so i represent what was a republican district. i'm a democrat. and it is this exact tone that the people i represent, i represent mitt romney's hometown want balanced budgets and want the government to work and want us to attract and support businesses and don't want to hate people because they are different. and there was an opportunity for the republican party to go back to debating, you know, how we spend tax dollars, but instead, it is full fringe qanon, hateful, hateful rhetoric with no actual policy, so, you know, i see it every day. but part of the reason that i really wanted to identify myself is because this moment is going to require straight white christian suburban moms to stand up and get uncomfortable and say this is not okay, because odds are a lot of us are not comfortable and okay. but that doesn't mean that this is okay, and we can't stand back and let it happen. >> i'm curious, if something like this had happened when i was in congress, i would have had democrats, if a democrat had attacked me, democrats would have walked across the aisle and put their arm around me and said, joe, listen, there's no place for that in congress, and we're so sorry. when i got attacked personally, or when other people got attacked, that would happen, i'm curious, did any republicans come up to you yesterday and say, hey, listen, we're really sorry that one of our own accused of you being a groomer, accused you of pedophilia? >> no. and this is the michigan republican party right now. this is the national republican party right now. >> that's disgusting. >> it is disgusting, it's hateful. it's horrible. >> yeah. willie is with us. willie, you have a question. >> senator, good morning, it's willie geist, we should point out, this is not happening in isolation. we saw this at the confirmation hearings for a historic supreme court justice where anyone who voted for her was put in that groom you were put in with groomers because they thought she had been too light. fanned by prominent united states senators that you had been too light in sentencing for child pornography, and things like that. i'm curious about the senator who made this accusation, and it's ugly but, i mean, we have to say it out loud about what she said about you, that you were upset that kindergartners couldn't be sexualized and that you were a groomer effectively, when you looked directly at senator tise yesterday and said what you said, did she look back at you. everyone's very tough online, on twitter and fundraising e-mails. what did she do back? what did she say back? >> she said nothing back. and couldn't even be bothered to look me in the eye. i looked at the back of her head the entire speech. she turned away from me. and, you know, part of that fundraising e-mail, she accused me of being an online social media troll, and i have never been one to shy away from saying things to people's face, and she's too much of a coward to even acknowledge my existence. >> so what in your estimation, senator, has happened. michigan, as you say, mitt romney, moderate republicans, balanced budget, things like that, there were movements within the legislature to try to overturn the election in your state, unsuccessful, thank goodness for the country, what has changed in the last few years? >> it is this rising extremism, and we have seen this play out with gerrymandering, the fact is michigan is a very purple state. we vote evenly, democratic versus republican, but the legislature, particularly the state senate has been republican-controlled since 1984, despite the fact that in 2014 they only got less than 50% of the votes, they got 72% of the senate seats, and it encourages going further and further to the fringes and we had, you know, an attempted kidnapping of the governor, and we just saw how that trial played out. the day that we learned in the senate about that plot, the senate majority leader walked out of our senate chambers, walked to the front of our capitol, and rallied with the same hateful conspiracy theorists that plotted that kidnapping that came to our chambers fully armed and threatened us and told them to keep going. that's where we're at right now. and unless we all push back and vote them out of office, it's not going to get any better. >> so you've certainly got our attention. how has the response been to your speech on the floor? >> i mean, the numbers speak for themselves. this was definitely not something that i wanted to do, to go viral, but if the message is that hate won't win, i think we're proving that, and we have to say it loudly and clearly and stand up for those who are being attacked because one day it might be us, and i know that everything that i felt the day that lonna tise accused me or being a groomer and sexualizing children, is that much worse for a trans kid who's getting attacked every day, who just wants to go to school and have friends and get through the day. the response has been overwhelming and my hope is that other white women like me who are doing okay are the ones to stand up and put an end to this because it won't, unless we do it. >> michigan state senator, mallory mcmorrow, thank you very much for coming on. thank you for speaking out. >> thanks, senator. and six past the hour, we're going to turn back to the war in ukraine. russia is pouring more troops into its newly launched offensive for control of ukraine's industrial heartland of coal mines and factories. the fighting is playing out along a boomerang shaped front for hundreds of miles in the donbas region. vladimir putin is seeking a victory there after failing to take the capital of kyiv, along with a much higher than expected russian military casualties. but a new british intelligence assessment says russian forces are still struggling. as ukrainian forces managed to push back on several russian advances in the donbas. the pentagon says it believes russia is still building up to an even larger military offensive in the east. