we've got senator bob menendez, i'm hallie jackson, mike memoli, courtney kube.r simmons in moscow, and andrea mitchell and hager shamali, a former spokes spokesperson for the treasury department. we just heard from the president. we're about to hear from the secretary of state. and mike, the president, he was done with vladimir putin, it seems like. he left that door of diplomacy open a crack, but he was tough. >> listen, hallie, this is what we've been talking about for three months, how the white house was cal lating what they describe as swift and skweer sanctions should russia invade ukraine. there are questions in the last day why it took the white house to officially call it an invasion. you had the president very clearly calling it the beginning of an invasion. as far as the sanctions that the president just announce third among the very severe that have been talked about for months. significantly, though, the president saying just the beginning. this the first tranche of sanctions, you referred to what he said at the beginning of his speech, hoping there

joining me is bob menendez, chair of the foreign relations committee. senator, great to see you. lot of big developments on the ukraine situation. reports of shelling in eastern ukraine, the white house saying russia is actually increasing its troops on the border, not decreasing them. what are you hearing? >> jose, from all accounts, it seems that vladimir putin is headed towards conflict instead diplomacy. it seems not only has he not removed troops from the ukrainian border, but added several thousand troops to it. he's built a bridge over one of the rivers that is abutting ukraine. in addition to all of that, it seems his troops are being put into attack positions. so what happens in the eastern part of ukraine appears to be another false flag operation where russian troops or troops given a different status in terms of what they look like, but they're russian troops, ultimately create an attack against ukrainians in that part of the section to draw ukrainians into a conflict and then to have the russians respond to it. we've seen this picture several times. this is putin 101

senator of the foreign relations committee senator bob menendez joins me next. you're watching "meet the press daily." g "meet the press daily. these children need.rgeris join us. together, we can give children the hope and healing they never thought possible. it's a mission powered by love, made possible by you. give today. this is the sound of nature breathing. and this is the sound of better breathing. fasenra is a different kind of asthma medication. it's not a steroid or inhaler. fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it's one maintenance dose every 8 weeks. it helps prevent asthma attacks, improve breathing, and lower use of oral steroids. nearly 7 out of 10 adults with asthma may have elevated eosinophils. fasenra is designed to target and remove them. fasenra is not a rescue medication or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell you

what do you say to bob menendez over there, with him using your quote?ll, obviously, we have a lot of demonstrations, and i work very closely with melendez on all issues. we know that he was a opponent of the jcpoa, we continue to talk to him about this and respected. but as i said at this pace, if we continue, we will soon reach the point or trying to revive the jcpoa would be tantamount to trying to revive a dead corpse. president biden still wants us to negotiate, going back next week. that is a signal or sign of our continued belief that it is not a dead corpse that we need to revive, because it is in our interest, it is the best way that we have to continue to put iran's nuclear program back into a box to make sure that we could put that problem to the side, as we do with so many other issues that iran presents to us. so no, we have not yet reached that point, but i think that it is very clear that if we do not reach a deal soon, that point will have been reached. then, we will have to think of other ways to address iran's nuclear program. as of tod

senator bob menendez. it's good to see you.for being back on the show. >> good to be with you, hallie. >> it sounds like the senators are close to a finalized package. do you agree with that assessment? is that accurate? >> we have been working diligently around the clock to get to a bipartisan package. i'm cautiously optimistic that we will, and i think that what we heard today at the briefing dictates the urgency of now. >> explain that. why? >> well, without getting into the specifics of the, you know, the intelligence briefing, the picture that i can develop overall from it is that, in fact, and we see from the public facts of 130,000, maybe 150,000 russian troops assembled, not only the troops that are assembled, but all the backup to those troops that, in fact, this is a moment in time in which the european continent is going under the greatest threat it has ever had since, you know, the 1940s. so the reality is, is that us coming together with a strong, bipartisan package that would provide crippling sanctions to russia

we've got senator bob menendez, i'm

ji joined by senator bob menendez. what's your reaction to sanctions announced today.n from escalating the crisis? >> well, they give putin, should give putin a lot of cause to deter from ultimately escalating. look, i mean, when you take one of the largest banks in russia and do blocking sanctions, the most severe sanctions you can do, you take russia's sovereign debt, they won't be able to borrow in the west and you sanction that, when you take the military bank that operates and does financing for military operations of russia and you sanction that, and when i look at the five oligarchs that have been sanctioned, who are they, director of the federal securities service, the president of the state owned, deputy president of the state owned bank, the deputy staff of president of russia, the ceo of their most significant top social media platform, and others, you're now finally going after the oligarchs that hold putin's money and help him do what he does. and for them, these are serious consequences as well. >> and let me interrupt, it is not just the oligarchs, it is

