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planning to support his confirmation, democratic senator chris murphy has a warning this is one vote you'll regret to your grave. and ending the irs, a top trump official reveals the administration's long term plans to scrap the agency and replace it with something they like to call the external revenue service. those details ahead. but we start with the us and president trump leaning hard on ukraine to sign an economic partnership as payback for u.s. military aid or risk losing u.s. support. it is the latest chapter in a remarkable pivot that has seen the president shift sharply toward russia and away from ukraine. last night, he again smeared president zelensky by falsely claiming zelenskyy started the war and then conned the u.s. into helping him. >> the only thing he was really good at was playing joe biden like a fiddle. he played him like a fiddle. that's an expression we use. yes, sir. to say that he's pretty easy.

pretty easy. a dictator without elections. zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. >> well, today, president zelensky met with u.s. special envoy keith kellogg in kyiv. although nbc news has learned a planned press conference was canceled at america's request. at the same time, the trump administration is tightening the screws on fox news this morning. national security adviser mike wallace said they're growing frustrated with the ukrainian leader and encouraged him in no uncertain terms to get on board. >> we presented the ukrainians really an incredible and historic opportunity to have the united states of america co-invest with ukraine, invest in its economy, invest in its natural resources and really become a partner in ukraine's future in a way that's sustainable, but also would be, i think, the best security guarantee they could ever hope for much more than another pallet of ammunition. they need

to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal. >> i want to bring in nbc's kelly cobiella in london. we have peter baker, of course, new york times chief white house correspondent and an msnbc political analyst. and ben rhodes was deputy national security advisor under president obama. he is also an msnbc political contributor. welcome, all of you. kelly, you first here. what do we know about this deal that the u.s. wants zelenskyy to sign? and where does it fit into the talks with keith kellogg? >> yeah. alex. so a proposal put forward last week would have the u.s. owning 50%. >> of ukraine's. >> rare earth. >> minerals. critical minerals. >> including graphite. >> uranium, titanium and lithium, a key component in electric car batteries. in exchange for continued military aid. now, president zelenskyy rejected that, saying it didn't protect ukrainian interests. the meeting today was meant to focus on a revised pact somehow. get these two sides together, find out what ukraine needs in return

for getting on board with that rare earth mineral deal. president trump, as you heard, warned the ukrainian president yesterday that he better move fast to negotiate an end to russia's invasion of ukraine, or risk not having a country to lead. vice president vance today talked about president trump's negotiating tactics. take a listen. >> it's early. and i think what president trump what makes him such an effective negotiator? i've seen this in private is that he doesn't take anything off the table. when he walks into a negotiation, he says everything is on the table. and of course, that makes the heads explode in the american media because they say, why are you talking to russia? well, how are you going to end the war unless you're talking to russia? you've got to talk to everybody involved in the fighting. if you actually want to bring the conflict to a close. and i know the president does. >> so was there any progress today? well, that news conference planned after the talks was canceled. it was supposed to include comments by

zelenskyy and kellogg, but was changed at the last minute to a photo op. ukraine's spokesperson said the change was requested by the us side. the white house hasn't commented on that. in the last few minutes, though, we did hear from president zelenskyy. he tweeted that he had a productive meeting today, a good discussion. he said there were many important details covered. he said that he was grateful to the united states for all the assistance and bipartisan support, and said it's important for us and the entire free world that america's strength is felt. he said they had a detailed conversation about the battlefield situation, how to return prisoners of war and effective security guarantees, but also said that peace is paramount, that it needs to be strong and lasting. alex. >> okay, kelly cobiella, thank you so much from london on that. so, ben, starting with you here, i want to play you a little bit of what the president said last night about this. take a listen. >> we told them that the deal is

we'll do something for the rare earth and some oil. et cetera. et cetera. and that will be all right. and they agreed to it, more or less. and then scott bessent actually went there and was treated rather rudely, because essentially they told him no. >> can you resurrect that deal? is there anything that you can. >> do to resurrect it? or, you know, we'll see what happens, but i'm going to resurrect it or things are not going to make him too happy. >> all right. so national security adviser mike wallace said this morning that the president is engaged in what he is calling hard diplomacy. is that what this is? >> no, this is just complete and utter capitulation to russian interests in ukraine. and let's take a step back here. we had the united states of america, the president, united states, call vladimir putin and essentially initiate a negotiation that excluded ukraine. so even on trump's own terms, how are you going to negotiate the end of the war, where the negotiations between

