good morning. 11 a.m. eastern, i'm jose diaz-balart, with another hour of fast moving stories. we have our eyes on ukraine and the standoff between russia. a ukrainian fighter there sent nbc news this video message. >> the most heartbreaking thing is we have limited supplies. we're trying to share every need with civilians.

>> we have more from our reporters on the war in ukraine ahead. we start with breaking news this morning. even more audio recordings of house leader kevin mccarthy coming to light. in just the last half hour, cnn playing more audio from the authors of the book "this will not pass." you can hear his thoughts in the immediate days after the january 6th attack on the capitol. here's part of it. i've been very clear to all you and i've been very clear to the president, he bears responsibility for his words and actions, no ifs, ands or butts. i asked him if he felt he had responsibility for what happened, if he felt bad about what happened? he told me he does have some responsibility for what happened and he needed to acknowledge that. >> and in a separate recording,

strong word for prum. president trump. >> i know this is not fun, this is not great. what i want to do especially through here, i don't want to rush things, i want everybody to have all the information needed. i've had it with this guy. what he did is unacceptable. nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it. >> let's bring in nbc news senior national political reporter sahil kapur and author of "in trump's shadow" and the future of the gop. in that audio we hear mccarthy say trump admitted to bearing responsibility for the attack, some responsibility. is this the first time we've heard this? >> it's certainly the first time we've her a seen yur trump

official say trump has acknowledged his role. what trump exactly said less than clear. mccarthy was closely allied with trump at that time. there are a number of big questions to watch here between this and the startling audio played last night on rachel madow's show. the biggest question here is how does donald trump himself react. everything kevin mccarthy has done in the last year and a half, his number one and number two and number three priority have been to become speaker of the house. everything else has been noise. and his close alliance with trump has all been in service of that goal to become speaker. he believes he needs the former president's support do that. the second question is how did his colleagues in the house react? did most offer him an amnesty on this? many of them had the same

journey that he did, angry, upset, disappointed with president trump right after the january 6th attack and then the politics settled out, turned out republicans voters stuck with donald trump. are they going to be angry at mccarthy or forgive him? there's one thing in the audio that really stood out to me. he made an off-hand comment about vice president mike pension potentially pardoning trump. that suggests a theory of exposure beyond conviction that seemed likely to happen. a startling series of audio tapes here that could have major implications going forward, jose. >> it's amazing just even the quality of the recordings. it's so clear. david, you've done deep reporting on the relationship between the former president and leader mccarthy. let's talk about his relationship with his caucus.

jonathan? >> yeah. so the relationship between mccarthy and the caucus is one that's been generally good but someone strained. the freedom caucus in particular, the hard core right folks, matt gates and others, have been trying to agitate, to get rid of kevin mccarthy. this is going to add fuel to that fire. we've already seen gates commenting on it a little bit. one of the things that is a problem here for kevin mccarthy is that there is no win here. he's going to anger everybody. on one side he said it was unacceptable, we've heard the tapes. on the other side he's down at mar-a-lago dancing with donald trump. now he's characterizing what donald trump said to him saying trump bore responsibility and it's unimaginable to think donald trump is not going to respond to that and deny it at some point. you take sort of a scope back for a minute, i know it's a man

bites dog story but republicans in absolute disarray right now and basically the leader of the party in the house and the former president of the united states, who wants to make a comeback, a complete conflict over the responsibility of that president for the riot that we saw on january 6th. kevin mccarthy is going to have a lot of explaining to do not only to donald trump but to his own conference about what exactly happened, why he has done these pivots and why he denied what is so clearly on tape as jonathan martin, the author of the new book, was able to present to rachel maddow last night on msnbc. >> i want to play more that much audio. here it is.

>> now, so far congress member liz cheney and steve scalise have denied leaking this audio. how is this going to play out in the caucus, you think? >> i think that's the most interesting question here. trump and mccarthy have sort of a topsy turvy relationship but always in one direction, with mr. mccarthy trying to satisfy mr. trump. when i interviewed the former president last year about this, he was very aware of the power he has over elected republicans, including mr. mccarthy because so many of their own voters care about the relationship that trump has with elected republicans in congress. and it's so important to keep mr. trump satisfied because of that. so i don't think the issue here is necessarily will this impact trump and trump's relaugsship with mccarthy or vice versa. will trump look for another

candidate for speaker of the house if the republicans win the majority in november because of this. i think he likes the relationship where mr. mccarthy is always trying to satisfy and keep trump assuaged from doing things that would be counterproductive to republicans' political aims. i do think the question we've gotten to here is how do other house republicans react to this. when you are a leader of the conference, whether you're the top leader or a major depp testify leader, you are don't get to say anything in your function as a congressman from wherever or a senator representing the state of whatever. you are always speaking for the conference. and guess what happens when a leader says something that might be problematic. it's problematic because your voters back home say what the heck is going on with your leadership and do you belief in your leadership?

