washington. this morning in ukraine more than 100 civilians have finally been evacuated from the steel plant in the bombarded city of mariupol. according to ukraine's military police. there are conflicting reports on where they are being taken and the ability to evacuate more people as shelling did resume overnight. nbc's erin m mccloughan. >> i was afraid to stick my nose out. >> also right now, speaker nancy pelosi and top house democrats meeting with poland's president. it follows a meeting with ukraine's president zelenskyy in kyiv. the speaker made this major declaration for support for ukraine's fight. >> my commitment is to be there

for you until the fight is done. >> and in a matter of days the first lady will also visit the region and will meet with service members and those misplaced by the war, including on mother's day. more on the war in moments. also this hour, the 2020 election and the spotlight, a special grand jury selection happening now in georgia, and the big question they are going to try to answer, did president trump and others try to influence the 2020 election in georgia. and then the day of the republican national committee will now have to turn over.

we start with the war in ukraine. i want to bring in lieutenant twitty, former commander of european command, and michael mcfaul. kelly cobiella, after weeks of failed attempts those civilians being evacuated from the steel plant and now city council saying evacuations are on hold and there was shelling in the last 24 hours so what is the latest you are hearing? >> andrea, we understand there are two different evacuations going on. one is the effort by the city council in mariupol to get people to different sites there and get them on the buses and out of the city. that evacuation is on hold right now. it's unclear why it's been delayed, but it has been delayed several times in the last 12 to 24 hours or so.

at one point we heard it was delayed because of safety concerns but did not hear anything more about that, and then there's the evacuation from the steel plant in mariupol, and you are seeing those pictures now. about 100 people, civilians were able to get out of the steel plant yesterday. they were taken on buses. this was coordinated by the united nations. the international committee of the red cross. it's confusing and conflicting information when it comes to where they are right now. there are reports they were taken to russian held territory but that if they wanted to go to ukrainian held territory they would be allowed to do so. we understood from the mayor of mariupol that those buses would be in ukrainian-controlled, about 140 miles from mariupol at some point this morning, and then we heard maybe this

afternoon, and my colleague said they still have not arrived. what he did say is that because there has been a lull in the shelling in that city, people in and around mariupol are leaving on their own. he said they are seeing cars with license plates from around that district, and he has spoken to one woman from her son which is that city in the south which is completely controlled by the russians and other people from other parts of mariupol. i guess, andrea, to give you a sense of how confusing the situation is there, we spoke to a man over the weekend that made about nine trips down to mariupol to rescue people there, and he said each time it gets harder to get in, in part because of the fighting, although we know there's a bit of a lull now, and also because of the russian checkpoints. you have to pass several russian checkpoints in order to get into ukrainian-held territory, and often times people we spoke to

said they are checked for tattoos to see if they have an allegiance to a group the russians might be interested in, and there are fears they might be held back or sent to one of these what are called filtration centers the russians are running and won't be able to get out to ukrainian held territory, and there's another issue, and that's an information blackout, basically, in mariupol, and we know that's the case with her son as well. people there are not simply getting the information. they don't know what to believe. they are being told one thing, in parts of the country the safest place in in mariupol and not to leave. they simply don't know where to go or how to get out or whether they should get out. they don't know who to trust, andrea. >> thank you so much. general, what should be the main takeaway from the fact that russia did permit the temporary

cease-fire to permit people in larger numbers, and only 20 had gotten out before, and maybe get aid in. is this public relations or to get the civilians out so they can then attack it as a legitimate military target and the soldiers? >> first of all, 100 folks approximately came out yesterday. i want to remind you there are still 100,000 civilians left in mariupol. there are approximately 1,000 left in the steel plant itself, and you have around 500, 600 soldiers that are wounded and very sick in the plan the alone with approximately 1,000 soldiers in there. this is just a small amount of came out yesterday. it's not a victory for the

