eastern. andra mitchell will be in the chair in a moment. good day. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. president biden is using war-time emergency powers to try to boost baby formula supplies amid an unprecedented nationwide shortage. the president's plan is using aircraft to fly in formula from other countries. parents are frustrated and desperate and angry. an 11-week-old's mother said her daughter was hospitalized, needing a special formula because she's allergic to dairy and soy. >> we tried everything for her. sorry. we need to have her on the most hyperallergenic formula to keep her out of the hospital.

>> on capitol hill, the fda commissioner pushing back. he was taken to task about whether the fda didn't move quickly enough. >> the united states was facing a supply chain stress before the recall that began in february. the pandemic, war in ukraine and labor supply issues have all had an impact. >> the fact is, food safety is not a priority. whomever looked at that report felt there was no need to respond at all from october to february, until there was a recall. that is a dereliction of duty in my view. before heading on his trip to asia, the president hosting leaders of finland and sweden at the white house as he backs their bid to join nato in defiance of vladimir putin and opposition from nato member turkey's president erdogan.

>> in the face of aggression, nato has not grown weaker or more divided. it has grown stronger, more united. with finland and sweden's decision to request membership in nato, it will be enhanced for all time. >> this as ukrainian soldiers who surrendered to russia from mariupol are being paraded in the streets and falsely called neonazis. the senate is holding a vote on sending ukraine $40 billion, bringing total u.s. aid to $53 billion. reaction on all this from the top democrat on the intelligence committee mark warner. pennsylvania, where the republican senate primary election is still undecided. possibly heading back -- likely heading to an automatic recount. former president trump already trying to cast suspicion the outcome of the vote.

first, to the baby formula crisis. joining us now, kristin welker, garrett haake, ashley parker, sam stein and dr. patel. all of you parents or expectant parents. what is the white house doing to tackle this shortage? what's going on on top of rising covid cases, record high gas prices, a lot for the white house to deal with? >> everything you just laid out, andrea, has added pressure to this administration to take action on this baby formula shortage crisis. the administration has been under pressure for weeks, if not months now, to take some type of action. critics are saying, why is this only coming now? having said that, this is a dramatic action, as you said at the top of the show. the president using war-time powers, invoking the defense

production act to try to get more formula on the shelf. how does this specifically work? the administration is essentially directing suppliers to fast track key ingredients to get those ingredients to manufacturers so they can more rapidly manufacture formula and get more formula on the shelves to parents who are in desperate need of exactly that. in addition to that, the administration is taking a step that it is calling operation fly formula. essentially, directing the department of defense to direct aircraft to go to other countries, to get formula that has been approved by the fda, and then to bring it back to the u.s. again, to tackle this fundamental problem. when will parents see more for formula? those flights could take off within days. obviously, we will track the time line of this very carefully.

>> garrett, what are we hearing from the fda commissioner? we saw a clip of the virtual hearing with the democratic chair of the committee really reaming the fda commissioner. democrats as well as republicans are angry. >> yes, they are. i interviewed her last friday. she was gearing herself up for this hearing to talk to the fda commissioner about a whistle-blower report she had seen, about questions about why they didn't act more forcefully earlier on in this crisis. i was interested to hear from the fda commissioner. he said they only have 13 staff members in the entire country whose job it is to oversee food safety when it comes to infant formula. that is, in fact, the subject of this appropriations bill that the house voted on last night, the senate may take up today, to try to spend $28 million, not a lot of money in federal government parlance, but significant money that would add more inspectors, add more people to help oversee the supply of infant formula and make sure

what's coming out of that abbott facility, when it gets back up and running, is safe. what's coming in from overseas as part of this effort, including by the president to ramp up the defense production act, that was the focus of speaker pelosi's comments today when asked about how she feels about the administration's response to the crisis. she was very pleased to see the way the president acted yesterday. here is what she told me. >> we want to be as fast as we need to be. but we have to be safe. we have to be cautious. they have taken the steps. i'm pleased with the president. what they have been doing as we go along. it's never soon enough to have food for a crying baby. >> when it comes to fast and cautious, we are seeing that from congress. the house acting quickly to pass two pieces of legislation last night. the senate may not pass either until next week. they are in town next week.