the chairman of the foreign relations committee, senator bob menendez. speaking of diplomacy. >>> three black u.s. ambassadors at the height of the civil rights movement. that's next. the new documentary honoring their hard-fought rise to an institution called pale male and yale. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on inetnet. pale male d yale this is "andrea mitchell reports" on inetnet. un your bus. intuit is bringing quickbooks and mailchimp together to help you set up and grow. dj khaled: man, i love this scent. every business is on a journey. and along the ride, you'll find many challenges. ♪ your dell technologies advisor can help you find the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. men put their skin through a lot. day-in, day-out that's why dove men body wash has skin-strengthening nutrients and moisturizers that help rebuild your skin. dove men+care. smoother, healthier skin with every shower. no one thinks about their hearing until you start losing it. and then you think about it a lot. this doesn't help and the whole

senator bob menendez, grateful for your time, sir. we'll keep in touch. >> good to be with you. >>> next, putin's first move is on eastern ukraine, but russian forces are poised for other possible attacks as well. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. inde instant match instantly delivers quality candidates mahing your job description. visit indeed.com/hire my mental health was much better. my mind was in a good place. but my body was telling a different story. i felt all people saw were my uncontrolled movements. some mental health meds can cause tardive dyskinesia, or td, and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. ingrezza is a prescription medicine to treat adults with td movements in the face and body. it's the only treatment for td that's one pill, once-daily, with or without food. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. don't take ingrezza

legislation to mitigate risks of al salvatore's adoption of bitcoin, us senators, jim rish of idaho bob menendez, of new jersey, ranking member and chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and bill cassidy of louisiana. today introduce the accountability for crypto currency in el salvador. the ace's act legislation requiring a state department report on al salvatore's adoption of bitcoin, a crypto currency as legal tender and a plan to mitigate potential risks to the u. s. financial system. i'm going to read the next quote from one of the senators, just so you see the scale of the threat that big queen poses to the united states dollar because here el salvador is like a 2530 $1000000000.00 economy. and they're saying this about bitcoin as legal, tender here, al salvatore's adoption of bitcoin as legal tender raises significant concerns about the economic stability and financial integrity of a vulnerable u. s. trading partner and central america said rish, this new policy has the potential to weaken us sanctions, policy and powering malign actors like china and organized criminal organi

legislation to mitigate risks of al salvatore's adoption of bitcoin. us senators, jim, rich of idaho bob menendez, of new jersey, ranking member and chairman of the senate, foreign relations committee and bill cassidy of louisiana. today introduce the account ability for crypto currency in el salvador. the ace's act legislation requiring a state department report on our salvatore's adoption of bitcoin, a crypto currency as legal tender and a plan to mitigate potential risks to the u. s. financial system. i'm going to read the next quote from one of the senators, just so you see the, the scale of the threat that between poses to the united states dollar. because here el salvador is like a $2530000000000.00 economy. and they're saying this about bit queen as legal tender here, el salvador, adoption of bitcoin as legal tender raises significant concerns about the economic stability and financial integrity of a vulnerable u. s. trading partner in central america said rish, this new policy has the potential to weaken us sanctions, policy and powering malign actors like china and organized criminal org

legislation to mitigate risks of al salvatore's adoption of bitcoin. us senators, jim, rich of idaho bob menendez, of new jersey, ranking member and chairman of the senate, foreign relations committee and bill cassidy of louisiana. today introduce the accountability for crypto currency in el salvador, the ace's act legislation requiring a state department report on our salvatore's at da.

legislation to mitigate risks of al salvatore's adoption of bitcoin, us senators, jim rich of idaho bob menendez, of new jersey, ranking member and chairman of the senate, foreign relations committee and bill cassidy of louisiana. today introduce the accountability for crypto currency in el salvador. the ace's act legislation requiring a state department report on our salvatore's adoption of bitcoin, a crypto currency as legal tender and a plan to mitigate potential risks to the u. s. financial system. i'm going to read the next quote from one of the senators just so you see the scale of the threat that between poses to the united states dollar because here.

