adverting a potential russian invasion of ukraine. later this hour, we'll talk with a journalist in ukraine about a move on the ground. the house january 6th committee is asking ivanka trump to cooperate with its investigation. as a georgia prosecutor seeks a special grand jury to help investigate a call trump made during the elections process trying to overturn results of the 2020 election. meantime, one major city tries a new approach to reducing the sufrmg in covid cases. and out west, california is about to get more help from the federal government to fight wildfires. and we begin with the urgent diplomatic efforts aimed at averting a potential russian invasion of ukraine. secretary of state antony blinken and russian foreign minister sarah guy lavrov met in geneva today for nearly 90 minutes, but there was no breakthrough in the standoff. after the meeting, secretary blinken said the two sides agreed to keep talking and made it clear there would be a strong response to any russian action against ukraine. >> the discussion today with mr. lavrov was frank and substantive. we have been clear if any russian military forces move across ukraine's border, that's a renewed invasion. it will be met with swift, severe, and a united response from the united states in our partners and allies. >> this meeting comes as more than 100,000 russian troops are along russia's border with ukraine and belarus. the u.s. is warning an invasion could be imminent. with me now to talk about all of this, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel in kiev, ukraine, undersecretary of state and msnbc political analyst and nbc foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell in geneva. andrea, there was no breakthrough today in geneva. previous rounds of talks have achieved progress, not much. where do things go from here? >> well, we really came from dead end, the russian verdict last week to we're going to keep talking. as long as they're talking, there's no invasion. i'm not sure that's progress. what antony blinken would say when i asked him today at our news conference after his hour-and-a-half meeting sergey lavrov, the really tough foreign minister, as you know, from russia. what he would say is that until we see russia stepping back from its aggression, from what the u.s. says is the buildup, massive buildup on the border, as well as misinformation, disinformation, attempts to topple the ukrainian government, sanctions for ukrainians who left moscow who are still parliament members in the government trying to use their influence, poroshenko, the former leader back in the country. all of this is political instability in ukraine. what lavrov says is this is hysterical actions from the west. they agreed they will keep talked. they will go back to their capitals, talk to their presidents. and blinken promised a written response to his original proposal which the u.s. has said from the beginning is a nonstarter for the two sides to agree to putin's proposal for a treaty to limit nato expansion and actually have nato step back from its forward expansion of decades ago post-cold-war expansion towards russia, poland, and other countries. now, you know, blinken has just told us there's now a threat to ukraine from the north, belarus, where there are joint military exercises between russia and rel bus, as well as the south and east. and now russia has to step back and has to agree to some conversations on confident-building to inspire more trust on arms control , that we're willing to talk about missiles and, you know, other armaments from both sides, but not willing to redefine the terms of the nato agreement, which goes back 70 years. >> richard, the ukrainian government was alarmed by president biden's earlier comments this week saying the response to any russian invasion could depend on the size of the attack. the president walked those comments back. here's what he said very clearly yesterday. >> if any, any assembled russian units move across the ukrainian border, that is an invasion. it will met with a response that i've discussed in detail with our allies and laid out very clearly for president putin. but there's no doubt -- let there be no doubt at all if putin makes this choice, russia will pay a heavy price. >> pretty clear, richard, right? that clears things up. >> well, it's clear after it was not clear. and i think the ambiguity that was caused by the first unclear statement made the secretary of state's diplomatic mission today much more difficult. as andrea mitchell mentioned, sergey lavrov is a tough negotiator. he has been the foreign minister of russia for many years. he's deeply read in on the the subjects, he's highly skilled, he's respected in russia on a popular level, he's respected as a shrewd negotiator, as a trickster, as something of a secret weapon that russia can deploy, a diplomatic hero. when i've been in moscow, you don't see many people wearing t-shirts or pins of politicians except for vladimir putin and then sometimes sergey lavrov, so he's a well-known figure in russia and known for his skills. this is going to be a difficult series of negotiations to begin with, but then when you had to have the president correct himself right before the negotiations and clarify his position, and after having created so much ambiguity that the ukrainian president angrily responded. so you have the ukraine and the united states exchanging words with the ukrainian president saying to the great powers out there, clearly referring to the united states, there's no such thing as a small incursion. you remember it was president biden in his long press conference he said that if there was a small russian incursion, it might inspire one kind of response, but if there was a major invasion, there would be crippling sanctions. minutes later they issued a clarification and the next day president biden issued his own clarification. so when you have the need for clarifications and you have divisions between the u.s. and ukraine that was made obvious in public by a tweet from the ukrainian president, it makes negotiations that were going to be tough from the beginning that much more difficult. >> rick, i'm just wondering, is russia just getting what it wanted