right now on "andrea mitchell reports" live from munich, but reporting that the georgia special grand jury report has been made public today against the objections of the district attorney that it could hurt imminent prosecutions. the president will finally speak out about the chinese spy balloon and other shootdowns. will he explain his policy after bipartisan criticism? and here in germany, vice president kamala harris attending the munich security conference and world leaders gathering to talk about how to help ukraine survive russia's onslaught. i'll speak to the ambassador and richard engle from the front lines. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in munich. it's 6:00 here. you can hear the bells tolling.

world leaders, including vice president harris, gathering at a critical time in the war in ukraine. i'll be interviewing the vice president tomorrow on administration plans to help ukraine defend against russiaes spring i've and hold vladimir putin accountable. breaking news, the judge in fulton county, georgia, releasing three sections of that special grand jury report. joining me throughout the hour, peter alexander in washington. peter, you're following the big news from georgia. take it away. >> that is right, no bells chiming here so we'll try to get through this hour a little more silently if possible. there are three portions over nine pages in total that we are learning new details now, including this special grand jury receiving testimony from a total of 75 witnesses. they also received information through investigator testimony and various forms of digital and physical media, according to this new report we have received. that information coming

throughout the year that they were impanelled. andrea will stay with us. joining us is blayne alexander in atlanta, garrett haake who is near former president trump's mar-a-lago estate in west palm beach, and former u.s. attorney joyce vance. blayne, i want to get to you right away. you have those excerpts from that report. it's limited, but there are two significant takeaways. >> reporter: peter, very limited of course. we're talking about just a handful of pages but two significant things that stand out that give us a glimpse into these conversations and really what the special grand jurors have been hearing over these past few months. the first one and the one that is the headline is they quite simply believe they were lied to. they say at some point over the seven months that they were hearing witness testimony, they believe that one or possibly multiple people came forward and lied to them under oath. i want to read you that excerpt very quickly. they basically say that a majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more

witnesses testifying before it. the grand jury recommends that the d.a. seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling. so they believe that of the 75 people that we know that they heard from over the course of this investigation, that at least one person and possibly more lied to them and they want the d.a. to do something about it legally. the other thing that stands out, peter, they took a vote they say and they essentially reject the claim that was brought forth by the former president and his allies that the 2020 election was stolen and put that in very plain language. they say we find by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election. that's an important marker to put down in this report as well. a couple of other things that we gleaned from this. we learned that the vast majority of this testimony was delivered in person. we know while the special grand jury did want this report public, we knew that, but one thing they lay out, they don't make any preference as to when

it's made public or how. that's certainly something to note. that takes us to the district attorney. she's the one now that we are really going to focus on. she's the one that wanted this entire thing kept under wraps until she makes her decisions as to how she's going to move forward with charges. i do know we understand that we shouldn't necessarily expect to hear from the d.a. today on this today, peter, but she was happy with the judge's decision. she said earlier this week that she believes it's in line with what she had been asking for. both she and the judge said they were very concerned about maintaining due process, preserving due process in any future defendants. so certainly you could take from that language that it's very likely there will be some sort of charges to come from this, peter. >> i want to detail some of what you said there. among those 75 witnesses who testified, they do indicate that they believe they were lied to. not clear by whom. but let's put up on the screen who some of the headliner witnesses were over the course of the last year. of course they include the secretary of state in that

state, brad rachb enz raffensperger, rudy giuliani, and mark meadows. joyce, i want to ask you what we are learning and what we can anticipate going forward. let me play what fani willis, the d.a. there, had said last month when discussing this release with the judge. take a listen. >> if that report was released, there somehow could be arguments made that it impacts the right for later individuals, multiple, to get a fair trial. at this time in the interest of justice and the rights of not the state but others, we are asking that the report not be released because you having seen

