that -- that period of time the january 6th is focused on which is between the 2020 election and the january 6th riot. in fact, she left the white house in august of 2020 prior to the election even coming to a conclusion. she's not someone who would necessarily have insider information on a day-to-day basis as to what was going on. jose, we know she remains close to the president so there are obviously some questions that the january 6th select committee has for ms. conway. >> ryan nobles on capitol hill, thank you very much. that wraps up the hour for me, i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on twitter and instagram. be sure to follow the show online. thank you for the privilege of your time. alex witt picks up with more news right now. good morning to you. i'm alex witt at msnbc headquarters in new york. we're following a lot of big stories this monday morning including the ramp up to the

runoff. it's the first day of statewide early voting in georgia as democratic senator raphael warnock fights for re-election over herschel walker. some counties got a jump start after a legal battle of early voting. 160,000 georgians cast their ballots facing long lines and hours long wait times in some places. >> i think people are passionate in georgia and georgia is an important state in the whole united states. and i think that people will really vote -- turn out and vote. >> i vote because i have the right to and democracy is on the line for me. >> also this morning, political fallout for former president donald trump. he's now trying to distance himself from the white nationalist he dined with at mar-a-lago alongside the rapper formally known as kanye west. it is drawing widespread criticism from democrats, jewish groups and even some members of his party. so far, nothing from republican

leadership. plus, fed up. massive protests in china over their zero covid restrictions, a show of resistance to communist party rule that has not been seen in decades. what it could mean for the country's leader xi jingping. and here at home, a holiday spending surge. this cyber monday could be the biggest online shopping day ever after a record day of sales on black friday. but with inflation looming over everything, what does it mean for our economy? we're going to start with the senate runoff in georgia where early voting is under way statewide eight days out from election day. with me now, mark murray, patricia murray, robert gibbs, former white house press secretary in the obama administration, and matt gorman, former communications director at the nrcc, also a former aide to jeb bush and mitt romney. welcome all, mark. in this morning's meet the press

first read, both warnock and walker are trying to defy electoral history with some big fund-raising hauls to boot. give me a since of the state of play now and what other stakes come tuesday. >> the state of play is that this race runoff is not going to decide who ends up controlling the majority of the united states senate. that has already been determined. it will be democrats in control. but the difference here is whether democrats have a majority of 50-50 with vice president kamala harris casting the tiebreaker vote or whether it's a 51-49 majority. this is for a full six-year term. whoever ends up winning this, whether it's raphael warnock winning re-election or herschel walker, this is for a six-year term in one of the most crucial battleground states. both candidates are trying to defy recent runoff history in georgia. historically, before raphael

warnock and jon ossoff won their runoffs in 2021, republicans had always ended up winning these contests. but herschel walker is also trying to defy history too because not all the time the candidate that finishes in first place usually wins the runoff, although there are some exceptions. back on november 8th, we did see raphael warnock getting 49.4% of the vote versus herschel walker's 48.5%. >> so that is a supertight race, thus the runoff. nobody reached 50%. with "the atlanta journal-constitution," it's noting about the early voting this weekend that, quote, voters in democratic strongholds showed up in large numbers, more than 30,000 ballots were cast. wait times as some polling sites stretched more than two hours. what is the sense that you're getting matt? are republicans concerned? should they be about the surge of interest in these typically

blue areas? >> this was the phenomenon i worried about if, for instance, this georgia seat was not going to decide the senate majority. if one party or the other, whomever it was, obviously it's republicans now, were guaranteed to not win the majority with that seat, that party would probably be less energized to come out. it seems like that's what happens happening right now. those counties are democratic strongholds. those folks are coming out. we got to turn the vote out in those republican counties if we want to have a shot. >> so robert in a very fun sense, we have dave matthews performs at a warnock event today and president obama is going to be coming to georgia on thursday. his focus certainly was energizing voters ahead of the midterms. does he bring energy enough to push warnock over the edge and is keeping biden away to warnock's advantage? >> well, look, i do think former president obama energizes the

base. he's the most popular national democrat and his good use to go down into georgia and get people excited, i think it's clear warnock is going to need a strong vote from younger voters, those base democratic counties that we just talked about and i think matt's point is right, which is how energized is the republican base in this. if you look at the independent polling, the public polling that we've seen thus far on this, you have to give the edge to somebody like warnock simply because looking at the fave, unfave of independent voters and the vote for independent voters, both of those favor warnock. herschel walker is underwater with independent voters. i think there's going to be a lot of enthusiasm on the democratic side of this and it relates to president biden. i'm sure the white house called the campaign and said if you think it helps, we'll come. if you think it doesn't, we won't. they won't matter about whether or not that story churns around for a little bit.