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says the situation is quote extremely severe in the besieged southern port city of mariupol saying russia is blocking efforts to organize humanitarian corridors. russia gave a group of ukrainian soldiers holding out in a steel plant a new ultimatum, surrender or face a quote bitter end. russia says if ukrainian soldiers stop fighting by 2:00 p.m. local time, they'd be guaranteed quote life, safety, and medical treatment. that deadline passed two hours ago. >> and the commander of the ukrainian forces there in mariupol is describing the conditions as troops and civilians are facing inside that plant. speaking to the "washington post" yesterday, he said the situation is quote tragic and critical saying there are at least 500 injured people inside that factory. these are pictures from inside a makeshift bomb shelter in the breast implant showing women and children, the last remaining civilians in mariupol, describing the situation inside the plant, the commander said the fighters and civilians were sheltered in an underground system of tunnels. he said quote, it's in the basement where people just rot. there is no medication end quote. he also warned his forces are out numbered and may only have hours to live with that deadline now having come and gone. he appealed to the biden administration to help to save those who had quote fallen into this trap. the commander reiterating, ukrainian forces, though, will not surrender. this morning, we spoke with associate editor for the "washington post" david ignatious. i think the russians are trying to make up for the failures by concentrating their forces in a much smaller theater, bringing more fire power to bear, mar -- mariupol is an example of overwhelming force, and why ukraine is in this war, even against the overwhelming fire power that's being assembled that they stand a good chance, if we can keep them supplied with guns and ammo as a pentagon official puts it, they can prevail. if you want to watch something powerful take a look on the "washington post" web site, there's an interview with major volnya, the commander of the last holdout in mariupol and he says essentially, i'm going to die here, this is the last place you'll hear from me, but we're going to fight to the end, and he expresses that absolute commitment we have seen from ukrainians all over the country, now in mariupol against much greater forces. in mariupol, he says, the force ratio is 10 to 1. i have heard from the pentagon, it's more like 30-1. and they hold out day by day. that's the kind of tenacity that's going to force this. my sources tell me the next two to four weeks will be crucial. if the ukrainians can stay in the field, bloody the russians as they advance over the next two to four weeks, we may have the beginnings of a stalemate, and then president putin has to make tough choices. the economy is really going to begin to be hobbled by them, by sanctions, morale is going to be difficult at home. then he has to make some choices. but for now, they're going to try to roll with all army. >> joining us now, nbc national security analyst, clint watts, you see the images of mariupol, two months ago a vibrant coastal city in ukraine, all but leveled down to the small regiment and a few hundred civilians hiding inside a steel factory. how much longer can they hold out as the russians put down the deadline that has passed now. >> it's hours, days maybe at the most, and what's important about mariupol is this is the area down in the south where the forces have broke out from the russians from crimea. they moved quickly to establish the land bridge over the sea of azov. they have forces from russia. what has been interesting is the russians have stalled to the south. we thought the russians would make a move in mykolaiv. that has fallen apart, and you have seen them concentrate forces here in mariupol. this steel plant will be the final place essentially for the battle there. hopefully some of the humanitarian corridors can be established today. of course we've seen that from the russians today. it is not always worked out that way. separately from the russian perspective, they really want to surrender because this is probably the worst assault you would ever have to undertake in an urban environment. the steel factory, the ukrainian military has been there, it becomes a question of how long they hold out. every day they hold out, you can see what it looks like, this urban warfare campaign, entrenched ukrainian fighters is tough, and the reason it's so brave on behalf of the ukrainians is essentially what it's done in the east, tied up forces in mariupol to really delay the russians from going after what they want to do, which is to go here to donetsk, and encircle the ukrainian forces between izyum and this access. they want to take this western part of donbas, but they're struggling. today out on the front lines, this is really where the battle is at, you're seeing artillery exchange from both sides. the russians launching massive artillery strikes, seeing the counter battery going in. this is where the fight will be, and essentially what the russians will try and do is encircle at great distance here or try and penetrate forward and circle ukrainian forces at different points along the fighting fronts. it's going to be an intense battle. it's a race to see who can get forces in quicker or can the russians reorganize, regroup, and advance against the ukrainian military. >> as you say, you marvel at the courage of those remaining holdout troops in mariupol who again say they will not surrender. clint watts, thank you so