that report, decisions are imminent. >> decisions are imminent, the key phrase there. so, joyce, is there anything from what we're seeing today in this report that could change fani willis' timeline, maybe even speed it up? walk us through what we should be watching next. >> so i think fani willis got what she wanted here. what she's really saying in prosecutor speak is that if there are releases in the grand jury report about individuals before they're charged, there's the possibility that if they're convicted down the road, those convictions could be attacked on appeal. she's essentially saying, judge, please protect my record, any future convictions that i might be able to obtain. so she's now in her sweet spot and her timeline will be driven largely by the schedule of the grand juries that she has available. she will need sufficient time to indict her case. she'll have to worry about the speedy trial act time clock which begins from the time of indictment. it will be very much a

process-driven schedule. peter, something that we see in what's been released in this report and i think this is a fascinating takeaway is this grand jury is extremely respectful and clearly impressed by the district attorney's office's presentation. they make a point of saying that none of the grand jurors are criminal lawyers or election experts but that they have done their best as citizens to understand and to lay out their conclusions. they are very complimentary of the assistance they were given both legal advice from the office and the over 75 witnesses that they had the chance to hear from. that's the meat of this report. it's actually what's not included in what appears to be a nine-page report plus a few appendices. it's the testimony from 75 witnesses, it's the testimony from investigators and others, it's the documentary evidence, it's the digital media, that's what this investigation is really about. this grand jury has now reached a number of conclusions, many of

which we don't know but at least one we're clear about here, they think someone committed perjury when they testified. >> they say the grand jury recommends that the d.a. seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling. garrett, i want to get to you outside mar-a-lago there in florida right now. often we hear from the former president at times like this. he has been on his own social media platform pretty outspoken about it. nothing so far in reaction to it. but how does what happens in georgia sort of impact the calculation among the president and his aides, former president and his aides about a 2024 bid and his strategies? >> reporter: yeah, no comment from the former president yet. he's been active on his social media platform even since we've been on the air but not about this topic. and i think what we may see from him today is something of a split decision on georgia based on his previous comments. the stuff about perjury probably won't be of much concern to the former president. he was neither requested nor

subpoenaed ever to testify as part of this probe. but the grand jury's finding that there was no significant fraud here that could have affected the outcome of the election may tweak the former president who has posted many times about his continuing belief that he won the state of georgia if not for fraudulent votes. now to your question about how the d.a.'s ultimate decisions here about indictments could affect president trump, it could certainly complicate his path. now, he's spent almost his entire political career as the target of some prosecutorial effort or another, whether it's the russia investigation, investigations into his conduct on and around january 6th, you name it. so investigations aren't new. but an indictment would be. it's possible that that's the kind of thing that could make his political path more complicated. certainly not with his most fervent supporters, but to the degree there's a republican primary electorate that's up for grabs, a twice impeached, currently indicted former president has a resume that may

be troubling, depending on what the rest of the field looks like. so we'll see how this all develops today. but i think just based on how he's handled the georgia investigation up till this point, i suspect we'll see some commentary about the prosecutor, fani willis, and perhaps a bit of gloating that if there's an indictment coming, it didn't come today. >> andrea, between this investigation, the report we're just now seeing and what we are hearing from the special counsel, jack smith's team, including a subpoena for former trump chief of staff mark meadows, there is a lot to keep track of here but it certainly doesn't make the situation any better for the former president. >> no, it certainly does not. now, to sort of bottom line this, the people who still believe that there was election fraud and believe the donald trump inaccurate, false notions on social media, they're going to still believe that. so this is not going to persuade anyone. people are still in their camps. as you well know, peter, there is a political impact of this

and we're seeing the 2024 campaign heating up with the entrance of nikki haley, with people lined up including other former cabinet members from the former president. as this begins to heat up, this will become more resonant, especially because fani willis said that action, prosecution, was imminent. that means that she's got a grand jury, as joyce has been pointing out. she has to figure out the timing. there is speedy action, there are deadlines on all of that and, peter, you know, they have to decide what to do but it's clear she's going to do something with those witnesses and some very prominent trump allies from the inner circle are in that list. >> no doubt and we'll be watching that as well. blayne alexander in georgia, garrett haake outside the former president's property and joyce vance, we appreciate you. andrea, we'll give it back to you in munich. >> thanks, peter. and just ahead, russia's escalation and the nato response. what the u.s. is prepared to do

