beginning parts of the meeting only because it was shared on russian state tv. there were, you know, a quick, warm greeting and president biden says he wishes he would have seen vladimir putin at the g-20 in person. he said next time i hope to see you in person. so that was just the very beginning of the meeting. white house officials are telling us there will be more of an extended ed readout after th meeting over. the length of time is an interesting question. when they met in person six months ago in geneva, switzerland, the meeting was about two hours. this may be longer or not. we'll see how it goes. this is something that, you know, the time and duration and the body language is one of the many things that will be read into this. we will not have a sense of that. in terms of the white house, president biden is doing his part of the meeting from the white house situation room, in the basement of the white house. president putin is doing his from his vacation retreat, essentially, so certainly a different style. not sure how much we should read into that either. president biden clearly wants to show that diplomacy is on the table, but he also wants to show there is a cost to invading ukraine, a significant cost. that's why he was on the phone yesterday with european leaders as well, all getting on the same page here. again, diplomacy is the hope of this meeting. we'll see if anything comes of it at all. no high expectations here for anything in the short term, but long-term diplomacy is certainly the goal, kate. >> jeff, thank you for that. we'll keep jeff close by as this continues. a top ukrainian official is warning that the world will witness a, quote, bloody massacre, if russia invades. matthew chance, you spoke with ukraine's defense minister, who is a man who offered that warning. what else did he say? >> reporter: e lexi brez nekov has been in the job about four weeks. he was appointed defense minister when the crisis reached acute levels. he's spent the last few weeks working out the best strategy forward. he had words of advice for president biden when i spoke to him exclusively here in the ukrainian port city of odessa yesterday. he said president biden, the united states, should stand strong against vladimir putin and that the sort of politics, the idea that you can appease russia, i'm parp phrasing a little bit, the idea you can appease russia will not work. he also warned of dire consequences if russia were to take the decision to invade this country of ukraine. take listen. >> do you believe russia will invade? >> i not believe that -- i will not believe that russia will have a victory in ukraine. because it will be a really bloody massacre. and russian guys also will come back in coffins. yes. >> reporter: okay. that meeting taking place online, of course, that video call taking place, under way for about an hour. the kremlin don't expect any big diplomatic breakthrough, but they will be setting out vladimir putin's demands, and those being a legally binding agreement that would stop nato, the western military alliance, from expanding any further east wards towards russia's borders. they see that as a big security threat. a big challenge for president biden is essentially how to navigate that, keep support for ukraine but also prevent russia from undertaking any kind of military action against ukraine. >> matthew, thank you so much. joining me for more on this is cnn chief political correspondent, co-host of "state of the union," dana bash. dana, matthew and jeff did a great job laying out the stake, but why do you see this call and conversation as so important for president biden and his foreign policy agenda right now? >> reporter: because dealing with russia requires the ultimate in diplomatic nuance. and it is the issue, and it is the characteristic that president biden campaigned on, that he has years of experience, decades of experience in the u.s. senate, including being a foreign affairs chairman, and of course as vice president. so how he deals with the russian president at this moment is so key. and we have so many clues just leading up to this, not the least of which is that the president has been calling or had been calling western allies ahead of this. and it's pretty clear that the goal there was to speak with one voice, that the united states and other western allies are going to say to vladimir putin, whatever it is that they're going to say, but do it together. so much of this is vladimir putin posturing. you heard jeff saying, well, that putin is at his vacation home. not sure if there's anything to read into that. nothing that he does is by accident. there's no question that he does that by design, to show, well, i'm relaxed, i'm okay, nothing to see here. i know that from covering these issues far long time and specifically covering the bush white house, listening to president bush tell myself and other reporters so many stories about what putin was like behind closed doors. he is all about trying to be a player and to play those he is with. that is going to be the underpinning of this conversation that's going on. >> biden did -- i mean, biden has -- he ran on his foreign policy chops. so many speeches on repairing alliances but also being able to deal effectively with adversaries, russia chief among them, of course. i think the big question seems to be how do you thread the needle here diplomatically? how do you push back firmly but not make things worse since there is clearly very little desire to send u.s. troops to battle on ukraine's behalf in this moment? is it clear to you what the white house approach is to pulling this off? >> reporter: you know, threading the needle is a perfect way to put it because what vladimir putin generally wants when he does this kind of thing, it's not the first time he's amassed troops on the boarder with ukraine. what he generally wants is something in return, whether it is something regarding nato, not allowing