peter alexander is at the house. and, peter, the white house is already responding with sanctions tonight. >> reporter: yeah, lester that's right the white house says president biden will slap limited economic sanctions on those two separatist regions for now with additional steps targeting russia coming tomorrow. so far the u.s., the u.n., and others are blasting russia's move as a violation of international law. and today we saw the president's to national security advisors arriving here where the president spoke by phone with ukraine's president and european allies. all of this comes just hours after the white house had said that president biden would be willing to meet with putin in principle if russia has not invaded. but tonight an official says an invasion still appears imminent, lester. >> peter, president biden has said he believes putin will invade now the u.s. is going further, talking about who russia might target >> reporter: yeah, the biden administration alerted the united nations that russia will targe

blinken just called off his meeting with russia's foreign minister scheduled for thursday. >> peter alexanderthe white house. thanks. >>> in ukraine, growing fears over whether putin plans to deploy forces inside ukraine beyond the pro-russian territory he already controls. richard engel is in one of those areas in eastern ukraine that's on edge tonight. >> reporter: this is what it's like to live in a ukrainian village next to separatist areas backed by russia the ukrainian interior ministry says separatist fire killed at least one man here. the separatists have dramatically increased their attacks over the last several days, goading the ukrainian military to fire back now that they're protected by russian president vladimir putin and the 150,000 plus troops he has near the border. overnight, armored vehicles without marks were seen on the move in the pro-russian enclaves after putin recognized their independence people there speak russian and russia has thousands of troops there. nato says more russian forces have arrived. but putin now signaling he's interested in more than just territory

peter alexander is at the white house. >> reporter: condemning as a brutal assault without provocation, president biden tonight blamed russian president vladimir putin for what he called a premeditated attack. >> putin is the aggressor. putin chose this war and now he and his country will bear the consequences >> reporter: the president imposing harsh, new sanctions, cutting off russia's largest banks and companies from western financial markets. restricting exports of technology and freezing trillions of dollars of assets, including those controlled by russian elites close to putin and their families >> we will limit russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen. >> reporter: the president promising to make putin an international pariah, but tonight notably not announcing what ukraine's presiden and bipartisan lawmakers have said would be the strongest financial punishment available to allies. barring russia from s.w.i.f.t., the secure system that connects banks in more than 200 countries. >> given the full-scale invasion, given you're not pursuing disconnecting r

tonight we look at the confirmation battle to in starting with peter alexander at the white house. >> as she walked through the blue room doors with the president, judge ketanji brown jackson took steps no black woman ever has before. >> i can only hope that my life and career, my love of this country and the constitution will inspire future generations of americans. >> president biden praised jackson as one of the nation's brightest legal minds and cast her groundbreaking nomination this week as evidence of our enduring democracy >> as we watch freedom and liberty under attack abroad, i am here to fulfill my responsibilities under the constitution. >> the president delivering the news to jackson in a call last night keeping this campaign promise he made two years ago today. i'm looking forward to making sure that there is a black woman on the supreme court to make sure -- >> for too long, our government and our courts haven't looked like america >> if confirmed, jackson won't change the ideological makeup of the 6-3 conservative court and jackson was confirmed to the federal appeals

cost us at home, especially at the pump our team in place here and overseas we want to begin wit peter alexanderthe white house. >> reporter: tonight, president biden's move. >> there's no question that russia is the aggressor. >> reporter: announcing the promised punishment after vladimir putin recognized the independence of two pro-russian areas in eastern ukraine and sending forces there >> i'm announcing the first tranche of sanctions on russia, and will continue to escalate sanctions in russia escalates >> reporter: slapping penalties on two russian banks and russian debt, which the president says means moscow can no longer aise money from u.s. or europe, and also sanctioning several russian elites the president not mincing words. >> this is the beginning of russian invasion of ukraine. >> reporter: after backlash of the reluctance to not call it an invasion last night. >> who in the lord's name does putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors? this is a flagrant violation of international law. >> reporter: but critics say t

pick up coverage next. >>> good morning, i'm peter alexander. welcome to this week's special edition of "white house reports." >> and i'm kristen welker. >> there are at least three historic and evolving story lines that are unfolding in this building behind us. first, russia's invasion of ukraine, how it's shaping president biden's state of the union address scheduled for tomorrow might. and confirming his supreme court nominee, who would be the first black woman to serve on the court. >> in ukraine, citizens are taking up arms in defense have repelled russian forces from capturing the capital of kyiv and other cities. vladimir putin is putting his forces on my alert. according to the united nations refugee agency, the number of people fleeing the country is now mosh than 500,000. >> i don't want to see our boys and girls die. >> i must save my child. i must save him. >> putin is monster. >> no translation needed there. putin a monster, according to that young boy. in the next 15 minutes, president biden will host a secure call with america's a

