and good evening, i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, the january 6th select committee raising the stakes. asking the house minority leader to meet with them. offering up two specific dates for his testimony, and here is their letter tonight to the house minority leader kevin mccarthy. they write, quote, we request -- we write to request your voluntary cooperation on a range of critical topics, including your conversations with president trump. so, it's about five and a quarter pages here and the committee lays out, in excruciating detail, mccarthy's central role in their investigation. here on page four, the letter notes that the committee has obtained, quote, contemporaneous text messages from multiple witnesses identifying significant concerns following january 6th held by white house staff regarding president trump's state of mind and his ongoing conduct. and the letter says, it appears that mccarthy and trump, during that time, had one or more conversations -- one of which they say in here, again on page four, was an hour long. during which, mccarthy -- their words -- implored trump to accept defeat and move on. the hert says mccarthy may have talked to trump about the possibility that trump could be removed from office by the 25th amendment. and it goes on to say, that mccarthy may have laid out the possibility of trump actually resigning. look. it is clear from these pages that mccarthy talked to trump a lot before, during, and after the insurrection. on january 6th, itself, the letter details how mccarthy was talking with trump as rioters ransacked the capitol. laying out how republican congresswoman jamie herrera beutler says mccarthy told her he tried to get trump to realize the severity of the riot and to call it off. trump replied to mccarthy that the rioters were antifa, mccarthy told trump the rioters were his supporters and begged trump to call them off, to which trump responded quote, well, kevin, i guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. mccarthy talked to trump often, plenty. and not just to trump at the minority leader. also, as leader of the voting block against certifying the election results and in both of those capacities, mccarthy buzz the recipient and sender of many messages that day, before and after. he was at the epicenter. and so, more than maybe anyone, he knows trump's state of mind. i mean, an hour-long phone call yelling/imploring? before, during, and after the insurrection, mccarthy was central. and now, he has a big decision to make. will he stand by these words? >> would you be willing to testify about your conversation with donald trump on january 6th if you were asked by an outside commission? >> sure. >> you would? >> next question. >> sure. just wants to quickly say sure, absolutely, black and white. now, mccarthy did, of course, block an independent commission but the january 6th committee is a bipartisan group of lawmakers and republicans who have appear bfrd it tell me that the group is professional, preemd prepared, and have done deep and serious homework. but mccarthy's outrage on january 6th, right, when he was imploring he was so upset fizzled fast. remember how he flew to mar-a-lago in the weeks following then insurrection? let me just remind you here is kevin mccarthy before that trip, and here he is after that trip. >> the president bears responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. >> i was the first person to contact him when the riots was going on. he didn't see it. what he ended the call saying telling me he will put something out to make sure to stop this and that's what he did. he put a video out later. >> yeah, later. hours later. mccarthy buried the history that he lived, that he spoke out about, that he was outraged about, that he called an attack. and then, did everything he could to stop the january 6th commission from being formed, in the first place. sort of hard to understand how those are both coming from the same person. but now, here he is in the crosshairs, in the epicenter. will he make good on his word and cooperate and appear in a couple weeks, as the committee has specifically requested tonight? ryan nobles is out front liven on capitol hill. so, ryan, what options does the committee have to go after mccarthy if he refuses to cooperate? i mean, reading here, they are very clear, you know, we want to work with you. here is the dates. does this date work? does that date work? they lay it all out. >> reporter: yeah, thaerts, erin. the committee does want to make it as easy as possible on kevin mccarthy to come before them, and provide them the information that they are looking for. but, you know, certainly over time mccarthy has begun to hedge his bets in terms of cooperation. sure, he answered manu about an independent commission back in may by saying sure i will come before the committee. but local tv station asked him about a month ago if he would be willing to come before the select committee and he said he has nothing to lied but also has nothing to offer. so the option