good to be with you.

i'm katy tur. buckle up. because there truly is so much happening in washington right now, as all of it is consequential. first up, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is about to arrive at the white house. literally any moment now, he is on his way. you're getting a look at a live view of the front of the white house, where folks are waiting. we'll bring you there as soon as he arrives. he's going to be holding a bilateral meeting with president biden in the oval office. and we're expected to be allowed to be there for the beginning of it, for questions, so we'll go there when it begins as well. after all, it is the first trip outside ukraine since russia invaded 300 days ago, and also a conspicuous time. we will explain what is at stake and why zelenskyy is here today of all days. also, happening in washington, the january 6th committee will release its full report any moment now.

the official end to 18 months of investigating. we're expecting new information. and then there is donald trump's taxes, house democrats voted to release six years of returns. what we know so far about what is in them. again, there is a lot going on, and it's all happening at the same time, so when we get anything new on any of the stories, we will jump right in. but let us first start with president zelenskyy who again is about to arrive at the white house. so joining me from the white house, is nbc's mike memoli, on capitol hill is nbc's garrett haake, and punch bowl news co-founder jake sherman, an msnbc political contributor. we're staying on this picture, it's not showing your our guests, because again, he's expected to roll up any moment now, so i will go to you, mike. tell us about this meeting and what led up to it.

>> well, katy, obviously the last few months we've been so focused on domestic politic, the domestic political agenda and policy agenda here in washington but we're about to see a reminder of what was of course the most significant foreign policy story of this year, russia's invasion of ukraine, and it is a real moment for president biden and president zelenskyy to mark what is really incredible progress at this point. 300 days since that invasion, and ukraine is still in the fight. in fact, making some advances on rush's invasion, in some of the territory that they had claimed within the last few weeks. the white house is calling this, describing this an injection of momentum and sustenance in the united states's effort, and our al al eye's efforts to support ukraine in this effort and the security and the secrecy of such a visit as the highest levels

and the white house describing the events that led to, this ten days ago president biden spoke by phone by president zelenskyy and at that time that they discussed the possibility of zelenskyy coming to washington, and a formal invitation was sent three days later and it was just on sunday, that president zelenskyy agreed to come and the wheels were set in motion here. so an important part of the discussion as zelenskyy arrives here, first with an official greeting, you can see the first lady there, as well, with the president awaiting president zelenskyy, and it is going to be some of the new deliverables here, the united states announcing, the white house just today, $2 trillion in new security assistance, and excuse me, $2 billion in new security assistance, and later today, we are going to see of course congress vote on an additional 44 billion. let's watch these pictures now. >> yes, there is president zelenskyy, again the first time he's been out of ukraine in 300 days, greeted by president biden and first lady, dr. jill biden. and you can see, he is getting a

good look at him, president zelenskyy very notable though, still in his, what he's been wearing throughout the war, these green fatigue colored sweat pants or sweatshirt, and military style cargo pants. not in the suit and tie that you would normally see another dignitary arrive at the white house with. this is a time of war for his country, it was just about 24 hours ago, that he was on the front lines and one of the most dangerous parts of his country right now, currently under bombardment, and bakhmut, and now he is here at the white house. jake sherman, this is a conspicuous time, mike meloli was laying out part of it, 2 billion in military assistance and also what congress will be voting on, at some point today. tell me what is in. there and tell me about what

might be in the future. >> the biggest thing i would say is that volodymyr zelenskyy is coming to a congress that has seen slowly erode the support for the money to ukraine for that military aid to ukraine. house republicans who will take over the chamber in about 12 days, give or take, have expressed pause about what seems to be, in their estimation, a blank check to ukraine. kevin mccarthy, the house minority leader, who hopes to be house speaker, has said he will not support a blank check to ukraine anymore. and this comes again as you say, katy, at a pretty advantageous time, in that this bill, this omnibus spending bill $1.66 trillion, has 45 billion for ukraine and some are largely expected to oppose the package and we will see the optics, unlike anything i've seen in my life. you have a war time president coming to speak to congress on a moment's notice, as a bill with $45 billion of aid is snaking

through the chamber, before the end of the year. and republicans are going to, for a variety of reasons, in the house, vote against it, and 21 republicans voted for it in the senate. so i mean i sat through countless of these joint meetings, joint addresses to congress, most of them are pretty, without -- i don't want to say rowdy, but pretty colorful and pretty rah-rah, i can't imagine the feeling that will be in the room tonight when zelenskyy comes, i presumably in the war-time, in his war-time garb, to speak to a congress that has been exceedingly, exceedingly generous with their support, rightfully, so over the last 300 days. so a moment kind of unlike anything we've ever seen katy. >> nancy pelosi made the same point earlier today in the message to house democrats. urging them to be at the address tonight, saying i believe it was her grandfather who was in the