. >> good day, this is peter alexander in washington d.c. andrea mitchell will join us live from munich in just a moment. but that emotional moment we just witnessed, with even the judge becoming emotional as she detailed the reason behind the sentence she gave to former police officer kim potter. she's just been sentenced in the fatal shooting of daunte wright for an a traffic stop that took place in april last year. joining us from minneapolis here. in this case, shaq, the prosecution was asking for more than seven years for a person with no criminal history, like potter when the state sentencing guidelines say she would have been eligible to get between six and eight and a half years. the sentence now just two years. only 18 of them served behind bars. >> reporter: that's exactly right. you have that two-year sentence coming from the judge who, as you mentioned, got emotional reading the closing comments while thinking about the position kim potter has been placed in and the fact it was a split second decision when she drew her firearm an

just coming to you from peter alexander who you just see on your screen. also want to bring in matt bodner in moscow and richard engel in ukrein and dana petard who served for u.s. army general and was a presidential adviser to president bill clinton. what we just heard from vladimir putin, matt, which seems to be as we talk about the simmering crisis here and the simmering tensions with russia and ukraine that have hit to use another cliche a boiling point, i mean, this is potentially a spark from putin to recognize the independence of these regions. >> exactly, hallie, it's really remarkable. i don't know what to say about it other than the fact that we've been talking for weeks now about how we're just waiting for vladimir putin to make the case to his people that those troops that have been kind of rallying on ukraine's border should go into ukraine. we've talked about how they didn't believe it was possible. there's no other way i think to look at the speech we just saw other than vladimir putin laying out the case for such an incursion. now, of cours

peter alexander is outside the house. we have just learned that second gentleman doug imhoff at an event today and was ushered out fast because of a security concern. students and staff at the school evacuated. what do we know? >> reporter: that is exactly right. this happened at 2:18 today. the second gentleman, the vice president's husband doug imhoff was at an event here in washington, d.c. at dunbar high school. he was ushered off the stage by secret service agents during this event. we have now heard that while the students remain evacuated, they are on a playing field outside of the school, itself, that there was a bomb threat now confirmed by the d.c. public school superintendent, just confirming now it was a bomb threat responsible for the security situation that ultimately led to the second gentleman being cleared from that building, evacuated, as were the students at the time. we've reached out independently to the secret service as well as the office of the second gentleman and have heard nothing back from them

>> jonathan bradley, peter alexander, helene cooper, thank you all this morning. joining us is mikey sherell. it's a pleasure to see you this morning. what do you make of this news of 3,000 u.s. troops being sent to eastern europe? >> i think it makes sense, given that russia has over 100,000 troops now encircling ukraine. so certainly to send some support to our allies, defensive support to make sure that russia doesn't think that they can continue these aggressive acts, not just against ukraine, but against the other states in the region. >> and tell me what you've learned from your visit there, just last week. >> as i mentioned, i just returned back, i went as a member of the house armed services committee on the foreign affairs delegation to really talk to our allies and nato, make sure that we were presenting a unified front in the face of this russian aggression, and then to go meet with the ministry of defense, the foreign affairs ministry, the president, to really ensure that they had the support they needed. and i'll tell you, being on the ground in ukrai

but let's begin our coverage this morning with nbc's peter alexander. peter, good morning to you. >> savannah, good morning. let's detail what we know about this operation. the isis leader was killed. u.s. officials saying that the isis leader killed himself exploding that bomb on the third floor of the safe house. it came as a special operations raid was beginning. a military operation that we believe was at least weeks in the making. we're told by sources on the ground that a u.s. military translator used a loudspeaker for approaching an hour trying to get civilians out of that safe house. we do believe according to those on the ground that there were at least 13 individuals who were killed here. but this the white house says, the president says, was a success. it ridded the world of this top isis leader. the successor to baghdadi who killed himself in a raid that took place thee years ago. it comes as there have been concerns about the resurgence of isis right now. it has recently overrun a pruz in northeast syria. again, this assault taking place in

i want to bring peter alexander in. peter what have you learned? >>> it sounds like we lost peter. we're going to take a quick break and be back with that news on the other side. a quick break and be back with that news break and be back with that news on the other side. mm, smooth. uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight? might just need to bre 'em in a little bit. you don't want 'em too loose. for those who were born to ride there's progressive. with 24/7 roadside assistance. -okay. think i'm gonna wear these home. -excellent choice. i'm always up for what's next, even with higher stroke risk due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin i'll go after that. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk better than warfarin and has less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis has both. don't stop taking eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking, you