united states and russia and not ukraine itself, that was invaded, and that is one of the warring parties, never mind europe, which is providing more assistance to ukraine in total than the united states. so ukraine sees itself shut out at the table. then you have the secretary of defense a few days ago capitulating on the two biggest issues that ukraine would have to deal with at the table, which is they have to give up all their territory that russia is currently occupying. and keep in mind, that's a lot of people that live in that territory. there's been tens of thousands of children kidnaped and taken from those territories, and they wouldn't get a credible security guarantee because they removed nato as a potential security partner for ukraine going forward. in that context, trump saying, give us 50% of your mineral rights feels like two big powers, essentially dividing up ukraine and russia, getting to keep chunks of land and the united states getting to get a bunch of natural resources. and so, of course, the ukrainians are dubious about this proposal. look, if it was part of a credible commitment to ukraine

to be at the negotiating table, to have a security guarantee from the u.s. and europe, and to have an investment relationship with the united states that could help rebuild their economy, that might make sense. but i think the reason that this investment agreement is viewed so skeptically by ukraine is because of the context in which it's being offered. >> yeah. you picked up exactly what my question is, the fact that you had mike waltz talking about an investment. i'm like, i don't know if it sounds like that. exactly. peter, you wrote that by vilifying mr.er for thew to kyiv, mr. trump seems to be laying a predicate for withdrawing support for an ally under attack. can you explain that? well, sure. >> look, you know, he, in the last few days has parroted the russian talking points, right? that this is, in fact, a war started by ukraine, not by russia. he has said that zelenskyy is a dictator, even though, of course, he was elected in 2019, in a free and fair election. a landslide election has a higher approval

rating today than donald trump does. whereas it says nothing about vladimir putin, who actually is a dictator who has had only farcical elections, not really a free and fair by any stretch of the imagination. and so in order to do that, by doing that, what trump is doing is saying to at least his supporters and perhaps other americans who might be sympathetic to the view that why should we be investing in ukraine? why should we be defending ukraine? and if he were to negotiate a deal that seems favorable to russia rather than ukraine, that americans should be okay with that, because ukraine is really a villain, not a victim. >> okay, so timing of all this, ben, we can't forget it's happening before any substantive negotiations with the russians even begin, right? so if the russians don't think that the us is ultimately going to back ukraine, why would they agree to anything? >> well, that's the problem. some people might say, well, inevitably ukraine is going to have to give up some territory. and inevitably it's difficult to

consider them having a full nato membership. okay, you might get there at the end of a negotiation, but by putting that out at the beginning, by essentially saying the beginning, that you're going to agree to russia's terms to end the war, and by beginning to discuss sanctions relief, which was one of the topics that secretary rubio discussed with the foreign minister lavrov, you are skipping ahead to all the things that the russians would get at the end of a negotiation. if you're putin. why wouldn't you just say, well, look, i'm just going to hold out for some more. this guy is giving me everything. the russians didn't have to negotiate. they were given everything at the beginning of the negotiation. and if i'm putin, i've got a bit of an upper hand at the front line. the united states may not be there with further assistance. why wouldn't putin press for more? whether it's more sanctions relief, whether it's more of ukraine's territory, whether it's more of a guarantee that ukraine will be this kind of weak and divided state on the back end of the war. that's why this election idea, which is a russian idea. let's be clear. it's not the united states, it's russia that wants ukraine to an election

because they know they can't have an election. they know that millions of people are out of the country. huge swaths of the country are occupied by russia. troops are at the front line. this is a russian ploy to further destabilize ukraine. and so i think putin is going to keep pressing the envelope. peter has covered putin for many years. he's not going to take the first offer. why wouldn't he press for more. >> based on that coverage? peter, you your paper has a great story about vladimir putin's team trying to convince the trump administration that they could make millions of dollars by investing in russia. and it says, quote, in appealing to president trump, the kremlin has zeroed in on his desire to make a profit. at the same time, the russian media is celebrating trump's remarks about zelenskyy retweeting the president and asking how long can zelensky last? so what is your sense of how russia has tried to pave the way for this pivot from president trump? have they helped make it happen, or are they just the beneficiaries? >> well, let's remember, of course, there's a history here, right? that donald trump has had

this sort of affinity, let's say, for vladimir putin going back many years. the russians intervened in the 2016 election on his behalf, and he has always shown a preference for putin over even our nato allies, for whom we are treaty bound. and so the putin, a former kgb colonel, learned a long time ago how to manage his relationship with trump. it's equal parts flattery, equal parts appealing to his vanity, equal parts, you know, appealing to his desire for profit, as the story said. and he understands exactly what may motivate donald trump. he in recent weeks has talked about how trump is a strong character and how he, in fact, was cheated by by the system, the dead, you know, the deep state talked about the 2020 election. he's he's parroting trump's lines, knowing that that will appeal to trump. and he's therefore set himself up for a pretty, you

