. live look at san diego, this morning. welcome back to "morning joe." the fourth hour now. we're rolling right in. 9:00 a.m. here on the east coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. time to wake up. we've got a lot to get to this hour. this morning president biden declared the u.s. would intervene militarily if china were to invade taiwan. nbc's peter alexander is traveling with the president. he'll join us with his latest reporting on that. also developing news on the baby formula crisis as u.s. military planes carrying shipment from europe finally arrive. we'll get a live report from the white house on what the administration plans to do next. the crisis continues. and the latest on tomorrow's

closely watched primary race in georgia. amid reports that the republican governor's association hatched a plan months ago to spend millions to defend incumbents against what one former governor called trump's personal vendetta tour. and there are new developments on the war with ukraine as russia intensifies its bombardment in the eastern industrial heartland. fierce fighting in the donbas region is forcing a new round of ukrainians to flee their homes. as ukrainian and russian troops battle it out town by town, the battle for donetsk has become a major focus as russia seeks to capture one of the major cities still under ukrainian control after taking the southern port city of mariupol. the head of the luhansk region said russian bombardment in

using scorched earth tactics. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy said the fighting in the east has become increasingly bloody. with up to 100 ukrainian soldiers kill each day. meanwhile, ukraine is ruling out any cease-fire deal with russia, including giving up any of its territory. they are holding on. the presidential chief of staff tweeted yesterday the war must end with the complete restoration of ukraine territorial integrity and sovereignty. over the weekend ukrainian president zelenskyy said diplomacy is the only way to end the war. and as this goes on, 100 soldiers a day dying and volodymyr zelenskyy is not going to give in. >> no, real reason to give in.

in the first phase of the war they pushed the russians out of the kyiv area and held on at mariupol for a long time and held up russian troops there and they've lost could control of some cities and now there is a brutal hard slog going on in the donbas. let's go to the big board with security analyst clint watts. clint, what the russians can't do on the ground, they do with artillery and they are -- it is a scorched earth sort of approach to warfare which is, again, what they've long done to make up for their ineffectiveness on the ground. >> that is right, joe. we've seen a complete transition from the bold maneuvers trying to do massive envelopments to a concentrated battle here in the east. a few updates to check out. one kharkiv, in this area here, the ukrainians have done very well. they've taken this area, they've started to block off and they've

even made it to the russian border in places. this is the line of communication from bell gorod. izyum was the plan for the russian military and they wanted to take all of donbas and that has failed up to this point. but what we did hear from mika right before is the casualties ukrainians are taking as well. this is a long hard slog. and the one thing we don't know through most of the battle is how is ukrainian military doing. we see their successes in the defense but they were doing counter offensive last week and offense equals man power and man power equals casualties as you look at what is happening over time. the original plan of the russians was to try to link up izyum and donetsk and that is not happening. you're seeing a traditional slog of artillery where the russians are pushing out right around

this area north and west. they would like to try and link up and surround donetsk, that is the town where you hear about the intense battles going on right now and that is the lead in to our discussions today. but these encirclements are much shawler and every day the ukrainians are pushing forward and the m-777 making its way out on to the battlefield. that will be a game-changer for the ukrainian military. and the thing to watch is here in the south. over the weekend several pro-russian ukrainian politicians were installed as leaders for two regions. the two regions to watch for is this. the kherson region, could the russians hold that. there is some talk they're building up combat power with the question would they try to expand further out here to the west. that is way too much for them to do and this zaporizhzhia region,

in molitapol. if they could continue to cause problems, i don't know how they build up enough combat power to extend to the west. >> clint watts, thank you very much. greatly appreciate it. and richard haass, it does appear that ukrainians are making advances in the don bass region and doing well in other areas. still, it is a brutal war of attrition right now. i'm curious, your thoughts on what president zelenskyy said this past weekend that the only way this war is going to end is through diplomacy and a grand victory on the battlefield. >> well i think that is right. but the battlefield, as you know, determines the context for diplomacy. diplomats can't operate as if in the physical conditions were ab sent. so the real is if you create a stalemate, whether that gets one or the other or both sides