much. mika. let's bring in assistant defense secretary for europe and nato under president obama, jim townsend. and i can't help but to begin just asking about any hope left for the civilians inside that steel plant in mariupol. >> i'm afraid there's no hope. i have been thinking the same thing. some type of humanitarian corridor, something that could be done. but i'm afraid what the russians are going to do is pound that steel plant from the air with missiles. they don't want to go in there and fight, as you're reporting. that would be a very difficult fight for them. so what they'll do is stand off and just pound it, and we'll have a horrible humanitarian situation on our hands. we've seen this in bucha. we've seen this in other parts of ukraine as well as in syria, grozny, chechnya. this is what the russians do, and i'm afraid we're going to see just a horrible sight in the coming days. >> so what do we need to do as we look at the donbas? what do we need to do regarding weapons systems? obviously the united states and our nato allies countries have been sending a massive amount of weapons to ukraine, but specifically what do we need to do to -- if what we're hearing from british intelligence is true to make the russian advance even more difficult? >> well, we're going to need to have armored vehicles in there. this is going to be a war of maneuver. the russians are going to try to maneuver around, and isolate ukraine forces. this is open territory. this is tank country, and i think we're going to need to have armored vehicles, and you heard earlier about the artillery from the pentagon. they're going to need a lot more ammunition from the first load. they had 40,000 rounds. they need more than that, and more counter battery radar as well. it's a matter of trying to meet force on force with the russians. taking out those tanks and armored personnel carriers, it's a matter of hitting their artillery. but counter battery radars give us the opportunity, give the ukrainians the opportunity to use the 155 millimeter howitzers to get at that russian artillery. they need more artillery. we sent them 18 howitzers, they need more. my understanding is the brits will be sending in more and i think the u.s. will be sending in more as well. but this offensive has just begun, and it's going to be a war of attrition in a lot of ways, and a war of maneuver, and it's going to be very violent, unlike what we saw in kyiv in terms of ambushes and the drone films of tanks being blown up by javelins. this is going to be something more reminiscent that we saw in world war ii quite frankly. it's going to be pretty brutal. >> mr. townsend, what have we learned in the last two months about the russian military both good and bad that can be used as the military regroups now for this invasion that has begun in the east. obviously there's been a lot to study. there's been a lot of failure by the russian military. they thought they were going to be sitting in kyiv with their government in place at this point, but what do you take away from the last two months? >> i take away a couple of things, one is that they did make a lot of mistakes based on poor assumptions, poor intelligence, hubris in those early days, so they have found this phase one to be pretty much a total failure, and they have regrouped your reporting, talked about they're going to focus their mass on the east instead of doing multiple things at once, which is that phase one. in phase 2, they're going to combine into their mass. they're going to have shoulder logistics lines, and they're going to move in with what they do best, and that is artillery. we have seen that in the 20th century. we're going to see it now, where they go in and you're not going to see a lot of fancy, tactical tricks. you're just going to see masks, and that's something that is a take away theory. they frittered away one of their -- one of the edges they have, which is mass. they outnumber, and have more equipment than the ukrainians have. they frittered that way in phase 1. now they have recuperated, put the mass together. looks like they are going to adapt somewhat what they have been doing earlier so they don't mange the same mistakes so that's one take away is that they're going back to their roots. they're going back to the triumph of mass on the battlefield. the second take away is this. we cannot underestimate the brutality of russians. we can't underestimate their ability to apply that mass and to win on the battlefield. we saw mistake it is made earlier on. we saw they made bad assumptions but that doesn't mean they're going to do that again. we have a big fight ahead. ukraine has a big fight ahead. we'll see how much the russians have adapted and learned from the earlier weeks of failure. but at the end of the day, they're going back to their the -- roots and put that mass on target, steel on steel, and we have to brace ourselves for this, and we have to make sure the ukrainian military has the armor, the artillery, the ammunition, the drones to help in targeting. we've got to keep up this supply to them, and not let them run out of ammunition. >> despite the fact that as we've heard during the first phase of this war, that quantity has a quality of its own, and you're talking about that mass that the russians are going to have. i wonder, looking at the problems they have, the military culture, looking at the problems they have had with logistics, despite that mass, despite that quantity, is this still a war the ukrainians can win even in the donbas. >> you know, we're going to have to see, i don't think anyone can really make a call at this stage. you're absolutely right about their problems in terms of the military culture. we have seen horrible examples of that. we have seen the low morale, the low quality of their