they're concerned more about who wins this runoff. >> for sure. matt, let me go back to you quickly and echo what mark was saying which is that with the senate prior to this election, it was 50-50 and then you had the 51st vote cast by kamala harris. it's going to be that again if warnock wins. it's beginning to be the 51-50 as it was before. it's -- you have to wonder if that does throw a little bit of cold water on the need to get out there and vote? i mean, do republicans feel like, we've lost the senate so why get out there? >> i mean, everyone here and certainly those plugged in know how important that extra senate seat is, right, it gives less cover to, say, a joe manchin or kristen sinema, makes kamala harris need to be that tie-breaking vote. but we need to get that message out why it's important to folks in northeast georgia who didn't

come out for us in 2021. so it's going to be tough. but we need to do it. those folks here know what the extra senate seat can do, even if not this coming session, in 2024, there are a lot of senate seats that are favorable for republicans. we have one under our win column now, one less we need to get there. >> patricia let's move on to the kemp factor. the governor kept his distance for his own election. you've tweeted how important is brian kemp to herschel walker's chances to georgia? the senate leadership fund is putting $2 million behind an ad featuring kemp for walker. while new mailers have images of kemp but none of walker. how worried is the walker campaign without kemp on the ballot, considering that kemp pulled in 200,000 more votes in the official midterm election than walker did? >> yeah, that's exactly right. well, what the walker campaign has right now is a verbal commitment and a very verbal support from brian kemp that

they weren't getting ahead of the actual election itself. we had not seen herschel walker and brian kemp campaigning together until after the general election and then into the runoff. they have campaigned together once. these mailers speak to only brian kemp. he's the most popular republican anywhere in the state. he won his own race by eight points. huge outperformance of herschel walker. herschel walker needs those kemp voters who didn't vote for him the last time around and even the ones who did vote for him the last time around to come back out to the polls without control of the senate on the line. it does feel like it's drained a lot of the intensity away from this race. so they've got to get republican voters especially those brian kemp voters to come back out to the polls and vote for herschel walker. kemp is the very best spokesman that the herschel walker campaign can ask for. and we're seeing a lot more of brian kemp in tv ads and mailers than we even are of herschel walker so we can see like who they feel like is the best spokesman for the campaign right

now and that really is brian kemp. >> so i'm about to play something we're all going to sit back and perhaps end up scratching your head. but this is a new ad out. it is from senator warnock and it shows voters reacting in realtime to some of walker campaign speech moments. take a look. here's a small snippet. >> unbelievable. >> so when china goods our good air, their bad air got to move. >> it's all the same air. >> not only does it make no sense, i don't understand what he thinks he's saying. >> so it moves onto our good air space. and now we got to clean that back up. >> i sit and watch these on twitter and i'm like what the heck is this guy talking about? >> yeah, we didn't even get to the vampire/werewolf part of that. voters have known who this republican candidate is for months now. at the end of the day does this move the dial among voters or is it just now all about the turnout game. >> well, i still think it's a

little bit about both. and i think if you look at the warnock message in this runoff, it's been that herschel walker isn't ready to be a u.s. senator. georgians have a love affair with herschel walker the former georgia bulldog running back. this is always the persona that the warnock campaign has tried to separate. the former football star and the current person that would be your representative in the u.s. senate, i think this just goes to underscore that method to simply not being ready to be a you see senator. >> i want to get to new reporting. here's the quote. state investigators are being urged to probe whether herschel walker violated the law by receiving a tax break on his texas home meant for primary residence of that state even as he runs for federal office in georgia. how might this impact walker? could this transform the

political landscape at all with just a week until the runoff? >> i don't know that it's going to transform the political landscape entirely, but it really is being used by the warnock campaign to push this message that, yes, herschel walker was a football hero in his teens here in georgia. but he's not lived in georgia for nearly 40 years. he just moved back in december of last year to run for this seat. and so along with character and competence, the warnock campaign is also pushing this message. by the way, he doesn't even live here and he still claims a homestead exemption in texas. and to have this out here that he's applied for this homestead exemption in texas, reinforces the idea that he's only here to run for higher office. and that was done at the suggestion of donald trump. we're hearing a lot of that as well. i don't know if it's going to change the race but it is another message that the warnock campaign is pushing. >> well, it certainly had