bob menendez says removing venezuelians through third country is disturbing. turns his back on immigrants who need our protection most. chief ortiz met with lawmakers yesterday in the wake of video we saw of him being confronted by his agents, hillary va ughan caught up with him in the halls. >> are president biden's policies to blame for that? >> no comment. >> griff: and one lawmaker, carlos jiminez who will be here next hour talking to you guys and what an important guest because he's told hillary va ughan that chief ortiz was worried title 42 would be going away, that could be a game changer. title 42 expelled 42,000 migrants, unclear what would happen if it goes away. >> ashley: thank you so much. abc news suspending whoopi goldberg for two weeks after she argued race was not a factor in the holocaust. >> todd: brooke songman joins us to discuss the detailss. brooke. >> brooke: abc suspended whoopi goldberg after her apology failed. whoopi is taking time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments chts "the view" co-host was discussing a school

bob menendez saying the recent reports removing venezuelas is disturbing. this administration is turning backos immigrants who need protection the most. border patrol ortiz met yesterday in wake of being confronted by his a. >> we continue to do the job we signed up for, we all signed up for, we all raised our hand. >> it is not hard to say, i have been doing this for 31 years. >> todd: hillary va ughan. >> you admitted moral is all-time low, are president biden's policies to blame for that? >> no comment. >> todd: no comment. one lawmaker was carlos carlos gimenez. it could be a news maker. >> ashley: looking forward to that, griff jenkins, thank you so much. texas congressman michael clown says law and order are taking a backseat under biden. >> we can track a billion gun records, this is -- the american people get this, we are seeing crime go up in cities because we're not enforcing the law, criminals have more rights than law-abiding citizens. the incentive structure on law and order reversed under this administration. >> ashley: biden met with governor

bob menendez, bob casey, congressman adam shift and the intelligence committee, all allies of joe biden from the other end of consulting avenue to throw russia out of the swift system. in many cases, we are hearing from lawmakers, asking the white house, what are you waiting for? haidi: how challenging is this position for president biden, particularly ahead of midterms later this year? reporter: this is a big challenge. it is a largely bipartisan move here to stand up to vladimir putin, but we heard from donald trump earlier in this week and his former secretary of state mike pompeo that vladimir putin appears to be a genius. he is acting in a smart way, according to donald trump. mike pompeo called him elegantly sophisticated as a carter part -- as a counterpart in russia. that raised some eyebrows. there are folks who are doubting our approach to russia. the real criticism from republicans, they say that vladimir putin does not have enough respect for joe biden and therefore is acting flagrantly and applying more aggression to ukraine. but the fact of the matter is, the president has

this was supposedly only one yard line, according to bob menendez, the chair of the senate foreign relations committee. democrats want to hold sanctions for a possible invasion. republicans want to hit vladimir putin right now. by the way, that cyberattack we saw yesterday in ukraine, said to be the biggest ever in ukraine, is the reason why. they say that is an act of war and justifies sanctions now, but there's no bill coming out of the senate apparently any time. the u.s. treasury, if we have to follow through dissensions, will be on its own. guy: we will leave it there. we will be back to you a little later on. joe mathieu joining us from d.c. as we await secretary of state antony blinken speaking before the u.n. before he heads once again to speak to european leaders gathering for the security conference. let's go to the markets. let's figure out what is happening here. really difficult for the markets to manage this story. critic up to has the latest -- kriti gupta has the latest. kriti:kriti: you are seeing a risk off session when it comes to the stock market, but you are seeing hidde

let's talk about this with bob menendez of new jersey, the chairman. senate foreign relations committee. thank you for joining us. you sat in on a joint classified briefing today where ukraine was expected to be discussed. based upon what you're required to tell us, how rurgt these deployments of 3,000 troops to eastern europe and will this be enough to deter putin in. >> well, jake, good to be with you. i think these deployments speak to our assuring our nato allies, particularly in the baltic region and the eastern flank that our commitment to them under nato is a strong resolve. and unequivocal. it also sends the message to putin that one of the things that putin has wanted out of his sabre rattling and the threats he's posed is to not just deal with the question of ukraine with you to push the united states out of europe. well, he's ultimately facing a totally different consequence as a result of what he's been doing. so if he doesn't want to see u.s. troops in europe, what he has done is actually create the opposite of that. hopefully that among o

