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rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people's love of liberty. brutality will never grind down the will of the free. and ukraine, ukraine will never be a victim of russia. never. >> president biden gets a raucous welcome in poland, vowing that a united nato will never ban ukraine, while vladimir putin tries to justify his disastrous war to his people. meanwhile, the caucus in the house would like to see ukraine lose. one tweeting, ukraine is not our friend and russia is not our enemy. >> plus, the forewoman says the georgia special grand jury looking into trump's plot to overturn the 2020 election recommended multiple indictments and that list is not short. good evening. i'm jason johnson in for joy reid. we're just days away from the one-year anniversary of russia's

invasion of a sovereign country, ukraine. today, president biden standing in front of the royal castle, a historical landmark in warsaw that was rebuilt after another invading force, the nazis, destroyed it, framed this fight against russia as a larger battle against autocracy. >> president putin is confronted with something today he didn't think was possible a year ago. the democracy of the world has grown stronger, not weaker. but the autocrats of the world have grown weaker, not stronger. >> mostly, underestimated the nato alliance. >> one year into this war, putin no longer doubts the strength of our coalition. but he still doubts our conviction. he doubts our staying power. he doubts our continued support for ukraine. he doubts whether nato can remain unified. but there should be no doubt. our support for ukraine will not

waiver. nato will not be divided, and we will not tire. president putin's craven lust for land and power will fail. >> and he reminded putin all of this would actually end if putin would withdraw his occupying forces. >> this war was never a necessity. it's a tragedy. president putin chose this war. every day the war continues is his choice. he could end the war with a word. >> a few hours earlier, putin delivers a dystopian speech riddled with lies claiming russia was the real victim in their invasion of ukraine. >> translator: we're not fighting in ukraine, we said the ukrainian people have become hostages of their western masters who occupy this country in political, in economic, and

in military sense. the elites of the west are not hiding their goals. as they say, they are trying to inflict a strategic defeat on russia. >> also, they're liberators. where have we heard that before? it was russian forces that invaded ukraine a year ago. using a string of justifications that keep literally blowing up in putin's face. first, it was to save russian speaking ukraines and then russian speaking ukraines took up arms against this army. then it was denazifying ukraine. some of russia's more candid political leaders have admitted it's a war of genocide, but not even that has worked because the russian people domestically have protested against a war that they see domestically as costly and pointless. putin initially assumed his invasion would be russia's version of desert storm. maybe a month of combat before he could claim victory in front

of the duma. now, a year later, more like his afghanistan. a sign of just how bad things are for the russian military, the founder of the russian mercenary group, the mercenary vagner group has launched a very vocal broadside against the russian military, accusing them of failing to properly arm putin's forces. today, putin announces he would suspend russia's participation in the start nuclear proliferation agreement. joining a dangerous path ahead for u.s./russia relations and one that could bring us closer to a cold war than ever before. joining me now is william taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. he's currently vice president for russia in europe at the u.s. institute of peace, and niair hawk, former white house senior director and former state department senior adviser. i'll start with you. i don't get happy when i hear this is returning us to the cold

war. i get concerned when i hear that russia wants to pull out of a nonproliferation agreement. how serious is it? i know that apparently this deal was already on its last legs, but how serious a move is it that russia said, yeah, now we're not going to bother with inspectors for nuclear weapons? >> they're saying out loud what they have been acting on behind the scenes by and large. they have not allowed verification, which was a key part of verifying both countries are reducing their nuclear arsenal. it goes to the broader idea of putin just doing away with the western sense of alliances, the post world war ii order, in which russia was on the side of the allies. and putin framing now it's him and african countries even with the foreign minister going to africa and talking about the hypocrisy of the west. we're seeing this very interesting realignment while putin internally is a propaganda machine. the people of russia don't see what the rest of us are seeing, what you're mentioning, what's

happening in ukraine. this is the first time in the speech that putin ever mentioned the word war, when talking about the one-year conflict that he instigated in ukraine. the people of russia are not in a great place, and putin is trying to normalize the idea of talking about nuclear weapons and having nuclear weapons because he does not have much left. >> ambassador, one of the major concerns that i have also is that this next step, if vladimir putin does not have an escape hatch, it's been a year. this is likely to be a conflict that will continue for a while. if russia doesn't have an escape hatch and their conventional forces don't seem to be working fairly well anymore, then nuclear weapons might be the only option he sees. how concerned is the u.s. government about that right now? and are there negotiation options on the table to maybe ratchet this conflict down? >> jason, they're not