troops. we have also seen picture after picture after picture of their armored personnel carriers, all types of battle equipment they're pouring in right now, and this idea of pass having its own value. this is where that kind of thing plays out is in terrain like this. and so my feeling is that despite these problems that they have, that mass is going to have a momentum that it will start off with. and if ukraine can blunt that momentum, hold them, make them bloodied, kept supplied by the west so that mass begins to attrite and becomes weaker, then we might have a chance, the west might have a chance. ukraine will have a chance to see that russian offensive stall out. but it's going to be the next week, week natch where they're going to -- ukraine's going to have to hold on, is going to have to blunt in mast and the momentum behind it, bloody them so attrition then can take place and those armored vehicles and their own drones begin to be whittled away. that's the only hope. if we can get there, maybe we can get to a stalemate. >> former deputy assistant defense secretary for europe and nato, jim townsend, thank you, and would love to have you back. i was just actually reading through details on you and saw that you actually worked with both of the brzezinski boys. we may have you tell stories about working with ian at the pentagon, and narc -- mark afterwards. >> all of those stories they're in the vault. we'll have to declassify them first. >> thank you very much for being with us. we greatly appreciate it. ahead this hour, we'll speak with an expert on disinformation, who sent her own family out of ukraine so she could stay behind and report on the truth from inside the country. we'll also go live to the white house for the latest reporting on the new expected military aid package to ukraine. also ahead, the biden administration says it will appeal to revive the transportation mask mandate, but there's a big if. we'll explain that development. and for the first time in over a decade, netflix says it lost subscribers. >> mika, you have to stop giving your password out to everybody. >> all my kids have it. >> and is expected to lose millions more. andrew ross sorkin. >> by the way, "morning joe" now on peacock, we'll be right back. >> streaming. peacock, we'll be. >> streaming ♪ ♪ if you're on medicare, it pays to check the singlecare price before you fill your next prescription. i think we got it. don't overpay for your prescriptions. check the singlecare price. you might just save up to 80% on your meds. it is 9:27 on a wednesday morning at the white house. the biden administration is set to announce another substantial military aid package for ukraine this week. let's bring in white house correspondent for "politico" and coauthor of the playbook, eugene daniels, also a "morning joe" senior contributor. good morning, it's good to see you. what do we know about this package, what's in it, maybe above and beyond the package we saw last week. >> good to see you, willie. what we're hearing is addition not $800 billion as last week, this could be just as large, and a lot of this is possibly going to be artillery. what we know is what we've given them and other countries have given the ukrainian military and folks over there fighting is they're running through it very quickly. there is so much fighting that's happening over there. president biden said yesterday when asked if he was going to -- if they were sending artillery, he kept it simple and just said yes. he's meeting with his joint chiefs today. the secretary of defense, some commanders they're going to talk about this obviously. something else that folks should keep a watch on is more sanctions. european leaders in the white house are in constant communications about this. they're always trying to find a way to stay coordinated. they have done that this entire time in the lead up and after the invasion of ukraine started, and so more sanctions could also be coming. i will say something that's really interesting is that if we give them more sophisticated weapons, we might have to train them. a senior defense official on monday said that the u.s. military could be training ukrainian forces in how to use howitzers, for example, and so that's something we're keeping an eye on here. >> and as we have been hearing all morning, the need is for heavier equipment. back here at home, the department of justice says it will appeal the court ruling that ended the cdc's mask mandate if the cdc says the mandate still is necessary. a new politico poll showed 59% of responsibilities backed the cdc when it extended that mask mandate. and nearly half say it's too early to end it. with only 16% saying now is the right time to make masks optional. we should note this poll was conducted before a federal judge lifted the mandate this week. so this morning, eugene, where is the white house on this yesterday, i know president biden said when asked if people should wear masks on planes, he said that's up to them, and we hear the justice department is challenging this ruling by a federal judge in florida. >> right. well, the president and the administration writ large is saying that they recommend, if people want to, they should, because they have a lot of worries about this rise of this covid variant, and the polling shows that the american voters are kind of on their side. the polling was taken before so, we'll probably get that answer next week for folks to see how people are feeling now. the view from the administration, the cdc wanted a couple of weeks, that's why they put the extension in to see how the variant was going to work through the united states, and how bad it was going to get. for some reason with this variant, we've seen in european countries how it has worked differently. it's not the same