good day, everyone, this is

and rea mitchell kicking off a special two-hour edition of "andrea mitchell reports" today. we are in washington as the focus on the classified documents seized from donald trump's mar-a-lago estate is going to shift in the next hour to a courthouse in west palm beach, florida. that's where trump's lawyers and the justice department are clashing over the former president's request for an independent master to go through the stack of files taken from mar-a-lago to see where any might have involved attorney/client privilege. the government says they have already done that and doing it again could harm the investigation. meanwhile the current president is going to be in philadelphia this afternoon into the evening at independence hall delivering a primetime speech on threats to our democracy, what he calls saving the soul of the nation. and another midterm special election win for democrats overnight. alaska voters rejecting former vice presidential candidate

sarah palin's bid for the state's lone house seat in favor of mary peltola. but we start with the latest filing from trump's legal team and the hearing set to get under way at 1:00 p.m. joining me now ryan reilly, also devlin barrett, and harry litman, former deputy assistant attorney general. ryan, first let's break down the trump team's argument in this latest filing and what it means in today's hearing on whether or not to appoint a special master, an independent overseer to look at these files again. >> the trump team will want to broaden this out and try to make this more about executive privilege, which would be sort of unprecedented for them to get into that territory. that's what they're going to try to do here. i thought that the filing last night, the most anything thing was what the trump team did not say. they did not claim that there

was some sort of declassification of these documents that had taken place beforehand which is what we've heard from the trump team when they're just speaking through social media or the media. they claimed these were declassified by the president when he was still in office. >> that's what the former president has been claiming as well, even though there was no such ability to declassify once you leave office. >> so we haven't seen those claims. they also haven't responded to a lot of the pretty damning allegations laid out by the justice department. essentially the trump team gave the justice department an opportunity to put out all this derogatory information about the former president. they took that opportunity and now are not responding to these specific allegations which don't look great for how the president is handling this. they said they're not going to respond individually to each one. but there's a lot of evidence out that doj has put forth that is not being responded to by the trump team at this point. >> harry litman, the fact is that the government would not

have been able and did not reveal what they reviewed in that filing the other night, even going to the chief judge in the d.c. circuit and asking to reveal grand jury information, which is always kept secret prior to indictment. they wouldn't have had that opportunity if the trump team had not asked for that special master and that opened -- gave them the window to lay all of this out, including that picture showing those classified documents spread out on the carpet in the former president's office and the fact that classified documents were weren't in his office drawer. the closest -- to connect him directly to holding classified documents improperly. >> that's exactly right. it's been a series of self-inflicted wounds, each one worse than the last. this last one they were able to really give some more detail because trump did a little forum shopping to get another judge. they said to that judge you

haven't seen the affidavit so let us tell you a thing or two, and the thing or two was really extremely damning. to ryan's point that they're trying to sort of smush together executive privilege. that really, i think, is the ball game here. all their case is asking for a special master involve attorney/client privilege. trump could have attorney/client privilege with is own personal lawyers. what he doesn't have is any kind of standing about these documents, the public documents and the very first legal argument that doj made and that trump will have to answer in an hour is why do you have any interest in these documents at all to even be here? you've got no right, no interest. these don't belong to you any more than to any other citizen. it's a tough argument and his submission last night really doesn't begin to answer it.

>> so i also want to bring in paul butler, former federal prosecutor. paul, in the filing, trump's attorneys wrote in part, quote, left unchecked, the doj will impugn, leak and publicize selective aspects of their investigation with no resource for trump but to have the unchecked investigators. >> when you don't have a defense of the charges, you attack the prosecutor, you attack the investigators. importantly, donald trump has not been charged with any crime. but when you think about this obstruction of justice crime that's listed in the search warrant under -- and what we've learned about that since then, trump is not responding. he's still not saying why a federal judge found probable cause to think that mar-a-lago was concealing documents that

