>> of. >> the most. >> talked about. >> moments of. >> oscars night. >> happened before. >> the show even began. during a. red carpet interview. halle berry joking. >> that she finally got some payback on adrien brody. for planting that. infamous kiss. >> on her back. >> in 2003, when he. won his first best. >> actor oscar. >> perhaps some luck. >> in that liplock. back to you. >> all right. i got my list of movies i need to watch now. kaylee hartung, thanks so much. and that does it for us today. thank you so much for joining us. we'll see you back here tomorrow. same time, same place. for now i'm ana cabrera, reporting from new york. jose diaz balart picks up our coverage right now. >> good morning. 11 a.m. eastern, 8 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz balart. we begin this morning with new fallout about that historic clash in the oval office between president trump and ukraine's president zelensky. now, just this morning, zelenskyy said that there has, quote, not been a day

ukraine has not felt gratitude for the support his country has received from the us. this weekend, zelensky traveled to europe, where he held an emergency summit with fellow world leaders. that came after the u.s. and ukraine did not sign a deal on ukrainian critical minerals. after a tense meeting at the white house, the british prime minister said he was drawing up a peace plan with fellow european leaders to present to president trump. overnight, president trump wrote on truth social in part, quote, we should spend less time worrying about putin and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers and people from mental institutions entering our country. and just yesterday, house speaker mike johnson told nbc news that zelensky may need to step aside. >> well. >> something has to change. either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that.

>> with us this morning. peter baker, new york times chief white house correspondent and nbc news political analyst, and evelyn farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia and the executive director of the mccain institute. so. hey, peter. so if you would catch us up to speed on all that's been happening, it seems like things change every second. but the position of zelensky and what the united states is or is not doing to support zelensky, and then what europe is doing. >> yeah, exactly. >> you're seeing. >> such. >> a remarkable split right now. between the united states and europe in terms of its view of this war. right. and in effect, the united states is taking almost taking russia's side, certainly echoing a lot of the points that russia makes. you heard russian officials over the weekend talk about how much u.s. foreign policy has been recalibrated to their liking. they're delighted. you saw after that meeting on friday, dmitry medvedev, the one time caretaker

president who is an advisor to president putin, say that finally, the insulin pig that would be zelensky got what he deserved in the oval office. and then you see the europeans rallying to ukraine's side saying, we support zelensky, we support ukraine. and they did so not only with social media, but with this meeting in london and promises to increase aid and to find their own path forward. they're not breaking off the united states entirely. you heard starmer, the british prime minister, say, look, we still believe that u.s. support is critical, but they obviously are not counting on it anymore. they now obviously believe that europe is going to have to take the lead. if ukraine wants to survive this war with its larger, more powerful neighbor. >> and so, peter, just to talk about what the united states is or is not doing as far as taking sides or not, this is what secretary of state marco rubio had to say just this weekend about russia and putin. >> we've spent. >> three years calling vladimir putin names. that's not the point. that we're a point that

we're at now is we're trying to get the man to a table. that's the goal here. it's that simple. can we try to sit with them and figure out whether there's anything? what are the russians demands? under what conditions would the russians be willing to stop this war? and as i said, we don't know what those are because we haven't talked to them in three years. >> yeah. i mean, peter, the fact of the matter is that there has been no communication between the united states and russia in any substantial position over the last four years. this is a change in policy specifically to try to deal with ukraine. that meeting that happened in riyadh, then later in turkey over the weekend. what do you see, peter as the role or lack of it, of europe? and you're saying that starmer, meloni was also talking about the need to support ukraine. but is europe in a position now to have anything to say about ukraine when it seems as though that communication is not happening in europe?