my reporting is the two key senators involved, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, bob menendezb rich, have been meeting and they are focusing on the last option, sme targeted sanctions now, and perhaps heavier sanctions later. but it's complicated, because president biden is not necessarily on board with that idea. he does not want his hands tied by congress, and then there's a third factor, germany. the german chancellor and germany are involved in a financial relationship over a gas pipeline with russia. and i am told by people here that the german ambassador was at the capitol, and this is adding another complicated dynamic to america's attempts to reinforce its allies when one ally, germany, may have slightly different opinion on the exact sanctions that should go into place. >> woodruff: hardly a simple matter. quickly to something else, lisa. senate foreign relations committee, the republicans on that committee today issued their report on what happened in the withdrawal from afghanistan. just give us a sense of that. >> i will. you know, this was a port that was just fro

bob menendez saying okay so far. are we're going to hear more about it at the state department on nord stream 2 by those who say it is more significant than has been criticized. that it isn't a temporary suspension. >> reporter: you have democrats largely saying we support what the president announced yesterday as a first step but keep up the pressure. and then you have republicans who say the president's missing the moment to really get tough with president putin because clearly he has not been dissueded so far by the threat of sanctions and by the initial rounds of sanctions we're seeing. the white house on defense as it has laid out what its thinking is in terms of rolling out sanctions during the briefing yesterday. press secretary was pressed on this repeatedly. as was the national security advisor. basically they're top sanctions. they're targeting two large financial institutions. the debt of russia as well as elites, who are close to president putin. they think it's going to have a bite and yet they say we're

today, we heard from prominent democrats, chairman of the foreign relations committee, senator bob menendez, calling for stricter sanctions. including cutting off russia from the swift bank, for example. and also, calling on president biden to sanction directly vladimir putin, of course, president biden not going that far. but saying and keeping all options on the table. we are also learning about an unclassified call that came from pentagon leaders. they told house lawmakers, hours ago, that russian military forces, troops, were about 20 miles from kyiv. now, a couple of hours later, as our reporters on the ground, showed in those stunning pictures explosions, bombs, booms, something that lawmakers were told about according to sources just a couple of hours before that all happen. now how likely is it that something actually happens legislatively? house makers, the lawmakers are going to be back in session on monday. we heard proposals from republicans and democrats. those can actually do something about it. those on the prominent committees. they all agree that they have to send more huma

joining us to discuss, bob menendez of new jersey, the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. thank you for being here. they believe the current troop level is not enough for a full-scale invasion. do you agree? >> well, i respect the analysis of our intelligence and military and they believe it is sufficient for a full-scale invasion. we agree that there are about 150,000 troops, russian troops. at the end of the day, i think that can cause, surrounded by three sides of ukraine, i think that can cause an enormous consequence to ukraine if putin decides to invade. maybe they think the spirit of ukrainians would be a bigger match for russians in terms of a decision to invade. but that seems to be more than enough for them to have a full-scale invasion. >>> u.s. officials have been saying it could happen as soon as this week. it is now wednesday. do you think ukraine is possibly at less risk today than it was a week ago? >> no, i don't. i don't. you don't have cyberattacks against central banks and the department of defense if you're intending to find a pathway to diplomacy. yo

chairman bob menendez said weeks ago the sides were on the 1-yard line, but now congress is out and musculartol hill, were just a threat. >> i will regret congress leaving town without a bill that expresses our solidarity and our bipartisan support for sanctions that would really hit putin where it hurts. >> reporter: hefty sanctions were supposed the deter an invasion. internal bickering sidetracked sanctions. plus, the biden administration worried it could impede western europe from receiving natural gas from the controversial nord stream 2 pipeline. a european energy crisis could wreck the world economy. that's why some lawmakers are okay letting the biden administration do the dirty work. work. >> i'm not concerned because the white house has all the sanctions tools that it needs. >> reporter: that means congress is reduced to what are so far empty threats. as the ukrainian crisis deepens, republicans are quick to cite president biden's foreign policy debacle last summer. >> not a doubt in my mind that the russians wouldn't be on the border if ukraine -- of ukraine with 100,000 or more t

should note -- i should note tonight there are some democrats on capitol hill including senator bob menendez who say they do believe that these are good, but they need to go a little bit further. >> what's the reaction you've been seeing in russia today? >> reporter: well, if you look at the overall picture you'd have to say that probably according to one poll i saw probably three quarters of the country support the president. however, there are people who do not, and they were on the streets of moskow, st. petersburg, and a lot of other cities. in fact, about 1,700 people last we saw had been detained by the police, and about 50 cities across russia. they are obviously anti-war, but it is much more difficult now for people to go onto the streets. the authorities have made it very clear that if you do that especially for young people you can get a black mark in your record. they could make it very difficult to go onto school. and i did check that there is a little bit of polling about what people think about this conflict, and there is an independent polling agency the center that says 60% t