and everything that mccarthy has said, the one that could cause mccarthy some trouble is saying that trump admitted to some responsibility. i expect a statement where trump says i never said anything such thing. but the bigger issue for mccarthy to get through, if he's going to get through it, is does he keep his members on board with his candidacy for speaker, can he keep any discomfort back home in response to questions about this at a minimum. and if he can do that, then this is really interesting and important news but it won't impact his trajectory much. if this becomes a problem where voters back home are asking their members what the heck's going on with your leadership, then mccarthy has a problem. >> also, david, i mean the fact that m his caucus when he's talking, someone is recording it and recording a series of

conversations and then passing that recording on. i mean, that in and of itself shows not a lot of loyalty or even support, right? >> well, what it shows is that you're breaking the ironclad rule of politics that you're not supposed to break. we think we've broken them all. you're supposed to be able to trust your colleagues. and i think you can forgive the leader in this regard, he was speaking in the heat of the moment, probably imagining that this was finally an issue that trump could not get past. they had just opinion through an insurrection where they were forced to flee for their lives from the capitol. i would just say that a lot of the initial assumptions here have been that somebody like a liz cheney, she's unequivocally denied it, somebody who is upset with mccarthy's equivocation must have leaked this but i wouldn't be surprised that it's somebody who doesn't want him to be speaker from the trump wing

of the party or from that angle because this is the sort of thing, particularly after mr. mccarthy's denial yesterday and his denial proven not truthful by the tapes, this is the sort of thing that can really cause you a problem. and i wouldn't be surprised if it hits people that really don't want him to become speaker from the part of the conference that is more aligned with former president trump that had something to do with this. the conference is more than 200 strong. you just can't assume somebody isn't going to pigeon hole this stuff and put it away for a rainy day when they think it's going to be useful. >> thank you all so much for being with us. we have more breaking news this morning. a new york state court has just ruled new york democrats ger

gerrymandered the congressional map. jane, tell us more about this ruling. >> hey, jose. so the map they say is gerrymandered to benefit democrats and does so in violation of the state constitution. they differ from a lower court in saying that they thought the map process, how they actually got to these maps was fine because the state's independent redistricting commission dropped the ball, failed to finish their work. but this does call in the question whether or not they can have an election on these maps. new york's primary is scheduled for june 28th. mail ballots need to go out sometime in mid may. we are really racing against the clock. in this case it's definitely getting appealed to the court of appeals, the highest court here in new york. they're going to have to weigh in. they are expected to have a hearing as early as next week. someone is either going to have to move the primary or they could rule against democrats here. we're definitely seeing it's the second court ruling saying these maps are unconstitutionally

gerrymandered. this could be a big blow to democrats. in other states they've been gerrymandered out of districts and this is one state where democrats were nationally able to get more. it would be politically influential nationally as well as back here in new york. >> thank you so much. up next, new signs of atrocities committed in ukraine, including what officials say are photos of mass graves just outside of mariupol. we'll go live to ukraine for the latest next. >> and it's time for tech companies to do the right thing. that's what former president obama says about fighting conspiracy theories and disinformation online. but what should we do if companies don't change? you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." alart repo.

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17 after the hour. a company calls maxar, which works with the u.s. government, says a satellite image it just released show freshly dug graves near mariupol. nbc news could not immediately confirm that report but it's a potential clue of the horrors hiding in the ruins of mariupol. nbc's matt bradley spoke with a young boy who just fled that

city. >> reporter: he can't understand why putin destroyed his home. >> i can't understand it either. it's hard to find answers, isn't it? >> nbc's matt bradley is in dnipro, about a six, seven-hour drive from kyiv. and matt, an apparent mass grave in a village just outside the city contained as many as 9,000 bodies. you spoke with ukrainians who just left there. what are you hearing? >> reporter: i spoke with additional ukrainians who just left mariupol just now, just today. we heard, you know, the sad story there isn't just death. it's also torture, it's also detainment, it's also limiting access to food, clean water, medical care. for a lot of people their life is miserable before they're

