yet we take their products. they treated us very badly in trade and we defended them, and we really, if you look at the numbers, i bet it's close to 80%. i said you have to pay, and if you don't pay, we're not going to defend you. as soon as they said that, everybody -- we took in hundreds of billions of dollars. and nato became rich. it was going down at a level that -- it was not even -- it would not have been sustainable. you wouldn't be in a position now of giving them a rifle let alone billions of dollars worth of equipment. so i had a big impact. and by the way, that was an impact against russia. the pipeline was against russia. the sanctions were against russia. and then i listened to the fake news say, oh, president trump loves russia and he didn't do much about russia. well, i stopped the pipeline, the biggest thing they've ever done. i created a powerful nato because i got people to pay what they should pay.

nobody did sanctions like i did. with all of that being said, when i look at what's happening, it never would have happened under the trump administration, regardless of strength one way or the other. i knew putin very well, almost as well as i know you, sean, and i will tell you, we talked about it. we talked about it a lot. he did want ukraine, but i said you're not going into ukraine. he would never, ever have gone into ukraine. and president -- >> the guy -- it's just -- it's grotesque. >> it really is. >> it's just grotesque. sean hannity asks him about mass graves, sean hannity asks him about war crimes, sean hannity asks him about mass atrocities, asks him about the war crimes in bucha, about mariupol being levelled to the ground, and he's

talking about chevrolets in munich. he's talking about mercedes-benz and vw. sean asks, is this evil? will you say this is evil? i've asked you before if you think this is evil. sean hannity certainly thinks it's evil. i think most republicans in the senate think it's evil. and he's talking about chevrolets and veshgs ws -- >> he's talking about himself. >> -- and he lies about nato saying he would -- what a liar, absolute liar. he tried to destroy nato for four years. there were fears across america and the west that if he was re-elected he would withdraw the united states from nato. he didn't get anybody -- if i hear stupid people repeating these lies that he got people to pay their fair share, no.

vladimir putin did. and joe biden did. by the attack on ukraine. a country, again, that he wouldn't even send military support to because he was too busy shaking them down. military support, though, republicans, democrats in the senate had supported. but, again, willie, what is so striking to me shocking, he refuses to criticize vladimir putin, a war criminal. he was saying that, he was talking about chevrolets. he was talking about farmers in america. he was talking about trade while sean -- and sean's show was showing images of mariupol leveled, showing pictures of people dead in the streets, showing pictures of war crimes. and trump, trump could not bring

himself to criticize vladimir putin. as it was in december of 2015 on our show, as it was last night on sean hannity's show, it is just absolutely repugnant. and i will say it again. i will say it again seven years later. it is disqualifying. >> sean hannity walked him right up to the edge and said this is an easy one, former president trump. is this evil? and by the way, that was a mulligan. he said i asked you about putin's evil ways last time, you didn't give me an answer. here's another shot at it. the contrast of what donald trump was talking about as those images were being presented on the screen of bodies lying on the streets in bucha, the easiest question in the world right now, is vladimir putin evil? look at bucha, mariupol, everything we've seen. then the utter lie about how he looked at nato. in 2018, just google it, this is

all open from administration officials, from meet ya reports, he wanted to pull the united states out of nato and general mattis and john bolton and others had to explain to him the importance of nato. he didn't get it. it's a drin on us. that's a lie. at the core of this is the exposing of a man who is who he is and won't even cross vladimir putin in this moment, in this moment while civilians are being slaughtered in ukraine. >> yeah. it's sickening. jonathan lemire, you, of course, covered donald trump. you were the one in helsinki that asked the question about whether donald trump trusted vladimir putin more than he trusted the men and women in the american intel community who risk their lives every single day. and what did he say? he said he trusted vladimir putin more. again, the same year as willie said that he was trying to withdraw the united states from nato because he understood, and

what a clarifying six weeks this has been for people brainwashed by donald trump, donald trump understood in 2018 that nato was the mortal enemy of vladimir putin and it would be nato with the backing, the strong backing of the united states that would stop vladimir putin from being able to go into other nato states, that would stop vladimir putin from being able to run across eastern and central europe, which was his dream. >> mm-hmm. >> he wanted to reconstitute the old russian empire. and donald trump knew the only way he could help him was by getting rid of nato. and here we are, again, sean hannity asking, as willie said, a second time while showing pictures of civilians with their hands bound behind them shot dead in the street. and mariupol leveled.

