tonight, there are moistening revelations in a recorded audio obtained by the new york times. in these newly-released tapes, we hear how the top republican in the house, majority leader kevin mccarthy, fewer people in his own caucus could be -- the times says the audio is from a january's tenth 2021 phone call that mccarthy held with other gop house leaders about the fiery comments from some of donald trump's most vocal supporters. >> the other thing that we have to do is, the these members [inaudible] >> mccarthy was especially worried about florida congressman matt gates who slumped several fellow republicans, including liz cheney, for criticizing trump after the insurrection. >> serious bleep, [inaudible] [inaudible] >> serious bleep, potentially illegal, according to the times mccarthy also not happy with alabama's mall brooks. you remember brooks, he's the guy who wore body armor on january 6th, and he talked about american patriots taking down names and kicking butt. mccarthy implied but brooks that was actually worse than trump, telling the crowd to fight like hell. >> >> another day after that phone call, mccarthy urged republicans to dial back the rhetoric. >> [noise] [laughs] [inaudible] >> don't do, it i don't know about that, because tonight in a tweet, matt gates this grab the majority leader calls as sniffling, and he accused mccarthy of disparaging trump and the republicans in congress to fight for him. not surprisingly, the states have also caught the attention of the committee member jeremy thompson. mccarthy has refused the panels request for an interview, but thompson says he will be asked yet again. of course, mccarthy is made it abundantly clear, he wants to be how speaker. should republicans win the majority in november. well tonight, reporters asked of these new tapes would hurt his chances. and mccarthy gave a one word answer, no. with that, let's bring in our experts and find out what they think. former missouri senator and msnbc political analyst claire mccaskill joins us. michael steele, former chairman of the republican national committee and former lieutenant governor of maryland. and that's really for a heavy weinstein, former federal and state prosecutor here in new york. she clerked for merrick garland. we have a lot to cover, claire, i have to go to you first. because, it is not a surprise that this has happened. but it is shocking to actually hear it. you're a member of congress up until just a few years ago. where does this rank on the totally crazy scale? >> listen, nothing in the states surprises me or shocks me. not one word of it. it's a little shocking how inept mccarthy has been at lying about things he said. there for one brief shining moment, yeah she has some courage to speak out. i guess what trump had caused on that fateful day. but nothing in the deep surprised me. i think will surprise me the most, and you referenced that today, frankly stephanie, in your twitter feed, and that is, they've got to be losing their minds over who is leaking these tapes. they've got a real problem within their caucus, because there are clearly people who are very upset at the inability of kevin mccarthy to do something about people who are going to white nationalist meetings. who are carrying loaded guns into airports just to get a cheap headline. and who are saying things that could get people hurt, get members of congress hurt. he has no courage to do anything because his power is more important than his principles. >> then, that very point, michael steele, while kevin mccarthy needed to lie all of these months? what he said there on those tapes, all of that was totally rational. he's basically saying, guys, let's split together. let's not attack one another. people could really get hurt here. an average american would say, yeah, all that makes perfect sense. >> yeah, but the reality for someone like kevin mccarthy is, this goes to power. it goes to what's his endgame is. his endgame has become -- so when he decides is play the man in the middle. one was donald trump, the other was this caucus. and everybody is running around with their hair on fire saying, oh, kevin lied, he lied to the new york times. he lied when he said i never told the president. of course he doesn't lie, he didn't tell the president that he should step down. he had no intentions of ever telling the president he should step down. but what he told his caucus it was something quite different. and as for those leaks, the interesting thing about the leak is a goes about back to what i said a year ago, there is no love inside that caucus to make kevin mccarthy no speaker of the house. it's not just the marjorie taylor greene's of the world. you're gonna see a much more concerted effort. fox news is just the tip of the iceberg for your buck to see coming out about kevin mccarthy over the next few months. so, this idea that donald trump is going to be his boy in the end, oh, yeah, okay. back on, that crazy. kevin understands at least that reality for himself, that he's playing a very dicey game with some people who are -- have less ripples than he does. so, he is trying to box, and perry, and thrust, and all of those moves as much as he can, which is why, for one sees not that worried, because his attitude is, where you're gonna go to? they are scalise, and there's others waiting in the wings for kevin to do it kevin the last time he was up for speaker, and that is to take big foot inserts and small mouth, and just watch what happens. >> all right, let's forget scruples, because tally, this is not about who the good guy, who's not an honorable person. i want to remove ourselves from the shark department, and go to the legal department. anything that we've heard tonight, doesn't even matter, because only things that matter are winning elections and following the law? >> of course. so, obviously, meringue in my ear as when steve scalise says about matt gates, it might actually be illegal what he's doing. and i think that's important for two reasons. first of all, it tells us that there may actually be some evidence of incitement here, or give courage to prosecutors who may be looking at incitement charges around january 6th in the days afterwards, because one of the things that so hard about incitement cases to show a likelihood that the things you said may actually lead to violence. well, here we have two republican numbers of congress saying, well we're actually worried here. we saw them bring a rope to congress. this is a really volatile