my colleague nbc's peter alexander has this report. >> reporter: condemning a brutal assault withoutvocation, president biden blamed russian president vladimir putin for what he called a pre-meditated attack. >> putin is the aggressor. putin chose this war. and now, he and his country will bear the consequences. >> reporter: the president imposing harsh new sanctions cutting off russia's largest banks and companies to western financial marks. restricting exports of technology. and freezing trillions of dollars of assets including those controlled by russian elites close to putin. and their families. we will limit russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen. >> reporter: the president promising to make president putin an international pariah and nont, announcing what ukraine's president would say is the strongest financial punishment available to allies, barring russia from s.w.i.f.t. the secure system that connects banks in more than 200 countries. >> given the full scale invasion, given that you're not pursuing disconnecting rusha from what is called s.w.i.f.t

keir simmons in london, peter alexander at the white house. peter, what more are we learning about this early morning mission? >> reporter: the details are still emerging, but we have many witnesses to talk about hearing hemters, hearing a clash between the u.s. special forces and fighters on the ground, hearing an explosion. we do know now that a helicopter was blown up on the ground after it suffered some kind of a technical fault. so an operation that lasted, according to witnesses, around two hours. we have been able to reach a man who says he owns the house that appears to have been targeted. he says that a number of families were living in the house including a widow and her child on one of those floors. as you mentioned, in terms of casualties, there was an organization called the syrian observatory based here in the uk. it is saying that 13 people according to it says good sources, 13 people have been killed, including 4 children and 3 women. as you mentioned, u.s. officials suggesting that the isis leader blew himself up, causing those

pick up coverage next. >>> good morning, i'm peter alexander.tion of "white house reports." >> and i'm kristen welker. >> there are at least three historic and evolving story lines that are unfolding in this building behind us. first, russia's invasion of ukraine, how it's shaping president biden's state of the union address scheduled

chief white house correspondent peter alexander is here. peter, we learned that president biden and president putin will talk tomorrow. what do we know? >> lester, that's right. the white house announcing that call will be tomorrow morning, the first time president biden and putin have spoken this year. he spoke virtually with nato and european allies. we can show you that. intelligence shows russia that 80% of forces they would need for a full scale invasion of ukraine. that's according to a western intelligence official and a u.s. official, and those forces are moving closer to the border. new intelligence does not include evidence that putin made any final decision, lester. >> peter, thank you. >>> let's turn to covid. tonight parents that want to get their very young children vaccinated have to wait longer. gabe gutierrez has the latest. >> reporter: tonight, pf covid vaccine for the youngest age group. kids six months to four years old. the company says it is postponing application for emergency use authorization, will wait for data on

. >> joining me now is peter alexander at the white house, courtney kimby in the briefing and joins us in a moment, and also in a moment we'll hear from former supreme allied commander of nato forces. peter, did president biden watch this happen in real time? >> reporter: the white house said that he did, that he was in the situation room last night. they said he was monitoring it in real time, so it's unclear exactly how much of it he could see in real camera terms and how much of it he and the vice president and others were able to hear about. they were there throughout the entire affair until u.s. troops were off the ground. before he left, he said, "god bless our troops." as it relates to those u.s. special operations operations, operators on the ground there, we're learning new details tact way this all played out. as we heard from john kirby moments ago, they had drilled on this, they had been focused on this effort with rehearsals and with planning that dated back months. president biden was shown a tabletop model of that safe house back in december, and ult my vly it was on tue

. >>> nbc's chief white house correspondent peter alexander. know you have some new information about how the white house is gaming out this situation in ukraine what can you tell us >> reporter: that's right. white house officials say they are still actively working to reach a diplomatic solution here to deescalate this crisis. in spite of russia's latest claim it is pulling back, some troops have not backed away from their assessment that russian invasion could begin at any time new this morning, a senior official tells me that the biden administration has formed what they're calling a tiger team, a diverse group of experts led by the white house that has been privately gaming out how the u.s. would respond to a variety of different scenarios, including a full-scale invasion. i'm told they have very recently held a pair of table top exercises several hours long, each including one with cabinet officials, building a playbook of responses, taking them through the first two weeks after any invasion, savannah >> and the administration has recentl

