and later in the hour the former united states ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul was going to join us for more on the russian threat. meanwhile the supreme court handed a major blow to president trump and gave the january 6th investigation a huge break. eight of the nine justices rejected trump's request to block the release of white house records concerning the capitol riot to the january 6th committee. the chairman of the committee benny thompson, called the high cower's decision a victory to the rule of law and democracy. earlier tonight another member confirmed some of that material trump hoped to keep hidden is already being released. >> some of the material has already been received at the committee. i think it's very important that this material will start flowing very soon, documents, videos, notes, logs, et cetera. we'll be getting the visitors logs, the call logs, the outtakes from the videos that he made as people were trying to talk him into asking the mob to leave the capitol. it will help us put together the picture of what happened leading up to the riot and on the d

joining us now, amid michael mcfaul. former u.s. ambassador to russia, under president obama. ussia entering these talks in good faith? >> i don't know. nobody knows. the only guy that really knows vladimir putin. [inaudible] >> i think we're having trouble with your audio, ambassador mcfaul. i know you said nobody really knows, maybe vladimir putin knows. try again, maybe we can hear you. >> sorry about that, can you hear? now >> a little bit. you're cutting it out. let's give it a shot. >> i really apologize for that. >> you're sounding. good >> testing, testing. >> stay in that position. >> sorry about that, never had that happen before. he likes it that way, creates leverage for. -- begin the negotiations amongst ourselves -- -- [inaudible] >> ambassador, is there any scenario, in which russia would de-escalate tensions, or are a view of the mind that it's inevitable that russia is going to take some action against ukraine? >> no. [inaudible] our our apologies there. we lost her apologies there. connection to former we lost our u.s. ambassador, connections to michael mcfaul

joining us is michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to russia under president obama. agreed to continue talks in ukraine. but is russia entering these talks in good faith? >> well, nobody knows. [ audio distortion ] [ no audio ] >> i think we're having trouble with your audio, ambassador mcfaul. i know you said no one really knows. maybe vladimir putin knows. try again, maybe we can hear you. >> sorry about that. can you hear me now? >> a little bit. you're cutting in and out. let's give it a shot. >> i really apologize for that. >> you're sounding good. stay in that position. stay in that position. >> okay. never had that happen before. [ inaudible ] and he likes it that way because that creates leverage for him. we begin to negotiate amongst ourselves, so -- president macron -- his own -- [ distorted ] [ inaudible ] . >> ambassador, is there any scenario in which russia would de-escalate tensions? or are you of the mind that it's inevitable that russia is going to take some action against ukraine? >> no, i'm not in that camp. it's -- [ audio distortion ] it's -- [ a

ambassador of russia michael mcfaul. evelyn, good to see you again. thank you for being with us. in the united states who see this as binary. is the united states getting involved in another war that may not be clear to everybody as to why we are getting involved, do you think that there are a series of actions of the united states can think ranging from sanctions to things that resemble military action that could actually resolve this? >> ali, thank you for having me on. i just want to reiterate what my colleague ambassador mcfaul said earlier. the biden administration, nato, it's not interested in any military fight with russia. what is at stake here are our core principles of the international system, the sovereignty of the states, like ukraine, the sanctity of borders, international borders, and russia has already violated ukraine's sovereignty. they annexed crimea illegally, something that has not happened since world war ii, that is to say and annexation of a neighboring country since hitler did it, and so we are standing up for ukraine's rights, we should have put on a mor

for that we turn to michael mcfaul, the former united states ambassador to russia from 2012 to 2014.an msnbc international affairs analyst, and nina khrushchev a, she is a professor of international affairs at the new school. good evening to both of you, i want to pick up where richard left off, there is an argument made by vladimir putin across the entire length of russia's western florida with european countries. some of which are nato countries, some of which are not. russia does not want nato on its borders. some of the people in those countries do not want nato in western troops, or armaments in their countries. what is the truth of that situation to your sense? >> thank you. from my point of view of course, the argument is that russians do not want nato on their border. that is for sure. however, the countries that are not russia, on that border, vladimir putin is behaving in fact, convinced even those who did not want to before to not you want it now just in case. even north european countries, the land for example, that never wanted to be part of nato, then said well, if puti