in each of those countries and it's hit them differently. it's possible that we could see, and you heard the doj say they won't do it if the cdc wants them to. this kind of thing is right now in the cdc's corner, and it's about preserving the power of the department. that is something that folks i've talked to continue to say that they want to make sure that the cdc in the future has the authority to do things like masks, if there is some kind of other public health emergency. but if there is an appeal, and they lose, they could possibly chip away at some of that. there's a conversation happening in the administration about what are the down falls if we do lose this, and how does that affect the ability of the cdc moving forward. eugene daniels at the white house, as always, thank you so much. it's great seeing you. talk to you tomorrow. hey, willie, so you look at what's going on with the white house, and if they -- this has been botched, i mean, you got joe biden saying, oh, do what you want to do, and then you have the justice department coming out saying they're going to appeal this decision, and so it just, again, if they didn't appeal the decision, of course, not only would it hurt this administration, but future administrations as far as being able to put laws in place, regulations in place, but still, they let a single federal judge get ahead of them, and now it's just, i think, despite the poll numbers, i think it's going to be politically unpopular to start that mask mandate back up unless we have a real surge in covid cases. >> it's hard once they're off to get them back on, if the white house thought they had until may 3rd when the mask mandate was extended for a couple more weeks, and in comes the federal judge in florida, and kind of turns it upside down for them. there is the political argument that even democrats have made. it would have been a good opportunity for the biden administration to make that decision and to own, we're the ones that allowed to take the mask off. it's twisting in the courts. andrew ross sorkin is going to join us to talk through it. also florida governor ron desantis taking aim at disney again. andrew joins us next. ney again. andrew joins us next (johnny cash) ♪ i've traveled every road in this here land! ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ crossed the desert's bare, man. ♪ ♪ i've breathed the mountain air, man. ♪ ♪ of travel i've had my share, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere. ♪ ♪ i've been to: pittsburgh, parkersburg, ♪ ♪ gravelbourg, colorado, ♪ ♪ ellensburg, 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[ expletive ] to swerving toward a pole. jesus. watch the bicyclist on the right almost get hit before the driver takes over. sometimes it seems the tesla doesn't want the driver to take over. i'm trying. this driver had to hit the brakes when the tesla didn't understand a detour sign. ok. here it almost hit a truck. obviously, i had to take over. and here it swerves into an oncoming lane. look at that! often, the tesla doesn't know what it wants to do. what is it doing? or just doesn't know how to turn. jesus, oh my god! tesla's full self driving software for drivers and pedestrians, it's unsafe at any speed. tell congress to shut it down. when you need help it's great to be in sync with customer service. a team of reps who can anticipate the next step genesys technology is changing the way customer service teams anticipate what customers need. because happy customers are music to our ears. genesys, we're behind every customer smile. all right. welcome back to "morning joe," at 37 past the hour. kind of a gloomy, cloudy look at dallas, texas, this morning. the markets just opened moments ago, and we're keeping an eye on netflix as it threatens to crack down on the 100 million households, the company says, are sharing passwords, and stalling the streaming giant's growth. netflix reported losing subscribers for the first time in a decade causing their shares to plummet by about a quarter in premarket trading. and after years of resisting, ceo reed hastings now says they're open to offering lower priced plans with ads. joining us now columnist and editor for the "new york times," cnbc squawk box coanchor, andrew ross sorkin. down 30%, this is quite a collapse. it's like facebook. >> you're blaming it on passwords. >> and again, all because mika shares her passwords way too much. i'm just curious, what does this mean not only for netflix but all the media companies out there that you report on every day that have been looking to netflix as their north star for streaming? >> you hit it there, joe, we talked about it a little bit yesterday, you look at the stock down 30% this morning. what happened here is a come to jesus moment of sorts, not just for netflix, for every media company out there that has been chasing what might be described as the netflix dream, this idea that there was going to be cord cutting across the board, and you had disney, you had warner media, you name it, paramount, to a lesser extent, comcast which owns nbc universal and peacock, all sort of chasing this idea of what the streaming future looks like. it's not that streaming may not be the future, it's what the economics of the business look like and the fact that historically the market was applying this massive multiple, meaning they effectively were betting the future on what netflix looked like and giving these stocks enormous value. now, netflix is starting to, given the price point that netflix is 20 bucks on the high end, and you're starting to see it slow down, not just slow down, but actually turn around, you know, what does that mean for disney? what does that mean for warner media, what does it mean for everybody that's chasing that dream, and you're looking at