they do have at their disposal is to subpoena him. that would mean a legal request that he come before this congressional committee that is within the authority of the select committee. the problem that the committee may run into, though, is the enforcement of that subpoena. you know, with people that aren't members of congress, they have been able to go down the road much of referring them for criminal contempt to department of justice for prosecution. it may not be as cut and dry with members of congress because they may be playing by a different set of rules by the house of representatives. so, it could mean going before the ethics committee or something along those lines. there is another option at their disposal as well, erin. they could just schedule a public hearing and invite kevin mccarthy and these other members of congress to come before them, and dare them not to show. that's also a possibility. that is not something the committee has said publicly that they are willing to do. but these are all options on the table as they try to get someone, like kevin mccarthy, to come before them and talk to them act what he knows. you know, meanwhile, erin, while kevin mccarthy, these other members of congress may be resisting conversations, we do know that there are members of trump's inner circle that have been willing to talk to the committee. today, kayleigh macenany, forme white house press secretary, someone very close with president trump right through the end of his presidency, also served as spokesperson for his campaign. she talked to the committee today. we don't have a readout of that meeting but we know that she did it willingly after the subpoena was issued to her. so, the committee may not be getting answers from members of congress but they are getting it from other people close to the former president. erin. >> all right. thank you very much, ryan, and i want to go now to shan wu, former-federal prosecutor. abby phillip, senior political correspondent and anchor of inside poll sticks sunday. thanks to all. so, shan, let me start with you. the committee goes through in this letter, right, lays out mccarthy's interactions with trump in great detail. right? and they put it together, right, based off reports and interviews but they lay out a very clear and compelling narrative how central he is on the day of the instrekz, in the days before, in the days and months after. so how important is his testimony in addition to all of these -- this information that they have to the committee, shan? >> oh i think it's really important. there is no substitute for the opportunity to talk to him live and have a conversation about this, have him answer questions act trump's state of mind. and it's not just the state of mind on how he felt during the insurrection going on. it's how he might have felt before and after and if some of the reports we are hearing are correct, that mccarthy, among others, was telling trump, you know, there is no path out of here. this claim the election was improper is a lie, it's not going to work. that really goes to the possibility of trump having the criminal intent to obstruct the congressional process and possibly be part of this insurrection. >> so, jonathan, your reporting is cited in the letter, right? so, um, in the letter, it says the committee is also interested in mccarthy's communications with the president after january 6th. so, they quote and they say it appears that you may also have discussed with president trump the potential that he would face a censure resolution, impeachment or removal under the 25th amendment. it also appears that you -- referring to mccarthy -- may have identified other possible options, including president trump's immediate resignation from office. the footnote there points to an article that you wrote where three republican sources told you mccarthy asked other republicans whether he should call on trump to resign. pretty -- you know, a very significant thing. >> yeah. >> how much does mccarthy know? >> well, he was in frequent contact with former-president trump not just on january 6th but in the days immediately after january 6th. he -- he talked to the president repeatedly, um, and i think he was trying to figure out, you know, what was at stake here and i think, in real-time, he was trying to -- the impact on a lot of levels of the capitol riot. and -- and grappling with what to do. and i think, you know, mccarthy was -- was i think, in some ways, trying to find a way out with president trump. and um, clearly president trump was not going to resign. that became, i think, evident pretty quickly. but i think the -- the -- those hours and days after january 6th, i think kevin mccarthy, frankly like a lot of people in the republican caucus, were trying to grapple with how to approach this president who had courted and stayed close with for four years but now were starting to wonder, you know, is he going to be a real anchor on us politically going forward? and i think for a time, that was an open question. now, as you pointed out, by