consequences. >> i hope very much that president putin steps back from the path of conflict. >> even as we far prefer the course of diplomacy and dialogue, we are continuing to prepare down the course of defense and deterrence. >> reporter: the united states is hoping yesterday's sharp stand-off at the united nations intimidated russia. >> i think what was important is that the russians hear almost every member of the security council tell them that they agreed with us that the path of diplomacy is better than the path of war. >> reporter: today the u.s. and russian ambassadors saw one another in normal diplomatic meetings. a diplomat told cnn. the united states is waiting for substantive diplomacy to resume and theres no time line for when the kremlin will respond to the proposal that the united states gave them last week. now, president putin said today that he hopes that there is a solution. he said that won't be easy and he's not ready to talk about what that solution would look like. he is keeping open lines of diplomacy. he is expected to speak later this week with the u.k. prime minister, boris johnson, and president macron of france could visit moscow sometime soon. >> all right, thank you so much. let's bring in matthew chance, reporting live in kyiv, ukraine for us. we heard from president putin today for the first time in more than a month. tell us about why you think his comments were so significant. >> reporter: yes, they were significant, jake. as you're saying, this is the first time in several weeks that we've heard president putin speak about this crisis. and he used this opportunity of a news conference with the hungarian prime minister in moscow earlier today really to lash out against the united states, accusing it of ignoring russia's security concerns when it comes to the western military lines, when it comes to nato. he accused them of use ukraine as a tool to restrain russia. take a listen. >> translator: their main task is to contain the development of russia. ukraine is simply a tool to achieve this goal. they could draw us into some kind of armed conflict and force their allies in europe to impose the very tough sanctions being talked about in the united states today. or they could draw ukraine into nato, set up strike weapons symptoms there. and still, draw us into an armed conflict. >> well, russia of course denies it has any plans to invade ukraine again. remember, it did that in 2014. but you know, the fact that president putin has made these comments tonight suggesting that russia could be drawn into a conflict over ukraine coupled with the fact, remember, that it has over 127,000 troops massed near the border of ukraine, it's not doing. to ease concerns in the ukrainian capital about russia's intentions. >> and tell us about why these visits are so important. the ukrainian president, hosting the polish and the british prime ministers today in kyiv. >> reporter: they are important. they're symbolically important because it shows that even though ukraine is not part of the military, not part of the european union, there are countries in the west that do diplomatically and materially support this country. boris johnson, the british prime minister, came here, offered millions in financial aid, promised there would be stinging sanctions against russia if it makes any moves toward ukraine again. the prime minister has said there would be diplomatic support as well. so very symbolic messages of support from the outside for the ukraine. it's not clear whether those supportive words and actions will do anything to change the calculus in the kremlin. >> all right. thank you. let's discuss this with todd young of indiana. he was once a marine and now he's with the senate foreign relations committee. thank you for joining us. i want to get your interpretation of what president putin said today, accusing the u.s. and the west about trying to get russia into an armed conflict. how did you interpret those remarks? >> you know, it is typical gas lighting from vladimir putin. this is something the old kgb agent is used to engaging in. nato is a defensive alliance and the invitation of the former soviet bloc countries. what vladimir putin would like to do is either to gain control of some of these former warsaw pact countries, or see a friendly government supported from within. so he's trying to reconstitute in a piecemeal fashion as a security buffer for his own country. these boundaries, however, were settled after the cold war. so it's important that continue. we support our nato troops on the eastern flank of europe so those countries receive the sort of support they need, and we impose the most severe sanctions that we have ever imposed. certainly in my lifetime. and we're preparing for that right now. i wish we had been able to move more quickly and with some of our major allies. but make no mistake. what is at stake here is not just in ukraine. there are other maligned leaders around the world including xi jinping in china who are watching what we do here and they will be calculating their future actions, based on our sponsor lack of response in this case. >> a few weeks ago you vote for legislation that would sanction the controversial pipeline nord stream two which would ferry natural gas to germany. today it was called a loaded gun that putin is using to blackmail europe. it certainly got germany to push back on the u.s., imposing those sanctions against the pipeline. what is your message to germany and