>> yeah. i mean, first of all, to, to secretary rubio's point about calling names, that would be a fair point to say, look, we don't call people names when we're trying to have a negotiation with them, except that that's exactly what they did do, is the person they called names was zelensky, not putin. that's the thing that makes it so, you know, striking. i think for everybody, it's not that they're soft pedaling their approach to an adversary on the eve of negotiations, it's that they're attacking their own ally. right. it was president trump who called zelensky a dictator without elections, by the way, a russian talking point. and then when asked, well, is putin a dictator who actually, by the way, of course, is one. trump said, well, you know, i like to choose my words carefully. so to rubio's point that we don't want to alienate people when we sit down with them at the table, they're perfectly happy to alienate their own ally. that's what's so striking about it. as for europe, look, time and time again, we've seen over the years europe say and be and has been told by the united states that it needed to take a bigger role. it is worth noting that contrary to what president trump says, he

says this all the time, but it's false. europe actually does spend more on ukraine than the united states has. but it has never been able to provide the same sort of, you know, heft that the united states can uniquely provide in terms of military arms, in terms of geopolitical support. and this is a test. this is a test of this new world order, a new world order in which donald trump is pulling america back from its traditional alliances and realigning it with with countries like russia. just last week, he voted the united nations with russia and belarus and north korea against ukraine, france, germany, britain and so forth. so it's a new world, and europe has to figure out its own way to navigate it. >> and evelyn, in that new world order, where the influences are coming more out of washington, and, for example, the fact that the meeting was decided to be carried out in riyadh, you know, the first one between the united states and russia and later in turkey. evelyn, how do you see this? and is this new world order one that could include

europe playing a more significant role? >> so. >> jose, first of all, the short answer to your question is yes. i want to add to what peter said about the dynamic of vladimir putin. you can flatter him. you can talk nicely to him. at the end of the day, he's only going to make a deal if he thinks that there's too much pressure being put on him so that it's in his interest to compromise. that's the only way this is going to work. so it's not about how you talk to vladimir putin. it's about actually what pressure are you willing to exert on vladimir putin? and that is to say, putting economic pressure, sanctions or threatening to use military force if he doesn't continue to recognize the sovereignty of ukraine? so i think that's an important point with regard to the europeans. i think this is exciting. we're watching the prime minister of the united kingdom, you know, step forward, bring all the europeans together. frankly, they have the economic ability,

they have the military ability, although they do need time to ramp up more than we do. but what has been missing all along is really the political will. the europeans can to some extent deter putin. i don't think he wants to go to war with the western european countries in particular. but, you know, he doesn't want to go to europe, to war with europe as a collective. and if and if the united kingdom can bring the united states back into the equation, then certainly putin would not want to go to war with us, although there is really an open question of what president trump is willing to do. >> yeah. i mean, and the secretary general of nato over the weekend saying that it was important that the united states get back into their communication and i guess alliance with zelensky and ukraine. but, evelyn, the whole issue of nato and, you know, an article five that is something that it seems that there's almost a difference there between the united states under

president trump and all of nato europe. >> yes. and that's why you hear, i think i'm not sure which european leader it was, but they've talked about different structures, the need for a new security mechanism that would include the, you know, the well, i guess it was the united kingdom, basically the prime minister said. >> he needs also kind of backed that as well. yeah, in a way. >> yeah. so it would include those european countries that are willing and also and inside the eu as well as the united kingdom and maybe others, maybe, maybe some of the east asian countries would be willing to also contribute militarily because they know that president xi is watching this. and i want to just make one other point, because, jose, i feel like people are really underplaying the threat posed by russia. this this reporting about lessening our cyber defenses against russia. let's remember that russia is a country that has put bots, you know, ability to activate and cause damage to our

nuclear and energy grids, our water grids. this is all because they think that someday they may end up fighting us. and putin also talks about fighting nato at some point in the future. so i think we have to remember that russia is a dangerous adversary. >> absolutely. peter. meanwhile, after that meeting at the oval office on on friday, you wrote, quote, what was particularly striking in their exchange was how much mr. trump seemed insulted on mr. putin's behalf. he has long been an open admirer of mr. putin, has rarely offered any criticism of his own. just this week you write he called mr. putin smart and cunning and declined to call him a dictator after calling mr. zelensky, after calling mr. zelensky that i know you spent a lot of time in the moscow bureau for the washington post. how do you read putin and these last three years? have they done anything