the end of the month, he was down at mar-a-lago and they were smoking a peace pipe down there. and we know the recollect of the story, since then. but those hours and days after are -- are crucial. >> well, they are crucial because obviously, in that moment, he thought what he thought. it was an attack. it was trump's responsibility. he talked to, as you point out, multiple republicans act whether he should tell trump to resign, right? it wasn't it was private and secret in his heart, he was sharing it. and, abby, you know, in may and this is after the visit to mar-a-lago when he went down to chris kiss the ring, mccarthy did tell manu sure he would be are willing to testify about conversations with trump. of course, in a really dis dismissive way and referring to an outside commission. so, here is what mccarthy has said about the bipartisan committee that ended up forming. here he is. >> i think it's very clear to the american public, this is a sham. >> now, abby, i feel like i have to emphasize, republicans i have talked to who have appeared before that committee say the exact opposite, right? they say it's fair and -- and smart and well researched and substantive. but when it comes to mccarthy, abby, is there any chance he talks to the committee willingly? >> yeah, i think it's very unlikely. i mean, you will probably see him take a similar tact as you know congressman jim jordan and issue a statement that basically says i have got nothing for you. and you heard you know ryan nobles talking about that as well because they know that even though that is effectively sort of defying the subpoena, the -- the enforcement mechanism is a lot less clear for the committee. whether or not they can or would be willing to pursue this even further down the road, so he could simply try to say well everything that you need to know is out there in the public domain. that's obviously not going to satisfy the committee. but it might stall it enough that he doesn't actually have to provide information and faces very few consequences. um, you know, what you are seeing with mccarthy is like with a lot of other republican allies at that time in the -- in the -- on the day of january 6th and afterwards, they were panicked. they believed that, um, that this was catastrophic for president trump. but that all changed as the days and weeks went on, and they realized that trump's base did not, in fact, abandon him after january 6th. so, um, he is gonna really struggle if he does ever come before the committee to explain the discrepancy between his thinking on january 6th and what came after. the answer for the discrepancy, obviously, as we all know is politics. >> so, shan, the committee does go through in this -- yeah, go ahead, john. >> he does cooperate. i was going to say i would be very surprised if mccarthy cooperates at any level, especially given the fact that jim jordan has made very clear -- jim jordan, of course, is the -- the hardline trump ally from ohio -- jordan has made clear he is not gonna cooperate. now, if mccarthy was to say that he will cooperate, at any level, and create daylight between himself and jordan, that would be dually noted by one donald j. trump of palm beach, florida. and i think that would create real challenges for mccarthy if he was to be in line for the speakership this time next year because his big impediment to being speaker could be donald trump and jim jordan. so, i think for that reason, alone, mccarthy's unlikely to cooperate. >> so -- so, shan, one other point here. there is -- there is a question about obviously mccarthy voted, right, to not certify the election. and that vote did not happen until after the insurrection, right? because the insurrection paused it. right? didn't happen until that night. so the committee says they want to know whether trump's team talked to mccarthy between the insurrection and the vote. they say your public statements regarding january 6th have changed markedly since you met with trump. at that meeting or at any other time, did president trump or his representatives discuss or suggest what you should say publicly during the impeachment trial if called as witness or in any later investigation about your conversations with him on january 6th? so, referring to the vote and also, obviously, to the trial that after anything else. was there coaching? so do you think it's possible there was coaching? and if so, what is the significance legally? >> oh, i have no doubt there was coaching. legally, arguably, it is kind of an obstruction issue. i mean, the impeachment wasn't a court trial. but that kind of coaching really, again, reveals what's really going on with what trump's trying to do then. if he is telling him say these things because we can still stop the election results, that really is part of the conspiracy to obstruct congress and to have this insurrection. you know, and going to the point that ryan made about the enforcement issue, it is hard for congress to take a step for them to enforce against him because it's kind of unprecedented and i