time. why is he throwing a match into this really volatile situation? if i go up into flames. the other is that, it tells me a little bit about how they understood january 6th. they've been warned, and we're gonna get to the subject of the text messages from meadows that things may really be dangerous here. and they might've believe that on that day as well. >> do you think there's like this would matter to a merrick garland? >> i'm sure that he is listening to them. >> i hope that he's watching. >> michael, one person who may be a pretty muted thus far about mccarthy is trump, but tonight, tucker carlson let it rip. watch this. >> unless conservatives get their act together right away, kevin mccarthy, or one of his highly liberal allies is very likely to be speaker of the house in january. that would mean we have a republican congress led by a puppet of the democratic party. >> highly liberal allies elise stefanik who took liz cheney down. that is crazy town. but, in all seriousness, if you've got this league got ongoing, and you've got tucker carlson going after him. does mccarthy have a real chance to be the speaker if republicans win, or is this just crushing him? >> i think this little bit more drama that can be played out here. tucker is going his thing for the calls for sure. the reality of it is, it's interesting watching this turn for kevin mccarthy the way it has. and, the fact of the matter is, it goes back to my earlier point. there is no love inside the swing of the republican party. this sort of pool, the suspicious of political characters, for someone like kevin mccarthy. nor is it for at least stefanik, whom they all praised and padded on the back for the purposes of showing liz cheney the exit, right? but, again, this is all a very tenuous transactional relationship, very much in the trump molds. and to the extent it stops being a transaction that's favorable to your narrative, your messaging, and the money that you are gifting off of it, you know, you better believe. tucker carlson is gonna go on fox and start saying the crazy heard tonight. >> clare, would you think is happening within the republican party? because, for the most part, during the four years when trump was in office, despite what they may have said privately, they held their, nose and the stud behind them as their fearless leader. are you seeing things change publicly here? these aren't democrats leaking these tapes. >> listen, here's what kevin mccarthy had a front row seat for. he had a front row seat with the extreme element of their caucus, rand -- you had a front row seat when that same element in their caucus run paul ryan out of the speakership. he has watched what happens when you try to tangle with the most vicious and extreme elements of his party. and now, dr. collins taken up a weapon against them. no, watch sean hannity carefully, because that will tell you where trump is. and i, think if governments are the things cozy empathy with these guys is gonna help him, i fear he might be mistaken, and you might go the same road that boehner and paul ryan went. >> again, these warned bipartisan meetings. these are republicans taping one another. did you take your former democratic colleagues when you're a member of congress? >> no, i did not. no need. but, they were also staff on these committees calls. so that's why it's gonna be very hard for mccarthy to figure out who was the guilty party here. i don't think liz cheney would do this. i frankly don't think a member would do this. but i think a staffer who was freaked out at the fear that was palpable in the house chamber when shots rang out and someone was killed right outside the doors to the house of representatives, i think the stuff that worked there were traumatized by that. and i think they have continued to be very upset behind the scenes over the failure of the republican party to be taken seriously. >> michael, is there a chance these leaks are actually stealing the january six committees thunder? and these are their because, it's gonna be a big hollow when it comes to public hearings >> know, i think quite the contrary. i think these leaks should be adding more fuel to their fire. i think these leaks should be clarified and what steps they are taking. not just for the january six commission, but also for the doj. i mean, stephanie, how much smoke those guns have to admit before there are consequences? i mean, we are tiptoeing around tonight, you know, the chairman of the committee, with all due respect saying, well, in all probability, we will likely ask the speaker -- ask oven to come to the committee again, no, issue that tao subpoena first thing in the morning! why are we playing nice because these people off positions inside a government. all of us on this panel would not be treated with the idea that we can just show up if we feel good that day. or if we may or may not have something to say. i mean, this part of it is frustrating for a lot of americans who want to know exactly what happened, but more importantly, whose fingers were on the triggers that caused americans to ride against its government. and i think this commission has a responsibility, right now, on this evidence, there are more tips coming next week when this vote comes up. so, i mean, this should be perfect fuel to give them the impetus to do what they need to do, and for the doj to look at all of this collectively, and say, one, i think we're gonna have the flotsam forms here and send around some paper. >> tally, you're the legal expert, what do you think? >> i think that every day, we are seeing that atmosphere around this grow. but i think we're all still sorting through those text messages from mark meadows, and we're seeing them resident with we've been talking about tonight. more evidence that there was real fear on that day. there was awareness of those going to be violence on that day. and importantly, some connections to the president that, up until now, have been quite simply. >> but ali, you devoted your career to be a civil servant. if in the, and none of this matters. if in the, and there are no consequences, what does that say about our government? >> i'm not willing to answer that question, stephanie, because you yourself subbed, there are multiple ways for people to be held accountable for this kind of behavior. both through the political process, and through enforcing the law and accountability. and now we are seeing evidence, audi recordings, text messages, that's the best kind of evidence. and