negotiation options on the table right now. there may be some time in the future. then it will depend on president putin understanding, coming to the conclusion he can't win on the battlefield. then he might sit down. that's why we have to support the ukrainians as they push back. as they push way back. so this is the issue, jason. the question is, the support for ukraine allowing them to push the russians out of their nation. all of the ukrainians are after is the russians out of their country. as you indicated, as you described at the beginning, the russians invaded in 2014 and then invaded massively in 2022. they have an option. the off ramp, the exit ramp for putin is to just pull out. he's got -- he's not bottled up. his back is not to the wall. he's got a big country. he doesn't need ukraine.

jason, he lived without crimea since 1954. he doesn't need crimea. so yes, he can stop this any time, and he can begin the negotiations on that basis, i think on that basis, ukrainians would be happy. they have said they would be happy to negotiate at that time. >> so this is one that also gets me. there are lots of people, international left and sort of international peace advocates who have said, you know what, we would have already had a peace deal on the table, but america and the west, they want this to be a proxy war now. and it's not -- it's not the same thing as parroting putin's talking points. there are people who said, you can give up this bit of land, move people here and there. this war only exacerbates conflict in the region. is there legitimacy to that? is there an argument that now ukraine might be so far into this, and the west and nato are so far into it that realistic diplomatic options are no longer on the table? >> it's fascinating to see the

left unite with henry cisinjer when it comes to foreign policy issues particularly with ukraine, because suddenly the human rights and the genocide of ukrainians is not the number one driving issue. it's the idea of the united states not engaging militarily, the united states pulling back from alliances. and it raises the question of, what is all that military spending for? what are all these alliances for if at the end of the day, the united states is not going to stand up for the very principles it created? the united states is the only country that is actually activated the nato alliance for military conflict that was a threat to the united states. biden has been very careful and very forceful of making this about a conflict for ukraine and the defense of ukraine's democracy and not about nato and russia. that's putin's language. he wants us to be this grander conflict. he wants this to be a peace discussion on his terms where he gets to carve off pieces of a sovereign country, and

ambassador taylor is right. he can walk out any minute. if this psychology and eco would let him do that. >> i have to say, ambassador, one thing that's been interesting is the rhetoric that we're hearing from russia. awful bellicose for people who seem to be backed into a corner. everybody gets really tough when they realize they may actually be losing. i want to play this sound right now about the russians saying that they allowed biden to go to kyiv and to go to warsaw, and then get your thoughts on the other side. >> so basically what we're seeing here is that president biden went to the ukraine, went to warsaw, because he was trying to make a point, look, the

united states supports the independence of these countries and no, poland will not be next on russia's list, and the russians have decided to frame that as, hey, we let you go here. we didn't have to let you in. when you see that sort of thing, ambassador, is it clear that russia is just in the propaganda mode of trying to cover their own sort of weakness when it comes to this conflict, or was that a real threat? was it really the assumption, if you try that again, if you send other representatives, we might attack them or shoot them down? >> jason, total propaganda. total propaganda. you get those talk shows, you know about talk shows. and people can say whatever they want. that is a strange one right there. but let me go back to that point. she's exactly right to raise the issue of genocide. to raise the issue of war crimes, of atrocities. what the russians are doing in ukraine is horrible. it is horrible. and to suggest that the

ukrainians ought to just give us some of the land, give up some territory, where ukrainians live, knowing what happens when the russians occupy that, what part of the united states would we want to give up? that's what ukrainians are asking. they're not eager at all to give up their own territory where their citizens live, knowing what happens to those citizens. that's what they're fighting for. they're fighting for democracy. they're fighting for human rights. and that's why we're supporting them. >> ambassador william taylor and niera hawk, thank you for starting us off. up next on the show, america's pro-putin party, and marjorie taylor greene casually calls for a divorce between red and blue states. my question is, in a divorce between the states, does that mean she has to leave georgia? it's blue, marjorie. "the reidout" continues after this. billionaires in america, it■s up from about 600 at the beginning of my term.