they can get it done. >> dr. patel, jump in here. you see this on the front lines in your clinical practice. you worked in the obama white house as a medical advisor. you know what the domestic political implications are for this for any president facing this kind of crisis. we saw the president heading off to asia to deal with what's happening on the world stage. dr. patel? >> it's incredibly difficult to characterize the decision making going on. two things strike me as very important to note. this is an administration that has to try to scramble to do something that, frankly, even with the defense production act, you are not going to see that turn into formula quickly. we are talking about shortening the wait time from hopefully months to weeks. that doesn't help a family that is showing up at the emergency room or in the hospital or in our clinics begging for more assistance. i have to give a shoutout to our pediatric colleagues.

they are heroes. they are fielding calls to help families make decisions. we have 5,000 infants across the country that are -- have rare diseases that depend on many of the formulas for their life-sustaining measures. that's an even more difficult challenge for the administration. so much of this is local. supply is local. the administration is trying to blanket that. we will have to watch carefully. fly formula, defense production act, that needs to translate to formula with instructions in the hands of parents as quickly as possible. not an easy act to pull off. >> of course, the advice from every medical professional that we have to amplify is, don't water it down. infants' kidneys can't process that. >> they can't. that's right. quickly, the american academy of pediatrics has helped weigh in that if you are six months or older and don't have special

needs that you can transition to cow's milk for a brief period. they want to hold off because of issues that can come up such as anemia and other issues. if you feed milk too early. this is where we are at. we are at a point in 2022 where we are invoking war-time act and we are telling mothers and fathers, listen, you can use cow's milk, even though that's not what we would normally recommend. diluting is why people are having trouble. come and get that advice early and often when you need it. >> ashley, the stress for moms and dads, it has to be staggering. no baby formula, covid surging, gas prices, record high, a domestic nightmare for the president politically. >> that's right. this does -- as much as it has a terrifying emotional and life or death component for parents of young infants and babies, it also has political ramifications.

when i talk to people in the president's orbit and other democrats about what's going to make a difference in approval ratings and for the midterms, it's what people feel. the things people feel are what you just said. they feel gas being higher. they feel that extra $20 they are having to pay every week to fill up their car. they feel things like chicken breasts or milk in the grocery store, they know what it used to cost. this is another thing to add to this list. i can assure you that any parent of a young child who is dealing with this crisis and, frankly, any parent who has had a child and knows the stresses of an infant even in the best of circumstances, this cuts to the core and is another thing the administration is going to have to deal with. >> sam, what about changes at the white house? you have had a lot of midterm warnings, red flags everywhere. pennsylvania could not be a greater case in point.

we can talk more about that later. we will. is there any thought about white house staff changes? we see any coming in -- >> anita dunne. >> we had cedric richmond here. he wants to be available to tell the message. the president has to be his own best spokesman. >> this is an incredibly close-knit unit. as has traditionally been with joe biden. there's a group of very trusted aides. decades in service. they followed him to the white house. when you have staff changes, they are not actually staff changes. it's someone coming back into the white house. it's bringing back a trusted aide from outside the white house back in. richmond going to dnc is taking somebody who was your chief liaison and send them to the outside entity to help with the

re-election campaign. this is the same team that has to figure out how to recalculate for the midterms. i think ashley is absolutely right. the issue that joe biden has here is not just the macro political elements. it's that these are difficult, emotional issues for voters that he has to deal with. the price of gasoline, you see on a sign every time you drive. with this infant formula shortage, it's not just people or parents with kids with metabolic issues. my child had severe acid reflux. it could not drink anything other than specialized formula. we had access to it. as i'm watching, the debate over formula shortages, i'm drawn back into those early moments in his childhood where getting him to finish four ounces was -- it felt like a miracle. you can't imagine the heartache that parents are going through now. it does have obvious political ramifications that this white house will have to deal with.