influence we believe in the pennsylvania campaign with fetterman and oz but we'll see how it goes. thank you so much. matt gorman, we're going to chat about donald trump after the break. if you're a last minute shopper, this might make you anxious, there's just 27 shopping days before christmas. we're going to look at the trends we're seeing this cyber monday and what it means for the uncertain economy. plus fed up. the rare widespread protests across china this weekend over the country's harsh covid lockdowns and the unprecedented calls for president xi to step down. and new criticism from inside the republican party from president trump's dinner with a white supremacist. why are the party's leaders staying silent? e the party's le staying silent hat are gentle on your skin, try downy free & gentle downy will soften your clothes without dyes or perfumes. the towel washed with downy is softer, and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle.

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>> reporter: mr. president, what do you think of donald trump having dinner with a white nationalist?

what do you think about it, sir? >> you don't want to hear what i think. >> you heard it, though. that was president biden reacting to the news of former president trump's dinner with ye and nick fuentes. it's being criticized but so far this morning no reaction from top congressional republican leaders to trump dinner. though some members of the party who may run against trump in 2024, they are speaking against it including arkansas republican governor asa hutchinson. >> you can have accidental meetings, things like that happen. this is not an accidental meeting, it was a setup dinner. the last time i met with a white supremacist, it was in an armed standoff. i had a bulletproof vest on. we sent them to prison. >> trump is now trying to distance himself from fuentes claiming he was not aware that west was bringing fuentes with

him and claiming he news nothing about fuentes. nbc news has not confirmed in what circumstances fuentes was brought as a guest. joining us now marc caputo and mr. gorman. we've heard from chris christie who said this is an example of an awful lack of judgment from donald trump. we have heard some house republicans including james comer, liz cheney, adam kinzinger all criticizing trump for the dinner but we have not heard from kevin mccarthy. why not and how is this going over with other trump allies? >> well, it would be a better question for kevin mccarthy. but as someone who is not yet house speaker and, in fact, might not become house speaker, he's just in a dicey position in his caucus. he doesn't have the votes right now. and he's sort of damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. that said, what's interesting about this controversy is

normally in trump's circles when something erupts, that's controversial like this, you'll hear people talking about three-dimensional chess. this isn't a big deal. the media is overhyping it. many advisers have just stressed how bad this is. one of them -- i can't say it on cable -- saying it was an effing nightmare for trump. as you pointed out, there's a lot of silence and there isn't a lot of condemnation within the party. the reality is, within trump's circles, this is not perceived as a positive. >> yeah. you're reporting, mark, has caught ye's eye. the rapper retreated your report on the fallout. what are you learning about the damage control today? >> trump's campaign is trying to figure out how this happened. our preliminary reporting

suggests that kanye -- or the rapper formally known as kanye flew from los angeles to miami with nick fuentes and a third guy who is associated with him. they then were driven to palm beach where they had dinner along with the driver who was a former trump adviser. they -- the three of them were not on the list. kanye was. apparently, apparently they sort of talked their way past gate security. i talked to mar-a-lago members and i've talked to people -- >> what! >> and they say you can do this if one person is on the list, presumably, if one person is on the list and it's kanye, perhaps it makes it easier. but nevertheless, they were allegedly not on the list. they said, hey, i'm karen, these are these other two people, this is kanye west or ye, and they were let in. that's what we're told now. we're going to get greater confirmation later. i asked secret service for comment. they have not replied. they said we've got your public

records request. >> isn't that someone who donald trump knows, has worked with, knows by sight and said, i don't know who she was? wasn't that part of his denial, the whole thing? >> right. and the first story i wrote with one of the first statements that donald trump gave is he said, look, kanye west showed up with these three people whom i didn't know and i pointed out, actually, well, he did know one of them by site and name, karen, and in a subsequent post he said there was at least one other person there i didn't know. he knows karen. according to kanye west's adviser who is a far-right provocateur, he intentionally had karen join with kanye to give kanye a measure of gravitas in trump's eyes to kind of take kanye seriously when kanye told him he was running for president and he wanted donald trump to be his running mate. >> it would be helpful if donald