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russia pummeled ukraine today with a barrage of new missile attacks. just hours of ukrainian officials said russia floated balloons over kyiv which it believes was intended to distract their air defenses. richard engle is with us. talk to me about the action today there. >> reporter: so there are now balloons over kyiv? it seems like the entire world is fighting against ufos. these ones over kyiv were quite crude. they were balloons that were at

a relatively high altitude. from these balloons was a wire and then below the wire were what looked like objects made of tin foil, like cardboard and tin foil. ukrainian officials think that perhaps they were designed to disrupt radar or disrupt air defenses, but most ukrainian officials seem to think they were sent as a bit of psychological warfare to intimidate ukrainians, to confuse them and to get them to spend precious ammunition because ukrainians don't have a lot of air defenses right now. so if they're busy shooting down cardboard cutouts made of tin foil, it means they have less to use for real threats. but in general, out here in the east, there is an active fight going on. we are now about one week into russia's new offensive and so far the russians aren't making tremendous progress. they are throwing a lot of artillery into this fight. they have thrown a lot of manpower into this fight. the main focus of the assault is

the city of bakmoud. ukrainians have speculated that the city would have fallen because the russians are spending so much effort into taking this one city which has become a symbol for them but the city is still holding. there is still an active combat area in it and around it but the ukrainians are hanging on. elsewhere along the front line, the russians don't seem to be making much progress. so this offensive still is struggling to get into first gear. >> it's really, really remarkable. thanks so much, richard engle. stay safe there. and joining us now is ambassador julianne smith, the u.s. ambassador to nato. with russia bombarding ukraine day after day as you just heard, ambassador, is there concern they might start using their very capable air force in the spring offensive?

>> well, we haven't seen them rely on their air force to date in any significant way, and that's due mostly to the fact that the ukrainians now have quite strong air defense. we just had a meeting here in brussels with defense ministers from all nato allies and allies came together to look for additional assets that they can give the ukrainians to strengthen that existing air defense. it continues to be a focus for the ukrainians and for the alliance here in brussels. >> can that get in by march? how quickly can more air defenses get in and more ammunition and more artillery? >> well, fortunately, a number of contributions have been made or announced in recent months. we're now at the point where many countries are preparing to deploy additional forms of air defense. but as you just heard richard

engle state, the focus is also on munitions. that's a key focus for nato allies and we're pushing to get additional ammunition and artillery in the hands of the ukrainians. the idea is to move as many assets as possible in the coming weeks so that when their spring offensive gets under way, whenever that might be, when the weather gets warmer, they're going to have the assets they need to succeed on the ground as we've already seen them do in recent months. >> although russia, according to all reports, has already started their offensive, it's under way. iran has been providing russia with drones, as we know. there are points now that iran is going to help manufacture drones in russia. how big a concern is that? >> well, that is a topic of conversation here inside the nato alliance. we're very concerned by the fact

that the iranians have been providing these drones. these are the drones that the russians are using for these horrific attacks on ukrainian civilian infrastructure and often result in just indiscriminate attacks on civilians and the loss of civilian life. the ukrainians have been very capable in countering these iranian drones, but it is a concern. we're warning iran and any other country that's considering providing material support to russia that this is the wrong side to be on. that they should not be supporting russia in this war of aggression, this illegal war of aggression, and allies will continue to monitor the situation closely. >> as the one-year anniversary of the war approaches next week, what concerns you most? >> well, what concerns me most is that we're still seeing these