to soften his control over russia? >> no, i don't think so. we haven't seen any evidence of that. the few times there has been any dissent, it has been squelched. he has an iron fist over that country at this point. that doesn't mean that it couldn't happen. you know, evan would probably know better than i would. but i just think that, you know, for the moment, he seems to be pretty firmly in control. he is looking for a way out, though, too. i think on some level, because this war did not work out the way he planned. he did not meet the goals he set. his goal was to take over ukraine, or at the very least, topple its government and put in a puppet regime. that didn't happen. his goal was to drive a wedge between the west and the united states. that may be changing right under biden, the west actually consolidated even more strongly. two more members joined nato. that was a failure on on on putin's part. whether trump is now delivering, in effect, something that putin wanted by by distancing himself from your. that's a different question. but broadly speaking, lots of russians are dying. they

have been cut off economically. their economy is actually in tough shape right now. interest rates are about 20%. inflation is high. so i think that there's a real potential possibility that putin wants to find a way out, too. but he's going to drive a hard bargain. and right now, the trump people are basically giving him everything he wants. they've already said that. yeah, basically he can keep the territory he has illegally taken by force. yeah. the united states will not allow ukraine into nato. yeah, the united states will not provide any security guarantees for ukraine. and in fact, trump has already talked about readmitting russia into the g7. what would be the g8 again and creating a new economic partnership. so russia gets an awful lot out of what trump seems to be offering. and trump hasn't exactly told us what russia would have to give up other than stop shooting ukrainians. >> yeah. and peter, you know, and looking back at history and evelyn, i'm sorry you say something, of course let you say that, but but you know, you know, we look at how how conferences of peace have been handled throughout history. when you look at potsdam and you look

at at yalta, there was so much given to so many and including poland just being giving up. i mean, in other words, the it's these conferences oftentimes are just ruthless and merciless to so many countries. >> yeah. absolutely. no. that's right. again, evelyn knows his history better than i do i'm sure. but you're right. what you see here with trump is a willingness to play that kind of 19th century, mid 20th century role of large powers carving up the world map. right. he's willing to say, okay, russia, you get this, but we'll get that. in fact, he wants to take greenland and maybe even canada and the panama canal. he's got a very kind of imperialist view of the world in this second term that didn't really manifest itself in the same way in the first term. so i think he looks at putin as a peer, a fellow tough guy, a fellow strong man, a world power who is worthy of his respect. and he doesn't see ukraine or zelensky in the same

way, and is more than happy to trade off ukraine's interests because he just wants to get this war over with and reconnect with russia, possibly use that as a pivot against china. >> peter baker and ellen farkas, i thank you both so very much. i'm sorry. appreciate it. thanks. and now to breaking news. we have just learned that the suspect in the 2022 deadly shooting at a 4th of july parade in highland park, illinois, has taken a plea deal. nbc shaquille brewster joins us from illinois. shaq. what happened? >> well, jose, this was a real surprise. today is when we were expecting this start of the jury trial. we thought the jurors were going to be sworn in. we thought we were going to be seeing opening statements. in fact, in that courtroom, the prosecutors were setting up charts. they were setting up screens as they were planning to make their case against robert crimo the third, but instead, around 918 this morning, central time, he ended up, his attorneys, i should say, ended up saying in open court that he was going to be changing his plea. and he ultimately pled

guilty to 21 counts of first degree murder and 48 counts of first degree attempted murder. he is facing a life in prison without the possibility of parole. that's the maximum sentence in the state of illinois. we can expect to see that sentencing take place in april, on april 23rd. this has been an emotional roller coaster, jose, for the victims and the families who many of whom were in that courtroom earlier today. you may remember crimo was going to plead guilty back in last summer in 2023 or 2024, rather, but instead in open court. he backed out of that initial plea agreement. he at one point dismissed his public defenders. he said he was going to represent himself and then backed off that that arrangement. so this has gone up and down, back and forth. but it seems as if those victims and

their families will be getting some closure with again at the start of this trial. you have this defendant, robert crimo, the third, pleading guilty to those 69 counts that he was facing. and by the way, it this avoids what many victims were fearing they were going to have to do. the prosecution suggested that we were going to hear from the majority of those who were wounded in this shooting, the shooting that took place back in 2022, many of them were expected to testify there was going to be video evidence. law enforcement officers were expected to take the stand. this now takes that off the table with this plea, again, a guilty plea on 69 charges against robert crimo. the third jose. >> shaquille brewster, thank you so very much. up next, we're going to go live to moscow for what the kremlin is saying is, well, this meeting, they're defining it in a whole different way. we're talking about that meeting at the oval office on friday. plus, we'll talk to the ranking member on the house

