good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm josé diaz-balart. coming up this hour, severe weather blasting large parts of the country. >> hello? everybody okay? you in there? >> new video this morning of the aftermath of damaging tornados that tore through the plains overnight. at the same time, california's reeling from being hit with historic snow and rain forcing water rescue. now almost 250,000 people are without power all over the nation. in south carolina, the defense continues its

questioning today in the aleck murdaugh double murder trial, and closing arguments could come within days. we're learning more about what the feds are now doing to help the people of east palestine, ohio, the scene of that toxic train derailment, and now health concerns are spreading beyond ohio. we'll explain. plus, the department of energy says it found the likely source of the covid outbreak, but the intelligence community still doesn't agree about the origins of covid. and new reporting this morning on how child migrants are being dangerously exploited working brutal jobs in factories that made products we use every day. we'll talk to the journalist behind this "new york times" investigation. ♪♪ this morning 56 million americans remain under winter storm alerts as huge parts of the country are recovering from a weekend of extreme weather. right now tens of thousands are

still in the dark after a string of storms caused destruction in the heartland with nine tornados touching down in oklahoma and texas. officials say they're still working to assess the full scope of the damage after the storms tossed cars off the road and decimated entire homes. out west, a powerful cold front dumped snow in california and drenched the los angeles area with severe flooding forcing crews to search for stranded residents. here you can see a rescue of a swimmer being pulled out, pulling a driver out of their sunroof and hoisting her to safety. and take a look at this, just north of los angeles, an rv plunging off a cliff into the rushing waters below after the embankment simply eroded. fortunately officials said no one was hurt. joining us now is nbc news correspondent morgan chesky live

from norman, ohio. what can you tell us about the damage you're seeing there? >> reporter: yeah, the damage is extensive. a terrifying note for so many oklahomans, seven reported tornados across the state, two in texas, and you're getting a glimpse here, jose, of the damage left behind. a tree is toppled over across this entire area like match sticks, and as we walk up to what's left of this building, you can see just how powerful these winds were. jose, if they were not outright tornados, we're talking about straight-line winds topping 100 miles an hour. that alone capable of knocking down what was this horse barn here. fortunately, i spoke to the owner. they tell me no horses were injured, a small miracle as she huddled down inside a bathtub as this storm hit under cover of darkness, but jose, this was a fast moving storm. we know that people were warned with tornado warnings, and they were told sometime between 9:00

and 10:00 in the greater oklahoma city area is when this storm would roll through, and it certainly did. we heard the sirens go off. in our own hotel there were people evacuating into the basement, and i can tell you that sunlight really showing the extent of the damage. i want you to look beyond, jose, up into the trees. you can see pieces of tin roof wrapped around branchs. that's what hit last night, particularly in the southern norman area, and unfortunately, we know that at last check about 10,000 people still without power here. that number hopefully will be going down as this day goes on. you can hear probably chain saws in the background. i can tell you that recovery efforts already up and going today, but this storm that struck, obviously tornado season, people here are used to that, not typically this early in the year, and so this has been a stunning sight for so many here in this part of oklahoma, jose. >> morgan chesky, thank you very much.

right now in a south carolina courtroom, the double murder trial of alex murdaugh, the former lawyer accused of murdering his wife and son is now in its final phase. the defense is expected to call four witnesses before resting its case with closing arguments now on track for wednesday. murdaugh spent two days on the stand last week detailing his drug abuse, admitting he lied to investigators about his whereabouts the night of the murders but insisting he did not kill his wife or son. joining us now is nbc news correspondent ellison barber outside the courthouse. what are we expecting today? >> reporter: hey, jose, we're hearing from a forensic pathologist right now. the defense has said they do expect they will finish their case and wrap sometime today putting the case on track to potentially be in closing arguments by wednesday. the state has said they only have a couple additional witnesses that they plan to call as well, but the defense says they should finish by the end of

today. we are already arguably heard from the biggest witness in this case, the defendant himself. he mentioned how he took the stand towards the end of last week maintaining repeatedly his innocence saying that he did not kill maggie, he did not kill paul saying that he would never intentionally hurt either of them. he did admit to an incredibly big lie. there's been so much focus, a lot of the prosecution's case has centered around this snapchat video that was taken by paul murdaugh the night of the murders. the prosecution says it was taken just minutes before both of them stopped using their phones for good, presumably according to the prosecution and the state when the two of them were killed, the defendant admitted that it is his voice on that video. he had maintained since the beginning of this investigation to investigators, s.l.e.d. agents, his family, that he was not at the kennels prior to maggie and paul being killed. he admitted on the stand that that is his voice in the videos.

