this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. tomorrow is the big primary day in georgia, the state where donald trump is being investigated for allegedly trying to steal the 2020 election and also the state that gave the senate majority to democrats, all in play in a critical midterm. the republican race for governor there between former senator david purdue who trump pressured to run but is lagging in the polls far behind incumbent brian kemp. kemp holds a rally today with former vice president mike pence. the senate primary is headlined by a former nfl superstar herschel walker the expected challenger for raphael warnock in november. overseas today in japan president biden meeting with the emperor and the prime minister and trying to stave off fears of a recession here at home and

making news by abandoning decades old policy of strategic ambiguity and saying the united states would fight for taiwan if it is attacked by china. >> you didn't want to get involved in the ukraine conflict militarily. are you willing to get involved militarily to defend taiwan if it comes to that? >> yes. >> you are? >> that's the commitment we made. >> the white house immediately walked that back, saying the policy has not changed. in ukraine, a russian soldier sentenced to live in prison by a kyiv judge after pleading guilty in the shooting death of a 62-year-old ukrainian civilian in the early days of the invasion. and ukrainian military officials say russia is escalating its offensive throughout the donbas region. and there is some relief coming for millions of parents today as the second major delivery of baby formula is expected to arrive wednesday as

part of the biden administration's operation fly formula. the first shipment arrived in indiana sunday and being shipped across the midwest. blayne alexander is covering the kemp campaign. let's talk about what happens with president trump. he is probably not going to like what he sees tonight if those polls are right, the kemp rally with mike pence is also today making a big push for the governor and hasn't donald trump been missing in action for his preferred candidate perdue? >> he's showing up by only virtually in a telerally. it's the second one he's done for david perdue. he hasn't been in the state of georgia for several weeks since late march when he held a rally for his hand picked challenger david perdue. what's interesting on election eve, if you look at the kemp

campaign, it's what they're not saying. it's any mention of former president trump. this really has been the way that kemp has been operating through this campaign. he talking about his record and things he has done, pieces of legislation he's signed into law, being the first state to reopen. one thing he notably does not mention is the former president, any mention of 2020 and really he doesn't talk too much about david perdue until the end of his campaign stops. that's interesting because perdue has made 2020 the entire underpinning of his campaign. the former president perhaps more than any other individual has targeted brian kemp and tried to make him the villain to emerge out of 2020. if numbers are to be believed, that hasn't worked here in georgia. brian kemp holds a 30-plus point lead over his challenger david perdue. unless something goes strongly against the polling, we expect

him to cruise to a relatively easy victory tomorrow. all of this sets up what we could likely see going forward. it's fair to say both sides are looking ahead to november. stacey abrams is running unopposed on the democratic side. we're getting a preview of what that battle could look like. i want to play some sound of a speech that stacey abrams made over the weekend at a fund-raiser for gwinnett county democrats. take a look. >> i am tired of hearing about being the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live. let me contextualize. when you're number 48 for mental health, number one for maternal mortality, when you have an incarceration rate that's on the rise and wages on the decline,

then you are not the number one place to live in the united states, but we can get there. >> reporter: what she said there at the beginning, the worst state in the country to live, that's something republicans immediately seized upon, including brian kemp saying he believes georgia is the best place to live and work. abrams put out a tweet underscoring infant mortality, maternal mortality and gun violence and saying that is her argument for needing improvements here in georgia. >> joining us now "new york times" politics reporter maya king, former republican congressman david jolly, now no longer affiliated with a gop. let's start with brian kemp. he's weathered a year of attacks from former president trump for not going along with president

trump's now claims about the 2020 election. he still seems poised for victory. how has he held on? >> this is a story about the limitations of what former president trump can do. let's remember that former president trump has called brian kemp a coward, a turncoat, really saying he's a traitor for not overturning an election that was fairly decided. he wanted georgia to go red. it did not go red. here we have former president trump wanting to go against him. he picked out senator perdue saying he wanted this person in particular to run against brian kemp. the way kemp has weathered this is because the republican governors association and a number of republicans have banded together and said we're going to have brian kemp's back. of course we have to talk about the fact that vice president pence is now on the side of brian kemp, the most direct challenge we've seen from the former vice president to the