think the real question's gonna be is where is the justice department on this? because they would have methods of enforcement particularly if they issued grand jury subpoenas. >> shan, abby, jonathan, thank you all very much. and next, it is a groundbreaking covid treatment that could prevent more than a million hospitalizations, we're told. but most of the doses aren't coming for months -- months. why? dr. sanjay gupta reports. plus, the white house trying to downplay the striking 7% increase in consumer prices over the past year. how bad can inflation get once it gets started? and new information tonight from bob saget's family after the actor's surprising and sudden death. i always dreamed of having kids of my own. ♪ ♪ now i'm ready for someone to call me mom. at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. >> vo: my car is my after-work decompression zone. ♪ music ♪ >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ (vo) this year, t-mobile for business is here to help you hit the ground running. when you switch to t-mobile and bring your own device, we'll pay off your phone up to $800. you can keep your phone. keep your number. and get your employees connected on the largest and fastest 5g network. plus, we give you $200 in facebook ads on us! so you can reach more customers, create more opportunities, and make this the best year for your business yet. visit your local t-mobile store today. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy. ♪ ...feelin' good ♪ no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. lisa here, has had many jobs. and all that experience has led her to a job that feels like home. with home instead, you too can become a caregiver to older adults. apply today. ww's all new personalpoints program is made just for you. you take an assessment, enter your goals, the foods you love and ww builds a plan just for you. i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. no two people are alike so no two plans are alike. with ww, i lost 30lbs. this new program changed my life. live the life you love. lose the weight you want. the all new ww personalpoints program. don't pay until spring! join today at ww.com hurry! offer ends january 17th! tonight, the biden administration announcing it's ordering another half million courses of astrazeneca's covid treatment. they say the u.s. has more treatments available than at any other point during the pandemic. >> our nation's medicine cabinet has never been more stocked with 4 million effective treatments available in january, alone. >> okay. but there is also this truth. millions of doses of pfizer's antiviral pill are not set to be delivered -- ready -- till the end of june. and health-care workers say they need them no now. dr. sanjay gupta is out front. >> i could feel the -- like, the mucus build up in my lungs. >> reporter: like millions of other americans, 26-year-old clay tested positive for covid-19 after gathering with friends and family over the holidays. >> when the coughs came, it definitely sent the aches down the body. >> reporter: were you quite worried about how sick you were getting? >> i was pretty worried. um, i -- i see a lot of stories about how people's health has declines very fast. you know, a matter of days. i know that just kind of worried me. >> reporter: despite being boosted, clay's bmi of 35 placed him at higher risk, so clay's doctor prescribed him paxlovid, an antiviral that has been shown to reduce hospitalizations by nearly 90% among those at highest risk for developing severe disease. >> they are a game changer. and have the potential to -- to dramatically alter the impact of covid-19. >> reporter: paxlovid is a combination of oral pills that work by interfering with the virus's ability to replicate. based on paxlovid's high efficacy, the 20 million courses bought by the biden administration could, eventually, prevent more than a million hospitalizations based on cnn's calculations but the problem is this. the majority of those doses won't arrive for months. >> there is hardly any of these pill packs around. >> reporter: dr. eric topal is executive vice president for research at scripts in san diego. he believes the biden administration should have invested in paxlovid months ago. >> had we had hundreds of millions of -- of booster packs of paxlovid right now, we'd be able, so much better, to fend against omicron. >> reporter: several months before the vaccines were authorized, there were at-risk investments being made, many bets being made on various vaccines and, you know, those were gambles. will those same sorts of gambles made on -- on therapeutics? >> the fact that this was the first medication that was designed specifically against this virus that, um, i think was worth the shot. it was worth the investment but there was none. >> reporter: so far, just 160,000 courses have been delivered around the country. with more people currently hospitalized with covid-19 than at any other time during the pandemic, these pills will, soon, be in short supply. they will need to be