right now on a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports," live from the nato summit in lithuania, president biden meeting with nato allies at a critical moment in ukraine's counteroffensive against russia. president zelenskyy seen here moments ago has expressed frustration earlier today over nato's reluctance to officially invite ukraine to join the alliance once the war ends. will zelenskyy and joe biden face off here tomorrow? >> we agree on the language that you proposed relative to the future of ukraine being able to join nato. i still think that president putin thinks the way he succeeds is through nato. not going to do that. my one on one interview with secretary of state tony blinken. the president's wing man at the meetings here.

defending mr. biden's controversial decision to send cluster munitions to ukraine. >> the hard but necessary choice amounted to this. if we didn't do it, if we don't do it, then they will run out of ammunition. if they run outof ammunition, they will be defenseless. every ally said they understand why we're doing this, when we're doing it. my conversation this morning with nato's secretary-general, one day after he successfully worked with turkey and sweden's leader to alleviate concerns and pave the way for sweden to join nato. >> sweden will become a member of the alliance. that's good for sweden. it's good for turkey. it's good for whole of nato. with both in the alliance, the whole task of protecting the baltic area becomes so much

easier for this alliance. this is important for the whole nato, but in particular this region. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in lithuania. we begin with the scene moments ago. president zelenskyy at a concert here at nato just hours after he had expressed frustration on twitter saying, quote, it seems there is no readiness, neither to invite ukraine to nato nor to make it a member of the alliance. uncertainty is weakness, and i will openly discuss this at the summit. nbc's monica alba joins me now. that was an unexpected appear appearance by zelenskyy. >> it was. there were questions about his arrival here and exactly what he would be doing in terms of participating in the summit, given those earlier remarks and tweets and response to the

uncertainty as president zelenskyy put it. we did just see a joint communique from the leaders at nato talking about one of the main issues that president zelenskyy has been focused on, specifically when and how ukraine could potentially be invited to join the alliance. the communique is very clear that it says it will only be extending an invite to ukraine to join if allies agree and if conditions are met. this is something that the united states has been talking about for some time as a possibility, something they would like to see happen. but without being able to say for certain it can take place as the war continues, of course, to rage on in ukraine. you did see president zelenskyy there. the backdrop to this gathering from the leaders is to provide a show of support for ukraine. that comes clearly from commitments of defense spending, security agreements, and all of that. clearly, president zelenskyy

would like to see more. that will be a big part of the conversation we expect tomorrow when president biden does meet with the president of ukraine here. we did just see president biden also meeting with president erdogan of turkey here discussing the fact that sweden is now going to be allowed to go through those final steps to join nato. something that many of the leaders wanted to see but weren't sure was going to come together this week during this consequential summit here in lithuania. >> of course, here in the lithuania, the baltic countries are the most eager for ukraine to officially become members of nato. you can see the blue and yellow flags everywhere here. the show of support here was really very significant for him. >> significant and something that is clearly also top of mind in a more intense context when you think of where the war is right now and the uncertainty 500 days in with many officials wondering how this will end,

what the off ramps, what the end game could be here. certainly also, the armed rebellion in russia of the last couple of weeks, the positioning of president putin, that is also the critical context here that president zelenskyy and president biden have wanted to talk about, again, pledging no matter what happens, there will be continued support for ukraine. >> monica alba, part of our great white house team covering the nato summit and joe biden. thank you so much. president biden is wrapping up that meeting with turkey's president erdogan, one day after turkey yielded to pressure from all sides to stop blocking sweden from becoming a nato member. that's where i began my conversation with tony blinken ahead of his meetings at the north atlantic council. mr. secretary, thank you very much for doing this. turkey has relented. president erdogan has agreed that sweden can join nato.