former president. this really shows brian kemp is saying republicans see me as one of them. republicans are saying, while they understand president trump has some real impact here, they are having brian kemp's back. this is a model possibly for other republicans who want to push back against president trump's lies about the 2020 election. >> and maya king, you contributed to a recent "new york times" story about how har into this race. he's trailing and trump is barely showing up for him. >> absolutely. i'll add that perdue delayed his entrance to the race. governor kemp was clear that he would be running for reelection. david perdue waited until december of 2021 to actually announce and launch his campaign. by then, governor kemp had already established his campaign

team. he had already shored up a number of supporters and high profile donors both in georgia and outside of georgia. and he made very clear and consolidated support from republicans who are very influential in the state house. those were folks who were able to pass very conservative legislation that he was able to take on the road and say to republican voters who might have been a little bit skeptical or wary of the 2020 election results and were listening to the former president about the 2020 election and might have even believed that governor kemp played a role. he was able to go out on the campaign trail and sign into law as a sitting governor legislation that was very conservative on guns, on parents' rights, on mask mandates in schools, on the teaching of race and history in schools. these are all things that matter a lot to the republican

electorate. voters say, look, governor kemp has done a good job. david perdue has not given an argument strong enough to say i'm going to support him over this incumbent governor. we've seen that the argument the 2020 election was stolen is simply no longer strong enough to be a winning argument for this election. >> david perdue, of course, and governor kemp first became known nationally as being so anti-mask that was fighting with all the georgia governors especially in communities with black mayors who said they had vulnerable voters during those early months. david jolly, these clips between trump and pence and even mike pompeo over the midterms, what does this mean for trump and the party? >> i think we're seeing a lot of

mixed results here nationally. but what i would suggest we're starting to see is in races for the state house and gubernatorial races there's a lot more running room for these candidates. if you think how glenn youngkin in virginia ran on these issues but tried to distance himself from trump without criticizing trump. brian kemp has done the same thing. i'm going to run on a hard right platform but i'm not going to get mixed up in the trump story. ron desantis in florida exactly the same thing. i think in the state houses it's easier to communicate why focusing on governance instead of trump might be more effective. in terms of the national body politic of republicans, this remains donald trump's party until somebody takes it from him. >> maya, about that georgia senate primary that herschel walker seems totally in control of, how does that shape up face

to face, head to head senator warnock? >> sure. i'd say republicans are going to have a fairly controversial nominee in herschel walker but what we will see is two main in a very big national race, two african-american candidates, one with the vision of raphael warnock, the other with the athlete turned republican with a concerning past related to domestic violence. >> thanks to all of you guys. msnbc's complete coverage of georgia primaries starts tonight. we'll be joined by stacey abrams. tomorrow, steve kornacki is back

to break down all the primary results. tomorrow beginning at 7:00 eastern. breaking news on the fight against covid-19, pfizer has released new clinical trial results for children aged 6 months to five years old. the vaccine was 80% effective for the youngest kids. and some potentially good news for parents of young children. emergency supplies of baby formula arriving from overseas, but will it be enough with store shelves still empty? more on the administration's operation fly formula coming up next. operation fly formula coming up next for copd, ask your doctor about breztri. breztri gives you better breathing, symptom improvement, and helps prevent flare-ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition... ...or high blood pressure before taking it.

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president biden making waves with comments in japan earlier, saying that the u.s. would be willing to intervene militarily if china were to invade taiwan, appearing to break with america's longstanding strategic ambiguity on taiwan. joining me now is kelly o'donnell in tokyo, helene cooper. i happened to be watching this live early this morning or late last night, whichever part of the globe you're in. i don't know. i was taken aback.