any other european ally who wants that pipeline to move forward? >> at some point, germany will have to choose. they'll have to choose the extent to which they're dependent on russia. an oppressive regime. or instead, they'll turn increasingly toward the west and rely on the west for many of their petroleum supplies. i know this administration is working hard in the near term to try to fill some of the gaps in supplies that would be interrupted if that pipeline were not made operational. but in the longer term, i think germany and some other countries will have to rethink their energy mix. vladimir putin has done a very clever job of dividing germany and other european countries against the rest of the western world, and he's done it by building that pipeline. and he aims to do it further by splitting nato all together in this crisis. we have to stand together. we have to show strength and resolve at this moment of trial. and we still have an opportunity to prevent this invasion. >> i want to turn to another major geopolitical threat. you've been hosting a campaign online called beijing behaving badly, to highlight the chinese government censorship problems, human rights abuses, cyber security concerns. we here at "the lead" launched our own series called behind china's wall to bring attention to so many ugly truths. china is trying to hide behind the fanfare of the olympics. what do you tell your constituents about how they can balance cheering for team usa in the olympic games with awareness of the atrocities going on in china right now because of the chinese government? >> well, jake, this is something i'm emphasizing. it is fun to clear for our athletes. in fact, we should be cheering on our athletes. but at the same time, we need to provide context for these games. the chinese communist party and xi jinping are very much focused on using these games to elevate their own regime and to normalize the fact this regime which has engaged in gross human rights violations is hosting the games. this is not a normal thing to have this country which is shipping labor-made garments into the olympic village. it's not normal to have a country like that hosting the olympics. it's not normal to open up your internet in a host country and find that any unflattering references to the regime have been removed from the so-called open internet. it's not normal to go into a country where these sports journalists aren't able to ask probing questions about a tennis player who recently has, you know, some very suspicious things have happened, peng shuai. so there are some abnormal things happening in this country that need to be brought to light. and we cannot allow these wonderful games, otherwise wonderful games, to be obscured, to obscure those horrible facts, that the chinese communist party is trying to obscure. >> thank you. so. good to see you again. coming up, no mask mandates. the country where the leader has put freedom over safety and has lift all restrictions. might other places follow their lead? plus, the possible political us which to criticize president biden's plans to nominate a black woman to the u.s. supreme court for the first time ever. stay with us. super fast. so we could finally buy our first "big boi house." big boi house. big boi kitchen! big boi waterfall shower! big boi crawl space. big boi sold sign, big boi logo. realtor.com to each their home. what happens when we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change. faster. vmware. welcome change. get your personal points plan! i'm james corden and i'm here to tell people that ww is getting even more personal. keep on shopping, ignore us. i've lost like 28 lbs. you look great! i love that my clothes fit better, but i just love ice cream a little bit more than that. the new ww personal points program is particular to you. so what kind of foods do you like? 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>> sure. and of course, everybody is asking us that question. but when we're looking at our hospital admission rates, day by day, and we see fewer and fewer cases, and we see very few cases in the elderly that are vaccinated, actually admitted to a hospital or even dying. >> and that's just because of vaccination. >> i have no other good explanation for why denmark is in such a unique place. >> reporter: denmark has the highest vaccination rate on earth. they battened down the hatches again in december, closing schools, mandating masks and putting curfews on bars and restaurants. now virtually all the restrictions are gone. >> is it really the end this time? >> well, we hope so. but we promised the citizens of denmark that we will only have restrictions if they are truly necessary and we'll lift them as soon as we can. >> reporter: it's not just denmark. last week, england lifted nearly all of its domestic restrictions as lawmakers set out a novel new strategy. >> we must learn to live with covid in the same way that we've learned to live with flu. >> reporter: before the vaccine, covid was a lot more deadly than the flu. but as immunity rose and a less severe variant emerged that is directly caused by flu and pneumonia are not far off covid and lately they are contributing factors far more often. >> is it reasonable to treat covid like we do the flu? >> i think it is not a bad model unless of course it come one a nasty, highly infectious variant. >> reporter: in denmark, people are free to circulate. so is the virus. two years, three vaccine doses and a