audience, when winston churchill spoke in front of congress, during -- >> her father. >> her father. >> yes. >> her father was a member of congress during that time. and remember, nancy pelosi is leaving the leadership after 20 years, and has been, she traveled to ukraine, she met with zelenskyy in ukraine, and this is something that she has taken upon herself as a major priority, as opposed to kevin mccarthy, who has supported the aid but has voiced skepticism about its continued utility. but again, just a shocking day in washington, on top of everything else that is going on, to have a war-time president come to the capitol, basically snuck into the united states, quite sneakily, i guess you could say, and it is really a moment for the united states congress, as chuck schumer said, this is something that few of us will ever forget on capitol hill. >> and only here for a few hours. >> that's right. >> his first stop was blair house, where dignitaries often

stay a night over but all expectations are that he will leave after the address to congress tonight, to get right back to his country. you talk about kevin mccarthy, jake, and he told you guys that again, he didn't want to write a blank check to ukraine any longer. and notably, the members of his caucus that are against this, and not voting for the latest package, are the ones who are against him, as speaker, so i imagine that ties his hands. what about mitch mcconnell though? because he made a point to say this is not just about ukraine, not just the moral thing to dork the right thing to do -- thing to do, the right thing to do, but in the cold hard interest of the american public to be involved in this war. >> people like mitch mcconnell, rob portman, some of the older line republicans who have been trying to push back forcefully against what they consider to be an isolationist strand in the republican politics, mcconnell has been again, he has gone to ukraine as well, he has been forceful in his support for the

ukrainian people and forcontinued aid. tom cotton, who is as conservative as they come, voted to proceed to this giant spending bill, something that i was surprised at. i think it had a lot to do with the defense money, the ukraine money and by the way, katy, i want to add one thing to what you said, it is not only the people who are opposed to mccarthy, some of the people who are opposing mccarthy, who are against continued aid in the construct, it's the supporter, and i mean this is a trend that i think a lot of people are underestimating in the house republican conference, just the aversion, the continued skepticism for the need for muscular and expensive quite frankly foreign policy that requires. i mean we spent, the united states has spent $100 billion, or something like that, in ukraine, and it is expected to spend a lot more, before it is over. and the administration asked for $37 billion, and got $45 billion in this package, and more is going to be needed, and i do, i do doubt that we are going to see the kind of open checkbook

from congress in the future, when it comes to ukraine. >> and there's waning support among the american public as well, and times get tougher, and it is harder to afford groceries, harder to afford rent and we need the money back at home more than ukraine might need it. or all of the money. because we spent so much already. that is an argument being made by some of the american public right now. mike, jake, thank you very much. jake, stick around, a few other stories to talk to you about. we also have with us, former u.s. ambassador to russia and msnbc international affairs analyst. and barry mccaffrey. igor, i'm going to begin with you. what is zelenskyy's aim today? and why make this historic trip right now, why take the chance of leaving ukraine in this moment? >> well, first of all, zelenskyy

is trying to show america that you are still the leader of the free world, and it is very symbolic that you are the first stop on the trip, it is a trip, and a thank you from him. and secondly, this war is entering a very serious space. now tens of millions of civilians are in direct danger. in kyiv, we've just been told that in two, three weeks time, if we get ten hours of electricity a day, that's amazing. that's good news for us. because now we're getting two to three hours a day. so there are a lot of things happening on the ground and i think now is the decisive moment to decide, both for the congress, and for anyone else in the united states, whether, you know, are we still supporting democracy, or are we giving putin effectively a blank check to continue politics. >> what does it mean to have the patriot air defense missile systems for ukraine right now, igor? >> i will feel a lot safer when they're situated in the kyiv

vicinity because they're the only system in ukraine capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. therefore we will feel safer. but that's not enough. because putin is fighting with all of his might and countries like iran are helping him. >> general mccaffrey, you said as much to us, that you think we should be sending more. what's your assessment? >> well, i think it's important, possibly symbolic steps, to have patriot missile launchers, aid launchers, this is nothing more than a place holder fon an adequate air defense system. if they put it around kyiv it would help. but that is not a game changer. the game changer will be when we provide the ukrainians with an offensive set of systems adequate to unravel the russian army. ukrainians, through their own courage, have the russians in check. not check mate. so the coming three months to