what was the reaction in the room? >> reporter: there was certainly a sense of this being a new kind of unpredictability from joe biden, the president, because he is in asia making these controversial comments. he has made foreign policy one of the center pieces of his expertise as president and he has made comments like this before where his own administration has carefully come back and said no change in u.s. policy. as you watched the fullness of the president's remarks, he was careful to say one china policy is still in effect. but his words and his intention were giving a very different impression and he was putting it in the context of what has happened with russia and ukraine and saying the barbarism of

russia must be met with ongoing, longstanding consequences for vladimir putin and russia as a sign to china not to take action against taiwan. when you put all of that in context, the strategic ambiguity, a term-of-art in diplomacy which has said the u.s. would not be clear about its specific actions against china in a public way, in a sense, not having an ultimatum or a public line in the sand against china to have a competitive and complex relationship with china publicly, but to try to keep a peace with all of the economic and geopolitical relationship that exists there. the president amped it up. to think that he did that in asia with all of the world context, knowing that aides in the room were uncomfortable, shifting in their seats and then quickly moving to respond. now, i'm also struck by something when the president was in poland and talked about putin

cannot remain in power. then a few days later in washington i asked him if he agreed with his administration walking that back and he said no. there may be a piece of joe biden on the world stage we are now seeing where he is inserting his own level of unpredictability on matters to try to sort of move the issues, not abandoning u.s. policy but perhaps shaping it in a way that he sees as more appropriate in this moment. >> we all remember that in warsaw. china pushed back today, not surprisingly, saying no one should underestimate its ability to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. it's a policy that goes back to 1979 and jimmy carter, the one china policy. any concern about increasing tensions with china? >> well, you never want to increase tensions, but this is not the first time the president has said this. it's really the third or maybe even the fourth time he said it.

the u.s. policy has always made clear that on one hand it accepts the one china policy, but it wants the differences between china and taiwan to be resolved peacefully. it also doesn't want taiwan to take actions that would provoke china to necessarily engage in nuclear force. that's where the strategic ambiguity problem has come from. i think what the president is saying is that given what the chinese have been doing over the past few years, the kind of military operations in the straits, the constantly buzzing of taiwan's air space and ships coming in closer, that if there is a real invasion, which is the question that was asked, then the united states is most likely

going to be there with taiwan. i think that's a very welcome kind of sign that there are limits to what china can do, that in a world in which major powers start using force against neighbors without being provoked, there are consequences. we're seeing those consequences in ukraine. we're seeing them with regard to russia. the president is signaling to the chinese that the kind of things we're seeing in ukraine are the kinds of things we will be prepared to do with regard to taiwan, a longstanding close partner of the united states. >> and a defense partner as well. militarily, what would the u.s. defense of taiwan even look like, given that china is only one mile away across the strait? >> that's just the thing, isn't it? what biden is doing right now is the very definition of strategic

ambiguity. he agreed, yes, the u.s. would defend taiwan militarily, but what does that even mean? does that mean american boots on the ground? we certainly have plenty of troops in asia to begin with, particularly in south korea. but he didn't say that. he left that up in the air. does that mean the administration now is starting to talk about using a ukrainian model where they could say we will send them as much weaponry as we can to help them, but we won't put boots on the ground. that's not clear either. ukraine is behind all of this and this is the administration sending a message. this is biden sending a message to china to just be aware that they should not make assumptions about what the united states will do at this time. you've seen this pattern again and again. biden did this exact same thing

last october on this very issue with taiwan, and the white house walked it back. you mentioned he did this last month on ukraine. i think that we should be taking the president at his word, but we should also be aware of the fact that for more than a year and a half now american troops have been on the ground in taiwan secretly training. it was a secret until last summer when there were press reports about this. but secretly training taiwanese military. there were american special ops troops on the ground and marines. it started in the trump administration and continued into the biden administration. we certainly sell a lot of weaponry to taiwan. we're viewed as a strategic partner. but also biden compared them last year to south korea and japan when talking about whether we would be willing to defend

them. that's a high bar to put them in. >> yeah. that's really interesting information. of course, they have been big military partners and purchasers of our weaponry. it's an important strategic tactical warning to china, which has been supportive of russia on sanctions and still buying a lot of russian oil. thank you. back at home, relief for some families grappling with the baby formula shortage, the first of two flights landing in indianapolis monda flown in from germany. the shipment from nestle going to hospitals.