>> no way to focus group this or poll it. this is gut wrenching. it's just a horrific thing for any parent and for anyone who is a godmother, aunt, uncle. you don't have to have an infant child to realize just how important this is. it can't get any more important. thank you all for all of your perspectives. appreciate your launching us off today. as we saw, the president leaving on that plane. expanding nato, before he left, president biden embracing leaders from sweden and finland here in the rose garden, abandoning neck aids of neutrality to join nato, they hope. is turkey the spoiler? we will ask the chairman intell.

you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. ll reports." this is msnbc. d it's never too y to learn you could save with america's number one motorcycle insurer. that's right, jamie. but it's not just about savings. it's about the friends we make along the way. you said it, flo. and don't forget to floss before you brush. your gums will thank you. -that's right, dr. gary. -jamie? sorry, i had another thought so i got back in line. what was it? [ sighs ] i can't remember. bipolar depression. it made me feel trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion,

stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor if latuda is right for you. pay as little as zero dollars for your first prescription.

miss allen over there isn't checking lesson plans. she's getting graded on her green investments with merrill. a-plus. still got it. (whistle blows) your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. what's it like having xfinity internet? your money never stops working for you with merrill, it's beyond gig-speed fast. so gaming with your niece, has never felt more intense. hey what does this button do? no, don't! we're talking supersonic wi-fi. three times the bandwidth and the power to connect hundreds of devices at once. that's powerful. couldn't said it better myself. you just did. unbeatable internet from xfinity. made to do anything so you can do anything. whoa.

russia today is in control of the key port city of mariupol. exploiting the surrender of the last ukrainian fighters from the steel plant for propaganda purposes. they were being paraded through the streets of mariupol with russia ignoring ukraine's offers to exchange russian prisoners for them. moscow mischaracterized them as

neonazis and says they will interrogate them for possible war crimes. richard engel is in kharkiv. richard, this is a pretty tough message moscow is sending by parading the soldiers through the streets of mariupol. >> reporter: many ukrainians feel that they have been cheated, that there was supposed to be an agreement that these fighters who had been holding out in mariupol for months and then were bunkered down beneath the steel factory for the last several weeks were going to be swapped in some sort of prisoner exchange. now that they are in russian custody, about 1,000 of the 1,700 people that russia says have been taken into russian custody have been sent to a colony. unclear the fate of the others, where they are. some have been taken to medical

facilities. russia is suggesting that they are going to be tried, at least investigated. they may all be designated as members of a terrorist organization. the ukrainian government is being extremely tight-lipped by the negotiations. it insists negotiations are still under way. at this point in time, it does seem like the russians are exploiting them for propaganda purposes to show the domestic audience, perhaps an international audience, that russia is winning, that it is capturing ukrainian territory, it's capturing ukrainian fighters and that lo and behold, just as russian propaganda has said all along, here are the neonazis, alleged neonazis that putin and other russian officials have been talking about since the start of the conflict. it's a deeply painful issue for ukrainians who believe that they should be heroes and not treated like pawns in a propaganda war.

>> richard, just briefly, the red cross is involved in the negotiations to try to get them out, is that correct? >> reporter: the red cross. the ukrainians say international actors are involved. turkey at one stage hosted -- had offered to host them in turkey and only return them to ukraine after the conflict was over. so far, russia has rejected all those offers. otherwise, they would have been either allowed to come to ukraine, come to government areas in ukraine, or be allowed to leave the country. instead, russia insisted they go only to russian custody. >> we know what that means or fear what that means. richard engel, thank you very much, as always, in ukraine. the senate is voting on a procedural vote, early vote before final vote on that $40 billion military, economic and