michael mcfaul, i want to ask you about the issue that chris raised. you could argue the most immediate visceral threat to democracy is 100,000 russian troops along the ukraine border who appear to be preparing for possible invasion of ukraine. you know vladimir putin as well as any former ambassador. you've watched him post up. you've been tongue-lashed by him. i have to ask you about what you think he's going to do. is he bluffing, is he going to go over that line? is there a way to finesse his demand for -- >> i don't know, david. nobody knows. i do know putin well. i first met him in 1991. i've accident with him in the government. i've written about him. the other thing i know is that vladimir putin likes ambiguity and uncertainty. he's very cobble in this moment right now whereas americans, we're not very comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. that's a very stark lesson i learned working in the government. i was in the kboft for five years with president obama's administration. we're kind of engineers, david. if there's a problem out there in

ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul, and admiral james, best-selling author of several books, includinghelf." thanks for joining us on this. ambassador mcfaul, let me go to you first. you heard the defense secretary and the white house saying diplomacy is a viable option. the chairman of the joint chiefs, mark milley, though, issuing a very stark warning. what can we expect as this situation unfolds? >> i don't know. i want to be honest. i don't know how to interpret what's going to happen. the only person, the only decision maker that really matters at this point is vladimir putin. he doesn't get press conferences. he doesn't chat to reporters. he doesn't even talk to his own government about what he's thinking, and my guess is, having negotiated across the table from him for several years, is that he himself hasn't decided what he wants to do. i do think the biden administration made the right move to respond to his, i call them ultimatums but the russians call them treaty proposals. they sent those proposals, one from the united states and one from nato last week, and if you read the

ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. courtney, you've had all of this reporting about what the pentagon is prepared to do. when they say 8,500 troops are in a state of heightened alert, what does that mean. >> reporter: those troops have been put on a prepare to deploy order. the fact they are should be our first indication they are trying to message this, to send this signal to russia that the military is prepared to go and shore up and bolster the defenses of u.s. nato allies in the region around ukraine. so these are troops that will, some of them already are on a short tether. they are on a short deployment schedule meaning that at any time they can be called up and say in a couple days you're going to be ready to go to x, y, or z -- >> i'm sorry. president biden is talking about ukraine right now. we'll be back in a moment. >> what's your message to the forces on high alert? >> the forces on high alert are part of a nato operation, not a sole u.s. operation and i made it clear to president putin we have a sacred obl

government and academically and for his books, michael mcfaul from u.s. ambassador to russia, what is putin up to? is he going to invade no matter what happens? is this a delaying tactic? what is he -- what kind of leverage is he looking for? >> well, i want to be very clear. i don't know. president biden doesn't know. cia director burns doesn't know. sergei rib kof, the deputy foreign minister in geneva also doesn't know. to the best of my knowledge, nobody knows. that's exactly what putin wants. he wants uncertainty, he thinks that gives him leverage, and he's got some historical precedence for believing that's true. number two, though, andrea, i would say so far what we're hearing out of geneva is positive. they've agreed to keep talking that they're going to go through what i think will be more ritualistic talks in the russia nato forum and the osce, but the key thing for me is when -- there he is right there, deputy foreign minister rib kof says we do not plan to invade ukraine. we want to keep talking. that's a good sign. and when you think about ot

with me now to talk about this, ambassador michael mcfaul, former u.s.sia and an msnbc international affairs analyst, and susan page, washington bureau chief for "usa today." thank you for being with me. ambassador, why do you think putin picked this time, this point, to raise tensions along the border? >> i don't know. honestly, i don't know. and nobody knows. and don't trust anybody who says they do know. which is to say, to underscore what you started with. this is completely fabricated by vladimir putin. there was no crisis about ukraine joining nato. nato didn't say we want to bring ukraine in now. the new biden administration didn't say that now is the time for bringing them in. he invented that, because he wants security guarantees from the west and president biden that i don't think the president should or can deliver. so he's created this crisis to try to create some new leverage on the ground. i don't think it's going to work, and then we're going to have to see how he responds. >> you know, ambassador, i think back to my college days, reading