jo ling kent is there today. is this mostly for children who are really at risk and are already in the hospital? >> reporter: so the formula, the hypoallergenic formula will serve 18,000 infants for the equivalent of one week. it's obviously a very limited group of kids and babies and a very limited amount of time. i asked the white house where the formula is for kids not taking hypoallergenic formula and we have not heard back. we have heard more formula is coming on wednesday, a new flight coming from germany to dulles and being trucked up to pennsylvania. so that formula will then be

distributed. what we know about the batch that came here yesterday is that some of it was tested in switzerland before it came into the u.s. they expect families to be able to get that through hospitals and health care providers by today and tomorrow. then the rest of it will take about two weeks to be distributed nationwide. this is specialized formula for babies who are allergic to cow's milk. >> let's talk about what's going to come next. did secretary vilsack give you any understanding? he's mainly in charge of the wic program for families most in need. how long is this going to take, weeks, months? >> reporter: secretary vilsack said they've issued those

waivers they hope will be in all states fully active asap. we've seen some of the waivers already in motion in many states across the country. that flexibility is there. from some of the parents we've spoken to who use wic, they've got the vouchers but can't buy the formula they need because that is still not on shelves. the white house did disclose last night that the first two orders from u.s. manufacturers using the defense production act to get ingredients and skip lines to get early supplies they need to make more formula has been authorized. we do expect capacity to go up. experts say this is really not about the ingredients and the defense production act. it's more about the capacity of the formula makers here in the u.s. you still have the abbott

facility down. it will be weeks to come before that formula hits shelves. turning to the war in ukraine, russian troops are on the offensive, their sites trained on the donbas region close to the russian border. richard engel spoke with two women from their hospital beds who survived a harrowing attack. >> reporter: all of the women in this recovery room were wounded by russian artillery and survived that split second between whistle and bang. what happened to you? how did you end up here in the hospital? i just left my house when i heard something flying. i had just grabbed the doorknob to my basement. that's the last thing i remember. in a nearby bed, vera, 95 years

old. suddenly, there was an explosion. i felt a blow to my head and the windows and door in the bedroom flew off. >> extraordinary. richard engel joining us in eastern ukraine. >> reporter: we are now in central donbas. if you look at a battle map, the center of the fighting has shifted out to this part of eastern ukraine. first russian forces tried to take kyiv and were driven back. when they tried to take kharkiv and were driven back. now they are focusing out here in the old coal mining heartland of this country. unlike in those other two locations, here the russians are making slow, destructive advances using artillery and

unguided rockets trying to capture this area. many people are leaving donbas. we're seeing ukrainian troops pour into this region. it has become even more militarized with civilians leaving, troops and equipment arriving here. this is the part of the country that president zelenskyy said that russia is turning into a hell. he said about 50 to 100 ukrainians are being killed every single day, many of them now in this eastern part of the country. >> i wanted to ask you about president zelenskyy. he gave a virtual speech in davos and said thousands of lives could have been saved if they received 100% of their needs back in february.

>> reporter: zelenskyy has been a bit of a moving target. zelenskyy right now is a global hero and seen by many in this country as a hero. but right before the invasion, zelenskyy kept saying the russians would not invade. he was critical of the media for trying to sabotage the ukrainian economy, he said, because many people were suggesting that the russians were going to invade. his argument at the time in those early days were that the united states and other countries should impose sanctions on russia prematurely to prevent an invasion. now it seems like he's shifting the goal posts once again, saying that had the u.s. and other countries sent in massive amounts of weapons very early on, that tens of thousands of lives could have been saved. in the early days he also was telling the world the invasion

would not happen. >> i want to ask you about pentagon plans. we know the kyiv embassy has reopened. now john kirby has confirmed over the weekend in the "washington post" that there are talks to send some form of u.s. military there to secure the diplomats who are there. it's usually u.s. marines guarding all u.s. embassies. do we know what their needs are? >> reporter: no. but this is a very unusual move. traditionally around the world embassies are guarded by marines. but i think there seems to have been a calculation that the diplomats in kyiv right now face a unique threat and that in order to prevent another kind of massive diplomatic incident that they would need a higher level

of security. there's talk about sending elite special operations forces to protect the diplomats at the embassy. i don't know the calculations. perhaps they're political, perhaps they're practical, maybe a little bit of both. maybe the memory of benghazi is still playing on people's minds when there was an attack on a diplomatic facility that turned lethal. but it is an unusual step. what we're seeing is the u.s. trying to message it both ways, saying, yes, they could be sending these extraordinary security personnel to protect the diplomatic staff, but also at the same time trying to assure russia that this is not sending military advisors into the country, not training the ukrainian military, no boots on the ground from the united states in ukraine, but only in a heightened level of protection for diplomatic personnel at the