he was there that night according to the prosecution's time line, it would have been minutes before the two of them were killed, but he says that that was something that he lied about because he is a drug addict. he has an opioid addiction and he was paranoid. the question moving forward is whether or not the jury will believe that. the state tried to seize on that inconsistency, with alex murdaugh saying i have been honest and helpful in this investigation except when it relates to saying whether or not i was at the kennels that night. the prosecution immediately seized on that saying you've been helpful except for perhaps on the biggest, most important fact of all, the fact that you were there minutes before maggie and paul died. one question, one thing to watch i guess moving forward is whether or not the jury will actually take a field trip and go to moselle, the hunting lodge where these murders occurred. that was something that was discussed this morning. if that were to happen, it could add some time to the time line of when this could end.

right now what the state, what the defense has said as of this morning is they expect to be in closing arguments on wednesday. jose. >> ellison barber, thank you so much. this morning the cleanup effort continues in a small ohio community more than three weeks after a train derailed carrying toxic chemicals. officials from the cdc, fema, and the epa are in east palestine after spending the weekend carrying out health surveys, and while residents continue to express fears about the long-term impact of the chemical spill, there are now concerns being raised outside of ohio. joining us now from east palestine, ohio, is nbc's george solis. george, good morning. what exactly are those federal officials doing on the ground today? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, jose. the big news here is that federal authorities gave the train operator the green light to begin the disposal of hazardous material from the derailment site. they had to put a pause on that. they really wanted to take a

better look at where this material was going. we do know that that material was heading to two sites in michigan and one in texas. officials there are saying they felt they were blind sided by some of this contaminated water and soil heading to their facilities there in town. mind you, the epa has said repeatedly these were vetted sites regardless. officials said we found out through news reports officials were coming to town. the epa said we're going to stop this until we find other places to do that. yesterday they came out and said we did find that right here in the state. some of this hazardous material. some of this water and soil is going to two locations here in the state. one of them in east liverpool, ohio, the other in victory, ohio, where they will be able to vet this material and dispose of it. three weeks out from the derailment, and residents here are still just as angry saying we're all for these surveys, these clinics they're offering, but we really want

accountability and we still want an explanation for some of the symptoms we're feeling. i spoke with one resident. take a listen to what she told me. >> we live 2 1/4 miles away from it, and we had eyes burning. i couldn't stop sneezing for a half an hour. my mom's been still dealing with it with migraine headaches and everything. >> reporter: yeah, the concern still very real. so what else is happening at the site? well, the ohio epa says they're now installing water monitoring wells so they can keep tabs and really test to see if there's any contamination at the derailment site. officials also saying they will hold daily press briefings to keep residents up to date. jose. >> george solis, i thank you so much. up next, new reporting on florida governor ron desantis. he says he is not running for president, but it sure looks like it. we'll explain. plus, the u.s. is now accusing china of planning to provide munitions to russia for its war against ukraine.

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14 past the hour, the 2024 presidential campaign appears to be coming into sharper focus on both sides. first lady jill biden gave one of the clearest indications yet her husband will run for a second term. she told the "associated press" there's pretty much nothing left to do but figure out a time and a place for the announcement. >> he says he's not done. he's not finished what he started, and that's what's important, and i think look at all that joe has done, has accomplished. i mean, he brought us out of the chaos. >> this comes as there are new indications florida governor ron desantis may be moving closer to a presidential bid, even though he insists he is focused on