ukrainians to pull all these civilians out of there. what i will tell you is, as i looked at this, yes, we got some folks out of there, but the russians have taken the opportunity to make this chaotic. they have turned off the internet, as you heard, they are searching vehicles and pulling people out -- who knows where this bus has gone. i would not call this bus a success. of course, we have got some lives out of there but we don't know where they have been taken, so we have to see whether or not this will continue. >> to that point, exactly, let me follow-up for a moment because there are reports from the associated press, some of the buses, as kelly was pointed out, they had not arrived at their destination and it has been hours and were maybe taken to russian-controlled areas, and this could be part of the so-called filtration situation, which is ominous, and what you

point out for context, at least 1,000 more civilians inside the steel plant itself? >> absolutely. i would not trust the russians here. they were probably taken somewhere else. as you can see, this is just another incident where the russians have taken advantage of the ukrainians and to continue to terrorize them. >> so garrett, let's talk about speaker pelosi. i was wondering why she was not at the dinner saturday night and now we know she was on a flight to kyiv. when i got home in the early hours of sunday morning, as a lot of us did, saw that she was there with the democratic committee chairs, notably, adam schiff. this is a big deal and not just symbolic. they were talk to zelenskyy

about the components of the $33 billion aid. >> yeah, the specifics here matter as well. this is a meeting that went for more than three hours. you mentioned adam schiff was there, and so too, was jason crow, he's a veteran and has been heavily involved in the issues of not which systems ukrainians need, but how to get them out, and so to hear from zelenskyy, the specific types, and they can go line by line for what zelenskyy asked for, and they will have to start moving as quickly as they can. >> and want to point out for our viewers, pelosi was ranking

committee so-called gang of eight, and she gets what the president gets in briefings every day. >> having somebody with an intel background and an appropriations background puts her in a sweet spot. republicans were also invited also, they were otherwise committed so this could have been a bipartisan delegation and it was not for lack of trying. >> ambassador, let's talk about the fact that the first lady is planning a trip to the region this week. first lady travels generally -- they are viewed less critically of the importance substantively, and this is dr. jill biden, and she chooses her moments carefully and she's an educator as we as a mom and she's going on on mother's day to meet with

refugees. i think this is going to be a big deal. >> i think it's fantastic. i think it's fantastic that ukraine and the neighboring countries are getting this attention. i want to add one footnote to your conversation about speaker pelosi. i saw speaker pelosi two weeks ago to talk about not just weapons and sanctions, and i would watch for new legislation, new kinds of ideas coming out of the congress about sanctions as well. i know that's why president zelenskyy wanted to talk about that, and they want to continue to put pressure on the biden administration and the rest of the world for new sanctions. jill biden going to the region -- as you said, everybody now wants to be part of this moment because there's now momentum on the side of the ukrainians, and i think that's a positive sign for them and a positive sign for us. >> and ambassador, also, your insights on the stunning comments by russian's foreign

minister, sergey lavrov. he said on an italian talk show the nazi faction exists, and they openly read -- i believe hitler had jewish heritage. israel's prime minister is responding this morning, and we should note that israel has not taken a position and was trying to preserve its neutrality and has close military coordination with rush yawn -- the foreign minister saying i view with utmost severity the statement, and his words are untrue and their intentions are wrong and the goal of such lies is to

accuse of jews themselves of the utmost crimes, and no war in our time is like the holocaust or comparable to the holocaust. the uses of the holocaust as a political tool must cease immediately, and they called in the ambassador in jerusalem to protest this. >> yeah, they should send him home. it's outrageous what mr. lavrov said, and i think we have to stop treating people like him as legitimate figures in diplomacy. you cannot say that kind of utter nonsense and then sit down and have a normal meeting with secretary blinken or anybody else. i think we have to rethink how we engage with people like mr. lavrov, including sending his ambassadors back out of our countries. we don't want to deal with

people that speak that way. >> and it was bennett, not the prime minister who had the strong reaction. and just knowing the ambassador here and the other israeli officials, this is just a grievous insult and outrageous insult to israel and to people who understand the nature of the holocaust throughout the world. general, also, israel has impressive military capabilities. is there a potential for israel to become a supporter of ukraine, either covertly or openly? >> there could be, but i doubt it. israel will try and remain out of this, and they have their own internal problems whether it mean with the goal or with syria