out of this already? you know, the fact that lavrov is sitting in geneva with the united states secretary of state, that everyone is talking about this, how do you read it, rick? >> that's a good point. part of what i think putin always wants out of these things is attention, for russia to be with the big boys, for russia to be a super power, for us to pay attention to them. there's a long school of theory about russian diplomacy is that all they want to do is be recognized. i want to go back to a couple things richard said, all of which were true, but the great michael kinsy said. it's hard to herd the cats of nato. germany wants something different than france. france wants something different than england, and it's a difficult negotiation. antony blinken may be the world's best negotiator, so i think some of these things are a bit overblown. it's always going to be problematic, and, frankly, the more we talk about them, the more we're doing putin's business. all putin is trying to do is divide america from nato, and when we're talking about that, that starts to look like it's happening when, in fact, it may not be. >> rick, let's not forget that the history of russia and ukraine is not one where it's just been an exchange of words. i mean, going back to 2014 and all the way back -- 1932 to 1933, i mean, the russians have been nothing but intensely difficult with ukraine. >> yes, and difficult is a euphemism. more people have died per square inch in ukraine than almost any other part of the whole world. ukraine has suffered at the hands of russia more than any other country in the world. and part of russian disinformation and russian propaganda is that somehow ukraine is threatening russia. that's like saying i'm threatening mike tyson. it isn't the case. >> richard engel, andrea mitchell, and rick sengle, thank you for being with me this morning. appreciate your time. still ahead, the house january 6th committee wants to talk to ivanka trump. what we know about the investigation, next. plus, covid cases might be easing in the northeast, but the world health organization has a new warning about the pandemic. we'll talk about that coming up. but first, rock superstar and grammy-winning artist meatloaf has died. born marvin lee ade was surrounded by loved ones before he passed. cause of death not given. meatloaf's career expand six decades. he sold more than 100 million albums, appeared in more than 65 films, including the rocky horror picture show and fight club. he had one of the top-selling albums with "bat out of hell." meatloaf was 74 years old. ♪♪ ♪ i have friends. 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>> at this point it's important to point out it's just an vision -- invitation to speak to the committee. in terms of the four specifics they want to hear from the former president's daughter about, the pressure that was put on then-vice president mike pence to overturn the election, they've gotten testimony from keith kellogg and others in the white house that lead them to believe that ivanka trump was in the room for a phone call that the former president may have had with pence urging him to overturn the election results. they're focused on trump's actions and inactions in those critical hours while the capitol was under attack, as well as whether or not there were orders given to deploy the national guard and how that chain of command shook out on the day of the 6th. but they're also looking into trump's conduct after january 6th. now, in terms of whether or not ivanka trump will comply, we've only heard from her spokesperson who just sought to remind she urged against and condemned the violence on january 6th but no sign whether or not she's going to cooperate, at least not yet. >> yeah, i mean, ivanka trump just isn't the president's daughter. she also serves as a white house very adviser. the committee says it has testimony that ivanka trump, quote, had to make multiple efforts to persuade president trump to act during the capitol riot. what could she add to the investigation? >> well, she could substantiate what we know already, which is that trump's advisers and his advisers in conservative media, primarily fox news, were intervening refractically on january 6th, urging him to denounce the rioters. she may be able to give us insight into trump's state of mind that day. remember, she was senior adviser to the president. i would be reluctant to say she probably had much insight into the planning of the riot, but who knows. keep in mind trump had an insular white house. he didn't trust many aides. he consulted with very few number of people, and his daughter was one of those at the senior ranks who he did bring in. it could be she has records in which she was cc'd on that could illuminate some of these things as well. that's what the committee is looking at. >> glenn, what do you make of the breadth and scale of the investigation of the committee into the efforts to undermine the 2020 election? >> you know, the breadth and the scale is important because we see more and more sort of criminal threads being pulled here, whether it's the slates of selectors or the war council meeting at the willard, or the folks who were attacking the capitol themselves, the sort of foot soldiers of the insurrection, some of whom have been indicted for a sedition conspiracy. so with respect to the vunc piece, i agree with sam. it's all about state of mind because when we're investigating and trying to prove crime, we need to prove two things. we need to prove criminal conduct and criminal intent, a corrupt state of mind, guilty mens rea. while he was watching his angry supporters literally hunting for elected officials, he said the following -- i asked him to put a stop to it and he told me x, y, and z. those statements in real time by donald trump are some of the evidence that will help prove his possible corrupt intent. so ivanka has difficult decision to just. does she want to come forward, does she want to be a relevant, truthful actor, or does she want to withhold information that would be really important to the committee's investigation and join the ranks of mark meadows, steve bannon, jim jordan, and scott picture? they seem to be members of the