know, cordial relationship, at the very least, to listen to trump these last few days talk about the ukraine war and say not one thing about russia's culpability for it to say, not one thing about what russia has done in ukraine, but to pretend or seemingly imply that all the death and destruction was actually the fault of the ukrainians themselves is very striking. and you're right, they are celebrating in moscow right now. >> i mean, look, he can say it, but how many people believe that? i mean, we we've all watched this all unfold. so here's the big picture question, ben, do we know who's driving the talks and who is setting the terms? >> i think it's pretty clear that the russians are driving the talks and setting the terms. and let me just give you one more example. they seem to not want to negotiate with keith kellogg, the envoy, because he's taken a harder line in the past. the russians don't want him at the table. and so he's not he's at the kids table to trump. ukraine and europe are not serious players. they're not at the table between the united

states and russia. russia is setting the agenda. we're discussing you just, you know, raised the oil licensing question that is currently against the law in the united states, has sanctions making it illegal for that kind of investment in relationships to take place. so russia already has the united states negotiating about things that u.s. law currently prohibits. i mean, that's how far the pendulum has swung in the last week. and so they're this is their wildest dream in moscow to essentially have the war. potentially ending on their terms, or at least united states supporting that to have them out of from the cold of isolation. suddenly they're back meeting with the united states bilaterally. that's a signal to the rest of the world that russia is no longer isolated by, certainly the west. and they're talking about economic cooperation and bilateral cooperation in the future, as if they didn't just invade a sovereign country, kill tens of thousands of people. that's all being whitewashed before our eyes. >> yeah. sobering. all right, guys. ben rhodes, thank you so much for staying. i mean, for

the conversation. peter, you are going to stay with me. so there you have it. and for all of you there in the lower right corner of your screen, we've been keeping an eye on the white house press briefing. now you see it full there. the press secretary has been joined by the national security advisor, mike wallace. you see right there the deputy chief of staff, stephen miller, also the director of the national economic council, kevin hassett. so we're listening in the control room and we're going to bring you updates as we get them. meantime, in 90s, mitch mcconnell announces his four decades in the senate will soon come to an end. his emotional speech about the decision to not speech about the decision to not seek reelection next. i'm not a doctor. i'm not even in a doctor's office. i'm standing on the streets talking to real people about their heart. how's your heart? my heart's pretty good. you sure? i think so. how do you know? you're driving a car, you have the check engine light. but the heart doesn't have a hey, check heart sign. i want to show you something. put both fingers right on those pads. there you go. in 30 seconds we're going to have a medical-grade ekg reading.

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month. so switch to the carrier ranked number one in network coverage satisfaction. visit consumer cellular.com today. >> 16 pass with the breaking news. the longest serving senate leader in history, mitch mcconnell, has just announced he will retire next year, ending a decades long political career. >> seven times our fellow kentuckians have sent me to the senate. every day in between, i've been humbled by the trust they placed in me to do their business right here. >> nbc's julie sirkin is reporting on capitol hill and joins us now. julie, i'm curious what more the senator said. i will say what i heard there was a certain amount of emotion to it all. >> yeah, absolutely. alex. and you can imagine as somebody who, as he said, has been in the senate for seven, six year terms, announcing today in what was much not much of a surprise

to anyone really in the senate or anyone in washington, that he wouldn't seek an eighth term in 2026. today, i should add, is his 83rd birthday. he's been suffering from some health issues. most recently, of course, he suffered from a fall and we've seen him in a wheelchair ever since. but this is somebody who's taken a turn, i would say, in trying to cement a different kind of legacy. since he stepped down as the senate republican leader, and he has taken that voice as somebody who has been loud in opposing president trump's nominees. he voted against pete hegseth, tulsi gabbard. we will see what he will do later on with kash patel to head the fbi. he also will hold the purse strings, essentially the power of the purse when it comes to the pentagon. the defense department in his new role on that subcommittee. and that's important, of course, because of his views on ukraine and because of his views on foreign policy, many of which run very counter to the current administration. take a listen to a little bit more of his speech as you hear there, the full chamber applauding him. >> regardless of the political

storms that may wash over this chamber during the time i have remaining, i assure our colleagues that i will depart with great hope for the endurance, the endurance of the senate as an institution. the senate is still equipped for work of great consequence, and to the disappointment of my critics, i'm still here on the job. >> and many senate republicans today, reacting to his decision not to run again, saying that of course they do not expect mcconnell to be silent. >> yeah. and as we talk about mcconnell, who, by the way, is well known for his desire to place conservatives and has been successful in doing so in judicial positions, he voted no on three of trump's nominees. you mentioned two of them. we're about to see the final vote on kash patel as fbi director. who else are we watching to see if patel gets over the finish line?

