>> have a body, good afternoon,

i'm yasmin vossoughian. we have a lot to get to in the two hours ahead. breaking news out of france in the last hour or so, french president emmanuel macron has defeated far right rival marine le pen. winning a second five year term in a high stakes race with wide-ranging implications. we are live in paris with their reaction. what this means for the global political landscape. go 60 of russia's war in ukraine, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says he is missing meeting face to face with secretary of state antony blinken and lloyd austin in the highest profile visit yet from u.s. leaders to ukraine since the war began. we should mention we don't have a lot of details on this meeting and it has not been officially confirmed by the white house or any other senior level officials as well. meanwhile, russia continuing its aggressive push to take these. rejecting calls for a cease-fire on this orthodox easter sunday. we are live with the very

latest -- latest there. and then back home, major followed from the release of damaging takes, releasing damaging details about republican leaders and the attack on the capitol. democratic congresswoman zoloft, who serves on the committee, is going to dive deeper into that mccarthy tapes and the bombshell that -- mark meadows was warned ahead of time. coming up in the next hour, my conversation with ukraine air force pilot, moon fish. he will join me live to talk about his firsthand experience defending his country and what he says needs to happen for ukraine to win this war. we want to begin though with that breaking news out of france. >> [speaking foreign language] >> they are saying that emmanuel macron has won a

second term as president after fighting off a tough challenge from far-right rival marine le pen when the final results are -- announced it appears he will have secured 58% of the vote. our reporter is in paris covering this. karen this is quite the moment for paris, france, overall. the margin is much narrower though band then back in 2017. but still wider than initially expected. walk us through what is happening over there. >> yes, yasmin, it's been a nail-biting election and right down to the minute. the first exit poll came out, you can see the relief that people were confident in the final stretch. we talked about turnout, and it seems like there's been some slippage since 2017 but it was enough to carry emmanuel macron back to the lease a palace. the start of the -- the star of the stage right now is the eiffel tower, it's a little behind me, this is the backdrop for his election

night. he is the first president in the past 20 years to be reelected, and combats do not have a good track record here since 2002 when jack chirac was reelected. this has been an uphill battle for macron. he's about to turn up here and i'm crowded behind the barricade as you can see, surrounded by reporters and press, all ready to speak to the president and hoping to get that famous handshake that is such a big moment that we are seeing. you can see just behind, me some of the cable caterers just turned up. this is his security detail and the president is arriving right now. i spoke to the finance minister, he told me that they have been listening, a much more humble approach. don't think it was the cost of crisis will be starting to eat away at his villains in recent weeks, but more on ukraine and -- sanctions, back to you. >> karen, thank you so much, and of course seeing so many

provisions there are french, celebrating the reelection of emmanuel macron with the beautiful eiffel tower in the background. i want to get some other news in ukraine while we're waiting for zelenskyy to confirm the statement there in fact visiting kyiv today. this is coming as russian forces continue breed brutal attacks in odessa, and they are trying to storm an area of mariupol as well kelly, good to talk, to just talk to us so what is happening on the ground there, especially where you are in odessa. >> yes, yasmin, a lot of outrage in the real sense of anger in odessa. one day after russian cruise missiles struck an apartment building in this city. to give you perspective, this city has not seen a lot of shelling by russian forces.

last crews missile attack here was three weeks ago on an oil refinery and not on a civilian site. yesterday the middle of the afternoon, on the day before easter's celebrated in this country, a missile hit the 16 story building and a popular residential building of the city. it left eight people dead among them and this is what really has captured the outrage among the most for three months year old little girl. with her mother and grandmother. 18 people injured as well the local prosecutors were there, who saw how police looked today. they wanted to add violence this as a war crime and premeditated murder.

so his kids after seeing something like this in the city's take a listen. >>. and they don't know what is going to go what it's going to be tomorrow, where are they going to it tomorrow? >> the russian defense ministry said that they did not target civilian areas, they were targeting military sites. they claimed to have destroyed a cache of or a large consignment of u.s. and european and there's a general sense of anxiety here. in the sense that this may not be the last, yasmin, this comes

after the plan was made public just a couple days ago by the russian defense. but also in the south and intention, it was to conquer all this territory, including odessa. as one? >> hey just quickly here because i know you do have a curfew there so don't have all. >> sure, there's a curfew between 10 pm and. and even with this hotel all the hallways are dark. and we are given special participation to.