how many f-16s is he going to get for that? >> first, andrea, we are here in lithuania. we have an appliance stronger and bigger, two new members, sweden after finland. it's more united than it has ever been. i think you will see that not only reflected in turkey's decision to move forward with sweden, but everything else that's going to flow from the summit. >> do you think now you can overcome resistance in both political parties in congress to the f-16 sales to turkey. >> these for us have always been separate issues. the track of getting sweden into nato, now moving forward with turkey's agreement to move forward. it's been a policy of this administration that turkey should have the upgraded f-16s. they are a nato ally. make sure all of nato can work together. it's important that turkey have this technology. >> now you think congress should

approve it? >> i'm not going to speak for members of congress. it's in the interest of the united states. it's in the interest of the nato alliance for turkey to get these planes. it's what we do across the alliance. make sure that all of its members have the technology they need to make the alliance as strong as possible. >> you have talked about nato's unity. there is disagreement over the cluster munitions, clearly. more than 100 nations have banned them. we knew that this counteroffensive was coming. by many reports, it's bogged down. it's difficult. the russians are dug in. why didn't we earlier supply enough conventional munitions so that they would have enough ammunition without resorting to these deadly weapons? >> andrea, there comes down to a simple proposition. every step along the way we worked to make sure ukraine has what it needs whether it needs it to deal with the russian aggression and to pursue the counteroffensive to retake territory. what's happened is this.

this is why the decision on the cluster munitions. the stockpiles around the world and in ukraine of the munitions were running low. about to be depleted. the hard but necessary choice amounted to this. if we didn't do it, we don't do it, then they will run out of ammunition. if they run out of ammunition, they will be defenseless. we have been working hard to make sure the productive of the munitions is ramped up. the cluster munitions fill the gap. it's something that is in this case is ukraine using the munitions in defense of its own territory, its own people, on its own territory. they will use them carefully, very deliberately. it's very different than using these munitions for a war of aggression which russia has been doing from day one, using cluster munitions against ukraine from the start of the

war. >> we are still seeing the results, deadly results of the munitions used in southeast asia during our war there. all those years -- decades ago. this is going to last forever now for the ukrainian people. >> russia has been using them from day one. this is something is that going to be an absolute requirement when the russian aggression ends, that's de-mining, clearing things up. that's the case because of the russian use of the munitions. it comes down to a basic proposition. in the absence of giving them the munitions, to make sure there's not a gap between whether their inventories of the existing munitions run and out when new munitions come online, this is what needed to be done. the president said, a hard but necessary decision. >> the uk is against it, france, germany. >> every ally i talked to said they understand why we're doing this when we're doing it. >> let me ask you about the war

itself. is this becoming a frozen conflict? the president said it was a difficult decision, but we're at a critical point. it's getting bogged down. are you concerned that this is going to be an endless war? >> no. what we're seeing still is relatively early days in this count er counteroffensive. this is something we said was going to play out over a matter of months. we see the ukrainians moving on various lines in the south, in the east. that continued. we have spent a lot of time making sure they had in hand what they need to do well in the counteroffensive. we expect them to do so. >> do you think that the pressure for a negotiated solution is going to increase both at home politically as an election year in the u.s. as well as in europe as it gets dragged on? >> no one wants this war to end sooner than the ukrainians.

they have been on the receiving end of russia's aggression. they have to decide when they are at a point when it can end and in a way that's just and durable. it's in ukraine's interest. it's in the interest of countries around the world that this ends just, that reflects the basic principles of the u.n. charter. we want to make sure it ends in a durable way so russia doesn't repeat everything it has done a year later. this is still going to play out. ukraine is still in the first phase of the counteroffensive. let's see where it goes. >> vladimir putin has met with prigozhin. are you surprised that he met with prigozhin? >> you know, watching this truly extraordinary thing, as i said before, we were at a place 16 months ago where russia was on the doorsteps of kyiv. now just a couple of weeks ago,

mercenaries of putin's own making were on the doorsteps of moscow. the fact that putin met with prigozhin -- it's an intern matter. putin is trying to work through something. this is a direct challenge to his authority, to the basic premises of the war he laid out. i don't think we have seen the last of it. >> the fact that they have met and that prigozhin presumably has survived that, does that indicate something about putin's weakness? that he needs prigozhin, needs the wagner group to be incorporated into the russian military? >> it's not something i can speculate on. we know this. for years, putin denied any knowledge of wagner having anything to do with it. then he said, yeah, wagner works for us. of course, not just in ukraine but in syria, in country after country in africa. everywhere wagner has gone we have seen death, destruction,