killed and thrown in a mass grave like this one, which is just outside of mariupol. this tragedy continues for the citizens there but they're continuing to fight, even those who are held up in that steel plant. there are thousands of soldiers there and thought to be maybe at least a thousand civilians. for them it is really even worse than for those who are having to live under russian occupation. now, i've also spoken with some people who are living or have just come from other places in southern ukraine. they say that the russians are trying to solidify their rule, trying to occupy in a way that you've seen it before in other past episodes in history, trying to fire elected governments and selecting officials who are pro russia and some are even trying to institute russian curriculum into ukrainian schools. basically russia has plans for ukraine. we heard that just today from a

russian general who says that russia's dominions in southern ukraine, if their military goals are met, should extend all the way from the border of donetsk all the way to transnhtsa, an enclave controlled by pro-russian separatists within the country of moldova. all of that would mean an incredible amount of violence. it would mean subduing additional huge cities. when we talk about american relief and weapons headed toward ukrainians, this is why president zelenskyy constantly seems to be going on world video tours, appealing and demanding the world try to step up to help ukraine because he's reminded us again and again, this isn't just ukrainian's fight. ukrainians are fighting and dying but he says they're doing

it for the whole world. jose. >> matt, i'm just struck with your conversation with that young boy. it seems like millions and millions of ukraines have been displaced from their home and millions more have actually had to leave their country. matt, when you're talking to a little boy, how do they understand, how do they process what they're living through? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, i got to tell you that conversation was a tough one to have. and that little boy, he left me and my crew all really hard as nails adults, we've seen it all just in tears. and, you know, it was hard to explain. when i said to him that i'm looking for answers myself and i can't find them, that wasn't just me talking to a kid, that was, you know, how i honestly feel. i couldn't explain it to him and i've spoken with more people coming from mariupol, grownups,

and i have trouble rationalizing the situation to them. they want to know where is the west? how is the west not, what they say, closing the skies. they're talking about a no-fly zone. the time is almost up for that. it's almost unclear whether or not a no-fly zone would do anything at all, but when we talk about mariupol, we're talking about a city under siege, a city where clearly once the smoke clears, once the guns fall silent, there's going to be a lot of questions asked about war crimes there. but it's not just mariupol. it's clear the russians have ambitions across the country, under and down the eastern part of that country, the self-declared republics donetsk and luhansk.

>> a russian senior general says they aim to capture all of southern ukraine. how is the pentagon dealing or trying to adapt to this fluid situation? >> you can look at the map we just had up on screen and see that they are on their way to being able to do that. mariupol would be an extremely critical piece of that land bridge that would go all the way from we can see in the eastern part of ukraine, kharkiv, ultimately down to odesa in the southwest part of the country that matt was talking about. that would be the ultimate goal. this would be an enormous feat for russia to carry this out. we've seen in the first six, eight weeks of this invasion that they were overstretched by having too many different lines or axis of assault into the country. this next attack is expected to be more compact.

we hear a lot about donbas, the donetsk area. the expectation is it will be a major line of assault and smaller ones reinforcing it. you see the russians already have areas they're holding there. they have not just russian troops but more logistic support. it they are focused on that area in the southwest where we see the word donbas, down into the zaporizhzhia area and mikaliv area. i'm sorry, they'll be in the defensive position as opposed to the russians who will be on the offense. the ukrainians will be on the

defense, generally a stronger position. in addition, the ukrainians have this massive influx of weapons we've been hearing more and more about. the u.s. and other allies are getting them artillery. this will be a battle of artillery that we see going forward in that area. the u.s. announced yesterday they're sending five more battalions of artillery, that's 72 different howitzers and more than 150,000 artillery rounds in addition to what the u.s. announced last week and others that are sending in that aren't announcing it. the reason it's so critical is the russians have an enormous amount of artillery. a raid around that area inside russia and inside that russian held area inside ukraine. so this is going to be a battle of artillery going forward. the other thing the united states is providing them is with counterartillery radar.

