pippa stevens, eugene daniels, thank you, and thank you to shannon pettypiece who did have to go early. >>> we are still awaiting those remarks from the president on gas prices, the economy, again, we're going to bring you those comments as soon as they get up and started. let's head over seas now, everybody. you've got explosions once again rocking the ukrainian capital of kyiv today as the war reaches a critical point. and a short time ago, the russian president declaring martial law in the four regions of ukraine he illegal annexed last month. nbc's cal perry is live for us in the capital city of kyiv. so two things here first i want to hit on with you, cal. first is kind of just getting us the latest on the ground, the feeling on the ground there in kyiv specifically and what this kind of declaration, right, of martial law means for these occupied regions. >> look, i think people here in the capital are weary, tired, it's nine days in a row where people had to flee to bomb shelters because of incoming drones and rockets. more than 230 drones shot down in just a month. today alone,

shannon pettypiece for us at the white house, thank you. >>> still ahead, we've got into details fromh keepers trial with one defendant saying they wanted to provide security on january 6th. we got the latest from the courthouse. >>> but first, former president trump is under oath today, as part of a writers defamation case against him after she accused him of rape. what we know, and the fallout we can expect, that's next. 600,000 vehicles passing through their uk port every year. don't just connect your business. right on time. make it even smarter. we call this enterprise intelligence. think he's posting about all that ancient roman coinage? no, he's seizing the moment with merrill. moving his money into his investment account in real time and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. fanduel and draftkings, two out of state corporations your money never stops working for you with merrill, making big promises. what's the real math behind prop 27, their ballot measure for online sports betting? 90% of profits go t

. >> shannon pettypiece at the white house, thank you very much. >>> let's bring in msnbc political analyst and former rnc chairman michael steele. always good to see you. the economy is a big driver at elections and when the economy comes into question, people blame the party in power. we are seeing that now. it's complicated though and i think it is something to do a better job of explaining because the economy is not subject to immediate policy changes by the administration. the economy, it takes years for policies to go into effect. so when you are trying to talk to voters about, you know, educating them, about how best to vote, how do you do it? how do you talk about nuance when nuance is so hard to digest? >> well, you do it three, four, seven months out, not three weeks before an election. because the very thing you just said, you've got to bring voters into the conversation, and you have to help them frame and understand exactly what, what you announced today, how that plays out, what it means to them, what they should be looking for, what signs should they be looking for down the r

we'll break down some of the changes coming from the irs with you let's get to digital reporter shannon pettypieceesident biden spoke at the white house and what are the details of this plan to lower gas prices. >> reporter: big picture for consumers. this isn't expected to have a significant effect on prices at the pump. the president, as you noted, said that they would be releasing this 15 million barrels from the petroleum reserve, the stockpiles of oil that we have. that's really part of a larger release that the white house had announced months ago, and it's less than the amount of oil that the u.s. uses in one day. but it is an attempt by the white house to show that they are trying to do what they can to address concerns by consumers. here's a little bit more about what the president had to say. >> choices made by other countries are affecting the price of gas here at home. that's why i've been acting so aggressively. without the steps we've taken over the past several months to ramp up production and lower prices and get relief to consumers, gas prize would be higher than they are today. >