Defend nato countries if they didnt pull their weight, but that he would encourage putin to invade the countries if they didnt pull their weight. He sided with a dictator who kills his political opponents. He sided with a tyrant whos made no bones about wanting to destroy america, and youre going to side with Something Like that over the allies who stood with us at 9 11 . Thats nikki haley continuing to call out donald trump for his comments and his relationship with Vladimir Putin. It comes as the former president is making the death of russias main Opposition Leader all about himself. Meanwhile, President Biden is considering new action against russia in response to alex nee navalnys death, but bidens promise to provide aid to ukraine in its fight against putins army is still stalled in the republican controlled house. Well go through all of that straight ahead. Plus, israel is giving hamas an ultimatum on the remaining hostages. Free them by romra apdan or face an all out offensive in an offensive packed with palestinian refugees. Good morning and wellm to Way Too Early on this tuesday, february 20th. Im jonathan lull mere. Thanks for starting your day with us. Three days after russian Opposition Leader Alexi Nunaulvy died in a russian prison donald trump addressed the drajied yesterday. In a social media post the likely 2024 gop president ial nominee compared navalnys situation to his own. Writing in part this, the sudden death of Alexei Nunaulvy made me more and more aware of what is happening in our country. Addic, quote, were a nation in decline, a failing nation, maga, 2024. Notably absent from that message and well spare you most of it, there were no condolences to navalnys family and no condemnation of the man mostly believed for his death, russian president Vladimir Putin. Theres no mention of putin at all. So trumps tonedeaf post is Drawing Criticism for his last remaining Republican Primary opponent, former u. N. Ambassador nikki haley. At a Campaign Event in her home state of South Carolina, Haley Accused trump of being soft on russia and stressed the importance of assisting ukraine. In a social media post later in the day haley criticized trump again, writing we need a leader with the moral clarity to call a spade a spade. Putin is not our friend. He is a murderous dictator who killed navalny. Why cant donald trump say that out loud. Meanwhile, House Speaker mike johnson spent his Holiday Weekend with trump at maralago. He did refuse to bring a vote to the floor and he promised to, quote, grow the majority and save america. Meanwhile, a member of israels war cabinet says the country will launch a Ground Offensive in rafah unless hamas releases all the hostages by the start of ramadan. The muslim holy month this year begins on the 10th. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has deemed hamas demands delusional. Israeli forces have embedded deep into Southern Gaza launching irstrikes which borders egypt. Officials believe the city is one of hamas last strong holds on the trip. For weeks israel has been warning of its plans to invade rafah, but this raises concerns itll worsen the humanitarian crisis in gaza. More than half the enclaves population is currently sheltering there and really has nowhere else to go. It has asked them to hold off until it has a plan to safely evacuate the civilians. When asked about those plans over the weekend, netanyahu said, quote, theres a lot of space up north. Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is expected to vote today on an arab backed resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in gaza. According to the Associated Press which obtained a final draft of the mesh, the Resolution Calls for israel and hamas that rejects the forced displacement of Palestinian Civilians and demands the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages. The United States, however, is expected to veto the resolution saying it could hamper the ongoing efforts to strike a hostage release deal. Instead the u. S. Has proposed a rival draft, which supports a temporary ceasefire as soon as practical. It also warns against israels planned Ground Invasion of rafah saying the idf should not proceed under current circumstances. We will see netanyahu listens. Joining us now to talk about all this Pentagon Reporter for politico, laura sellers. Good to see you. Thank you so much for being with us this morning. A lot to get to. Lets start with ukraine. The world still reeling from navalnys death. We noted former President Trump doesnt have much to say about it, but President Biden does. And hes repeatedly called out, squarely blamed Vladimir Putin for navalnys demise and has really fried to use this moment to rally those Holdout Republicans to pass that ukraine supplemental bill. If he cant get that done, talk to us about what the conditions are on the battlefield in ukraine right where it seems russia has mopem in. Well, things are really dire for ukraine on the battlefield right now. Over the weekend they lost a city. Its a strong hold for ukraine for a long time. Its in the Eastern Donetsk region, and that was a really big blow. On the front lines the soldiers are running out of ammunition. They are running out of air defenses to protect their cities from russian attacks, and this is all because the pentagon has not been able to send additional new military aid to ukraine since december, which is when the money ran out to replenish our own stocks. So as you said the