and republicans and democrats in washington calling donald trump what he is, a war -- calling vladimir putin what he is, a war criminal, and donald trump won't even follow sean hannity's -- again, layup of a question. is this evil? wouldn't answer it. just like he wouldn't answer us seven years ago. and so many others since then on whether he was going to condemn vladimir putin for killing politicians and journalists in russia. and of course your question on helsinki, there is a through line there, this man will not criticize putin. >> it was a two-part question in helsinki that i posed to the then president. one is who he believed, and he sided with putin. the other part with the world

watching, the highly anticipated summit, would he warn putin to never do this again, never interfere with american elections again, and he chose not to do that either. that moment in helsinki came just a few days after we were with him in nato at brussels, when he almost blew up that alliance and pulled the united states out of it. there have been time where is it seemed like he was reciting kremlin talking points about nato. it serves to recap once more the circumstances of this invasion and trump's -- how he is linked to it, that his first impeachment trial was because he tried to extort ukraine to investigate joe biden and his family and threaten to withhold the javelin, the very javelin missiles right now so key to ukrainian defense. that's what trump threatened to withhold from zelenskyy, who has become a hero of democracy, if he didn't cooperate.

of course putin, international pariah, but yet trump even to this day, two years out of the white house, still will not condemn him even though most of his party, which in the past has been sympathetic at times to putin, not on this. he's deemed a war criminal committing a trosies. president biden says he's committing genocide. donald trump won't criticize him at all. >> joe and mika, one thing the former president trump is right about is things would look a lot different if he were president right now. would he be rushing billions of dollars of weapons into ukraine? would he have imposed crippling sanctions on vladimir putin's economy and bring it to its knees? would he have rallied the west in support of ukraine, against vladimir putin? they are questions that answers themselves. >> they answer themselves. anybody who says he would have done any of that, they are liars, and they can't just say putin wouldn't have done this if trump were president. it's just not true.

it's a lie. donald trump time and time again has bowed down to vladimir putin, and he won't even criticize him after war crimes. >> really discouraging on so many levels. it is now day 50 of the war in ukraine. we're following a major development on the battlefield. fire and explosions have been reported on board the flagship of russia's fleet in the black sea. >> by the way, this is a nightmare for putin. speaking of putin, this is a nightmare. >> it's as embarrassing as it gets. this ship is named after moscow. ukrainian forces say it was hit with anti-ship missiles. we've got file video of that ship, a guided missile cruiser that typically carries a crew of about 500 people. russia admits there was a fire but says it started after ammunition detonated on board.

either way -- >> they're saying they blew their own ship up. the ukrainians didn't do it. they blew it up. >> by the way, embarrassing, the fire apparently did significant damage, enough that russia says the crew had to be evacuated and the ship is being towed back to port. this is what four-star navy admiral james stavridis told us earlier on "morning joe." >> your first year at annapolis, the thing they teach you is never let your flagship. blow up. so this is a pretty bad moment for our russian friends. >> the first thing they teach. >> 101. >> the first thing they teach you at annapolis. of course at west point, if you're a general, if you want to be a general, don't get shot and killed. i heard one general explaining, he said, you know, i wouldn't be shot and killed in war simply because i wouldn't want to embarrass my troops. i wouldn't want to embarrass my