the stocks of all of those companies fall this morning. >> andrew is this a blip for netflix or a trend? i mean, the projection, unless i have this wrong is so far off that they were going to add 2.7 million subscribers. is this a moment in time for them or a red flashing light, the model is broken? >> i think it's a question mark about whether the model is broken, at least as it's played, as the game is being played by netflix, which is high volume. they're spending $17 billion a year on content. are they doing that right? do they have to do it that way? can they actually make less content? they created the binging model. everything comes at one time, is that the right model. if you distribute shows and come out with a new show every week, you hold on to your subscriber. do you have to deal with advertising, they effectively said we're going to have to change the model and add an ad supported lower tier, pay 10 bucks or 7 bucks and there's advertising on top of that. what do we do about mika and all of these other people sharing passwords, 100 million people sharing passwords if they can capture any of that, that could be money. i don't think it's the end of netflix, it's making them thing how much they'll be spending to make the next netflix, full. >> the numbers are staggering. giving comedians for stand up specials and well beyond that. >> it's extraordinary. >> how many times have you been on netflix, and any of these services but netflix in particular, and you see a million things on the screen, and then you're like, there's nothing here for me. but that's the problem that they're confronting right now. >> let me ask you quickly before you go, governor desantis in florida looking to end disney world's special status in the state that they have enjoyed forever, what does that mean exactly beyond the politics of it t what does it mean for disney? >> a tax benefit that they would lose and also the flexibility. when they build stuff at disney world, they don't have to ask anybody for permission. there's no environmental look at it. there's no anything. they are their own government. so that is the big shift, but it is political, and it is fascinating in terms of, you know, we had debates in new york, about whether you bring amazon, offer them tax breaks or not, we said, no, i didn't think that was the right decision. disney, florida did this in the '60s for disney, and might try to turn the whole thing around. you sort of become trapped. if you make an agreement, can you go back on the agreement, do you want to be providing subsidies to corporations. obviously that cuts different ways on all sides of the political spectrum. >> and last thing, masks, small businesses, what to do now? the mask mandate is lifted, how are they grappling with this? >> they are freaking out, and everybody's doing it a little bit differently. i think there's real questions about liability. there's questions about employees. i don't think this is going to get resolved until -- you know, businesses wanted the government to do this for them, and now the government, well, maybe the government has done it for them, but this is where we are. >> and it's back in court. andrew ross sorkin, great look at everything going on today. we'll see you tomorrow. >> nice to see you. a reversal by texas governor greg abbott could impact what you see your grocery store, we'll explain that and a major political figure in wisconsin decides not to run for governor. we'll take a look at some of the stories making front page headlines across the country. plus, we will go back to ukraine to speak live with a disinformation expert who's risking her life on the front lines to expose russian propaganda. "morning joe" returns in a moment. propaganda "morning joe" returns in a moment time now for a check of the mornings papers. in hawaii, the star advertiser details how the pandemic is having a lasting impact on grades and attendance in the state public schools. >> we're seeing more of these stories every day. >> in statewide tests, 50% of elementary school students, and 60% of middle school students tested below their grade levels in english and math. in california, the ventura county star reports on a new push for another stimulus check for state residents. the coalition of antipoverty groups are calling on the state to send families that make less than 30,000 per year $2,000 per child. the group says it would help make up for the loss of expanded child tax credit which expired last year. the arizona republic has a front page story about the state senate passing two controversial bills giving parents more scrutiny over student records and school library books. the actions were a strong showing for bills supported by republican lawmakers and some parents who have criticized how race and history are taught in arizona schools. in texas, the san antonio express news reports republican governor greg abbott is threatening to reinstate the recently lifted enhanced truck inspections at the mexico border. >> why does this guy hate truckers so much? >> it's not truckers. >> he hates truck drivers, i guess. >> he wants to make biden look bad by holding everything up. >> it's costing the texas economy so much money. i mean, poor texas consumers. >> abbott says he's prepared to restart the program if mexico doesn't do more to stop undocumented immigrants from entering texas. >> of course, we all want that to happen. in wisconsin, the wasau daily herald says tommy thompson will not launch a bid to take on the incumbent. the 80-year-old was elected governor of the state four times starting in the 1980 already cr republican field. and coming up, we'll go inside ukraine, where one resident is risking her life every day. >> it's an incredible story. >> to document what is going on inside her war-torn city. in