exploitation. across the board. it has been a potent force for russia in ukraine. exactly what happens, where it goes, whether it continues to operate alongside russian military in ukraine, that's an open question. >> let me ask you about china. you are heading to asia after nato. are you going to meet with your chinese counterparts? >> nothing on the books. we have meetings with a number of countries at asean. we had secretary of yellen in china. we talked to each other there. i think it's important that our two countries are talking, that we are engaged at high levels, that we have re-established lines of communication. just to make sure that we're not -- we fully understand each other, that we are very clear about our differences, that we are managing the relationship, i would expect that to continue. >> if the result is to clearly understand each other, why have they gained some economic ground by having these communications,

by having secretary yellen there, but we still do not have military to military communication with increasingly aggressive behaviors by china in the air, at sea, against our assets? >> this is one of the things that should be re-established. i think the world expects us to manage the relationship. it's clearly in the interest of both countries to avoid any kind of miscalculation, especially military. that's something we will continue to look for. we have had the ability through the lengthy discussions i had in china, secretary yellen as well, to talk extensively about the places where we have real and deep differences, to also look at areas where we might cooperate because it's in our mutual interest to do so. that's going to continue. >> with secretary kerry going next week. do you expect president xi will come to the united states, to san francisco? >> that remains to be seen. we are hosting this meeting of apec. china say member of the organization, as are we.

we will see what happens in the fall. what i said we would do in beijing, which is not only re-establish these lines of communication, but see cabinet members in the united states going to china, having our chinese counterparts come to the united states, all of that i think is important, again, to make sure we are talking, we are clear, we are clear about our differences, we are also exploring areas of cooperation. that is fundamentally an interest to the united states. it's what the world expects us to do. >> when are we going to see president biden speak to president xi? >> as you know, this goes back many years when they were both vice president. that's when they first met and had extensive conversations then. they have talked extensively. i expect in the months ahead they will talk.

>> i want to ask you about evan gershkovich and whether there's hope to get him out, at least prior to the likely conviction, since that is the road 99% of people on trial there falsely or otherwise are convicted and then sentencing. is there any way to get him out? is there a trade, anything in the works? >> there's always hope. it's something we are always exploring. my number one priority as secretary of state is to look for the security and well-being of americans abroad, particularly those like evan who are unjustly detained. it's more than 100 days. it's something we are focused on. irrespective in the overall relationship with russia, we continue to pursue getting him home. paul whelan as well who has been unjustly detained. there's hope. it's something we are working on. i don't have anything more to share at this point. it's something i'm focused on. >> are you hoping to get them both out at the same time? >> i don't want to get into details.

we want both of them home. >> as well as those americans in iran? >> wherever an american is unjustly detained, my job, my work is to try to bring them home. we have had over the course of the last 2 1/2 years some 27 americans in different parts of the world who are unjustly detained, we managed to bring them home. that work continues in iran, in russia, anywhere an american is unjustly detained. >> speaking of iran, the special envoy has had his security clearance suspended. he is being investigated by the fbi for mishandling classified documents. is this a huge setbacks in getting back on track? >> this is a personnel matter. there's only so much i can say. what i can say is i have known him for many years. he is someone who has dedicated his life, his career to serving our country. he has done so admirably. the work that we are doing on

iran, making sure it doesn't acquire a nuclear weapon, bringing home those unjustly detained, pushing back against its behavior in other areas, that continues. >> there's a hearing in washington today on the liv golf and saudi connections. do you have any problem with the amounts of money that are being thrown at sports by the saudis and now an offer by another gulf country for some of our other sports teams? >> it makes me think maybe i should have taken up golf. >> i think both of us. mr. secretary, thank you so much for your time. >> thanks very much. great to be with you. >> you too. joining me now, nbc's garrett haake, my colleague in washington. as you know, there's a bipartisan group of senators here. how is congress divided between those that think the u.s. has done too much for ukraine and those that think it is too little, too late? >> great interview there.

i will say that division has been mostly noticed on the republican side. it's a division among republicans. we are seeing it play out in real time, even this week. this morning, mitch mcconnell on the floor of the senate praising president biden for getting the cluster munitions to ukraine. saying the u.s. has to do more. the only way that we can do less in the long-term is for ukraine to win the war right now. at the same time, there's a debate on the house side with the ndaa, the authorization bill for the military coming up where you have marjorie taylor greene arguing that all the money, $300 million in that bill for ukraine needs to be stripped out completely. the u.s. needs to get out of this business of supporting ukraine. i will say interestingly, even though two sides of the republican schism line up and agree is on the idea that the nato allies need to do more. they need to hit their commitment to spend 2% of gdb on defense. perhaps that's a point that the

president can work on while he is there overseas at this summit. we will have more now coming up with your interview with the nato secretary-general. that's coming up later in the broadcast. first, here at home, the push to delay. donald trump expectedly trying to postpone his federal trial in the classified documents case until after the 2024 election. what's next when this special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" is back there 60 seconds only on msnbc. distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com i'm a bear.