interested in essentially moving toward some kind of a diplomatic outcome. i don't see it. i'll be honest with you. i think there is a gap now between what the political requirements are of the two sides. but ultimately i think that is exactly right. you'll only have a lasting piece with diplomacy. but that is also probably going to require different leader shich on the russian side. i don't think you could have a lasting deal where russia would say we accept a sovereign independent ukraine and respect the 1991 borders. that is not going to happen under vladimir putin. so my hunch is that would only happen under some successor leaderships with the promise of rolling back sanctions in exchange for that kind of a deal. >> ukraine's first lady said the war is taking a toll on her family just as it has on millions of other ukrainians around the country and around the world. in a rare interview yesterday, alongside her husband, she described how life has, quote,

changed forever since russia's invasion started. the first lady also said she and her children hardly see president zelenskyy and are waiting to be together. take a listen. we added english translations at the bottom of the screen. >> again, saying this is one of

the only opportunities to see each other and she's been active on social media, representing the families that have been torn apart by this war. the people that have been injured, the amputees, the people that have experienced atrocities. she tried to speak about the victims of this war and keep them in the limelight. there are so many different angles. but especially, joe, the family's torn apart and the refugees that are across the border for example in poland. mostly, if not predominantly children and women because the husbands, the brothers, the fathers, stayed back to fight. >> it is extraordinary what all ukrainians have gone through including the first family of ukraine. and richard haass, i'm not the first person to draw the comparison and say that the zelenskyy's have it tougher. but we always hear how zelenskyy is so much like churchill. but what his family and wife and

family are going through. the germans never made it to britain. you heard stories of winston churchill being at cocktail parties and running on the roof and watching as german planes flew overhead. but again, for zelenskyy, he and his wife are targets one and two for vladimir putin. >> absolutely. imagine how different the political dynamic would be, god forbid, if something were to happen to president zelenskyy. if he were captured or killed, which was an early russian military objective. but just to take a step back, the human cost to this, you're talking about 100 soldiers on the ukraine side dying a week -- in a day. that is almost a thousand a week as the battle gets more intense. you have 3 million refugees in poland. you've got several million more internally displaced people, people are only counted as refugees when they cross an international border but my guess is two to three times the

3 million total are internally displaced in there country as mika said, virtually every family now is separated. putting this country back together again economically, physically, psychologically, this is going to be an enormous task. >> and what they are going through is worth covering every day as much as possible. we want to turn now to the comments made by president biden during his visit to japan earlier today just hours ago. saying that the u.s. military will defend taiwan if china were to invade. and it is a statement that the white house officials have already tried to walk back this morning. richard haass is saying let biden be biden and don't do the walk back. but let's bring in peter alexander who is traveling with the president in tokyo. peter? >> reporter: hey, mika, good morning to you and joe and the team there. i was in the room during that news conference today and i was

struck immediately after the president made those comments looking over at his top advisers including the ambassador to japan, rob emanuel, their eyes popped out of their head and they did come up with the clarification to try to walk back or clean up the president's comments as he said that the u.s. would be willing to respond militarily to protect the island of taiwan if china invaded. so here is the exact exchange as it played. >> you didn't want to get vofd in the ukrainian conflict militarily for obvious reasons. are you willing to get involved militarily to depend taiwan if it comes to that? >> yes. >> you are? >> that is the commitment we made. >> reporter: so the u.s. doesn't usually make that explicit security guarantee. instead the long standing policy for the united states has been one of strategic ambiguity. not as specific as the president was. so this is not the first time

he's said as much. i think it is third time, dating back to a town hall he did with cnn and abc interview in the past. so whether it was by design or mistake, his position on this appears to be clear, nonetheless the white house did put out a statement and it is notable that the president said that the policy of the has not changed. here what their statement. they said as the president said, our policy has not changed. he reiterated our one china policy and our commitment to peace and stablt imt akrons the taiwan strait and our commitment under the taiwan relations act to provide taiwan with the military means to defend itself. it was one of several critical comments the president made about china, comparing what is going on with russia invading ukraine to the situation that could exist between china and taiwan, he said what signal would be said if we were to lift sanctions on russia, what would that say about a potential