country. you just don't do it. yet one general after another continues to get killed by being too far out on the front lines because there's such mass incompetence throughout the entire military. and now as admiral stavridis said, you see the russians allowing their flagship to get -- to take a hit, get blown up. if you're keeping score, russian generals are being killed. a friend of putin's is being held. a warship has been damaged and is being towed back home. and world leaders are showing up on the streets of kyiv, a city vladimir putin planned to take over, oh, say, weeks and weeks and weeks ago, when he thought this would all be done. president biden responded to the renewed pleas from ukrainian president zelenskyy for more weapons by announcing an additional $800 million in military aid. it came after the two spoke by

phone for nearly an hour yesterday. as part of the package, the u.s. is sending heavier equipment than in the past, included armored personnel carrier, military helicopters, howitzers, a dozen ray sar systems. zelenskyy says ukrainian forces need artillery, rocket launchers, tanks, and fighter jets. >> all this important because over the last 24 hours russia has launched new indiscriminate attacks on more than a dozen towns and villages in the eastern region of donetsk. that is according to the ukrainian national police, who say civilian populations have been hit with everything from air strikes to heavy artillery. some of them are urban and industrial centers, others tiny villages with a few hundred people or so. this comes as russia gears up for an even larger push into the eastern part of ukraine with satellite images showing hundreds of russian tanks and armored personnel carriers now headed in that direction.

earlier on "morning joe," we spoke with pentagon press secretary john kirby about the challenges russia is facing as it moves into the new phase of the war. >> we don't believe they have overcome all their lo gist eks and sustainment problems, unit cohesion and morale, organization. all those problems are still bedevilling the russian military. air to ground integration is still not very good. that said, what they're going to try to do here is refocus on a smaller geographic area so we'll be able to apply all that available combat power, and they stim have a lot of it, in a smaller geographic area. you've seen they've named a new general to take over as commander in chief so they're trying to do better as organizing their force and getting cohesion and command and control in better shape than it's been. and they'll be able to concentrate those efforts on an area that the russians and ukrainians have been fighting over for eight years. both sides know the terrain. it's like kansas, open and flat,

so ititself to better maneuver of forces. that's why, again, if you look at the package that president biden signed out yesterday, there's, you know, 40,000 rounds of artillery that we're giving them and 18 howitzers to go with it. a counterartillery radar will save ukrainian lives because it will them them anticipate and get ready for incoming artillery fire. we think this fight will look a lot different than what we've seen in the north, more hilly and more cities. this will be a little more open warfare and we're doing everything we can to make sure that the ukrainians are ready for that. >> all right. we thank admiral kirby for being with us on "morning joe" today. let's bring in nbc news national security analyst clint watts. take us through the battlefield. what's it looking like today? >> yeah. fascinating, joe, that the russian navy meets any challenge at all. the ukrainian navy after 2014, after crimea was taken, had

retreated essentially to here. to lose that command and control ship, second major ship that's been badly damaged or sunk. the other was in berdyansk a couple weeks ago, talk about a resupply ship essentially on fire, that the russians can't completely control this area, they can't control entirely their own lanes in the sea. remarkable job by the ukrainian military across the board. mariupol, mariupol, there are still some remaining holdouts there. marine infantry, parts of a sort of defense battalion still in mariupol, but they are completely surrounded, still putting up an intense fight. i think most armies would have given up to this fight. still fighting. it prevents the russian military from repurposing the forces, sending them back in the north towards donbas. what we don't know is about the damage, the severity and the

civilian casualties in mariupol, president zelenskyy talking about thousands if not tens of thousands of civilians being killed there. back to the east where the fight is essentially shifting, you're seeing the russian military pulling off these forces from the sumi access here, from that kyiv access into belgorod. and now the russians have alerted their population here along the russian border that essentially they need to play it very safe in the coming days because you're seeing the buildup here in some of these rear areas inside russia across the border of combat power, eerily reminisce end of what we saw belarus whenever the war was kicking off. separately, in the east, secretary kirby was talking about what this battle is going to look like. he mentioned it's like kansas. it would be like the plains. that's where an armored force is going to do much better than what they did in kyiv. in kyiv, russians never backed