rationed. >> maybe challenging. >> reporter: leaving doctors at the university of washington's harbor view medical center with some tough decisions. >> we're using these medications judiciously, and really giving 'em to the people that would most benefit from these therapeutics. if we open it up to vaccinated individuals, we would not have enough therapy. >> reporter: should a vaccinated person get it, versus an unvaccinated? or should it only be unvaccinated? i mean, it is going to raise all kinds of ethical and medical sort of questions. >> the availability's so limited and more people who are unvaccinated are gonna wind up in need. >> reporter: the national institutes of health guidance prioritizes treatment for those at highest risk and immunocompromised, the elderly, and, yes, the unvaccinated. >> many of the people who are seeking this therapy may not need this therapy to recover. um, from covid-19 and particularly if you are vaccinated/boosted. >> there are other treatments available. but remdesivir, an antiviral and monoclonal antibody, both require infusions and molnupiravir, another oral pill, is the last-line option being recommended. none of them, as effective as paxlovid. >> yesterday, my cold wasn't as worse. and today, i am feeling a lot better. >> reporter: clay was one of the lucky few. getting, both, physical relief, as well as mental relief from the drug. >> once you are sick, and you're -- you know, you're -- you feeling the -- the symptoms and you are kind of like, oh, my goodness, is this gonna get worse? um, so that kind of -- the medication helped alleviate that stress and anxiety. >> reporter: erin, i think fundamentally, there was a lot of energy put around vaccines, understandably. but as a result, i think what we are seeing is that there was less put around testing, around even masks, and therapeutic, as you just saw there and i think we are seeing some ramifications of that. the white house has said -- the responded saying, look, we are working with pfizer last year to try and speed up clinical trials. try and accelerate the program. but here is where we are. a very, very effective oral therapeutic that, you know, could be very effective right now but the vast majority of the doses aren't going to arrive until the summer when we know the numbers, erin, are going to be much lower. >> yeah. all right. thank you very much, sanjay. and next, it's becoming a common occurrence at grocery stores across this country. she shelves empty so what is behind the shortage? >> and russia refusing to back down after nato talks aimed at preventing an invasion of ukraine. so what is putin's endgame? 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the price of used cars and trucks, 37% higher than a year ago. gasoline, 49. clothes, up nearly 6%. food costs -- food costs -- up more than 6%. and the fear of further price increases appears to be part of the reason that people are clearing out the shelves of grocery stores across the country. gabe cohen is out front. >> reporter: it's a disconcerting déjà vu. empty shelves at grocery stores like the early days of the pandemic. >> this is ridiculous. >> reporter: washington went to three d.c. stores to find food for her kids. >> it is getting a little hard but i just have to do what i got to do. >> reporter: the cause? a perfect storm. the entire food supply chain, farms, warehouses, trucking, grocery stores, were already facing a worker shortage. now, omicron is intensifying it. >> they are seeing empty shelves when they go to the supermarket, that's why labor shortage. >> reporter: at stu leonard's in the northeast, 8% were isolating last week. some other stores have less than half their staff. >> it is a challenge. >> reporter: and with people stuck at home and inflation at its highest point in 40 years, families are cooking more meals, and demand for groceries is spiking. now, throw in winter weather. this blast in the northeast shut down i-95 in virginia -- a critical trucking route for more than a day. leaving stores across the region with little inventory. >> there is like nothing for me to buy. >> already took time out of my day to go to the store so definitely little frustrating. >> reporter: the northwest and midwest saw similar issues, amid extreme weather. while shelves are mostly stocked again, winter is just underway. and omicron is still spreading with the supply chain stretched thin. >> i expect in the coming weeks, we'll continue to face supply challenges. those challenges will be sporadic and impact different areas at different times. >> reporter: at dawson's market in d.c., the owner got word from his distributor that they could only deliver 70% of his orders in the coming weeks. >> it's not the product is not in the warehouse, it's because they don't have enough people to pick the product. that, also, creates a situation where we have to pivot, again, and try to find alternative suppliers for some of the key items. >> are you concerned that there could be shortages on the shelves here? >> absolutely. so i am definitely