will the of sacrifice later, covid doesn't seem so scary anymore. >> reporter: for countries looking to replicate the success, they say denmark is not the answer. they say if you push people too far, they will push back. so the danish response has been to be honest about the pros and cons about the vaccinations. they said even the decision to stop using the astrazeneca vaccine lastier over extremely rare blood clots, that didn't hurt confidence. they say it actually helped. >> thanks so much. just in, pfizer has formally asked the fda to authorize its two-dose covid vaccine for kids age 6 months to 5 years. here to discuss, doctor, how much of an impact do you think this will have assuming the fda and cdc approve this vaccine? >> hi, jake. i think it would have a significant impact and let me explain that further. as long as we have any portion of our population that is not vaccinated, those persons become susceptible to spreading covid. they become susceptible to getting infected and developing cove. we're seeing our pediatric cases still spiking and rising. we've had over 3 million in the month of january. if you look at the span of the pandemic, there have been close to 11.5 million pediatric cases, responsible for a little less than a quarter of all infections. so this is good and welcome news. the questioning will be, will parents in this age group be eager to get their children vaccinated? >> that is question. because kids 5 to 12, it is only a minority have been vaccinated in the united states. a new study from the kaiser family foundation finds that only about 3 in 10 parties say they will get their child under the aimge of 5 vaccinated. are you worried about this trend for kids 12 and under, their parents not getting them vaccinated, will continue with kids 5 and under? >> yes, i will concerned. this is something that i deal with frequently. i'll be speaking with schools locally in the north new jersey area again this week. i'm talking to concerned parents. the question of whether or not it is fully approved, does that mean i should give my child a quote, unquote spexperimental vaccine? it is not experimental. we have so much data that we're moving in the direction that science has taught us. we need to emphasize family vaccinations more so than individual or pediatric vaccinations. meaning get your whole household protected and safe. the way that we do that, we make the vaccines accessible. we partner with schools, with community centers, we partner with faith-based organizations. whatever we can do to reassure parents that this is the next logical step in beating back this pandemic. we need to do it. >> turning back to the report in copenhagen, denmark, they are hoping other countries do not follow denmark's lead and by lifting all covid protocols. today saying this world health organization official, now is not the time to lift everything all at once. what do you think? >> i agree. this sounds like the twilight zone. there is a considerable am of new infections in denmark. it has the second highest infection rate in the world defensively see in their data that they're talking about their being this, meaning people are getting infected but they're not getting hospitalized or they're not having to receive critical care. we're not seeing the same thing in the united states or even in our state in new jersey. we're not seeing the decoupling from infections and the need for intensive care giving to patients. so i caution this approach. i don't think it is something that we should do. if we've learned anything there this pandemic, you don't play a stronger hand than what you have. there could be a new svariant. slow and steady will win this race. >> thank you so much. >> to see you as always. today president biden is weighing in on his big supreme court decision. what did he say? that's next. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? 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>> i think it would be desirable. it strengthens the ledgitimacy when we have bipartisan votes. but it is not essential. i think president biden is determined here to once again nominate someone who has a great educational background, significant experience at the bench and bar, and someone who fits with the priorities and values that rereflected when he ran for president. i think he'll balance that well and i'm hopeful that republican there's recognize in his nominee someone who belongs on the supreme court and someone who would be an historic pick. >> some of your colleagues have criticized president biden's pledge during the campaign in 2000 to nominate a black woman. one of the most recent being senator ted cruz of texas. >> the democrats are so casually racist that they'll make that promise. and not only that. it ends up being insulting to african american women. there are black women who are very talented jurists who may well be the appropriate nominee, but when biden starts out by saying he has a quota system, he diminishes the achievements of those african american women. >> senator cruz is on the judiciary committee with you. what is your response to that? >> well, i think when president reagan announced that he intended to nominate a woman to the supreme court, i suspect that then republican senators did not say similar things about how this was disrespectful to american women. ultimately, sandra day o'connor who was confirmed and served for a long time on the supreme court was one of the most respected and respected