humanitarian aid package for ukraine. this after rand paul last thursday objected and dragged out the process until this week, despite bipartisan support. joining us now, democratic senator mark warner, the chair of the intelligence committee. it's great to see you. do you expect this will pass? it has bipartisan support. >> good news, bad news. it will pass with more than 80 votes. when you take this aid and combined with the earlier military aid, combined with the amount of aid that the europeans have sent militarily, and we are approaching $50 billion in military aid to ukraine since the beginning of the year. if you take that number and compare it to the overall russian defense budget on an annual basis, they are $66 billion, you are showing that ukraine will have the capacity

to fight putin at least in terms of arms with almost near parody. the russian air force is bigger and they have other weapons. in terms of on the ground, it's close to parity. we had one republican senator hold us up. over the weekend, because donald trump and some of the russian propaganda, that one senator has now gone to 11 republican senators who are opposing this aid. i find that very troubling. luckily, you have something that maybe only rand paul could create, an alliance between chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell on this assistance. this growing group of republican colleagues who are, frankly following the likes of tucker carlson who puppets putin's pop

-- propaganda, that's not good. the assistance we will get to the president's desk is important to ukrainians. >> i'm glad you brought this up. this is such important context as to how this is evolving. the danger of russian disinformation and propaganda being amplified by american elected officials. and by an american network. let's talk about finland and sweden. talk about last-minute bumps in the road to nato. the goal was to have this done quickly by the june meeting in madrid. it has to be 30 -- all 30 nato members. now you have turkey for its own reasons involving its misstated accusations against turkish kurds, calling them terrorists, and the fact that the kurds have been welcomed into sweden for

their own reasons, turkey is blocking it, whether it's the connections to putin. but this is president erdogan. u.s. officials have been saying, senator, that they think this is just turkey using its leverage. that's what the ambassador told us yesterday. is this going to be an obstacle? >> i think it's a little too early to tell. i met with the swedish defense minister this week. overwhelming bipartisan support for sweden and finland to come into nato. they bring great military. sweden in particular has deep resources in their air force and their submarine fleet. they both not only have good armed forces, they have great intel communities. i think overwhelming majority will support this. on erdogan, i don't think we should be totally surprised. if you look back historically when other nations, when the baltic nations joined nato, president erdogan extracted a

price. i'm not sure that -- i will grant him some arguments towards some of the people who are kurdish, sweden in particular. not just has erdogan declared some of these kurdish leaders outside the main, candidly, the american system has designated one of the kurdish political parties as state sponsored of terrorism. it's incumbent upon erdogan to make the case whether the kurdish folks in sweden are members of that political party. the swedes would respond to that. he has to make the case. the other part i would add is that there may be something here involved as well in terms of erdogan trying to leverage what type of additional arms that he can buy from america and other european nations. turkey is a nato ally. there are certain restrictions on arms that are sold to turkey.

i think this is -- i'm not totally surprised that he is putting up some of the objections. i do have a high level of hope that these objections can be resolved and sweden and finland will join nato by the summer. again, all -- further example of how putin has totally mischaracterized -- virtually everything he wanted to happen out of this ukrainian invasion in terms of splitting up europe, the opposite has happened. >> he will have a much longer border with nato if this all -- if sweden and finland become members. thank you very much, senator warner. great to see you. >> thank you, andrea. it's 2020 deja vu all over again. the votes from tuesday still being counted in pennsylvania. a recount in the mix. but donald trump hinting at challenging the results. this is "andrea mitchell

reports." that's coming up on msnbc. as a main street bank, pnc has helped over 7 million kids develop their passion for learning through our grow up great initiative. and now, we're providing billions of dollars for affordable home lending programs... as part of 88 billion to support underserved communities... including loans for small businesses in low and moderate income areas. so everyone has a chance to move forward financially. pnc bank: see how we can make a difference for you. finding the perfect designer isn't easy. but, at upwork, we found her. she's in austin between a dog named klaus and her favorite shade of green. it's actually salem clover. and you can find her right now on upwork.com when the world is your workforce, finding the perfect project manager, designer, developer, or whomever you may need... tends to fall right into place. find top-rated talent who can start today

