are for open to banning assault weapons. they ll hammer that message. alexi, thank you for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. thanks to all of you for getting up way too early on this thursday morning. jack-packed morning joe starts right now. one of the constants over the years is baseball. america has rolled by like an army of steamrollers, built like a blackboard, erased and erased again. but baseball has marked the time. this field, this game, it s a part of our past, ray. it reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. oh, people will come, ray. people will most definitely come. willie. there you go. good morning. that line. welcome to morning joe. all that was good. 30th. all can be good once again. so many l opening day. opening day, yes. very exciting, huh? best part about opening day is, no matter who you are, any team, there s hope. right now, sitting here this morning, there s hope. now, hey there s a point
good to be with you. i m katy tur do not travel to russia. that is the message today from the state department and the white house reiterating that it is not safe right now for americans in that country. the white house says it is still trying to establish consular contact with evan gershkovich. he was arrested overnight. the 31-year-old reporter for the wall street journal said he was not spying, denying guilt in a court proceeding this morning. gershkovich is the first american journalist arrested on claims of spying since the cold war. matt bodner who was recently based is here to explain who gershkovich says they caught him doing red handed, and a former member of the biden inner circle to walk us through what the white house is likely doing behind the scenes as this marks what is considered a new low in the already ice cold relationship between moscow and washington joining me now from london for the reporting, nbc news reporter, matt bodner and mike memoli joins us as
no problem coming out and lying the world. we just saw that with this chinese spy balloon. it s the nature of a communist dictatorship to lie to their own people, to lie to the world. that s republican senator dan sullivan of alaska responding to a new report from the energy department on the origins of covid. we ll take you through the latest developments in just a moment. plus, ukraine says it needs more fighter jets as the war entered its second year, but the pentagon and president biden do not appear ready yet to make that commitment. and meanwhile, the first lady seems to give away the president s plans for 2024. we ll show you what she said. good morning and welcome to way too early on this monday, february 27th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. we ll start with the new report on the positives of co-vichltd according two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, the federal energy department says it has, quote, low confidence th
pounding air rescues like this one captured by the pasadena fire department. thisng an rv plunging into the santa clara river after teetering on the edge of a cliff. we re tracking where it s headed next. a fresh wave of violence across ukraine. overnight russia launching more than a dozen unmanned drones into ukraine exhausting air defenses according to ukrainian officials. now u.s. officials says china is weighing whether to send artillery and ammunition to help russia s campaign. the new response from china this morning. court is back in session in the alex murdaugh double murder trial. after blockbuster testimony from the defendant himself, how soon it could be in the hands of the jury. the extreme weather impacting millions of americans this morning. we re tracking damage in the central u.s. after reports of several tornadoes touched down in oklahoma overnight. california faces the possibility of more snow. in the aftermath of historic winter weather that brought u
there s no way around it, that s just the best one. believe me, i ve tried it every which way, and it really doesn t get better than pete butt. but this would have never happened under my administration. people are saying i made the trains less safe. not true, okay? not true. i did a lot for trains. i made them bigger, faster, less safe perhaps, but yeah, perhaps you did. perhaps. saturday night live s take on donald trump s recent trip to east palestine, ohio. meanwhile, president joe biden says he doesn t have plans to visit the town devastated by the train disaster, and we ll have his comments on why. plus, the first lady seems to have given away the president s plans for 2024. we ll play for you what she said. also ahead, a weekend of deadly russian strikes in ukraine brings more attention to the debate over supplying ukrainian forces with fighter jets. and a new report from the department of energy on the origins of covid. good morning. welcome to morn