six months, i think what putin is doing now is he is trying to organize belarus, this poorman lukashenko with his third rate army and impoverished nation, trying to organize them to participate in the next russian offensive. and we got to get m-1 tanks on the ground, lethal drones, and possibly f-16 fighters. and these are all issues to absorb into a foreign military that may take months. >> let me just, in case our audience zont doesn't know what a patriot air defense system does, it is capable of bringing down cruise missiles, short range ballistic missiles and aircraft at a significantly higher ceiling than previously provided air defense systems to ukraine. . it's one of our marquee weapons systems or defense systems and general mccaffrey, it is not infallible. you can still get missiles

through. obviously ukraine is dealing with a lot right now and they warrant to take out anything they can in the sky, but there's something, it leaves something to be desired, as most things would, when you're arguing about sending more military aid in, higher quality weapons for the ukrainian military, does it concern you what that might do to provoke vladimir putin from a military perspective? >> no. i think we got to understand scale. the u.s. army has 50 batteries of patriot missiles systems and we operate them in battalion sets, so putting one lone battery on the ground, again, it is symbolically important, it will not be a game changer. but when we look at what the russians are doing now, they're essentially, their only idea they have left is to go after the civilian population and cause misery and death. that's a criminal activity. it's not going to change the military course of the war. they're not going to crack the

ukrainian military doing this. so they need something else. he's desperate. putin is thrashing around for answers. i think the next answer is going to be an offensive out of belarus, to try to split the ukrainian attention. and to blunt that, they need better tools to fight. ukrainians have taken substantial casualties also. and in any war, you lose your best people on the front end of the war. so i think the administration is a turning point and i think secretary austin, secretary blinken will have to face up to this now and try to provide zelenskyy, who i might add, this is an historical figure, this guy actually can be compared to winston churchill, the to lincoln, in 1860, there's a lot riding on this, and i think we ought to be glad he's here. >> it is going to be a remarkable evening and an address that, you know, has been seen in some of our lifetimes, with winston churchill but not

many. michael mcfall, vladimir putin admitted today that things are not going that well on the eastern front. dmitri peskov told reporters that zelenskyy's visit to the united states is only going to make things worse. >> from who's perspective? yes, it is going to to make things worse fore vladimir putin and that's exactly right, we want to make things worse for vladimir putin. and i think that's the point of the visit, right? this is about quantity and support, and that's the address to the u.s. congress, he's worried, president zelenskyy, his team, is worried about what you were just discussing, and so they want to inject some new enthusiasm, and explain to the american people why this is not just a fight in ukraine. it's a fight for freedom versus autocracy, as speaker pelosi herself said on twitter today. and then two, they want to discuss privately with the president, president biden, as you're showing right now, this

discussion you're having with general mccaffrey, about offensive weapons. their theory, and i think their right, is that the fastest way to end this war is to go on offense. the idea of playing defense in an incremental world war one-like war, serves nobody's interest and certainly not the ukrainians and i don't think it serves our national security interests. so the qualitative discussion will be behind closed doors with the president and the quantitative discussion about more weapons will be on display tonight. >> so we will not know what the discussion will be behind closed doors, we'll get a readout of it, but we're not going to be there for that discussion. we will be there for what we call an oval office spray, if you have been watching this show, this network, you probably know what that is, and we'll get the top of their meeting, they will be sitting in armchairs, likely by the oval office and reporters will be able to toss out a couple of questions and maybe those questions will be

answered, they'll go behind closed doors and later today, they will have a news conference, side by side, where reporters from usually it's both countries, although i'm not sure if ukrainian reporters are with him, but reporters will get a chance to ask questions of both presidents in a more formal setting. this is before president zelenskyy addresses congress later tonight. so it is a jam-packed day for him. again, he is expected to leave once this is all over and head right back to ukraine. general barry mccaffrey, thank you very much. igor and ambassador, don't go anywhere. we will keep you around for a little while. still ahead, what newly-released documents reveal about donald trump's income. what he paid, or what he did not pay in taxes. plus, any moment now, the house january 6th committee will release its full report. what is going to be in it that congressman adam schiff has said will have you on the edge of your seat.