governing the sunshine state. with us to talk more about this, alley visit -- ali vitali. you've been reporting, there's new reporting on how governor desantis's presidential campaign is starting to emerge from the shadows? >> reporter: we're very clearly in shadow campaign period, and basically the thing that we're talking about there is people putting money and infrastructure together to be able to run for president. and so that end, we had desantis huddling with almost 200 of his closest friends and donors this weekend in palm beach talking to them about what he's been doing in the state of florida and how conservatives and republicans can replicate that across the country, and it comes, of course, as my colleagues john allen and natasha kareki and i report, as he's starting on this book tour, a typical telltale sign of someone trying to take their presidential aspirations to the next level. he's been out on the road more,

will continue to be out on the road in the coming weeks. it does still come as he's focused on what's happening in florida. that legislative session starts in march. the reason that's so important, jose, is because advisers and people close to him say what he's doing in florida is directly informative and will be a direct example if he takes these aspirations nationally and runs for president we've seen him say before on the road and even when he won his re-election for governor that florida is a place where woke goes to die and that his policies directly inform that sentiment and the way that it's playing out in a state that was previously purple and now is pretty solidly red. and that's why he's trying to take this as he goes from city to state party across the south and in places like new york and chicago in recent days just trying to get the message out there even though officially he's not making any announcements yet. >> yet is the big keyword there. victoria, jill biden essentially says her husband is running.

there are still some concerns, some people are concerned about his age. is there anything that he will need to be doing going forward before that announcement, which is expected now? >> jose, in hearing those words from dr. jill biden, that was about as clear a message as i could see in materials of not just the first lady, but a woman that we know that throughout the decades has not just been president biden's spouse but a close friend and adviser. and so if dr. jill biden has given the green light for the second term, if i am a betting woman, it's happening, and i think that those concerns in terms of age, they're always going to be there. they were there when president biden ran for the first term. the only thing that is going to put those to rest are results, right? and pointing to the economy, pointing to the advancements that this country has made in

terms of covid, employment, economic recovery in the last several years. if things don't go as planned in terms of getting past that inflation corner, that's where age becomes more relevant again. when things are going in the right direction, age falls into the background as we've seen throughout the course of this first term. so all signs point to a second run for joe biden. the only thing that's left is an official announcement, but to me that was pretty darn official. >> pretty clear indeed. ali, last week you were in arizona. you've been traveling a lot recently, for a house judiciary committee hearing on the humanitarian crisis at the southern border. you had the opportunity to speak with committee chair jim jordan and there was an interesting kind of exchange there. what did he tell you? >> an interesting exchange and not necessarily one that the biden administration is welcoming, especially because it comes as democratic lawmakers and immigration advocacy groups have slammed recent restrictions

that the biden administration announced and put on the ways that immigrants can seek asylum coming to this country. i asked jordan about the impact of that on numbers coming down in terms of illegal border crossings. this is part of our conversation from last week, watch. >> but when you do see that numbers are coming down when there's caps being put in place and further restrictions being put in place, that is a positive sign. >> it's a small step in the right direction. god bless him for finally doing something worthwhile, for two years they intentionally did things that made it the terrible situation we have. >> it's reluctant praise and probably doesn't change the landscape in congress from the perspective of what house republicans are going to try to do as they make immigration and a focus on the border one of the crowning achievements of this majority, focuses of this house majority. they still and at various points in that conversation as i was talking to jordan are likely to push against people like dhs secretary alejandro mayorkas.

i asked jim jordan there if he thought that mayorkas should be impeached. he said that certainly some of the things he's done would warrant that, but didn't full throatedly say they should move immediately to impeach mayorkas. as someone who's watching what happens in congress here very closely, that's likely one of the things that this house majority is working up to in the coming weeks and months as they continue to flex the power of just being in the majority period. >> ali vitali and victoria defrancesco soto, thank you for being with us this morning. dozens are dead after a wooden boat packed with some 200 migrants crashed just off italy's coast. we'll bring you a live report. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports." ort. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports. ivate 5g ne. so you can do more than connect your business, you can make it even smarter. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going. (dock worker) right on time. (vo) robots can predict breakdowns and order their own replacement parts. (foreman) nice work. (vo) and retailers can get ahead of the fashion trend of the day with a new line tomorrow.