with mounted warfare. when you look at this train in slovyansk, that will be the key epicenter. izyum is the access from the north west. here you'll see the separatist forces from luhansk advance over. in slovyansk down to here, you'll see them trying to advance. this is wide-open terrain. that's why those new weapons are super important for the ukrainian military. >> clint, obviously the ukrainian military has fought so valiantly and stood up so well to a much larger military out of russia. what does it look like in the east? does it have what it takes? does it have the manpower, the weaponry to put up a fight in the east as well in the way it did say around kyiv? >> yeah. that's really the question which we don't know. the big unknown is what is the status of the ukrainian military. we don't have a good handle on that. i'm not sure the ukrainians often do. but one, the ukrainian military has interior lines of both

communication and lo gist you cans. they're traveling in and around russia doing resupply, like going from sploutd to new york, very long distance. secondly, can they get dug in for a defensive fight or do attacks like in belgorod, going after an oil depot or here along these corridor, can they do some sort of offensive attack in the rear areas and essentially move these forces quicker than the much longer distance the russians could do? i think the big thing is that artillery, the radar essentially to detect our rada is essential for the ukrainians. most of the deaths to ukrainians to this point have not come from face-to-face fighting. it's come from indirect fire, missiles. that's what we need to focus on. that's what we saw secretary kirby talking about before i started here. >> nbc news national security analyst, clint watts, thank you very much. as finland and sweden move

forward with possible plans to join nato, russia says it would trigger a dramatic military escalation in that part of the world. >> more than them? i'm sorry. escalate what? >> from former president and deputy chairman of russia's security council, dmitry medvedev, who also said russia would decide to bring nuclear weapons into the baltic. "the times" of london reported this week that finland and sweden could apply for a nato membership this summer. let's bring in former u.s. ambassador to nato, ivo dolder. what do you think about that? are we confronting some problems with nato's sort of open-door policy if more and more countries are sort of threatened against joining, including your country? >> this is one of the things that vladimir putin has been holding up as the reason for

brutally and unprovokedly invading ukraine. it is ridiculous to think that this is about nato. it's when the countries are part of nato that they're more likely to be skewer. the idea of employing nuclear weapons in the baltic is not something new. in a small part of russian territory called kaliningrad, it's long been suspected they have those weapons and have been there for a long time. finland and sweden decided they can no longer stand by, their security needs to be guaranteed by being members of nato. we're likely to see an application in the coming week base them to join nato. it's not clear what the russians can do against that. are they really going to invade finland? remember in world war ii that didn't end very well for the ruxs. they could barely do a good job in ukraine, in fact, lose there.

how many wars do they want to start and lose? as a result i think finland and sweden are right to think their future now lies with nato. in fact, it was the absence of nato in ukraine that may have caused this war in the first place. >> you're so right. given the soviets' history with finland in the winter war, i suspect there's not going to be a real desire to go back in there. let's talk about, given finland's history and so-called finlandization of that country through the years, sweden obviously becoming a member of nato would be dramatic, but just talk about how significant finland's entrance into nato would be for the alliance. >> it would be very, very significant because finland and sweden are extraordinarily capable militaries. they have long had during the

cold war a posture of armed neutrality, not unarmed neutrality. and for last 30 years they've continued to build up their militaries very significantly. they have been close partners aligned with nato in a series of military operations from afghanistan to libya to the balkans. they know how to operate within nato. their weapons are compatible. their command and control structure allows for easy communication between swedish and finnish forces and nato. and, of course, now, if they become nato, not only nato needs to defend them but they will need to defend nato countries, including the baltic countries, which are very exposed to the possibility of a russian advance. finland, of course, is just a hop and skip across the baltic sea. sweden is closely aligned with them as well. so it would enhance the capacity