invasion of china by taiwan. he said they were flirting with disaster with some of their war planes that have been flying within a small distance of taiwan. so that was significant. china, though, viewing this as a provocative statement. mika, we heard from the chinese a matter of minutes after the president spoke and saying they have strong opposition to his commends. so the president when provided with the opportunity if he clarified if he wanted to at a later event, did not. so it is not entirely clear whether or not the president wants this to be what the world hears. even if the white house put out its own clarification. joe, back to you. >> thank you, peter. greatly appreciate it. nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander traveling with the president in tokyo. thank you so much. you know, just following up, elise, richard said let biden be biden. i have to say, we had months leading into the russian

invasion where everything was very neat and clean and within the lines, telling vladimir putin what we were not going to do. telling vladimir putin what steps we were not going to take. telling vladimir putin that we were going to stay away. it wasn't until the warsaw trip that biden actually started introducing some strategic ambiguity into the situation which of course was a first time after that warsaw speech when he said that biden said he wanted putin to leave, called him a war criminal and then they ran behind and cleaned everything up. that is the first time the russians actually were left guessing. and actually it put the united states in a much better position. so, you know, if the chinese think that joe biden's words this morning were too tough, well, fine. that is good. because that is the sort of strategic ambiguity we need in

there when biden is talking tough. and not telling the chinese, what we're not going to do. what lines we aren't going to cross because that brought us no good -- that brought nothing good in ukraine, will bring nothing good in taiwan. >> biden has been very clear on what he wants the policy to be and the bureaucracy needs to get in line because he's the president. and they could use the inner agency shock language and try to you know go back to what the official policy that everyone agreed on. but at the end of the day it is biden's policy and biden owns it. and he made clear how he feels about taiwan. and so going forward, i don't think there is going to be any strategic ambiguity any more from china's part. >> could i say one thing. >> yeah. i just wanted to say, though, richard, you are correct, we've had this one china policy for decades. things have changed over the past three to four years with china. china has become even more

aggressive. they have become not pariahs on the international stage but aligned themselves with apariahs and their behavior has been contemptible. both internally and externally. so if joe biden is taking a tougher line than presidents has in the past, that is because the situation has changed considerably. >> absolutely. we've also had the demonstration of naked aggression by russia. you had china just before the aggression took place sign a no limits agreement with russia. china has built itself up militarily. and so, yeah, i think the situation has changes. and i think the president threaded the needle exactly right. he's not changing the one china policy, not recognizing taiwan as a sovereign entity or causing a crisis or break fundamentals of u.s./china relations. this is a unilateral policy.

just like china changed things as it implemented its policy. so too is it coacher to change how we implement our policy. so this makes sense in policy terms and consistent with policy and good for the president and again third time is a charm. the white house staff should stand down. >> yeah, and as the president travels overseas, here in the united states his administration is working on the baby formula shortage. thousands of pounds from europe are now on the way to hospital providers after a shipment arrived yesterday. they carried nestle formula for babies with milk allergies. the usda said it is enough to feed 9,000 babies and 8,000 toddlers for one week. so are they bragging about this. because that is not something to brag about.

that is bad news. let's bring in white house correspondent for politico morning show contributor eugene daniels. that is not enough. that is not even close. we know that this plant was shut down, the one plant that really is the monopoly here in the united states. three months ago. and we've got enough for a week for 27,000 children, babies. >> they know it is not enough and the white house and the administration knows it. >> but hold on a second. white house is tweeting thanks president biden, here is operation formula one or whatever coming through for the -- and they're tweeting like this is the solution and it is a big thank you to the president. i don't think biden would -- i think biden likes to own things. and right now this is the white house's problems. there are some policies that might have contribute the to this. this plant had many more

problems when they get in there and they realize they have a bigger problem but still three months later they are thanking joe biden for a week for only a small tiny section of babies. >> and it is not just a small section of babies, it is very specialized formula. this is something for babies with allergies. you might hear some talk that is going past us right now. but the administration knows this. when they have been pushed last week or so on this as this crisis has continued to take headlines, what they've stated is that now we're going to kick it into gear. you see them talking about the defense production act. president biden last night tweeting that this allows the two infant formula manufactures to add legally binding language to their orders with suppliers that will give them priority.