. >> democratic senator bob menendez, who chairs the committee on foreign relations has called the possiblections against russia that the u.s. can impose the mother of all sanctions. they've imposed a lot of sanctions against government officials, banking institutions and private individuals to weaken their influence and economy. the aim would be to hamper russia's biggest banks and financial institutions and put restrictions on russia's ability to export oil and natural gas and seek to hurt sectors of the russian economy and society. joining me is ann simmons. good afternoon, thank you for being with us. on president biden's somewhat surprising comments about 18 hours ago in which he said we have solid intelligence that says vladimir putin has made a decision to invade ukraine, that's not necessarily what vladimir putin has been signaling. what are you getting on your end? >> thank you, ali for having me, first of all, and the kremlin finds this extremely hysterical. the foreign ministry has come out in recent days saying all this talk about invasion is hysteria, we're not doing anything.

spearheaded by bob menendez and ranking republican jim risch.mments he made. >> i'm sceptical. i appreciate senators coming together. i don't think putin will be deterred by any piece of legislation in the united states senate. >> mcconnell went on to say the president has all the authority he needs to act and should do it before an invasion. with me senator ben cardin who sits on the foreign relations committee. senator, thank you for your time. what's your understanding of where things stand with the sanctions bill, senator? >> i'd good to be with you. no question we had strong bipartisan support and in congress and there's unity to make it clear to put tin if he does further incursions in ukraine, he will pay a heavy price for that. in the senate it's not always easy to get legislation passed. the president does have significant authority. we want to give him even more authority, to make it clear that russia will pay that heavy price. so i hope we can get it done. i can tell you that i've talked with a lot of my republican colleagues as well

. >> bob menendez warns substantial progress in iran nuclear program following the decision to withdraw from the nuclear agreement in 2015. senator menendez spoke about the global threat a nuclear iran poses and called for more intervention beyond the original agreement as the us and its european allies try to negotiate a new deal. >> madame president. >> senator from new jersey. >> for 30 years, as a member of the house foreign affairs committee and as chairman of the senate foreign relations committee i have the privilege of engaging in the most pressing national security issues facing the nation. while we are rightly focused on the crisis around ukraine, we must not lose sight of how dangerously close iran is to becoming a nuclear armed state. we know the nuclear armed iran would pose an unacceptable threat of national security interests come into our allies in europe and overall stability in the middle east. as someone who has followed iran's nuclear ambition for three decades i'm here to raise concerns about the current round of negotiations over the company and plan of action in i

even though senate foreign relations committee chairman bob menendez said weeks ago the bill was on the a congress which is too little, too lame. take government funding. the bill is overdue by nearly six months. the senate just approved the third interim spending bill to avert a government shut down. congress punting again until march. >> shutting the government down doesn't do any good. this is all part of the dance. we need to reform the system in total. where you run it like all other places run. you get budgets done in the regular order. in committee, and get it done within the fiscal year. >> even democratic primaries languish. senate majority leader chuck schumer promised a vote on build back better this year. >> as i mentioned before christmas, i intend to hold a vote in the senate on bbb and we'll keep voting until we get a bill passed. >> but that bill is going nowhere. and just this week democrats said they would finally address inflation. >> we have solutions and we're going to focus like a laser on reducing costs. the new proposals and new ideas keep coming. >> schumer says

that being said, lawmakers like lindsey graham, and senators bob menendez, james risch, have vowed to cast something in a bipartisan fashion. but i think that with this case crisis is serving to do is assure the divisions that still exist. in the democratic party, but more so in the gop between the america first republicans, and some more of the quote unquote globalist republicans that trump was able to sort of demonize throughout his four years. so you see people like graham who are hawkish, who wanted sanctions from the biden administration yesterday. being more of the outliers and the party right now, compared to those who have even praised president vladimir putin in the spirit of tearing down joe biden, and in order to i think hype up and traumatize the democrats reactions to russia. that being said, there has been some bipartisan support that house emerge today, if not muted applause for biden's sanctions announced. although even democrats say that they believe that the administration should impose more severe economic penalty going forward, as it has been clear that months of t