of nato defend itself in a very significant way. this is a move that vladimir putin cannot have dreamt of. he thought that nato was too close to russian borders. well, when you start invading countries, nato will come closer. for ukraine it also means that this idea that ukraine will be better off if it were finlandized, an idea that many people were talking about only weeks ago, turns out that finland wants to be nato-ized in order to prevent exactly that from happening. >> former u.s. ambassador to nato, ivodaalder, thanks for coming on this morning. a top ukrainian human rights official says 150,000 children have been forcibly deported the russia. ukraine's ministry of foreign affairs says that includes, quote, orphan, children deprived

of parental care, as well as children whose parents died as a result of russia's military aggression being taken across state borderings of our state into russia. russia is engaged in state organized kidnapping of children and the destruction of the future of the ukrainian nation. nbc news has not been able to verify those allegations i was quoting there, but we will be following that story. coming up, new reports that the biden administration is talking about sending a top u.s. official to ukraine. we'll have the latest on that. but up next, elon musk at it again, now offering to buy 100 100% of twitter. andrew ross sorkin will join us. and look at these images of long lines of trucks trying to cross the texas mexican border. it may look like the trucker koesmd protest from earlier this year. remember those? but it's actually due to a new

rule put in place by republican governor greg abbott. >> and they're very concerned. the "wall street journal" editorial page saying his actions are causing a supply chain problem across texas, $5 avocado, food shortages. a terrible nightmare by greg abbott trying to make a political point. unfortunately, that's backfiring against him and republicans in the state of texas. we'll talk to the reporter covering the story. mount everest, the tallest mountain on the face of the earth. keep dreaming. [music: “you can get it if you really want” by jimmy cliff]

28 past the hour, a live look at seattle as the sun starts to come up. welcome back to "morning joe." breaking news in the business world this morning.

elon musk offered to fully buy twitter so it can be transformed as a private company. musk just became twitter's largest shareholder but says the social media giant needs to go private so it can better serve free speech. musk writes in part, "i invest in twitter as i believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and i believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy." >> i'm all for free speech so long as we have free markets that go into it instead of suing people who slander you or with hate speech. let's have accountability so these tech billionaires, they want to own social media companies, that's fine. they just need to live by the same rules that, you know, family businesses have to live by in the rest of america. right now they're not because of section 230.

but, you know? columnist and editor for "new york times" deal book and co-anchor for cnbc, andrew ross sorkin. i know you just talked with amazon's ceo. we're going to get to that in a moment. first, what about elon? he's in, out, buying stock, on the board, off the board. what's going on here? >> everybody is a twitter rant. look, right now there's a big question as to whether he can actually finance this offer. he's put this out in the world but that doesn't mean he can do it. even though he has $270 billion to his name and twitter is worth something like $40 billion-plus, it's unclear where whether he unto himself can buy this as an individual or whether he's going to have to go out and get either a bank to loan him money or to find a private equity firm or somebody else. there's still some big questions, but clearly elon musk

putting twitter to some degree in a box about what they're going to do, it's a tick it or leave it bid, that's how he's going to do this so no negotiation over the price. the secondary issue, your first, free speech and what he wants to do with twitter, lots of people speculating, for example, that perhaps president trump would be back on an elon musk-owned twitter. he really believed in a sort of laissez-faire version or view of this, raises questions about information, misinformation. there will be a lot of political implications on this as well. some of that could filter over to his business at tesla, which has been reliant for many years on tax cents, again, politicians involved there. also spacex, politicians involved there because a huge contracted has gone to him from the defense department. so there's free speech. there's free markets. there's government,

private/public. in a way, it's a microcosm of everything. >> yeah. you just spoke, andrew, to the ceo of one of the most powerful companies in america and across the world, from amazon. what did you learn? >> well, amazon is confronting -- it's had this enormous growth and been such a remarkable story i think we all felt it during the pandemic. their growth trajectory effectively was three years in the course of, you know, one year -- they just employed or i should say hired more than 300,000 people over the past two years. but at the same time, there are questions about labor, unions, we talked with andy about that. there's obviously the big union push in new york right now, and how amazon is grappling with that and really some of the challenges i think is probably the fairest way to say it is, when you bring 300,000 people on, what happens? the questions about safety and the like.

