julie: russia s president putin is urging the west to immediately agree to russian demands for security guarantees involving nato and ukraine and warning talks with the u.s. set for next month in geneva need to produce quick results. trey yengst has more on this. good morning. there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the issue of ukraine. some reports indicate russia is close to a full scale invasion while there are ongoing diplomatic efforts. vladimir putin spoke at his annual press conference saying it is impossible to have good relations with the current ukraine government and insisted russia doesn t want war with ukraine blaming officials in kiev for the current tension. we are opposed to war, war, war. we have an impression that the ukraine government is probably
mark meadows. we know the department justice is considering whether or not to move forward with an indictment for mark meadows. there s a lot of work ahead for them as they continue the fact finding. i assume we have not found any followup from the doj? it s going to be a couple weeks on that end. it s a difficult question because of the executive privilege issue. the fact that he s a former member. it s going to take a while. pete williams and sahil and anna, thank you all so much. happy holidays. you, too. and marathon question time. russian president vladimir putin honing his end of year news conference. what he s saying today about the risk of war with ukraine and the demands he s making of the west. you re watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. reports on msnbc.
for sure. angela merkel was on the other side there of the pipeline creating huge problems for the administration with members of the senate and getting the ambassadors confirmed. let s talk about a possible cyber attack. because u.s. officials are telling me they certainly told the new york times, there s no secret that they are really on high alert far potential cyber attack which has certain advantages for vladimir putin. it s not it s not a nonkinetic war. it would probably make it harder for nato to retaliate. they ve done it before against ukraine. the question is whether ukraine is better defended than it was in 2014, 2015, and 2016. look, you re right. cyber attacks cannot be easily attributed. so someone like putin would deny he had anything to do with it. almost always also, offense has an advantage over defense. even if ukraine is slightly
congressman jim jordan about what he knew about tin sur recollection. and in his annual marathon end of year press conference, vladimir putin says he does not want war with ukraine or the u.s. but blames the u.s. and nato for soaring tensions. let s begin with the latest on the covid surge here in the u.s. joining us now, josh letterman at the white house. kathy park in new york city. sam brock in miami and also with us, director of the center for infectious disease research and policy. and the founder and ceo of advancing health equity. josh, first to you at the white house. president biden still facing questions about testing delays and shortages. here s what he said an abc last night. we re nearly two years into this pandemic. you re a year into the presidency. empty shelves and no test kits in some places three days before christmas when it s so important. is that good enough? no. nothing has been good enough. but look where we are.
we shall respond somehow. this is a formidable issue. but he did repeat russian demands that nato not expand into eastern europe and he has not pulled back the troops from the ukraine boarder. joining us is richard haas, the president of the counsel on foreign relations. richard, thank you very much. of all the putin explainers, you ve had the most experience with this going back decades. so what is he saying when he says he doesn t want war? he s not pulling back and he s making demands that are unacceptable to nato that as you pointed out yesterday on morning joe would redraw the map of europe going back decades. one reaction is he s clearly savoring the limelight. you don t give four-hour press kchbss because you don t have a lot on your schedule. i think he s enjoying this. he portrays himself and russia as somehow a victim as if it s the west or ukraine that is generating this crisis. i still think it s quite likely