cover-up club, and it's an important question what will ivanka decide to do. >> i want to meanwhile play a part of the phone call that former president trump had with the georgia secretary of state last january. >> all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you recalculated. >> so we now know that a prosecute in georgia has requested a special grand jury into their investigation. how would this special grand jury help those investigating the case? >> well, jose, we're just talking about proving corrupt intent. donald trump proved his own corrupt intent expressly on that phone call, so ultimately that will be an easier case to prove regarding his violation of georgia state election laws. but, you know, the district attorney in fulton county, bonnie willis, applied to the chief judge asking that he permit the impanelling of a special grand jury with subpoena power. d.a. willis said, you know, there are some witnesses who are refusing to cooperate or refusing to cooperate without a subpoena. some people want a subpoena just for cover, but, you know, i suspect the regular grnl -- grand jury in fulton county, separate from the other grand jury she's seeking to impanel probably has lots of accounts from witnesses. it's just a small handful of witnesses that are refusing or defying congressional subpoenas. so it looks like this is just another piece of the georgia state investigation that is about to kick off. >> thank you for being with me. still ahead, after last year's historic wildfire season, what the federal government is getting ready to do to fight and prevent more fires. you're watching jose diaz-balart reports. g jose diaz-balart g jose diaz-balart reports.than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. ered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. there's so much new in the new chicken & bacon ranch, but the clock is ticking, so we gotta hurry. there's new rotisserie-style chicken, new peppercorn ranch, new hickory-smoked bacon, new... 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>> good morning, jose. vice president harris is expected to speak at a san bernardino fire department about the first installment of what will eventually be a $5 billion federal infusion of money to help prevent wildfires. as you know, wildfires have become only more ferocious every year. we have seen record-setting wildfires every one of the last few years, and all of that, of course, is becoming a matter of national urgency. scientists said if fires burn the way they want to, there are far too many homes living in the way of them for that to be the case. these efforts are intended to cut back on hazardous materials, brush, so the damage is not as severe in the future, jose. >> i take it this week the fbi raided the home of texas congressman henry cuellar. what do we know? >> congressman cuellar's home and office were, in theory, raided by the fbi. witnesses have said that, in fact, they saw fbi agents emerge from his offices carrying boxes. now, as you know, representative cuellar was one of the most powerful texas democrats. he sits on the house appropriations committee. the investigation, according to a senior law enforcement official, is around the former soviet republic of azerbaijan and representative cuellar was until recently the cochair of a azerbaijan caucus. but at this time there's no official word on the motive or scope of the search. for his part, representative cuellar's office said that he is committed to upholding justice and that he will cooperate fully. meanwhile, the fbi saying that their agents were in the vicinity carrying out a court-appointed lawful search but not more specific than that. >> amazon opening a brick and mortar clothing store in the meantime. >> this is an amazing one. amazon has recently eclipsed walmart as the nation's largest retailer of clothes. and now is creating a physical location in suburban los angeles where customers will come in, look at single items on the store shelf, and then using qr codes on their phone get their size, the color they want, the rest of it pulled back. we're looking at a world where people are coming back to pre-pandemic levels of shopping, but stores are having a hard time staying open, only just a little bit more stores opened than closed in recent years. that's the first time in a long time. so we're seeing a hard time for retailers. amazon meanwhile, has its 500 whole foods outlets and has about 90 other in-person retailers, so we're looking at a world where we will walk physically into an amazon property in addition to buying from them online, jose. >> jacob ward, thank you. by the way, on an unrelated matter, i'm looking forward to the a lot of time tell me about that as man admire of your work. >> jose, so you're so kind to ask. on tuesday my book "the loop" comes out. it's a look at what essentially ai is doing to human behavior in the future. if you think about it this way, google maps and other guidance systems have taken away my ability to find my way from one place to another. in this book i look at all of the other parts of human decision-making that is affected by technology and i really appreciate your asking about it. >> looking forward to getting a copy and reading it. jacob ward, thank you so much. good to see you. now to the latest on covid-19. the world health organization is warning that the pandemic is nowhere near over with global infections increasing by 20% last week. here in the u.s., parts of the country have started seeing new hospitalizations plateau, but in the west and midwest, the number of patients needing intensive care are still on the rise. joining me from madison, wisconsin, shaquille brewster and dr. kavita patel, nbc news medical contributor. dr. patel, what is your view of where things stand right now with omicron? >> jose, the united states overall it's improving in parts of the country, but worse in other parts. so it's still too early to get complacent. we're elevating the status of limiting indoor spaces and getting people boosted or vaccinated, that helps a lot too. good news on the horizon and other can you say -- other countries, the u.k., south africa, cases have descended rapidly. but cases still occur on the way down and