senator menendez visual aid this week seemed that it was reminding of a similar 1:10 years ago. what do you say to bobhere and him using his quote. >> we have a lot of respect and worked very closely on chairman menendez with all issues. we know he was unemployment. we respect that you. we continue to talk to him about it. and the quote was, that at this pace, if we continue, we are trying to revive it would be tantamount to reviving that corpse. president biden still wants us to negotiate in vienna. we are going back next week. that is a sign of our continued belief that it is not a dead corpse. that we need to revive. because it is in our interest. it is the best way we have, to put iran's nuclear program back in a box. and to make sure, that we can put that problem to the side. as we do with so many other issues that iran presents to us. so no, we have not reached that point, but i think it is very clear that if we do not reach a deal soon that point will have been reached. and then we will have to think about other ways to address iran's nuclear program. it is our european partners, the best way f

one of those the chair of the senate foreign relations committee, senator bob menendez. he said he wanted to see force up front. we got off of a call with senior administration officials moments ago. the strategy from the white house, what they're insisting is that there's more sanctions to come as putin escalates and not to take these sanctions today as the only action that the president is willing to take. but just the first steps that they're taking to respond to the first step that putin has made. neil? >> neil: thanks, hillary vaughn. we'll find trey yingst with the latest in ukraine. hi, trace. >> neil, good afternoon. today russian lawmakers voted to approve a request by president putin to use military force abroad. the move raising new questions about whether or not putin will decide that full scale invasion in to ukraine. we know perlier the russian leader spoke about the separatist controlled areas of the eastern ukraine. she said his decree as ply to the constitutional borders of these regions. this means that putin is recognizing land that is controlled by uk

host: at the senate banking hearing earlier, about homeownership, senator bob menendez asked about theacial homeowners gap in the united states. here is a piece of that conversation. >> there is a massive racial homeownership gap in this country, which is a serious problem. owning a home is a key to building intergenerational well and reducing racial wealth and inequality overall. according to the census bureau of data, the white homeownership rate is about 74.4%, compared to 43 .1% for african americans and 48 .4% for hispanics. so, miss martin, what are some of the barriers to minority homeownership and how do large commercial landlords mitigate or exacerbate those obstacles? >> i can respond to that. what we have discovered in northeast ohio is that lending disparities are real. we are finding that the majority and minority of neighborhoods do not have equal access to credit. essentially, we still see redlining going on in those neighborhoods. we also see very disturbing trends where black borrowers, even high income black borrowers are having less of an opportunity of getting mortg

this morning many members of congress with bob menendez at the forefront continue to push for new policiesal with the russian invasion of ukraine from the sanctions we talked about to immigration. both the house and senate received unclassified briefings from the pentagon late last night. leadership had already got an briefing from president biden. but the big question remains this morning, what kind of power does congress have here? i want to bring in democratic congressman seth moulton. always good to see you. you're unique so i want a dual assessment for you based on your current job in congress and your military background including leading front line infantry into baghdad. what do you make of these latest russian military movements? and how concerned are you we could see a russian takeover of the capital in the coming days? >> oh, we'll see a russian takeover of the capital within the next 24 hours, i believe. frankly, this is something i predicted since december. and for a long time, we've been responding to threats like this with half measures. so let me just say on the record right

i was disappointed that after weeks of very hard work by foreign relations committee chairman bob menendezcome to an agreement with our republican colleagues on the specific details of a preemptive sanctions package. there is a public statement out by our leadership, both parties in the senate, making it clear that we strongly support president biden's forceful public statements that if there is any further russian invasion of ukraine, any violation of their sovereignty and territory, we will support promptly imposing very tough sanctions. so, look, when leader mcconnell said on the floor he thinks the president, our president has all the powers he needs, that sort of took the air out of our efforts it reach a bipartisan proactive solution with legislation. there is a dozen of us leaving today on a bipartisan trip to europe to meet with some of our closest nato allies. i think there is strong bipartisan support for tough sanctions in the face of likely russian aggression in the coming days or weeks. >> we just had alex vindman on and he was saying he actually thinks now is the time to have