that, or something diplomatic, something financial, some something, military ask, all of those things are on vladimir putin's wish list. at the same time, the president, again, with america's western allies, they have a lot in their quiver as well, including economic sanctions, deep economic sanctions. in the last hour, jim sciutto and erica hill were talking to an expert about the fact that all the west has to do is to go after the oligarchs who really hold vladimir putin's very, very vast wealth. it's not that hard. it is a very, very big and monumental move, if that's what he is to do. but the notion of putin potentially knowing that that is something that the west is willing to do could be enough to get him to back down. i mean, again, you can't underscore enough so much of this is about posturing. having said that, the west understands that putin has acted on this. crimea was annexed and still is to this day, and that was a power play that had real consequences by vladimir putin. >> and another factor is also china, not necessarily in this exact conversation, but, you know, now warning the u.s. that it's going to pay a price for the olympic diffeplomatic boyco. at the same time this is happening with russia, biden is facing an inflection point with china. what do you think that means for him, kind of all of this added together? >> reporter: that this is why he has the job. there are so many domestic challenges, gloeblg challenges when it comes to the health crisis, the pandemic, but from the beginning of his candidacy continued to now, president biden has said that china is the number-one competitor, adversary of the united states economically but also diplomatically and when it comes to human rights. and the united states made a very intentional decision to say that the president and his diplomatic aides would not be going to the olympics because of the human rights abuses and other things china has been doing. that is intentional, but it is a diplomatic high wire act. and that is not that different from the high wire act that he is engaging in as we speak in this call with vladimir putin. these are the two most prominent, important players on the world stage that are the most difficult to deal with for any u.s. president. and at least for now, this is one of the most important tests on the foreign policy level since afghanistan. and that's a very different situation. didn't go so well. so this is why this is a critical time, a critical moment, a critical hour as this conversation is happening. >> thanks, dana. really appreciate it. >> thanks. to that other foreign policy we were discussing for president biden, china is warning that it will retaliate against the united states if it follows through with the diplomatic boycott on the winter olympic games in beijing. let's go over to shanghai. cnn's david culver is there. what exactly is china threatening to do? what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, kate, for now, using strong words. the u.s. will pay a price for its wrongdoing. the u.s. has shot itself in the foots. wait and see. those are all the phrases that have come out of the foreign ministry through its spokesperson today, and of course it sends a response, as you were talking about, to the diplomatic boycott the u.s. has put forward through the white house that they essentially will not participate in the upcoming beijing 2022 olympics. the reason that the white house is doing this is because of the allegations of human rights abuses that have been taking place in xinjiang, that far western region. i want you to hear a lit from the spokesperson of the foreign ministry addressing that one point in particular. >> translator: out of ideological bias and based on lies and rumor, the u.s. attempts to disrupt the beijing winter olympic games, this will only expose its malicious attention to the world and move to greater loss of authority and credibility. >> reporter: i want to isolate one word in that, and that it's ideological. the ideology will be important here, kate. why? if we look at what potential countermeasures could be put in place, i think it will weigh more on the side of pushing forward china's ideology rather than putting forward an action that would cause countermeasures, for example, sanctions or visa restrictions on diplomats. that could mean something as simple by very symbolic as blocking certain u.s. films from entering the biggest box office in the world, china. kate? >> david, thank you. coming up for us still this hour, more than a year after former president donald trump was hospitalized with the coronavirus, we are learning new details of just how sick he was and how the white house lied about it. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ no matter what you bring to the table, there's no place like wayfair. if you're onedicare, remember, the annual enrolent period is here. the time to choose your coverage... ends december 7th. so talk to unitedhealthcare and take advantage of a wide choice of plans... including an aarp medicare advantage plan from unitedhealthcare. it can combine your hospital and doctor coverage... with prescription drug coverage, and more, all for a low monthly premium or in some areas, no plan premium at all. take advantage of $0 copays on primary care doctor visits, virtual visits, and preventive dental care. plus $0 copays and deductibles on tier 1 and mail order tier 2 prescriptions. and a free gym membership with locations nationwide. so call unitedhealthcare about the variety of plans we offer, including ppo plans that let you see any doctor who accepts medicare, without a referral. enrollment ends december 7th. take advantage now. call or go online today. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief. and now get relief without a pill with tylenol dissolve packs. relief without the water. what if you could have the perspective to see more? at morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. ♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. we see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. we are morgan stanley. healthier is on-demand covid testing to help you return safely. even if it's still... a little awkward. how've you been? -i'm so good! ♪ this is what healthier looks like. ♪ firefighter maggie gronewald knows how to handle dry weather... ...and dry, cracked skin. new gold bond advanced healing ointment. restore healthy skin, with no sticky feeling. gold bond. champion your skin. developing this hour, just as mark meadows was cooperating with the january 6th committee, it looks like now he's not. cnn's whitney wild is live in washington with details on what exactly changed. what are you hearing, whitnwhit? >> reporter: in short meadows is saying they don't believe the committee is being fair. that is their main argument for this about-face. they sent a letter and it lists a series of things. they say in short we now have every indication from the information supplied to us last friday upon which meadows could expect to be questioned that the select committee has no intention of respecting boundaries concerning executive privilege. kate, we know that so many people are hinging their -- what they say is an inn'ability to provide testimony to the committee on the concept of executive privilege. it is a more logical argument for mark meadows to make because he was a very close aide to then president trump. obviously, he was the chief of staff, an employee there at the white house. so a more logical and still debatable concept here because there's been a lot of debate about who can claim executive privilege once the presidency ends. further, he says, we learned over the weekend that the select committee had, without even the basic courtesy of notice to us, issued wide-ranging subpoenas for information from a third-party communications provider. kate, this is, again, just a little snapshot of the several reasons they say that the select committee is not being fair. they do say, though, they are willing to consider written questions so that there is this clean record of the way that the conversations go. however, we know that the committee has released testimony in the past, you know, written testimony here, the jeffrey clark testimony a perfect example. so there would be a clean record in writing. however, they say, again, they're willing to consider written questions but at this point, not cooperating is the big headline here, kate. >> whitney, thank you very much for that. there's also another trump ally who is back in court. steve bannon on his contempt of congress charge. trump's former adviser is trying to delay when his trial would begin. sara murray is live in washington following all of this. what is bannon trying to do here? >> reporter: essentially he's trying to slow walk this and trying to make this a political trial that plays out in the media. his lawyers made clear in a filing they don't want to go to trial before october of next year. the government said we think this should be handled before april, so those are very different time lines. they're arguing right now in court about what should be considered protected material. the government wants witness statements, things like that, under wraps, and bannon's team is saying we want this to be publicly available. they're using the government's -- some of bannon's previous comments about him, saying this is someone trying to go forward, having this trial played in the media, we want it tried in a courtroom. a couple issues they're wrangling over today. the big thing we're waiting for is a trial date. >> sara, thank you. back to mark meadows, because we are learning just how sick former president trump was when he got covid last year. meadows' new book actually reveals that trump's blood oxygen levels dropped to a dangerous level, further contra diktsing statements by the white house at the time about a very serious issue, which is the health of the president of the united states. gabby orr joins me with more details. what else does meadows say in this book, gabby? >> mark meadows writes then president president trump was so sick when he contracted covid-19, he could not carry his own briefcase to marine one as he left the white house for walter reed hospital. he talks about the regeneron treatment that trump was on at the time but notes that the white house doctor sean connolly said to mark meadows that judging by the details he had given meadows, quote, it was clear that the staff at walter reed was prepared for a long stay, weeks, maybe longer, when donald trump first arrived there last october. this is of course a major departure from how the white house publicized trump's health at the time, and we've also learned through the reporting on this book that there are other things that the white house withheld regarding trump's covid-19 diagnosis and the way they handled internal covid-19 outbreaks. cnn has reached out to donald trump's team for comment on this meater, but they have not gotten ou back to us. coming up for us this hour, as temperatures are falling across the united states, so are energy prices. what's driving down those costs and also the price at the gas pump? 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(sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ ♪ alexa, play our favorite song again. ok. ♪ i only have eyes for you ♪ want to save on your home internet? xfinity is proud to support the emergency broadband benefit program. for a limited time, you may be eligible to qualify for a credit of up to $50 a month toward your internet service through this program. that's right! you could qualify for a credit of up to $50 a month toward your internet service and equipment. for even more value, switch to xfinity mobile, and you could pay as little as $15 a month for wireless. click, call, or visit a store to learn more. new this morning, there is finely some relief at the pump. aaa reporting the national average price of gas dropped four cents in the last week to $3.35 a gallon. let's get over to cnn's matt egan with more on this for us. $3.35 is still high, but is it stabilizing? what else are you seeing? >> reporter: americans are dealing with historic levels of inflation, but there is some good news on the sticker shot front especially with energy. the $3.35 is a seven-week low, down four cents in a week, seven cents in a month. prices are still high, but they finally stopped going straight up. that's for a few reasons. one, this u.s.