people are walking around people are driving, going into cafés. not a law. . >> i'll right kelly i'm gonna let your crew go and get back to your hotels, seek, safety thank you for reporting on this. we appreciate the work that you and your team are doing. with that, i want to bring in and mess nbc criminal analyst, jack jacobs. thank you for joining. us as always, my friend, great to talk to you. let's talk about the significance of the visits from both secretary lloyd austin and

engineering blinken as well, possibly meeting with ukrainian president zelenskyy. we are expecting obviously, this is likely because of the security issue on the ground there, but nonetheless, ukrainian president announcing this is it. >> well it's designed to be a. . , east but far worse. evan far worst, as you reported, in the south where russians are attempting to take over the entire coastline. from the sea all oil to romania. this is extremely difficult. and this is a good time for us to. and they take odell and drive

all the way to the border. and in the second it will isolate moldova, who is terribly concerned about a possible russian invasion as well. . what type of message to him. he has very close relationships, economic relationships, with, france, germany and it's difficult for the u.s.. at the difficult of the war, to get these two [interpreter] -- countries in particular to support the ukrainians. we should not underestimate the importance of macomb's win of the presidency in this second

term in france, supporting the rest of nato. but the importance of this. artillery pieces, pockets, drones,. i'm gonna start the, attack on the east, yasmin. >> i'll be interviewing ukrainian fire pilot later on in the show. and they ask, how so many ukrainians have been doing periodically through this whole time, for making fighter. jets the u.s. will not provide fighter jets because they are worried that putin will see that as crossing the line. what do you say to that ukrainian fighter pilot but not

necessarily having the tools to do so. >> it's extremely painful to watch all of this. they are making a great deal out of very little. there's reports a couple days ago that mid 29. it's important that the ukrainians have these weapons so that they can do counter battery attacks against surface to air weapons, and surface to surface weapons. particularly those land based cruise missiles, multiple rocket launchers, and artillery pieces, which are being -- they are being used by the russians to devastating effect. ukrainian civilians. it's really important that the

west do what it can to support the ukrainian air force. they want more planes, and i think the west has got them in the former soviet countries and their subject to attack by russian aircrafts but it's important that they're at least in the air parity that the russians do not control these skies, and the russian -- ukrainian air force can do this with proper support. >> i'm a tactical guy, so i'd ask a tactical question rather than strategic. i would go, what are the first to a t there after. and be honest. potential into this, he probably has a good strategic and tactical view of what these ought to be.

>> think you always for weighing in on this, and we appreciate it. coming up later this hour, i mentioned i'm gonna be speaking with igor, a former investigator to the. we are continuing to follow the latest developments in ukraine, and we will update you as it comes up ahead. could kevin mccarthy be one of the u? they released audio reveals or he pushed trump to resign. i'm going to ask him, is aloft, of california, about this. and messages he received before the insurrection. we will be back. we will be back. (sighs wearily) here i'll take that!

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than half a decade now, -- has been a staunch ally of the former president. even after the january 6th attack, mccarthy remained the former presidents ardent supporters. but when he saw what the cameras were off kevin mccarthy was in fact singing a pretty different tune. let's listen. >> i know this is not fun. i know this is not great. i know this is very tough, but

what i wanted to do, especially through here is, i don't want to rush things. i want 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. >> all right with me now is represented so zoe lofgren, -- welcome thank you so much for joining us on a sunday afternoon, we appreciate. it let me just start with those tapes there, pick up where mccarthy left off. and that is did the committee know of the existence of these tapes before they were released? >> i don't know about it. i learned about it through the news media, and it's really amazing that mr. mccarthy denied ever saying anything and then with a very short period of time these calls, the

recordings are really showing what he said wasn't the truth. but what's even more interesting on these tapes was his relaying of the presidents comments to him, we're not investigating kevin mccarthy, we're investigating january 6th and what happened i'm the president apparently telling him he realized that it was his fault, that's consciousness of the presidents guilt. we'd like to talk to mr. mccarthy about this, and i think as you know we've asked him to come in and we hope that he will. >> so, one of the next steps if he doesn't? >> well, some have said we should subpoena him, there isn't really a speech or debate issue in the constitution on that, because that provision of the constitution says you may not be held -- in any other place.