those are moving in in the next couple of days. as the russians are firing artillery, they will be able to use these to identify where the russian artillery is coming from and strike back against it. that's about 50% of the ukrainian military amassed inside that area. the russian goal according to u.s. defense officials is to surround that ukrainian military with what the u.s. calls a pinscher movement or double envelopment, create a situation around them and then move in on them. but the u.s. have been providing ukrainians with more and more intelligence in the recent days with the goal of helping them not only push back any kind of a russian offense but ultimately beat them back and maybe even defeat russia from being able

to. but the expectation is it will be a couple of daunting days in that area. >> i'm wondering more mi-17s, mi-24s, other helicopters and maybe some attack planes could, if they were in the area could be important for the ukrainians to use in this battle against artillery. >> reporter: so the reason that it could be is because mi-17s, these attack helicopters which the united states is sending a few more in literally in the next few days they're expected to start moving them in, the u.s. also announced this week that they've been providing and sort of facilitating additional spare parts for mi-29s, the migs we've been hearing a lot about

that's allowed ukraine to reconstitute 20 more mig fighters why this could be critical also in the coming fight is that the airspace around the area in the east and southeast continues to be contested. what that means is that neither russia nor ukraine is controlling that airspace. both sides have surface to air missiles capabilities that mac it very difficult for both sides to fly. what may be very important going forward, the russians want to establish that air superiority but have not been able to. if the ukrainian can use things like standoff weapons and air strikes to take out some of the russian air defense systems, both on the russian side of the border and in the russian-controlled areas, that could be another game changer. it would stop the russians from being able to fly and carry out any kind of air strikes. now, the ukrainian military has not been flying a whole lot of air strikes in the first several

months of this invasion. that is because of this contested air space. if they're able to take out some of the russian air defenses, it would give them a whole other line of offense. that being said, throughout this entire invasion, we're now nearly 60 days into it, neither side has been able to establish that kind of air superiority. it's not clear if the ukrainians would be able to even with increased air capability. >> president zelenskyy told the world bank his country needs up to $7 billion a month. how long can the u.s., can the world sustain that kind of support? >> well, thanks for having me, jose. that's a great question. that is a lot of money and this is -- look, ukraine was already a struggling country that was relying on a lot of western aid, even before the russian invasion. it was a very dysfunctional

politics and economy. now it's essentially a broken country that is going -- and becoming more and more broken unfortunately every day and is going to require these huge infusions of aid. you know, this speaks to i think a larger and probably the fundamental question beyond the battlefield that we just talked about in such fascinating detail, which is how long will the international community maintain its focus and support financially and militarily for ukraine as this may start to grind on and on for weeks and months, potentially, unfortunately, publics may become numb to the suffering and destruction. it's going to just go on and on. at the same time, you're going to see people starting to really feel the crunch of higher energy prices, higher gas prices in the united states. will republicans start to hammer president biden as we get close to the mid-term elections about these gas prices, maybe even

some republicans complaining about the amount of money that is going to ukraine when there are domestic needs. over time that is a potential threat to ukraine. and i think that's really vladimir putin's best bet at this point is that the international community loses focus, loses will. the costs that are being borne in the west and by western allies start to mount to a point where they become unsustainable. so far all the expectations that that would happen, that countries wouldn't step up to the plate have been false. there's been an incredible response. it would be a mistake to be too cynical and pessimistic. however, i think that's a key thought right now. >> elections on sunday in france and germany has been a little bit more reticent to cut back on purchases of oil and natural gas from russia.

but prime minister -- the president of spain was just in ukraine yesterday. do you see europe continuing that same level of solidarity that we've seen from the united states? >> so again, that french election is going to be huge. for people who are really invested in what happens in ukraine right now, watch to see if marie le pin, the far right populous candidate is able to pull off an upset victory. macron appears to be leading but le pen is within striking distance. this would be a real earthquake. i wrote a story about this in the the "new york times" i think yesterday. it would one set a lot of the biden administration. standing up against arab, le pen has had some friendly relations

with vladimir putin. she doesn't think france should bear a lot of pain and that could be the first step towards new cracks in the coalition. >> michael, always a pleasure to see you, courtney kube, thank you both for being with us this morning. and "on assignment with richard engel, ukraine, freedom or death" tonight 10 p.m. eastern, 7 p.m. pacific and streaming on peacock. and more breaking news right now. we're watching a courtroom in atlanta where congresswoman marjory taylor greene has just taken the stand. this hearing centers on a lawsuit challenging her qualifications to run for reelection because of her rhetoric surrounding the insurrection. what's going on there? >> reporter: jose, she is on the stand in the building right behind me. she's been on the stand for about 20 minutes or so and facing questioning from a group

of voters who have essentially challenged her candidacy. it looks at a provision of the 14th amendment ratified during the civil war era, essentially saying anybody who has taken an oath to protect the constitution and then challenges it is not eligible to run for office. casting doubt on the election results, all of that played a large role in the insurrection and what happened on january 6th. we're listening to her on the stand right now. the judge just called her a hostile witness because there have been a bunch of questions back and forth that she is either no answering or we've seen objections to. her lawyer is really making the case. i spoke with him earlier that she was a victim of what happened on january 6th, that her life was in danger, she was