-led intervention into energy markets, remember, president biden announced the largest ever release of barrels from the strategic petroleum reserve. other countries joined in. the other factor is fears about omicron sent oil prices into a tailspin. we have to keep an eye on this because there's some uncertainty over how long gas prices will continue to tick lower because oil has started to rebound as omicron fears have started to fade. so we could see a reversal on the gas price front eventually. the other thing we have to talk about is natural gas because there are a lot of concerns about home heating costs spiking this winner. the good news is natural gas as you can see, it's still up on the year but 40% lower in the last two months. yesterday was natural gas's worst day in nearly three years. that's for a few reasons. one, temperatures have actually been warmer than usual, so that means there's less demand for home heating and for naetural gas. we've seen a tick up in natural gas production. there are a lot of concerns about a european-style kind of shortage of natural gas in the united states. those concerns, they were really overdone. that was never going to happen because the u.s. is the biggest producer of natural gas in the world. kate, i think big picture, inflation is still here. there are still reasons to be concerned about inflation. but for the moment there are some glimmers of hope on the energy front. >> good to hear. matt, thank you so much for that. returning to the pandemic, new york city's new covid-19 mandate for private-sector worker will affect nearly 200,000 businesses across the city. the move did catch some businesses by surprise, saying that they're now concerned about the strain that this mandate requirement could put on them. katherine wild is the president and ceo of the partnership for new york city, a prominent and leading business group. thank you for joining me. you've been critical of this announcement coming from the mayor. you said you were blind sided. 24 hours later, have you gotten more clarity? are you more comfortable with the mandate now? >> yes. i think we represent employers who have tried very hard for almost a year to get their employees vaccinated by encouraging them in positive ways. this has been a very tough time for employees and particularly for those who have to be in the workplace to do their job. so remote workers can work from anyplace and they don't have to get vaccinated and come back into the office to be able to do their job. but there's a whole group of employees, and they tend to be in lower-wage jobs, who have to be present in the retail sector and many other sectors, the health care sector. and employers are respectful of those employees. 90% of them are vaccinated, and that's from our surveys, but there are still a group of holdouts. and to give them three weeks to get their first shot in the holiday season is a lot to expect. employers are concerned about that. they were surprised by the mandate. i will say in response to our concerns expressed yesterday in the media, we have communicated with the deputy mayor. we are getting positive feedback in terms of wanting input on their policies. we are still concerned about some aspects of those policies. >> do you think there is going to be a negative impact on businesses with this mandate? because de blasio was asked about your criticisms this morning on cnn, and he says that we've talked to business leaders for months about the reality of delta, and he said the feedback they have gotten is that, what businesses tell him, one, when the government acts it makes it easier for businesses to act. do you see it that way? >> the reference there was to the federal government. yes. we have had those conversations over the past year and a half and suggested when government acts -- particularly the federal government, and when government acts in unison, de blasio's mandate is different from president biden's mandate. it's different from the state policies. so he's coming in sewing unity between the levels of government. and one message from the public health community is very important to employers. and, yes, it is helpful to them to have a clear government direction. unfortunately, this is a mandate without any specifics about enforcement, about compliance, and bizarrely, it doesn't allow for a testing alternative, which has become standard practice for those individuals who can't or won't get vaccinated, that have to be in the workplace. most employers are accommodating them by doing regular, even daily testing to make sure that they are well and can be in the work workplace. that's not allowed. the other piece of this is requiring that children between 5 and 11 years old be vaccinated. this is particularly serious during the holiday season, whether it's for broadway or retail stores or for our cultural institutions. they have a lot of international tourists that are coming from countries that don't have vaccinations for children under 12 years of age. so what happens with them? these institutions that depend on tourism, on international tourists, are getting calls saying we're canceling our trip, we won't be there. this is going to put another blow to our economy. so there are issues here that could have been discussed before the mandate was issued, hopefully resolved in a positive way, and that now we're trying to work with city hall to make sure they're resolved going forward. so this is not a further setback. >> clarity is clearly needed. let's see if that comes. thank you for your time. appreciate it. coming up for us, the world awaits details of president biden's call with vladimir putin as russia amasses troops at ukraine's border. the chairman of the senate armed services committee joins me next. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, now introducing ensure complete! with 30 grams of protein. what's strong with me? 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>> best case is tensions are calmed and putin backs down from any intention of invading in ukraine and at least gives it more time. that's what president biden is trying to do, to convince vladimir putin that the cost of taking this action is greater than he wants to pay. that's why it's so important we get our allies on board, that we have the sanctions ready to go and in place, and that putin realizes this is not the choice to take. >> what is worst case? what would be a failure out of this conversation? >> in that case, it's pretty straight forward. worst case is if the invasion happens. best case is if it doesn't. that's where we're at is we've seen the buildup, the rhetoric, a lot of the pretexts that russia putting them out, getting them to back down, you know, is the best case. worst case is if it goes the other way and an in between with ambiguity going forward as to exactly what russia is going to do. the best case is makes it clear this crisis has passed. i don't think we're going to get there, but if we can get the tensions down that would be an enormous positive step. >> how do you do that, thread that needle? do you think the threat of u.s. military intervention should remain on the table if the threat of russian military action in ukraine remains? >> well, i don't think the threat of u.s. military invasion -- sorry, action is really on the table. you know, we've not said that we're going to send a couple hundred thousand troops to ukraine to fight russia over there. that is not our position. our position is that there will be severe economic sanctions and there will be military support to ukraine in terms of, you know, training and equipment. you know, but we're not threatening that we're going to show up in eastern europe. >> why do you think that would -- >> well, that's what i was getting to, is how do you thread that needle that you talked about? i had a conversation with secretary austin about this over the weekend, and there is a final line between deterrence and provocation. look, russia's basic position on this is that, you know, ukraine certainly but much of eastern europe is within their sphere of influence and that the degree to which that part of the world cozies up to the west, you know, russia views that as a threat. i think they're wrong about that. our position is and should be those countries have a right to ally with who they want to ally with, but that's pushing putin to say he wants to maintain his sphere of influence. to the extent we provoke him and say we're putting a whole bunch of troops in ukraine, that fields into that fear and it could potentially -- that's why we're not doing that. we are saying that the cost will be too high. we're not coming in, taking over eastern europe or ukraine. we want them to be free, make the choices they want to make, wand e need to put the economic pressure and the partnership pressure, basically a united front, against russia to discourage them from taking that military action. it's a matter of letting those countries make their own choices, not of the u.s., you know, coming in and controlling them. we don't want to do that. putin is the one who wants to control them. we want them to have the freedom of choice to do what they want to do. >> cnn has been reporting this morning, mr. chairman, that the pentagon is drawing up and discussing possible evacuation plans for u.s. citizens from ukraine in the event the situation there deteriorates. do you know how far along those discussions are? should that reflect how serious the threat of invasion is right now? >> yeah. it would be irresponsible to not have that plan. that doesn't mean we think it's a fait accompli and will happen, but it means we need to be prepared if it does. so, yeah, amongst many factors, that's one that really reflects the incredible seriousness of this situation. >> the cia director, william burns, he spoke at a "wall street journal" council event, and he said that he didn't know if putin had made up his mind to use force but that he did think that the security forces in place, they could act in a pretty sweeping way if they wanted to. do you think -- that's from the cia director. do you think putin has decided what he wants to do and is going do? >> i don't. i mean, i don't know, obviously. but i think at this point he's putting all his options on the table and i would agree with the cia director. that's basically where we're at, as putin has put the options in play. he obviously hasn't ruled it out. i don't think putin has made the decision yet, which is why it is so crucial we influence that decision to get him not to do it. >> mr. chairman, than for your time. always appreciate it. >> thank you. i appreciate the chance. >> they're still in that meeting, in that call as we speak right now. the justice department is suing the state of texas over maps. attorney general merrick garland accusing the state's redistricting effort as discriminating against black and latino voters. we'll discuss that next. ♪ i'm a reporter for the new york times. if you just hold it like this. yeah. ♪ i love finding out things that other people don't want me to know. mm-hmm. [beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ . . . . baas ♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ the justice department is taking the state of texas to court again, this time over the state's new congressional district maps that the doj says intentionally discriminated against black and latino voters. now attorney general merrick garland says the new maps do not recognize the population growth among voters of color in the state which is part of the reason that the state has earned two new congressional districts. joining me now for more on this is republican election attorney ben ginsburg who redirected republican redistricting efforts nationwide following the 1990 census and also was george w. bush's chief counsel in the 2000 election standoff to. sum up, he knows a thing or two about congressional maps, how to redraw them and how to fight them in court. ben, texas. 