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of interagency disagreements about covid's origins. china says the u.s. should stop hyping the lab leak theory and politicizing the origins of covid. alaska republican senator dan sullivan said this yesterday. >> well, i think we need to have public hearings on this and really dig into it. think about what just happened over the last three years, one of the biggest pandemics in a century, a lot of evidence that it's coming from the chinese. this is a country that has no problem coming out and lying to the world. we just saw that with this chinese spy balloon. >> joining us now is nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken delaney. good morning. there are some disagreements between some agencies on this. >> that's right, jose, good morning. in fact, there are stark disagreements, but more than that there's just a lack of good information here. that's the real problem. you've got the energy department now weighing in with this low confidence assessment. that means that there's significant questions about the credibility of the intelligence or the sources.

one other agencies the fbi has assessed with moderate confidence that the coronavirus may have come from a lab leak, four other intelligence agencies have assessed with low confidence that it actually rose in nature. you have two plausible theories. there was the wuhan substitute of virology, a lab working on bat coronaviruses where this pandemic originated, one of three in the world doing this kind of research, and you also had a wet market where exotic animals were being sold and where there was a potential outbreak. both scenarios naturally occurring virus transmitting through animals or a lab accident are plausible, and there is evidence to support both. one thing that's significant, jose, is three years later scientists still have not identified an animal host that transmitted the virus to humans. that's something the lab leak proponents point out as a question mark. what my sources tell me is unfortunately we may never know the answer to this because the chinese have done a very successful job of covering up

with what happened immediately afterwards at that lab. and also around the animal market, so there just isn't clear cut evidence either way, jose. >> ken dilanian, i thank you so very much. good to see you. turning now to headlines beyond our borders, the "associated press" reports that israel has sent hundreds of more troops to the west bank after a palestinian gunman killed two israeli brothers and israeli settlers, and then attacked and set fire to the homes and cars of palestinians. palestinian media reports around 30 homes and cars were torched. let's go to mexico, more than 100 cities across that country, tens of thousands took to the streets on sunday protesting changes to election laws by president andreas lopez obrador that they say threatened democracy in mexico. it included training for polling stations and reducing penalties for candidates who fail to report campaign spending.

off the coast of italy, the bodies of 62 people including 14 children were recovered after their wooden boat crashed into a rocky reef and broke apart. joining us from rome is claudio lavanga. what more can you tell us about this horrible tragedy? >> reporter: good morning, jose. the authorities are saying that that wooden boat was carrying more than 120, even 150 igrants from different places in afghanistan, pakistan, iran, other countries in that region. the boat left turkey five days ago to undertake that treacherous journey across the mediterranean in an attempt to reach the shores of italy and europe. as a consequence, on saturday it was spotted by a plane run by the european union border agency, and patrol boats were sent over to check it out but

they had to go back to the ports because of the rough sea conditions. at long last it did manage to reach the coast, the shores of italy in the early hours of sunday morning. unfortunately because of the rough sea conditions, it crashed against the rocks just feet away from the shores. the coast guard arrived a few hours later, and they saved about 80 people, most of whom managed to swim ashore, but unfortunately now more than 60 are confirmed dead and the interior minister this mortgage said at least 30 more migrants are still missing. the death toll unfortunately, jose, is bound to rise. >> thank you chblts we have breaking news out of ukraine. the treasury department has just confirmed that treasury secretary janet yellen is in kyiv to emphasize that the u.s. will continue economic support for ukraine. secretary yellen's unannounced visit comes one week after president biden made his first visit to ukraine after the war.

this morning chinese officials are accusing the u.s. of disinformation over new concerns that china may provide weapons and ammunition to russia. china's accusation comes as new u.s. intelligence suggests china is considering providing artillery and ammunition to russia according to three u.s. officials familiar with the matter. if china was to do this, it would join iran and north korea in supplying weapons to russia. national security adviser jake sullivan said this about what it would mean if china was to give artillery and ammunition to russia. >> i think it would alienate them from a number of countries in the world including our european allies, and it would put them four square into the center of responsibility for the kinds of war crimes and bombardments of civilians and atrocities that the russians are committing in ukraine. joining us now nbc's erin mclaughlin in kyiv.