>> well, we do expect at this point that he'll have no problem getting over the finish line because that kind of republican opposition that maybe you would have expected when trump first nominated kash patel, somebody who's certainly seen as a loyalist, as an ally, somebody who worked for him and had said things like getting rid and firing political opponents. certainly in this case, only susan collins has so far voted no in that procedural vote today, which indicates that if all the other senate republicans, or at least most of them, vote to confirm him, even with all those on the democratic side, which i should say is quite unprecedented for an fbi director, he will still sail through. mcconnell, like i mentioned, is an open question. but republicans and you can hear that in what leader thune had said earlier this morning, do support his nomination and don't take any issues with him, at least publicly. take a listen to thune and also leader durbin. excuse me. durbin, who is the top democrat on the judiciary committee here. watch this. >> i look forward to working with mr. patel to restore the integrity of the fbi and get it

focused on its critical mission. >> i'm convinced he has neither the experience, the judgment nor the temperament to lead the fbi. my senate republican colleagues are willing, willfully ignoring myriad red flags about mr. patel, especially his recurring instinct to threaten retribution against his perceived enemies. >> now, those comments from durbin came this morning, where top democrats on the judiciary committee held another press conference outside of the fbi building, trying in their very best powers to slow this nomination down. there's not much they can do. republicans have a four seat majority with jd vance able to break a tie in the senate. so by all means, kash patel has the votes. that doesn't mean the democrats didn't try to delay his confirmation process again, though. that's really all they can do. >> yeah. okay. julie sorkin, thank you so much from capitol hill. joining me right now we have democratic congresswoman madeleine dean. congresswoman, good to see you, my friend. so you were among those lawmakers

hiding from rioters in the gallery on january 6th, and now we're seeing kash patel, a longtime trump loyalist who has supported january 6th rioters right here on the cusp of being the director of the fbi for a ten year term. what kind of feelings run through your mind right now? and thoughts. >> and it also reminds me of the leaders you just showed mcconnell speaking, thune speaking. i call upon the leaders to recognize that kash patel does not have the character, the integrity, the understanding and respect for the rule of law. he doesn't have the capacity to run the fbi. let's remember what the fbi is. it is our lead law enforcement agency, 38,000 dedicated public servants who work at the fbi, whether they're agents or analysts, support staff, scientists, technicians, you name it, most of them very dedicated to protecting us against domestic terror,

international terror, protecting us against crime, violent crime, drug crime, cartels, and so much more. do you know what kash patel called the january 6th rioters political prisoners. what he has asked for is retribution, and he has called for it over and over again against. let me see here he wants to come after any anti-trump conspiracy. i suppose that might even include me, since i served on the second impeachment as one of the managers, a sad, solemn honor that i had. it's not too late, senators. it is not too late for you to stand up. join mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell, please bring with you four, five, six, ten other senators because will you sleep better tonight, senators having passed and approved this person for fbi director, i know i won't. i know my constituents won't. we want

somebody who recommends and stands by the rule of law. >> let's hope you are not just shouting into the wind on that one, but let's turn now to ukraine. and president trump's recent comments blaming ukraine. i'm just going to say that again, blaming blaming ukraine for russia's invasion and falsely labeling zelensky a dictator. and you've called this a risk to america's national security. why? >> because it simply is it. the president's statements are so extraordinarily dangerous. they are obviously so grotesquely untrue, that i think all of america has to stand up and call them for what they are. what they reveal is that president trump is quite weak, that he is in obeisance to putin. he is spouting language that putin would say, can you imagine? we're coming up february 24th. monday will be the third anniversary of this horrific set

of war crimes by russia, directly by putin against ukraine. we're 46,000 ukrainians have died, civilians have died, children have been abducted, thousands of children have been abducted into russia. and by the way, more than 800,000 russian soldiers have lost their lives. so russia is losing this war. ukraine is prevailing in a way no one expected. and you know what i think? take a look at trump's demeanor when he speaks about president zelensky. he has an anger that is very hard to understand. is he jealous of this president who has been such a hero during a war time, an ally of ours who is simply trying to protect the sovereignty of his country and their precious young democracy. i call on the president to reverse course on this language and clarify, as only an american president can do, that it is

russia who is responsible for what has happened to ukraine over the past three years, and ukraine has to be at the table to negotiate peace. this is not a prophet for president trump in terms of an economic deal. this is about the sovereignty and the democracy. i was with ukrainian americans in my district last night, a house party of 25 or more who are so gravely concerned. they are wonderful american citizens and patriots. they are gravely concerned over what this president has done. >> i'm sure they were glad to have you with them, though, in discussing all of this. congresswoman madeleine dean, we are as well. thank you so much. coming up next, an emotional scene in israel as crowds gather to mourn those four deceased hostages who were returned home. that includes a young child and a baby. we are live in tel aviv right after this. >> consumer cellular ranked number one in network coverage

