themselves off russian oil and gas, they have had to lean heavily on coal

imports as well as the problem of course with each of these different eu member states have very different agendas when it comes to clean energy initiatives, right, because we've got the germans heavily dependent on russian sources of energy as well as coal. when you talk about how much coal they import, 45% of their coal imports come from russia. even though it seems not like a lot, it is a significant amount for them, and when i spoke actually with ukrainian foreign minister after the nato meetings, he essentially said this was a really hard step for them. we're going to continue to push them off oil and gas, that may be a bridge too far. they're still spending as i mentioned, a billion dollars a day on russian energy. where does that go, directly to vladimir putin's war machine. >> this through line being an issue, and not only going to the war machine but countries taking that into account for how they will move forward with trying

to, you know, free these innocent people of this attack from russia. if a coal ban happens, it's estimated that russia would lose about $8 billion a year on this. so the problem is that despite the massive number, it wouldn't go into full effect until august. how does this help right now, if at all? >> in terms of the numbers specifically, what you have is russia knows that the european nations are heavily dependent on energy. they know inevitably whether they wean themselves off russian energy, it's not going to be another six months to a year. if you take a step back, and think about this with oil specifically, i have been covering opec markets for years. opec plus, russia is amember. already opec nations are struggling with their production in terms of meeting the quotas that they set for every month in terms of how many barrels they are able to put on the market. last week of course we saw the big move by the united states in

terms of strategic petroleum release. 180 million barrels promised to the market. that's essentially giving the u.s. economy a million barrels per day. at the end of the day, this is a country that requires 20 million barrels per day, in terms of energy needs. this is going to continue to be a tight market. energy markets have a huge impact on inflation. we're talking about commodity prices as well. i want to mention that when it comes to wheat prices we're seeing white prices up as much as 20% in march. that's of course a direct result of the fact that they weren't able to export through the black sea, the usual route to global markets and we're talking about a situation in which a knock on effect is happening, not just to european nations but right here in the middle east as well. i have to tell you, when i speak to regional leaders they're saying this could lead to social inrest, further home grown

terrorism. these people are worried. >> could this turn into a global crisis when it comes to the availability of wheat and other products people are hurting for right now because of what's happening. >> of course in the short to medium term. this is what we're talking about, something that's really interesting. when you at what's happening in the stock market, there's a huge disconnect as so often is the case between the market and the real economy, and talking about inflation, we're talking about the prospect of what could happen next in terms of commodities, that's something that's frightening to people. we're talking about the highest level ever and i'm looking at the numbers, and it's essentially a third more than this time last year, and that's just wheat. >> hadley gamble, i had so many more questions for you, including the rise of the ruble approaching a two-month high. we have run out of time so i'm going to have to have you back on to ask you what you make of that and other economic issues we're facing. cnbc's hadley gamble, thank you. when the story about a plot to kidnap the michigan governor and blow up a bridge, it of course seemed alarming,

unsettling, elaborately planned, almost like it was fake. for that reason, what happened in a michigan courtroom might shock you. all those details coming up next. ock you. all those details coming up next safe driving saves you 40% with drivewise. ♪ ♪ click or call for a quote today. what happens when performance... meets power? you try crazy things... ...because you're crazy... ...and you like it. you get bigger... ...badder... ...faster. ♪ you can never have too much of a good thing... and power is a very good thing. ♪

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. today, two of the men accused of planning to kidnap michigan's governor are now free. the jury acquitted two of the four defendants and could not reach a verdict on the others. it's a setback for the fbi which used under cover officers. here's justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: prosecutors called it a plot born of rage to kidnap governor gretchen whitmer. after 4 1/2 days of deliberating, a federal court jury came back with not a single conviction. adam fox, barry kroft jr., brandon kaserta, and brandon harris, were accused of targeting the governor because of her covid restrictionings. the jury found kaserta and

harris not guilty. jurors were deadlocked in the charges against fox kroft. they planned to kidnap from her summer home. they practiced using weapons, and practiced surveillance of the governor's home to prepare but defense lawyers said the four were just big talkers, sometimes fueled by drug abuse who were spurred on by no fewer than 12 under cover agents and informants. >> pushing the conspiracy that just never was, never was, never was going to be. our governor was never in any danger, and i think the jury, even though they didn't get all of it, they smelled enough of it. >> the verdict was a big blow to the use of informant, but not a total shut out. two other men earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. governor whitmer's office said the plot to kidnap her was the