so this will essentially allow raw materials to go to the company so they could make the actual formula. so that is another thing that they're doing. they are allowing formula that is coming from europe which people didn't know whether they have children or not, the kind of restrictions that the united states has when it comes to baby formula. almost none is imported to the united states from other countries so that is created this monopoly of four companies who own most of the united states when it comes to formula. so the shipping in of the european formula and we'll see another shipment later this week. secretary vilsack went and saw and talked to reporters of when we saw that shipment come in. so the administration knows they have a problem. it is also a messaging problem. so they're talking about being more out front on this. but it is unclear at this point what the white house and even what congress could actually do on this issue. and so as they move forward,

some other questions that they have is are there government regulatory restrictions that have to go away in order for this to get better in the future. >> i'm going to talk to the person driving that backhoe behind you there. don't worry, i'll take care of it for you, gene. are they in reverse? they are. >> back and forth. a lot of movement here. >> is that the white house messaging on baby formula? >> all right. no, eugene daniels, thank you very much. and there is legislation now fixing this long-term. and i think the president and democrats can take a lot of credit for that. but they got an initial problem and the messaging needs to be more clear, more transparent, more owning and they need to get this baby formula back up to speed. coming up, live to georgia where voters head to the polls in less than 24 hours for a crucial primary election. the latest test of donald trump's holdover his party.

plus, president zelenskyy said the international community should have supported ukraine more back in 2014 when they annexed crimea. we'll dig into the comments and introduce you to a very hungy toddler in texas. it is not formula he wants. it is burgers. he surprised his parents with a massive amount of mcdonald's food ordered on their phone when they weren't looking. oh, my gosh. it is starting early. "morning joe" will be right back. ok, let's talk about those changes to your financial plan. bill, mary? hey... it's our former broker carl. carl, say hi to nina, our schwab financial consultant. hm... i know how difficult these calls can be. not with schwab. nina made it easier to set up our financial plan. we can check in on it anytime. it changes when our goals change.

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so live everything like everything good or bad happens for a reason. and that is how you have to

live. >> sometimes the right thing to do is to sit and listen to the wisdom of those who have come before us. >> parents, listen to me. you guys really messed up. you might be supporting these kids for a very long time. they are not leaving the nest anytime soon. this is a tough business they chose but there is still time to talk them out of it. >> take pride in what you've accomplished here and give thanks to all those, be they parents or professors or fellow students that got you here today and go out and give themselves and yourself a return on the investment that they deserve and the country and the world so sorely need. >> yeah.

richard, with you were the best. joe is so moved. i know. >> the capitalist in me, the capitalist in me is so heartened that we're hearing all of those other sentiments, richard goes straight to return on investment. which is by the way. >> i thought he was warren buffett. hi to do a second take. >> when i went off to college i told my father i would major in english literature and minor in history and he asked, what my return on investment was going to be. so here we go, mika. >> zero. >> zero. >> yeah, exactly. i said zero. i said something about liberal arts, blah blah blah. so it worked out all right for you and me, mika. >> my parents were like is this really happening. is she going to get the diploma.

finally. okay. let's turn to politics now to the latest in georgia where mike pence will campaign for republican governor brian kemp today ahead of tomorrow's primary. kemp has pulled away from his trump-backed challenger former senator david perdue. despite being one of trump's top targets after the governor refused to support trump's lies about the 2020 election results. i think the interesting part here though is that mike pence is going up against donald trump here. "the washington post" reports that the republican governors association hatched a plan to fight against what one former governor called trump's personal vendetta tour. the group reportedly invested $5 million to defend kemp in georgia specifically. this as the state has already shattered its early voting record with more than 850,000 georgians already casting a ballot, a 212% increase over