jurists in modern supreme court history. when president trump announced he would fill the last of the vacancies he got to fill with a woman, with amy coney barrett, we didn't hear complaints then either. i think it is appropriate for president biden to say he deserve as court that reflects the diversity in our nation. there areal highly qualified, well experienced candidates from among whom he can choose and i think we should be celebrating that moment and recognizing that this is a chance for president biden to make history, rather than throwing rocks at his nomination process or his campaign commitment based out of an outdated play book. >> we heard this from roger wicker. >> the irony is that the supreme court is at the very same time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination. >> yes. >> and while adding someone had a is the beneficiary of this sort of calling this affirmative action and quotas. senator cruz, in fact, saying democrats are rallying behind the idea of picking a black woman for this nomination are casually racist. i mean, is this -- what is your response? >> well, jake, frankly, rather than responding to everything said by a colleague that i disagree strongly with, i would prefer to focus on the historic moment that is in front of us. and there are a number of judges, currently serving judges at the district court level, federal, circuit court level, whose educational backgrounds are unparalleled, whose experience as judges, experience as clerking, would stand up to any other currently serving member of the supreme court and would certainly come pair very favorably with the nominees of the previous administration. let's look at the last year for a moment, jake. president biden nominated a wide range of highly skilled, competent, capable jurists and we in the judiciary committee have filled vacancies on the district court and the circuit court with these nominees. i expect we'll be doing that again. if you take a welcome in detail at the experience, the education, the life story of just one of the potential nominees. and i'm talking about d.c. circuit court judge ketanji brown jackson, it is impressive. beyond impressive. any law firm in america, district court in manager, any practitioner of the law in manager, would respect and be honored to have her as a colleague. whether on the bench or at the bar. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. coming up next, alarming signs of hate popping up across the country. stay with us. and the first month is free. join panera's unlimited sip club just $8.99 a month. panera. the familiar made fantastic. ♪ limu emu and doug.♪ and it's easy to customize your insurance at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? 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(vo) verizon is going ultra, so you can too. in our national lead, a slew of incidents bringing strong condemnations, most recently to chicago synagogues were vandalized over the weekend and swastikas were put up. a welcome now at the reason spate of hateful. >> reporter: sickening images out of atlanta, florida, as video emerged showing a group of neo-nazis shouting anti-semitic slurs, drawing condemnation from state political leaders. but one key voice was missing over the weekend. that of florida's governor, ron desantis. he addressed it monday afternoon, taking the opportunity torn la out at his critics who were questioning why it was taking so long to condemn the neo-nazis. >> what i'm going to say, these people, these democrats trying to use this as a political issue to try to smear me as if i had something to do with it. we're not playing their game. >> reporter: the recent incident in florida one of several that has the jewish community deeply concerned. in chicago, two synagogues vandalized over the weekend. a swastika left at one location. in washington, d.c., police arrested a man for spray painting swastikas last friday. in florida, hundreds of anti-semitic fliers left at homes in miami beach and surfside. similar flyers left at residences in san francisco. this as a man held four people hostage at a texas synagogue in an hour-long stand-off. >> these incidents around the country are happening at a time of historically high number of anti-semitic incidents. the last four years have been amongst the highest we've ever recorded in 40 years. >> reporter: last year, the anti-defamation league reported 2024 anti-semitic incidents in the united states. a slight increase from the year prior. but still, the third highest year of incidents since they began tracking it in 1979. >> so yesterday on our show, i misspoke. >> reporter: actor and host whommi goldberg repeatedly apologizing for the misinformed and hurtful comments she made about the holocaust on monday. it happen during a debate about a tennessee school board. a graphic novel about the atrocities committed during the holocaust. >> let's be truthful about it. the holocaust isn't about race. >> no. it's not about race. it's about -- >> but it's not about race. it's not about race. >> what is it about? >> it is about man's inhumanity to man. >> that drew immediate back lash. the head of the anti-defamation league writing, no, whoopi goldberg, it was about the nazi's systematic annihilation of the jewish people who they deemed to be an infear i don't remember race. they dehumanized them and use this racist propaganda to justify slaughtering 6 million jews. goldberg apologized last night. >> i did it to myself. this