but of course this is the same place it's the congress, however enforcement of a subpoena is more complicated because it does involve other branches of government. i would hope that mr. mccarthy realizes that he has a moral obligation to come in and tell us what he knows. he should not be hiding the truth from the committee or from the american people. let's hope he has the honor to come forward and just tell the truth, that's all we ask. >> what do you make of the former presidents denial of culpability after hearing the tapes of kevin mccarthy saying in fact he takes no responsibility and didn't say that? >> well, the president is known for statements that bear little resemblance to the truth, i think news media used to add up how many untruths per day were said. so, whether this falls into that category i don't know, but we certainly want to see mr. crump talk to mr. mccarthy.

>> i want to play a clip from a show yesterday in which i spoke with charlie's ike's, about what was happening with mark meadows as well. that information that we're now hearing that meadows actually knew there was a possibility of violence being told by the secret service before january six. i want to talk on the other side. >> mark meadows is at the center of all of what was going on with the white house on january six. he is the hub, that's why it's so urgent that we have the department of justice aggressively pursuing all of this, these guys are never gonna tell the truth until they are forced by a federal grand jury. >> what do you make of that congresswoman? >> well, as we said in our legal filings we have evidence that mr. meadows was told in advance of january six, of the likelihood or possibility of violence. he was told that this alternate

electors scheme, pressing the vice president, was not legal and yet he proceeded anyhow despite the risk, despite the unlawful-ness of the activity. as you know we've issued a subpoena to mr. meadows, he has not responded, we have voted, the house has voted to refer to that matter to the department of justice for criminal prosecution, for criminal contempt of congress. we also responded to what i think is a very frivolous lawsuit saying that the committee doesn't have a right to investigate this that is not the case. we asked the court to proceed to make him come in and tell the truth. >> are you frustrated, the doj has not push these criminal referrals to force meadows's hand to testify in front of your committee?

>> well, obviously the department of justice is independent of the congress it has to make its own decisions, but i will not be on as if i didn't say i am pretty frustrated. what he did, violates the statute as we outlined in more than 200 page filing, what we're asking for has nothing to do with an assertion of executive privilege. his frivolous assertion is bogus, and he should not be allowed to get away with it. we're not trying to be punitive, or trying to get information. so, if he comes in and tells the truth will be happy to tell doj to go ahead, we don't need a prosecution, the goal here is to get the information and to get the truth. and if the department of justice needs to prosecute for that to happen, they really should do that. >> i want to recount for u.s. story that was told by representative raskin, your colleague about the former vice

president last week, i want you to weigh in on it. raskin said the vice president secret service agent including one who was carrying the nuclear football, right into an un-disclosed placed in the capitol, raskin suspects they were reporting to see trump secret service agents, they were trying to with pants away from the capitol, he uttered -- of this entire thing i've seen so far. i am not getting in that car, raskin said he knew exactly what this insight was going to do. does a story like this, change your approach when it comes to the former vice president? >> well, we are considering whether or not to ask the vice president to come in, mr. raskin was quoting that report was a quote that i've also read about what happened on that day,

and certainly had mr. pence left the capitol we could have had a very different outcome we. the effort have been made over to overturn the results of the election, the former president to seize power against the decision of the voters, that could've been the outcome. >> so, there is a conversation having as to whether or not the vice president to testify? >> as i say, will announce it when we're ready, but it has not been decided. and the committee works in a very consensus fashion, we listen to each other, we hear the pros and cons from our staff, and then we never had a contentious discussion, we move on together as a team on this committee. it's been very productive. >> congresswoman, thank you for

spending sometimes with us. we appreciate it. still ahead everybody, nbc's -- on the border of tijuana, mexico, over the -- seeking refuge here in the u.s.. >> i love that the government is helping them, because they're going through a hard situation. >> but that's not what happens for people here? >> we should be treated the same way. >> we should be treated th same way same way ole world. ♪ (ceo) ♪ i want today. ♪ ♪ i want tomorrow. ♪ (dispatch) ♪ i want it noooooow! ♪ (vo) get 5g that's ready right now. once upon a time, at the magical everly estate, landscaper larry and his trusty crew... were delayed when the new kid totaled his truck. timber... fortunately, they were covered by progressive, so it was a happy ending... for almost everyone.