what was the latest on the ground there today? >> hey, jose. overnight there was a barrage of drone attacks across ukraine killing at least two people in the western part of the country. that according to ukrainian officials, they were able to actually shoot down 11 of those 14 iranian made drones. also today, all eyes on the russian occupied port city of mariupol. according to the british ministry of defense, there were a series of explosions there, 14, at least 14 to be exact in the last six days targeting russian fuel depots, the steel works plant that they believe is being used as a russian military base, and warehouses. this is significant because mariupol was previously thought to be out of the reach of ukrainian forces, british mod tweeting, quote, russia will likely be concerned that unexplained explosions are

occurring in a zone it had probably previously assessed beyond the range of routine ukrainian strike capabilities. i was just speaking to a spokesperson for the ukrainian defense forces, and he was telling me that those explosions were the result of a highly coordinated effort on the part of the ukrainian military coupling on the ground informants and ukrainian drone strikes. he said that they were able to debilitate a number of key warehouses and other infrastructure that russian forces are to rely on, they use, he said, mariupol now that they have lost kherson, the port city of mariupol to launch their attacks, and he believes that this effort helped to prevent attacks by russians that they had previously planned for the anniversary time period. he says he believes that their activity saved an unknown amount of ukrainian lives as a result.

jose. >> erin mclaughlin in kyiv, thank you so very much. joining us now is richard has, president of the counsel on foreign relations and author of the bill of obligations, the ten habits of good citizens. it's good seeing you. i want to get your thoughts on this whole idea of possibility that beijing is considering providing ammunition to russia. is that something that you think that is in their possible scenarios? >> for sure. to some extent it could be disguised, dual use technologies that could go into certain equipment. but look, xi jinping a year ago signed a no limits agreement with vladimir putin. china clearly doesn't want their associate there to lose. you could probably make the argument, jose that china doesn't mind the fact that this is a long war, which is reducing american stockpiles of equipment and ammunition. sure, i don't rule it out by any means that china will increase

the help it's already giving to russia. >> there have been all these drone attacks inside ukraine, russia has been carrying them out using iranian made drones. i'm just wondering are there red lines or are there some just lines that the biden administration would say to china. look, this is as far as you can go in helping russia. >> the answer is yes, we've done that, and the question then is how does china take those threats? china may say, look, this relationship is in terrible shape. if we show some restraint, will we really benefit from it? there seems to be almost a competition between republicans and democrats on who can be tougher on china. china may also say the europeans and others need them too much economically to introduce severe sanctions. i think this is going to be very interesting the way it plays out. but i don't assume, if you will, that we have either incentives or threats we can aim china's

way that would fundamentally change their calculation. >> you know, president zelenskyy said he was willing to meet with xi jinping to discuss china's proposed 12-point peace plan for the wear. do you think that china could in any way be an honest mediator in this conflict? >> mediators don't have to be honest. you can be one-sided and be an effective mediator. the united states, for example, not to compare them. we're very close to israel, yet to the extent there have been peace agreements in the middle east, we've played an outsized role. the problem with the chai knees -- chinese plan, it does not call for the withdrawal of russian forces. it calls for an unconditional cease fire. i don't find the peace plan all that much to work with. i like the fact that the chinese came out against the use of nuclear weapons and against the targeting of nuclear power plants. >> yeah, and i'm just wond egg

what is china taking as lessons out of the russia ukraine conflict vis-a-vis taiwan? >> it's a big question. i think one is that they want to increase their nuclear weapons. the reason is they see the united states has not gotten directly involved in ukraine in large part china thinks because of the size of the russian nuclear arsenal. so china's saying to itself, well, maybe if we had a nuclear arsenal that's two or three times as large as it is now, america will hold back directly helping taiwan. they've also got to be thinking, jose, about sanctions. they've also got to be thinking about the unpredictability of war. if you're xi jinping, how much confidence do you have in your generals since none of those generals has probably never seen combat directly. i think all things being equal. this sobers china in the short run. i'm not so confident about the medium and long run. >> richard haass, it's a pleasure speaking with you.