2020. >> wow! >> that is worth noting. the georgia primary is an open primary. so voters can request either democrat or republican ballot. but just stop right there. joe, what do you think of that? >> well, it really is something, despite donald trump running sarn still telling people that we shouldn't have early voting. it is something that americans love. it is something that georgians love and floridians love and it does make a big difference. it helps more people vote. it also makes a big difference on election day. much more orderly, much more reasonable lines. in florida, in the state of florida, where donald trump won comfortably. i remember driving around every day, the old politician in me going from polling place to polling place and just looking and talking. and it was incredible how orderly it was. and i will say this, again, this

is not ideological. you look at what florida has done through the years from jeb bush through ron desantis, they have early voting. floridians love early voting. they count the votes early. and we know who is going to win the state of florida usually by 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. at night. it is the way every state should do it and the only ones who don't do it that way are either really backwards or they're actually trying to let conspiracy theories fester. if pennsylvania republican legislature would let early votes be counted early, just like michigan and wisconsin, we would have known by 11:00 on election night who won those races. and who was elected president of the united states. we also would have had a much clearer vision of what was going on of course in pennsylvania's

senate race this year. why not count the early votes early. >> it makes perfect sense. and also while some examples have shown us that day of voting tends to lean toward trump, maybe it will lean toward trump backed candidates, what does early voting usually do, but in this case you could vote democrat or republican, so anything goes in the early voting. it is -- and by the way, early voting was the horse that won in the preakness this weekend. so if you don't need more. that goes to your point. >> and again, when i was running, we republicans, when i was a republican, took great pride in our ability to always win early voting. to always do extraordinarily well with the absentee votes. and so you actually had in georgia donald trump hurting georgia senate candidates by running around saying elections were rigged, you're wsting your

time if go out and vote and that is why you saw the republican governor's association go out and strongly endorse governor kemp and why you see other people coming in like mike pence trying to help kemp win. let's go to macon, georgia right now and talk to correspondent blayne alexander. blanye, it is georgia, georgia, georgia. they've become the epicenter of american politics over past couple of years and that continues today, doesn't it? >> reporter: yeah, all eyes on georgia, you're absolutely right. both in early voting and in terms of what happens after tuesday. i have to a quick note about early voting. we've seen a tremendous shift in the messaging in georgia when it comes to early voting. all of us remember what many people called a disastrous primary back in 2020. you saw people waiting in lines for hours, people sitting out in the rain.

that was after that that the secretary of state in the individual counties trying to push the messaging of early voting. so people that i talked to said what we're seeing right now is the by product of people in the state. let's start with the governor's race. perhaps more than anybody else, if there is one individual person that donald trump blames for his 2020 loss it is in large part brian kemp. he is somebody who has been repeatedly cast as an enemy and we see in the tones david perdue campaign. he's made that the entire underpinning of governor to try to unseat him. but it appears that is not working. when you look at the latest polls, they show that david perdue is down more than 30 points and on his way to a decisive loss on tuesday if the polls are to be believed. but it is also interesting when i talked to kemp supporters,

many of them are also donald trump supporters. they say that i voted for trump before, many of them would vote for him again. but they say that is not enough to push them away from governor kemp. that is not enough to flip them to purdue's side. i spoke with some people who essentially said they want to vote for him more because they believe that he was unfairly attacked by the president. you also see this on the campaign trail between the two. he talks about 2020 and attacking the governor for not stepping in to overturn the results here in georgia. but kemp talks about his record and conservative wins and he talks about legislation that he signs, being the first state to reopen. what he doesn't talk about is 2020, he doesn't talk did donald trump or david perdue until you get to the end of the event. it shows how much of a different there is in their approaches. very quickly i have to talk to you about the secretary of

state, brad raffensperger, that is a lot closer. jody hice and polls show they're about three or four points away from each other. so that is one to watch tomorrow as well, guys. >> blayne alexander, thank you so much for that report. meanwhile, in pennsylvania, the gop senate primary is still to close to call after nearly a week long toss-up of who won the vote, the battle is moving from the ballot box to the courtroom. the campaigns of the two remaining candidates trump endorsed dr. mehmet oz and hedge fund ceo dave mccormick have both sent dueling letters to pennsylvania county about whether to accept mail-in or absentee ballots that lack a written date. a three-judge panel has not yet issued a formal opinion on this and the secretary of state has not yet issued guidance. on the democratic side, john fetterman, the democratic senate