or iran, and i think they will stay out of this for the most part. >> okay. we will have to leave it there, but thank you so much general, and ambassador michael mcfaul, and of course, garrett hague, and our thanks to kelly cobiella in ukraine. and then the january 6th probe, a big win for the committee on getting fundraising records from the republican national committee. we have all the details coming up. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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the january 6th committee's investigation. overnight a federal judge denning a question from the republican national committee to shield fundraising data from the investigators, and it would show the party pushed the myth the 2020 election was stolen to raise money. joining me now, nbc capitol hill

correspondent, ali vitali. what is in the data? do we know? have they turned it over? >> exactly. there's an appeal here and the judge built that in saying the rnc would have time to appeal, of course. this is all a matter of time, right? we know the committee wants to start their public hearings on june 9th, so of course, they are trying to get much of the data tied up in court as possible before then, but this was a huge victory for the committee and could have further implications on the other lawsuits because of the way the judge crafted his ruling here saying in part that this committee was properly constituted and they have valid legislative purpose.

all of those things are important because they knocked down some of the arguments the rnc was trying to make here. in the data, what is important is the committee wants to look in a narrow way the rnc was disseminating the fundraising information because of the way the e-mails sought to stoke the big lie. we know the way the committee is looking into the way trump and his allies sought to foment that big lie. this is all about how the big lie was spread and how it lent to the balance of the capitol that day, so a big win for the committee here. >> and on meet the press on sunday, "new york times" reporters, the co-authors of the new book "this will not pass" had an interesting story about what they saw lindsay graham do and say in the middle of the

attack. let me point out, they were there, they were taken out with the senators and they were there and this is an eyewitness account and not as told to my a third party. there's no question about the credibility of what they heard. let's watch. >> lindsay graham is extremely angry, he's almost shouting down the capitol police as they try to address the u.s. senators, demanding they take action and forcefully recapture the capitol. in the same moment he gets on the phone and he telephones the white house council -- >> you're hearing all of this? a first-hand account and this is not from other sources? >> i'm in the room. he said if trump doesn't tell these people to go home, meaning the rioters and capitol, we will call for the 25th amendment. >> senator graham talking about the 25th amendment, and how

significant is that considering now how graham and the others down play january 6th and quickly did? >> we all wish as reporters we could be in the room at such a pivotal moment and that tidbit of reporting is crucial as you mentioned, and even though that was a discussion over a year ago on january 6th, and we have since seen the fallout from a number of republican leaders, mccarthy and o'connell on the senate side, questioning and wondering and saying in some ways trump was at fault for what happened that day and nothing has really come from that. it's likely even though the senate is in today, we have not seen how republican senators have reacted to graham, and basically threatening the 25th amendment, you know, senators have moved on. republicans and congress have moved on and that has been at least some of the takeaways we have seen when even mccarthy, there were a number of audio tapes that said he was going to

push trump and tell him that she should resign, and house republicans saying, you know, that audio is not a problem. what could be a problem is hearing mccarthy on tape criticizing his own colleagues. that audio came out thanks to this reporting and republicans have moved on. they said they want to stick together and focus on the fact that they could regain the majority of not just the house and the senate but, again, it exposes how much these members really did think, at least at the time and some privately still think about trump and his administration in those final days, but it's unlikely to change the way that these members talked publicly about trump and his influence on the republican party anytime soon. >> clearly, and unlikely at this point it will have any impact on mccarthy's ambitions to become speaker if they take the house. we are a little more than a month outside the committee's