death of navalny has injected some new urgency here into getting the supplemental passed, but its been a really long road. The Senate Passed 95 billion version which will send aid to ukraine, israel, and taiwan last week, but thats running into some hurdles into the house now. Speaker mike johnson is saying hes not going to back it without provisions on Border Security, so, again, its a long road ahead and ukraine really cant wait. Is there any sense in recent days that some momentum here might cause the vote to pass . I mean first of all the house is still out for another week and a half. Exactly. I think theres a lot of Wishful Thinking right now. There are hopes it can past, but realistically these hard line gop members and speaker mike johnson, Border Security is top of mind for them. Theyre just not going to move on ukraine. One last quick one on ukraine before we move to israel, give us an update. Is the pentagon going to send longer range attack on the systems . Thats been the reporting over the last couple of days. Theyve already send sent the medium range that can send 100 miles into russian territory. Unfortunately, without an additional aid package were not going to be sending anything at all. Lets move to israel, and it does teal like an Inflection Point in this conflict is coming. We know the white house has grown increasingly frustrated with how netanyahu are conducting this war, planning and warning against the full out invasion of rafah unless civilians can be evacuated. The question is this. Is there anywhere for civilians to go . So much has been destroyed. Thats true. And theres more than a Million People there already that have been sheltering from the Additional Air strikes up forth. They fled there because they were told to do so. Theres nowhere else to go right now. Egypt has said theyre not allowing civilians in. So what israel has to do now and what the u. S. Is urging them to do is come up with a plan for these more than a million civilians to be safe and to get humanitarian aid. As you said president or Prime Minister netanyahu has said theres a lot of space up north, and it seems israel might be coming together around some kind of plan to perhaps move some of these civilians. Its unclear right now what exactly that is going to look like. Theres more than a Million People, again, and so much is on the line with the destruction of potential civilians lives. Give us a look what that fight might look like in a densely populated area. Maybe some civilians are out, maybe theyre not. Is there a sense theyll actually find the hamas leader theyre looking for . I think the sense rauf saw the last remaining strong hold and theres miles and miles of tunnels underground where some leaders are shelter under hospitals and civilian infrastructure. So i think thats the plan. The plan is to go in and try to root out the remaining hamas leaders, but its not going to be able to be done without so many civilian deaths, and weve already seen so much death already that its going to be difficult to afford. Certainly flash points loom. We really appreciate you covering so much ground for us this morning. Politico reporter for politico, laura seller, thank you so much again. Still ahead on Way Too Early, the socalled informant who accused joe biden and his son hunter of accepting bribes is now scheduled to appear before a judge today after he was indicted. What we know about that hearing and what it could mean for House Republican impeachment efforts. Plus, what the former chair of the Wisconsin Republican party is saying about being tricked into signing documents as part of the fake elector scheme to keep donald trump in office. Those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back as we take a look at predawn washington, d. C. So this is pickleball . Its basically tennis for babies, but for adults. It should be called wiffle tennis. Pickle yeah, aw whoo these guys are intense. We got nothing to worry about. With e trade from morgan stanley, were ready for whatever gets served up. Dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. Id rather work on saving for retirement. Or college, since you like to get schooled. Thats a pretty good burn, right . Got him. Good game. Thanks for coming to our clinic, first ones free. Head shoulders is launching something huge. Thanks for coming to our clinic, the bare minimum. Antidandruff shampoo made with only nine ingredients no sulfates, silicones or dyes and packaged with 45 less plastic giving you outstanding Dandruff Protection and leaving hair beautiful and moisturized. Major Dandruff Protection, minimal ingredients. Job done. New Head Shoulders bare. Welcome back. As we take a look at the morn ss other top headlines now. Police in minnesota are searching for answers after three First Responders were killed in the line of duty. This morning were learning more about the shooter who was banned from having any sort of gun. Nbc news Correspondent Adrian Brought S has the latest. Reporter outside the burnsville, minnesota, police station, balloons, flowers, and embraces as this Community Mourns the three First Responders killed early sunday. They put their lives on the line every day for us. Everyone is hurting right now. Reporter these police officers, both 27, and 44yearold firefighter paramedic were shot while responding to a Domestic Violence incident. We are all hurting. Were heartbroken. We are heartbroken. The county Medical Examiner confirming the man responsible for