concerned it is going to be shortages. >> reporter: experts say there should be enough food at stores, but in some cases, there will be fewer options. the national grocers' association is now asking the biden administration to prioritize tests for grocery workers across the supply chain and limit mandates to help keep their workforce intact. >> we know that there are workers who will leave, as opposed to getting vaccinated or even having to deal with testing on a weekly basis. >> reporter: starting february 1st, unvaccinated workers at stu leonard's will no longer be paid if they have to quarantine. >> i think that is fair. >> reporter: many owners have already raised wages to keep staff. with operation costs rising, families should expect more price hikes at the market in the months ahead. >> it's going to be very concerned. >> reporter: washington like so many is struggling to eat those costs, as a grocery store cashier. >> bring up the pay rate. that's all i ask. bring up the pay rate. >> reporter: and tonight, experts are urging people not to go out and panic buy groceries. but they say, certain products at certain times may be tough to find in the weeks ahead. erin? >> all right. gabe, thank you very much. all right. now, larry sommers. he was treasury secretary for fo former president bill clinton and director of the national economic council under president obama. so, secretary sommers, we are at 7% inflation and obviously it is a nearly 40-year high. um, and you know, you heard that woman there, right? wage increases to make up fort for the price increases. the problem is when one starts to follow the other. and you have been really worried about innation for a long time. how serious are price increases like the ones we are seeing? >> look. we have a real problem. i think it was a foreseeable problem a year ago, given the amount of money that was infused into the economy. but it took seven years after the vietnam war started to get inflation up to this level. inflation's now 50% higher than it was when richard nixon imposed price controls to stop what was seen as a terrible inflation at that time. i don't think there's much question that we have an inflation problem that's not thought of as simply a transitory issue. the real concern is that we are going to get a wage price spiral in which higher wages lead to higher prices, and higher prices lead to higher wages. and we're off to the races. and that is still a substantial risk starting from, uh, where we are. i can't conceive that we are going to see the kind of 16% mortgage rates that you referred to from the early '80s, erin. but i sure do think that interest rates are gonna have to rise significantly from where they are. and we're going to have to get used to the fact that our problem is not that our economy is too weak. our problem is that our economy is too strong. there's too much demand, relative to the supply capacity of our economy. there is not a lot we can do to change the supply capacity in the short run. >> right. >> and that means we don't want to have just rising inflation. we are going to have to limit demand. >> so -- so, let me ask you, because -- okay -- you know, look. when you adjust, um, wages for inflation, right now, you actually -- the problem actually looks, in a sense, even worse. even though inflation was slightly, um, less of a problem coming month to month in december than it was from a year ago but adjusted for inflation wages were down about 2 1/2 percent and that is part of the reason that the fed has this fear, right, what are they going to do, right? raising interest rates when real wages are dropping is really awful for -- for a lot of people and the fed chairman, jerome powell, who you have been calling on to deal with this for at least a year, is still only talking about if he needs to raise interest rates. here he is today. >> in a way, high inflation is -- is a -- is a severe threat to the achievement of maximum employment and achieving a long expansion that can give us that. if we have to raise interest rates more over time, we will. >> if? >> look. uh, nobody knows the future with certainty but i think there is every reason to expect that interest rate increases are going to be necessary. i think it's hard to believe that, given that we've got 7% inflation, raising rates from zero to 1 or even from zero to 2 is gonna be sufficient to contain the inflation. the main scenario where you wouldn't have to raise interest rates is one that nobody wants, where we start to see our financial institutions and our asset prices implode. if you saw a sudden decline in stock prices, for example, then you wouldn't want to be raising increase -- interest rates but that's hardly an outcome that would suggest economic stability or economic health. so, i think we are looking at a situation right now that is fundamentally unsustainable. and the question is gonna be can we achieve a gradual breaking of the economy that permits this over heeding to ease and inflation to come down. i sure hope we can and i got a lot of