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month anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine the highest level visit by an american delegation since the war broke out is happening right now, secretary of state tony blinken and lloyd austin meeting today with volodymyr zelenskyy. to discuss his country's call for more powerful such as the conflict moves into the next phase. joining me now is former advisor to president zelenskyy, igor it's good to talk to. once again we appreciate you joining us whenever you can.

talk to me about the significance of this meeting between secretary austin and blinken, and your president? >> thank you for having me. first of all i do have some breaking news, it came two minutes ago one of the close advisers to andrea yermak the chief of staff has confirmed that the meeting is taking place now. now i am not at liberty to discuss details because obviously it's a security and -- secretary of state and secretary austin to be in kyiv. it's a vital show of support for our country, it's a good chance for them to see everything firsthand, what happens and to also discuss in face to face with president and to discuss everything openly and at length. >> i just want to reiterate, we don't have personal confirmation of that here at

nbc news despite what is your hearing on the ground there, but it's important that we're not getting confirmation of any of that type of reporting. what does the lewinsky mean when he says foreign leaders should not come with empty hands, what specific weapons? >> he's being very pragmatic, there is a lot of demand for western leaders to come to kyiv at the moment to visit places like bucha and -- to take those pictures and to showcase to their citizens that you know, they've been there, they've seen everything, they're part of the fight for liberty -- at the same time i mean ukrainians care about is the actual support that we're getting. or the ones fighting this war. so, we obviously prefer that there are visits that come with military aid and with the economic assistance to ukraine. president zelenskyy has been in the middle of that for a few months now, he's become very --

for the sake of his country. >> what other weaponry at this point is needed, i know president has committed another $800 million in both military and humanitarian aid to ukraine. what else is needed in your mind at this point? >> well, i think we need many artillery systems, long range attacks systems that we can get because we need to liberate places like mariupol for example that are suffering great, people on the ground that describe mary opal as simply hell on earth. to liberate their cities, and elaborate them likely, we need heavy artillery we need weapons to attack and not to defend. it's no longer -- we need something heavier than that. >> speak to be more about what you're hearing on the ground when it comes to what's happening in mariupol specifically, i know there wasn't a monetary in court

order that was blocked by russia as of yesterday to get more people out and you're talking about people being trapped there, what are you hearing? >> there is resistance still in the vicinity, -- steal words planned their. there's lots of civilians trapped, there's a desperate humanitarian situation, so there's no reason why whatsoever that everything food, medicine, everything is finishing. -- they're counting in minutes there, there is no way to resupply them. you know we are in desperate need to create -- civilians at least but you know russia has been having, and they're continuing to bombard the shelters, we're gonna need -- the senate. he >> just quickly here, igor, you talk about there's no way to resupply the people on the ground.

the civilians on the ground there without the military as well, are you considered -- me kearney melter that are flashing both russians to the south and the east unlike like you are able to do in for citizens in areas like kyiv? >> in mariupol, they're completely research re-circled, there's no way to supply, obviously apart from this we need to supply the military, but it might be silly to think that russians will allow that. but at least civilians, we're hoping to break those corridors, but everything we saw from russia, we're not getting our hopes up. >> igor novikov, we appreciate you. thank you so much, good to talk to you today. beginning tomorrow everybody ukrainians fleeing the war with russia will need sponsors before being allowed to the u.s.. and if they seek asylum at the u.s. mexico border, they're gonna be turned away, this move by the u.s. coming as the