embassy. >> i know there might be a question or two asked of the defense secretary and the chairman of the joint chiefs who have just come into the pentagon briefing room. let's listen to secretary austin. >> i'm delighted we were joined virtually by more than 40 ministers and chiefs of defense. i'm especially glad that the contact group once again got to speak with ukraine's minister of defense. we're also joined by the department commander in chief of ukraine's armed forces and by ukraine's defense intelligence representative. i'm also proud and pleased to see that several new countries attended today's meeting of the contact group, including austria, bosnia, colombia, ireland and kosovo. we're delighted to have them aboard and we hope to continue

expanding this important gathering of allies and partners. russia's unprovoked and cruel invasion has galvanized countries from around the world. the bravery, the skill and the grit of the ukrainian people have inspired people everywhere. we've made important progress since the contact group was established after the summit last month. today we've gained a sharper shared sense of ukraine's priority requirements and the situation on the battlefield. we also heard some welcome announcements this morning about even more security assistance for ukraine. that includes some 20 countries have announced new security assistance packages. many countries are donating critically needed artillery ammunition and coastal defense systems and tanks and other armored vehicles.

others came forward with new commitments for training ukraine's forces and sustaining its military systems. there are too many countries to properly thank everyone here, but let me mention just a few. i'm grateful to denmark, which announced today it will provide a harpoon launcher and missiles to help ukraine defend its coast. i'd also like to thank the czech republic for its substantial support, including a recent donation of attack helicopters, tanks and rocket systems. today several countries announced new donations of critically needed artillery systems and ammunition, including italy, greece, norway and poland. let me also recognize the united kingdom for its leading role in helping coordinate security assistance and for the significant quantities of british equipment that continue

to flow into ukraine. i'm deeply grateful to these countries and to all the countries that have stood up today. in a short four weeks since the contact group convened at ramstein, the momentum of donations and deliveries has been outstanding. after today's discussions, i'm pleased to report that we're intensifying our efforts. moving forward, we'll continue to deepen our coordination and cooperation so that ukraine can sustain and strengthen its battlefield operations. our efforts will also fortify and modernize ukraine's armed forces to help them deter future russian aggression. we had several important conversations today about the latest battlefield conditions, about progress towards meeting ukraine's priority requirements, about deconflicting security

assistance deliveries on the ground and how to help ukraine maintain the self-defense capabilities we've all supplied. everyone here understands the stakes of this war, and they stretch far beyond europe. russia's aggression is an affront to the rules based international order and a challenge to free people everywhere. now, let me announce an item for your calendars and we'll convene the contact group for our third meeting next month and we'll gather in person this time on june 15th in the margins of the nato defense ministerial in brussels. it won't be a nato event, but we want to keep up the tempo of these meetings and i wanted to use my travel to europe to ensure we're building on our

momentum. my team will have more details on this in the days ahead. so it's been a good day and an encouraging one. we fully understand what ukraine is up against. the contact group, again, shows how much we can get done when so many nations of good will come together. so we're going to keep it up. we're going to keep supporting ukraine as it defendsits citizens and sovereignty and democracy. before i take your questions, i wanted to say just a few words about someone who everybody in this room knows well, my friend john kirby. john and i go way back. he's also been the kind of teammate that you want at your side. since the earliest days of this administration, i've been fortunate to have his judgment, his insights and his leadership. john has been a wise and trusted counsellor and a clear and

eloquent voice for this department, its missions and its values. he's always understood how central a free and independent press is to our democracy. even when the questions were tough, even whether the findings were uncomfortable, when john stood behind this podium, he always committed to truth, trust and transparency. so, john, thanks for your extraordinary, extraordinary service. i know you're not going far, but we wish you fair winds and following seas. so thanks for everything that you've done. so i'll turn it over to the chairman for his remarks. then we'll be glad to take your questions. >> thanks, secretary. i would like to also thank john for his professionalism and expertise over the years.