hearing, and they are tracking down documents and other information, and they are getting nowhere with mark meadows. >> they are getting nowhere with mark meadows, andrea, and maybe it doesn't matter. of course those text messages from his phone are leaking out and the committee is not pleased about that, and while it's clear that they are trying to wrap up their fact finding phase over the next month so they have their information to present on june 9th when the hearings begin, and donald trump, jr. is supposed to come forward and talk to the committee, and we have seen people like meadows not cooperate and those criminal contempt referrals are sitting and waiting to be taken up by the department of justice. they are also in some ways learning from the department of

justice's investigation that is still ongoing, all of these are part in parcel. yes, they have not had the kind of cooperation in a widespread and 100% perfect way, but they have had key cooperation points. the more we hear from mccarthy and those audio recordings, and thompson told me last week he wants to ask mccarthy again to come before the committee, and that's a decision the committee would be making soon. it's clear, and this has always been the question, at what point do they put down the pen and write the public narrative, and they want to do that in june but they clearly have people they want to talk to as well. >> time is running out for them potentially given the polling and midterms coming up, and this will potentially die as soon as this congress gets changed in one way or another.

thanks both to you. the trump investigation, the special jury selection under way in fulton county, georgia, to determine whether the president tried to illegal interfere with the 2020 presidential election. you are watching "andrea michell reports" only on msnbc. reports" only on msnbce ones th. balance your investment mix, stay on track, and make changes... all for free. the little stuff? we'll figure it out... turning a feeling into a roadmap...for free? that's the planning effect from fidelity. people with plaque psoriasis, are rethinking the choices they make. like the shot they take. the memories they create. or the spin they initiate. otezla. it's a choice you can make.

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ahhhhhhh listerine. feel the whoa! right now prosecutors in georgia are choosing grand jurors to decide did former president trump and others illegally try to change the 2020 election. and there was a criminal investigation opened last year. joining us now is blayne alexander who is outside the courthouse, and also a prosecutor that is also an msnbc analyst. what is so important? what is the evidence this grand jury will be considering and for how long?

>> well, andrea, let's start with what they are going to be considering. it's all phone call. it centers on that phone call where the president -- the then president urged the secretary of state to try and find enough votes to overturn the results in georgia. that's what the grand jurors are going to be looking at for possibly the next year or so. what we have seen outside the courthouse today is we know they are combing through 200 potential special grand jurors, and those are those that received summons, and we saw some of the buses bring the potential jurors and the windows were tinted to hide their identity and now they are asking if there's anything that would prevent them from serving, and they are going to be seated as a year, and while they can't approve indictments, they do have subpoena power and there's

one interesting thing to note about all of this, and that's the timing. we are in another election year, while we are still talking about 2020, and may 24th is georgia's primary. the d.a. does not plan to call any witnesses before the primary, and the chief is on the ballot along with other several potential witnesses, andrea. >> thanks so much, blayne. we have breaking news that was just handed to me on the january 6th investigation. the committee sent letters to three republican lawmakers asking for their cooperation. and ali vitali is back with me. what are they asking for? there are very interesting details in this letter regarding one or another of these congress members? >> yeah, exactly, andrea. this is something chairman thompson teased last week about

what could come next for the committee. they are sending three letters to republican lawmakers in the house asking for cooperation in the investigation. it's important to point out, these are asks and not subpoenas and that's still something for the open committee, and they have asked republicans before to cooperate and those lawmakers said no. we are talking about three people and it's their first time being asked, and it's andy biggs, mo brooks and ronnie jackson, and ronnie jackson, who you see on your screen, this is a texas lawmaker, the former physician in the white house for then president trump, and it's notable, they say, because of the work being done by the doj in prosecuting members from the proud boys and oath keepers, and they say that while the january 6th attack was under way,

members of the oath keepers including its leader were asking members of the organization provide jackson personally with security assistance, suggesting that he has, quote, critical data to protect. these letters then go on in jackson's case to say why would these individuals have an interest in your personal specific locations? why do they think you have critical data to protect? why would they want to protect you personally on january 6th? this is notable for a lot of reasons, but specifically because jackson is not one of the names often talked about in the role he may have played in helping to foment or support the white house's efforts on january 6th, but there's notable things in the other two letters, too, and specifically when it comes to andy biggs, they say they are aware of his participation in planning meetings, regarding various aspects for planning for