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. as president biden makes a case for solidarity with ukraine, the loudest voices from the pro-putin, pro-insurrection wing of the maga republican organization because they're not a party are absolutely losing it. usual suspects. matt gaetz, marjorie taylor greene, lauren boebert were complaining about how president biden should be here at home and going to east palestine, ohio, site of the hazardous train derailment. it's not unusual for the

opposition party to attack a president for what he's doing internationally. but the current maga republican organization isn't just an opposition party. it's an anti-democracy organization masqueraing as a party to cover up for a terrorist movement. and they're actively coddling insurrectionists. matt gaetz used his complaining to push support for his ukraine fatigue resolution, demanding an immediate end to ukrainian aid. his co-sponsors in addition to boebert and greene, january 6th rally planners andy biggs and paul gosar, surprise. in fact, the hard right gosar is doing the most to carry vladimir putin's tainted water. he tweeted, quote, ukraine is not our friend. and russia is not our enemy. joining me now is congressman john garamendi of california who just returned from a trip to polish ukrainian border and former rnc chair michael steele, host of the michael steele podcast and msnbc political analyst, and one of the best dressers i have seen this evening.

michael, had to compliment that first. first, congressman, you just got back from the ukrainian/poland border. what is the mood on the ground for ukrainians? it has been almost a year. they have seen pretty consistent support from the united states. but they are still facing an army that is much larger than the one they can put together. what's the mood on the ground in ukraine? >> well, within ukraine, it's we are going to win. we will not allow russia to dominate us. the boot of putin will not be on our neck. we are a democracy, and we're going to fight. we're going to fight to save our democracy. that's the mood in ukraine. we heard that in our discussions. you can see that on television anywhere. the other side of the border, in the nato countries, there is extraordinary concern that if ukraine were to fall, moldova would be next, and then romania. and there would be a major test

of nato. putin is very clear. before this conflict started, nato and the united states attempted to negotiate with putin. putin came back and basically said, nato out of eastern europe, we're going to reestablish -- he wants to reestablish the warsaw pact and the soviet union. so there's a very clear determination on the part of the eastern european nations, nato nations, that they're all in. and thank god, so is america, and so is our president. >> michael steele, i pointed this out in the open because i think it's important. whatever party doesn't control the white house tends to be the anti-interventionist party. right? when republicans have the white house, democrats are like, what are you doing in this foreign war? when republicans have the white house, democrats are like, what are you doing in this war? but what we're seeing from the republican party for years now

is sort of advocacy for countries that previously have been the united states' enemies. we have complaints from representative scott perry, oh, breathtaking that biden can show up in ukraine and insure their border is secure but can't do the same for america, et cetera, et cetera. you have people claiming russia is actually a friend of the united states. my question domestically, who the heck does this work for? is there somebody in ohio or pennsylvania or wisconsin right now who is like, you know what, my vote is driven by whether or not the united states is giving money to ukraine and how we fight russia? >> no, this isn't about that. this is about the level of coddling we have seen going back to the trump administration. they like the feel. they like the vibe of authoritarianism. they like to be in charge. look, you're looking at the class clowns who ordinarily are put in the back of the room and not given microphones. they're not allowed to the front. they're not even allowed to raise their hand. now they're calling the shots. that's the power that kevin mccarthy has given them.

we need to buckle up and settle in for a lot more of this as we get into the presidential cycle. so when you see and hear this going on the way it is, the reality of it is very simply put for a lot of these people is what benefit can i get writ large? there's the grift. there is the clicks on their favorite social media platform. but it's also carrying that narrative a lot further, because at the end of the day, to the congressman's point, the boot on the neck will be their neck. if putin gets his way. right? so we're looking at these anti-democratic politicians inside the republican organization. i like the way you put that. this is not political party anymore. this is more sort of a media driven reality tv based organization that sort of puts out these narratives, you know, like the crazy marjorie taylor