result of violent political rhetoric that has become all too common. >> pete williams reporting for us. and let's bring in katie phang, host of "the katie phang show," which premiered this morning on msnbc. katie, good afternoon. this kidnapping plot, one of the highest profile, domestic terrorism cases in years, what kind of a blow is this acquittal to the department of justice, and why was it so difficult in this case to convict? >> you know, it's obviously a loss and a pretty big l that the prosecution took. cory, when you're a federal prosecutor, you usually have the power of the largest law firm behind you, the federal government. there were 12 undercover agents and informans that were involved in the investigation. the reason why it's a huge loss for the government is what we call jury nullification. there was enough evidence here as a matter of law to convict these defendants. the thing that was most compelling about the

government's case is the fact that you had two flip co-defendants that were willing and did testify to the nature and substance of the plants to kidnap and put on trial governor whitmer. the reality is you're only as good as the jury you pick, and the cases are won and lost on jury selection. when you have a jury that is made up ostensibly of the peers of the defendant, and they happen to be sympathetic to what is going on, they happen to have the same opinion on the theories of the coronavirus, the mandates, et cetera, then you're going to have something called jury nullification. they're going to sit in judgment, and say the governor proved his case, and i'm not going to convict. this is not the only plot i am sure has been brewing, and that has been uncovered by the federal government, and so you don't want to have a chilling effect in terms of future prosecutions. >> what can be done, what steps can be taken moving forward, are

there prospects for a retrial here? >> yeah, so we heard that the federal prosecutors are going to go after those remaining two defendants that were the result of a hung jury. the court entered a mistrial because the jury failed to come to a unanimous verdict when it comes to the defendants. i'm not totally optimistic, but again, like i said, maybe they pick a different jury. maybe the jury will follow the law. at the end of the day, though, the federal government can't change what they do. you're not going to stop using informants, you're not going to stop using undercover agents because you get a loss in a particular case. it's high profile. gretchen whitmer is already in the news for various reasons, including the fact that she just sued local abortion providers in michigan to be able to stop, perhaps, a result from the supreme court at the end of june in a few months concerning roe v. wade. she's in the media, very high profile, and the fact that they lost this case is going to be a

tough thing for the federal government to recover from. >> i'm glad you brought that up. i wanted to ask you about what her chances are of insulating the state. that was her goal with trying to make the right to abortion part of the state's core values. does she have any traction here to be able to insulation her state? >> she does, she's doing a really creative legal move. she's basically suing as the governor, certain districts within the state. there current is a 4-3 democratic majority supreme court there, and if she actually gets in front of those justices, there's a likelihood it's going to be sustained. what's at play here, a 1931 law in michigan that says you cannot get an abortion for the exception of a few carveouts. if roe v. wade is overturned by the united states supreme court, the states will have to fend for themselves, there will be no

federal law which pretty much in this case was blocking the implementation of the bad law. governor whitmer saying i'm going to get ahead of the curve, try to get a ruling that's going to insulate my state and the women of my state to exercise their right to obtain an abortion. >> and the same goes for the states trying to criminalize abortion. hoping for that as well. >> that's right, yeah. i'm going to shift gears a little bit as well, katie, really quickly to an update. we learned the justice department set to investigate 15 boxes of white house documents, some labeled top secret that donald trump took to mar-a-lago. the doj is under increasing pressure to ramp up the investigation into the former president. what does this move signal to you? >> it's a long time coming, that's exactly the point. it's been a long time, and you know what, my theory is this. there may be a lot of exposure for donald trump. if something as obvious as

removing classified documents and putting them at mar-a-lago, why not go for the low hang fruit. i do not want to put myself in the shoes of the federal government. but come on, it's been a long time. if you took the documents and you weren't supposed to, snap to it. let's go. >> that should be bipartisan. katie congratulations on the show, what can viewers look forward to tomorrow? >> tomorrow morning, back in the chair at 7:00 a.m. it's going to be a wonderful, wonderful experience hopefully for all of the viewers and myself. it's a great way for me to be able to let the viewers know who i am. we're going to talk about all things substantiative, and have fun along the way. >> hearing about your background toward the end of the 7:00 hour. thank you for being candid with viewers. check out katie phang's show, every saturday and sunday morning, 7:00 a.m. right here on msnbc. that is 7:00 a.m. eastern. you might have missed a message from one of the highest