we'll see that coming down very soon. but it is still going to take several weeks. >> i was just going to ask you because i can't tell you how many times i've asked almost on a daily basis, hey, when is this peak going to start fading down? when can we think about the possibility of, i don't know, doing travel, of being more, you know, with other people? >> yeah. look, if it helps give people confidence, i've got my family reservations for spring break in march and i hope what we can see across most of the country is safe return, in-person shopping, travel. we're all going to have to take precautions because this isn't over by any stretch of the imagination, but i feel confident with my vaccines, my masks, my children also taking precautions that we can make these plans. so good news about omicron, if i can have it, as this descent coming down to hopefully a more normal day to day should be in our vision at least by the end of february, if not sooner. >> shaq, meanwhile you spoke to voters in madison. what did they have to say about whether the pandemic is a top issue for them? >> jose, these are just not any voters. these are true blue democrats here in madison, wisconsin. we're focused on this country because it's a real gage of democratic enthusiasm, especially in a state like wisconsin, a huge battleground state. among these voters, this has gone in waves for them in terms of the level they're seeing this pandemic and how they're watching this pandemic. they see it as a top issue right now. they've been following the rules, they say, but they're still fatigue setting in and the frustration. there's something you see reflected in the polling where people are saying it's hard to be excited or hopeful when you're thinking about the pandemic every day. listen to my conversation when i asked how high of a priority is this pandemic still for you? >> i still think the pandemic is kind of of utmost importance, and i feel that way because there are so many things we haven't done and we will not do until our youngest is vaccinated. >> a year ago, 8 or 9 out of 10. now i put it at 5 or 6 because as a college kid, you sort of want to be able to transition away from all these guidelines and rules and just live your life freely and be able to have fun just like all the basic things of a college kid. >> other conversations i had, people were frustrated with the guidance from the cdc wanting to have more clear guidance from the administration. i think one thing in my conversations i did pick up on is there is somewhat of an opportunity from the president here. if people don't see the level of frustration, that gives the president to focus on other issues they care about and they want to focus on once their fear and concern about this pandemic moves on, if that happens, jose. >> dr. patel, what do you make of what we heard from residents there? >> i hear it every day. i feel it every day. i think that while we're all watching cases coming up and coming down, jose, really to be honest we had about two and a half years of just constant stress, and that stress translates to parts of your body, headaches, people coming in that have their hair falling out, can't sleep, and that fatigue. it's very real. so i feel like this next year, even if cases are low, we need to find a way for recovery and to focus on other things, but it's always related to the stress about the pandemic, especially if you have little ones that aren't vaccinated . that compounds the stress you feel. >> that's going to change, hopefully, soon as far as the threshold of ages that children can get vaccinated? >> yeah, yeah. under 5. so pfizer is probably the earliest, moderna, all are in trials. pfizer had to add a third dose for the 2-to-4 aiming range. we should be getting data on that in the next month or so, but that doesn't mean the next day we'll have a vaccine for that age group. the best way is to put them around nothing but vaccinated people who don't have symptoms and are not sick. that will keep them very safe. >> dr. kavita patel, thank you so much for being with me. great to see you. appreciate your time. still ahead, as the world attention centers on ukraine, we'll talk to a ukrainian journalist about what it's like on the ground as fears of a russian invasion mount. you're watching "josé díaz-balart reports." g "josé g "josé díaz-balart reports. ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪ i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance could lead to growing trees. through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? 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[limu emu squawks] he'll be back. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ 41 past the hour. looking beyond your borders, ukrainians watching the diplomatic efforts under way between russia and the west to see if there's any chance russia could back away from what seems to be threats to invade ukraine. as more than 100,000 russian troops are along the borders, even though russia denies it plans to invade ukraine. with me now from kiev to take a look is ukrainian journalist natalia humanuk. what's going on in geneva? >> somehow anxiety coming from the international press because, in fact, the main thing today happening, there are the talks. so ukrainians are cautiously watching. but i need to explain that ukrainians can't be -- can't help themselves but to be consumed by the anxiety because the threat is real. we do understand that. however, ukrainians are used to this war. but we need to explain there are no military drills in kiev, in the capital, and it's a perfectly peaceful town so far. but at the same time, of course, the ukrainian military are on alert. but i want to ensure it's all about the defense. there are no really war drums here because people don't really want the war. there is no political force arguing for the big war, but people should be prepared because, you know, it's up to ukraine to defend itself, but it's not up to ukraine to prevent this war because the negotiations now are very much international. it's about international order, not about particular demands towards the government in kiev. >> yeah, it's interesting. i mean, do you think the fact that, for example, putin