really appreciate it. up next, an eye opening "new york times" investigation into how migrant children are working dangerous jobs here in the united states. "the times" finding that some kids are losing limbs and even their lives in this shadow work force. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. think he's posting about all that ancient roman coinage? no. he's making real-time money moves with merrill. so no matter what the market's doing, he's ready. and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief. and now get relief without a pill with tylenol dissolve packs. relief without the water. a ballet studio, an architecture firm... and homemade barbeque sauce. they're called 'small businesses.' but to the people who build them

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shirts, they bake dinner rolls sold at walmart and target. they process milk used in ben and jerry's ice cream and help debone chicken sold at whole foods. as recently as the fall middle schoolers made fruit of the loom socks in alabama. in michigan, children make auto parts used by ford and general motors. with us now pulitzer prize winning "new york times" investigative reporter hannah drier who broke the story. thank you for being with us this morning. you traveled, i know, to several states -- >> thank you for having me. >> -- and talked with more than 100 child migrant workers. what did you learn? >> i mean, really what i uncovered is a migrant child labor scandal in america. kids have been coming across the border in record numbers, more than 300,000 of these kids have come here just since biden took office, and whereas they used to mostly come and be reunited with their parents, most are now

actually going to relatives, distant relatives, sometimes even strangers, and they're ending up in these horrible situations where they're on the hook for rent, for living expenses. a lot of them are in debt to the people that they're living with, and they have to go work the most punishing jobs in the country. so i talked to like you say, more than 100 kids who are working illegally in jobs they should never have been in. i talked to them outside of meat processing plants, on the top of three-story buildings where they were doing roofing. just things that, you know, would have thought had disappeared at the turn of the last century, but what i'm finding is this is happening more and more and all signs are, you know, thousands of children, even more are going to be in this situation. >> hannah, i've got to tell you, if folks can -- if you haven't already, please look into that piece that "the new york times" -- that hannah is responsible for.

it's just heartbreaking, terrifying. there's a ledger there by a small boy who had on a notepad, you know, he wrote down some of the bills that these people were charging him. i think he was 12 years old from guatemala. you know, he owes just money and the person who's responsible for him here threatens him, like saying you mean nothing to me. be careful. hannah, these are -- you talk about 300,000 you just mentioned, i mean, the number of kids. these are kids that are supposed to -- i mean, they're not invisible. they weren't just -- they didn't come through -- the government knows they're here. how is this happening? >> i mean, you mentioned that 300,000 number. we spoke to nearly 100 people who work with these kids directly, the caseworkers who are assigned to these kids, and across the board they estimated that some 60% of those kids are probably working full-time. so i mean, the scope is

enormous. this is happening in every state. and these are not really undocumented children. they haven't come across the border and never been discovered. they've gone through a federal child welfare system, where they are processed through shelters. the government is supposed to release them only to people who will take care of them and make sure that they're not exploited, but unlike the federal foster care system, these kids are placed with adults, and then no one checks up on them again. they're sort of on their own. these adults are not their legal guardians. they're people who are sponsoring them. one things advocates say it could make a huge amount of difference to just have a social worker, who could go, see where the kid actually lives, and have some adult in these kids' lives who could help them. >> this is just terrifying, what you uncovered about working 12, 14, 16 hours. we showed the picture of the three little boys that died, were injured and died, one of them fell from a roof in

construction. there you see them. take a look at these faces. and so -- and hannah, so this is, you know, exploitation but who knows what some of these people are subjecting children to. you know, by the thousands in our country. >> oh, absolutely. and child labor laws exist for ran. they were put in place to protect workers' physical safety, and everybody knows that children are much more likely to get injured than adults. that's why they're not allowed legally to be in roofing or processing or manufacturing. but what we found is that kids are getting terribly injured. their legs are getting ripped off in chicken processing plants. they're shattering their backs falling from roofs. we've found at least 12 cases recently in which these kids have been killed. even when they're not physically injured, they're threatened. i talked to one boy who had been

forced to sleep in a basement. it's just appalling conditions. >> and these are -- as you say, these are kids that went through the process. imagine that. hannah drier, i thank you so much for being with us. i can't thank you enough for what you uncovered in this important investigation. >> thank you. up next, more important economic data has just been released giving us a glimpse into the economy. we're going to break down the latest numbers for you. plus, we'll talk to a ukrainian family who fled the war last year, settled in florida and what their life has been like now. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports." diaz-balart reports.