trump could get his stories straight right from the get-go. let's play trump that anthony scaramucci told me yesterday. >> it's right out of his playbook to deny that he knows people. he did it with david duke. by denying this stuff, he feels like he can get the moderates too. >> so does that work here, that strategy, deny, deny, deny? does it work especially if there are more republicans willing to stand up to him in public? maybe not leader, but we've seen it on the sunday talk shows. >> well, at the end of the day, it's less about the leaders and more about the voters and the setting that keeps coming up in my head is that the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. i think what you might start to see is the fact that never trumpers are never going to be the ones to end trump in the republican party. it was going to be those people who voted for him

enthusiastically in the primary in '16 and both general elections that said, you know, i liked that he was the president, i liked what he did, but, you know, i've gotten my fill. i want to move on. facts like these, especially you've seen it, just in general in this last month since the election, it's been going on in subtler ways. but i think it helps to accelerate that and give a sense that there's too much chaos and there are other people who can take up the mantle. >> so you also have to factor this in, matt, because "the wall street journal" editorial board, it is weighing in in an editorial titled donald trump's bad dinner guests saying mr. trump isn't going to change and the next two years will feature many more such damaging episodes. republicans who continue to go along for the ride with mr. trump are teeing themselves up for disaster in 2024. again, so far as we've pointed out, we are not hearing from gop leaders. does it still suggest the hold

on his party, donald trump's party, may be as it ever was -- if they still will not call trump out for having dinner with an avowed white nationalist? >> we have seen some and as i was in the studio when james comer did it. as we get back, congress is in session. they're going to come back tonight and tomorro and they will get answers then as well. i think that, but i also think it's calculation for some that, look, if you're opponent or somebody driving 90 miles per hour off a cliff, you don't need to push them, they're going there on their own. and trump might want somebody to spar with and distract a little bit, that also could help distract from the actual issue, it becomes a fight between two politicians. so i think there's a couple things at play, but i believe you'll get more as more folks start coming back after the holiday. >> thank you so much. we're following breaking news on capitol hill.

kellyanne conway, former counselor to donald trump, is currently meetings with january 6th committee staffers. here she is just in this last hour walking to the committee's offices along with an attorney. two sources confirm that conway is being deposed on the record. they did not issue her a subpoena and they will not comment on whether she was issued one privately. we're going to keep monitoring all of this for you, bring you more as we have it. next, it's likely to be the biggest online shopping day of the year. the spending patterns we're watching this cyber monday. but first, this morning the gunman accused of killing ten people in the racist mass shooting in a grocery store in buffalo pleaded guilty to charges. that's next. charges. that's next. when you're wearing a mask. and i have noticed those lines beginning to really become not so much moderate but more severe. i'm still wendy and i got botox® cosmetic.

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you get advice like: just stop. go for a run. go for 10 runs! run a marathon. instead, start small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette. amazing. jerry, you've got to see this. seen it. trust me, after 15 walks it gets a little old. [golf ball bounces off rover] [ding] ugh. we have some breaking news in buffalo. the suspect in that racist shooting spree has pleaded guilty to state charges. the 19-year-old faces 25 counts including ten counts of murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. ron allen has the latest for us. ron, welcome to you. we just heard from the district attorney. tell me what you know. >> it's a very emotional day in

buffalo. this happened six months ago. every time there's a court proceeding or some other development like the grocery store opening, it's a very difficult time for that community. the gunman pleaded guilty to 25 counts. there were ten counts of first-degree murder, ten counts of second-degree murder. there's a charge that carries a life in prison without the possibility of parole. we're waiting to hear from the families. there will be mixed feelings about whether there was a trial or not. not having a trial spares some of the emotional trauma of going through and reliving the events, but there are some relatives wanted the trial to be about the gunmakers, about social media and the role that those entities played in motivating this individual and enabling this individual to carry out this heinous attack. ten people were dead in a supermarket. here's some of what the da and the defense had to say after the guilty plea. >> no individual in the history of the state of new york has

been found guilty of that domestic terrorism charge motivated by hate. >> before he's sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, on february 15th, the surviving victims and deceased victims' family members will all have an opportunity to address the court, the community and our client directly. >> so that sentencing will come february 15th. there's still a federal case against him. 27 counts and there potentially lies the death penalty if he's found guilty. there's been talk about a plea, about that, unclear of whether that will happen. this is an issue where the death penalty is the potential ultimately penalty if, in fact, we get to that point. but for now, guilty on the state charges, another emotional day in buffalo. >> and those folks will be able to speak to him directly. they're going to have to hold it for a couple of months and change. thank you so much for that.