i'm understanding we have our chief white house correspondent peter alexander in contact with the sourceswhite house with some of the messaging and statements from president biden tonight. peter, what can you tell us from the white house and what is their understanding what is happening in ukraine at this hour? >> reporter: tom, i've been inside the white house and the president's top advisors seen the national security advisor jake sullivan and others gathering and huddling over the course of the last several hours and within the last two minutes, we have received our first statement from the president of the united states and since we just got it, i'll read key portions of it. he says the prayers of the world are with ukraine as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by russian military forces and the presi

i want to go to the white house correspondent peter alexander. on that point, what is the feeling around the white house on how quickly this may move forward? >> the desire to move forward quickly, as the president noted, she received bipartisan support when she was confirmed to the federal appeals court in the d.c. circuit just a year ago, with three republicans supporting her confirmation. they included lindsey graham, lisa murkowski of alaska, and susan collins of maine. today we are hearing from those individuals. graham among them, who had been expressing his desire that the president would select one of the other names on his short list. michelle childs, a judge in south carolina, his home state. he didn't do that today. lindsey graham saying this pick means the radical left has won over president biden once again. and for lisa murkowski, she posted a statement in the last couple moments saying her support for judge jackson during the confirmation last year does not guarantee that she will support her for the supreme court. so in a 50/50 se

chief foreign correspondent, richard engel in you chain and my chief white house correspondent, peter alexanderi want to start with you, peter. you've been at the white house throughout the morning as the story has been developing. what are your sources telling you about the strategy and timing of all this? >> as we've 3rd president say in recent days this was his intention that he would send additional u.s. troops to eastern europe to support those nato allies that are close to the border with ukraine right now. the president saying it wouldn't be a lot. it would happen in the near term and now we're seeing that happen. specifically to the nrm numbers we're hearing from the white house and the pentagon, we know there will be an addition 1,000 u.s. troops, already stationed in germany, moving forward to romania and troops presently at fort brag in the united states will go to germany. the vast majority will go to poland as the spokesperson just communicated a short time ago. the effort, notably, is to communicate this is a temporary decision to deter russia from invading ukraine and demonstrate

all risky. >> peter alexander and my fellow wildcat, we got to let you go. part of our coverage and we're going to bring in another brilliant nbc reporter. matt, who's in moscow. the sanctions got announced about two hours ago. what's the reaction in moscow? >> the kremlin when asked said they just didn't watch biden's speech. president putin was busy with a working meeting, so not too much there, but we know the russians expected this. they've been open about that. it's something putin and various other officials have been repeatedly bringing up. and they've kind of told the russian people that sanctions will happen no matter what. it's important to look at that. the fact they're saying sanctions will happen no matter what because it does feed into the domestic narrative we see here as being sold to the russians about a hostile west kind of being behind all of the things they're being told are happening in ukraine. so that's just kind of where we're at now with the sanctions. we'll obviously hear probably a little bit more tomorrow from the kremlin at the d

joining me former chief correspondent, richard engel and white house correspondent, peter alexander.ussian claims they have moved troops back. what is it the reality on the ground, if you could clear it up and president biden's message that the u.s. is not a threat to russia. is that getting through at all on russian media? >> reporter: i wish i could clear it up but we're seeing more claims from russia today. more footage saying that russian troops are leaving ukraine's boarder borbders and that their military exercises are wrapping up and as they wrap up, they're going home. this is the second day russia has put out footage. yesterday it was military vehicles going on to trains. and you played a clip from the secretary of state continue to say they don't see evidence of it. in fact, it's even commercially available satellite imagery won't approve that russia is pulling back. so, they're taking a strong stance on this, which the u.s. andinatee have been doing from the very start. every time russia make as claim, they're coming out and either disputing it or putting out u.s. intellig

joining me is correspondent, richard engel, peter alexander. retired four-star general, mccaffrey. and "the new york times" diplomatic correspondent, richard crowley. there is spectism is over russia's claims they're moving troops back over the border to garrisons. what are you hearing to make you think perhaps he's stepping back from the brink? >> reporter: well, ukrainian aren't convinced he's stepping back from the brink. there's a developing situation where there's what appears to be a cyber attack with the cyber command saying two major banks have experienced service attacks, along with two websites, one the ministry of defense and the other representing the armed services. we wept to the ministry of defense website and it is down and shows it's a site under maintenance. they say the service attack was largely unsuccessful and that the banks are not reporting any compromise financial information but their interface applications are experiencing difficulties. we've been inside the cyber command and the cyber command headquarters and directors told us most of the attacks that th

next week at 11:00, join peter alexander and kristen welker for a special edition of msnbc reports.ve at the white house has president biden prepares for his first state of the union address. they'll take you inside the white house. white house reports all next week 11:00 eastern only on msnbc. and we'll be back with much more breaking news, including my conversation with senate arms services chairman after this short break. arms services chairman after this short break. is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the first approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. you, getting on that flight? back off, uc! stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious aller