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progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home, auto, and more with us. no one who made the movie is here. we are back with breaking news, british prime minister boris johnson made a surprise visit to kyiv for a face-to-face meeting with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. a downing street spokesperson said the prime minister made the trip in show of solidarity with the ukrainian people. they are expected to discuss the uk's long-term support. a new and emotional plea from ukraine's foreign minister calling for more military aid from the west. >> my agenda is simple, it has three items on it, it's weapons, weapons, and weapons. >> now, it comes as the conflict with russia enters a new phase, russian forces escalating their

onslaught on eastern ukraine, including a missile attack leaves dozens dead. joining me now is illinois congressman, mike quigley, he is also cochair of the congressional ukraine caucus. welcome in congressman, thank you for your time this afternoon. i'll jump in. ukraine says it needs more weapons. they just approved $100 million in javelin antitank missiles. when you hear the foreign minister say they need weapons, weapons, and weapons, what more can and should the u.s. be giving? >> sure, we have been meeting with members on a regular basis, and they have had the same message for the length of this war, you know, the last group that met us in person were all women. they are all mothers. they were talking about links on their phone that talked about when their children were under air strikes, so their message is very powerful. they were saying weaponry is humanitarian aid.

and when you see the genocide that takes place, the war crimes that are taking place, you have to agree. bottom line is we need to dust off those weapons that are available in nato, and put them to real use. president zelenskyy talked about 1% of the planes, the armour, the artillery, the ammunition, and i think they need to be moved forward so that they're readily available. the most important part of that is a long-term commitment, and a public one so that president putin knows exactly what is going to take place, and it is as the chief said, this could be a very long war, putin has to know that the commitment, the resolve from the west will be there as well. >> it does seem that with every step the west has taken to show support, it has been in response to instead of a proactive preventative step. i want to play for you part of what the chairman of the joint

chiefs of staff mark milley told the house armed services committee this week. take a listen. >> we are entering a world that is becoming more unstable and the potential for significant international conflict between great powers is increasing, not decreasing. >> congressman, does that line up with the intelligence you've received? >> i would say generally very much so. it is a scary time, and it requires a commitment and a unity from the west to address these issues. >> general milley also said that the war in ukraine could last for years. so who does a long war better serve, russia or ukraine and will the u.s. be able to keep up its hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and aid for that long? >> not by itself. it has to be a multilateral effort. but if you look at the briefings and the readings that you might

have seen publicly that this war was only going to take a matter of days, the fact that it would be much longer would be seen as news. but a long war, you'll see the images you're seeing on an ongoing basis, russians will target civilians. they will flatten hospitals. they will indiscriminately bomb nuclear power plants, threatening all of europe, so no one wins, and that is a devastating humanitarian crisis that we'll have to face, with the results and realization that the russians are now saying that it's maybe important to target those weapons lines that are coming in through poland, and other countries. that obviously is to the joint chiefs talking about, presents real threats to the rest of the world and escalation. >> and i want to ask you a little bit about the targets. we have been talking about the latest development with the train station, which russia has denied targeting, but there's

much mounting evidence to the contrary of that. is the targets of that any civilians being killed more likely to draw the u.s. into possibly actual war with russia, boots on the ground in ukraine, helping? >> i don't see the u.s., nato or the west having boots on the ground. but i do see that we are reacting after the fact. so if russia is all in on war crimes and genocide, the west needs to be all in on giving ukraine everything it needs, not waiting until later and say, oh, wait, now that's genocide, you just talked about cutting off russian coal. let's cut off all of their energy exports. let's make this as difficult as possible. let's include all banks, when we eliminate them from the swift