contained national security vital information and why even after they got a subpoena from a grand jury, they hid it from the government. there's no response to that from trump. >> devlin, you have laid out that timeline in "the washington post" along the way and pointing out just how often and how vigorously the government tried to get this stuff back, quietly, though, giving him special procedures because he is a former president. so not going after him the way they would anyone else, the subpoena, the requests, again, going back to them, the visit june 3rd and then, of course, going to the warrant. >> right. and i think what the government is trying to show through all these filings is, look, we did everything we could to resolve this easily and without a thing like a search. i think the real concern for trump's people and the former

president himself is not so much what happens in the early part of this year or last year. this thing really comes to a full steam in may and june of this year. and that's the real challenge for trump's lawyers, to defend the conduct, to try to explain it away in a way that does that lead to more grand jury activity. and so that is part of the dynamic we're going to see play out a little bit in this hearing. is there anything that the trump lawyers can say or do to knock back these accusations, because, frankly, every time they have gone to court or argued something in court, it has resulted in a really devastating new sets of facts to come out about their conduct. >> devlin, in fact your colleague, carol leonig was on alex wagner's show in fact and pointing out that some of the trump lawyers themselves are now vulnerable. let's watch. >> right.

and that's a really -- >> you look at the floor, you see documents, right? they have cover sheets of documents. no, they put them there john and they put them there in a messy fashion. then they took a picture and they released it to the public. and this is what we're dealing with, with these people. >> i have never, ever seen that. that is not the way his office looks. anyone that knows president trump's office, he has guests frequently there. it's just a joke. >> my apologies, that was of course the wrong sound. that was other claims by the trump forces. we think we do have carol leonnig, do we not, from alex wagner's show last night? okay, let's play that. >> the shifting sands of the arguments that trump and his team have made have now put two people who said they were lawyers for donald trump in serious jeopardy. i'm told by sources that

christina bobb will automatically be a witness. she will be asked for testimony. we'll see about evan corcoran. >> so harry litman, let me ask you one key point of the trump filing is the claim that the june 3rd meeting between the justice department official and trump's attorneys, evan corcoran, christina bobb, was as the file put it significantly mischaracterized. how do the courts go about verifying which version is the truth? >> well, for now they don't have to. it's funny, because all these self-inflicted wounds that everyone is documenting were really unnecessary. they have got -- she's not going to have to decide who's right or who's wrong. on the other hand, i think given the sort of documentation from are the doj, we have a pretty good sense of what happened. there is these ellipses in there

about further investigation and we'll find out about that later. but the point about bobb and corcoran that carol makes is very strong. bobb is the one to signed an attestation after a diligent search, there's nothing here. surprise, there's a whole other cache of things, including in rooms where they told them they couldn't go in, including in trump's desk. that's devastating. so that attestation was false. if she -- if trump tries to point the finger at her and say he didn't know anything, she's in criminal jeopardy. that's exactly the person -- kind of person both of them who are made to order to cooperate and there's going to be immediate pressure on them to be witnesses here and potentially witnesses against the former president. >> thanks to you and ryan reilly, let me circle back to you on january 6th. you've got some news on an indictment against oath keeper?

>> yes, kelly sirelli has been indicted and arrested in texas this morning. >> we also have more new reporting that i just was handed that two top trump white house lawyers are going to appear before a federal grand jury on january 6th. we're talking about pat cipollone and pat philbin. and ali vitali has some information about that. ali? >> reporter: yeah, andrea. yet another addition to the conversation that you're having and yet another salvo in what doj is doing on these investigations into donald trump, specifically this one around the overturning of the 2020 election results or the attempts from the trump campaign to do so. and of course around january 6th. we're now learning from a source familiar telling our peter alexander that pat cipollone and

pat philbin, two top white house lawyers from the trump administration, will be speaking before a grand jury tomorrow. it comes really at a time that we have rare insight into what they might be able to tell the department of justice. doj loves to do this stuff behind closed doors but the public has the benefit of the transparency lent by the january 6th investigation where pat cipollone has been a key witness. someone they have shown the public multiple times over the course of their committee hearings and someone who can speak to what was going on both inside the white house at the top echelons of the administration, but also potentially conversations that were being had with people who were outside the white house but allied with the former president. all of this speaking to the larger landscape around january 6th and how the trump campaign and even potentially the former president himself were involved in these efforts to potentially overturn the election results, but also what the conversations were inside the white house about whether or not they knew that this was legally

