in the meantime, newsroom with brianna keilar starts now. >> i'm brianna keilar with baldwin. learned that secretary of state john kerry will speak assignment this hour. this is after the meeting with the russian foreign minster. when he starts, we will bring you that live. united nations envoy agreed to lead the region after being threatened by a group of armed men who wanted him in a car. this as a solution to deescalate the growing tension me

. >> let's bring in cnn senior political correspondent brianna keilar. e've been getting some reaction from high-profile republicans to clinton's remarks. not exactly what you might expect. arizona senator john mccain a vocal critic of clinton's handling of the benghazi terrorist attack as well as other things she did as secretary of state. he tweeted today, "she's right on this comparison." marco rubio agreed with clint clinton's take saying there are similarities between putin and hitler's approach. no surprise i suppose she's more candid when she's not a camera there than when there is a camera there. are you surprised with reactions? >> from republicans? >> yes. >> not really because you've heard some of them saying the same thing. i think what's interesting is i'm hearing some of the same things from democrats and republicans. they're saying, you know, this was inartful, but -- >> the hitler comparison. >> exactly. one democrat i spoke to said basically you never really want to drop the "h" bomb because she has a nuanced argument and i've heard no on

our brianna keilar joins us now from washington. you hearing anything from the clinton camp on this? >> reporter: nothing from the clinton camp at this point, john. i should tell you that hillary clinton will be speaking here in a few hours at ucla. she is giving a lecture. there is about 1800 students that have tickets. she will be talking to a very large group there. these were made at an off-camera fund-raiser. it was supposed to be closed to the press, off the record. certainly, john, you and i have learned in the last couple of years that there is really no such thing as off the record when it comes to a fund-raiser. she was talking about putin extending passports. she went on to say the germans by an scestry, hitler kept sayi, i have to go and protect my people. another person who was an editor of a small group of newspapers who happened to be at this event said she was very quickly to say, followed that up by saying that there is obviously an attempt by the obama administration for a peaceful resolution. she tried to clean up

newsroom with brianna keilar starts now. >> i'm brianna keilar for brooke baldwin. special coverage on the crisis in ukraine. russia is denying they are planning a full military assaults if crimea doesn't surrender. today a naval commander promised a military storm if the ukrainian military refuses to put down the weapons in crimea. they are the heavily pro russian

newsroom with brianna keilar starts now. >> i'm brianna keilar for brooke baldwin. this is special coverage on the crisis in ukraine. russia is denying they are planning a full military assaults if crimea doesn't surrender. today a naval commander promised a military storm if the ukrainian military refuses to put down the weapons in crimea. they are the heavily pro russian state in ukraine. u.s. officials say 6,000 troops are already there taking control. today president putin watched his troops in russia practicing and as he bears down, the world is waiting to see how president obama will live up to his work. three days ago, he spoke with costs for any military intervention by russia. secretary of state john kerry is heading to the capital of kiev tonight and the u.s. just announced they won't send a delegation to the paralympics in sochi that start on friday. the critics say the u.s. response has not been fast or furious enough. senator john mccain for instance spoke to cnn last hour. >> with ukraine, it is the crown jewel. let's go back to peace. what kind of a m

i'm brianna keilar in washington. this morning, the u.s. military is on the move.to the "cnn newsroom." last hour, a u.s. warship, the guided missile destroyer, uss cruxton crossed into the black sea. it will take part in previously planned military exercises with romania and bulgaria as tensions continue to simmer. cnn senior international correspondent, ivan watson is in the bosphorus strait, the part of the waterway that divides europe and asia. is this adding to tensions in the area even though this was already scheduled? >> reporter: well, that's right. the u.s. navy said this was a previously scheduled visit by this american destroyer. that's the same thing the russian navy said when two russian warships sailed up this channel into the black sea on tuesday when the ukrainian navy ship did the same. we know very well that the situation in ukraine and crimea is anything but normal. there is a russian military occupation of the crimean peninsula, which sticks out into the black sea. any movement made by any military right now is taken as symbolic. it does have a