he's been in this job ten months. he's worked for jeff bezos for a very long time. today we hut out a shareholder letter, the first time he's written one in this new role, and we talked about all these issues, plus, of course, supply chain and inflation. wages going up. they just had to put a 5% increase on third-party sellers on amazon for fossil fuels given the costs rising there. amazon is a microcosm of our economy right now. >> all right. cnbc's andrew ross sorkin, thank you very much. we will see you again tomorrow. willie? let's go over to the white house. white house correspondent for politico and co-author of "the playbook," eugene daniels, and a nbc contributor. your colleagues have new reporting about the biden administration possibly sending a high-level official to meet

with president zelenskyy in kyiv. we've soon these stirring images of prime minister boris yeltsin walking through the streets of kyiv, yesterday president duda of poland and other baltic letters in kyiv, a capital city vladimir putin, thought he'd be holding right now. how high level are we talking? >> le mere and alex ward, a colleague at politico, have scooped basically the administration is having conversations about like you said sending a top-level administration official over there. we're not talking, you know, people from ns d'or anything like that, but possibly the names most obvious here, president biden, vice president kamala harris, the secretary of defense and the secretary of state. the last two there i will say, there's a lot of security if they were to go to kyiv and meet with zelenskyy, so that is something that the white house and administration has to weigh here. either way it's huge because this is an administration as they watch, like you said, boris

johnson walking the streets of kyiv with president zelenskyy e. they feel pressure to do so because this is a coalition of european nations and nato that america has kind of put together and been leaning on. so they know that they have to continue to find ways to make it clearer to nato, to european country, to the world, especially to americans, that they are all in on this. that is a pressure they've been feeling for a while now. this could change, right. this is a war and there's so much about security, the idea of security they have to keep in mind when they're thinking about seeing one of these top official, but these conversations are continuing. >> yeah. an extraordinary sight to see president biden in the streets of kyiv as well. we'll see what happens there. >>. back at home, domestic politics you're covering closely, eugene. you were the only reporter at a dancedness fund-raising meeting talking about midterm strategy, an uphill climb because of

inflation, which seems to keep getting worse with every new report. >> reporter: yeah. i was with vice president harris yesterday. she spoke to about 86 what i'm told democratic fund raisers and donors talking about, first of all, outlines her week and the administration's week, kind of went through that and talked about the climate change provisions, talked about medical debt. but then and to me the most interesting aspect of her conversation with those folks was at the end when she talked about and kind of gave them a pep talk about the midterms. it gave us a view kind of how this administration, how vice president harris is viewing the midterms. first she said they have to make sure they sell the good things the administration has done. if you talk to democrat, both publicly and privately and members of the white house senior staff, they will say they haven't done as good of a job telling that story as yet, but also harris talked about how they need to meet the american people where they are, talking about how covid has made it hard

for people to think about politics, put people in a bad mood essentially in this country. so they have to make sure they acknowledge that. that is something that this administration has continued to struggle with because, one, to break through with the big news has been difficult, but also getting people to understand the kinds of things they're doing, how covid may be kind of -- that's also something they struggle with closer to the midterms. >> "morning joe" senior contributor eugene daniels. thanks so much. great to see you. up next, the latest on the investigation into the brooklyn subway shooting now that the suspect is in custody. and trump's former chief of staff mark meadows is removed from north carolina's voter roll. we'll tell you why.

where do you find the perfect developer? well, we found her in prague between the ideal cup of coffee and a museum-quality chronology of the personal computer. ...but you can find her, and millions of other talented pros, right now on upwork.