on upwork.com you're pretty particular about keeping a healthy body. what goes on it. usually. and in it. mostly. here to meet those high standards is the walgreens health and wellness brand. over 2000 high quality products. rigorously tested by us. real world tested by you. and delivered to your door in as little as one hour. you know liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need? like how i customized this scarf? check out this backpack i made for marco. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪

out-of-state corporations wrote only pay for what you need. an online sports betting plan they call "solutions for the homeless". really? the corporations take 90 percent of the profits. and using loopholes they wrote, they'd take even more. the corporations' own promotional costs, like free bets, taken from the homeless funds. and they'd get a refund on their $100 million license fee, taken from homeless funds, too. these guys didn't write a plan for the homeless. they wrote it for themselves.

pennsylvania's election day is turning into election week or more. right now, thousands of votes

still being counted in the critical pennsylvania senate race. dr. oz is barely ahead of opponent david mccormick. 20,000 votes remain to be voted. the former president saying dr. oz should declare victory. down south, president trump at the center of the primaries in georgia, including the race for secretary state, where one of the best-known targets of trump's election law is brad raffensperger and is fighting for his political future. joining us is dasha burns from delaware county and blayne alexander from atlanta andrea yamiche alcindor. dasha, i'm not sure you can hear me. you are in pennsylvania. in delaware county.

can you hear me? let me jump to blaine axer. we know the history from the 2020 campaign. how close is it? >> it's pretty close right now. a recent poll from the local newspaper here show the two in a dead tie. 28% for brad raffensperger, 29 for jody heist. this is the unique position brad raffensperger is in. the repeated attacks from president trump that date back to 2020 and have continued until and through right now. we see raffensperger, he is in a

place where not only is he getting ready to administer another closely watched election in georgia, the midterms, but he is fighting for his own political life. he is seeing this challenger from the right. he also, as he told me, is in a place where he has to go from city to city around georgia and while trying to run and talk about 2022, he is forced to continue talking about 2020. take a look. are you in a place where you are forced to fight against former president trump? >> i'm leaning into the truth and the goodness of my fellow georgians. that will get me across the finish line. >> raffensperger certainly is an interesting person to talk to. even though he is trying to move on from 2020, he is not able to do so. he says that when he goes out, takes questions, a lot are

essentially parroting some of the false claims that have come from president trump, essentially how many ballots that were supposed by dead, how many legal ballots made it through? he has to knock down the rumors, give the truth where he can proceed. >> thanks to you. the final result not until june 6. dasha? >> reporter: i feel like i'm having 2020 deja vu here. with are live from a ballot county headquarters days after an election where we don't know the winner. mostly because mail-in ballots are still being counted. the former president is gentrying to sew doubt in the process. we talked about this in 2020. let's remind our viewers why this process is taking so long. here in pennsylvania, election workers aren't allowed to touch mail-in ballots until 7:00 a.m. on election day. some other states allow a

process called precanvassing. getting them prepared to be scanned. that's not possible here. this is why it takes so long. look what's happening behind me. these good, hard working election workers are putting these ballots through an envelope slicer. they have to do that twice. the one mailed in and for the secret sleeve. then the folks at the end of the table, they unfold them. they straighten and flatten the ballots so they can be scanned. finally, the folks over in the computer area there are scanning the ballots. they are putting that data into the computer. this is a manual, tedious process. it takes time. this is just simply how it works. there's nothing wrong here. nothing fraudulent going on. it takes a while. we know this from 2020. most likely, they will have do this again because this race is just so tight. it's absolutely in recount territory.