greene tweeted about secession and the country is impeaching joe biden. over what? standing with our allies? re-enforcing the best that a lot of americans quite frankly want to see re-enforced in our relationships abroad? protecting democracy. so this is the narrative that they're going to push. and remember who they are and where they come from, but also remember how they're getting the power they're exerting right now. >> congressman, i actually want to play you some sound from the class clown that michael steele just referred to, marjorie taylor greene giving, i guess, advice about how america should operate and what should happen when people move from red to blue states and get your thoughts on the other side. >> what i think would be something that some red states could propose is well, okay, if democrat voters choose to flee these blue states, well, once they move to a red state, guess what, maybe you don't get to

vote for five years. >> now, the part that makes me laugh about this is, if that applied, herschel walker wouldn't have been able to vote or run in the state of georgia. but that being said, congressman, when you hear this kind of nonsense, it's not just that these people are inappropriate and that they want to overthrow the united states. i always want to make that point. but there's actual governing to be done. so looking at what's going to be necessary to keep ukraine from falling to russia, do you have to just negotiate around people like marjorie taylor greene? do you just depend on the senate? do you depend on sort of executive action from the white house? because clearly, they're not going to engage in any sort of common sense foreign policy that the united states can stand behind. >> well, the good news is within the republican party, there are republicans in congress that would have great empathy with what michael steele is enduring.

that is their party is being ripped apart by the maga crazies. by the extremists. and unfortunately in congress today, they have gained the margin of power. ahandful of them. i think you had about ten of them up on the screen. that is the power of a speakership in their hands. and they're using that power right now to mouth off a whole lot of very crazy and very dangerous talk. unfortunately, it's being picked up by at least one other media company. will it end? i think it will. and i think there's going to be an evolution, maybe a revolution within the republican caucus because there are many, many republicans in that caucus that are absolutely outraged and very, very upset. and they may very well decide

that it's time to work directly with the democrats. and try to develop a public policy going forward. that makes rational sense. >> congressman, you are way more optimistic than me. congressman john garamendi, michael steele. thank you for joining us on "the reidout" tonight. thank you. up next, the foreperson of the fulton county grand jury says they recommend multiple indictments and, quote, won't be surprised by who they think should be targeted. more on that next on "the reidout." i work hard, and i want my money to work hard too. so, i use my freedom unlimited card. earning on my favorite soup. aaaaaah. got it. earning on that éclair. don't touch it, don't touch it yet. let me get the big one. nope. - this one? - nope. - this one? - yes. - no. - what? - the big one. - they're all the same size. wait! lemme get 'em all. i'm gonna get 'em all! earn big with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours.

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remember that major scandal regarding donald trump and a tape call pressuring georgia secretary of state to find the votes to overturn the election? it's now a huge development in that story. a special grand jury that investigated election interference by the former twice impeached president recommended indictments of multiple people on a range of charges. special grand jury's forewoman told "the new york times" that, quote, it is not a short list. late today, nbc's blayne alexander also sat down with her for her first televised interview. she shared more on what to expect from that list. >> so we're talking utmore than a dozen people? >> i would say that. yes. >> are these recognizable names, names that people would know? >> there are certainly names

that you would recognize. >> did the grand jury recommend an indictment of former president trump? >> i'm not going to speak on exact indictments. i don't think that there are any giant plot twists coming. i don't think that there are any, like, giant "that's not the way i expected that to go at all." i don't think that's in store for anyone. >> joining me now is democratic strategist kurt bardella and barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney, professor at the university of michigan school of law and msnbc legal analyst. barbara, i'll start with you. i was riveted by that interview because the forewoman seems like somebody who, like, won survivor but she's got to wait a couple month because of the nda, she can't tell you. just from your assessment, what is it like to see a foreman basically say, hey, there are

surprises coming but you shouldn't be too surprised? what might that indicate about what the grand jury concluded? >> well, first, jason, as a former prosecutor, i cringe any time you see a grand jury foreperson talking about what happened before the grand jury. the grand jury secrecy rules to protect people who might be under suspicion. now, i think she probably complied with the letter of the rule, which says she's not supposed to talk about the grand jury's deliberations, so she was careful not to say who might be recommended for indictment or how that went down. but boy, she comes awfully close to that. it makes me a little nervous. i do think when she says they recommended that more than a dozen people be indicted, and then in direct response to that question about donald trump, she says, it's not going to be too surprising. she's also talked about the phone cals they listened to about donald trump. i don't know whether they did or didn't recommend donald trump, but if i were a betting person, i bet the answer is yes.