january 6th, including the situation with pence not counting some of the states, and the lawmakers could have supported efforts within the white house, a huge step. i would point out when i talked with thompson, he told me these letters were likely to go out to mccarthy and other senators. the committee has not asked senators to this point to come before them and cooperate, which begs to question are there more letters coming, and if i go by what chairman thompson told me a few days ago, it's understandable to think there are. >> and they want to suggest some complicity by members. there were tours, and tours were not allowed at that point on january 6th and 5th, but there

were tours of people and it was suggested by democratic tours that these were people that had to be let in by the request of a member to get in for those tours, ie, a republican member. there were democratic suspicion these were people casing the place, they were seeing the visitor center and other areas that were off limits to tourists. the importance of not subpoenaing them is it would be speech and debate clauses and so they are inviting them but how is it that any of them would come voluntarily? >> it remains to be seen how likely that is, and i don't think it's very likely given that we have seen stonewalling by many potential other witnesses who have had similar letters sent to them and then the question is what does chairman thompson do in response

to that in finding a remedy without trying to trigger the subpoena power or lack there of of the committee. that's a dicey play and a dicey situation for him to be in because we are in unchartered territory from a legal perspective, and these letters are the easiest and most straightforward way to cooperate with the investigation, and they don't hold much power and as we have seen, it's likely the recipients would essentially blow them off. >> charles, the other point is they are getting some of the information out provocatively by putting it out in the letter of invitation, so they don't get the testimony and people will follow-up on this. mo brooks was giving a speech at the rally the president was speaking at on the elipse -- rather on the mall before the group marched to the capitol. he was very involved. ronnie jackson is one of the

president's favorite new congress members, being his former physician. remember, he gave the president that wonderful vote of confidence about his health, former president trump, the greatest health of anybody who had been in the white house or something like that. you have interesting characters involved here, charles. >> absolutely. i also think that what is being smartly done by chairman thompson with respect to how these letters are being crafted is there's enough information that goes out within the letters to prompt a bit of pressure in terms of where somebody may be implicated. i think you see that demonstrated masterfully with respect in the letter to jackson with the issue of his personal protection and informing he has critical data that needs to be protected and that raises questions that serve as a

backstop, and if the letter doesn't have teeth behind it it serves as a backstop should he choose to ignore the letter altogether, there will be questions that result from the information that is already presented in the area, as ali talked about. >> charles, hits keep on coming, right? it's going to be a couple busy months for you as you go into the public hearings in june. combat ineffective. that's what they are calling a quarter of russia's forces. you are watching "andrea michell reports" on msnbc. reports" on msnbc.

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russia sent to ukraine is deemed combat ineffective. the defense ministry notes it could take russia years to reconstitute some of its elite units because of the war. joining me is my guests, and courtney, does the pentagon's intelligence assessment match what we are hearing from the uk? >> it's close to it. we know now there's somebody in the neighborhood of 92 to 95 russian battalion tactical groups back inside ukraine right now. in the invasion, there was 110 to 130 btgs, so they are much

slower than the beginning of the invasion, and that being said some of the russian troops are refitting on the russian side of the border, and it's not clear how much of the russian combat capability we saw in the early days of the invasion may be brought to bear once the offensive kicked off. the offensive has begun but nowhere near the level expected. they believed the russians would come in and there would be a massive onslaught of artillery, but they have been met with a lot more ukrainian resistance than expected, and maybe that's what is slowing down the early phases of the offensive for the donbas area in southeast ukraine, andrea. >> sergeant, speaker pelosi is hammering home the point we are in this until a victory is won, and if this goes for years, how could we see ukraine's effectiveness grow or be