their deaths is 38yearold Shannon Cortez goodenm. Police say it began Sunday Morning with a 911 calling the man was armed and barricaded inside a home. Officers arrived asked began negotiating with him, later learning there were seven children inside ages 2 to 15. Around 5 00 a. M. Neighbors say they heard shots. Police say the gunman fired from both floors of the home. Medics, please back up. Reporter by 8 00 a. M. The shooter were dead. Others inside were able to get out safely. Court documents show he was prohibited from possessing remember firearms following a 2008 conviction. In 2020 he petitioned to have his access to guns restored. That was denied. Burnsville remembering elmstrand, a 6 1 2 year veteran of the department, rugi part of the negotiations team, and also a swat paramedics. Every day we pray they go home to their families, and today thats not happening. Terrible tragedy there. And that was nbcs adrianne brottu reporting. A hearing will get under way for an informant allegedly lying. Hes facing charges of making a false statement to a Government Agent and falsification of records in a federal investigation. The 37page indictment alleges hed been a confidential source for the fbi since 2010 and provided false derogatory information to the agency about both bidens after joe biden became a candidate for president back in 2020. 42yearold smirnoff has been critical to the House Republicans impeachment inquiry into President Biden. They vow to forge anyway. It might be difficult to do. And elsewhere the former head of the Wisconsin Republican party said he was tricked into signing that said the former President Trump won the 2020 election. In a new interview that that aired on 60 minutes, andrew hit said the states urged him to sign on as a contingency. He said he did not believe trumps allegation of Election Fraud and he did it out of safety. Take a listen. Beautiful kids. Good, good. Im going to blame you, andrew. Can you imagine the repercussions on myself, my family if it was me, andrew hit, who prevented donald trump from winning wisconsin . You said you were scared. Absolutely. Scared of Trump Supporters in your state. It was not a safe time. If my lawyer is right and the whole reason trump loses wisconsin is because of me, i would be scared to death. And lastly, alabamas Supreme Court has ruled frozen embryos are children. The ruling last friday stems from a lost from instreet Row Fertilization patients who sued a clinic after their embryos were removed from a storage unit and dropped on the ground. An act that protects unborn children. A lot of College Basketballs top teams remains unbeaten at home thank tuesday a historic and wild night on the ice. The ice. Faded away to my astonishment. My doc gave me a script i got it done without a delay. I screened with cologuard and did it my way. Cologuard is a oneofakind way to screen for colon cancer thats effective and noninvasive. Its for people 45 plus at average risk, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your provider for cologuard. I did it my way [ ] if youre only using facial moisturizer in the morning, for cologuard. Did you know, the best time for skin renewal is at night . Add Olay Retinol24 to your nighttime skincare routine. It combines Hydrating Moisturizers with powerful retinoids to renew millions of Surface Skin Cells while you sleep. Plus, it hydrates better than a 100 retinol cream. Wake up to smoother, youngerlooking skin with Olay Retinol24. Learn more at olay. Com this has been medifacts for olay. Looking for some space. And hits. That step back three was part of a 20point second half effort as he led number 2 houston with a total of 26 in last nights 7365 win over sixth ranked iowa state. The cougars notched their 20th consecutive victory at home. The longest active Winning Streak in the country and now hold a one game lead over possession. Meanwhile there was an ugly scene on the court in san antonio after a brawl broke out over texas a m. Unclear what sparked the might fat volved multiple players as they scuffled across the court for over a minute. The school apologized for the behavior exhibited by their Basketball Programs adding theres no place in College Sports for such actions. The conference said it will be reviewing the footage and issue appropriate disciplinary action. Both teams were at the bottom of the conference standings entering yesterday with just three league wins. A truly ugly scene there. To hartford now. The yukon womens time rolled to a 7553 win last night giving the Head Coach A Career Victory of number 1,203 which moves him past the duke mens coach for the second most in Division One Basketball history. Only stanfords has won more games. Shes racked up 209 and counting at stanford, idaho, and ohio state. We now turn to nhl and the hoiser win on the ice in minnesota. Two Minnesota Wild players had hat tricks as their team came back from a two goal deficit to beat six unanswered to beat 107. Thats not a football score, thats a hockey score. That was good for a minnesota franchise record. While the teams six scored in a span of less than six minutes marks the nhls fastest. Its still looking busy out west. We of course had plenty of rain to deal with over the past day or so for our friends in california. More than 30 Million People are under flood alerts from Northern California to Southern California including l. A. , stran, san diego, and weve got these batches of heavy train that will continue to work in