troublesome. >> thank you so much, ali. don't go far. stay with us, because you'll be back right after the break and we're going to talk politics. ryan, paul, devlin and harry, thanks to all. next up, as we've been previewing, alaskan surprise. the special election shock that sarah palin has the state sending a democrat to the house for the first time in 50 years. plus primetime address. president biden speaking from philadelphia's independence hall tonight about what he sees as the ongoing battle for the soul of the nation just ahead of the midterms. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. c. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin while some saw up to 100% clear skin.

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sarah palin's hopes of making it to washington have been foiled again after she lost alaska's special house election. democrat mary pertola is the

first democrat to win that office. the seat was vacant after the death of don young in march. she'll have to defend her seat in just two months in november's midterms. it was the first time the state used the ranked choice voting system with 93% of the vote in, pertola holds a 51.5% lead. i want to bring back ali vitali on how this race is playing out. it's complicated but people seem to get it, despite republican criticisms. this favors crossovers and crossovers can favor either party. it basically favors more moderate candidates, just not the wings, right? >> that's exactly right, andrea. this was a primary where republicans and democrats were on the ballot alongside each other. it's really a story of political personalities and political process. you mentioned why the results are historic. mary pertola the first alaskan native and first woman to be

elected to this u.s. house seat. and the fact that she's a democrat in this larger political landscape is striking, especially in a state like alaska which trump won by ten points. but here's where the process piece comes in. pertola and i were talking several weeks ago about what the ranked choice voting meant for someone like her and in the larger landscape. listen to what she told me. >> i think the partisan primaries left us with a system where the most extreme of each party were typically sent to do the job. then you get in a situation where nobody is sitting at the table, nobody is willing to negotiate because you've got the far extremes. >> and certainly this was a moment where peltola was someone who regularly was trying to campaign in as collegial a fashion as i've seen, regularly speaking about her republican opponents in positive terms, although she would have designated that they did have

significant policy differences here. andrea, i hope you like this race because we get to see it happen all over again in just a few months with all of the same key players here because peltola won the special election because this seat was left open after the death of the long-time congressman don young. but this is an election that will once again happen in november. the same key players will be on the ballot again here and then we're going to see ranked choice voting come into play for the full congressional term, whoever wins in november will be in congress for the full two years. >> i love that kind of race but i would love it more if i could get out to alaska, but i bet you're going to be there. thanks so much. in just a few hours president biden will leave the white house for philadelphia where he's set to deliver a primetime speech on what the white house is calling a battle for the soul of the nation. this is as biden is going on the offense against the republicans and his approval rating has begun to tick up.

joining me now is mike memoli from philadelphia. beautiful scene from the constitution center looking back to independence hall. what are we going to expect to hear from the president? because soul of the nation makes me think back to the kickoff to the 2020 campaign back in 2019 in charlottesville and all that he was arguing about. >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right, andrea. i've been talking to both white house officials and others familiar with the president's thinking as he's been approaching this speech. what they really lay out is an attempt by the president to walk a very political high-wire act tonight. he wants to lay out what these officials are saying as an optimistic view of what the country has done and what it's still capable of doing but also to speak rather plainly and bluntly, directly to call out those forces that he still sees as a threat to our democracy, a threat to our very rights. as one official put it to me just this morning, this is going to be a truth telling speech from president biden. he promised he would speak

bluntly and directly to the american people about the challenges. he'll talk about the fact that he promised to be a president for all americans and he'll talk about some of the legislative successes, not just those that have been along party lines but what they think is an underappreciated body of work that has been bipartisan in terms of his work with congress. but then to talk about what he's going to make sure is still a minority view but a potent and powerful force within the republican party. he's going to talk about the need to work with both democrats, independents and as he'll put it mainstream republicans to continue this work of restoring the soul of the country at a time when it's very much under threat still from forces. now, the question of course, andrea, is he going to talk about the former president? the white house is indicating at this moment that they're not going there, let's put it that way, but that this is very clearly a speech that against the backdrop of what we have heard from the former president and from his political allies of late makes the argument that president biden was already planning to make today that much