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his kibbutz during the massacre. forensic testing is underway right now, in fact, to confirm their identities. let's go to nbc's. hala gorani is joining us live from tel aviv. so, hala, welcome, all of these captives released up until now were alive. this handover felt very different, in part because hamas used it as a propaganda opportunity. so how is it being received in israel? well. >> it was a macabre display in khan yunis, in gaza, with these coffins clad in black fabric, with the photos of the deceased hostages pinned to the coffins. the red cross took possession of the remains of these four hostages, three members of the family, as well as oded. they tried as well as they could. as you can see in the images there, put up some kind of screens to try to protect the privacy. but

by then the coffins had already been, had had already been exposed on this stage. now, these three members of the family have not been formally identified through forensic means yet. but we understand that oded, who was 84 years old, his remains have been identified. you mentioned he was a peace activist. he volunteered for an organization that drove palestinians in need of medical care to israeli hospitals. so he was quite involved in those types of activities. he was a retired journalist. i spoke to his daughter, sharon, last week. she said that, you know, she was holding out hope, but that because of his age and the fact that he was quite frail, she was really getting ready for the worst possible news and that worst possible news really was delivered to her and her family members today. and on saturday, six live hostages. these will be the last six live hostages of phase one will be handed over to

israeli authorities this saturday. and then that leaves us, you know, with the big open question, will we get to phase two of this cease fire agreement? >> alex hala gorani, thank you so much for the very somber report there from tel aviv. appreciate it. as promised, everyone, we have been keeping an eye on the white house press briefing. let's take a listen now to national security adviser mike waltz, who's answering a question on europe's reaction to what is happening in ukraine. and also word from president, i mean, russian president putin on this. let's take a listen. >> vladimir putin. >> well, if there's any i'll take the second question first. if there's anybody in this world that can go toe to toe with putin, that could go toe to toe with xi, that could go toe to toe with kim jong un, and we could keep going down the list. it's donald j. trump. he is the dealmaker in chief. there is no question that he is the commander in chief. and i for one, and i think all americans and around the world should have

no doubt about his ability to not only handle putin, but to handle the complexity of driving this war to an end. and then on your first piece on europe, i'll take you back to 2014. you're right. there was a lot of hand-wringing in europe and not a lot of action. there was also a lot of hand-wringing here in washington under the obama administration, and not a lot of action. they literally threw blankets at the problem. and so i'll remind everyone that putin had, you know, some type of conflict invasion issue with their neighbor under president bush, with georgia, under president obama, with ukraine, 2014, not under president trump, 45. and again with president biden in 2022, the war should have been deterred. the war should have never happened, and i have no doubt it would not have happened under president trump and will stop under president president trump again. but i just want to push back on this notion of our european allies not being consulted as

we've entered into this process. i already mentioned the immediate phone call president trump made to president zelensky. he has talked to president macron of france repeatedly. last week, president macron convened european leaders and then is coming here on monday, prime minister starmer is coming next thursday. we've also i've talked to every one of my national security, national security advisor counterparts across across the spectrum in europe. i've talked to secretary general, the leader of nato, the secretary general of nato. we have repeatedly. oh, by the way, we had half our cabinet, seven cabinet officials, including the vice president at the munich security conference, all engaging, all listening and all making sure our allies are heard. however, we've also made it clear for years, decades, even that it is unacceptable that the united states and the united states taxpayer continues

to bear the burden not only of the cost of the war in ukraine, but of the defense of europe. we fully support our nato allies. we fully support the article five commitment. but it's time for our european allies to step up. and one of the things that secretary general said on our call was this last couple of weeks have been a real wake up call. and i asked him, what have you been missing the last couple of years? the fact that we are going to enter into a nato summit this june with a third of our nato allies still not meeting the 2% minimum, a commitment they made a decade ago, literally a decade ago, with a war on their doorstep, the largest war that they're all extremely concerned about. but yet it's, well, somebody else needs to pay. we've got other domestic priorities. it's unacceptable. president trump has made that clear and the minimum needs to be met. we need to be at 100% in this june at

the nato summit. and then let's talk about exceeding it, which is what president trump has been talking about with 5% of gdp. europe needs to step up for their own defense as a partner. and we can be friends and allies and have those tough conversations. >> peter. thank you. caroline. i have a ukraine one and a doge one who can talk doge. steven. steven. all of us. well, so steven, we're hearing about these doge dividend checks. that would be 20% back to taxpayers, 20% to pay down the debt, 60% is left. who gets that? >> well, the way that it works is when you achieve savings, you can either return to the taxpayers, you can return it to our debtors, or it can be cycled into next year's budget. and then it just lowers the overall baseline for next year. so in other words, you can just transfer it into the next fiscal window and then lower the overall spending level. and that means that you can achieve a permanent savings that way. and that reduces the deficit. >> and when is it that people might see those checks? what is