diminished, and they certainly don't have the resources to withstand all that russia can throw at them over a long period of time? >> yeah, you know, it's complex but they are the defenders so they have a much better opportunity to defend their home terrain and as long as they are supplied well, they have the home field advantage and in addition to that, the reports suggest the intelligence is now able to say the russian military is under performed here, and they have had logistic problems and they were not able to mound a successful coordinated account to the north, the south, the east, and now they are trying to reconsolidate. you mentioned the report on the 92 battalion tactical groups inside positioned in the donbas, and a lot of them are not manned at their full strength. they came into the invasion under equipped and under performing and the ukrainians

have a lot of advantage here. can you hold out for a while. bear in mind, united states was in afghanistan and iraq for 20 years with superior numbers. we didn't have the logistic problems the russians have, and we were still hampered and belabored by guerilla warfare type of attacks. >> according to two u.s. officials and an ukrainian official that spoke to the "new york times," russia's chief of general staff for the russian military, you know, the representation of this man, he made a visit to the front lines in eastern ukraine, and "the times" noticing the general sits at the right hand of putin and one of only three people along with putin who are in charge of plotting the course of the war, and we have seen at least nine russian generals killed in the war so far, which is extraordinary, and the criticism there was nobody in command and they brought in the general that was considered the butcher of

syria to try and up their command and control. what do you think the importance of him is being seen in ukraine? >> i like the word you used, extraordinary, the loss of the generals, and the commander, the butcher of syria that is supposed to consolidate these, and they have demonstrated they don't have good leadership, good joint command and control. that means the different battalion tactical groups are not well coordinated in their effort to have done the lightning strike that was anticipated. this shows a lot of gaps and the fact that he was sent down to the battlefield to circulate and do an assessment on the ground in proximal danger to the ukrainian forces is not a good sign, and vladimir putin is very much pressed, i think, and looking to save face, and he wanted to hand his top general

the mission like go get this corrected and if you don't come back with the victory maybe the suggestion was made don't come back at all. the ukrainians have been fed great intelligence and are using that to precision strike and decapitate that leadership, so good move on ukraine's part. >> courtney, very briefly, what are you hearing from the pentagon about the southern and eastern advance and whether it's faster or slower than anticipated? >> it's moving slower. the u.s. assesses it's moving slower than the russians anticipated, and again, that's in part because of the ukrainian resistance has bench stronger than what was expected and also the u.s. and other allies have been flowing a massive amount of equipment, ammunition, the kinds of thing the ukrainian military needs not just to hold off the russian military but to push back in some cases, andrea. >> thank you so much. inflation nation.

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a new "washington post" poll found that 94% of americans would call themselves upset or concerned about inflation. many americans are simply going without things. the fed has already raised interest rates and we expect another hike this week. >> reporter: you talk to families and you quickly learn it's not just filling up half a tank or skipping groceries. in many cases, people are being displaced from their homes and apartments because they simply cannotto live there anymore. people's wallets strained by staples and fuel. it's forcing parents to make

difficult choices. the mother of two just had a $200 rent hike kick in. >> i don't full up my gas tank. i don't buy the normal amount of groceries. >> reporter: for others, the economic crunch has forced a change of address. paige striker says food is a must so she decided to give up her apartment, moving into a camper on her family's property. >> i think the future for me is hazy. it brings me back to how i was feeling in the early days of the pandemic. >> reporter: many americans are cutting out extras. amazon's most recent sales reflected the company's slowest growth since 2001. netflix lost subscribers for the first time in a decade. still economists say overall consumer spending is still strong. >> the domestic economy, domestic spending actually

accelerated in the first quarter absent the government. that kind of resilience and that acceleration is also what helped fuel inflation to its highest level in four decades. >> reporter: it's a turbo charged inflationary rate that has the fed prepared to raise rates by as much as a half point this week. consumer prices scorching so hot, many of the 1.7 million jobs created in the first months of the year are second or third jobs as people try and keep up with their bills. while we know that gas and grocery price increases are drivers of the problem right now, housing appears to be at the crux of it. a new report shows there was a 17% increase in rent asked year over year in march in miami where i am, it's closer to 35 or 40% in one year. >> this is a big midterm issue. we'll be back with more after

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