system. let's sanction all oligarchs, let's not wait for the next act of genocide or war crimes. >> let's not wait. we also want to turn to potentially a major development with the january 6th committee i would like to get your thoughts on. a new source tells nbc news, the panel is considering interviewing the former president, is this a route you would like to see your colleagues take? >> oh, yeah, because for multiple years as a member of the house select committee on intelligence, i was part of two major investigations and despite what his people said, he did obstruct the mueller investigation, and he refused to testify there, so sure, i would love to see it. it's justified. but i totally understand the limitations, the political realities and the balance that this committee has to play out. can they get the information they need through subpoenas, other witnesses, and documents, and they're in a race for time. so sure, this is a president,

president trump, who has always evaded justice, who has never been held accountable for any of his misdealings and his crimes frankly. i would love to see it. do i imagine it happening if past is any indication, i don't expect it. >> congressman mike quigley of illinois. we appreciate your thoughts this afternoon, and i could not agree more. time is of the utmost urgency right now. coming up right here on msnbc. you've probably heard about it, but how concerned should you really be, the new development in covid that could impact 10 million people. covid that coul million people ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person...

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here are the other top stories we're following. new details until the case of men impersonating federal officers. the weapons they amassed, the detention hearing is set to resume monday. the academy picture of motion arts and sciences banning will smith from the oscars ceremony for ten years after slapping comedian chris rock. smith responded saying i accept and respect the academy's decision. >> and tiger woods' comeback continues this afternoon, the golf legend making a cut for another round of masters, set to tee off next hour in augusta, georgia. now to the latest with covid, as much of the country lowers its guard, infections are rising again in some places.

there's been an outbreak among officials in washington, and new questions on booster shots as well. nbc's emilie ikeda has all of those details for us. >> reporter: cases are creeping up in a covid fatigued country. even infiltrating the washington elite, including a growing number within president biden's inner circle. 53 people testing positive after attending a formal dinner in d.c. last weekend. >> like anyone else, the president may at some point test positive for covid. >> the highly contagious ba.2 sub variant driving the first two week increase since january. cases jumped by 60% in d.c. and are climbing in 18 states. overall, infections are still low, but dr. fauci with this warning. >> it is likely that we will see a surge in the fall. these are uncharted waters for us. >> reporter: as the virus evolves, so does confusion. >> how concerning is the sub

variant? >> the sub variant should be concerning for the following populations. people who are immunocompromised can't mount a response. >> the cdc cleared people 50 and older to get a second booster. less than half of vaccinated americans have gotten their first. one study shows the jab wanes after four weeks but remains resilient against sear disease. >> they're losing their effectiveness. that's why you're seeing infections in vaccinated people but what you're not seeing is as many deaths and hospitalizations. >> reporter: a hopeful trend in uncertain times. emilie ikeda, nbc news new york. history this week adds the senate signs off on ketanji brown jackson for the supreme court, and the behavior of some republicans before and during the vote, are they really sorry? are they for real? we'll talk about this next. for? we'll talk about this xtne

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when i made the commitment to nominate a black woman to the supreme court, i could see this day. i literally could see this day because i thought about it for a long, long time. as jill will tell you, i wasn't going to run again. when i decided to returns this was one of the first decisions i made. i could see it. i could see it as a day of hope, a day of promise, a day of progress. a day when the moral arc of the universe as barack used to quote all the time, bends a little more toward justice. >> president biden taking victory lap after that historic confirmation of judge ketanji brown jackson to the supreme court. it was a joyous moment for the white house celebrating a major victory for democrats but will it be the last before this midterm election this november. joining me now, adrienne elrod, democratic strategist and former senior aid to the biden

campaign. and michael singleton, contributor to the boston globe. adrienne, you were at the white house during the ceremony yesterday, the confirmation of judge jackson is historic, how much of an impact will this have on voters come november? >> i think it's going to have a significant impact. first of all, this has been 233 years in the making since this glass ceiling has been finally shattered. and just seeing the excitement among everyone in the audience yesterday, you know, i had the privilege to help on the outside organization get her confirmed and just to see the excitement and the energy in the crowd was inspiring. so i mean, look, i think that this is one of those moments that frankly reminds us why we're in the business, why we chose to work in public service. i think a lot of people felt that moment today, and i hope that this is not the last