>> thanks so dasha burns there. let's drill down on all of this, yamiche. we have donald trump casting doubt on the outcome of legitimate ballots in a state which almost uniquely does not allow any mail-ins to be even registered and tabulated before election day. 7:00 a.m. on election day. they don't get a head start like other states. that's a state law that nobody can overturn from the republican legislature, which is historically in opposition to mail-ins. now you have a race that is separated by a couple of hundred with several thousand outstanding. we should point out in areas potentially that are favorable to the underdog here, david mccormick, allegheny county, for instance, which is home turf for him. oz has the president's approval. the president is casting suspicion on the outcome.

former president. >> because he has been claiming other things. what we should say is that this is shocking and striking but not surprising. right? we saw former president trump in november 2020 really try to declare victory from the white hours. standing on the white house lawn being shocked because no u.s. president in history had declared victory when he had not won. this is the long, long shadow of january 6 and of president trump's -- former president trump's lies about the election. he is doing it again, trying to get dr. oz to do what he did, which is declare victory when it was wrong to do so. it is a testament to where the gop is right now. i think it's interesting because president trump -- former president trump we should be saying. former president trump is trying to get dr. oz to declare victory while saying that the other parts of the election where his candidate for the republican nomination for governor won. if the election is rigged, how

is it rigged for one issue but not for the other? that was the same question with respect asking in 2020 when we had republicans who won but donald trump lost. >> that's a great point. point out that importantly, the winning candidate by long measure, the trump candidate he jumped on late when he was ahead, so riding the tail of that victory, mastriano is the nominee for governor. the governor has control over who is the secretary of state to determine election validity. he led with buses -- getting buses organized for january 6. at that protest as well as having challenged the election in 2020 in pennsylvania and is far right in the whole scheme of things. he is the candidate for governor. the trump candidate. we will have to leave it there. i'm sorry. >> it's former president trump's vision of what he wants america to look like, which is he is

saying if you have my back and i like you, then you should be the person who gets on the ballot. if you are someone i don't like, we should question the legitimacy of the election. it's scary when you talk to historians and talk to people about the state of american democracy. it's right there happening in pennsylvania. dasha's reporting is so important to show people what it looks like to count ballots. >> absolutely. pennsylvania could decide who controls the senate and whether or not there are abortion restrictions in one of the largest battleground states. >> so many questions. >> yamiche, thank you for being here. hunter biden under the microscope. nbc investigates takes a dive into the hunter biden controversy. whether there is smoke, there's also fire. "andrea mitchell reports" coming up next on msnbc. bc 's getting grd on her green investments with merrill. a-plus. still got it. (whistle blows) your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. did you know you can get discounts on your meds

even if you don't have a medicare prescription drug plan? it's true. all you have to do is go to singlecare.com type in your prescription, and then present the coupon to your pharmacist. it's that simple. not to mention, it's free. singlecare is accepted by major pharmacies across the country and it works for everyone, whether you have insurance or not. next time you need a prescription filled, go to singlecare to make sure you get the best price. visit singlecare.com and start saving today.

wayfair has everything i need to make my home totally me. sometimes, i'm a homebody. can never have too many pillows! sometimes, i'm all business. a serious chair for a serious business woman! i'm always a mom- that is why you are smart and chose the durable fabric. perfect. i'm not a chef- and, don't mind if i do. but thanks to wayfair, i do love my kitchen. yes! ♪ wayfair you got just what i need. ♪ today there are new developments in the investigation into president biden's son hunter, who is facing an ongoing federal criminal probe into his

finances. details are emerging over how he paid off his $2 million irs bill. hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: we are learning more about the president's son and the paying off of a multimillion dollar tax bill he owed. the open question for hunter legally and president biden politically is whether or not there will be any charges in the federal criminal investigation. with federal prosecuors pouring over hunter biden's finances, investigating whether he violated federal tax law, this morning a representative for the president's son tells nbc news his irs bill has been paid off. two people familiar with the matter say the money was arranged by one of the younger biden's new attorneys. kevin morris known for parkers a deal for "south park" tv show. does paying that bill wash away liability that hunter may have now? >> paying the tax bill, if