was my thought process and i will work hard not to think that way again. >> reporter: goldberg taking more responsibility for her comments again on tuesday. >> words matter and mine are no exception. i regret my comments, as i am, and i stand corrected. i also stand with the jewish people as they know and y'all know because i've always done that. >> reporter: not apologizing, however, host of shows on fox news, progressive jewish billionaire george soros. saying this is dangerous stuff and needs to stop. and given all that's happened recently, that's why you have folks at the adl saying it is so important for people to be educated about the holocaust and for elected officials, whenever they see incidents of anti-semitism, to speak up forcefully and quickly. jake? >> all right. thank you so much. coming up, are donald trump's outrageous claims and lies driving some republicans to work with democrats on a new law to secure future elections? stay with us. of everything you've been through. dove body wash, with 5 skin conditioning ingredients, boosts skin's ceramides renewal for hydrated, visibly moisturized skin. renew the love with dove body wash. it's our ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to relieve pressure points. and it's temperature balancing so you both sleep just right. and now, save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 24 months. only for a limited time. i didn't know my genetic report could tell me i was prone to harmful blood clots. i travel a ton, so this info was kind of life changing. maybe even lifesaving. ♪do you know what the future holds?♪ you're a one-man stitchwork master. but your staffing plan needs to go up a size. 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 it's still the eat fresh refresh™ and subway's refreshing everything like the new honey mustard rotisserie-style chicken. it's sweet, it's tangy, it's tender, it never misses. you could say it's the steph curry of footlongs. you could, but i'm not gonna. subway keeps refreshing and refreshing and re... i was injured in a car crash. i had no idea how much my case was worth. i called the barnes firm. when a truck hit my son, i had so many questions about his case. i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. your case is often worth more than insuran call the barnes firm to find out i could've made. what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm, injury attorneys ♪ call one eight hundred,est resul eight million ♪ in our politics lead, the bipartisan group of 16 lawmakers trying to find common ground on election reform have more evidence that action is needed after former president trump openly admitted he want then vice president pence to, quote, overturn the election in january 2021 by exploiting any vagueness in the electoral count, the act of 1887. with trump brazenly confessing his intention earlier this week to subvert the will of the american people, one republican member says they want to move, quote, aggressively to reform the act. before the 2022 mid-term elections. let's bring in our panel and discuss. nia, the white house is not outright opposed to reforming the act. obviously they wanted a much bigger reform bill. it is clearly pared down. do you think that now it is better for biden to stay out of it? >> i don't think it matters. i think what will matter is if they'll get enough time on the calendar to actually cobble something together and pass it through. they have a lot of stuff to do. it is an election year as well. i think that's the big factor. biden will get involved. he clearly wants something done. it's not what they wanted, which would have been massive and it would have made it easier for americans to vote. this is not even half a loaf. it is a thin slice of bread compared to what they really want. it is something that probably needs to be done, given what we hear from former president trump. >> ifgs talking to volks involved in this. they appreciate the hands-off position of the white house and of senate leadership to give them room to breathe. a lot of the senators work together on the bipartisan infrastructure deal. they trust each other. and they're going through process. they're breaking it up into committees. they're being very deliberate about how the various angles of this that they're discussing. so there is a lot of optimism that perhaps something could end up getting done here and not having these other people in the room trying to mess with it. these are senators, after all. i think might be reason to be optimistic that something could get done. >> do you think mitch mcconnell, the republican leader, is willing to engage in this? he hasn't shown a lot of eagerness to talk about election reform. >> i think he is taking the same approach that he took when they were trying to separate the infrastructure package out from the president's overall desires on spending. that ultimately worked the same way. a bipartisan group got together. biden came into that late. mcconnell stayed out of that. it ultimately became law. if this is going to work, i think that's how it is going to happen. i think there's broad agreement on the republican side. there is nervousness that democrats in the white house may want to try to put things in that they don't consider to be you can tell there's a fruit growing on the tree and i'm hopeful they to it because what donald trump said this weekend is absolutely ludicrous. it's wrong. and we cannot allow people to try to hijack the