migrants to the border pull out what they see as unfair treatment here. and besides jacob still goff's reporting. >> thanks for having us. >> at a migrant shelter in taiwan, a, mexico -- special treatment for ukrainians fleeing the war and being admitted to the u.s.. >> i love that the government is helping them, because they're going through a hard situation. but >> that's not happening for people? here >> we should all be treated the same at this. playing >> purge it is mexico and seeking asylum in the states her story just like others we met here. >> can any of you raise your hand if you're fleeing violence? [speaking foreign language] >> but they wait sometimes up to a year for different story from the -- pen arrow has seen for ukrainian refugees. >> it's a well organized operation, vans picking up folks at the airport. >> in a separate makeshift shelter in tijuana set up with the ukrainians we met a luna who fled kyiv. >> my sister from odessa called

me and say but. -- [noise] >> you're scared? run along as her family approaches the border. two hours later they emerge in the u.s. side where they're picked up by family friends. >> how are you feeling? >> happy. [laughs] >> relief for her back in mexico frustration. >> how do you guys account for the difference in the treatment between them and you guys? >> racism. . racism >> in the biden administration responded while most migrants are still kept from crossing the southern border, the title 42 health or is granting exceptions to particularly vulnerable individuals of all nationalities on a case by case basis. jacob soboroff nbc news, teal on, i mexico. >> thank you jacob for that. the next hour of ukrainian

fighter pilot moon officials gonna join me to talk about his experiences at the country's war against russia. in the sky, you don't want to miss that conversation. coming up though some of the other top stories of the day, plus the spotlight tackling the confusion as to rounding the changing mandate for wearing masks. >> no meaning yes. look i want to straight answer, is there someone else or isn't there yes or no? >> no. >> now there is, are no there isn't? >> please. >> please. >> please. 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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senator in u.s. history. statement saying the former senator passed away surrounded by family, all of the cause of death was not released. president and first lady biden reacting to the news a short time ago that the statement saying in part this, he was quite simply an american original. -- deepest sympathies to elaine in all the hatch children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. california man now arrested and charged for making threats against the dictionary company miriam webster all over the companies inclusive language around gender. this is according to u.s. attorney's office and the district of massachusetts. 34-year-old jeremy damon ensign, set to appear in court -- interstate communication threats to commit violence. okay, up next masks are no longer required at most airplanes, trains, buses, rodgers, but is this really the right time for a big step to normalcy, that this week, we'll

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buses were lifted. i got the same announcement. major carriers, united, american, jetblue dropping the requirements. the development as for most of the milestones during this pandemic is split. when it comes to public opinion. some say covid is far from over and others are urging a return to normal after more than two years. that return to normal as singling out at their travel in particular, was the topic of my next guests recent podcast. >> we're seeing a big change between how the airlines and the unions view these mandates, and we're also seeing a shift in sort of the political statement. sentiment. it seems like there's really being a message of return to normalcy that's being stressed, coming from president biden, all the way down. they don't want the airlines in the airports to be any different than any other businesses, or modes of transportation in that regard. the risk of contracting covid in is no greater than it would

be anywhere else, and in fact, it is probably less, according to a lot of industry studies. and so they think that with the summer season coming up, the airlines believe that now is probably the time it makes sense to get rid of these mandates, and really embrace, hopefully, a return to pre-covid levels of demand this spring and summer. a >> joining me now is ben goldstein. the north american transport editor aviation weak network and co-host of the window seat podcast. thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. talk to me. we're kind of watching this whole thing unfold, the news breaking, the announcements being made across the board on transportation. whatever transportation you happen to be on that day. were you surprised that the major airlines embraces change and ran with it? >> i was surprised in the way it happened, but i was not surprised to see the major

airlines embrace the change. they'd already advocate to remove the mask mandate. they also wanted to remove covid testing for international arrivals which still remains in place. airlines feel like this is bad for demand and bad for the travel industry, so they are happy to remove these mandates and they took the first opportunity to do so. >> do you think travelers know are going to take this guidance and run with it and essentially saying it is now safe to travel, taking it a science, once again? >> it's not a scientific decision. this was a court decision, illegal decision. will the travelers run with it? well, i think there's going to be some split opinions and clearly many people that you saw on those video clips are excited to no longer have to wear masks. i think there are some travelers who are concerned and