fearful as well. he calls this nothing more than a show trial. this makes her the first lawmaker to testify openly under oath about what happened in january 6th, the first members of congress. it also noteworthy for the precedent it could set for other potential lawmakers around january 6th. it also very noteworthy because of the attention that it's drawn. former president trump put out a rather leng lengthy statement in her support. representative matt gates is giving his support. so this is something that himself and she's been on the stand for about 20 minutes or so and it's been a bit of a combative questioning between her and this attorney. jose. >> blaine alexander in atlanta, thank you. in about two hours, president biden will mark earth day in washington state. but account white house stay focused on the climate while it

struggles to bring gas prices down? you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." e diaz-balart reports.

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nbc's josh lederman joins me now. good morning. tell me about the president's day and your reporting on how the sky high gas prices around the country could pose a threat to his agenda. >> reporter: today, jose, the president is announcing an executive order that is aimed at protecting old growth forests and that is important particularly because trees, as we know, basically breathe carbon dioxide and store huge amounts of co 2 in them. so when they are threatened by wildfires or other causes and actually we have less trees, that contributes hugely to global warming. if it seems like president biden is focusing on the small ball today on earth day, it because his administration is in a really difficult spot as they try to keep on pace with their very ambitious climate goals to have u.s. emissions by the end of this century and to move the u.s. towards a renewable energy

future, but they have this much more immediate goal, a political one, which is that the gas price and inflation crisis is top of mind for voters right now and the biden administration is trying to do everything they possibly can to show voters before the mid terms they are doing what they can to lower costs at the fuel pump, at stores. they're encouraging more temporary energy production, renewing leasing for energy companies to drill on federal lands and making sure there's more supply available, releasing a million barrels a day from the national oil reserve and that has climate and environmental activists saying this is the no the full force move towards renewable and clean energy we had expected from the biden administration, and it has left president biden and his administration on a very different note today on earth day than they were just one year ago when they were riding high on the decision to put the u.s.

back in the paris climate agreement, setting new goals and telling the country they were putting the u.s. for the very first time on a path toward a sustainable future. jose? >> thank you so much. up next, former president obama and his urgent warning about disinformation and what he says he wants congress and tech companies to do about it. ♪ ♪ 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... to come to the table and do more incredible things. ♪ i may be close to retirement, but i'm as busy as ever. careful now. - thanks. -you got it. and thanks to voya, i'm confident about my future.

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45 past the hour. social media platforms are facing fresh calls for reform from an important voice, former president barack obama speaking yesterday at stanford university. he warned of the dangers of unchecked online disinformation. understand it's not necessary for people to believe this information in order to weaken democratic institutions. we just have to flood a country's public square with enough raw sewage, we just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer no what to believe. >> nbc news senior reporter ben collins has more. i'm also joined by alex stamos, former chief security officer as

facebook. alex, what was your reaction to the former president's speech? >> first off, we were extremely proud to be able to host president obama at the stanford policy center. and i'm very excited he's getting involved with this. i think his speech demonstrated a really smart read of the current situation and i think serves both a call to action for congress and technical companies, as well as a bit of corrective to some of the really simplistic ways people have thought about this situation. he opened up talking about disinformation as a supply and demand problem. he talked about how tech company product choices have absolute impact on supply but also, unlike most political elites, talked about the demand issues and the need to reduce the desire of americans to be lied to intentionally. he really did the reading. it's wonderful and fortunate to think back to a president who

was this kind of deeply engaged this these kind of difficult issues. >> you sweeted that the speared was a good network and are supercharged but don't create them. >> what did you mean by that? >> president obama talked about in his speech that white nationalism and terrorist movements isn't something that popped up because of social media, they have existed for century. but the ability to see their propaganda first, to see the spin on news and real information from those white national groups first and to cede themselves into our news, that is new. that is something that social media basically created. and he said, you know, the design of these platforms is he said tilting us in the wrong direction. a really interest thing, that clip you just played, that barack obama said about, you

know, raw sewage being in our system. that is basically a direct paraphrasing of something that could not be said on tv. this is a five, six-year reading on this disinformation that's going on in our country right now. it's a good primer to are what's -- for what's going on in this space. >> it's this overwhelming wave that just floods people's sources. i want to play for you another part of the speech and get your reaction after. >> tech companies need to be more transparent about how they operate. so much of the conversation around this is focused on what people post. the bigger issue is what content these platforms promote.