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spokesperson said the clash showed how difficult it would be to reach a peace deal, and noted the trump administration's apparent foreign policy changes coincides with russia's vision. while russia's foreign minister lavrov praised what he called common sense from president trump's team. nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons is in moscow today. keir, what else are we hearing from the russian side about all of this? >> well, jose. >> russia both believes it is winning and is doubling down on its messaging to try to make worse what is basically a crisis for europe and nato. so we see that the collective west has begun to partially lose its unity, is the way the kremlin spokesman, dmitry peskov, put it today, calling it a fragmentation. president putin's newly appointed envoy in negotiations with the u.s. posted one word on x historic. after that confrontation between president trump and president

zelensky in the oval office. a leading russian opinion anchor, dimitri kiselyov, declaring trump behaved stoically. trump stood up for vance like a lion. trump looked like a chess grandmaster, and at the same time, russian officials are doubling down on their maximalist goals. so saying, for example, that russia maintains that a truly just and lasting peace can only be achieved by addressing the root causes of the ukrainian crisis? that's from the russian foreign office spokeswoman maria zakharova. now, on top of her list of the root causes is the expansion of nato. of course, right up, she says, to the border with russia. so if effectively what the russians are saying is, well, the ukrainians don't want to cease fire, we're prepared to look at a cease fire, but only if you agree to do exactly what president putin has been demanding for all of these

years. we can nato, and at the same time, russia pushing the potential split between the us and europe. so clearly, president putin believes this is an opportunity for him. interestingly, though, he hasn't himself spoken. i think. >> keir simmons in moscow, thank you so very much. appreciate it. back here at home, while house speaker mike johnson says president zelensky may need to step aside, not all republicans share that sentiment. alaska senator lisa murkowski posted on x that quote, i am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing putin. here's what senator james lankford and congressman don bacon had to say. >> we're not turning our back on ukraine, nor should we. putin is a murderous kgb thug that murders his political enemies and is a dictator there. >> america is the leader of the free world or the indispensable

power. nobody can stand up to russia and china if we're not a part of that. and ukraine is the victim. and i think putin has made clear that he wants to reestablish his old borders. and that's not in our national security interest. so to me, this is a national security issue, but also a moral issue. >> with us now is new york democratic congressman gregory meeks. he is the top democrat on the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you. i thank you for your time. you said that friday's meeting in the oval office was thank you was a set up. what did you mean by that? >> well, look, it. >> seemed to. >> me that when. >> you saw vice president vance interject what he did and how he did it, it was a setup to try to get the president of zelensky. zelensky, to either come and just look like he's kissing a ring or putting him down and belittling him. and so what president zelensky simply did as i think that they probably knew he would, is he is the president

at a wartime trying to speak up and keep the morale of his folks who have been fighting for three years and winning. correct the misstatements that were being made by the vice president and the president. so it was, seemed to me, somewhat concocted by the white house to try to get this kind of response. it was the president who insisted and invited the media in to see everything. wasn't president zelensky, it was president trump. so it's it was a set up in that regard. in my in my opinion. >> congressman, how does the situation get any better? as far as you see it in other words. so this war is in three plus years. there is in many ways a stalemate, right? i mean, russia has gotten some territory, has not been able to go further, much further than the pieces and parts that they've gotten, you know, devastating civilian population there. and it seems ukraine is also in a situation where they're continuing to be

at a status quo. how does this get resolved, if not by sitting down with everybody and seeing if there's any way that some agreement can be reached. >> let me say two things. number one, congress is voiced in a bipartisan way, needs to be heard. there are several republican members. and you just saw senator lankford and senator and congressman bacon. they need some of their colleagues to stand up. those that have pledged and have said all along that they were with ukraine, they will stay with ukraine. they need more of their voices from congress to tell the president that he should not be turning his back on ukraine and our allies, in fact, treating our allies as if they're adversaries and our adversaries are if they are allies. that must be happening now. it must happen. and number two, you know, you can't say that we're going into negotiations when what president trump does is to go to negotiate with vladimir putin without ukraine. and, you