it all. >> going to be worked on through the reconciliation process with congress that's going underway right now? as you've seen, the senate is moving a bill. the house is moving a bill. the president has great confidence in both chambers to deliver on his priorities. i just take this opportunity to note that president trump has made a historic commitment to the working class of this country to fight for a major tax relief and major price relief and cutting spending, as doge is doing. and cutting taxes is the key to delivering on both of those promises. and president trump is resolutely committed to doing both. >> thank you. and on ukraine, i guess this is from mike. sure. after the president's post on truth social yesterday. need to know who does he think is more responsible for the russian invasion of ukraine? putin or zelensky? >> well, look, his his goal, peter, is to bring this war to an end period. and there has been ongoing fighting on both sides. it is world war one style trench warfare. his frustration

with president zelensky is that you've heard is multifold. one, there needs to be a deep appreciation for what the american people, what the american taxpayer. what president trump did in his first term and what we've done since. so some of the rhetoric coming out of kyiv, frankly, and, and insults to president trump were unacceptable. number one. number two, our own secretary of treasury personally made the trip to offer the ukrainians what is can only be described as a historic opportunity, that is, for america to co-invest with ukraine in their minerals, in their resources to truly grow the pie. so case in point, there's a foundry that processes aluminum in ukraine. it's been damaged. it's not at its current capacity. if that is restored, it would account for america's entire imports of aluminum for an entire year. that one foundry. there are tremendous

resources there. not only is that long term security for ukraine, not only do we help them grow the pie with investments, but, you know, we do have an obligation to the american taxpayer and helping them recoup the hundreds of billions that that have occurred. so, you know, rather than enter into some constructive conversations about what that deal should be going forward. we got a lot of rhetoric in the media that was that was incredibly unfortunate. and i could just tell you, peter, you know, as a veteran, as somebody who's been in combat, this war is horrific. and i think we've lost sight of that of the literally thousands of people that are dying a day, families that are going without the next generation. and i find it kind of, you know, frankly, ridiculous. so many people in washington that were just demanding, pounding the table for a ceasefire in gaza are suddenly aghast that the

president would demand one. and both sides come to the table when it talks to when it comes to ukraine, a war that has been arguably far greater in, in, in, in scope and scale and far more dangerous in terms of global escalation to us security. >> i do have one for caroline. does president trump have a bet with trudeau about this usa canada hockey game tonight? and when there is a big hockey game on, is the president watching for the goals or for the fights? >> probably both. i think he's watching for the united states to win tonight. i know he talked to the usa hockey team this morning. he talked to the players after their morning practice around 10:00. and i also spoke to some folks from that team after they were jubilant over president trump's comments to the team. i believe they're going to put out a video of that call. so he looks forward to watching the game tonight, and we look forward to the united states beating our

soon to be 51st state canada. bloomberg. go ahead. my question is for mike. >> can you give us a readout of kellogg's meeting with zelensky that just wrapped up? and in particular, zelensky publicly rejected this deal about the rare earth minerals. where does that stand? >> well, we're going to continue to have he needs to come back to the table, and we're going to continue to have discussions about where that deal is going. again, we have an obligation to the taxpayer. i think this is an opportunity. the president thinks this is an opportunity for ukraine going forward. there can be, in my view, nothing better for ukraine's future and for their security then then to have the united states invested in their prosperity long term. and then a key piece of this is also been security guarantees. look, the reality that we're talking about here is, is it in ukraine's interest. is it in europe's interest. it certainly isn't in russia's interest or in the american people's interest for this war to grind on forever

and ever and ever. so a key part of his conversation was helping president zelensky understand this war needs to come to an end. this kind of open ended mantra that we've had under the biden administration, that's over. and i think a lot of people are having a hard time accepting that. and then the other piece is there's been discussions from prime minister starmer and also president macron about european led security guarantees. we welcome that. we've been asking europe to step up and secure its own prosperity, safety and security. so we certainly welcome that. and we certainly welcome more european assistance. as i told my counterparts come to the table with more if you want a bigger seat at the table. and we've been asking for that for quite some time. >> and if russia pushed for sanctions in your talks with them, and if you consulted with international partners and allies about potentially rolling back sanctions in these negotiations to end the. >> those the talks with, with

our russian counterparts, both with my counterpart, the national security advisor, secretary rubio's counterpart, the foreign minister, foreign minister lavrov, you know, it it really were was quite broad focused on what is the goals for our broader relationship, but very clear that the fighting has to stop to get to any of those brighter goals. and as a first step, we're just going to do some common sense things like restore the ability of both of our embassies to function. and again, you know, this is this is common sense in in foreign policy world, they call it shuttle diplomacy. we have to talk to both sides in order to get to both sides, to the table. and both sides have said only president trump could do that. >> deanna. >> hi. thank you. and my question is for michael. all right. >> the president. >> has called zelensky a dictator. does he view putin as a dictator? and does he want