horrific attacks across the country inside ukraine. russia could end this war today if it desired. president putin started this war a year ago. we want him to end the war as soon as possible. we've been so impressed with the bravery and the courage that the ukrainian forces have shown each and every month of this war, but we obviously want it to end. ultimately we believe the ukrainian forces will prevail and nato allies are united in their support for not only the ukrainian forces but the ukrainian people. >> and the nato secretary-general has now opened the door to letting finland into nato first because turkey is objecting to sweden. is that acceptable to the u.s., decoupling this? >> well, i think you've heard secretary blinken comment on this and other biden administration officials. we believe that sweden and

finland are ready to join the alliance today. we believe they have seriously addressed the legitimate concerns that turkey has raised. we'd like to see them both join the alliance as soon as possible and preferably before the summit later this july. >> thank you very much, ambassador julianne smith from brussels where nato has been meeting and now of course a lot of those same officials arriving here in munich for the security conference. nato's military response is just one of the topics i'll be talking to vice president harris about tomorrow. she arrived here earlier today. that's going to be our exclusive interview. we'll also talk of course about the 2024 election. first, the challenger despite saying she would not run against president trump, why nikki haley, the former u.n. ambassador, is no longer standing by her former boss. peter alexander has that next. this is a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" only

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mitchell reports." just a day after saying she is running for president, nikki haley is already facing attacks from her former boss, donald trump. mr. trump questioning haley changing her mind about running for president and poking fun that she is polling at 1%, he says. also mocking her once saying that hillary clinton was an inspiration. the former president also said that he did south carolina a favor by naming haley, the state's former governor, as u.n. ambassador. in an interview with craig melvin, haley tried to focus her fire on president biden, avoiding direct criticism of mr. trump. >> you have to win the primary. you're talking about president biden a lot. but there are only two candidates in the republican primary right now, you and your former boss. >> and you guys are obsessed with me talking about him. >> there are only two candidates. >> that's okay, i don't kick sideways, i kick forward. >> the only other contender in this race has been known to say pretty dirty and nasty things about his opponents. been known to give them

nicknames. does that concern you at all? >> not at all. not a bit. >> are you going to kick back? >> whenever i'm kicked, i always kick back and he knows that. >> joining me now, victoria defrancesco soto, philip rucker, co-author of "a very stable genius" and top communications advisor to former speakers paul ryan and john boehner, brendan buck. brendan, we heard from nikki haley saying that she's more than glad to kick any direction necessary but she doesn't kick sideways. donald trump is doing plenty of kicking already at her even as we're speaking i'm getting a new statement from his folks saying that he's ahead of her in south carolina. what struck me in this opening announcement and interviews that followed is she didn't identify a single policy difference between her and the former president. really her candidacy it seems is based on the need for a new generation. is that enough to beat sort of the behemoth in the republican

party? >> i don't know if it's enough. craig melvin was asking the right questions. how are you going beat donald trump? you don't get to jump ahead to joe biden, that's not how this works. she said she's going to kick back. she said this in her launch video that she doesn't tolerate bullies and she's going to fight back but seems unwilling to do so thus far. i understand it to a certain degree and i'm willing to give her some time here. you're introducing yourself to the country right now. you need to establish your own image and your own brand and not be so consumed by donald trump. i understand the desire not to be sucked into that. at some point, though, you have to realize you're running against donald trump. joe biden obviously is the end goal, but anybody who jumps into this race, whether it's her or tim scott or ron desantis, you're all running against donald trump. you need to establish why he is not fit for office again. at some point she may have to do that. i'm a little confused by coming out of the gate saying she's going to push back against

bullies and going to kick and not doing it at her first opportunity. >> victoria, that is the fundamental challenge, how do you become the gop nominee until you knock off the last gop nominee. here is haley on the january 6th attack. take a listen to what she has said. >> i have said january 6th was a terrible day. i criticized him for that and i stand by that criticism. i have said he was a good president in the way that he lifted up so many people economically and he did real good in this country. that can be true too. when i see something right, i praise it. when i see something wrong, i criticize it. >> so, victoria, can you have it both ways in this effort right now to say january 6th was a terrible day but saying he was also a great president? >> she wants to have it both ways, peter. i don't know if she's going to be able to make it. i think right now she's going to look to time to be her biggest ally and hoping that other candidates get into the mix and