students at the university of idaho resumed classes today as the investigation into the murder of four of their fellow students in a house off campus enters its third week. local authorities say they have received more than 260 pieces of digital media submissions in addition to collecting over 100 pieces of physical evidence. the governor of idaho has also directed a million dollars in state emergency funds to that investigation. meantime, more americans making their way home after the holiday travel rush and right now the sky is looking a little bit better than it did 24 hours ago. over 6,500 flights were delayed on sunday. severe storms pounded the southeast and great lakes regions in the morning before moving on to the northeast. tsa says more than 2.56 million travelers were screened on sunday. that is the highest number since

december 2019. from holiday travel to holiday spending, if this weekend is any indication, the sky-high inflation likely isn't stopping shoppers from adding to their carts this cyber monday. americans are expected to spend $11.2 billion today. that's according to adobe analytics which tracks web sales. that total follows a record-breaking $9.1 billion spent on black friday. but this doesn't mean that shoppers are not still feeling the pinch from inflation. adobe says the number of times people are using the buy now pay later option increased by 78% over the prior week. i want to bring in brian cheung who is at an amazon warehouse and chief economic correspondent ben white. thanks for joining me. brian, what kind of deals with

-- are we expecting today? >> it's likely an extension of the deals we've already seen this weekend. adobe analytics said toys, computers and apparel were among the most discounted items this weekend which could point to those items continuing to be discounted on this cyber monday. for what it's worth, we're at an amazon facility in new jersey. amazon saying it had a record-breaking black fridays with tens of millions of shoppers purchasing more items compared to previous black fridays. that's a reason why all of the conveyer lines at this facility remain busy. a lot of robots and hands involved in trying to get those packages to your doorstep in time after a lot of those orders over the weekend. again, as you mentioned, $11.12 billion, 11.6 billion, that's how much is expected to be spent today. higher than cyber monday, pointing to that -- people no longer needing to shop on just that friday, but now able to shop a few days after that. >> i got to say, the din behind

you is pretty loud of the conveyer belts. ben, are you encouraged by the spending and these numbers? >> look, i mean, alex, this is a pretty good microcosm of where our economy is right now. what we're seeing. which is very healthy spending on cyber monday. we obviously got the 9 billion from black friday. those are record numbers. the problem is, there's a lot of money out there, consumers still have cash, 1.7 trillion. the problem is, a lot of that, 1.3 trillion is held in the top end of households. those in the lower income bracket have 350 billion. we're seeing the pay now -- or pay alert option being more utilized and credit card debt is going up quickly. the question is, how long can that lower-end consumer hang on in the face of higher inflation. probably not that much longer. upper middle class can spend for awhile. even those are feeling the pinch of inflation. should be a good season.

particularly for luxury brands, apple, game stations, folks who have a lot of money, spending on that. going to be tougher down the road for families as these credit card bills start to mount and interest rates start to go up a bit. >> it's concerning with the buy now pay later option. it's a short-term solution to what you want to do. does it have any indication of where the economy is heading when those bills come due? >> absolutely. i mean, they're going to be hard to pay because credit card rates are going up. so that debt that you're taking on over the holidays is going to cost you more to pay off. we still have -- the job market is good, but it's going to slow down as the fed raises interest rates to try to fight inflation. we could hit recession. if we do, that means hiring will drop off and there will be a lot of debt that people have in service. there's good things in this economy. people are spending money, but keep your eye on some of the balances that are, you know, running up and the impact of interest rates on people both on mortgages and what they spend on the holidays.

that's going to pinch. >> we're not out of the woods yet. thank you very much. good to see you both. coming up, massive protests across china over the strict covid restrictions that residents are still facing, this nearly three years later. will they present a real threat to president xi's leader? more ukrainians evacuated from their homes as president zelenskyy warns of more widespread air attacks this week. we're live from kyiv straight ahead. traight ahead. will you make something better? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. wayfair's cyber monday sale is here! save on entertainment must-haves up to 40% off. to bring out the innovator mattresses & bedding up to 70% off. and fireplaces & heating up to 50% off. search, shop, and save at wayfair! ♪ wayfair, you've got just what i need ♪ you've put your dreams on hold. remember this?