>> s i was just thinking about this. i mean, the content they promote or do not promote is decided by who and how does that possibly change? >> so i think he's totally right. again, i think this is a a lot of traditionally the conversation among political outlets has been around controlling what people could say. the assumption is the only way to stop disinformation is taking people's entire accounts down or pieces of content. there are situations where that is reasonable and i agree with some of the more controversial decisions, such as taking down president trump's account. but i think that is a very heavy tool and it is a tool creating a lot of political discord and inability to come to some kind of political consensus on what the reasonable position of tech companies is. the president is talking about

the company's host people's speech and there's mechanisms that promote that speech. recommendation engines. if you're on facebook, it might recommend groups, youtube, videos to watch. there are editorial decisions some platforms make. substack hosts people's news letters and decides to highlight certain writers as their top tier of writers and give them special financial deals. what he's speaking to is in those situations where they're making an editorial decision themselves, they need to take more responsibility for the content and they can do so without necessarily silencing those voices completely. i was happy to hear that from the president because i think that's an area of focus that is much more productive than deflat forming. >> you know, the issue of deplatforming.

what's the logic of leaving the dictatorship in cuba and their ability to go on social media and talk about that or china and how they're able to express themselves. or iran. i'm wondering those decisions are taken by whom? and should there not be some accountability of that, alex? >> yeah, so, that specific issue, on the use of american social media platforms by authoritarian states, we've been a bit of positive movement sings the are russian invasion of ukraine. where finally decisions have been made to either deplatform or, more appropriately, quarantine the content created by state-created entities used to support ukraine with disinformation. i would like to see the platforms expand that to a whole swath of authoritarian states and the most important is the people's republic of china the chinese have been paying close

attention to what worked and did not work for russia in the 2016 to 2020 range and they have built up a disinformation capability that, in many ways, eclipses the russians and has been big on social media. a number of them say a google or microsoft, those are companies that don't just run social media platforms but have large enterprise businesses for which they actually make money in china and where sillicon valley is in a tough spot. the president didn't specifically talk about the authoritarian states but i think his call for moral ethical decisions from the companies will hopefully be heard from the ceos and can help on the china issue specifically. >> china is all over the place. and you know, in cuba and nicaragua and venezuela. >> in spanish. cgtn, i believe their largest audience is is in spanish.

the state media outlet of china is all over the world and has been pushing chinese disinformation. >> absolutely. and [ inaudible ] is another organization throughout latin america. but thank you very much for being with us this morning. appreciate it. this morning patrick lyoya's family is celebrating his life after he was shot and killed at a michigan traffic stop. what we've. what we've

right now the funeral service is getting underway for patrick lyoya, the 26-year-old black man shot and killed after a struggle during a traffic stop april 4th. allison barber joins me from outside the service. what are you seeing today? >> reporter: hey, jose, weave are watched as hundreds of

people, mourners have. >> into the shirts. t-shirts here, some saying justice for patrick. yesterday in lancing, the family as well as friends and local activists descended on the steps of the state's capitol building demanding three two things he they want the name of the police officer who shot and killed patrick lyoya. they want to see him fired and prosecuted. but today the focus is on grieving the life of a young man who came with his family from the congo fleeing violence. his father said he brought his fa because he thought they would be safe in america and never expected something like this to happen. listen to some of what he told us about the pain of burying his first-born son.

>> i have to bury my son. i don't know if i can have the heart to not bury my son. i will bury my son. and i will say goodbye to him so he can go in a peaceful way. >> reporter: this was a traffic stop. this all started over a traffic start. we say the car that patrick lyoya was driving had a license plate not registered to the vehicle. there was a bit of a fight, a tussle, a struggle over the taser. but at the moment when he was shot in the back of the head, he was on the ground on all fours with the officer pushing behind his head. there has been a lot of talk in this community in years about instances, moments, a very famous one involving a 11-year-old girl five years ago where an officer pulled a weapon

on her while arresting her. there's a lot of concern in this community about how police handle minor situations and the community feels they're too quick to pull out their weapon and all of this is in the context of this very somber day for patrick lyoya's family. >> thank you for the privilege of your time. see you on "nbc nightly news" saturday. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. ♪ good day, everyone. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. as a russian commander now says are russia is seeking control of southern ukraine, beyond its previously stated aim of conquering the east. that would cut off a zelenskyy government from black sea ports, giving russia the land bridge it's long sought. >> they're doing what we call shaping operations. continuing to move in,