through the day today. Well see that renewed risk of Flash Flooding especially across portions of of Southern California, l. A. County insluded in that. By tomorrow scattered showers leftover but additional heavy snow across mountain ranges out west. Rainfall totals about an inch to 3 inches are still going to be possible. Remember theyve sure had a busy season out there so the saturated grounds going to be problematic for flooding concerns. Meanwhile floods alerts up for portions of of the southeast, florida, georgia included in that. And you can see why. Temperatures flirting with that 30 line. The middle of country a different Story Feeling like spring from wichita to amarillo and even chicago city 20 degrees above normal this time of year. Jonathan, theyre going to hit a high of 57. Were so close to spring across the region. Were getting there. Thank you so much. Well talk to you again tomorrow. Still ahead here on Way Too Early, republican president ial candidate nikki haley is expected to give a major speech today. Well have a preview of that and a look at the state of the republican race ahead of this weekends South Carolina primary. Were back in just a moment. When i was your age, we never had anything like this. What . Wifi . Wifi that works all over the house, even the basement. The basement. So i can finally throw that party. And invite shannon barnes. Dream do come true. Xfinity gives you reliable wifi with walltowall coverage on all your devices, even when everyone is online. Maybe well even get married one day. I wonder what i will be doing . Probably still living here with mom and dad. Fast reliable speeds right where you need them. Thats walltowall wifi on the xfinity 10g network. Shhh. [ achoo ] [ flatulence ] welcome back to Way Too Early. It is just before 5 30 a. M. Here on the east coast, so just before 2 30 a. M. Out west on this tuesday morning. Im jonathan lemire. Thank you for being with us. Back to politics now, and nikki haley is set to give a major speech later today in South Carolina, but Campaign Officials tell nbc news she is not dropping out of the president ial race. There have been some speculation of that once the speech was announced. Instead haley is expected to address the state of the race and where things stand ahead of saturdays primary in South Carolina. She addressed voters in the state, her Home State Last Night and vowed to push ahead to Super Tuesday. But ill promise you this. I am in this fight. I will take the bruises. I will take the cuts. This is going to be messy. And ill take the hurt because i believe nothing in good comes easy. Joining us now politics reporter for semafor, shelby calcott. She is in South Carolina ahead of the weekends primary. Shelby, thank you for joining us this morning. Youre there on the ground. Give us your assessment what well hear from haley. There has been speculation. Now it seems its more like a prebuttal, if you will toosh to what were going to see this weekend. What do you think were going to hear from her today . Is she going to frame what lies ahead . Good morning. Yeah, theres certainly been a lot of speculation. She has said repeatedly shes in this through Super Tuesday so i dont expect her to drop out. I do expect this to be a speech that hits donald trump. Hes also going to be in this area later today. So i think this is going to be a strategic move by the campaign to really highlight her versus donald trump. And weve seen her really ramp up her criticism of the former president in the past few weeks and months especially here on the ground in South Carolina. So i would assume that the speech is going to be pretty much solely focused on her versus donald trump and make a sort of separation to voters. Yeah, she certainly was on the offensive in recent days calling on trump for his lack of comments about alexei navalny, certainly lack of criticism for Vladimir Putin. Lets work on the assumption shes going to stay in throughout South Carolina and beyond. But if she faces a blowout loss in her home state this weekend, which polls suggest she very well may, whats the rationale . How does she then keep selling herself to the voters beyond . Michigan night be slightly friendly territory for her, but the Super Tuesday states look rough, too. I think its really it is really rough for her. If shedies all indications are that shes not going to win South Carolina, and it might not even be close, which is historically a really big blow to politicians when they lose their home state. At the same time, nikki haley throughout this entire president ial campaign has really not just been targeting Republican Voters but also targeting those independents, and i think thats where her Campaign Sees opportunities when Super Tuesday comes with these states open primary states that allow independent voters to vote. If we look historically in this is us this president ial race, that hasnt worked out for her either. Im curious to see whether she does stay in it through Super Tuesday and South Carolina. Well certainly have her speech here on msnbc and talk about it tomorrow morning on Way Too Early. Lets switch to the democrats side of this. You wrote a pretty clever title how would don draper sell joe biden . Tell us what you mean and how would he do it . I cant take credit for the headline, though. Itll be my editor. They always come up with the best ones. The crux for this story is, listen, democrats have a ton of money to spend this cycle. And weve seen joe biden