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case, mr. trump's co-defendant walt nauta has succeeded in delaying a court hearing scheduled for friday, now pushed to next week, to discuss the handling of the classified documents at the center of the actual case. this comes as donald trump's legal team is asking to delay the trial until after the 2024 presidential election. joining me now is andrew weissmann. let's start on the mar-a-lago documents case. how significant are the delays that walt nauta earned and the one donald trump's attorneys are pushing for? >> as your question sort of presupposes, the four-day delay is nothing. going from friday to tuesday is not a big deal. that's one where nauta's counsel said he was on trial in d.c. on friday. so that short delay is not a big deal.

in that application, one of the things that was notable is that the government pointed out that that defense counsel, who has been on the case for some time, has been still not submitted his papers to get security clearance. that's something that the judge wanted to have happen as soon as she got the case. it will be interesting to see whether she does anything about that. the big thing is what happened last night, which was that trump and nauta, as expected, don't want any trial date set at all. if you are a defendant, that's pretty unusual to actually want a fast trial. it wasn't unexpected. their arguments are a bit specious. they say there's no way to get a fair trial and a fair jury during the election season. it's unclear why that's any better afterwards. presumably, what's going on is that trump is thinking if he is elected or another republican

sympathetic to him, there won't be a trial because it will be dismissed. that's one ground for them seeking this very, very lengthy delay without actually setting any date for the court to pick. what remains to be seen is whether the judge rules on this quickly or whether she addressed it tuesday when the parties will be in front of her. >> one of the other hats i wear around here is covering the trump campaign. it's clear how closely tide the -- tied it is tied. if you win the white house, you could make this go away. it could help donald trump on the back end. that's not necessarily the case in fulton county where state level crime would have a different outcome regardless of whether donald trump is the president or not in 2025. explain what the new grand jury

will review. how likely we will see activity in august, when they have been telegraphing for the last couple of months? >> right now, there is one state criminal case in new york. that is not subject to a federal pardon. regardless what happens at the presidential level, that case stays. the same thing as you alluded to, if georgia were to choose to bring a case, that also cannot be affected legally by a federal pardon. people may recall that there was a special grand jury in georgia. that is an investigative grand jury under georgia state law. they did not have the power to bring charges. they could recommend charges but not bring them. a necessary but not sufficient thing is for a grand jury with the power to indict to be empanelled. that's what we are seeing is that there is a grand jury being

empanelled, that is common, needed to bring a charge against the former president or anyone else. just because they empanel doesn't mean they made up their mind what to do or who would be charged or whether the grand jury could find the necessary probable cause. all signs are that this is proceeding. as you noted, garrett, willis made it clear she will make a decision one way or the other this summer and has suggested it might be in august. you and i are definitely on the watch for things coming out of georgia. >> something tells me we will talk about there again. i keep thinking about the fact willis said i think in january that charging decisions were imminent. it's a their definition of imminent and a journalist's definition are not the same.

i appreciate your analysis. a quick programming note. bob woodward joins ari tonight with exclusive never before seen portions of his many interviews with president donald trump. watch that tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. strength in numbers. the nato secretary-general speaks with andrea about the decision to move -- to admit sweden into the alliance. the question he hedged that's enraging president zelenskyy. "andrea mitchell reports" is back live from the nato summit in lithuania in a moment, only here on msnbc. for colon cancer.♪ ♪it's time to use my voice,♪ ♪i've got a choice, more than one answer.♪ ♪i sat down with my doc.♪ we had a talk. ♪knew just what to say.♪ ♪i asked for cologuard and did it my way.♪ cologuard is a one-of-a kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45 plus at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard.