an effort to fight against russian disinformation. she joins us next with her account from the ground. we're back in two minutes. asya agulnik md: st. jude was founded with an understanding that no child should die in the dawn of life. to work with many partners all over the world, nothing stops in the way of us achieving that mission, not even war. marta salek md: when there is a need, people stand up and do what is right and ensure that they restart medical therapy as quickly as possible. carlos rodriguez-galindo md: any child suffering today of cancer is our responsibility. can ca . back at 9:52 with a video taken earlier this week in kharkiv, ukraine, showing the moment after an attack killed five people and injured another 13. we should warn you, the images in this video are disturbing. >> the woman who posted the video is a resident of kharkiv and an expert in russian disinformation. when the war broke out, she stayed behind so she could document what is going on, on the ground. that woman, maria abdava joins us now live from da knee perot in ukraine. thank you so much for being with us this morning. first, i want to hear all that you've seen the last few months, but i want you to tell us first about your area of expertise and your decision to stay behind in a city that is under attack. >> i have been searching russian disinformation since 2014, when russia started this war. and before this new phase, new military offensive started on the 21st of february, we here are seen the russian media, state media were preparing ground to delegitimize this new phase of aggression. and they will -- what they were doing, they were creating this ground to accuse ukraine of some kind of offensive against donbas, and it allowed putin to say that he now needs to defend donbas and that's why he says that he now needs to invade ukraine. and since that time, russia is waging also disinformation war against ukraine. putin, every day, every single day, new and new fake news and disinformation messages on russian state media, to legitimatize the ongoing aggression. and to get the support of russian population to this war. and this is pretty effective, as sad as it is. because russian citizens mostly potter what putin does in ukraine. and they call it special military operation. and it's not allowed to call it a war. and that's why they say that they need to denouncefy ukrainians and demilitarize ukraine, and that's why they waged this new phase of aggression in donbas. >> and you're right, maria. that is the orwellian narrative being pitched back home in russia, that somehow ukraine is the aggressor in this war. that the people we've all seen dead in bucha with our own eyes were somehow actors. that those crimes were perpetrated by ukrainian military. we know that's not true. but i'm curious as you've gone out into the country, what have you seen, what have you recorded with your own eyes? >> yes, that's all sad to see how they have torn everything upside down in the russian state media, and they also have blowed up any kind of information of relevant information into russia. so they only, all the time spread this false narrative, and being in kharkiv and in other cities of ukraine, i see every day, evidence of war crimes permitted by russian troops here, especially this images of, so the atrocities that we see in the cities that were liberated. this -- we have around kharkiv and also in other regions, for example, in suma region in ukraine, because everyone now knows about the atrocities in bucha and irpin, but there are much more smaller towns throughout ukraine which were liberated. and there we saw this awful images of raped women, people who are detained and moved to the territory of russia, children killed, whole families killed. i myself have seen people with their hands tied down behind their -- behind their eyes tied, and they were killed and shot in the head. horrifying images and also, that's only what they do in the city that are occupied by -- but, for example, in kharkiv, which is shelled every day, russian troops are using cluster munition bombs on residential areas, which are very dangerous, because they have a very big impact on people. and every day, we have new reports about more and more casualties among civilians, that are hit by russian troops. >> maria dava, thank you. maria is an expert in combatting russian disinformation and we thank you so much for what you are doing. >> you know, it is just so important, willie, and we're seeing it, we had a talk earlier today about the downside of social media. obviously, the challenges, not only in our own culture, but in other cultures, how authoritarians have used it. but here is yet another example of how getting on social media can actually speak truth to power, can help undermine disinformation from russians. and let's just -- let's just hope that that truth keeps coming through. because, i think ukrainians, we must say that ukrainians have done an amazing job using social media to get the truth out. >> they have, and it's brave civilians like maria and other ukrainians who have used their phones to show and tell the truth about what's happening inside that country. the challenge is getting that truth back to the people of russia. we'll see if that happens. that does it for us this morning. we will be right back here tomorrow morning on "morning joe." coming up next, jose diaz-balart will be speaking with the acting u.s. ambassador to ukraine, as the biden administration is set to announce another $800 million in military aid to ukraine. that's coming up in just one minute. ukraine that's coming up in just one minute good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. right now in ukraine, an intense battle for mariupol is

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