respect for jay powell. but by continuing to believe this narrative of transitory inflation and it's all gonna be okay, we've gotten ourselves way behind where it's much harder to deal with than it would have been if we had understood more fully what our problem was six months ago. >> all right. well, larry, i really appreciate your time. and i thank you. next topic, of course, is interest rates go up when your debt is greater than the entire size of your economy, then your cost of borrowing is going up and up for our entire country. there are very serious questions to consider for all americans. and next, what is putin's move? russia refusing to back down as the u.s. steps up pressure on moscow to pull troops away from the border with ukraine. plus, novak djokovic now admitting he knew he had covid-19 during that december photo shoot where he was maskless. hear his explanation as he waits for a decision on whether he can stay and compete in australia. no ink! ugh! i need you to print, i need you. you think you're empty? i'm empty. do you suffer from cartridge conniptions? be conniption-free, thanks to the cartridge-free epson ecotank printer. a ridiculous amount of ink! you're mocking me. not again! the epson ecotank. just fill & chill. as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ better skin from your body wash? try olay body wash with skincare super ingredient collagen! olay body wash hydrates to improve skin 3x better, from dry and dull to firm and radiant. with olay body, i feel fearless in my skin. tonight, no deal. a second round of talks ending without any commitment from putin to pull roughly 100,000 troops back from the ukrainian border amid growing fears of an invasion. this as russia warns it is ready to take military action if it doesn't get what it wants as the u.s. is finalizing new sanctions that it says it will impose if putin does invade ukraine. deputy secretary of state wendy sherman, sending this warning to putin. >> if he invades, subverts, or coerces ukraine in any way, he is going to face very difficult, tough economic sanctions and other actions. it is very provocative. it is very escalatory. it is very concerning. it could, indeed, lead to conflict and i certainly hope that president putin makes the smart choice. >> out front now, fiona hill, former senior director for european and russian affairs on the national security council and the author of "there is nothing for you here, finding opportunity in the 21st century." so, fiona, i really appreciate your time. of course, you know more about the -- the actors here and what is at stake than anyone. so, you know, when someone puts 100,000 troops -- more than 100,000 troops along a border, you know, they don't just do it for -- for fun. um, and obviously, it's cold now and as it gets warmer, it gets muddier and harder to do something so there is a window of time that putin is facing. how likely is it that he actually does invade ukraine? >> well, that is a big question that everyone is trying to resolve right now, erin. um, basically, what putin is trying to see is what we have an offer for him as a result of this kind of maximal gunboat diplomacy that he has put in place. and when i say gunboat diplomacy, it's clear that he has these troops on the border with ukraine to hold ukraine hostage. partly, because of russia's own ambitions toward ukraine and, you know, reincorporating in some fashion into russia's sphere of influence. but also, to put us on notice as we have seen. he's been demanding that nato pull back from the positions nato's held since the late 1990s. that the united states, in fact, pull back in some fashion from europe. maybe, even withdrawing completely. and also, that nato then actually refuses to take onboard ukraine, georgia, and any other former-soviet states and on top of that, there is all kinds of other demands and a really heightened rhetoric in moscow about the seriousness of this issue and, i know, how antagonistic the russians see themselves towards the united states at this point. so, as wendy sherman's laid out, this isn't looking -- and putin has clearly given himself the option of moving into ukraine, again. i mean, he's already done it with the annexation of crimea. so we have to remember, this is phase three in many respects of -- of, you know, the pressure that putin's been putting on ukraine since 2014. >> and as you say since 2014, of course at the time then-president obama put sanctions on sort of lower-level players. now, president biden, who was then the vice president, who pushed for tougher sanctions which is what they are putting on the table here if putin goes ahead. and it is sort of a part of a trend, fiona, because obviously as both candidate and as president, joe biden talked a much tougher game against putin than donald trump ever did. here is some examples. >> i don't believe we are a nation that bows down to vladimir putin. i will not. >> i think putin's been a very strong leader for russia. i think he's been a lot stronger than our leader. >> you know vladimir putin. you