ticket to phantom of of the opera. sgluk still see is in london. and music man wrapping as well. we love talking to you. thanks so much. we ll see you on broadway. that does it for us this morning. we ll see you right back here on monday morning. jose diaz-balart picks up the coverage live from san diego, right now. good morning, it s 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i m jose diaz-balart. this morning ukrainian officials say armed groups and russian-held territories are going door to door to force participation in what the u.s. has called sham referendums to join russia. we ll talk to a former officer about the latest developments. also this hour, we ll bring you an interview with the department of of homeland security secretary. what he has to say about the record number of migrants and
a busy hour ahead, including the new pressure on donald trump s legal team to prove in a court of law the allegation trump has been making in public that the fbi planted evidence at mar-a-lago. there is also new reporting showing trump s current legal issues may impact his potential 2024 run. we ll explain. and how his $100 million war chest could affect the midterm election now only a month and a half away. this morning, new polling showing president biden with his highest approval rating of the year so far. plus, the markets open in about 30 minutes and it does not look like it will be a positive end to the week as a major announcement from fedextraders . in ukraine, russia is holding sham referendums in occupied territories as hundreds of thousands of russian military reservists leave to fight in ukraine. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel has
in fact, security cameras capturing images escorting election if i recalls, collecting ballots from ukrainians. the u.s. calling these elections a sham. while in russia tonight, the mass exodus of men trying to avoid vladimir putin s new draft. long lines of cars at the finnish border tonight. tom sufi burridge in ukraine tonight. reporter: tonight, kremlin-style door-to-door voting. soldiers armed with assault rifles, escorting voting officials with ballot boxes in their hands. ukrainian officials posting these videos, showing what the u.s. calls sham referendums in russian-occupied ukraine, with vladimir putin planning to declare those ukrainian regions part of russia, the white house warning it will respond. we are prepared to impose additional swift and severe economic costs on russia. reporter: moscow threatening any attack on newly annexed regions would be considered an attack on russia. a u.s. official today confirming to abc news, the u.s. has been sending private warning
complexity to the calculus, whatever it is, that putin has. when you look, general clapper, at all these drastic moves by putin in recent days, the massive mobilization, the crackdown on protesters, the nuclear threats, the sham referendums, what does it all say to you about his mind-set right now? well, i think well, he s in trouble and i think he knows it. i think his options are declining, the mobilization is not going to change the outcome of the combat situation at all. the images, the two images of demonstrators opposing it, which is a brave thing to do in russia these days, and the image of vehicles lined up at the borders, from finland to kazakhstan, people fleeing to avoid the mobilization, i think
stunt. , ., , , stunt. given their has been some movement stunt. given their has been some movement for - stunt. given their has been i some movement for ukrainian forces into luhansk again, is that why it is happening now, is there anxiety within russian circles, that the ukrainians are going to start moving back into these areas, which have been separatist controlled for quite some time? i been separatist controlled for quite some time? been separatist controlled for quite some time? i think that s exactly it. quite some time? i think that s exactly it. we quite some time? i think that s exactly it, we have quite some time? i think that s exactly it, we have known - quite some time? i think that s exactly it, we have known for l quite some time? i think that s exactly it, we have known for a few weeks he has been moving people into place in order to do the political work to set up the sham referendums, and he has been holding off on doing that because it would put him in a c