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this morning, protests in china have not let up after at least eight cities attempted to shut down demonstrations over the country's zero covid rule. protestors are now calling on china's xi jingping to step down, that is a stunning and largely unheard of rebuke in the communist country. in shanghai, police have put up barriers in the center city trying to suppress demonstrations there. china is the only major country with heavy covid-19 restrictions now three years after that virus emerged. joining me now, janis mackey

frayer. what do you think about the protests out of china this morning? it is an extraordinary thing to watch unfold. >> reporter: alex, the simultaneous protests happened in multiple cities around a single issue is really quite remarkable in a country where open defiance comes with a lot of risks. when we talk about zero covid, we're talking about a system that controls every aspect of daily life through this massive system of lockdowns, quarantines and restrictions. this has been china's way of dealing with the virus. the problem now facing xi jingping and the leadership here is that they're going to have to quell this unrest that is growing when it appears there does not seem to be a clear path of their own policy. >> reporter: this morning extraordinary scenes across

china. protests against the covid rules. crowds swelled in defiance. spilling over to the heart of beijing. >> we want to be free! >> reporter: chanting for freedom from the grip of a covid policy that protestors say has warn on too long. >> they're calling for the end of lockdowns, the end of testing, all of the zero covid measures that have ruled daily life here. >> reporter: the blank sheets of paper to protest censorship. the internet scrubbed of any hint of unrest. the boldest public challenge yet for leader xi jingping. in shanghai, some protestors daring to call for him to step down. a move almost unheard of in china. they did it for everybody, says this woman in beijing. the national outcry triggered by

a deadly fire that took hours to put out. the delay widely blamed on covid measures there where lockdowns have confined most people for months. videos showing candlelight vigils and shows of frustration. unblock, they yelled, while knocking down barriers. china's government has tied tweaking rules, but they're bearing down again. quelling the unrest a challenge for the communist party with no exit from zero covid in sight. so far the leadership in state media have stayed silent about the protests and officials at the foreign ministry didn't directly address the growing anger with zero covid. tonight, we're getting reports in multiple cities of much heavier police presence and

cracking down on anyone who is trying to protest. alex? >> thank you for that rather stunning update. appreciate that. ukraine's president is warning of the potential of another large-scale missile strike from russia in the coming days. this has ukraine continues restoring critical infrastructure damaged in the most recent russian bombardment as the city of kherson comes under daily attacks. ellison barber is joining us from kyiv, ukraine. also with me, former cia chief of operations in europe and eurasia. how are the folks there dealing with these constant attacks. there seems to be zero letup. >> you look at a place like kherson, the city of kherson, less than two weeks ago we saw amazing images of that city being liberated, people draping the ukrainian flag around their shoulders, celebrating their liberation in the streets.

now the images that we're seeing coming out of kherson are images of pain and despair. evidence of just the daily, constant shelling attacks, people there are experiencing and for some of them, the desperate plight to get out of there. on saturday there was a line of cars at a checkpoint full of civilians in those cars waiting, trying to flee the city that they love, that they have called home, that, again, just two weeks ago, they were celebrating the liberation of it. you have a number of factors at play. there's issues with the infrastructure within the city. concerns about heating, power, running water, basic necessities like that. there's the constant threat of air strikes. what we're see sg a day-to-day barrage of strikes coming from russia. just the last 24 hours or so yesterday alone, the ministry of defense says there were 54

different incidents of shelling just in kherson. that's what people are dealing with there. ukrainian officials from president zelenskyy down, they have argued that there's really not a tactical motivation behind these shellings on the city of kherson, rather, they say it is terror, russia's revenge for losses on the battlefield. in terms of what's going on from a tactical standpoint, there's new analysis from the institute for the study of war where they say looking at some of the movements russian forces have made on the other side of the river since they retreated from the city of kherson, and it seems like they're hyperfocused on setting up positions not necessarily to stop ukrainian forces from crossing the dnipro river, but to delay them from making the cross. according to the isw, they say it seems that russian forces have made the assessment, come to the conclusion that it's likely that ukrainian forces can make it across that river and launch a counteroffensive in the eastern part of the region. if that were to happen, it could