. ♪♪ >>> from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today," the winter olympics, with peter alexander kristen welker, live from rockefeller plaza. >>> welcome to "today." thank you so much for joining us on this saturday morning. peter, it's great to be with you in olympic headquarters in new york, where we will be broadcasting for the next two weeks. >> this is the closest we'll get to walking in an opening ceremony. it's 15 degrees. it feels like we're participating in the winter games today. >> it feels like we're on the ski slopes. we're bundled up. we wouldn't be more excited. >> this is the fun time of year. every time it comes around, the olympics is where we begin. the first medals were handed out a few hours ago. >> we're going to talk to jessie diggins in a moment. but first, let's start with nbc's steve patterson, following all of the action for us from china. steve, good morning. >> reporter: peter and kristen, good morning to you. the games have started. but unfortunately, the covid cases continue to rise. 20 athletes and officials arriving in beijing, testing positive on

and also errin haines, and here with me on set, correspondent peter alexander. and that is who i begin with. we just heard that interesting address by president zelensky where he was begging, and he said this is not a company nation, we should be begging for. and where do things stand and is it a good idea that he left ukraine considering that he may not have safe passage back in? >> i think you are right, this really did feel like a man whose back is to the wall. we're hearing from a president speaking before the world who clearly made the assessment that there was value in leaving his country despite those warnings of what could happen in his absence that putin may try to exploit his absence, that there could be some sort of assault. and he obviously felt that it was necessary to address those world leaders, nancy pelosi, vice president among others in person. the vice president and zelensky met this morning for about 40 minutes where he said in the brief remarks where our colleagues were allowed in the room, he said that they were effectively asking for speci

also, peter alexander from nbc asked if the president could do more with respect to sanctions why notbecause this sort of piecemeal for some tray doesn't seem to make sense give the fact that the u.s. and our international partners waited s long to actually go to a sanctions platform against russia knowing full well that there were warning signs long before now. >> and when asked about that cover the president came out an said these sanctions were never meant to deter any kind of aggression, which is news to people like his vice president kamala harris and his press secretary jen psaki, and the pentagon spokesperson who said these sanctions were built to deter russia and when the ukrainian president zelenskyy said let's get those sanctions in place, he kept saying no because we want to use those to deter and case russians goes in. now the president is saying, never really were meant as a deterrent. >> shocked a lot of people because they impart, you want t be on the same page with your team. i think the president either misspoke or was less than clear and that's being generous about e

. >> peter alexander, thank you as well. we want to take you an emotional scene at st. patrick's cathedral here in new york. it's the funeral service for fallen nypd officer wilbert mora. the 27-year-old was shot and killed last week responding to a domestic violence call. >> we'll never forget their names or acts of heroism. officer mora, we're here with you today and always and we know your heart is with us. >> mora joined the force back in 2018. they called him a hero. >> coming up, cutting the number people of killed by cancer in half. that's what the program is setting out to do. we're going to have the details coming up. also, 100 million americans could get hit by this new massive winter storm. we're going to check on its path. and a big reveal this morning with craig on "today." >> what is the new team name? >> we are the commanders. >> we are the commanders. >> the commanders, the washington commanders. >> that's right. >> the washington commanders. how activists successfully pushed an nfl team to change its name and the other teams they want to see follow suit

> looks like the president is leaving without answering the questions, including from our own peter alexander. good day. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. where we just heard the president touting a strong january jobs report. 467,000 jobs added with the unemployment rate ticking up to 4%. more people participating in the labor market and an additional 900,000 jobs added in the final months of 2021. >> i know it hasn't been easy. i know january was a very hard work for many americans. i know after two years, the physical and emotional weight of the pandemic has been incredibly difficult to bear for so many people. but here's the good news. we have the tools to save lives and keep businesses open and keep schools open. keep workers on the job and sustain the historic economic comeback. >> of course the president's problem is not only inflation but the fact that most americans, according to every poll, don't feel the economy is heading in the right direction. that's the challenge ahead. meanwhile, in beijing, to attend the olympic opening ceremony russia vladimir putin and xi. pu