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fastsigns. make your statement.

welcome back to the nato summit in lithuania where secretary-general stoltenberg is calling sweden's likely joining of nato important. what concessions has nato given or others given, the u.s. perhaps, to get erdogan -- president erdogan to agree? >> first of all, you can read everything in the statement we issued yesterday. you can just logon to nato. >> you have to give us the back story.

>> that tells actually what we have agreed. first of all, the most important message is that this summit is all historic before it started. we have now in place sweden membership. sweden will become a full-fledged member of the alliance. that's good for sweden. it's good for turkey. it's good for whole of nato. >> would you expect that turkey will get f-16s from the united states? >> that's a decision by the united states. it has been made clear by turkey they don't see a ling. we should do what we can to remove and eliminate restrictions on arms exports between allies. i welcome any dialogue between turkey and the united states on

f-16s. that's a part of the agreement we reached yesterday. >> how quickly can sweden be admitted? >> president erdogan promised yesterday to submit the papers as soon as possible to the grand national assembly. then, of course, they have to have their parliamentary process in turkey. it's not for me to go into the details about the exact time lines. >> there are so many countries, the uk, france, germany, more than 100 nations have banned their use of the cluster munitions. president biden has indicated it was a very difficult decision, and that he thought it was necessary because of the shortage of ammunition. we all knew the counteroffensive was going to begin. why haven't the countries provided enough ammunition, enough munitions, conventional

munitions so that there would be no need for these dreadful weapons? >> i think we all have to realize that this war has now become and been for many months a war of attrition. it's a battle of logistics. the need to supply with ammunition, spare parts, with fuel, with repair, with maintenance is enormous. of course, we realize that also just as a last fall we started to engage with industry from the nato side, individual allies, and slowly production is increasing, ramping up. i welcome that. the problem is that since we didn't have big enough stocks in the beginning and since production not big enough when the war started, it takes time before we have capacity in place. in the meantime, the supply of ammunition is a challenge. >> president zelenskyy acknowledged that it is very

hard going. russia's defenses are embedded. the terrain is more difficult. how critical is this counteroffensive? are you concerned that this could become a frozen conflict? >> wars are by nature unpredictable. wars tend to last longer than we expect. but our only answer is that we need to stand by ukraine for as long as it takes. step up and sustain our support to ukraine. that will be the clear message from this summit. that has been the message from nato allies and partners since the war started. the counteroffensive is extremely important. the ukrainians are gaining ground. they are pushing back the russian occupiers. but they need fierce resistance. the dug-in russian positions prepared defenses mine fields

and defenses. this is a challenge. the only answer from our side is to support ukraine. >> are you confident this summit will agree on security guarantees for ukraine post-war? >> i'm confident we will make strong and united decisions on ukraine. both to sustain and step up our support. >> joining me now is admiral james stavridis and the ambassador. wasn't to play an important question asked about ukrainian lawmakers after my conversation with the secretary-general when i called on him. >> thank you very much for all you said in support of our country. from the ground, i can tell you, millions of ukrainians are looking here for hope. we want to see the word

invitation or to invite from nato to ukraine. that will boost moral of ukrainians enormously. if this will not happen, that will be demoralizing. thank you very much. >> the answer from the secretary-general was rather ambiguous, as you could tell from his conversation with me that we played. that really frustrated zelenskyy. that was when he tweeted his concerns about them not being invited after the war. in fact, in the document -- the communique that has been issued -- it is 22 pages single-spaced, going through it, it is clear they decided to equivocate on that. they believe as president biden said, ambassador, that ukraine has not met its requirements. apart from it being the war and not wanting to get into --

getting nato involved with -- against russia in a hot war, they have not decided on the democracy and anti-corruption and other things. let me read what they said. we will continue to support and review ukraine's progress on interoperability, the military coordination, as well as additional democratic and security reforms that are required. nato foreign ministers will assess progress through the annual national program. the alliance will support ukraine in making reforms on its path toward future membership. we will extend an invitation to ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and the conditions are met. that's the frustration that ukraine has. they want an invitation now, that they are ready and waiting. the baltic states agree with them as part of the community. ambassador, that's dividing nato.