ambassador michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to russia, always a pleasure, sir.here. >> sure. >>> we've got much more to come here tonight, including how one republican judge may have just given democrats some good news. that and more ahead. s some goods that and more ahead. estion to l. and a follow up. and a “did you see my email?” text. orrrr... you could see her status in slack. and give lisa a break while you find someone online who can help. slack. where the future works. these are leakproof underwear. machine-washable undies that look and feel just like normal. and that absorb up to 8 teaspoons of liquid. to protect you from periods, bladder leaks, and sweat. find your leakproof underwear at knix.com why do people who live with generalized myasthenia gravis want a new treatment option? because we want to be able to get up and get ready for work. because the animals need to be cared for, and we like taking care of them. because we want to go out to dinner with our friends. because, in family photos, we want to be able to smile. a new fda-approved treatment

ambassador to russia now director of the institute for international study at stanford, michael mcfaulow. >> the biden administration made it clear that an invasion is an invasion. after the conference, they said any invasion is going to be met with a strong response. joe biden during the press conference said things that obviously concerned a lot of people and i am sure concerned you. after they quickly get this statement out, any russian military forces move across the ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, it will be met with swift severe united response from the united states and our allies. first thing, thanks for reminding me that i was in hin ski. >> you may remember there trump at that conference when asked we should hand americans to be interrogated by mr. putin, he said that's a great idea. i remember that and i remember being there with jonathan. to your point that, they cleaned it up and they should not have used that word. everybody understands that. it underscores an analytic problem they have. if russian soldiers march all the way to kiev, a full comprehensive resp

chief correspondent is richard engel and phillip rucker for the washington post and ambassador michael mcfaul. analysts, thank you for being with me. richard, you spent the last couple of days on the front lines, talking to people and soldiers, what are they telling you? >> reporter: so when we speak to soldiers and citizens here in the east, they are saying they are calm that they are trying to go about their daily lives as if this crisis were not happening but then when you spend more time talking to them and they get beyond that initial reaction, they'll tell you that they do have lingering concerns that they are worried. there are certainly no panic. there was no panic on the front lines, we didn't see any increase activities or increase militarization. it was pretty much business as usual and here in this village was not far from the front and other villages we are not seeing panic buying or people coming off the streets, just this growing concern that this time may be different. so they have been in a low level conflict with russia and russia russia-back separatists for the past eight y

and -- michael mcfaul was gonna join us on the russian threat. meanwhile, the supreme court handed a major blow to president trump, in the january six information got a good break. they blocked trump's request to block the release of trump's records inserting the capitol -- riot they called it a victory for the growl of law and for democracy. earlier tonight, they confirmed that some of the material that trump wanted hidden, has already been released. >> some of the material has already been received at the committee. i think it's very important that this material will start pouring very soon. documents, videos, notes, logs, etc. we'll be getting the visitors logs, the call logs, the outtakes for the videos that he made as people were trying to talk him into asking the mob to leave the capitol. and will get the picture of what happened leading up to the riot and on the day of the riot. >> the company is already issued to more subpoenas to far-right activists nick fuentes and patrick casey. they say both individuals participated in events up to ja

ambassador to russia michael mcfaul tweeted this morning, i find it hard to believe that putin will invade ukraine. if i'm right,i think diplomacy has more time. >> actually i think it's likely. xi jinping has made the olympics an extraordinary priority to showcase what he will try to communicate as his accomplishments, china's success, quote, unquote, dealing with covid. so mr. putin is scheduled to show up there at the beginning of the olympics. so i think there's a pretty decent chance we get through february 20th, at least, without any sort of intervention. the real question is what happens next. quite honestly, jose, it's not -- the issue isn't timed for diplomacy to work because there's no mystery about what's being offered by the west. there's clear limits. the real question is what ultimately mr. putin is willing to accept. >> if he's willing to take a pause so my friend can hold his olympic games without any kind of conflict or focus being taken away from that, but it's -- it's kind of odd, right, richard, to think of a time when we're all waiting to see what putin may or may not