that's what he did, doesn't undo the crime. it would be like running money to a bank you robbed. you still robbed the bank. >> reporter: the president's son and his company brought in about $11 million between 2013 and 2018 working as an torn, aboard member to a ukrainian gas company accused of bribin a prosecutor and for a joint venture involving a chinese businessman. during the campaign, then candidate biden denied his son profited off a china connection. >> my son has not made money in terms of this thing about -- what you talking about, china? >> the records show his company received nearly $5 million in consulting contracts from that joint venture funded by a chinese energy company. a snapshot of hunter biden's spending shows for five months in late 2017 and early 2018, he

spent more than $200,000 a month on things like luxury hotel rooms, cash withdrawals, dental work and payments on a porsche, according to documents on the hard drive. a time period in which he acknowledged struggling with drug addiction. his laptop, a subject of controversy after documents recovered were brought to light by the biden's political opponents. with the chain of custody in question, in 2020, some suggested the laptop's contents bore hallmarks of a russian disinformation campaign. since then, several news organizations have authenticated many emails from the laptop. the president has defended his son. >> i'm confident. >> reporter: hunter denies illegal disdealings. >> i'm cooperating completely. i'm certain, 100% certain that at the end of the investigation, that i will be cleared of any wrongdoing. >> reporter: experts point out family members of a president who hold no official job in the administration are not bound by government ethic rules.

his attorney can't comment. the white house has not responded to our request for comment. >> our thanks to hallie jackson for this really difficult story so well reported. headwinds. president biden taking off for asia but flying into tough situations over seas, especially the potential of north korea. this is "andrea mitchell reports." more on that in a moment on msnbc. bipolar depression. it made me feel trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements,

which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor if latuda is right for you. pay as little as zero dollars for your first prescription.

(woman) oh. oh! hi there. you're jonathan, right? the 995 plan! ask your doctor if latuda is right for you. yes, from colonial penn. your 995 plan fits my budget just right. excuse me? aren't you jonathan from tv, that 995 plan? yes, from colonial penn. i love your lifetime rate lock. that's what sold me. she thinks you're jonathan, with the 995 plan. -are you? -yes, from colonial penn. we were concerned we couldn't get coverage, but it was easy with the 995 plan. -thank you. -you're welcome.

i'm jonathan for colonial penn life insurance company. this guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance plan is our #1 most popular plan. it's loaded with guarantees. if you're age 50 to 85, $9.95 a month buys whole life insurance with guaranteed acceptance. you cannot be turned down for any health reason. there are no health questions and no medical exam. and here's another guarantee you can count on: guaranteed lifetime coverage. your insurance can never be cancelled. just pay your premiums. guaranteed lifetime rate lock. your rate can never increase. pardon me, i'm curious. how can i learn more about this popular 995 plan? it's easy. just call the toll-free number for free information. (soft music) ♪ miss allen over there isn't checking lesson plans. she's getting graded

on her green investments with merrill. a-plus. still got it. (whistle blows) your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. president biden is on his way at this hour to asia for a six-day prick to south korea and japan aimed to send a message to china. he is also scheduled to meet with the prime minister and president about trade. the growing concerned on the nuclear program, and the explosive spread of covid. all of this since 2017. joining us now is victor chau. professor of georgetown. let's talk about this. the national security advisor is

saying they indicate a possibility that north korea could conduct a long range messle surprise. is it news, the satellite photos, commercially available, that indicates the construction around that key site. >> yes, this is the nuclear test site where they have done all six of their nuclear tests. and tunnel three, the one they have within doing a lot of refurbishing of, things of that nature, looks like they are almost complete in terms of their preparation. the timing of the test as you see, really is going to be determined by kim jong un, the leader himself, if he wants to welcome biden to the region or if he will do it after the u.s.