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six years of former president donald trump's tax returns are about to become public after the house ways and means committee voted last night. while we wait for the full returns, the committee released a 29-beige report summarize -- 29-page report summarizing its year-long investigation, and found in the first years in office, donald trump paid $1.1 million in federal income taxes. and in 2020, he paid nothing. after reporting a big financial loss. and it also found that the irs failed to audit donald trump during his first two years in office. despite a mandatory program to do so. joining me now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vital. . also with me is the journalist

whose 18 month investigation into donald trump's wealth earned her a pulitzer prize, "new york times" investigative reporter susanne craig. >> ali, house ways and means voted last night they will release the full returns. do we know when we will see those full returns? can you walk us through the executive summary that they released? >> that's the question that we just asked chairman ritchie neil, who we ran into a few minutes ago, and he said the last night's vote was magical in his words and he is someone who said he has always played by the rules to get these returns and of course optimistic now that they're going to have the redactions that are necessary, done by tomorrow, to be able to release those returns by then as well. so that's just the latest from the chairman there, as we play this waiting game, for just a little bit longer, after frankly playing it for years, as it worked its way through the courts and ultimately to this committee, and now into the public eye. but what we have in the meantime are a sense of what is actually in these returns. you laid out what was actually paid in income taxes.

but notably, the report revealed that trump on his federal returns declared negative income in four of the six years, one of the fine points we've been looking at here, as we wait to see the returns themselves. then there is the reality of what was happening within the irs under a trump appointee running that agency. and the fact that these mandatory audits of his taxes were not being done in the way that they should have been done, that's the entire way that the ways and means committee got the returns in the first place saying they wanted to do a check on the irs's ability to actually audit presidential taxes, and now of course they have the answer in what was happening in the trump years in addition to the returns themselves. >> do we have any more insight in why the irs was not doing an audit in the first two years in office? have they not done audits of presidents in the past or did something happen at the beginning of donald trump's term that delayed things? >> certainly, that's one of the key questions here. because this is something that

has been a mechanism within the government for many, many years now. of course, trump has made no secret of the fact that he does not want his returns out there. not something that he was secret about during the campaign, certainly not when he was in office. this was the excuse that he regularly used when the conversation was happening around when we would see his tax returns, then of course, installing someone who he chose at the top of the irs, notable moves by the former president, and now of course, we're seeing the result of that. >> so, we've seen the summary, we saw the years that donald trump paid taxes, and the years that he did not pay taxes. what stood out to you? >> well, i just i am going to hit off a point that ali made about the irs, because it is fascinating that they didn't launch into this audit, which they're required to do, and it does feel like, you know, at one point you get, it is a reference that they have one person assigned to this, and i think they were used to the presidents who would have a personal 1040, and they were just outgunned,

and there could be political stuff going on, but it is a really shocking scene, and really part of the report deals with the fining, "the new york times" had, in 2020, when they got decades of his tax returns, and they're almost in these pages, seeming like they're not just, you know, they're doing anything they cannot to investigate it. it really is an incredible window into the irs. some of it could be political. but i think we know for years and years as well that that agency is just, you know, understaffed, and that may have played into it. it feels a little bit like that. but when i look at sort of the numbers, the interesting thing is, and we see he -- we have years of his tax returns for not paying income tax and in 2018, he had positive taxable income for the first time in more than a decade. and it is really interesting because that year it wasn't because there was necessarily a business that did well, he had an asset sale. and then in 2020, it wasn't a great year, and that was the pandemic.

so we're not seeing anything in terms of the top line stuff that really breaks across any, you know, notion, like all of a sudden, we now learn he is a great businessman, you know, and we knew before he was not a great businessman, that's the narrative that is continuing. the other thing that is kind of interesting, there are a lot of threads of potential future investigation that we're looking at, with they have pages of things where they found everything from loans that donald trump has out to his children, they're paying him interest income, and the report is wondering if those actually should be treated as gifts, and if so, is they taxable because there are some shenanigans going on there. you are seeing a number of issues like that in the report that will be interesting to see where those go. >> well, let's get a little bit more detail on that, because also, in the summary, and you talk about the underlying evidence, or the underlying support, is it documents that donald trump did actually pay a certain amount of cash to

charities, or big donations to charities, but it seems like there is questions about whether, i mean when you pay for something in cash, it's harder to track, questions about whether those transactions actually took place. >> well, yes, they want documentation. and i mean filling in the income tax return, you put in i gave $500 to the humane society or $1,000 a clothing charity. you don't have to provide the receipt necessarily. they're saying that, you know, did he substantiate it, did he provide the documentation that he should, and there's also expenses that they're questioning, some to do with his plane, and that's not a surprise, you know, in terms of we've seen from his taxes that we previously obtained that he would even expense things to the apprentice, like haircuts $70,000 that is a business expense that is questionable. we've seen a history of that.