think he is a killer? >> uh-huh. i do. >> putin's a killer. >> lot of killers. got a lot of killers. >> uh, but the thing is, fiona, you know, putin didn't do this while trump was president, right? he had the -- the -- obviously, crimea. and then, there was trump. there was that sort of break. and then, he is now got 100,000 troops on the border. why do you think he feels emboldened now when he is up against a president who has talked a lot tougher? >> well, look, there are actually things that putin did do, um, during the trump administration. you know, there was the poisoning of the former russian spy and his daughter in the united kingdom. there were all kinds of assassination attempts and there were russian paramilitaries that shot down special forces in syria in 2014 and a host of other things but you are absolutely right. this is a big change when it comes to ukraine and part of the reason there is because the biden administration looks more serious about, um, support for ukraine than trump personally did. i mean, many of the other things that president trump said was what is the united states got to do with ukraine? and in fact, unfortunately, we saw that president trump was more interested in kind of privatizing the relationship, you know, with ukraine, with the infamous phone call with president zelensky asking to do him a favor. so, what the russians don't like and putin doesn't like is kind of a back to the u.s., business as usual on the national security/foreign policy front. and looking about more exercises with ukraine, perhaps bringing ukraine closer to nato. and so, there is a reaction to that. and then, there's also -- look, this is the 30th anniversary since the dissolution of the soviet union, and at that point, you know, 30 years ago, putin saw russia getting pushed out of europe. and he thinks that we're weak now -- the united states. he looks at, you know, inflation. he looks at the withdrawal from afghanistan. he looks at all of the domestic problems that president biden has. he looks at disarray in europe. he looks at infections in nato and thinks this is my moment. and as you said earlier, there is also a military moment. he can't keep forces in the field without invading because of the weather and all kind of other issues and so he feels that he has to make a move now. and if it is not going to be another invasion, it's going to be a really concerted effort to put our feet to the fire, to come through with some of the things that he is demanding. >> all right. fiona, thank you so much for your -- your perspective and -- and nuance. i appreciate it. thank you. >> thanks, erin. and next, tennis star novak djokovic waiting to find out if he will be allowed to stay and compete in australia, and he admits -- admits that he tested positive for covid and knew it when he went and did a interview and photo shoot last month. plus, bob saget's family on the actor and comedian's sudden death. 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>> all right. thank you very much, paula. and next, an update on bob saget's death. seen it. trust me, after 15 walks... gets a little old. ugh biden: this is the challenge of our collective lifetime. and every day we delay, the cost of inaction increases. we have the ability to invest in ourselves and build an equitable, clean energy future, and in the process, create millions of good-paying jobs and opportunities around the world. there's no more time to hang back or sit on the fence or argue amongst ourselves. so let this be the moment that we answer history's call. some of my best memories growing up, were cooking with mom. she always said, “food is love.” so when she moved in with us, a new kitchen became part of our financial plan. ♪ i want to make the most of every meal we have together. ♪ at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com new information from bob saget's family tonight. his love wupds ones say they are waiting for the results of his autopsy report. not currently offering any theories about his cause of death. two sources close to the comedian tell cnn 65-year-old saget was found dead in a florida hotel room on sunday. he had covid in december, according to a source. call any link to saget's death quote speculative. a source also says saget seemed healthy, wouldn't have traveled to florida if he actually had felt sick. thanks so much for joining us. "ac 360" starts now. good evening. we begin tonight with breaking news that is not only a major step in the january 6th investigation but could also be a clear sign of where the house select committee is taking it. the committee, late today, asking house minority he leader kevin mccarthy to volunteer information about communications he had with the former president and the white house -- former white house chief of staff mark meadows on and around the day. now, mccarthy as you know could have volumes to say about what the former president was saying and thinking as violent supporters assaulted the capitol. he was on the phone with him, begging him to call off the