know, and then just say, that's what's going to happen. and then put all the pressure on ukraine, basically not asking them for a peace deal. basically, what you're doing is asking them to surrender because russia and vladimir putin gets everything that they want. and the illegal taking and the killing of the people of, of ukraine goes unchecked. that can't happen. and so we need the pressure to get the president to have diplomacy. and what is the natural order of working with our allies, because it will have effects across the spectrum. understanding that from the very beginning, part of putin's thought was he could divide nato. who would have thought? and they didn't. they couldn't. nato got stronger. in fact, finland and sweden joined nato on the border of russia because they were afraid of russian aggression, which we all know. so who would have thought that the president of the united

states would take the side of russia and north korea? so we know that north korea now is giving weapons and actual men to fight their war. so here is north korea and russia, and the united states is voting with them in the un. so the congress has to play a role. and i think that the members of congress, especially some of my republican members who said they were going to be with them, 100 be with ukraine 100% of the way. they must step up and say that we are not going to allow it to continue in the way that donald trump is now trying to put forward our foreign policy. it is a dangerous game that donald trump is playing. you know, and i just add this, even in the indo pacific, because they are watching this and they are all supporting it because all of our allies, ukraine, as all of our european allies, are supporting

ukraine. why? because they know that china and north korea are looking at this. and if the united states is partnering with them, it puts our allies in the indo-pacific and taiwan at great risk. so this, as well as the united states of america, because then you see what is taking place now to say that our. activities overseeing and watching the cyber security issues with russia is going to come to a halt. it's just unbelievable. >> yeah. and if you look at who russia's best allies are on this side of the globe, we're talking about cuba, venezuela and nicaragua. those are the allies that russia has in the americas. congressman gregory meeks, it's always a pleasure to see you. i thank you very much for your time, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> up next. dozens rally near d.c. protesting doj's latest cuts to the federal workforce. hundreds of weather forecasters and other employees at the

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noaa, to protest against massive layoffs the agency faced there last week. meanwhile, federal workers are being asked to yet again by the trump administration to submit a list of their recent accomplishments in an email, as the white house considers even more cuts. it all comes ahead of president trump's joint address to congress tomorrow. joining us now, nbc's aaron gilchrist at the white house, nbc's melania, melania, i should say i'm sorry, melanie zanona on capitol hill. also with us there, david fahrenthold, reporter at the new york times, and marc short, former white house legislative affairs director during the first trump administration. he is now the board chair of advancing american freedom. so, aaron, federal workers again being asked to list their five accomplishments in an email. where does this go next? >> yeah, jose. that second, what did you do last week? email started going out friday just as federal workers here on the east coast were ending their workday. and again, as you said, they were asked to list five accomplishments. this time, though, that email included a request that they send a similar

email every monday by midnight going forward. last time we know there was a lot of confusion about whether workers should respond or whether it was mandatory to respond. there were several agencies that told employees to hold off on answering that email. the white house said that about a million employees across the federal government did respond, meaning about a million didn't, at least at that point in what the white house was saying to us. we did see a message from defense secretary hegseth telling civilians to reply to the second email. at the same time, it's not really clear whether other agencies that instructed their workers to pause have actually changed that guidance. with the second email that's come out now, elon musk did post on saturday that president trump made clear that replying is mandatory. this time, though, jose, there was no threat of firing attached to that message that was posted on x or in the email that was sent out starting late friday. >> so, melanie, what's the pushback or the reaction on capitol hill by lawmakers? >> well.

>> republicans are continuing. >> to. >> receive blowback. >> back home in their. >> districts over doge, even in deep red states and deep red seats. that includes roger marshall, a republican senator from kansas. he experienced a larger than expected town hall crowd he started over the weekend. he started fielding some really tough questions about some of these cuts, including some of these veterans that have been fired. and after things started to turn contentious, he made a rather abrupt exit from the town hall. just watch. >> i think. >> it's. >> a great i'm not going to. >> we don't have time for anyone to stand up. i do got two more commitments today. appreciate everybody making the drive out and god bless america. >> thank you. thank you our god. god our. new way. >> we're going to take pictures with you buddy. right. to vote you out. >> and i think it's important to remember here that d.c. is not