peter alexander is at the white house for us. matt bradley is on the ground in ukraine. i also want to bring in retired u.s. army major general dana pitard. welcome to you all, guys. peter, i'm going to start with you on this one. just playing some sound from the president there, sounding incredibly dire any moment we could see feasiblely an invasion into ukraine. on top of that, the deputy ambassador expelled from moscow just this morning. what is the feeling inside the white house? >> i think there was definitely a new urgency to the president's comments this morning. to be very clear and i was on the white house south lawn when the president spoke to us, it's only by design he comes to speak to reporters. very often you see the shots, the president at marine one. it was clear he walked collectly directly to us. when pressed on whether he thought russia would invade he did think so and said he thought it would happen in the next several days. the u.n. ambassador of the unions said russia was moving toward an imminent invasion, in her words. that's significant because th

in this case, it's no exception, we are just learning in the last few minutes our colleague peter alexandervanka trump is in talks with the january 6th committee to cooperate. you'll remember several weeks ago from now, the committee requested to talk with the former president's daughter and senior adviser. the deadline they had thrown out as potential dates they wanted to see her, those have long passed but they exercise patience when they think they're going to get cooperation. clearly, this could be one of the circumstances where that might pay off for them. just to refresh, some of the things they wanted to talk to ivanka trump about, they laid all of this out in a lengthy letter several weeks ago when they reached out to request her to cooperate. among those things are conversations she had with then vice president mike pence, as well as with her father president donald trump on january 6th itself. they also want to hear about conversation she had providing obstruction and counting of electoral votes also the conversation with her father and white house staff while january 6th was unfo

we've got nbc chief white house correspondent peter alexander and ally vitale and joined by david druccers, political correspondent for "the washington examiner" and contributing editor for vanity fair's "the hive." and the author of "in trumpos shadow. if only we knew the answer to what's next. the question is who will be the nominee, and where will there be, if any, holdups? what can we expect from this meeting happening just over two hours or now from now. >> reporter: yeah, that meeting is going to start here at 1:45 eastern time. the president will be hosting the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, a position that biden himself once held. dick durbin as well as the ranking member, the top republican on the committee, chuck grassley here at the white house. the president wants to consult with them to hear their advice according to the white house and notably as you look at these two individuals, durbin has been a part of seven supreme court confirmation processes. joe biden and chuck grassley go back for decades, of course, when they senator biden was the jarm of the judiciary

he was asked by peter alexander at nbc that if you had more sanctions in your quiver, why not use thoseright now to try to really inflict some pain. you pointed out earlier, it takes a while. there is a ramp up time for sanctions to actually make a real impact and there's been plenty of critics out there who suggested this is something that should have happened weeks ago. we are where we are today and we can only hope for the very best for the folks in ukraine, trace. >> trace: surprising when the person that comes and says no one will give the sanctions even if they're totally approved and put in place, we will take a while for them to take effect. he said if they do not go in effect, he will feel emboldened. oak at the president of russia feel more emboldened that he does right now? while i've got you here come i want to read this because it came into was, this is president zelenskyy's latest address to his people this morning, and he says part of a here quoting "the second morning of a large-scale war 4:00 a.m. russia forces continue to launch missile strikes in the territory of ukra

. >> peter alexander.bviously white house hoping that this will show the kind of resolve to vladimir putin and to others around the world in the u.s. for that's clearly what the president was projecting today. and joining us is a member of the foreign relations committee. thank you. you were with the president at the national prayer breakfast. i know you've been part of his briefings. let's talk about isis and how important you think getting alcurigsy was to decapitating this terrorist organization? >> i'm so grateful for the bravery, skill and ultimately success of our armed forces and our special forces in particular in taking out this leader of isis. he was actively directing isis units in several countries around the world. targeting americans, civilians. a part of his background is he was one of the leaders of isis' brutal genocide against the azeety. a religious minority in iraq and leading to killing himself with a suicide vest during a special forces raid is a important step forward insecuring some

be a major part of the speech as white house press secretary jen psaki told kristen welker and peter alexandert 11:00. >> certainly what we're seeing on the ground in ukraine, the fact that the president has built a coalition of countries around the world to stand up to russian aggression to stand up to president putin, to put in place crippling sanctions, that is part of what people will hear in the space. that wouldn't have been the case three months ago. >> joining us now, former obama white house press secretary robert gibbs. former republican national committee chairman, michael steele, usa today's washington bureau chief susan page, and first tv appearance as nbc correspondent, yamiche alcindor. robert gibbs, first to you, how does the president tackle ukraine with the speech tomorrow instead of the domestic priorities, should it become the major focus, is he the foreign policy leader, does he pivot, what does he do? >> andrea, i think he's got to walk and chew gum at the same time, and likely talk about both of them. i tend to believe still, the economy is the biggest focus in this spee