>> kurt, this is where this gets me. all of this is sort of us litigating the criminality and the attempts to overturn the 2020 election. but that pales in comparison to the nonsense we're already seeing for the 2024 election. we have ron desantis running around and he's giving speeches. you have nikki haley running around giving speeches. this is my question to you, and i'm going to play you some sound, but i have to set this up properly. in mew view, there are three states you can't really run from if you're trying to run across america. you run from new york, you're too crazy, you're a liberal. you run from california, you're too crazy, a liberal. if you run from florida, it's all crystal meth and alligators. that's what people think. i'm not saying that's the case. those are sort of the national reputations of the states. when you see ron desantis running and planning he's going do for america what he's done in florida, that seems like a problem. i'm going to play you sound from him and also how that's failed in the past and get your

thoughts on the other side. >> so what have we done in florida? when they were talking about defunding police and slashing budgets, we said not on my watch. as much as i'm proud that florida is doing well, i want the country to do well. i want all of these communities to do well. >> now, kurt, that may make sense in some context. he can talk about policy, right? but are those policies the first things that everybody thinks about coming out of florida? >> no. i mean, we must have entered some sort of quantum realm of ron desantis thinks the entirety of the united states of america wants to have happen in our country what he has done to the state of florida. if he thinks for instance, most of the country want to spend their time banning books, that they want to spent their time dealing with mass shootings, ignoring the catastrophic impacts of climate change, which by the way, will hit the state of florida first. that's not a recipe for a good national conversation, a healthy national conversation. when you factor that in with the

absolute lunacy we're hearing from the republican party overall in the state of michigan, they just elected a party chair that's an election denier. you look at marjorie greene spent the weekend talking about secession and the overthrow of government, that's where the republican party is at. you know, look at the lack of interest and the bs investigations that the republicans are running around doing. every single poll up and down says no one is interested in that. yet they keep doubling down on this failed strategy. >> barbara, i'm going to hit you with a political question because i think this is relevant. we have seen ron desantis use his political power, use policy, threats, government, everything else like that, to try to bully disney. right? he's tried to bully disney and has portrayed them as a company that supports or engages in behavior that leads to criminality. all that brings to mind to me is a former president who decided he wanted to attack something very popular.

i want to play you some sound from mitt romney and get your thoughts on the other side. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs, i'm going to stop other things. i like pbs, i like big bird. i like you too. i'm not going to keep spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for it. >> so the guy who said i'm going to put big bird out of a job ended up not winning. i don't see how the guy who says i think disney plus is the home of groomers and pedophiles is going to do well. do you think, barbara, nationally that when people look, when businesses and focus groups and lawyers organizations look at how he's using the laws in his state to abuse an entity like disney, do you think that makes him more popular. do you think that makes organizations want to come to the aid of his potential national campaign? >> you know, there's an interesting divide, i think, in the republican party. there is the traditional chamber of commerce business base, and there is sort of the maga trump

group that wants to engage in the culture wars. and i don't know that you can win any state without having both of those constituencies. so i think the more that governor ron desantis alienates the chamber of commerce business community, i think the less likely he is able to win a state, and i think nationwide, that's been true. so i think at some point, losing those kinds of business votes is not good politics. >> kurt, a lot of times i think republicans are more interested in the fight than the actual victory. thy spent 60 years trying to overthrow abortion. now they don't know what to do. they're in this fight with disney and all sorts of culture things but these aren't cultural battles you can actually win. where does this put someone like ron desantis when he decides to go outside of the sort of bubble of right wing media? how does that play in texas, where people are watching disney plus? how does that play in illinois, where people are like, hey, we decided we want to see antman

and quantum mania? >> it plays out terribly for him. when you spend more time going after mickey mouse than mass shootings, there's a problem, a complete disconnect with where real people and parents are at. when you spend more time banning books and inventing scare tactics to try to justify what is an outright white nationalist racist agenda, you're alienating a large swath of the agenda. you're unelectable outside of your bubble. with the veneer of fox news being pierced, with the revelations about what they really think about what's going on in the country and how different that is to what they present publicly, any time they have to go outside of that world, it's not good. they fold and don't know how to talk about things beyond that world. ron desantis will go on a debate stage one day and you'll see him vulnerable, tripping over himself, not able to put together a comprehensive thought. >> apparently, it's arsmall