deflect attention. but quite frankly this isn't unique to nikki haley. look at former vice president mike pence who's been making a lot of noises about getting in the race. the same story, right? there were some bad things in the trump presidency but there were some very good things. ron desantis. name any republican, potential republican presidential contender and it's the same thing. a couple of differentiators with nikki haley that i do think is interesting as compared to other folks. first is not just the age component but the harnessing of her immigrant na we usually think of the gop as harnessing immigration with a negative frame. here we're seeing it with a positive twist. is this a take back to the 1980s reagan/bush era of viewing immigration through a more positive lens? i don't know. but i'm fascinated by her really bringing in some new elements that we have not seen in the gop. let's state the obvious too, this is a woman. this is a woman and a party where traditionally we have not

seen as much representation as we have in the democratic party. but gop women have been gaining a foothold. and is she going to harness that energy? >> i think that's what a lot of folks will be watching and what she's counting on certainly. phil, i want to ask you about what we just received from the aides to former president trump as it relates to that grand jury report that we just got within the last hour from those in fulton county, georgia, right now. they write in part the long-awaited important sections of the georgia report which do not even mention president trump's name have nothing to do with the president because president trump did absolutely nothing wrong. again, these are the words of a trump spokesperson. the president, they say, participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in georgia. at least one of those calls you know is the one he made to the secretary of state, brad raffensperger saying all we need to do is find 11,780 votes, one more vote than he was down in that race. the grand jury, phil, already said today there was no

widespread fraud there. every court has agreed. how does this complicate the candidacy for the former president? >> well, peter, it certainly refutes the argument that the former president has made about the election in georgia, which is that that election was rigged. it was not rigged. this grand jury report makes that very clear, that there is no widespread evidence of fraud from georgia. by the way, there has not been any widespread evidence of fraud from any other state. we should keep in mind that from we saw today from fulton county is only a portion of this grand jury report. it does not include, for example, the names of anybody that the grand jury has recommended be charged criminally by the fulton county district attorney. those charges could potentially come in a matter of weeks or months later this year, but we simply don't know who they're recommending being charged. and so it is not in any way some sort of clean bill of health for former president trump. it's just a limited portion of that report that we've been able

to see publicly. >> clearly not a clean bill of health but there's the way that he frames it. this is perfect, it indicates i did nothing wrong. it doesn't do that. brendan, we heard from former president trump's vice president, mike pence, just yesterday. he was pressed on why he is fighting the special counsel's subpoena. here's what he said. >> i think the issue here is whether or not a vice president who served as president of the senate should be subject to a subpoena to appear in court. >> but would you voluntarily testify under an agreement? >> the justice department has insisted on that. and i'm reserving that right in the event this were a matter that would go to trial. we just simply made it clear to them we think it is not only unprecedented but it's unconstitutional. >> our v colleague, vaughn hillyard, with the questions of the vice president. the justice department says pence is covered by legislative

immunity presiding over the senate when they confirmed joe biden's win. is this about getting on the right side of the trump base for pence, who we anticipate will announce his own bid? >> yeah, it's what we were just talking about. it's trying to have it both ways. look, mike pence has talked about what happened on january 6th in several formats, including his own book. if he wanted to talk about this to the grand jury, to special counsel, he certainly could. but here again he doesn't want to alienate donald trump and his supporters, which is just this impossible situation, if you're actually trying to run for president, and defeat him. look, mike pence has an opportunity more than any of these people to say this is a person who is unfit for president. here's a clear way that he can do it. an indictment against donald trump i think would be incredibly powerful and put so much baggage around his neck it would be hard for him to move forward. mike pence has that chance but he doesn't want to do it because he wants to maintain some level

of relevancy with his base and it's a really hard tight rope to walk. >> brendan buck, phil rucker, victoria, my friends, we appreciate you being with us. coming up next, defense chief lloyd austin previews the president's first major remarks on china's surveillance program. that balloon and the multiple aerial objects since shot down by the u.s. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. if your moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks... choose stelara® from the start... and move toward relief after the first dose... with injections every two months. stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition,