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say past 51 past the hour. a story of one of the ukrainian families that has fled the war. more than 271,000 refugees have been admitted to the u.s. the last year, we have been in contact with vena and her family, who are building a new life here in south florida. when russia invaded ukraine last year, she knew her life was going to change drastically. she and her family were among the millions of ukrainians who left everything at the start of the war. her husband stayed behind because most men were banned from leaving ukraine. she and her children, max, lisa, and mia, who were then just 9, 7, and 3, crammed on to a train to poland then flew to south

florida on a tourist visa. we spoke with her three weeks after they arrived in miami. >> they think they're on vacation. they know russia attacked ukraine. they heard bombs. >> the bombs have not stopped so they have stayed. we visited them in their new home in cooper city, florida. >> i'm on hold. just need to live your life, pretend that it is okay because of your family, your kids. i don't want to think about how it's difficult. i want to think about what i need to do else to make my life easier and for the kids, the better. the kids, though, they show me how to live here, i think, because they are so great here. this is like, they was born here. >> lisa and max show us with pride the medals they have earned in their new home.

lisa loves synchronized saleswomening so much, she's considering become a teacher when she grows up. tell me your favorite part about hockey? >> games. winning games. >> she says so many people here have opened their arms and their hearts to them. >> i did not expect that someone would be so generous. >> both of her oldest children tell me they want to stay in the u.s. >> i like america. it's hot and there's a lot of people. >> we learn a lot of things in the school so that's why i love this place. >> the united states is really in many ways for you, become your present and your future? >> i think, yes. because of the kids. i hope they will be happy. for me, just happiness for them, as much russia trying to kill us, try to destroy, it's make us

more stronger. >> and they are stronger. and she's so thankful for the help they've received here in the united states including from the family that hosted them when they arrived with nothing but a few suitcases. the university of alabama someone of the top basketball teams in the country, but off the court, it's feeling the heat after investigators say the team's star freshman and top nba prospect, supplied a gun used in a murder. stephanie gosk has the details. >> miller to the rim. miller with the left hand! >> reporter: the university of alabama is having a huge season led by star freshman, brandon miller, but instead of celebrating, the school is facing increasing pressure to take miller off the court. investigators say in january, miller brought a handgun to former teammate, damian miles, before it was used to murder a

23-year-old mother. miller's attorney says he was asked to return the gun and that he never touched it, was not involved in its exchange to mr. davis in any way and never knew that illegal activity involving the gun would occur. miles was kicked off the team and is now charged with capital murder along with another man, michael davis, who allegedly pulled the trigger. miller has not been charged with a crime and has continued to play basketball. >> law enforcement must have been really convinced of miller's lack of knowledge or intent to not charge him. >> reporter: but harris' parents say miller shouldn't be allowed to play. in an interview with "usa today," harris' mother called the decision unimaginable. >> she has a 5-year-old son still waiting on his mom to come home. >> reporter: but the match-up on saturday against arkansas, they received a mock pat down.

alabama's coach says they've been doing that all year. >> regardless, it's not appropriate. it's been addressed and it will not happen again. >> reporter: march madness is set to tip off in just over two weeks anned the university of alabama could be the tournament's top seed. >> unless there are criminal charges and new revelations, they are going to stay the course. this is their best player. the highest scoring freshman in college basketball. >> stephanie gosk, i thank you for that. that wraps up the hour for me. you can always reach me on twitter and instagram at jd balart. you can watch highlights on line. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news after a quick break. l more news after a quick break. you can make it even smarter. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going. (dock worker) right on time. (vo) robots can predict breakdowns and order their own replacement parts. (foreman) nice work. (vo) and retailers can get ahead of the fashion trend of the day with a new line tomorrow.

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