ambassador to russia michael mcfaul who will join me in our next hour. >>> as we turn to our other top story this afternoon the holiday season coming to a close with millions of americans just trying to get home. but for many that trip back is full of headaches and delays. joining us now nbc's morgan chesky on the travel nightmares and meteorologist michelle grossman. welcome both. we'll start with you, morgan. >> greetings from dallas. taking drastic change in weather conditions combined with the new variant and you have the travel nightmare currently playing out. >> what they said is they didn't have enough people to run the crew. >> reporter: airlines crippled by cancellations due to crew shortages from covid-19. on saturday alone more than 4,000 flights canceled and more than 11,000 delayed. >> canceled pretty late, about an hour before the flight. >> reporter: severe weather making matters even worse. residents in kentucky ringing in the new year with heavy rain, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. in southern kentucky, hit particularly hard with roads turning to rivers stranding some m

former ambassador, michael mcfaul, i appreciate you taking time to speak with us. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, what could actually stop republicans from one prominent voice but, it laughing all the way to election day. that's when the 11th hour continues after this short break. continues after this short break. it's our january sale on the sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to relieve pressure points. and, it's temperature balancing so you both sleep just right. save $1,000 on the sleep number 360 special edition smart bed, queen now $1,999. plus, 0% interest for 36 months. what has bothered me very much, is the republicans are laughing all the way to election day. they have not seen cast one bloody vote. which shows us where they are at. and we have to change that. >> to that point from senator bernie sanders, a new nbc poll shows a distinct disadvantage for democrats heading into the midterms. republicans have a double digit lead on enthusiasm. 61% to 47% for democrats. with us tonight simone sanders former chief spokesperson for

he was moscow bureau chief and with me michael mcfaul. we have the perfect team here assembled. courtney, let's start with you. you are reporting, secretary of defense lloyd austin has briefed the president about options on the table in advance of a russian invasion in ukraine. the options could include the possibility of sending thousands of troops. what's the latest on that this hour? >> yeah, that's right. so what's critical here is this was a briefing that happened over the weekend at camp david with president biden's national security team. what's different, though, is rather than talking about what the u.s. military could do after a russian invasion or potential incursion, now they're talking about the potential for what the u.s. military could do in advance of one. so they're talking about potential deterrent methods using the u.s. military. what we're talking about here is options that include sending troops, sending equipment, potentially some flights like bomber flights or jets that would fly over the neighbors around ukraine but they are not talking about sending u.s.

hour, garrett will be leading the way, but we begin with the at miller, former allied commander, michael mcfaul from the u.s. ambassador to russia during the obama administration. and rich haase, president of the council on foreign relations. gentlemen, secretary blinken is spending yet another day cleaning up with allies and the russians, most importantly, president biden's comments on wednesday when the president acknowledged divisions between the allies on the eve of these talks. divisions that u.s. has been trying to keep hold up. including in belarus in the north, ukraine is surrounded on three sides, admiral, supreme commander of nato, is it hard for president putin to step back, once he's assembled these forces as president biden suggested, without doing something? whether or not it's an invasion, kinetic invasion or some other kind of attack. >> i think he has -- >> yes. >> i think he has painted himself into a diplomatic corner. he's clearly moved all of these forces in place, as tony blinken has said. it's not only what we see here now, it's also the history here. he's invaded georgia

. >> joining me now is michael mcfaul, former u.s.international affairs analyst and the best person to chat about this with us. the secretary of state said today he does not expect any breakthroughs this week but a sign that all parties are willing to come to the table. given to you how you know the russians and vladimir putin, are they meeting, in your esteem, in good faith? >> i do know something about vladimir putin. i used to interact with him for five years in the obama administration, and i don't know the answer to your question. secretary blinken doesn't know, president biden doesn't know, deputy secretary sherman doesn't know and why this meeting that starts tonight and will go into tomorrow, is so critical because i think there will be some indication on the russian side headed by their deputy foreign minister, somebody i used to deal with on a fairly regular basis when i was ambassador, whether or not they really want to negotiate or whether this is all just a pretext for some other kind of military -- and by the way, when i

ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul.come both of you, peter this crisis with russia and ukraine has only gotten worse. the talks last week are at a dead end according to russia and according to u.s. officials in response to that. so where does the biden white house go? >> well, i think the problem for the biden white house is that what putin wants or says he wants they can't give. he's not going to agree to any kind of limitations on nato, certainly not at least explicit limitations on nato accepting new members like ukraine. it's not going to back off the idea that ukraine should have the right to determine its own alliances and its own affiliations. what they have offered are, you know, talks about where we might place missiles and talks about whether exercises can be limited on both sides to avoid provoking each other. that kind of thing doesn't seem to have gotten much traction with putin and moscow. and so the real question for biden, president biden at this point is what does putin actually want out of this? does h

senator michael mcfaul said the other day that, you know, you would expect actually an invasion of chinatunning thing to say. it's one person but obviously, you know, somebody who is getting briefed. and, you know, it comes in the context here of the timing is not random. i don't just mention the olympics, right, and the recent incursions into taiwanese airspace by chinese jets. it's -- it's what's going on in ukraine, right? putin and xi are -- are allies. there is that high-stakes game of chicken going on, um, that xi is watching more closely than perhaps anyone. if putin invades ukraine in any way, how does xi see that? >> oh, i think it -- it's -- you are exactly right. it is a very similar situation in both cases. it is actually, in both cases, very similar, which is that putin's great fear is that ukraine is developing its own identity, is becoming its own country with a very distinct, often anti-russian identity. taiwan similarly has increasingly defined itself as a democracy, as opposed to the dictatorship on the mainland. so you have these cases where, you know, what their great

former ambassador, michael mcfaul, i appreciate you taking time to speak with us. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, what could actually stop republicans from one prominent voice but, it laughing all the way to election day. that's when the 11th hour continues after this short break. 11th hou continues after -we are here! -for new homeowners, break. it's smart we parked near the exit. -absolutely. -there you go. that way, [whistles] let's put away the parking talk, maybe, for a minute. parking is where the money is, though. can you imagine what this place pulls in on parking alone? alright, no more talking about parking lots. a lot of these are compact spots. it's not pretty. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. we still planning to head out around the third quarter? let's not talk about leaving before we're actually at the game. with relapsing forms of ms... we still planning to head out around the third quarter? there's a lot to deal with. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things to

ambassador michael mcfaul but want to thank him for joining us tonight. you can catch me on the sunday show 10:00 a.m. eastern here on msnbc. 10:00 a.m. until noon, just to be clear. "the 11th hour" starts right now. >>> good evening once again. i'm ali velshi, day 367 of the biden administration. tonight, a stunning new report provides a look at the inner workings of the trump white house in the run-up to the riot at the capitol, the january 6th investigators now have more than 700 pages of documents that donald trump tried to keep secret. reporting from politico gives us an inside look at some of those records. politico has obtained an unsigned draft executive order that would have directed the defense secretary to seize voting machines and calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the 2020 election. the executive order, whose author is unknown, is dated december 16th, 2020. that's more than two weeks after trump's attorney general william barr said the justice department had found no evidence of election fraud. politico also says th

ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul, now an msnbc international affairs analyst and clint watts.s would be like if it were anybody else. so, maybe you can help me with that. how -- it's so galling at a moment of frailty of our own democracy to see first tucker carlson -- and i guess this shows that tucker's the leader, and donald trump merely follows him, throwing their arms around viktor orban. >> i agree. it's shocking, and it's shocking for a couple of reasons. number one, to be meddling in the domestic internal affairs of hungary, that's one thing we shouldn't do. but number two, that paragraph eloquently captures, this is a country that was one of the breakthrough liberal democracies after the collapse of communism in 1989 and slowly over years, in a very important lesson for americans, it has eroded. viktor orban didn't even make the cut for president biden's democracy summit. 100 countries were invited. they didn't even make the cut, and yet our president goes out -- our former president, excuse me, president trump, goes out and endorses him, and one other thing i want to

. >> michael, ben mcfaul in the obama white house and administration, made the points that the stakesstanding until the world. that china will watch in terms of its calculations on taiwan and other wise. is that the sense you get in covering this administration, or is it more narrow in their view? >> well, look, i think it is a really compelling and interesting argument. it flows into part from the idea that much of the world, not everyone, saw our exit from afghanistan as being a kind of a capitulation, it obviously ended in a messy fashion. it was an embarrassment for the united states. even if you can debate whether it could have been handled better, it looks terrible and i think there was a sort of vibe not to be glib about it that america was sort of in retreat and weakened. the state department, biden officials generally vehemently reject this idea and they say that actually the united states is in a stronger position because we're out of afghanistan and we're not tied down in this expensive distracting quagmire. but i think the reality is there. there is a sense that america ha