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nbc news is reporting that as soon as this afternoon, president biden is planning to address the american people about the unidentified objects that the u.s. military recently shot down. in an exclusive interview, nbc's pentagon correspondent courtney kube spoke to defense secretary lloyd austin in brussels at the nato meetings yesterday about these aerial objects. >> the fact that the u.s.

military didn't know about these until recently, is that an intelligence failure? was it a military failure? >> no. it's how you use your radars. we typically are focused on things that are moving fast. so it's a bit more difficult to collect on slow-moving objects like a balloon. as they made adjustments, they were able to see some of that. >> and joining me now is pentagon correspondent, my colleague courtney kube. courtney, let's talk about the aerial objects and what the pentagon knows. what more do they know, especially about these three others that were clearly not spy balloons, not attributed to any state actors and were probably balloons, not objects. >> right. and the reality is the u.s. is still not saying much more about them, the u.s. government. they do believe they're leaning towards this theory that they were benign, that they didn't present any kind of a threat.

in fact secretary austin said that, they presented no military threat to people on the ground. the concern was they may have presented a threat from the air to commercial aviation. but the reality is i asked secretary austin if given the fact the u.s. shot down these three not knowing what they were and now they believe they weren't a threat, does that mean we'll see more shootdowns like this. he said first we'll have to figure out what these three were. so we don't have a lot of answers. >> we're expecting perhaps when we hear from the president today to get the policy going forward. you know, were they too trigger happy, were they responding to politics. he won't address that because there was so much criticism on the hill. but what will be the protocol going forward. because as you know, as you've been reporting, they have now widened the appear tour of their radar. it's not that that stuff hasn't been out there more recently, but china does have a very aggressive program and that clearly is of concern. what did the secretary have to say about china? because china is saying this was

accidental. but the u.s. is saying it was maneuverable. they actually steered it from canada down into idaho and montana and then across the country. >> and it could have been both. there may have been a moment where it went out of control and they couldn't control it but it was a maneuverable, enormous object. the belief was there was some intent here to use this to surveil the u.s. whether it was intended to go over sensitive sites in the u.s. you bring up a good point about the policy here. the u.s. and china, tensions are pretty high between these two countries right now. one of the things i spoke to secretary austin about is the fact that this military-to-military hotline that has existed for years now is no longer in existence. the chinese are simply not answering. secretary austin trying to call his chinese counterpart before they shot down the first balloon and they didn't answer. secretary austin saying that was dangerous. here's what he had to say. >> in this case and in the case we had a couple of months ago, when something happens, they

somehow tend to shut down their military channels of communication. i think that's dangerous. but it won't stop me from continuing to encourage them to open up the lines of communication. i think that's the right thing to do. >> courtney, as secretary austin was just saying to you, we have to figure out what is happening, get these lines of communication open. they have been low-level diplomatic communications. but the important thing is very shortly, secretary blinken is going to be flying here tonight, overnight. the top diplomat from china is also coming. are they going to get together and try to reset relations after blinken a couple of weeks ago cancelled his trip because of the spy balloon. >> there's the potential for a sideline meeting, not an official formal meeting, but something where the two men could discuss. we don't know if that's going to happen yet.

but it is really important that the diplomatic lines are still open at a low level. the mill-to-mill lines are extremely important because they serve as a deconfliction mechanism. if there's a miscommunication, without that immediate hotline, it only makes it more and more potentially dangerous when something is breaking. >> and even during the cold war, when we were covering the cold war, there were communications at the worst moments. >> right. >> on the hotline. >> think about over syria right now. the u.s. talks to russia on a deconfliction line so they can make sure their aircraft is not in the same area and there's no mistake or miscommunication. i wouldn't be surprised if the two membership do get together if that's something they discuss. >> courtney kube, thank you so much. it was courtney who first broke the story. we expect to hear from president biden as soon as today about the chinese spy balloon. the latest from our white house team next. we are live in munich at the security conference as it's beginning to open right here in germany. germany.