he's done tremendous service for those of us in uniform. good morning, everybody. i want to echo secretary austin's statement from this morning. this meeting was a great opportunity to coordinate our efforts to provide timely and effective support, military aid to ukraine. we had 47 countries participate this morning. that's really significant. although i regularly speak with all my nato defense counterparts, some almost daily, this contact group is a unique assembly of voices and resources that span the globe and enhance our collective capability. i just returned from nato where i met with my nato counterparts. this meeting this morning expands on that effort. together, our task is to provide sub trained support. i want to emphasize that the

u.s. joint force, our role as continued support to the ukrainian military as long as directed and we intend and have the capability to do so. all of this is important, because the ukrainian military people are fighting not only for their own country, but they're fighting about the rules based international order that affects all of us. the united states military comprises one of the key components of national power, diplomatic, economic and of course military. our task is to protect the homeland and stand ready to sustain the defense of the american people. we stand ready as part of a whole of government approach and really an alliance approach.

last fall the united states military had about 78,000 in ucom. in a few short months we've bolstered that by over 30%. this morning we've got, roughly speaking, 102,000 u.s. troops in ucom operations in many countries. we have over 15,000 sailors in the baltics on 24 surface bat combatants and subs. on the ground we have two corps, two divisions and -- >> the pentagon announcing an expanded group of countries they met with this morning for supporting and intensifying ukrainian's military efforts, including tanks and additional artillery in this war against

russia. a big shoutout to john kirby, who is going to be moving to the white house as a national security advisor and deputy to the advisors already there and communications during this wartime period. an unexpected endorsement on the political. front from powerful congresswoman johnson in texas. johnson is backing progressive jasmine crockett to run for the seat over jane hope hamilton, a long time democratic congressional aide. she has the backing of nearly every other powerful democrat in the region. >> hi, i'm jane hope. >> jane hope hamilton is going door to door asking voters to send her to washington. >> this is the final stretch. you're back in the neighborhood. >> that's right.

that's what it's all about. it's really taking the message directly to voters. >> on tuesday she faces jasmine crockett in a runoffrunoff. it's considered a safe blue district. whoever wins the runoff will likely go to congress. congresswoman johnson served 30 years in congress as a moderate. she made her choice clear, but it wasn't who many were expecting. the congresswoman picked jasmine crockett, a processive, explaining why shecomer is righ >> i want somebody to get in there and work and do things for the district that consider

identifiable. >> crockett, a freshman texas state representative, made a national name for herself after she joined her democratic colleagues in protesting restrictive voting laws by fleeing the state ahead of the vote. she has become a rising star on the left, challenging and sometimes colliding with the democratic establishment. >> to me, being progressive means i don't want to be regressive. >> crockett emerged from the primary with 48% of the vote. as the race has heated up, both women have tried to underline contrasts in their political experience. hamilton has worked as a congressional staffer. >> i do know there's obviously a

struggle inside of our party. people look at me and say she's the establishment candidate. i'm a black woman in america. the only thing established about me is my record. >> while crockett has forged a path on her own as a civil rights lawyer and passionate advocate for justice. >> i'm here to fight for the people. that's why i think people get confused about progressives, because progressives will call people out even if they play on the same team. >> joining us is senior democratic national committee advisor fresh from the white house cedric richmond. what does this look like now? does congresswoman johnson's backing help the progressive candidate? you have democrat versus democrat in this very hot texas race. >> the dnc policy is we don't weigh in on the primaries, but i would remind you it's an

exchange of ideas and a contest of ideas. i think both candidates are pushing a message about helping the american people, helping the family unit, which is the same thing that democrats around the country are pushing. so however you phrase it, the result is the same. you have two candidates who are very qualified, but they're working on behalf of the biden agenda and trying to make this a better country and to address the challenges that we face. so we're proud as a dnc of all of the candidates and we wish them the best. >> you've got to be proud of your incumbents but you've got a mess in new york. the final redistricting map pits two of the most powerful democratic congress members and you've got these two democrats

who have worked together for 30 years representing two really wealthy districts, so big fund-raising pots now that are going to be spent against each other rather than helping the overall party. you have a new district, the 10th. that's going to have jones squeezed out and you have bill de blasio running against him. everyone, it seems is mat at maloney, who is supposed to be in charge of sorting through democratic aspirations and dividing money and staff to them all, and now they're all going against each other. how are you going to sort this out? >> what's really unfortunate about the new york congressional map is it was drafted by an unelected special master who is not accountable to the voters of new york. it's undemocratic and it was