[sound of helicopter blades] ugh... they found me. ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that. they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend. yeah, eyes on the road, benny. welcome to a new chapter in investing. [ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley. 41 past the hour. >> houston. >> houston, texas. >> maybe when we have houston, we'll play the eagles. >> we're going to skip around the country now with the morning papers. "the new york post" has the latest details on the

investigation into tuesday's brooklyn subway shooting. the suspect will make his first appearance in federal court in just a few hours. police arrested 62-year-old fred james yesterday in manhattan. nypd sources tell nbc news james called the police tip line himself, telling them he was at a mcdonald's. he said, i've been waiting for you all day when the officers arrived. james is facing federal charges of carrying out a violent attack on a mass transit vehicle. if convicted, hecht face a life sentence. out to "the oregonian," it says if you plan to travel you need your facemask. the federal mask mandate for public transit was set to end next week, but the cdc is extending it until may 3rd. that's amid a rise of new covid infections fuelled by the ba.2

omicron subvariant. the "des moines register" reports there's a new plan to completely change how a party nominates presidential candidates. a dnc voted to strip that. iowa, new hampshire, nevada, and south carolina are typically the first states to vote, but the panel said all state democratic parties can apply to go first in 2024. it comes after iowa's 2020 caucuses had major issues tying up the national nomination process just as it was getting started. iowa has also faced criticism from democrat who is say it's too white and too republican to play such a critical role in their process. the dnc plans to announce the full new calendar mid-july. the "charlotte observer" reports an elections board in

north carolina removinging former chief of staff to president trump mark meadows from its list of registered voters after documents showed he lived in virginia and voted there in the 2021 election. voters who cast ballots in other states lose their north carolina residency. the move comes as state election officials are investigating whether the former trump aide committed voter fraud in the election. no comment from meld does so far. and "the new york times" reports two of former president trump's top white house lawyers have met with the january 6th house committee. according to "the times," the committee held separate meetings wednesday with former white house counsell pat cipollone and his deputy after trump approved it. no word on how much information the pair provided, but "the times" says the two were present for key moments leading up to the january 6th assault on the capitol including, quote, pivotal conversations and

meetings in from which mr. trump discussed using the powers of his office to try and overturn the election. the two were not under oath and their interviews were not transcribed. coming up, video from laredo, texas, where trucks are backed up for hours trying to cross the texas u.s. border. >> can't do it because of governor abbott. >> we'll look into that and talk to the reporter who's been covering the story. we are also going to read the "wall street journal" editorial talking about how greg abbott is making prices jacked up and damaging the supply chain by this cheap political stunt. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had

planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. to make my vision a reality. i have to take every perspective, and see clearly from every point of view. with my varilux progressive lenses i seamlessly transition from near to far. and see every detail in sharp focus. when you see no limits, there are no limits.

book now at your local essilor experts to push the limits of your vision. varilux lenses by essilor. asya agulnik md: st. jude was founded with an understanding that no child should die in the dawn of life. to work with many partners all over the world, nothing stops in the way of us achieving that mission, not even war. marta salek md: when there is a need, people stand up and do what is right and ensure that they restart medical therapy as quickly as possible. carlos rodriguez-galindo md: any child suffering today of cancer is our responsibility. that oddly satisfying feeling when you don't do it yourself. - hiring is step one when it comes to our growth. we can't open a new shop or a new location without the right people in place. i couldn't keep up until i found ziprecruiter.

ziprecruiter helps us get out there quickly and get us qualified candidates quickly. they sent us applicants that matched what i was looking for. i've hired for every role, entry-level technicians, service advisors, store managers. ziprecruiter helps me find all the right people, even the most difficult jobs to fill. - [announcer] ziprecruiter, ratedthenumber one hiring site. try it for free at ziprecruiter.com

mount everest, the tallest mountain on the face of the earth. keep dreaming. [music: “you can get it if you really want” by jimmy cliff]