>> importantly, i think it does say that, and it starts off that paragraph that you mentioned that ukraine's place is in nato. the nato leaders have agreed on that. the question is not whether. the question is when and how. that's a complicated question. an invitation today would not solve. everyone agrees, all 31 and hopefully soon 32 members, agree that inviting -- that bringing ukraine into nato now, when there's a hot war going on in ukraine, is not possible, because it would bring nato into a war that it has tried to stay out of from day one. there is an agreement that this would happen sometime after hostilities have ended or after the war has ended. the problem is if you say that specifically, we will invite ukraine to join after the war has ended, or once conditions

allow, you give russians the ability to not end this. this is a disagreement and a dilemma about what is happening on the ground, how and when can you bring a country into nato, and this is how far the alliance, which is an alliance that works by consensus, is able to bring itself. i think we should look at this as a positive for ukraine. ukraine will be a member of nato. its place is in nato. now the question is working out the conditions on when and how that will happen and not tie it to a condition that russia has control over, which is the conduct of this war. >> it's an important point. admiral, as you saw, i spoke to the secretary-general and the secretary of state about the cluster munitions. both of them made the point that this is a critical time, and we just don't have enough conventional munitions. both said the industrial complex

is not producing enough. they have to fill the gap. you have been one of those arguing that we are too little too late, we are always behind. zelenskyy is asking for this or the other, the f-16s and by the time we decide we are ready to produce them and deliver them, it's already late in terms of the battlefield. >> this is an example of those challenges. of course, you heard the secretary-general articulate that clearly. it is always this way in war in that we begin -- we the democracies begin a little bit on the back foot. but we manage to get on the front foot. frankly, if you look at the big picture here, we have been ultimately making the right decisions. we sent them javelins and stingers, which were controversial at one point. imagine that. then it was the tanks.

then it was air defense systems. now it's cluster munitions. a decision that i do support for the reasons that the secretary-general outlined. a very close call, as the president said. i think the right one. the next big one is f-16s. we have authorized training. the sooner we get to that, the better. just one other point to make militarily, when ukraine comes in -- i agree with my good friend the ambassador, my wing man at four years for nato. when ukraine comes in, they will bring immense military capability into the alliance, experience, a highly motivated army. you put that alongside finland and sweden, the alliance comes out of this so much stronger politically, militarily, and even economically because our defense mechanisms will have been strengthened and tested in

this war of logistics that we will win ultimately. >> admiral, i want to end with something that's been going on back home. senator tuberville from alabama has been blocking all military promotions because of the pentagon's reproductive health policies, where they pay for people to travel if they need reproductive health, including abortion services if they are in a state that doesn't provide them. there's a confirmation hearing today for the general brown to be the next joint chiefs chairman. we don't have a senate confirm commandant. it's extraordinary he is holding them up. in terms of readiness, secretary austin made the point that families can't make decisions about whether to move their kids out of school and move on. it's morale that's at stake.

>> it's not just morale. you are right. it's fighting efficiency, it's leadership, capability. these are big organizations. they absolutely look up the chain of command to who is leading them. to not have a commandant of the marine corps in place is staggering. it's beyond extraordinary. frankly, it's outrageous. it's a failure by the legislative branch, but particularly by senator tuberville. why he is putting a hold on this in terms of the politics of the day is not related to the need for the combat capability, leadership that these individuals bring. i will close with this. to hold back someone like c.q. brown, a forward thinker in every way, we need him in there

behind mark milley. we need a new chief of naval operations. senator tuberville, lift the holds. >> thank you for that. i wanted your view on that. glad to hear it loud and clear. great to see you two together again. thank you. teeing off. one of the most shocking deals in sports history, now the focus of a congressional hearing. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" live from the nato summit in lithuania only on msnbc. icing their deli meats fresh. that's why this qb profers the new five meat beast. and this qb profers it. and if we profer it. we know you'll profer it too. are you trying to outspokesperson me? maybe. ♪ i gotta good feeling about this, yeah ♪ are you trying to ♪ i'm with it ♪ me? ♪ i gotta good feeling about this ♪ ♪ yeah, ♪ ♪ so let's get it ♪

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on capitol hill today, a hearing on the controversial of tour with saudi-backed liv golf, two former rivals. pga tour officials are defending the merger plan despite criticism from 9/11 families, concerns over saudi arabia's human rights record, and the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi. pga tour's coo was questioned by subcommittee chair richard blumenthal earlier this morning. >> we really faced a choice. one option was to continue the very expensive, disruptive and divisive litigation, and we faced a real threat that live liv golf, which is 100% financed by the kingdom of saudi arabia would become the leader of professional golf.