circumvent the traditional media. What they are doing, however, is using this massive sum of money they have to sort of blitz online. Theyre using ad campaigns. Theyre using tic talk and so theyre try tg to find nontraditional ways to talk to voters, and the argument ive heard from the Biden Campaign is, listen, the voters we need to speak to right now, the nonvoters, minority voters, black voters those arent the voters watching traditional cable news. They argue those are the voters on tiktok, online. And so it also allows the Biden Campaign to sort of curate this persona of joe biden that they want voters to see. They want him to see him as a family man. They want him to see as, you know, a guy you can sit down and eat dinner with, and so thats what were going to see a ton of from this campaign as the election heats up. And the Biden Campaign Just Announced actually they raised 42 million in the month of january. Politics reporter for semafor, Shelby Talcott live for us, thank you so much. Well speak to you again soon. Well go live for an early look whats driving markets this morning as investors return from a long Holiday Weekend. Well be right back with that. A long Holiday Weekend well be right back with that. Time now for business, and for that lets bring in cnbcs Silvia Amario who joins us live from london. Stock futures are the in red this morning as the market comes off its first losing week in more than a month. What are the expectations for today . Well, as far as remembering the u. S. Stocks were closed on monday for president s day, so the liquidity, the levels have been a little lower than traditionally speaking, and there are one of the main important topics for investors today is actually earnings. Were going to hear from invid you, home depot, and walmart. And that will definitely let us understand where we are when it comes to this cycle because lets not forget that last week we saw wall street ending on a negative note, so lets see whether todays session will actually tell us that investors continue feeling a little bit negative about the stock market or whether their sentiment will actually turn more positive. All right, silvia, lets hit a couple other headlines. A deal that will merge two Big Companies in the u. S. May be on the horizon. At this Stage Capital stage financial is set to acquire this cover Financial Services in a deal that would be 35 billion u. S. , an all stock deal. Now, this would bring together as you mentioned two of the largest Credit Card Issuers state side. And at this stage the expectation is that the deal could be closed later this year or in early 2025. Having said that, if needed this deal does go ahead, this announcement, this deal would be the largest weve heard about so far this year. And lastly, Barclays Bank posts Fourth Quarter earnings today and also unveiled a massive strategic overhaul. Please tell us about it. So this earnings is one of those cases where the announcements that the bank made are more important for investors than the actual set of results for the last quarter. Because what we heard from barclays today is theyre either going ahead with an operational overhaul, that will mean substantial cost cuts, asset sales, and a reorganization of its business divisions. In addition barclays also said it will return 10 billion pounds to shareholders between 2024 and 2026 through dividends and share buy backs. So all of these announcements put together have actually made investors even more positive about the stock, and at one point in early trade where were seeing shares of barclays rising by about 6 . And this is despite when you look at the results they were actually below analyst expectations. So the promises, the view into the longterm have actually been a positive for barclays so far in the trading session. All right, cnbcs silvia, amaro live from london, thank you as always. Well turn back to politics and President Biden is considering new sanctions for russia in response to Alexei Navalnys death. Well look what options he has and how the death could impact critical funding for ukraine. Thats all straight ahead. Funde thats all straight ahead. Theres something going around the gordon home. Good thing gertrude found delsym. Now whats going around is 12hour cough relief. And the giggles. The family that takes delsym together, feels better together. [coughing] copd hasnt been pretty. 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It is with comcast business. Keeping you up and running with 99. 9 network reliability. And security that helps outsmart threats to your data. Moaire dida twoo . Your data, too. Theres even roundthe clock customer support. So you can be there for your customers. Hey billy, how you doin . With comcast business, reliability isnt just possible. Thanks. Its happening. Get started for 49. 