approved almost in the dead of night. i think what we should focus on is making sure that we talk about the issues that are affecting the american people. that's democrats fighting to reduce inflation, bring down the debt, to make sure that women have the right to choose. but the is so important, but what happened in new york is very unfortunate that it went that way. and that it was done by a person i think is not accountable to the voters of new york. >> but a judge has approved it. did new york democrats put themselves in this position in a way by coming up in the legislature with a really gerrymandered pro democratic map that was rejected and then went to the courts in this special master. >> i don't think so. i served in the legislature for 11 years and went through

redistricting twice in my career. and there are rules that you abide by and i think the democrats did that. we see what unconstitutional redistricting looks like. you have to look in florida where the governor said we want to get rid of a black district. so we certainly don't want to go backwards. i think the new york legislature was well within injuries prudence in terms of crafting that map, but as i understand it, this will be a challenge to this one and let's see what the courts decide. >> doesn't this also hurt the white house and the larger party issues? but the white house, it hurts joe biden to have powerful veterans like jerry nadler pitted against each other. however this works out. it does not help. >> you don't want to lose experience in the congress. but the president is focused on

one making sure that the dnc under harrison's leadership continues to invest in the midterm elections. and the president is going to skaep his head down and continue to support ukraine, fighting inflation and doing fighting for climate change and trying to reduce the costs that families face. whether it's health care or all of those thing, the president is going to stay on his job and that is to address the concerns and the american people. and continue to create jobs and push this economy forward. so we all know the numbers. he's created 8.5 million jobs, 400,000 last month. the economy is moving faster than it's ever moved before. he's going to stay focused on that and continue to fight republicans in what i believe is their unpatriotic actions of rooting against america just to

weaken the president. that's the part that americans are not talking about. if the choice will be clear. they are trying to hurt the american people just to win elections. and we should be coming together in this pandemic. we should be uniting as a country and not entertaining those elected officials that wish to divide us. that's what we see from the top to the bottom is trying to divide and pit americans against each other. the president said many times that america is not a zero sum game. someone doesn't have to do bad for you to do good. we can all do well together. and i think that going into november, that message will be crystal clear. it will be about unity and progress and division. so we're excited about it. i think the president has built the necessary infrastructure the

dnc is doing their part and we're going to compete. >> cedrickrichmond, thank you very much. general milley was asked about the taiwan comment. this is the question that we were talking about earlier. >> for obvious reasons, are you willing to get involved military think hawaii to dechd taiwan? his answer was yes, that's the commitment we made. so the reason i wanted to read the question is it indicates in his answer that the u.s. is prepared to do more to defend taiwan than what the u.s. is already doing to help ukraine defend against the invasion from russia. it's provided tremendous amount of equipment and support and intelligence to ukraine. president biden said today the u.s. is willing to do more to help taiwan. so my question for you is the

u.s. making a commitment to send troops to defend taiwan in the event of an invasion? >> as the president said, our one china policy has not changed. he reiterated that policy in our commitment to peace and stability across the taiwan straight. he also highlighted our commitment under the taiwan relations act to help provide the means to defend itself. so again, our policy has not changed. >> that does it for the edition of "andrea mitchell reports." the reiteration from the defense secretary that the taiwan policy has not changed, although the president certainly said something different earlier today. join us tomorrow for coverage of the big georgia primary content

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plus president biden warns choi na that the u.s. will defend taiwan if beijing decides to invade as his pentagon briefs reporters. and later, what's going on with monkeypox. president biden says everybody should be concerned about the latest outbreak. i'll speak with the top white house national security official on biosecurity, coming up. welcome to "mtp daily." i'm garrett haake in for chuck todd. another week means another big election night is almost here. primaries in alabama, arkansas and georgia in addition to runoff elections in texas tomorrow night. the big spotlight of the night will be on georgia. it's a key battleground for senate control in the midterms and a hugely important presidential battleground in 2024. and it has also been ground zero for president trump's