nominee is back home after spending more than a week recovering from a stroke at a hospital. fetterman easily secured the nomination, hours after undergoing surge to put in a pacemaker last week. his wife gisele posted this video on twitter of him walking out of the hospital unassisted. she wrote in part, quote, time to rest and recover and annoy me. he will face the winner of the gop primary in november. so, joe, pennsylvania heading now to the courts. and no -- no out come yet between mccormick and oz. >> mccormick said that they may be within 50 votes. it will be fascinating that it is that close. pretty remarkable. it is time to put away your legos and time to turn off spongebob. because it is time now for brand

up, brand down, donnie deutsche. let's first start with crazy. is crazy brand up or brand down. >> who are you talking about. >> crazy is brand down. we've been talking about this for last month or so and you touched on it earlier in the show as did i. right now they should be losing to republicans with 10 to 15 points of what is going on in the economy. the democrats are up 47 to 42 in a ballot race and that is 10 point swing from the previous month. and why is that? when you look at where the economy is and 8 in 10 americans saying we're going in the wrong play and biden's numbers are terrible. yet the level of crazy in the republican party, whether it is the overturning of roe v. wade and the triggering in state where's a 14-year-old girl is raped and criminally tried tor trying to get an abortion to

qanon to replacement theory to marjorie taylor greene and crazy is trumping a bad economy. so for the republicans, for the maga crazy huge brand down. >> all right. and donnie, let's go to the next one. i love this next one because we've heard during covid that it cleared out theaters and they were never coming back. tom cruise refused to release his follow up to "top gun" until we could get them back in the theaters gutsy move, mav. i have brand. >> tom gun is opening memorial day weekend got a 97% rotten tomatoes and a five-minute standing ovation in con. i've never seen a press better for this movie and this is the first nonmarvel movie that brings people back to the theaters i know i will go to the theater. it will bring a generation from '86 and tom cruise is the

world's biggest movie star. he said he will never do a movie that is not a theatrical release. >> it is unbelievable. willie geist saw it before interviewing jon hamm. he was blown away. did not expect to it to be this good. it is a must see. brands down, climate deniers. why are they brand down today? >> let's go to down under where scott morrison what the incumbent, the conservative right-winger who has not only won four elections in world war 2 was a big climate denner, making fun of people in climate change and understand the problems. >> not good. >> and also not strong with women. also had an autocratic tendency to him. so little things like that. but basically the big news here is that climate, which was the labor party ran on was the big winner, but also if you're standing with putin if you're a climate denier.

because his unexpected strategy and his horrible battlely drawn out war with ukraine has caused a revolution. so you could stand with vladimir putin on top of that brand down. >> joe. >> the far siders had a little help with that. >> i was going to ask richard haass, tell us quickly, because this is australian election, it is quite a shock wave and could be a thing for other right-wing populist governments to start worrying about. >> that is half of the it. other side of the coin is this labor government that won is not far left. this is a centrist labor government unlike some of the previous ones back when. so i think there might be less on both sides of the aisle from this election. >> the next one hurts me. i love magazines, i've always loved magazine but brand down, donnie, you say magazine. >> yeah, rumors that people magazine, if you were going to

land in a archeological dig and say what was a magazine in the 21st century you would say people magazine. now you've had oprah and mary claire and circulation way down and the rumors is they will only be digit and the fact that people is no longer a magazine, we will no longer have magazine in the future. >> we are officially old. >> foreign affairs magazine. it is the 100 year and our subscriptions are up. we're just saying. >> we're all 100 years old. joe. >> the kids are very excited about that. i love the next one, brand up, the big mac. joe, everyone once in a while this show that does a lot of hard news does a warm fuzzy story about babies and bunnies. the big mac, one man, one hero of yours an mine, don coskki has