media world after all in the right wing. kurt bardella and barbara mcquade, thank you for joining us tonight. still ahead, a high stakes primary in wisconsin today as voters choose a swing seat on the state supreme court with reproductive and voting rights at stake. we'll be right back on "the reidout." ears old this year and counting. i'm bill lockwood, current caretaker and owner. when covid hit, we had some challenges like a lot of businesses did. i heard about the payroll tax refund, it allowed us to keep the amount of people that we needed and the people that have been here taking care of us. see if your business may qualify. go to getrefunds.com. i'm managing my high blood pressure, but i'm still a target for chronic kidney disease. and my type 2 diabetes means i'm also a target. we are targets too. millions have chronic kidney disease

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their ballots right now as we speak in what is potentially the most consequential election of 2023, and it's only february. one you probably haven't hurt of. it's the primary for an open seat on the state supreme court. typically, this type of race wouldn't garner much attention, but in this case, the race between two conservative and two liberal candidates is a chance for progressives to flip the balance of power in a 4-3 conservative court. the top two finishers will advance to april and those results could have local and national implications for this crucial swing state. and idealogically liberal wisconsin supreme court would revisit conservative wins that blocked the use of ballot drop boxes and gerrymanders legislative maps that heavily favor conservatives and the court is set to hear a lawsuit that could throw out the state's 1849, not 19, 1849 law banning abortion in nearly all cases. you can understand why millions of dollars have been pouring into this election.

it's expected to be the most expensive election for a single supreme court seat in u.s. history. republicans need to spend big to get out the vote when their biggest issue, overturning roe v. wade, has already been achieved. joining me now is someone who knows wisconsin better than most people, charlie sykes, editor at large of the bulwark and an msnbc contributor. probably the most prominent political voice out of wisconsin outside of aaron rodgers. i got to ask you, when i think of this race, you know, just on the ground, right, i have lived in states where people were really passionate about a senate race, people were really passionate about a governor's race. how excited are people on the ground for a state supreme court race? like, are people really ginned up about this? or is it something that the media is pay attention to because of the national implications? >> no, first of all, the stakes are not overhyped. everything is at stake with this election. and so this is my mailbox in the

last couple days. everything that -- my mailbox is filled with campaign literature for the candidates for supreme court. you can't turn on television without being inundated. social media is absolutely filled with it. look, i have been covering these races for more than 30 years. i have never seen anything quite like this, including the way that this has been nationalized. and the way that you have democrats and progressive groups who i think have downplayed these races in the past, but they are focused on this because the stakes in wisconsin are so clear. it is a 4-3 conservative majority that has made it very, very clear that they would be prepared to restrict access to voting booths, who knows what else they might do. abortion is on the ballot. they will revisit scott walker's act ten. there are so many issues that are out there. tonight's race is officially, as you know, jason, nonpartisan.

there is nothing nonpartisan about it. the literature that i'm holding up here is nakedly political. you have the two conservatives fighting against one another rather bitterly are vying with one another and saying exactly how they would rule on abortion, exactly what they would do on these various issues. so so much for the independent judiciary, but it's going to be very interesting to see who emerges from tonight's primary. >> so charlie, that's one thing that sort of gets me. it's the larger sort of philosophical question at play here. you have a situation where the major -- one of the most important driving issues for conservatives in america over the last 40-something, 50 years was abortion. we have got to end the mass killing -- all the abortion rhetoric. you raise money, you got out the vote, et cetera, et cetera. is it harder to galvanize republican voters and conservative voters now when the battle has kind of been won. it seems to me it would be

easier to sort of galvanize liberal voters and pro-choice voters who are afraid of something being taken than conservative voters who feel like we have the highest court in the land on our side? >> two things there. the more progressive voters do seem more galvanized this year than i have ever seen them before in one of these races. and secondly, while there are two progressives on the ballot, it has not been a contentious primary. however, there's real division among the conservative candidates. this is a bitter civil war. they have decided that this would be the moment to have a food fight. so in the past, you would have the right reasonably this has been a very bitter primary. it reminds me of the primary for governor here last year. everybody thought the republicans were going to win the governorship. they had a bitter primary, and as a result they lost it.