will continue to wear masks if they chose to do so. it's just going to be an individual decision now, as opposed to a federal mandate. people have to judge based on their personal risk tolerance. big >> i want to play a little bit of you talking about airline worker safety and having to confront people when it came to keeping those masks on during the mandate. >> the unions are tired of the flight attendants in particular, of acting as policemen, and police women, and it forces them to take on a level of confrontation in their job that ultimately does lead to escalation in some cases. and unfortunately for them, that has led to a number of incidents where flight attendants and crew members have been harmed. here it doesn't excuse passenger behavior. nothing excuses that behavior. but to the extent that enforcing these policies have added a layer of stress to

these frontline workers during the pandemic, and it's just something that they feel now, given the improving situation with the pandemic, that they no longer want to have to deal with, and frankly, i don't blame them. big >> do you think, because of these issues with peoples behavior of airline workers, for instance, having to confront passengers to put their masks on, i get it. it's not okay. that behavior is not okay. but do you think that warrants the ending of the mask mandate on these major airline carriers? especially that it was based off of a court decision and not the guidance of the cdc? >> no big, the unruly passenger behavior does not really factor into the decision itself lead to remove the mandate. that is a public health and safety decision. the unions are just tired of

dealing with, which has been a persistent problem. the numbers of these incidents have spiked dramatically in the past two years and still remain a lot higher than they were pre-covid. so, the unions want to see this removed for that reason. but the actual decision, ultimately, is illegal and public health decision. >> did you ever think that the airline should have instituted, if they could, amid a vaccine mandate? that would've taken it out of the equation? right? if you're vaccinated you could fly hard. and then when it came to instituting a mask mandate, obviously, that would have been kind of the follow-up, right? had they instituted this mag -- vaccine mandate, maybe they would've gotten into these confrontations with passengers that refused to wear masks. >> i think a vaccine mandate would have been a lot harder, particularly for domestic travel. i also think it would have really harmed travel demand at a time when it was already big

-- the industry was opposed to it. i think the mask mandate is a much easier measure to an act and to enforce and a vaccine mandate, which would require databases and various documentation like that, but you know, you see how difficult it has been to enforce that mask mandate. you can imagine how much more difficult it would have been to enforce a vaccine mandate. ultimately, i think that is why they chose not to go that route. just because of the impact on travel demand, and the difficulty of forcing a vaccine mandate. it would've been a real nightmare for flight attendants and tsa workers and others. big >> ben, thank you. appreciate it. make sure to tune in wherever you can get your new podcasts. episodes are dropping every single week. coming up on our next hour, we've got the latest developments on the possible meeting between u.s. officials and ukrainian president zelenskyy. plus, my one-on-one interview

with ukrainian fighter pilot moon fish. which capabilities are being used to stop russia? big -- joining me after talking to some colorful characters yesterday at trump's rally. >> how do you feel about what's going on in the ukraine right now? >> i'm backing russia. >> you back russia? >> yes i do. >> yes i do. ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪of travel i've had my share, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere.♪ ♪♪ when you join ihop's new rewards program, the international bank of pancakes, and start stacking pancoins toward free food, you get a smile on your plate. download the app and join the rewards program today. hey businesses! you all deserve something epic! so we're giving every business, our best deals on every iphone - including the iphone 13 pro with 5g.

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the sudan if you're just joining us welcome, if you're still with us thank you for sticking around. we have another jam-packed hour ahead of us, big news out of france emmanuel macron is projected to win a second term as president, that hasn't happened since 2002 by the way. being far murray le pen for the second time, a live report from paris is straight ahead plus if you're live in the ground in ukraine as the war enters day 60. senator of state antony blinken, and lloyd austin our expect to meet with ukrainian volodymyr zelenskyy according to an announcement he made yesterday. u.s. officials so far haven't confirm this meeting, however zelenskyy says he will discuss additional weapons, shipments to crane, more on that in just a moment. plus inside a trump rally the former president took the stage in ohio last night to