we're seeing more of it in this information that was released on tuesday. >> i don't know, hair and makeup on your own television, i don't know about that one. >> maybe we should give your taxes a look. >> no, not i'm not righting off hair and makeup. ladies, thank you so much. i appreciate it. we are awaiting, as we said earlier, the spray inside the oval office where president zelenskyy and president biden are meeting right now. reporters are in there, we're waiting to take playbake, tape playback, that's how we refer to it and at some point someone will get in my ear as i'm experiencing saying go to the white house, go to the white house, this is what we see before they go behind closed doors with their official meeting and we have some insight in what has already been said, president biden telling president zelenskyy that we are giving him, the united states are giving the patriot missile

air defense systems and president zelenskyy has been asking for these and we know that are not aiming at residential buildings but a lot of critical infrastructure that has left ukraine in the dark and the cold. which is extremely danger as we head into these very cold winter months. so the idea that they're going to get patriot air defense missile systems that will better enable them to shoot some of russia's missiles out of the sky, is welcome news for president zelenskyy and ukrainians. let us go inside the oval office right now and watch. >> well, mr. president, it's good to have you back.

we're delighted that you were able to make the trip to be here. and you know, it's an honor to be by your side in a united defense in what is a brutal, brutal war raged by putin. 300 days. hard to believe. 300 days. >> yes. >> regarding putin's brutal assault on ukraine's right to exist as a nation, and the attack on innocent ukrainian people, to intimidate and he escalated his assault on civilians with school, orphanages, hospitals, landmarks, it's just, it's, he's trying to use winter as a weapon. but ukrainian people continue to inspire the world. i mean that sincerely. not just inspire us, but inspire the world with their courage and how they have chosen the

resilience and resolve for their future. and the american people have stood proudly with them. democrats and republicans, together with our allies in europe, and japan, and other places, to make sure that we have the financial humanitarian and security assistance that is needed. we will talk about that today. and we're going to condition strengthen's ability to defend itself, particularly air defense, and that's why we're going to be providing ukraine with a patriot missile battery and training your forces to be able to accurately use them. together, with our partners, we are also going to impose costs on the kremlin, and we'll support ukraine personally to pursue peace. president zelenskyy, the united states stands with the great people of ukraine, we stand with you, you've done a jaet job, and by the way, we have a famous thing that occurs aunce year, the man of the year, in "time"

magazine, you are the man of the year, in the united states of america. so welcome, and we have a lot to talk about, and the floor is yours, sir. >> thanks so much. it is a great honor for me to be here. we thank you so much for the invitation. i really wanted to come and tell you about it, and i couldn't do it because the situation was so difficult and now i've come, and we control the situation, and because of the support, because of your support, and i have said that we have very important topics that we will discuss them, as there are so many challenges in ukraine, and europe, with the war, and from energy, to the situation on the battlefield. but also, all of my appreciation from my heart, from the heart of

ukrainian, of ukrainians, of our nation, the strong nation, to all appreciation to you, first of all, mr. president, for your support and leadership, because you and your congress helped us, and are helping now, because the war, don't worry, it is continuing, but that is your leadership, thank you, first of all. thank you so much, mr. president. of course, thanks to my partners, we thank congress, and thanks from ukraine, to your people, ordinary americans, i really appreciate. i think you try to understand what it is when we say appreciate, but you really have to feel it, and thank you so

much. it is an honor to be here. and yesterday, i was on the bus in a city in our country, we have had so many phone calls, and we spoke in detail about it, and i wanted to give you something. one guy, a hero, he asked me to pass his word and he asked me to pass his word to president biden, captain, he is very brave, and he said give it to a very brave president, and i want to give you that cross. the cross for military merit. >> god love him. >> yes, that is from him, and i have this, i didn't write, mr.

president, this is written in the ukrainian language, but this is the situation. >> and his name, if i have his name, i can contact him? >> yes. >> well, undeserved and much appreciated. >> thank you. >> thank you. it's many gifts, but this is one here, and thank you very much. >> we have a tradition here and i'll give it to him, our son who fought in iraq, had what they call a chand coin, you've seen those on the battlefield, i will make sure he gets one of those. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> i appreciate it. what a great honor. >> thank you, press.