president comes and goes, but i think many analysts believe a 7th test or an icbm test is in the offing. it is just a matter of when the leader chooses to do it. >> of course to our troops in the region. we have guam, troops in the dmz, 38,000, maybe less the last time i counted, in that area. you know, so kim jong un has a lot at stake, a big covid outbreak there and he resisted all efforts to start a dialogue. >> yeah, that's right, i credit the biden administration for trying. my understanding is that they made at least a does b, if not more messages to try to get a dialogue started and they have not responded to any of them,

none of them, so they're very much in lockdown mode. as you said covid is most likely the omicron variant is spreading like wildfire in the country right now. they reported so 0,000 cases of fever, and now it is well other two million. they don't know if it is covid because they don't have any testing, any vaccines, or anything. but you know it is most hikely covid and it will continue to spread absent any of the mitigation efforts that exist in most other countries. >> victor, you're an invaluable asset, thank you so much. pete williams is going to retire at the end of the supreme court term this summer. pete has been an institution in washington journalism for nearly 30 years. fortunately part of the nbc family for that whole time. people live by the motto "in

pete we trust." he always gets it right. he is superb as a human being, journalist, friend, and generous klieg. from big breaking news stories, 9/11, the biggest supreme court cases that changed the course of history, obama care, marriage equality, the 2000 presidential election, voting rights, he doesn't just get it first, he gets it right all of the time. even when a lot of other people, everyone else, does not. even his close friends don't know what his politics are. if you call people at the court, the fbi, the doj, republican and democratic administrations, they would say he is the most fair, most honest, most reliability, most genuinely nice person. my personal congratulations to my dear friend, he has so many other interests he will have a very exciting post nbc time.

we have so lucky to have months more to appreciate pete's incredible reporting on dozens of supreme court cases to come including roev. wade, guns, and more to come. "chuck todd with mtp daily" starts right after this. mtp da starts right after this. what goes on it. usually. and in it. mostly. here to meet those high standards is the walgreens health and wellness brand. over 2000 high quality products. rigorously tested by us. real world tested by you. and delivered to your door in as little as one hour. miss allen over there isn't checking lesson plans. she's getting graded on her green investments with merrill. a-plus. still got it. (whistle blows)

your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. before i got aura, twenty-four of my online accounts were hacked! he uses the same password for everything. i didn't want to deal with it. but aura digital security just dealt with it. what were we worried about again? shopping on public wifi is sketchy. but with aura digital security, my devices are protected in like 3 minutes. it's time to protect your life online with aura's all-in-one digital security. try for free today at aura.com what was that password anyway? ew.

this? this is supersonic wifi from xfinity. it's fast. like, ready-for- major-gig-speeds fast. like riding-a-cheetah fast. isn't that right, girl? whoa! it can connect hundreds of devices at once. [ in unison ] that's powerful. couldn't have said it better myself. and with three times the bandwidth, the gaming never has to end. slaying is our business. and business is good. unbeatable internet from xfinity. made to do anything so you can do anything. you're binging the latest true crime drama. while the new double oven you financed is taking care of dinner and desert,

you're remembering how to tie a windsor. and while your washer is getting out those grass stains, you're practicing for the big leagues! for all of life's moments get the brands you trust to get the job done at wayfair. ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪ >> if is thursday the white house faces yet another kitchen table hurdle. it is facing the administration particularly on the economy. plus the republican senate primary in pennsylvania looks like it is indeed headed for a recount. could be an explosive test of the republican party ongoing efforts to cast doubt on the

legitimacy of the last election. and then finally they cast bids to join nato and fight against russian aggression. ! hello there, welcome to "meet the press daily. the last 24 hours have seen a full court press from the white house. his allies on a kitchen table issue that is suddenly a huge problem. the shortage of baby formula. that kitchen table is getting crowded for issues of concern. gas prices, inflation, recession, all concerns as well. the white house invoked the defense production act to compel suppliers to up resources for formula manufacturers. they're trying to air lift formula into the counry from overseas. there