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yearly physical exam at walter reed medical center as he prepares to announce his likely re-election bid. the president avoiding shouted questions on the chinese spy balloon in the face of mounting criticism from members of congress in both parties. also avoiding questions about his physical. as some democrats are raising concerns about the 80-year-old president's ability to mount a vigorous re-election campaign. peter alexander who's been co-anchoring with me and nbc senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. did we get any updates about the president's physical? >> not yet. we do anticipate receiving in a written form a memo from dr. kevin o'connor, the president's physician, who will likely give us a lot of the details that will give us a picture of the president's health in facts and figures and numbers. and what we would certainly look for are any changes compared to last year, his first physical while in office. and we know that during the time

in between, the president had covid, as many americans had, and he had a rebound case, and we had updated memos at that time, and there have been other communications from dr. o'connor about the sometimes scratchy voice that the president has and that that is related to sort of a reflux condition that the president has. he was at walter reed for just under three hours, and you can imagine that when the president of the united states goes to the national military medical center they have cleared the decks for him and all of the necessary tests, procedures, and exams can happen quickly. we don't have any indication that the president had any kind of invasive or intrusive types of exams that can sometimes be part of an annual physical, and we had been told by white house officials that he had previously had some parts of his checkup at earlier points. so we will be waiting for the full written memo, and the key thing there will be as the oldest sitting president at 80 years old and ooh a likely

candidate for re-election, does he get a clean bill of health, a fitness to serve going forward. the president said in a recent interview he would certainly alert the american people if he thought there was any health issue that would not make him eligible to run again. andrea. >> kelly, thank you, and peter, i understand the white house is considering having the president give remarks on the spy balloon and the downed objects. it's been a couple of weeks now since this all happened. we haven't heard from him. criticism is mounting. i know you're working your sources. what are you hearing he might say today? >> that's exactly right. as nbc news was first to report last evening, the white house is anticipating there could be remarks from the president as early as today. if that were to happen, the president appeared to be in good spirits as he left, and it would be his first opportunity to address the shootdown of the chinese surveillance balloon and

those three additional aerial objects in the days since. there has been, as you note, this growing pressure on the not say something, this vacuum, the information vacuum that has existed has allowed for the sort of sprouting of these conspiracy theories, which even led the white house press secretary karine jean-pierre in recent days to say that those three most recent aircrafts seen above alaska, over lake huron, in michigan, and in the yukon of canada were not extraterrestrial aircraft, there's certainly a lot of questions for the president to take right now, but certainly answers that are needed as well, and it comes at a time when the white house has launched a review into their sort of protocols going forward in situations like these, how they will handle similar situations, certainly amid some criticism right now that this was an over reaction by the administration that was taken out effectively by the white house, and the pentagon due to the political criticism that the

white house and that the military has now received now just from republicans but from democrats as well. so no official word yet, but we are hearing rumblings that it's possible the president could speak as early as this afternoon, we'll keep you posted. >> and as kelly just reported also, we are awaiting the word on the physical, which becomes more and more important given just only yesterday nikki haley, the latest entrant -- the first other entrant into the republican primary field taking real direct aim not only at donald trump who's 76 but of course at president biden who is 80, even suggesting a mental test for people 80 plus running for president. peter alexander, my partner this hour, thank you so much. kelly o'donnell, always a partner from the white house, thank you both so much. and this special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" has been live from the munich security conference. join us tomorrow for my exclusive interview with vice president kamala harris, ask

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good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. we now have parts of a highly anticipated grand jury report into potential charges