49 past the hour. now to a story that's getting a lot of attention in texas. republican governor greg abbott ordered more commercial vehicle inspections at the texas mexico border causing major traffic delays.. the texas mexico border causing major traffic delays. thousands of inspections causing long lines in el paso, and laredo. they are waiting 36 hours, and having goods inside trucks go bad. the situation is so severe the agricultural commissioner is slamming warning of food shortages leading to price hikes and two dollars for a lemon and five dollars for avocados. the wall street journal is calling the governor's move a, stunned, that makes the border mess worse. all of this is happening because

the governor wants to protest biden for scrapping a trump era order policy. title 42 block more than 1.7 million attempted order crossings since the pandemic hit. >> the editorial board said governor habits are doing nothing to secure the border. thousands are backed up at the border. 60% at some ports since last week. this is not solving the border problem. increasing the cost of food, and adding supply-chain shortages does the agricultural commissioner. a misguided program leading to two dollar lemons and five dollar avocados.

mitchell, i noticed yesterday this was starting to blow up a bit at national outlets. they are trying to blame joe biden for this. it doesn't appear the wall street journal, or the governor's own commissioners having anything to do with that. the truckers -- what we are hearing from them is an absolute nightmare. the scenario for them getting items across the border. >> right. not only perishables and medical equipment other goods are delayed, and have been delayed for days.

some bridges have been blockaded by mexican truckers. those have subsided in the last 18 hours for the first half of this week there was no traffic crossing multiple bridges. >> it's crazy. a couple of weeks ago we had truck drivers driving around washington d.c. not sure what they were protesting but i wonder if they will protest what the government does in stepping in, making their job impossible to do but >> there were many of those trucks around dc. what is the governor's defense? is there one other than political spite over the biden administration peeling back of 42? >> the governors argument is that the inspections being done on top of what the feds are already doing is to prevent drugs, undocumented immigrants from entering the country. state troopers only have -- this is not their primary job. they do not have expensive technology equipment that customs and border protection has, and uses on a daily basis.

no evidence in the week this program has been in effect. they have found any -- seized any drugs or undocumented immigrants. so far the state police force has told us they have found issues with tires, and other vehicle issues. they've taken trucks off the road out of service. those are vehicle issues the president, our chairman described these inspections as like a waystation but >> how much of an impact do you think these delays will have on the price of goods? how long could not waft? >> the duration is the big question. we don't know how long. the governor came yesterday after

holding a press conference coming to an agreement to open a certain bridge, not take away those additional inspections. all these other bridges for example in south texas the bridge is the largest produced port of entry from mexico. that bridge normally 3000 commercial trucks cross that bridge a day. $60 million-$70 million of goods and services pass through just that bridge. that bridge had been closed monday, to last night because of a protest on the mexico side. it's unclear what the price ramifications will look like. buyers are concerned.

thank you, for your reporting this morning, ensuring with us. that does it for us this morning. [zoom call] ...pivot... work bye. vacation hi! book with priceline. 'cause when you save more, you can “no way!” more. no wayyyy. no waaayyy! no way! [phone ringing] hm. no way! no way! priceline. every trip is a big deal.

my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. never be afraid of your strength, because your body is capable of amazing things. own your strength, and see how far it takes you. tonal. be your strongest. [sound of helicopter blades]

own your strength, and sugh... they found me.ou. ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that. they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend. yeah, eyes on the road, benny. welcome to a new chapter in investing. [ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade

is more than a trading platform. it's an entire trading experience. with innovation that lets you customize interfaces, charts and orders to your style of trading. personalized education to expand your perspective. and a dedicated trade desk of expert-level support. that will push you to be even better. and just might change how you trade—forever. because once you experience thinkorswim® by td ameritrade ♪♪♪ there's no going back. cup of coffee ♪♪♪ and a truly impressive synthesizer collection. ...but you can find her right now on upwork. better. when the world is your workforce finding the perfect developer, designer, marketer, or whomever you may need, tends to fall right into place. find top-rated talent who can start today on upwork.

good morning. we start this very busy thursday, with a major blow to russian forces. ukraine is saying it's damaged russia's leading worship in the black sea. also breaking this morning moscow making new threats to the baltic region if finland and sweden join nato. former ukrainian president will join us. in new york the man charged in the mass shooting in a brooklyn subway station is to appear in court today. newly released video of police shooting of an unarmed black man barked new protest overnight after his family said he was killed execution style. style.