appreciate it. >> the cameras are going off, lingering on that image right there, it is a remarkable image, this is a war-time president, wearing military style fatigue style sweatshirt and cargo pants, sitting inside the oval office, with president biden, that formal setting, for this moment important and significant time for president zelenskyy, who said that it's not just the support of president biden, but the support of the american people that has made such a

difference for his country, even at one point gave a medal from a ukrainian soldier to president biden, saying that soldier wanted the president to have it. president biden telling zelenskyy that we are going to be giving you, the united states, will be giving you patriot air defense missile systems to help you fight off russia, saying that russia is trying to use winter as a weapon against the ukrainians. joining me now from the white house once again is nbc's mike memoli and former ambassador to russia michael mcphaul and former adviser to president zelenskyy, igor. >> can you tell us a little bit about the medal that president zelenskyy gave to president biden? >> president zelenskyy went to the very front lines literally the day before his trip to the u.s. and bakhmut, the area he went to is considered to be the most dangerous place at the moment

and the most hovely congested area and usually the president is not shy in engaging in directly with speak welcome the troop, with the personnel on the ground and he sometimes does get requests to pass symbolic gestures and souvenirs on to foreign dignitaries and i think he couldn't turn it down, because both people in the situation right here, as the president of the united states, who provided us with support, that saved the life of a soldier, and the soldier himself. >> all right. mike memoli, help us understand what president biden will be saying to president zelenskyy inside this closed door meeting. >> well, katy, i think we just saw very clearly one of the main goals demonstrated for this visit, which is for the united states to reemphasize, recommit itself to full support for the ukrainian people in this fight against the russians and for president zelenskyy to express

his gratitude on behalf of his people to the united states for the support that they've offered. that obviously is one of the major goals of this. but i think when you highlighted exactly what i think stuck out to me in terms of one of the remarks that the president made is concern about the future, and that russia will use winter as weapon and everyone, including president zelenskyy has been sounding the alarm about russia regrouping and using this opportunity to potentially prepare for and even more devastating campaign in the months ahead. and as white house officials were discussing president zelenskyy's visit here, they obviously got a number of questions about some of the areas of potential daylight between these two men. specifically about what ukraine is willing to do, as it relates to talks with the russians ultimately, about an end to the conflict, and once your administration officials say that president biden would not be in any way trying to pressure ukraine to the negotiating table, but that these two men were going to be discussing all elements of this ongoing conflict, including, including potentially how this ultimately

ends. so i think that is really one of the most important opportunities, something that these two men and president biden has long said, he believes in face to face diplomacy, whenever possible. we know our colleague reported this summer about a tense conversation that happened with the two men over the course of the summer as president zelenskyy was very loudly asking for more and more assistance from the u.s. than at the time the u.s. was willing to give and this is an opportunity for president biden to level-set with president zelenskyy what are the potential offerings for this conflict, as it is today, 300 days but potentially heading to a year anniversary. at a time when president biden understands as we were discussing earlier with dick sherman, that the support in the congress, especially with republicans in the control of the congress is not guaranteed for the kind of assistance we have been able to provide up to this point, katy. >> what about the president of belarus, we had general mccaffrey talking about vladimir putin potentially dragging belarus into this fight. what have we heard on ha?

and is that likely to come up in this meeting? ambassador? >> well, that was to me, i thought it was to mike. sorry about that. i eagerly was awaiting his answer because i don't know the answer to that. and nobody knows the answer to that. i know the ukrainian government is very worried about that second front. there's been, you know, the visit to belarus, and the way that it has been talking in particular is much more bellicose, so i'm sure that will be part of the conversation. and the second big part will be about new kinds of weapons. there is a structural tension that has gone back to the summer, and yes, you know, when the presidents talk, on the one hand, president biden is providing an amazing amount of assistance, including those himars and we are supporting it, we taxpayers of america are supporting it. it is unprecedented support. but if you're zelenskyy, you say thank you, but we need more

support, because ukrainians rightly believe in my view that the fastest way to end this war is to go on the offense, not just play defense. and i suspect that will be the real substance of their bilateral meeting at the white house today. >> mike, do you have an answer on that on whether that might come up? >> i have to say, if ambassador mcfaul doesn't know the answer, i certainly don't know the answer, but in talking with administration officials yesterday, they really underscored the fact that belarus has already been fully a part of russia's goal here, in their operation here, they feel like belarus has already put its cards on the table so they didn't seem to at least, in the conversations we had with officials last night, concern about the new outreach that russia is making within belarus at this point. but obviously, the white house has been very proud of its ability to keep the nato alliance together, to ensure not just in terms of military assistance, from the nato alliance but in the form of

economic sanctions, maximum international pressure on not just the russians but also the bell russians, and also with an eye toward a meeting that is happening in the last 24 hours as well, the top russian official, dmitry, in china meeting with president xi and very concerned in this building of course about how closely president xi is watching the continued resolve of the west to russia's invasion of ukraine, as obviously taiwan and the future of that island is a concern here as well. >> igor, i will take my last and final swing you with on the subject of belarus, what have you been hearing? >> well, there's no direct threat at the moment, but if there is threats, it's likely to be front end of january, up until march. that's what the most dangerous period will begin. so far, we are not seeing anything imminent but that could obviously change. and let me, before i say goodbye, let me give you an nalg of how president zelenskyy feels. so literally, you look at this resilience that he is providing, with the electricity and the