been eating one every day for 30 years, 42,000 big macs. and we have to do these -- >> i'm going to throw up. okay, so speaking up a texas mom whose 2-year-old recently ordered more than $60 worth of mcdonald's on door dash. kelsey thought her son was playing games an then 31 cheeseburgers arrived. it is a $61 charge. her son was generous with the tip. $16. more than 25%. joe, this is a kid after your own heart. you like this kid? i know you like this kid. >> there is only one word for this. winner. brand way up. donnie, you have another one. oh, i love your western culture on the skids. >> it is very much brand down. amber heard and johnny depp, their trial has gotten four times more hits online than the supreme court or abortion rights

and it is just kind of shows where our focus is in this country. a little frightening, a little sad. i like gossip as much as the next person but that just tells me western civilization, we've got work to do. >> i would say this, too, there is one more that we're going to need to do but we have to do it next week because we're busy. but this is a very interesting one. pets brand up. babies brand down. >> what? >> for gen z adults. it is disturbing. we'll do it next week. >> just a little teaser, 7 in 10 gen zers would rather have a pet than a baby. >> i'm never going to be a grandmother. is that what you're telling me. >> you're in the ten. >> donnie deutsche, thank you very much. i almost look forward to see you back on the the show. >> i look forward to see everyone. >> next on "morning joe," russia bans 1,000 americans from entering the country including the president and vice

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49 past the hour. russia has permanently banned 963 americans from entering the country. including president biden and vice president >> ian deserves to on be the list. i don't know, i figured, stephen king had a great book, "the dead zone" martin sheen played the role. martin said, the missiles are flying. as you know. that is ian.

he sia hard writer. ian has been right on russia, for years, and said for some time, watch out for putin. i know a lot of people were against putting putin in nato. ian, a strong supporter of that. which is why he is on the list. >> you need to get on a list. be like ian. >> putip, is really a reviggist. he is someone who gets up every morning, what can i do not just against ukraine, but to undo the united states, to undo western culture, he sees as a threat to his country and more important, to himself. he is an enemy. >> largely symbolic move in

regard to support of ukraine. and several biden, one person, not on the list, former president donald trump. >> he is invited. >> the invasion, he said, was brilliant. >> the only problem trump official, is mike popeo. >> they said when russia first illegal annexed colump yampt more support and preventive measures should have been taken years ago, to stop moscow to further unleash on ukraine, and

stop what is happening today. msnbc military analyst. add to that he is adding the maximum level of sanctions. i don't happening that eu is prepared to do that? >> yes, i will tell you, it is crimera happened in 2014. go to 2008, when russia invaded georgia. we saw the actions of russia and did little about it. i uponed to bring up georgia as part of this as well. >> you were in government at the time in service. how actatively debated was it for the united states and nato to take much stronger measures, either in the context of georgia or the ukraine intervention by

russia? >> i think that when you take a look at this, i often ask myself the same question, richard. we did start to change posture in europe. and general bredlove pushed hard, taking a hard look at where our troops are stationed. we started to push them more toward polapped, and i do not think we put the heart into saying, okay, russia is a true threat. what are we going to do about it? as well as nato? >> the wall street journ is

reporting that administration officials are weighing accepteding special forces to protect the embassy in kiive. this will be more than a forced detachment that will be there. what do you make of these plans? >> what i will tell you, we have to protect our u.s. citizens if they are going to go to kiive. norm i don't know if they are looking at that special forces, but i am all about protecting u.s. citizens in ukraine. it is something that we must do. good on us for doing it. believe, these forces would be to protect u.s. citizens there. >> just like nato, defensive.

>> retired u.s. army general twitty. thank you for your service to america. we are forever grateful. mick ai don't know if you noticed it, as we were talking about ian making the list, making putin's list, richard he is desperately, it is like richard calls him an enemy. calls russia an enemy, he desperately wants to get on the list. >> getting on china's list. >> tomorrow, on "morning joe." nancy pelosi joins us. y after a quick final break we pick up coverage.

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but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. >> good morning. new this hour, president biden said that u.s. would be open to military action if china invades taiwan. during his high profile trip to asia, surprising many of his own advisors. >> you didn't want to get involved in the ukraine conflict uare you willing to get involved