the only city that is home to the federal workforce. in fact, most federal workers are spread out across the entire country. and so as the impact of these cuts have started to be felt all across the country, republicans who represent those constituents have started to feel the heat. but as of right now, they still haven't quite figured out how to respond to some of these constituents, what their message is going to be. they don't want to anger donald trump or elon musk. and so they have started to reach out to the administration, sort of backchanneling with the leadership and party officials for more guidance about just how they should be approaching these different town halls and all the blowback that they are starting to receive. >> and, david, you have new reporting that doge is has taken credit for killing government contracts, some of which were already dead. >> that's right. a lot of them, when you look. >> at doj's. list that. >> they published. >> last week, their updated list of their. >> wall of receipts. some of the. >> biggest contracts were for things that had been canceled or that. >> had the. >> work had. >> ended in. >> 2005 or 2006. >> maybe some.

>> a little bit. >> later under presidents obama and biden. so doge. >> is saying, look, look, we saved tens of millions by. >> cutting. >> these programs. >> but in. >> fact, they. >> were long dead. >> and so they have been eliminating jobs, right? that's a fact, right? >> what's important here is not that doge isn't making cuts. it obviously is making cuts. but the question here is whether they know what they're doing. >> and so when. >> the one place where they've posted. sort of. >> to show their work is. this thing called the wall of receipts, it shows all the contracts they say they've canceled and how much they've saved by canceling them. it's been full of mistakes. many of the largest items on there are just plain wrong. and so the question is not are they cutting things? they are, but are they do they know what they're doing? do they know enough about the government to cut what's unnecessary and keep the efficient parts? >> yeah, i mean, mark, and specifically on the issue of, for example, social security, here's what elon musk talked about. he was on joe rogan's podcast. listen to some of this conversation. >> social security is. the biggest ponzi. >> scheme of all time.

>> basically, people are. >> living way longer. >> than expected and there are fewer babies being born. so you have more people who are retired and get that live for a long time and get retirement payments. so the future obligations so have a have a ba. the financial situation is right now for the federal government. it will be much worse in the future. >> how do you what do you make of that? >> well. >> a. >> lot here, jose. >> i feel like a lot of. >> americans recognize. >> we're $36. >> trillion. >> in debt, and we actually do. >> need. >> to be cutting some of these. >> government programs. >> so i'm. >> actually encouraged. >> to. >> see some of this happening. but i think the reality is that. if the. executive branch can do this on its own, what's to stop a future democrat administration from saying, you know what, i've decided that i'm going to just eliminate some dod positions or i'm going to eliminate customs and border patrol. so i think it ultimately needs to be legislated. and we're about a

week away, march 14th from a government shutdown. and when that happens, republicans need democrat votes. and democrats are going to say, we're going to refund all these programs. dodge alleges there's $65 billion in cuts. they're going to fully fund all those programs. so what's president trump going to do roughly ten days from now? is he going to veto that when he's basically already signaled he wants a cr to fund government through the end of the year? that would basically fund all these programs that doge has alleged. it's cut. >> so, mark, you know, when you see what happens to different town halls where members of congress and senators are indeed facing some criticism, do you think that that is something that will continue and that will actually have an impact? >> yeah, i do, i think the reality is that i remember being a hill staffer in roughly 2009, 2010, and at that time, you know, president obama had come in with huge majorities in the house and the senate, and these town halls began erupting across

the country. and democrats said, look, this is just, you know, grasstops activism. it isn't real. and i see that republicans are messaging the same thing now. so i think to dismiss this as not real is a huge political mistake. and i think that most members of congress know that, that that it doesn't portend well, when we're only five weeks in, i think americans are excited to see border issues being addressed. i think they also addressed elected president trump to address the economy. and i think there's a lot of nervousness there. >> aaron. meanwhile, president trump is going to be delivering this address to a joint session of congress tomorrow. what can we expect? >> the president himself posted about the speech this morning, indicating that we should expect a big night. he said, i will tell it like it is and part of the message on his truth social platform. we know administration officials have told our team that the president worked on the speech over the weekend. he's planning to highlight what he sees as successes in his early in the early part of his second term here. many of his big moves are things that we, of course,