. >> i want to bring in nbc chief white house correspondent peter alexander, joe reuben served as secretaryolved in a number of briefings. peter, before we get to the impact here, obviously the administration has said it's still looking for a diplomatic off ramp for vladimir putin. tell us about this call. >> that's exactly right. obviously this reinforces what the president has said over the course of the last several weeks, and certainly highlighted in his comments yesterday. the president speaking at 2:30 in a secure call this afternoon with the german chancellor, olaf scholz, this is significant because scholz met with vladimir putin yesterday, and the president said he wants to give diplomacy every possible chance. chris, to the point you were making as we started this conversation, the president was talking about the energy prices yesterday and the potential impact on americans, how they could see a sacrifice. he's not going to pretend this will be painless. he acknowledged the impact on energy prices. to walk you through the way this would play out, russia is a major exporter of oil

peter alexander is at the white house. richard engel is live in ukraine. n caldwell is on capitol hill. we're joined by angela stent, senior adviser at georgetown. peter, let me start with you. we've known people in the president's orbit had beens tal when and how he should talk about these russia/ukrainian tensions. why now? why today? >> it's a good question. in our conversation with senior administration officials, it's clear this white house and this president believed it's the right moment for him to be speaking to the american people before there is action taken by the russians, if action is to take place in terms of an invasion in ukraine, to detail what the u.s. strategy is, the ways in which it's working closely with america's allies and partners and about the potential impact it could have on americans at home given gas prices and other prices already high right now. this could in some way affect americans in their wallet depending on how things play out in the recent weeks. let's detail for you, if we can, some of what we do expect to hear from t

peter, kristin? >> blayne alexander, thank you for that report.e no war, please on the camera. >> we heard from one of the families in ukraine earlier, they need help. these folks need so much more help moving ahead. >>> let's check on the forecast. somara theodore is here, keeping an eye on things. good morning. >> good morning. this morning, a lot of friends in gulf coast states are waking to a soggy start this saturday. here's a live look at the radar. showers moving from corpus christi through houston. purple and pink is wintry mix in arkansas, pine bluff along 65, be careful on roads. that's impacting them through the day saturday. a bit of ice possible through saturday evening in arkansas. as far as totals go, looking at about a tenth of an inch. makes for slick driving conditions. give yourself time to take time that way. then we'll see this system make it to the coast heading through sunday. if you live in florida, montgomery, alabama, atlanta, south carolina, get ready for rain showers. we could see a quarter inch to an inch by the time i

remarks, we expect them to be available shortly, but our colleagues on the south lan, including peter alexandern able to send us some notes about what the president had to say. it is still dire. there is still concern that the u.s. assessment is that vladimir putin has enhanced his capabilities near the border, not reduced or de-escalated, as russian messaging has been that they have somehow pulled troops back. they may have moved some force around, but the u.s. assessment is they each added to their capabilities. so the president is still quite concerned about the delicate position that the u.s. is in right now and the of course western allies in nato. and so there are a lot of worries about what could trip this off. of course we've seen reports today of shelling at a kindergarten in ukraine. is that the kind of activity that could trigger some wider sort of response? also, we've seen reports in recent days of cyberactivity, which is sometimes a precursor to a more traditional heavy-handed military action. so, president biden is certainly trying to signal a willingness to work diplomatically b

peter alexander pressed the president on this very question, though. let's take a lookt a that exchange. >> respectfully, sir, what more are you waiting for? >> specifically the sanctions we have imposed exceed s.w.i.f.t. the sanctions we imposed exceed anything that has ever been done. the sanctions we imposed have generated two-thirds of the world joining us. they are profound sanctions. let's have a conversation in another month or so to see if they're working. >> hallie, just to recap the sanctions he's talking about, the new sanctions that the president announced today include sanctioning more of russia's largest banks. they also include sanctioning russia's export industry, as well as more elites, close to vladimir putin. all of this will have an impact on putin. you're right, the other tool in his tool box is to sanction putin himself. he said he's not taking that off the table. it's a complicated thing to do. we're getting reaction from lawmakers, hallie. we heard from adam schiff who said in the last hour that he supports going further even th

peter alexander dipped into the wonders of liquid resin after realizing it could do more than repairoard. a motorcycle racer took a shine to. >> he repaired a lot of motorcycles and was at the same time, a painter. then he became sort of enraptured by the metallic surfaces and spray-painted acrylic and started making art that way. >> as a way to rev up her career, in 1964, artist judy chicago enrolled in an auto body course, the only woman among 250 men. >> she started spray painting not on metal, but on sheet acrylic. the acrylics chemically fused and she said it felt like skin to her. she made a series of these tabletops with molded, spray-painted, spherical forms. she came out of car culture but in this very feminist way. >> including this fiberglass work, the addison has added don't touch signs to the galleries. they could easily translate to the greatest measure of success for these artists. >> he was having an experiential conversation and a back and forth with those objects. >> i'm jerrod bowen in andover, massachusetts for the "pbs newshour." judy: that exhibit is up through