95% of the state's growth in the last decade is in black and latino and asian populations. there was enough there to gain two new congressional seats, yet not a single new district is with the majority of black or hispanic voters. what do you think of the doj's lawsuit here? >> well, of all the suits around the country, this is the one where a discriminatory purpose and effect from drawing a map is most likely to come into play. as you -- as you mentioned, the white and latino population in texas is now even. the growth is largely latino. latinos are unlikely to be able to vote for candidates of their choice which is legal standard, and, in fact, the largest populations in the state around dallas and houston have been split up, so that will be the -- the basis of the case, and it -- it's a case that -- that has some merit. >> well, there's much more to come on that, but this also gets to kind of a bigger problem and fear that i wanted to also ask you about as written in "the atlantic" by barton gelment. essentially january 6th, the real attempt to steal -- to steal an election, the january 6th was just practice. let me play for you what he said on "new day" this morning. >> the traditional way of trying to cheat in an election is suppressing the votes of people you don't like, and the republicans are doing that with 34 changes of law in 19 states, but now they are also changing the rule of who counts the vote. if you're in charge of who counts the vote, then anything is possible. >> i mean, i was thinking, ben, you formed a legal defense network for election officials threatened because you're so concerned about kind of the what's next is possible. how worried are you about what is setting up to happen next after january 6th, after what we saw in the 2020 election? >> well, i mean, pretty worried. certainly there's more reason to worry than we've had at any other point in the country's history, and that's because there are multiple things going on at once. the laws in the states are both designed to take the power of counting votes away from election administrators, the professionals and giving it to the pall which can overturn what people said at the ballots and there's another set of law which is why we formed the legal defense network which is why we addressed criminal violations for election officials and that has a real deleterious and harmful effect on the ability of a system to tabulate votes fairly so that all the all the people have faith in the results. what bart gelman is talking about is another aspect of it as well. that goes to things like the way congress would judge the electoral college votes in a state, so you combine all of those different facets together with the electoral attempts to instill partisan election officials in office, and you've got a -- you've got a mix that you have to be really careful about. >> well, getting to something you laid out recently in the few seconds we have left, that you think can be done to kind of remove at least some of the threat to democracy is fix -- fix the final end around with the electoral count on january 6. fix the electoral count act of 1886 then. what is that going to do in short? >> well, this gets into a little legal nerd talk, kate, but the answer is that it -- there's a disputed election, a dispute sets of electors from the different states and that comes to congress. the procedures from there are a muddle. people on the left and the right agree that the law is antiquated and unclear, and so it just makes sense from any party, from both parties' perspective, to fix the law so the rules are clear. republicans use the electoral count act offensively as we saw on january 6th, but the dynamics are going to be different the next time aren't, right? a democrat, kamala harris is the vice president, trump is no longer the president, you don't know who is going to be controlling congress in january of 2025. it is an uncertain situation for both parties and a completely ambiguous law that will just be a devil's workshop if it ever comes into the necessary tool to decide who won. >> a lot more to discuss on that one. really appreciate your time today. thanks, man. >> thanks, kate. coming up next, "inside politics" with john king after a break. is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is then to reduce flammation on and below the surface the intestine in uc. you, getting on that fligh back off, uc! stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. lasting remission can start with stelara®. janssen can help you explore cost support options. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat. only comcast business' secure network solutions give you the power of sd-wan and advanced security integrated on our activecore platform so you can control your network from anywhere, anytime. it's network management redefined. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. hello and welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king in washington. thank you for sharing your day with us. a giant diplomatic test for president biden. vladimir putin looks poised to invade ukraine. the two leaders are talking right now, and biden's hope is to find an off ramp. >> hello

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