>> what is the amount of the saudi investment that is going to be made? >> that has not been determined yet, senator. >> has there been a discussion of what that amount would be? >> it would be -- there's been discussions it would be a significant amount. >> what are the amounts that have been discussed? >> north of 1 billion. >> there isomething that stinks about this path that you're on right now because it is a surrender. >> strong words there. joining me now my nbc news colleague capitol hill correspondent ali vitali, and andrea mitchell is back with us from the nato summit in lithuania. what were the big takeaways from this hearing, and did we learn more about the details of this potential merger itself? >> reporter: yeah, garrett, i mean, senators pointed to the details of the merger but also the things that weren't explicitly in the deal, specifically questions around how much stake saudi arabia itself would have, and whether or not the pga tour would remain in a dominant position over the saudi-backed liv goofl league.

in putting together this deal there was an addition of a pretty broad nondisparagement clause. that's something that we saw senators from both parties mention in regards to how it could impact potential players who speak out about the kinds of things that you were mentioning at the top of the segment, past human rights violations, the killing of journalist jamal ka khashoggi, how would that impact players' ability to speak out about those kinds of moments, both past and future in the cobbling together of these two leagues as one. and then of course there are the national security concerns more broadly around saudi arabia's role here. look, if you listen to the way that the pga tour's coo was talking about it, it really sounded like they feel this is the only way to have avoided the pga tour splintering overall, and instead, be able to keep it together in consolidation of the larger game of golf. >> it's very interesting. so andrea, for international

sports fans, people who have watched, you know, soccer or f1, they are used to seeing saudi money in their sport. why do you think this merger here now with american golf is being so heavily criticized? >> reporter: i think it's the money, and it's also the saudi role. look, the 9/11 families, many of them were in the hearing room today. they feel very strongly about this. they still feel that, you know of the 19 hijackers, so many were saudis, and even though the government has officially cleared saudi arabia of any involvement, direct involvement, there's also been the question of whether they had supports in the united states through saudi-backed charity, the radical religious groups in saudi arabia. saudi arabia said it's reformed all of that, and that's part of bin salman trying so hard,

garrett, as you know, to normalize relations and also normalize relations eventually, it's hoped, with israel. they're the last big holdout. they are the player in the middle east, but there are a lot of demands on all sides, and we know how much president biden was criticized for, you know, going to saudi arabia and changing what he had said to me during the presidential debate in 2015 in the primaries, they would forever be a pariah. that's changed. part of it is oil and part of it is geopolitics. we need saudi arabia in the gulf, and that is the argument from the national security team. garrett, so thanks to you, thanks to ali vitali. thanks to garrett for sitting in for me. that does it for this very special edition, it's great to be here in lithuania with the great hosts here for "andrea mitchell reports" from the nato summit. stay tuned to msnbc for any developments from the nato summit. follow us online, on facebook,

and on twitter @mitchell reports. "chris jansing reports" starts right after this. reports" stars right after this check it out, you could save $700 dollars just by switching. ooooh, i'll look into that. let me put a reminder on my phone. save $700 dollars. pick up dad from airport? ohhhhhh. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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what are you working on? a bomb. it's happening, isn't it? this is the most important thing to every happen in the history of the world! good afternoon, i'm chris jansing. good to be back with you here at msnbc headquarters in new york city, and we've got a whirlwind of news overseas including a high stakes nato summit in lithuania. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy touching down just in the last few hours after blasting the alliance over the

uncertainty of when his country might be considered for membership. in just hours after nato green lit sweden's addition to the group. that move also dealing a major blow to russian president vladimir putin after his own ally turkish president erdogan was the last domino to fall for their membership. it's being seen as a win for president biden and sending a signal to putin about his ongoing invasion of ukraine. >> adding finland and sweden to nato is consequential. i still think that president putin thinks the way he succeeds is to -- nato, not going to do that. >> president biden has a big challenge tomorrow, that's when he meets directly, directly with zelenskyy. also this hour, back here at home, delay, delay, delay. the latest bid from president trump and his legal team looking to push the date of the classified documents trial back to after t