in the meantime, newsroom with brianna keilar starts now. >> i'm brianna keilar with baldwin. we just learned that secretary of state john kerry will speak assignment this hour. this is after the meeting with the russian foreign minster. when he starts, we will bring you that live. united nations envoy agreed to lead the region after being threatened by a group of armed men who wanted him in a car. this as a solution to deescalate the growing tension may be happening right now in paris where john kerry just met with russian foreign minster and defense secretary said he is beefing up a training mission and adding an air patrol mission. lawmakers are going tit for tat. that would confiscate assets if they slap sanctions on russia. they could vote on a non-binding sanction resolution. for now the west is more focused on economic aid to the ukraine. promising $15 billion in trade and economic and technical assistance. the u.s. and britain agreed in principal to deploy international observers to ukraine. the idea is to ease concerns after president putin indicated he was worried ab

brianna keilar, hillary clinton putting vladimir putin, making this compare ton with hitler.o do so. i'm surprised that hillary clinton would make that comparison but what are you getting? what kind of reaction? >> reporter: right now, i'm trying to get some reaction from her camp. specifically, there is none. they are not commenting. if you invoke nazi germany and adolf hitler, it is like the third rail of rhetoric. it gets so much attention. whatever hillary clinton's opinions are, about putin, this sort of increases the volume, if you will. we heard her last week, in florida, not on camera but talking about putin. this was before the invasion of the crimean peninsula. she likened him to czars. she likened him to communist leaders of russia. but this is obviously to a whole new level. that's why so many people are surprised at this point. it would certainly be out of character for her. she is pretty disciplined when it comes to staying on message and not really ratcheting up something unless she wants to. it is unclear where this came from at this point. to put it in contex

. >>> i'm brianna keilar in for brook baldwin.nt obama and his secretary of state reject russia's reasoning for what's happening in ukraine. right now ukrainian ministry officials say at least 16,000 russian troops are in ukraine's heavily pro-russia state of cr if the m imea. but john kerry who visited the capitol of kiev and president obama insisted what vlad

brianna keilar has a 360 bulletin. >>> according to the white house russian president vladimir putinpresident obama today and the two agreed their diplomats should meet soon to discuss a possible solution to the crisis in ukraine. the white house says that's only possible if russia pulls back troops gathered on the border with ukraine. u.s. officials estimate 40,000 russian troops are on the border with another 45,000 either already in crimea or poised to go in if needed. and an alidged ms-13 gang member was nabbed by the fbi just one day after he was put on its most wanted list. juan elias garcia is accused of killing a new york mother and her toddler four years ago. he surrendered at the u.s. embassy in nicaragua. >>> attorney general eric holder says the federal government will recognize same-sex marriages performed in michigan last saturday before an appeals court put the unions on hold. holder's actions allowed those couples to be eligible for federal benefits. >>> anderson, i am wondering if you know this weekend marks the 50th anniversary of "jeopardy." >> i do know that. >> b

brianna keilar is working this story for us.ry clinton spoke out moments ago with a clarification. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. just moments ago at ucla where she was giving a lecture. but first i want to play for you audio of what she said yesterday. this was at a fund-raiser in long beach. and she was drawing a comparison between what putin is doing in crimea as far as his justification for russia's involvement in crimea comparing it to hitler's justification on intervening on behalf of russians living in choke slovakia living in poland. take a listen. >> today putin said in a long press conference oh, you know, all i want to do is protect the rights of the minorities, namely russian speaker, and he e's been on a campaign to get everybody who has any russian connection, retired russian military in crimea, given them all russian passports. now if this sounds familiar, it's what hitler did back in the '30s. all the germans that were -- you know, the ethnic german, the germans by ancestry who were in places like czechoslovaki

. >>> i'm brianna keilar in for brook baldwin. president obama and his secretary of state reject russia's reasoning for what's happening in ukraine. right now ukrainian ministry officials say at least 16,000 russian troops are in ukraine's heavily pro-russia state of cr if the m imea. but john kerry who visited the capitol of kiev and president obama insisted what vladimir putin says does not match what's happening on the ground. >> i don't think that's fooling anybody. i think everybody recognizes that although russia has legitimate interests in what happens in a neighboring state, that does not give it the right to use force as a means of exerting influence inside of that state. >> we condemn the russian federation's act of aggression. it is clear that russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further. russia has talked about russian-speaking minority citizens who are under siege. they're not. and in fact this government has acted remarkably responsibly by urging total calm. >> now, today mr. puti