internet to people and we are getting a lot of support, but you know, at some point, that generator runs out of fuel. and unless you keep it running, you know, there's an old lady who will have to be turned down and it will be dark and gloomy and same here, this war needs to end with a victory. the sooner we realize that and the more commit there is, you know, the more people will be involved. >> igor, and ambassador, and mike memoli, thank you very much. the house select committee investigating the january 6th attack will release its full report any moment now. and while it is the end of the house investigation, it is the beginning of stepped-up cooperation with the d.o.j. and nbc news has confirmed what punch bell was first to report, special counsel jack smith sent a letter to the committee requesting evidence and starting last week, the select committee began sending smith team documents and transcripts including the text from the mark meadows interviews related to the fake electors scheme. and evidence regarding donald

trump's effort, and his ally's efforts, to pressure states to overturn they're election results. joining me now in west palm beach, florida, near donald trump's mar-a-lago home, is nbc's vaughn hillyard and former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst, joyce vance who is not on that screen. there she is. and with me is msnbc chief legal correspondent and host of the beat ari melber and ali vitali back from capitol hill. >> ari has a new breakdown of the coup conspiracy in the forword to the harper collins addition of the jan ry 6th committee's report, the report will be available online. >> thank you for the shout-out. >> you're welcome.

>> a lot going on. >> ali vitali got introduced as well. thank you. i will go to ali first, if you don't mind, ali. when are we going to get this report? it is supposed to be today. do you have any idea what time. >> the first thing i was going to do is introduce ari melber's foreword and i'm glad you have gotten that out of the way and we are waiting for the tap dancing and nobody is bored waiting for the january 6th report and waiting for donald trump's tax returns and we out in it would come already and now we're plating the waiting game and according to source, we might be playing for the waiting game because we are waiting for the printer to finish spitting out this report. we know they were writing and editing up until the last minute. members that i was talking to saying that they were editing their hard copies and sending them all back. and we know that that was sort of finished on sunday. now, of course, we're still

playing this waiting game, as we expect not just the eight chapters of this report, katy, but also, all of the things that come along with it. including the transcripts shall the underlying evidence, all of this, the results of 18 months of investigating from this committee and we have a sense from the executive summary of what is going to be in there, but there are also some bread crumbs that they left out throughout the executive summary urging us for example to compare the transcripts of ivanka trump and staffers to in her orbit and caylee mcenany and what cuss cassinidy hutchison testified during that shocking session over the summer when she talked about what she was told by people like tony ornato and others about what had happened with former president trump in that vehicle and one of the transcripts we're likely to see is tony ornato's and it will be

very interesting especially for those of us who are following along for so long on this. >> and also how in witnesses may have been influenced and there were donald trump affiliated lawyers were telling witnesses to say i don't recall, or maybe dangling advantageous work or careers after the fact, and then pulling them back. all of this stuff that could have influenced what somebody might have said. >> yes, i think it was a great point. and the recording, we have about 150 pages of the report. >> that's a lot. >> i think ali makes a great point, one of those days we're waiting on tax returns and the report that could come at any moment or more moments, it is a government schedule and they are in charge of the schedule, or the moments at the white house. but what you're quoting from is from some of the new material we did get this week, we're still looking at 150 pages and it paints a portrait of donald trump who is using every possible liver to lie, obstruct, lie about the election results,

lie about those people in the insurrection, where other people got hurt, other people were on the line, not him physically, and then go back around to get people not to cooperate and some folks have gone all the way, and mr. bannon defied the committee and won two of the four con temp referrals that led to indictment. he has been convicted of that and the witness tampering alleged as mentioned and the dangling of pardons to the criminal insurrection and some of whom convicted of decision. and what bands together is an idea of a multi-pronged conspiracy and i think when we get the full report, that's what we will be watching for in evidence, to see how they laid that out. >> ali says the printer may still be printing this thing out. we don't know how long. >> i've been there. >> if you've ever printed a book or a forword to a book, ali, it takes some time. >> the for word to a book is shorter than a book but i appreciate the shout-outs. and this is a serious time, and