chairman bob menendez called for crushing sanctions last night too.eminder that lawmakers left capitol hill without passing a bipartisan sanctions package forcing senate republicans to enter deuce their own package, which of course did not go anywhere. instead, lawmakers were only able to pass a resolution, a statement you could say, in support of ukraine. so some would argue here on the middle that this was a massive about-face from senate democrats. martha? >> martha: thanks very much. let's bring in mike gallagher. member of the armed services committee. he served seven years in the marines and worked counter intelligence. good to have you here today. we heard a number of members of congress that wanted more powerful sanctions, wanted them sooner, wanted a hammer to prevent what we've seen happen. where do you stand? >> the initial sanctions seem weak and tepid. the entire intellectual foundation of this crisis, that the threat of sanctions after the fact would be sufficient to deter an invasion has obviously failed. sanctions will not be enough to

one democrat who we should be watching is the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee bob menendezyesterday, for example, that he thinks this should not be the end to sanctions. i also spoke today to another important democrat adam schiff to have the intelligence committee, he supports what president biden has done but he says nothing else needs to happen, that russians are occupying ukrainian territory and the u.s. should impose more sanctions at any"time." one more groups of democrats, progressives. they are watching the war footing of this country, barbara lee of california is supporting president biden in gen, and wrote this -- it's important to stress any new military deployments must be done in full compliance with congress' constitutional war powers. what she's sayings we don't want anoer war. >> woodruff: manwhile, lisa, republicans are being publicly more critical of the president, but we know they, too, are divided. tell us what you are seeing and hearing from them. >> reporter: we see in all of this the complicated nature of this situation and there is a different kind o

lawmakers from both parties want to turn up the pressure on russia even more democratic senator bob menendez, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, said the u.s. should not shy away from any options, including sanctioning the russian central bank, globing financial system, and sanctioning president putin personally adam schiff, head of the house intel committee is also urging stiffer sanctions, even unilateral action by the president. >> if there's any authority he doesn't have that he does need to increase sanctions on russia, he'll get it from congress and i think that congress on a very bipartisan basis would also be willing to provide whatever resources are necessary to help ukraine defend itself. >> president biden held a classified call with congressional leadership this afternoon on what comes next in kentucky, mitch mcconnell said he supports sending lethal aid to ukraine >> assuming there's a insurgency and ukraine is willing to fight, we need to give them the tools to fight with. we need to do everything we can to make this russian incursion painful on the russians who a

today the chairman and the ranking message of are your committee bob menendez and jim reusch it's a bigan get a deal done? or is it dead in the water? >> right now, i don't see a sanctioning deal being put together right now. i think the fact that we have waited this long to actually agree that sanctions before hand, i think that that probably is gone now. injury we're too close to the point where mr. putin could make his actions known at any time. but i think there are some other things that we could be doing. part of it is to clear delineate what the impact would be to mr. putin and to russia. not only in terms of our continued support for ukrainians in their battle in terms of defensive weapons and so forth. but one more thing as well. today mr. putin is using the wealth of petroleum products to literally fund his operations. look, if we could open up our spigots again and could start to produce oil again here in the united states, bring the value, the price per barrel of oil and natural gas down, right now that's going to impact mr. putin. not only that but it would help domesticall

. >> i talked with the head of the senate foreign relations committee, senator bob menendez about thesedent biden in the first steps. but things are more in the arsenal that can be deployed here. specifically, cutting russia off from the banking system, the mother of all sanctions that menendez and others have been working on in the first weeks with russia. what is your sense of what the u.s. goes forward here if putin escalates then you could see some of the tools in the arsenal pulled out, you know, should that happen sooner, based on the reporting that you've done and what you're hearing about the appetite for that? >> right. as you just mentioned there's two parts to this. there's one, this ultimate package, miss massive package will include things like s.w.i.f.t. sanctions. the other part when do you start moving towards that massive package. one is saying we're starting high but this is not what they expect if putin moves further beyond the separatist territories. so the question is can the allies decide not only what that package is but when should it be triggered, when does puti

judy: last question, your democratic counterpart bob menendez said today, or yesterday when he saw then proposal, i am quoting, it is a shame senate republicans have decided to choose partisan posturing instead of working to reach a consensus on this. how do you answer that, at a time when we are seeing what could be russian movement any day now? >> we negotiated in good faith. bob negotiated in good faith. he previously introduced the democrat position. we were unable to come to an agreement, so i introduced what is our position. this, if moscow was listening, and i suspect they may be, this is not a republican-democrat fight. this problem is an american problem and if there is an invasion, there will be sanctions as described by the president, a described by my bill, the secondary sanctions. moscow should understand that. judy: you don't think this sends a signal of disunity on the part of the americans? >> it should not. anyone who understands how these things work will listen to what we say, and that is that there will be very debilitating sanctions that are put on russia that will