more relevant and salient as voters are prepared to go to the polls in just a few months now. >> thanks so much, mike memoli, we'll be watching. we'll also be watching doubles at the u.s. open. thanks, mike. joining me now, former obama white house press secretary robert gibbs. hey, robert. there's a little attention disorder here in the end of august and getting people's attention, but the president seems to be doing better at that. he's certainly been more aggressive. is that the same joe biden who talked about bringing everyone together when he was running in 2020? >> andrea, i do think it's the same person. look, part of this is the natural change of the calendar, right? we're getting closer to an election, and elections are about choices. but i also think that if you wanted to rename what the president is going to talk about tonight, it's largely a continuing discussion about what's at stake in this country. i think that's what you'll hear him put forward.

i think he's clearly benefited, as you talked about, our attention has been focused as the beginning of your show was on what's happening with the former president, what's happening with mar-a-lago, what's happening with january 6th. all of those things have sort of banded together to create an atmosphere that i think the president wants to take advantage of, and that is instead of ten weeks or so and this election being a referendum on his past two years, to make this a bit more of a choice heading into this important set of weeks leading up to the election. >> yeah, some democrats might ask why the white house did not do a better job of pushing hard for voter reform, for any kind of voter reform, election security legislation. >> well, i think the answer to that unfortunately is abundantly clear and that is there just

aren't the votes to do it. i have no doubt that many democrats in the senate and in the house and particularly everybody in the white house would love to have done it, the challenge was getting past a filibuster and getting 50 votes on the democratic side. again, i think that helps set up exactly what the president wants to talk about because those issues are at stake. woe see this more. the former president has gotten extraordinarily involved in picking candidates in many of these important political races. many of those candidates have espoused and continue to espouse that the election was stolen. you have the former president just in the past couple of days go on his social network and demand that a new election be held, which by the way, there's no ability to do such a thing. but it gives you a sense of what he's willing to say and what then president biden needs to have the american people

understand is part of that competing vision in this election. >> yeah, standing in front of independence hall might be good if some people would carry the constitution around in their small pockets, as i know some people here in washington do. yeah, there's no procedure for having another election. there's a new quinnipiac, robert, you may have seen giving joe biden a slightly better approval rating and also it shows that the generic battle rating is better. it's now 47% favoring democrats. that's a big shift, 47-43. a big shift from a couple of months ago. >> yeah, i think we've seen some good improvement in both the president's numbers. probably in the past six weeks you've seen that approval rating on average go up about 5% which is big heading into this election. i think people will be watching to see if that continues to improve. as you just mentioned, the

congressional generic ballot, you look at what happened last night in alaska, what's happened in other special elections, there's been a confluence of events. it started with the supreme court's decision. that was the real rocket fuel in this. you've seen the re-emergence of trump, these trump candidates i just talked about and you've seen the ability for washington to get things done, whether it's working together or whether it's democrats coalescing together. and i think that's given democrats as a whole a bit more excitement about this election. and i think, again, that's what the president is going to continue to try to keep moving, which is enthusiasm on the democratic side to be present in an election where there's generally drop-off with people that don't participate in these that do participate in presidential races. >> robert, does it go so far, these new -- the pat ryan race in new york and this one in alaska, a couple of other signals you were just pointing out. does it go so far as to indicate

to you that there would be some sort of outside chance that democrats would hold the house? or is that so anti-historical that it's just a big stretch? >> you know, it's a great question, andrea. i think it is -- i think republicans still have the advantage on whether or not they'll control the house because there are a series of trump districts or districts that trump won that democrats control that i think you'd say republicans are still likely the favorite in those. look, we've seen a pretty big change in some of these trump districts. places that were plus 15 or plus 12 are now down to, you know, plus 5, plus 6. that's a huge shift in the political environment. and so i think the idea that this great wave election was coming has been muted. and i think there's -- look, there's going to be a real battle for what this looks like come november. >> robert gibbs, always great to see you. thanks so much.

