all of this comes as russia a russian court designates a group run by navalny as an extremist network, banning it from future politics, raising the stakes for next week s summit between president biden and vladimir putin. here at home, the fbi director made his first appearance before the house since the january 6th insurrection, facing questions about what the bureau knew before the attack took place. also, defense secretary lloyd austin telling a senate committee that he supports taking sexual assault investigations outside the chain of command. some lawmakers say more needs to be done. we want to take all serious crimes out of the chain of command, carving out uniquely military crimes. that s what the best legal minds who look at the military justice system have recommended. it s what our allies have done. we begin this hour with day two of the president s first foreign trip. joining us now, chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. she is in england nea
rolls through the seventh week. the circus of a recount company that entailed searching for bamboo in the ballots because of some weir r weird theory that they were shipped in from asia has become a pilgrimage site for republicans who support the big lie. many of them hoping to replicate the sham audit in their own states to breathe fresh life into the conspiracy of a stolen election. npr is reporting that republican officials from nevada, georgia and alaska have visited the recount site and lawmakers from wisconsin and virginia are expected there this week. meanwhile new reporting is shedding light on the links between the phony audit and the stop the steal movement and the disgraced ex-president himself. documented show a correspondent for one america news with close ties to trump is helping arizona senate republicans in the audit for months. the new york times reporting people in former president trump s circle joke that the most senior adviser to the former leader of th
good evening. i m erin burnett. outfront tonight, just say no. that appears to be the mantra of the gop when it comes to joe biden. mitch mcconnell today proudly admitting this well, i m anxious to stop the biden agenda, depending on what it is. well, that comes just a day after this telling declaration. 100% of my focus is on stopping this new administration. he was pretty clear there. stopping biden is the focus, 100%. that s the goal of the top republican in the senate. this as joe biden today hit the road to sell his latest $4 trillion spending plan. it s about building a strong foundation for the american people. these are jobs that can t be outsourced. can t be outsourced. they just require something we ve got in good supply here in louisiana, hard work, grit, and sweat. i m willing to hear ideas from both sides. well, you know, if he s hearing ideas from both sides, at least from what mitch mcconnell said, the idea from the republican side is the word
rising possibility of russian military action at any time. at the same time, president biden is considering moving troops within europe closer to russia s border as well as in the black sea and increasing bomber flights over the region. even as we re building up deterrence, even as we re building up defense for ukraine, we re also engaged in diplomacy and dialogue. that s the preferable path forward for everyone. it s the responsible thing to do, and we ll pursue it as long as we can. at the same time we ll continue to build up the defense and deterrence that is necessary. the optimism, the fight against the omicron variant is growing in the u.s. across the country as the national 7-day average of confirmed cases finally begins to shift downward after a record setting surge. there is still pressure on hospital workers in some western is southern states where omicron cases are at their peak, and vaccination rates are low. our nbc news poll contains bad news for democrats w
arizona independent. this western independent. very much in the mold there of john mccain, but the hope among arizona democrats was that years of activist work would ultimately lead to a democratic senator in the u.s. senate ultimately voting on major issues. whether it be the minimum wage. increasing the min much wage. whether be it federal voting rights legislation. what you ve seen here over the last two years, since senator sinema entered the u.s. senate, there has been frustration at the local level in arizona. especially among party activists who have said for decades it was a long haul to get to this point and they hoped ultimately she would execute on her ability to be in the u.s. senate and vote on their behalf. i want to let you read part of the statement from the chairwoman of the arizona democratic party right after this censure here this morning. she said, in part while we take no pleasure in this announcement, the adp executive board decided to formally censu