99 a month. Plus, ask how to get up to a 1000 prepaid card with a qualifying internet package. Dont wait, call and switch today welcome back. Russia may see a new round of sanctions after the death of Opposition Leader alexei navalny. President joe biden has explicitly blamed russian president Vladimir Putin for navalnys death on friday in a siberian prison. Biden hinted at a potential u. S. Response yesterday. Are you going to impose additional sanctions on russia over nuvolnys death . We already have sanctions but were considering additional sanctions, yes. I wouldnt use that term. But theyre making a big mistake in not responding. Look, the way theyre walking away from the threat of russia, from nato, from our obligations, its shocking for a while. Ive never seen anything like this. Joining us now Founding Partner and washington correspondent for puck news, julia yaffe whos in munich attending the Security Conference there. Thank you for joining us this morning. I know you knew alexei navalny. Youve written a piece published in the last few hours here for puck. Tell us where you are right now and what sort of meaning navalnys death may have for russia and the world stage . For russia i think its a tragic blow especially for those people who thought that navalny was the future after Vladimir Putin. The hope of so Many Russians i wouldnt say the majority by any stretch, but of people who didnt like putins regime, people who actively fought for it, or people who didnt like it but were too scared to face the massive repressive machinery of Vladimir Putins state, their hope was that navalny is young, he will outlive putin, and then he will make good on his promise to try to bring russia back to a normal or not back to, for the first time make russia what they call a normal country, a country with freedom of speech, freedomf elections, rule of law, independent courts, abiding by international law, et cetera. And now that hope is gone. The other thing i would say is that for a Younger Generation of russians, he was their hero. Again, he was there a day after the soviet baby boomers lost their grip on power. So we just heard President Biden there express the hope but not much confidence that House Republicans will eventually move and pass this supplemental funding bill that will help ukraine. He also warned about the gop or at least portions of of it, the trump wing of the gop being stunningly proputin and antinato. How has that been playing there in munich . Well, i will tell you it seemed like the whole conference or the whole conference that was worried about ukraine was waiting on one man, speaker mike johnson. And there was a lot of frustration with republicans, both republicans that voted against ukraine aid to supplemental including Lindsey Graham who was a fixture at the conference. He leads a codel of bilateral representatives from congress, senators, traditionally to the munich Security Conference. But he voted against it, he wasnt here. Senator rickets was there having voted against it, senator j. D. Vance was there having voted against it. People were quite, quite frustrated with them. And the feeling was basically were kind of sick of waiting on america to do this crazy stuff and hopefully do the right thing. Were sick of having to tie to explain to americans over and over again why defending ukraine, being part of nato is in their interest. It was a pretty gloomy it was a pretty gloomy munich Security Conference, and there was a lot of frustration aimed at america. Speaker johnson was not in munich over the weekend but rather at maralago as we noted earlier in the show. Julia, just lastly your read on the state of Vladimir Putin right now. Theres some sense russia has momentum on the battlefield, hes waiting out this election to see if donald trump gets back into power. Do you feel he right now feels emboldened especially after navalnys death with his grip on power even tighter . Oh, hes riding high. Hes doing great. Vladimir putins doing great. You know, i was thinking about this when you were playing the clip of of President Biden talking about additional sanctions on russia. The weve sanctioned russia to the hilt, but theres china, theres india, willing to buy russian oil. Russia is making more money now from oil than it did before the invasion of the war. Their economy actually grew, whereas ukraines shrank by 30 to 40 . Theres more money in moscow now. Even the poor nations are getting richer because theyre sending their sons, husbands, and brothers to war and getting massive payouts for them. Putin just bested his main political rival, the only one who had any kind of real legitimacy. Like you said, he has momentum on the battlefield. I think he is riding high, and you can see it from his public appearances. The smirking, the smiling. Hes almost giddy. Yeah, giddy Vladimir Putin. Live for us from munich, the Founding Partner and washington correspondent for puck news, julia, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Up next here on Way Too Early, the white house appears to be getting extremely upset about the coverage surrounding President Bidens age. Well dig into that new reporting and some other 2024 story lines. And then coming up on morning joe, the fallout over Donald Trumps failure to condemn Vladimir Putin for the death of russian Opposition Leader alexei navalny. The former president , instead, capitalizing on the death to highlight his own legal and political problems. Plus, well bring you live reporting from ukraine as the country awaits critical aid from the United States that has been stalled in congress. Also ahead, former u. S. Ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul, will join the conversation. Morning joe just a few moments away. Hm . You your Business Bank account with quickbooks money, now earns 5 apy. 5 apy . Thats new yup, thats how you business differently. Bye, bye cough. Later Chest Congestion. Hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from Chest Congestion and any cough, day or night. Mucinex dm. Its comeback season. Now try Mucinex Instasoothe sore throat medicated drops. Ah, youre adorable. Now try Mucinex Instasoothe oww violence makes our tummies tingle. Violence. Violence. Violence. Welcome back. As we return to politics now, President Bidens reelection Campaign Just announced this morning that it raised over 40 million last month. According to the campaign, januarys numbers were fueled by seven figure haul from small dollar donors, following former President Trumps victory in the gop caucus. Biden and the Democratic Committee have 130 million in the war chest as the general election begins to heat up. Meanwhile, the publisher of the New York Times says the Biden White House is, quote, extremely upset about the newspapers reporting about the president s age. When asked about how journalists should cover the candidates, sulzberger said, quote, were going to report fairly on donald trump and joe biden. Joe biden is the oldest incumbent and oldest to hold the office. The white house has been extremely upset about it. Joining us now, Washington Post Opinion Editor and writer, Alexi Mccammond here on set. Alexi, good to see you this morning. So this is certainly a point of contention for the white house. They dont like it when the media talks about the president s age. Even though polls suggest it is a legitimate issue, and americans are very concerned. Talk to us a little about it. I know youve written about this, and your newspaper has, as well, about this tension. Yes, of course, donald trump is going to be covered as a threat to democracy, but at the same time, the media cant pick sides. It has to call it like it sees it. Part of the Joe Biden Story is his age and voters concerns about it. For a long time, the media was afraid of touching anything around bidens age. Youll remember during the 2020 primary, a couple other democrats tried to bring it up. Tim ryan, castro, and they were immediately shut down by people in the media, to be fair, and other democrats. There was a long time where it was like, who are we to talk about someones mental acuity . You might need a doctor or someone to talk about that. Now, it is simply a matter of public interest. Folks across the country are talking about it. As you said, we have to cover both trump and biden equally. I think with the times and the white house, though, people in the biden world and democratic world are upset for their 2016 coverage of Hillary Clintons emails. Whether it is fair to hold this grudge for this long, im not to say, but i think its why theyre going to the times and saying, look, we dont agree with what youre doing. In a way, it is trumpian, the way they come after the media and disagree with us. They literally dont like us to write anything negative about biden no matter what it is, his age or otherwise. We have highlighted, morning joe highlights repeatedly, and donald trump also is old. Donald trump also made a lot of verbal missteps. I think the media, and tell me if you agree, has done a better job this time around, not perfect, but a better job this time around explaining the stakes of the election. Its not just a horse race. Its like, look, heres what would happen if donald trump were to win in terms of policy. America Standing On The World Stage and our democracy itself. It shouldnt be one sided but it is. The biden team should be happy were doing a good job of covering the stakes and not just being stenographers, sort of how folks were in the beginning of the Trump Political Scene in 2015, 2016. We really sort of cover why it matters, whats happening, and also reminding people that trump is saying these crazy things, they might sound crazy, but take him literally, seriously. We are warning you, this is exactly what he would do. That said, that doesnt make biden this perfect president , and i think that his team really wants the media to adopt the narrative that they have, which is, im better than the alternative so of course im great. Dont look at my flaws. President biden raised a lot of money. He leaves later today for a west coast fundraising swing, as well. Hell have money to spend. Democrats you speak to, how do they suggest he spend it to turn around this narrative, to get voters to feel better about him . Thats the problem. He is the only person who can fix this narrative around his age, and its a huge problem. But a lot of their strategy, as you know, is focusing on trump, trump, trump. Trump is dangerous. Trump is scary. Trump is crazy, theyll say. Remember, he did this. Hell do this. Trump saying were a threat to democracy. Hes a threat to democracy. Im not sure that making the race a twoperson race between two old men is the smartest strategy, but democrats think that playing the same playbook from 2020 will work just as well by focusing almost solely on trump and sort of not letting biden run against himself but run against trump instead. Make it a referendum on trump rather than on biden. Right. With Abortion Rights also being a potential key factor. Important conversation. Opinion editor and writer Alexi Mccammond, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. Thanks to all of you for getting up Way Too Early with us on this tuesday morning. Morning joe starts right now. Quite frankly, the response to the First Show Last Monday was universally glowing. Jon stewart is facing massive backlash from democrats over his comments about joe biden. After nine years away, there is nothing else to say about jon stewart bashing biden except, make it another nine years. Another tweeted, sorry, but i wont be watching you either. Okay. Maybe not