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subway's drafting 12 new subs, for the all-new subway series menu. let's hear about this #7 pick, from a former #7 pick. juicy rotisserie-style chicken. you should've been #1. this isn't about the sandwich, is it chuck? it's not. the new subway series. what's your pick? my grandma never mentioned this, but her first job was working at a five and dime, when she was only 16 years old. it's all right there in the census. see where a few details can lead with the 1950 census on ancestry. crews have installed an emergency pump at the water plant in jackson, mississippi, as residents enter their fourth day with little to no water pressure. national guard members are on the ground now to help distribute bottled water, but officials say the city is still days away from any reliable service. nbc's guad vinegas is in

mississippi just outside jackson. what are people telling you? >> reporter: we spent time yesterday with a lot of these people at the distribution centers. a lot are upset because the distribution centers are overwhelmed with citizens trying to pick up drinking water. they have set up more of these across the city. in fact yesterday the mayor's office gave us a list of the new centers where people could go. when we went there to talk to them, there was a lot of frustrated residents who said they had to wait too long. here's part of the conversation we had with someone who was waiting there for a very long time. >> the things that we take for granted, such as water, who knew that we would depend so much on it when it's available to turn on. but now it's not even safe to drink. they tell us it's not safe to bathe in. you can't wash your dishes in it. me being that i'm recovering from stage 3 metastatic breast cancer, i don't want to bathe in the water.

>> reporter: and you know, i spoke with other people who were present there who said imagine someone who doesn't have a car to line up at this distribution center and take a case home. so you think of all these individuals who are under specific circumstances who need someone to deliver water. we've spoken to members of churches who say they're going to go out into the community to bring drinking water for a lot of these individuals. so that is on the distribution end of things, to get that drinking water out. aside from this, there is a joint effort now with the federal government involved to make the repairs at the main water plant here where we're at. this is the plant that failed that has all of these issues. we know from the mayor and the governor they have installed one new pump here. we're waiting to get updates to see if that pump is operational. minutes ago a member of the city council entered with some other staff from the city. they're going to get an update and let us know how that pump is doing, while the governor is set

to have a press conference in the next hour over at the fairgrounds. that's where you saw the line of national guard vehicles that arrived yesterday, including tankers, so things are moving. but people, as you mentioned, still have very little to no water pressure in jackson as they move forward making repairs at the plant and with the plan to distribute water in the city, andrea. >> guad, thank you so much. right now a cdc advisory committee is meeting to discuss those two new updated covid boosters that specifically target the omicron ba.5 subvariant. they are going to vote on whether to approve them this afternoon. after that the cdc director, dr. rochelle walensky has to sign off. after that people could start getting the shots shortly after labor day. of course they have to be distributed to pharmacies and other distribution centers. but since some covid funding has dried up, congress hasn't

approved it and vaccination sites have closed, there are real concerns about how to distribute the shots to the people who need them. here's former cdc director dr. richard besser on earlier today. >> one of my big concerns, craig, though, is that the government lacks the resources to get these vaccines out into every community. as we've seen so far in covid, the impact of this has varied by community, and they need the resources to make sure that whoever wants this vaccine is really able to get it. >> and right now fewer than half the people who were eligible for the original boosters have even gotten them. up next, travel transparency. there is nothing worse than a cancelled flight or a delay, especially around the labor day weekend. the new tool that could help you avoid that travel nightmare this weekend. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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just in time for labor day,

the nation's largest airlines are taking some new steps starting today to bring more transparency to travelers ahead of the labor day holiday crush after a summer filled with travel headaches. it comes as pilots at some of the busiest airports in the country are protesting how they say they are being treated. nbc's tom costello has more. tom? >> reporter: yeah, we've got an awful lot of aviation headlines. let's begin starting today airlines are going to be a lot more transparent about how they treat you. cancellation policies, when they give you a refined, vouchers, that kinds of thing. the d.o.t. is rolling out a new website spelling it all out. how the airlines treat you on a whole host of issues. that's at dot.gov. if you're flying today, you may be surrounded by picketing pilots walking the picket lines because they're upset about the way they're being treated.