be incredibly damaging for russian troops, their efforts here. if they were able to do that, they could potentially cut off the ground communication lines between crimea and russia's mainland. alex? >> mark, the question to you is, is this what russia needs to do going forward? will this be the plan of attack? let's go after the infrastructure as winter approaches and freeze people, keep them away from runs water, which most say is actually the most awful predicament for them, not incur global condemnation by attacking schools and churches or hospitals, just do it this way. is that, you think, the plan? >> it sure seems that way. alex, there should be global condemnation. ultimately russia is trying to freeze ukrainians during -- what's going to be a tough winter. but one of the things that i think we have to understand, is that we're not passive observers to this. what we're seeing is this terrible carnage, the suffering

of the ukrainian people, but we could do more. there's been talk about the u.s. providing longer range missiles. there was a report that the pentagon was mulling over some -- bunker busters, some precision bombs as well. that's what we need to do. there's a sense of urgency in my mind. we don't have to sit and passively watch the ukrainian suffers. we could do more. the biden administration is clearly worried about escalation. but i think as we watch this human suffering, there's going to be a lot of pressure to provide the ukrainians the means to stop these russian attacks on infrastructure targets. >> thank you so much. for all of you, we have breaking news. it's from the january 6th trial of five members of the oath keepers group. a note from the jury, we understand, let's go to ryan reilly. he's with us and has more on this. what do you think? >> the jury has been deliberating for a day and a half now. they got started last week before they broke for the thanksgiving holiday. this is the first note that they

came to with the judge and it's a question about the most serious charge here which is the headline-grabbing charge out of this case, it's the most serious case that we've seen brought forward as part of the january 6th investigation so far and it's one that the justice department has historically struggled with and the note is asking for clarity on the seditious conspiracy charge. typically what happens is the judge talks over with the defense attorneys and prosecution about exactly what sort of material they want to send back to the jury. but often there's a hesitancy to add additional information on top of the instructions that the jury has received. that will be the subject of some deliberation here. but an indication that this isn't necessarily the slam this necessarily the slam dunk the justice department was hoping for here. it was a very complicated trial with some nuanced issues that unfolded. perhaps an indication that this isn't necessarily going to be just a unanimous verdict across

the board on every charge they've brought forward against these five defendants here. >> i agree. that was the first thing that crossed my mind considering seditious conspiracy is at the epicenter of this trial. thank you for that. coming up, tomorrow's game between the u.s. and iran. what's at stake and the controversy off the field after u.s. soccer tried to show its support to iranian protesters. s. ”" maybe it's perfecting that special place that you want to keep in the family... ...or passing down the family business... ...or giving back to the places that inspire you. no matter your purpose, at pnc private bank, we will work with you every step of the way to help you achieve it. so let us focus on the how. just tell us - what's your why? ♪♪

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for basic human rights. so they removed the islamic republic emblem from the iranian national flag on their social media page as a way of showing their solidarity, but the happened briefly. they made an about face. i talked to the u.s. soccer federation about that and they said after consulting with iranian americans, they made an internal decision to take that down. now, today, we're hearing from iran. the iranian government not happy about it, calling on fifa to suspend team usa, asking them to kick team usa out of the world cup. and so you know, we'll see what happens here. how this plays out. we've reach out to fifa to get a better understanding of what involvement they'll take and we haven't heard back. >> the statement by the u.s. state department reads there was no coordination on the decision by the u.s. soccer federation temporarily to alter that iranian flag there.

so that is something they can take back to iran and say look, you know, it might be too severe the try to kick them out of the tournament, which is probably not going to happen. give me a quick sense of what players have said about this because they also support as individual players and a team, they support the efforts of the iranian woman. >> reporter: you're absolutely right. we had a chance to speak with players yesterday and they said they were blind sided by this. they did not know what the u.s. soccer federation did, but they do stand in solidarity with the women of iran. they stand for women's right, human rights, but at this moment, their focus is on the game tomorrow against iran trying to get the win so they'll be able to advance to the next round. >> we thank you for watching the news from there for us. and that does it for me on this very busy hour. i'll be back here tomorrow for you at 11:00 a.m. eastern and you can catch me weekends starting at noon eastern. "andrea mitchell reports" with garrett hague is up next. "andrea mitchell reports" with garrett hague is up next zi.

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mitchell reports," covid controversy. protests erupt across china as frustration with the policy boils over, putting massive pressure on the xi government just one month after a sweeping political power play. also this hour, former president trump under fire within his own party for dining with a white nationalist at his mar-a-lago club, throwing republicans off message ahead of