i don't want to detract from that with a lyric that is not who i am. but i will say none other than rick ross the boss famously said 20 million, you want to take a look, printing paper, i wrote a book and i think people want to look at a delayed release of this report. >> i think we will never get out of the maze of that lyric that you just gave to me, to quote another lyric right at you. joyce, i apologize for all of this. talk to me about what you are going to be looking for, and also just talk to me about this cooperation news that punch bowl is reporting, that nbc news is reporting, that the committee is sending over transcripts, they're sending over the text messages from mark meadows, the evidence of trying to pressure states, specifically georgia, to jack smith who wrote a letter to the committee specifically asking for this stuff. >> well, katy, i of course am waiting to read ari melbr's

summary before i do anything else when it is available. but in addition i will be looking for the unanswered questions that were left hanging both during the committee's investigation, and also with this really amazing 154-page executive summary that we began to read yesterday. there is a lot of new, fresh information, and evidence, in this report, if the executive summary is any indication. and i think he did a great job of laying out where we will find some of that. it is comparing witness transcripts and seeing where there are discrepancies in the testimony that is being push pushed forward. that is likely motivating jack smith the special counsel to seek closer cooperation with the d.o.j. because if you're the justice department, in this endeavor, you are still looking for one or more cooperating witnesses. and you can find those folks, in a number of places but you are looking for someone who can

narrate the story of what was happening in the final days of the trump white house, who can take some of these inferences that we're seeing in the evidence, and turn them into a more concrete sort of a piece of evidence that can be presented to a jury. and i'll give you an example of what i mean, just briefly, if i may. something that pervades all of this testimony and really this entire inquiry, is whether the former president had any level of communication with the militias on january 6th. there's simply insufficient evidence in the public record for us to draw that on collusion right now. i think a lot of people may have suspicion, evidence is a different matter, the government has to prove things beyond a reasonable doubt. so now the process will begin in earnest for the special counsel, of using possible discrepancies or false statements to see if he can convince people to flip and offer testimony that will help him get closer to a true picture of what was happening in the run-up to, and on the day of the in recollection. >> i know that it is hard to

predict when the results of this investigation on the special counsel side might come out, but does the d.o.j. have hard deadlines that they're looking at, as we get into the year before an election year, before a presidential election year, joyce, because this is when the campaigns, next summer, next fall, going into early 2024, that things really do start ramping up. we're going to start to see some presidential debates, et cetera. will the d.o.j. be looking at hard deadlines when they want to get this material out? >> well, d.o.j.'s deadlines are legal, not political. the legal deadline is the five-year statute of limitations from the time the crime took place and the enormous frustration of the american public, cases like this can take a very long time to be put together. i've been involved in public corruption cases where the

indictment has come three, three and a half years after the events occurred. that sometimes seems unnecessary, but i will tell you, as a prosecutor, that there interest a lot of moving parts in these cases, and because you bear the high burden of proof, guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, it's a smart prosecutor who makes sure they have everything nailed down before they indict. i think your question is about in large part whether the political process changes that calculus. one of the things that has happened here is that jack smith is a special counsel and that can be very difficult for an incoming administration to change, to alter. so he's in place for all time. if a future attorney general were to decide to interfere with his work, and his recommendations, then they would have to report to congress. and so there's a little bit more certainty attached to the ongoing future of this investigation, because of smith's status as the counsel. >> vaughn, last to you. any reaction from mar-a-lago or

the voices surrounding mar-a-lago? >> i got to be honest, it is pretty nice in west palm beach right now, the chaos that you're experiencing up north is not the reality here. there is plenty of paper for printing and a winter solstice here today, and hopefully for the purposes of all of these cases here, every day, will bring more light on to donald trump and what took place, because so much of this is about a reckoning of the past, as donald trump is looking towards the future. he has not had any public events since announcing the run for the presidency, he is here at his mar-a-lago private club today with no events on the calendar and only posted links to different articles on his truth social account here. there's a lot of questions that are still outstanding that joyce was laying out that we are all waiting for, from this report as well, and the extent to the fbi was made aware and tips about the violence that was going to potentially unfold on january 6th and a lot of questions about the trump team that could potentially be included in a

more formal report here this afternoon. >> vaughn, thank you very much. joyce, thank you as well. and ali. and everybody, ari melber has a forword in the new harper collins edition of the january 6th report. i have my hands on an early edition right now. we'll all be waiting for that. thank you very much. >> thank you. all right. okay, we're waiting for the report to drop. so don't go anywhere. we could get it in one second from now, we could get it five minutes from now, we just don't know, but we will bring you the updates when we get them. i'm going to be back in just a couple of minutes for the next hour of news, so do not go anywhere. less than a couple of minutes actually. stay right there. minutes actually stay right there

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