under pressure to improve customer service and avoid a repeat of this summer's travel nightmares, the nation's airlines are this morning spelling out how they treat passengers. when flights are delayed or cancelled due to factors under their control, like a mechanical issue or staffing shortage, not weather related. alaska, american, united, southwest, delta, hawaiian and jetblue all say they provide meals for customers delayed by three hours. offer hotel rooms for passengers stranded overnight, including transportation to and from the hotel. just two weeks ago, transportation secretary pete buttigieg told us exclusively the airlines must improve their customer service or the government could soon impose tough new requirements. >> so now you're kind of laying down the law for the airlines. they can either pony up on their own or you're going to enforce this for them. >> that's right. i'm giving them an opportunity right now. we can do more rule making and

even more enforcement. >> reporter: the airlines' announcement coming on the say day the d.o.t. rolls out a new dashboard website. one-stop shopping so customers can see each airline's policies spelled out, including rebooking fees, meal vouchers and hotel stays. some airlines get all green checks, others get red xs. 13 state attorneys general say they have received thousands of complaints from outrge passengers about customer service including failures to provide required credits to those who lost travel during the pandemic. they want state and national consumer protection laws, a frustration shared by many passengers. >> quite honestly, the whole thing with airlines is absolutely ridiculous. >> reporter: in june alone complaints jumped 270% above pre-pandemic levels. meanwhile if you're traveling today, you may see off-duty pilots picketing, not striking.

the biggest pilots union in contract talks say pilots are exhausted after working record overtime while airlines struggled this summer. >> in the past, yes, every summer there would be overtime flying because the airlines fly more in the summer. now it's just been relentless in the recovery. >> reporter: so if you are traveling this weekend, you're going to have good company. 12.7 million people flying over the extended weekend. that's about 2.5 million per day. busiest airports, l.a., denver and atlanta. in the meantime, 23% of flights in august were delayed. that's largely because of the weather issues that many of us had during the summer. back to you. >> our thanks to tom costello. thanks, tom. just in from california, overnight state lawmakers just passed really ambitious new climate measures. "the new york times" is reporting they include $54 billion in new climate spending, new restrictions on oil and gas drilling and a mandate that

california reach net zero carbon emissions by the year 2045. this comes as california is already requiring many residents to cut their water usage as western states face historic shortages brought on by climate change and devastating drought. and coming up, high-stakes mission. international inspectors have finally arrived at the zaporizhzhia power plant in ukraine. i'll be talking to a former advisor to president zelenskyy about their mission. that's coming next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports," a two-hour edition today on msnbc. toda y msnbc

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russians said it came from ukrainians. nbc hasn't been able to confirm either claim. this video showing the moment of impact and the shelling just three miles from that plant. the attacks forced the plant to shut down one of its reactors and shift to diesel backup generators, underscoring continuing fears of a radiation leak. joining me now is a former advisor to ukraine's president zelenskyy. igor, it's so good to see you again. thank you. i know that it's taken several days for this team to arrive. they were delayed again. they were in zaporizhzhia overnight but delayed in getting to the plant. what are you hoping to learn? do you think they'll get real access to what's going on inside that russian-held reactor? >> hi, andrea. nice to see you again. well, judging from the footage that i've already seen of them there, they got full access. i mean there is this video making rounds on the internet of the international atomic agency inspectors walking around the

plant and there's russian military equipment right next to them. so i think when discussing our expectations, we need to get one fact straight. you know, president putin doesn't -- he's way beyond the point of caring -- he doesn't care what the international atomic energy agency thinks. it's all a big show for him. it's a way for him to intimidate the west and ukraine into sitting down at that negotiating table and giving him a break to regroup and attack again. that's the plan, you know, in plain language. so i'm not keeping my hopes up. unfortunately yet again, we are flirting with a nuclear disaster. >> there have been demands, macron, zelenskyy, others around the world, the u.n., u.s., demanding russia stop occupying the plant. these nuclear operators, the ukrainian operators have been -- reports of torture. they have had terrible conditions. they have been working under armed guard. the best of circumstances,