or the russians are speaking to and negotiating with secretary of state blinken, with western european u.s. allies, but ukrainians aren't in any discussion, negotiation, because, as you say, there's nothing that the russians are asking of ukrainians. >> it's super easy to use this analogy, which i honestly don't like, like a pawn on a global chess board. secretary blinken was here a couple days before the ukrainian government officials were in touch with partners. but it's true that it's russia who wants to talk to the u.s., to be seen as the global power, and it's capable to threaten ukraine as a smaller country. ukraine is not that small, to the european standard, however, of course it can be equal. so it's not about ukrainians to be drawn into geopolitical maddening, but it's about ukraine being unfortunate in this position, which feels unfair and unjust if ukraine wants to get any help. again, as i would insist, there is very little ukrainian people can do. >> natalia, thank you so much for being with me. i appreciate your voice. still ahead, covid help for the most vulnerable. how my next guest is supporting the immigrant community, the essential workers in our country. you're watching "josé díaz-balart reports." you're watching "josé díaz-balart reports. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? 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>> yes. we're going to be doing very similar to what's being done in d.c. we're hosting a vaccine clinic where we're also going to be distributing at-home testing kits. we do them in our head quarters in the heart of langley park where we know our community resides, knowing our community is -- are essential workers that have transportation challenges. it's a lot to ask for them to take a day off, to take several buses to get to a larger vaccine site. so bringing the vaccines and the kits directly to the neighborhoods where they live, speaking their language, working with an organization like casa, knowing that we already have the trust within the community is critical. >> and doctor, thank you for mentioning those two words, essential workers. fundamental to the united states' economy. it's important kind of to underline the work they're doing and how difficult it is for them, to be able to take time off. it's not something that's easy for them to do. for the more -- there are a lot of fears in that community. >> yes. we have a lot of fears stemming from many different issues, but really, what we need to do is bring the vaccines to the community. we need to break down these barriers. we need to partner with trusted entities like casa, like all the clinical partners who have already been working in the community, are known and trusted by the community, who have been for many years. >> and that's so important. doctor, a new study from the university of chicago found that bilingual people are more likely to say yes to a vaccine when information is presented in another language. not only in english. in addition to sending out resources, you also manage a hotline that answers questions in spanish and in french. what has been the response from our communities? >> it is one of the first places that our community turns to for information. it's a way for the community to contact us and not only us contacting the community. it's been vital. we've seen a 500% increase in the volume of calls throughout all of the phases of the pandemic, and still now, and obviously covid is the number one reason people are calling, whether it's looking for a test or looking for a vaccine. it is the predominant reason people are calling the hotline. >> so it's -- there are numbers available for people to call and get all kinds of information, doctor? >> correct. we give them information on all types of services. we know that the pandemic hasn't only affected us physically, our health, but also has affected us emotionally, financially. there's many programs that are being stood up at the county and state levels that we're assisting community members and tapping into, again, because of the language barriers we're helping community members apply for rental assistance, financial assistance. other social services as well. as we know that this pandemic affects a multitude of our daily lives, not just our physical. >> and i'm glad that people who speak spanish or french can have in their own language, a place where they can get important information. what do you want to see from the government, doctor, government outreach? what is it the communities that you serve need more, and there's been a lot of help, a lot of support. what else do you need? >> we need equitable access to all of the services that are being stood up right now for the pandemic. and so we need to make sure that we're meeting the community where they're at, as far as the fears or hesitancies, but also physically meeting them where they're at geographically. bringing the vaccines to them. bringing the home kits to them, especially knowing that our communities are essential workers, that they rely on public transportation. they don't have the luxury of driving to a mass vaccination site or standing in line for hours at a library to ask for a kit, and so we really need to bring the services directly to the community. partnering with organizations that have already built that trust with the community. >> doctor, thank you so much for everything. especially for what you do for so many people. i really appreciate it. we have some breaking news. some more breaking news this morning. nbc news has confirmed that actor and comedian louis anderson has died. he died this morning at a las vegas hospital of complications from cancer. during his 40-year career he toured as a standup comic, maybe best known for his role on "baskets" and for hosting "family feud" from 1999 to 2002. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. i'll see you tomorrow night on "nbc nightly news saturday". be sure to follow the show online. thank you so much for the privilege of your time. craig melvin picks up with much more news next. picks up with m picks up with m more news next insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? 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