unprecedented. i believe it s also unconstitutional well, this is all unprecedented. meanwhile, fresh off his arraignment in new york, the former president is doing th one thing we have seen him d consistently, attack, attack attack today he called on republica lawmakers to defund the doj an fbi, until they, quote, come t their senses trump s legal team is no staying silent either. here is his defense attorney earlier today. after seeing that indictment, and knowing what the law i regarding federal election campaigns, i don t think we re getting close to a - on this case it s going to fall on it merits, on legal challenge well before we get to jury trump s allies in the house are also keeping the pressur on manhattan da alvin bragg. after we ve seen all that yesterday, i think people thin it s even more politically tha we thought this case never should hav been brought, and what shoul happen, now it get dismissed we re not going to stop o this nothing changed. we
avalanche of news an spectacle. this sort of dizzying cloyin for your attention the last 24 hours have reall been something else. so i want to begin tonight b just taking a second here to try to collectively just wra our heads around the meaning and significance of what w have seen in the last 24 hours so of course, we have to begin with the biggest story former president of the united states pleading not guilty t 34 felony charges. stemming from hush money payments he made to adult film star but in addition to the materia effects we saw yesterday, ther was, of course, as i am sure you noted, also the shee spectacle of it all. the trumpian circus if you will a live 24-hour coverage of his drive to the airport his plane landing. his drive from the airport t trump tower. all of which, i, think has a deep and profound reaction in lot of folks because of what happened in 2016 there are lots of people who watch politics closely who hav got a lot of anxiety stemmin from that 2016 e
loitering in montana w, whichme is home to our nuclear silos and intercontinental ballistic missiles. beijing claims that it is a i civilian aircraft used foraircra meteorological research thatft got knocked off course by bad weather. but the pentagon says that sat a bunch of b.s. we know this is a chinese balloon and thatbao it has the ability to maneuvern . the balloon ha s changethd itss course, which is , again, whchy sp re monitoring. ea the balloon continues to move eastward and it s currently overnues the center of the continental united states. again, we currently assess that the balloon does not present a a military or physical threatr s to people on the grounicd this time. and we ll continue to reviewti excuse me, continue to monitor id review options. we assess that it ll probably be over the united states forteo a few few daysr . so why the hasn t joe biden shot this thing down yet? thi defense officials have advised t the president not to take it out, fearingd
ukrainian and russian forces are fighting in the northern suburbs of the city of bakhmut which has been battered by seven months of fighting. oleksandr marchenko, the deputy mayor, confirmed the street clashes, but said the russians haven t taken control. western analysts say the scene has been set for ukrainian forces to carry out a fighting withdrawal. a british defence ministry update said ukrainian soldiers are digging new trenches west of the city and are being reinforced by elite troops. the capture of bakhmut would be the first russian victory of note in more than six months of fighting. meanwhile, according to the supreme commander of nato troops in europe, general christopher cavoli said the scale of the war is unbelivable with 2,000 large battle tanks destroyed, more than 200,000 russian soldiers and over 1,800 officers killed or wounded. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, james landale, sent this report from the capital, kyiv. this is bakhmut or at least what is lef
ukraine. one of the most important story lines of 2023. the divide in the republican party about ukraine. alexi buchanan, thanks very much. and thanks for getting up way too early with us on this wednesday morning. morning joe starts right now. a dictator, building an empire, will never be able to ease the people s love of liberty. brutality will never ground down the will of the free, and ukraine, ukraine will never be a victim for russia. never. president joe biden marks one year of war in eastern europe with an impassioned speech promising continued support for ukraine and laying out the stakes of the conflict. meanwhile, we re were learning more about the special grand jury that investigated potential 2020 election interference by former president donald trump and his allies. we ll play for you new comments from a key juror in the case, as some republicans are still trying to figure out their messaging on donald trump and his third presidential campaign. als