zelensky out of power? i know he's called for elections. and then thirdly, the head of the defense committee in ukraine's parliament just has claimed that the u.s. has stopped selling weapons to ukraine. is that true? >> well, most of our weapons that have gone to ukraine have been part of a drawdown authority, where we've literally taken them out of our stocks and then eventually, through appropriations, started buying them again to refill our stocks. i'll, you know, just state that there has been a lag and a lot of that process. so many of our stocks, as we look at our operations around the world, are becoming more depleted. that's one of the reasons many people have had a lot of concern about. when does this end? how much is it going to take? how many lives will be lost? how much will we be? how much will we spend? as a member of congress, we repeatedly asked the administration those questions, and we never got a satisfactory answer. look, president trump is

obviously very frustrated right now with president zelensky. the fact that that he hasn't come to the table, that he hasn't been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered, i think he eventually will get to that point, and i hope so very quickly. but president trump is, as we made clear to our russian counterparts. and i want to make clear today, he's focused on stopping the fighting and moving forward. and we could argue all day long about what's happened in the past. >> reagan. >> yeah. >> all right, everyone, part of a very wide ranging press conference there that was started by caroline leavitt, the white house press secretary. but most notably, we heard from national security advisor mike waltz on just a bunch of issues. we also did hear about doge savings and the repayments via checks, potentially, that president trump has floated for americans. that was addressed by stephen miller. but again, it was mostly mike waltz, the national security adviser. let's go right now to yamiche alcindor

at the white house. lots of things he touched on what stood out for you. >> that's right. i mean, i think the thing that stood out was one that this was really a victory lap for the trump administration. they are marking the one month anniversary of president trump coming into office for his second term. it started with stephen miller talking about the president's goals when it came to immigration, and the idea that so many border crossings are down. there, of course, been a lot of critics to those changes, with the latest one being the executive order taking away federal benefits for undocumented immigrants. we should be very clear. most undocumented immigrants don't get any sort of federal benefits. the ones that they do are usually free public education for undocumented children. sometimes they get free legal services. if you're a child, literally like a five year old or an infant that comes here that needs to go through the legal process, you might get a lawyer. but all of that is being stopped by the trump administration. they are taking a victory lap, saying that that's going to encourage people

not to come to the country illegally. there's also, as you saw, the national security advisor, mike waltz, talking about the war in ukraine. it was very telling. he was asked a very clear question, saying, who does the president blame more, russia or ukraine? and he didn't answer it in a clear way and said he just said that both sides needed to come to the table in order to end this war. and of course, we've seen just in the past few days here, president trump really kicking up and intensifying his criticism against the president of ukraine. now it there officials saying that the white house stance and the trump administration's stance is that there need to be elections in ukraine. the president himself saying that ukraine is being essentially governed by what he called a dictator, and that martial law has been allowed to happen in ukraine. so a number of people really seeing the president as really taking the side of russia on this, though, the president saying that he's going to also include ukraine in those talks. so there was a lot there. but i think those are the things that were really highlights. of course, there was the domestic policy. i have to say, i found it very interesting

that kevin hassett, who is a is a top aide for president trump. he called elon musk the it consultant of the administration. of course, we've we've heard that he is really the head of doge, this department of government efficiency. but in court documents, the white house says he's not the administrator of that. so i think those are those are some of the things that stuck out to me. alex. >> yeah, absolutely. kevin hassett is who we're looking at right now. they're the director of the national economic council. thank you for that. yamiche. peter baker, i'm glad you're still around with us. tell me what stood out to you. was it all about the almighty dollar, if you will, because there was so much that mike waltz talked about looking ahead to the nato summit in june, when he said that a full one third of nato membership has yet to make good on their 2% pledge to donate to nato in terms of their self security, that they have yet to do it. not only are they going to demand that in january or in june at this meeting, but donald trump wants to increase that to 5% from these member nations?

>> well, first of all, it's important to remember that this is a fixation that donald trump has had for a long time. he's not the only president who has ever said that nato partners need to do more to pull, you know, to contribute their share. remind our viewers, when we talk about 2% of gdp, these are not contributions to nato. these are not money. it's not money that they owe the united states. what the agreement was was that nato partners would invest 2% of their economy on their own militaries, right, on their own defense systems, so that they would be pulling their weight. and the truth is, actually, many, many countries in nato have actually moved up in the last few years to meet that target. when trump left office, only a handful of nato allies actually met that 2% for all of his haranguing them. by the time he comes back to office four years later, as he rightly just said, as mike wallace has said, two thirds are meeting that that target. those are people who did not meet it when trump was in office last time, but are now not because necessarily of trump or the united states or joe biden, but because of vladimir putin. and so they are, in fact increasing their military