running a nuclear plant, something this complex, the biggest in europe, is complicated. accidents can happen on a good day but not when they are working as political prisoners. there's no hope he will give up this fortress. he is using it as a military base. >> it is a military base to him. to prove my point, let me remind you that initially when they attacked kyiv, they went through the chernobyl power plant exclusion zone. we are talking about the country that dug trenches in a contaminated forest exposing their own soldiers to radiation. unfortunately, this situation is dangerous. i never thought in a million years six months into a war in a capital of a european city, i will be out shopping for a geiger counter, yet i am. i am looking for one. i ordered one off the internet. that's the reality in the 21st century. that's frightening. >> we used to use back in the

day, those decades ago when i was covering three mile island, which didn't turn out to be a disaster of any magnitude compared to fukushima and chernobyl, but we wore dosimiters. when we went to belarus, we were -- the white house press corps wore them to make sure we were not exposed because of the way the winds blew. belarus was exposed to chernobyl. >> i vaguely remember chernobyl. i think one nuclear disaster is enough in one lifetime for me. what's really scary is not only a potential possibility of a nuclear disaster but also what happens after it. unfortunately, if putin is willing to risk a nuclear disaster, where does he stop after that? i think the only way to counter this madness would be to give ukraine full support and make

sure that we put enough pressure on putin on the battlefield and keep him distracted from playing with destiny, pretty much, of the entire planet. >> it's good to see you. i hope we can talk again soon. stay safe. thank you. >> thank you. as the war rages on, every ukrainian citizen is feeling its impact. nbc's molly hunter has taken a closer look on how it affected women. while some mothers and wives are home caring for their families, others have headed to the front lines. tonight, the first of her two documentaries "a mother's war" airing on nbc news now. molly joins us now. molly, you had an extraordinary tour of duty there. you met all of these women. we saw incredible reports from you, what they were experiencing firsthand. tell me about the woman you are profiling now. >> andrea, thank you so much. thank you for giving me the opportunity to share with your audience and push ahead to this

documentary airing tonight. you will recognize a lot of the women who are in this documentary. these are women we met across the country over the last six months multiple times. we went back to check in with them from march to april and through the summer. after occupation, after russian troops occupied some of the towns and villages, it's so often the women who are still there, the women who survived, who will come out and speak with us. it's also the women who are sometimes most vulnerable after occupation. often because their brothers, fathers, husbands have gone to fight. i want to share a short promo with your audience. [ speaking in non-english ]

>> we didn't go searching necessarily to make a documentary about women or even about mothers. these are some of the strongest people i met while we were in ukraine. i want to say while these women are extraordinary, their stories are not. their stories are typical for some of the places of ukraine that we went, that they are normal stories of civilians under fire. these are five extraordinary women and extraordinary examples. >> molly hunter, thank you for your reporting. we look forward to seeing the full documentary. watch molly's documentary "a mother's war" tonight at 11:00 eastern on nbc news now. that wraps up this first hour of "andrea mitchell

reports." we have more on the legal fallout after the fbi's search of mar-a-lago and the court hearing about to start in an hour. we will hear from donald trump's request for a federal master. i will speak with jack reed, a member of the intelligence committee and chairman of the armed services committee. that and more. so stay with us. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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♪♪ good day, everyone. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. we are getting ready for a courtroom showdown in florida. in an hour, over the classified documes seized from donald trump's mar-a-lago home, to see if a special master should be appointed. in a combative response overnight, trump's legal team argued that he is being criminalized for possessing his own presidential records and the justice department spread the material across the floor for dramatic affect for the photo. the government says appointing an independent review is not necessary because it has already filtered out of the seized material anything that would be attorney/client privilege and that the trump team was concealing and threatening to move the documents, which were not trump's