supreme court justice that president biden will be able to pick. >> many republicans left the chamber as the rest of the senate actually gave a standing ovation for the justice after the confirmation vote. it is not surprising, although it is unfortunate, given the state of politics today. >> yeah, it certainly is. only mitt romney, my former boss was left there standing. i think most americans who are not conservatives or who are not republican supporters and voters sort of expected this. like i don't think anyone watching that was necessarily surprised. like you said, it was unfortunate. we saw how the hearings went. no one was surprised the questions that were asked. no one were surprised that they walked out in the middle of others applauding. i'm going to have some differences with the new justice. but i think this is a monumental opportunity for women in this country, for black women in the country, for all americans generally speaking. i think it's a very pod thing,

and i think -- positive thing, and we haven't seen a lot of conversation about this. justice ketanji brown jackson, and clarence thomas, intellectually, opposed, now we really get an opportunity to see that exercise in realtime. that is something that i'm really looking forward to that i think is a great thing for the country. >> this is the underlying threat of america, all of the differences that we make up, and how unique it is that we can all come together and work together despite our differences. this next, former president barack obama was at the white house this week. listen to what he told nbc's peter alexander. >> what do you tell democrats worried about the midterms? >> we got a story to tell, just got to tell it. >> you got a story to tell, just tell it. democrats seem to be stalled when it comes to the big ticket agenda items.

should the objective not be to do more but sell what they are doing or what they have already done? >> look, i think we've got to do both. i mean, we have to talk about what we have done. of course the american rescue plan, that was no easy passage. the infrastructure bill, all the content, all the programmatic elements that were part of that bill. this is a story that we have to tell, and by the way, it's not incumbent on the president and vice president, it's incumbent on every democratic member of congress, and frankly folks running at the state and local level. a lot of them benefitted from this legislation. we have a lot of work to do. i'm hoping whatever we want to call it now, build back better, whatever iteration of that, extending the child tax credit. expanding pre-k access, there's a lot more that we have to do, we have a finite time to get it done because of course the closer we get to the midterms, the more difficult that's going to be.

climate change, addressing climate change is another priority of democrats, so i hope that democrats will spend, you know, the latter part of april and may and into june if necessary really trying to get some of these programs passed. right now, we have a guaranteed majority of the house and senate. that majority is not necessarily guaranteed after the midterms, so this is the time that we've got to get some of these other legislative priorities passed. >> do you agree with what president obama said or do you feel like it was an over simplification? >> i think he's already right. i was a republican strategist, and one thing i can tell you about republicans, they are great at being on message, even if they don't agree with the message or like the message, they will stick with it. i think republicans, we have talked about this so many times, history is on their side. they're the party that's not in power. people look at the president, the party in charge, and i don't like inpolice station, i don't like gas, i don't like whatever, they have done something wrong, i'm going to look elsewhere, and that's a natural phenomenon we

have seen for the past 90 plus years in the country. republicans have an advantage, with that said, i don't think democrats have done enough addressing inflation, gas prices, and crime. that's a top five issue for american voters. i think they need to speak to those issues, not to their base. those folks are going to stick with them, the independent voters, swing voters that are going to make the difference between the victor, and individuals who lose come november. i don't think the party has quite figured out what that message looks like and how to articulate the message across the country. keep in mind, every district, state, region is going to have something different that caters to those individual voters. >> the last few seconds to you, your reaction about the main issues of inflation and crime for the democrats? >> yeah, look, i think the democrats could certainly do a better job across the board, messaging on some of these issues. i will say this, democrats have acknowledged that inflation is an issue.

we have a plan to address it whereas republicans are simply trying to obstruct. they were gleeful, the rnc was gleeful when inflation numbers were going up. democrats have to remind folks we have a plan to address this and here's what the plan is. >> real quickly. >> sure, michael. >> really quickly, i was going to say, and to adrienne's point, republicans have the benefit of not being in power, see, everything that is going wrong in your life is because of democrats. >> we're going to leave it there and let you duke it out in the next segment. at the top of the hour, breaking news in ukraine on the train station attack and a surprise visit to kyiv by a world leader. all of that next, stay with us. ead. all of that next, stay with us ♪ 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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