spending and they, i'm sure, will continue. now, 5% is a goal that the united states itself doesn't need. and what we haven't heard from the administration is if they're saying that as a goal for nato, does that include then for the united states or only for everybody else? they haven't explained that that i've heard. as for money, you're right to focus on that, because listen to what mike wallace said about this, this quote, deal unquote, with regard to rare minerals from ukraine. he used the word offer, as in they should take the offer. but to ukrainians, it didn't sound like an offer. it sounds like a demand. you have to give us half of your rare earth minerals in order for us to continue helping you protect yourself from an invading neighbor. that sounds to ukrainians like a protection racket, not an offer. but, you know, it's understandable why trump would push this is his natural state of being. he wants. he always wants allies to pay up. and i think a lot of voters probably support that, think that we spent a lot of money on ukraine. and so it's probably appealing to a lot of supporters. but it's sort of, you know, it's a new wrinkle in a relationship with ukraine,

which is on its back heels to suddenly have its main champion demand payment for helping out against an invasion. >> peter, i just want to tell you, my executive producer was saying in my ear as we saw mike waltz at that podium there that he was saying he shares the president's vision for peace. the problem is, when you have that same person not even answering the question of who started this war, he can't even say a simple fact that is known around the world. the prospects for peace are what in terms of equity and fairness for that which has been thrust upon ukraine. >> well, mike waltz, of course, knows who started the war, for that matter, donald trump knows who started the war. but for whatever reason, trump is these days trying to rewrite history by saying somehow it was ukraine's fault that it got attacked. it's a little blame the victim strategy here that seems aimed at explaining why he might agree to a deal that's favorable to putin and russia, because in fact, ukraine doesn't deserve, you know, the kind of support that it's gotten from

the united states. and it plays to exhaustion that we see in the american public. and frankly, even some of the european publics toward all of the, you know, costs of this war for ukraine's allies. a lot of americans are more than happy to see that money spent at home, rather than a war in europe that may not, in their view, concern them. but it is a way of explaining what the deal may be when he makes one with putin, because all of the concessions that he might give putin, he's already outlined in public, he's already made clear he's willing to give russia an awful lot of what putin wants, territory that it seized illegally by force, lifting of sanctions, perhaps readmission to the international club of nations like the g7 and things like that. you know, they're going to get an awful lot out of the deal that putin that trump has already floated. we haven't heard what ukraine gets out of it, other than that its neighbor stops attacking it. >> yeah. well i think they're going to start. it sounds like with regard to lifting sanctions of making both of the embassies functioning again, that was pretty clear. so peter baker, as

always, many, many thanks for helping us get through this breaking news. it's very important stuff. meantime, right now, important to a lot of you, a final burst of snow is hitting the east. it's prolonging the misery from a winter storm that's already blamed for at least four deaths in north carolina. icy roads triggered. wow, what a mess. it's a massive 53 car pileup. that's because oncoming vehicles just couldn't stop in time. six people went to the hospital. in fact, one woman died after a truck sped into her stopped car. meantime, in virginia, state police say they got 500 crash reports overnight, resulting at least in at least 45 confirmed injuries. nbc's gary grumbach i think he drew the short stick today. you are reporting there from virginia beach. gary, tell us what you're seeing. >> hey there. >> alex. yeah. >> the. >> sun is out here and the storm has moved offshore. >> but the dangers. >> that you. >> just mentioned, those. >> 500 accidents. >> on virginia roadways, really tells the story here to stay off

the roads. we spoke to virginia state police earlier today who was telling us about an incident they had where an officer was responding to a stuck car and a stuck passenger. they were hit by another vehicle. when an officer responded to that incident, they were hit by another vehicle. so just a series of events here that is really dangerous on the roads. so stay off the roads. but there are a lot of ways to get around these days off the roads. and we'll show you some video here around virginia beach boardwalk that folks are enjoying the time in the snow. we've got some cross-country skiers, we've got some dogs out playing. we've got some folks running, even on the boardwalk here, very much enjoying themselves. here are some of them had to say. >> good conditions out. >> yeah. ever seen it like this before? well, not since i've moved. >> back. >> but at least we get to see the beach covered in snow. something i've never seen before. >> we try to get away from the snow and now. >> we have the snow. so try. >> to take the snow and come here for five inches of snow. it's. >> yeah. >> it is what it is.

>> so bad news for the cross-country skier, but good news for perhaps everybody else. it's going to be 60 degrees here next week. alex. >> well, like you said, something to look forward to, but i guess stay off the roads really is the measure of the day. that's just. the ice is horrible. thank you so much. gary grumbach there from virginia beach. still ahead, trump versus new york. the president's king rhetoric prompts a strong rebuke from governor hochul. former new york city mayor bill de blasio will be here, so stay close. more coverage just after this. >> introducing a. >> revolution in pain relief. absorbing junior pro. the strongest numbing pain relief available. it's the only solution with two max strength anesthetics for fast, penetrating, relief absorbing junior pro. nothing numbs pain more. >> no matter why you started your business, your goal is to keep on growing. and with the help of financing from capital, you can meet all of your business goals. because at capital we finance the legacy

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