have been able to see ourselves. we'll likely hear him talk about his immigration efforts to stop illegal border crossings, to ramp up deportations. we can expect to hear about how, how and why he's erased diversity and equity programs and personnel, for that matter, from the federal government, those tariffs against mexico and canada, those are set to go into effect overnight tonight. so we'll be listening to see what he has to say about that. and of course, as we've been talking about the big topic here, likely to be elon musk and how he has really rocked the federal government with these massive spending cuts. and with all the firings that we are continuing to see, we also understand from a senior white house official that the president trump is building a guest list of folks that he wants to have with him to reflect the reasons that he believes he won the election, what he believes he accomplished in his first weeks in office. here, jose, we're told that there will be lots of surprises and made for tv moments during the speech tomorrow night. >> aaron gilchrist, melanie zanona, david fahrenthold and marc short, thank you so very much. next, we'll get the latest

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by high winds and dry conditions. several neighborhoods were forced to evacuate. nbc's emilie ikeda joins us now from myrtle beach, south carolina. emily. it was really, really dangerous and difficult there. >> yeah. hey there. jose. and i'm in one of those neighborhoods that had to evacuate. you can see along here just how close the flames came to homes. this is the burn scar leading into a backyard of one homeowner. and this is what used to be a fence. completely melted. you look out behind me, an apocalyptic scene, and the threat is not over. you will see some of the smoldering that continues. we continue to watch helicopters fly above dumping water as the fire continues. this is a result of the largest fire burning in south carolina right now, torching some 1600 acres, though now is 30% contained. it's just one of more than 175 fires that burned across the state. i talked to the south carolina forestry commission about the tough conditions they're up against. take a listen here. talk to me

about the conditions that firefighters are up against. >> well, it's very erratic. you saw the flames are low, and all of a sudden they jumped up. right? so wind changes, wind changes can do that. and this kind of a fuel type, as we call it. so it can be a little scary. >> so the good news today is that the winds have died down a bit. and so that will help them in their fire fight, especially compared to over the weekend when we saw those really high powered wind gusts spreading the flames at a rapid pace. still, though, they're up against dry conditions. a lot of the leaves, the brush, the needles poised to catch fire pretty easily. and that's why we're seeing so many resources still at hand, both here in south carolina, also in north carolina. there is a state of emergency in south carolina. and as i mentioned, a burn ban across the entire state. this is an area that is four inches short of its typical rainfall. jose. >> emily, thank you so very much. up next, the number of border crossings are way, way

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>> no, i think that's a fair assessment, jose. here you see the president continuing to escalate this fluid feud with president zelensky, who had zelensky had said over the weekend that he thinks the war in ukraine is end is very, very far away. the president calling this the worst statement that could have been made by zelensky and suggest that america won't put up with it much longer. some of this may just be sort of rhetorical heat from the president, whose national security adviser was on television this morning saying the path back to negotiations between the u.s. and ukraine involves gratitude from zelensky, something he has already expressed a willingness to sign the minerals deal, which zelensky has also said he'd be willing to do, and an apology, which zelensky says he doesn't think is necessary but may be required given the personal way in which donald trump conducts his diplomacy. and, jose, i'll just add that the president here in this truth social post, links to a story from the associated press, the news outlet currently banned from the oval office and air force one over its refusal to call the gulf of mexico the

gulf of america, as the trump administration has demanded. jose. >> and so, garrett, there are the meetings over the weekend between zelensky and different european leaders. there was talk of maybe billions of dollars or euros going towards the fight. ukraine's fight against russia. is there any sentiment out of the white house that maybe communication could or will be reestablished with zelensky? >> i think the white house believes the ball is in zelensky's court to reestablish that communication, and it's not quite clear when the missing element from at least the president's point of view, appears to be an apology from zelensky for the conduct of that oval office meeting. again, something that zelensky suggests isn't necessary. you could also see contacts resume at a lower level, perhaps the treasury building behind me, where that minerals deal was first worked out. jose. >> garrett haake at the white house, thank you very much. and finally, this morning, as i end this hour, i want to express my

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183337354495 or. visit homeserve.com. >> good to be with you. >> i'm katie tur. >> the fallout from. >> friday's oval. >> office meeting between president. donald trump and vladimir. zelensky is snowballing as european leaders bear hug the ukrainian. president and huddle to figure out if and how they can fend off vladimir putin and russia alone. the desire is there, at least among some of these nations, but the realities are a lot more complicated. the situation is also pretty