peter alexander dipped into the wonders of liquid resin after realizing it could do more than repairfboard. billy al bengston was a motorcycle racer who took a shine to sheen. >> he repaired a lot of motorcycles, and was at the same time a painter. and then he became sort of enraptured by the metallic surfaces and spray painted acrylic, and started making art that way. >> reporter: as a way to rev up her career, in 1964, artist judy chicago enrolled in an autobody course, the only woman among 250 men. >> she started spray painting, not on metal, which is the traditional, of course, automotive surface, but on sheet acrylic. the acrylics chemically fused, and she said it felt like skin to her. she made a series of these tabletops with the three half- dome, molded, spray-painted spherical forms, which of course one can read as breasts or as bellies. she sort of came out of car culture, but in this very feminist way. >> reporter: the foray into finishes has made much of the work tops, including this fiberglass one, for being irresistible. so much so that the addison has added "don touch"

my colleague peter alexander just shared a significant development. i think that president biden is on the phone right now with ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy. obviously, an important consultation at this later. in washington from. but at the very early hours there in kyiv, to show support for our ally at this critical moment. just before we learned of, that the white house president jen psaki tweeting that the president had just convened a secure phone call with his secretary of state tony blinken. the defense secretary lloyd austin. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mark milley. as well as national security adviser jake sullivan. earlier, they said that they were monitoring developments throughout the night and getting updates as they continue. trump jake sullivan. the last we heard from the president, was in the form of a paper statement, just about an hour ago, which began that the thoughts and prayers of the entire world war with the people of ukraine. and then we heard in that statement from the president, much of what we have been

the president in the q&a our own peter alexander questioning him and others about why they didn't goowing the european union. doesn't seem they have a consistent rollout let's say of the sanctions. that said almost every expert agrees and the president himself said yesterday sanctions alone won't deter vladimir putin. didn't stop him despite what officials told us in advance. will not stop him. he is according to the intelligence from very top officials talking to us just hellbent on doing this, on taking ukraine and toppling the government. so no amount of sanctioning of vladimir putin most of whose personal assets hidden through straw holders and swiss bank accounts and whatever are not stopped by this and this sanctioning would impede the travel although i think they have certain ways to get around those. >> i was talking to somebody who you know well. ambassador mike mcfaul with experience in this realm and region. i think he said 18 hours ago is saying and public about it on nbc news now. i think we are talking too much about sanctions. he felt like it was a symbolic gesture and

. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today" with peter alexander and kristen welker. >>> welcome to "today." thank you for joining us on this saturday morning. team usa picking up more medals overnight. it is hard to believe the olympics are coming to an end. >> no doubt. chloe kim and erin jackson an and nathan chen. big family viewing. >>> we begin with serious news. the crisis in ukraine. tensions along the russian border with the ukrainian soldier killed and moments ago, the vice president harris addressed the european allies following president biden's warning that vladimir putin has now made the decision to invade. >> our team is covering the story here and at home and on the ground in ukraine. we do want to begin this morning with nbc's josh lederman at the white house. josh, good morning. >> reporter: kristen, good morning. telling leaders in europe the situation is dire and the u.s. is open to serious diplomacy, but threatening unprecedented costs if russia takes action. this morning, a warning to russia from vice president kamala harris. if russia ivades ukraine, the u.s.

nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander reports. >> reporter: with russian forces bysia invades. >> with russia continuing its buildup of its forces around ukraine we are ready no matter what happens. >> reporter: those tensions on full display monday during a meeting at the u.n. security council, a bitter diplomatic clash between the u.s. and russia, reminiscent of the cold war, with both sides blaming the other for the crisis. the u.s.'s u.n. ambassador condemning russian aggression as dangerous, a threat to ukraine and to europe. >> russia's actions strike at the very heart of the u.n. charter. this is as clear and consequential a threat to peace and security as anyone can imagine. >> reporter: russia's ambassador insists moscow has no plans to invade, accusing the u.s. and its allies of whipping up hysteria to try to weaken russia. >> translator: you are almost calling for this. you want it to happen, you're waiting for it to happen as if you want to make your words become a reality. >> reporter: still, despite its protests russia is showing no signs of backing do