so i think that is a part of the storyline as well. the conservative crap cup. because a lot of this literature is conservatives attacking other conservatives. you have one of the candidates who is saying that he is not pledging to support the other one. nothing like this is happening now with a progressive candidate. we will see whether or not they are going to be able to come out of this primary and put things back together. because they only have until able to do that. so this is one of the reasons why the progressives have been so optimistic about this. they have the money, they have the momentum, they have the motivation, and they are sitting back and watching conservatives taking shots at one another, very much a circular firing squad was a lot of personal bitterness. >> in the milwaukee journal sentinel, supreme court sentinel daniel kelly was played hundred $20,000 by republicans to work on election integrity. where does, really quick, where does the role of the 2020 election come into play?

do you still have republican saying, hey look, i will support anything that doesn't have trumpeted? where is that playing out in this race right now? >> this is very divisive. that story just broke in the last couple of days. if dan kelly, who has been supreme court justice in the past, was defeated for reelection, so he's already lost a statewide vote, if he wins the primary tonight, i think he will be very vulnerable, particularly because of the role he played an election denialism, taking the $120,000 in his role with the fake electors. so that is going to be a huge issue in the general election if he survives the primary tonight. >> charlie sykes, thank you so much for joining us from wisconsin. appreciate it. up next, the head of the epa makes another visit to the scene of that toxic train derailment in ohio, with a solemn promise of concerned residents. more next, on the readout. more next, on the readout.

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clear. norfolk southern will pay for cleaning up the mess that they created and the trauma that they inflicted on this community and impacted beaver county residents. today i am announcing that epa's order earning norfolk southern to conduct all necessary actions associated with the cleanup from the east palestine train derailment. >> if he administrator michael

michael regan was back in east palestine ohio today, demanding that the rail company, norfolk southern, pay out and play pay for a complete cleanup. along with ohio governor mike dewine even drink the tap water in an attempt to show the residents will stay for safe. but most of the community are still wary as most are reporting health problems. the state opening new health clinic today dress those concerns. ron allen isn't east palestine. ron, what does it look like on the ground? >> well, jason, that clinic just open today, and it's one of the steps that the officials here have taken to try and reassure the public. or feel persistent reports that people experiencing health problems like coughing and irritated eyes and so forth. they're not just worried about health problems now, but in the future. what could happen here once everyone leaves? a lot of concerns about that. that's where that clinic is. their other than that, the epa chief here today was here to

basically try to turn up the pressure on norfolk southern, the train operators, who ordered them, using the powers of the epa, the legal authority of the epa to tell this company that they have to clean up this site, to run a detailed plan of how they are going to do it and to pay for it. the epa has the authority to step evading the process is not going well, do it themselves, or with contractors, or whoever, and then build norfolk southern as much as three times the cost of this cleanup. so it's unclear how this process is going to play out. the epa is also trying to reassure residents that they are going to stay on top of the train operator, because there is still a lot of concern here in this town that once the attention dies down a bit train operator, norfolk southern, we'll leave town as. we'll keep trying to say that they're going to accept the responsibility, that they have accepted their responsibility, that they're doing their job, they'll be here through the cleanup. they say for example how they

have invested in six and a half million dollars in assistance so far, and that's going to continue, they say. but the bottom line is that there are huge issues of trust here, mistrust, distrust. residents don't trust the testing which officials say is going to go on indefinitely, they don't trust the train operators to clean up this disaster, and so all of this is going to take some time to play out. meanwhile the residents are hoping that their town, essentially, survives, comes back, because there's a lot of feeling right now, a lot of dread about the future might bring here despite reassurances from a lot of officials. >> nbc's ron allen in east palestine, ohio, thank you. that's tonight's read out. this starts with ali velshi, live from the ukraine. >> good to see you my friend. you have a great evening. >> good evening to all of a view from kyiv. i'm ali velshi in for chris hayes. yesterday we