outcome of an election in the future the way he did and the way he continues to say that a vice president should be able to do. >> can you imagine if donald trump were to run again and win and then vice president harris tried to do what he wanted vice president pence to do. >> no, they would impeach her immediately. so i think that joe biden is supportive. i think it's smart that he's staying out of it because frankly, it will be easier for republicans to come to a deal. i think the more donald trump speaks about this, what he has been talking about, admitting outright that he tried to push mike pence to overturn the election and actually using that democrats and republicans are trying to pass this deal t, thi act, as proof that mike pence did have the power to do it, which is just to me completely devious. so the more you have donald trump out there talking about this, the better it is for both democrats and republicans and for democrats, they can show they did something. you said it's a thin slide. they've been fasting for a while. >> a win is a win. it's a closely divided government. it's a win. >> so speaking of divisiveness, president biden announced way back in early 2020 that he was going to name the first black woman to the supreme court if he were to win the presidential election. that was one of the promises he made to jim clyburn in order to get his endorsement. so since then in the last week, we've heard some rather stark language from the likes of ted cruz and ronger wicker saying it's a quota, that democrats are racist. this idea of naming the first black woman to the supreme court. what's your reaction to all that. >> they had a very different reaction when donald trump pledged to anymore a woman to the supreme court to replace ginsburg. i think wicker said she was going to be an inspiration to his granddaughters. i think ted cruz said she would be inspiring to little girls. i guess whoever this black woman is isn't going to be inspiring to roger wicker's granddaughters. so yeah, i think no mapt matter the process would have been, if it was going to be a black woman, they would have said this would have been affirmative action, so i'm not surprised. but it is hypocritical given what they said before. >> i think the way they've stated their position is not great. however, this weekend, the abc news poll came out and three quarters of the american people say biden was wrong to announce this the way he did. that he said that i will consider everybody. i look at the list. all these people are highly qualified, experienced , respected. so i think shhe's saddled shouldn't. the correct way for republicans to look at this and my gut reaction was we ought to turn this into a circus. the right answer is to show this process can work when we want it to work and to give the person a fair hearing and vigorous challenge, but on the merits and show this person respect. a respect that kavanagh, barrett and gorsuch never got. let's show them it can work. the people on this list may be liberal, but they deserve our respect. >> no, absolutely not. i think what wicker said and what ted cruz says, i think really just paints completely an additionally that sort of aura of racism on the republican party. wicker said that this black woman would replace a stately liberal like breyer. what is the difference ideologically between breyer and the very qualified black woman that will replace him? >> i don't know. first of all, we don't know who he's going to pick. i think any judgments of this person -- >> color of the skin, jake. so i think, i'm glad that joe biden actually pledged this. it has been way too long when black women and latinos had been completely shut out of this process. so i am looking forward to a black woman being named. i am sure she will be extremely qualified and her addition to the supreme court will be that of a wise, black woman. >> thanks. how some companies hope to capitalize on the record number of americans now quitting their jobs. stay with us. all day long. so when something happens that could affect your portfolio, you can act quickly. that's decision tech, only from fidelity. people with moderate to severe psoriasis, are rethinking the choices they make like the splash they create the entrance they make, the surprises they initiate. otezla. it's a choice you can make. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. ♪ ♪ if you were thinking of putting in your two weeks notice last year, well, you weren't alone. more americans quit their jobs in 2021 than in any other year according to the bureau of labor statistics. more than 47 million people voluntarily left their jobs. for some, it's a matter of better pay or issues of childcare. this great resignation has also feeled interesting moves by employers. home depot, for instance, says it may need to hire some applicants the day after they apply. domino's will give customers a tip if they come and get the pizza themselves. our coverage continues with mr. wolf blitzer. i'll see you tomorrow. happening now, another member of former vice president pence's former circle is cooperating are the select committee. the panel digging deeper into pressure on the v.p to overturn the election as we're learning new details about the trump team's plans to seize voting machines. also, putin breaks his silence on the ukraine standoff, accusing the u.s. of trying to draw russia into an armed conflict and claiming nato has quote, screwed us over. the pentagon renewing its warning