we added a long time for them, folks have been sitting on them. and now they're starting to come out. >> that i know lot of time, mcleod ask, from the political process standpoint, at this point, should democrats be immediately turning all of us into campaign ounce? and does this kind of contents gut undecided -- undecided voters motivated to show up in november? >> we're probably not, i do think there is an obligation for the commissioner to do a really good public hearings where they very clearly lay out the mountains of evidence, but i do think with the democratic party should be doing is talking about things like inflation, i'm talking about job creation, and talk about the things that they did this in the infrastructure bill. and, to make sure people understand that signing up for the republican party is not standing up for helping people do better economically are on their kitchen table. >> gary you know you're always welcome to come when you want to talk about economic issues and kitchen table issues, because that's what gets people -- >> i'm gonna come back and talk about the stuff that fonda truth social, we're all i'm anyone, and can elon musk ever make twitter a successful business! >> i'm gonna give you all night long to come back to talk to me about that, because you know, that's all my center sudden. please come back and do that, where, michael, tylee, thank you all so much. coming up, as russia ratchets up their nuclear rhetoric, still more military disappearing into ukraine. we are live in kyiv tonight. and later, an nbc news exclusive. we are former ukrainian oligarch, one is very pro-russia. he tells us why he turned on putin, and why he says he would never ever when. the 11th hour getting underway on a busy tuesday night. everyone remembers the moment they heard, “you have cancer.” how their world stopped... ...and when they found a way to face it. for some,... ...this is where their keytruda story begins. keytruda—a breakthrough immunotherapy that may treat certain cancers. one of those cancers is advanced melanoma, which is a kind of skin cancer where keytruda may be used when your melanoma has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. keytruda helps your immune system fight cancer... ...but can also cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body. this can happen during or after treatment and may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain or tenderness, severe nausea or vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion or memory problems, muscle pain or weakness, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. these are not all the possible side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if you've had an organ transplant, had or plan to have a stem cell transplant, or have had radiation to your chest area or a nervous system condition. today, keytruda is fda-approved to treat 16 types of advanced cancer, and is being studied in hundreds of clinical trials exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see the different types of cancer keytruda is approved to treat at keytruda.com, and ask your doctor if keytruda can be part of your story. under district attorney gascón, i prosecuted car break-ins. all repeat offenders, often in organized crime rings. but when chesa boudin took office, he dissolved the unit and stopped me from collaborating with the police on my cases. now home and car break-ins are on the rise because repeat offenders know they can get away with it. chesa boudin is failing to do his job. there's a better way to keep san francisco safe. recall chesa boudin now. >> nobody wants to see a nuclear war, no one can win. i think it's unhelpful and dangerous. to rattle sabers and speculate about the use of nuclear weapons. >> russia again threatening nuclear war. it's on provoking invasion of ukraine's entering a 63rd day. as moscow targets locations further inside the country. the u.s. and its allies are sending even more military help. i want to start with nbc's cal perry joining us live from kyiv. cal, give us an update of what it is like on the ground there? >> i think what has changed in the last 24 hours is people are reacting to the rhetoric you are playing there. not just of course from the american side, but the russians, not just talking about nuclear war. vladimir putin last night saying ukraine continues to strike targets in russia, he will start bombing kyiv again, he will start bombing the ukrainian capital you see behind me. that has changed the posture here on the ground, stephanie. >> i spoke to people today who said they're seeing quite a few ukrainians come back into the country. people think oh it is safe when they're on the other side. they want to get back to their homes. are you actually seeing that people moving back to kyiv? despite deceptive a tax? . >> we are 7. 7 million people are eternally displaced, 15% of them are on their way home. we had a chance to follow someone as she returned to her home for the first time in a month. her house completely destroyed. let's take a little listen to what she told us about her story, stephanie. >> [interpreter] at first i felt hysteric, then i just felt nothing. and i was just like a zombie. and when they showed us, i just ask god to kill me straightaway. >> emblematic of a population shell-shocked, stephanie. the danger is still there on the strip we took yesterday. we found a murder route that landed in a parking lot unexploded. it's that unexploded ordinance that's a danger, as people try to return to their homes. >> cal perry, thank you, stay safe there tonight. i want to bring in jeremy bash, here with me in a studio, former chief of staff at the cia and pentagon. william taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. he's also the united states institute of peace of vice president for russia in europe. jeremy, russia is insisting that the risk of nuclear war is real, yet we continue to keep pumping military aid which is much needed into ukraine. how concerned are you about this threat? >> we have to keep pumping military aid. i think the threat from russia needs to be taken seriously. let's unpack what happened when secretary austin and secretary blinken went to kyiv, met with zelenskyy. they said first, russia is failing, that's true. their plan a failed and they're going to plan b to move their troops to the east and south. i think the pentagon, you don't try to waste a crisis. if ukraine is prevailing, and russia is bleeding, i think it is to our advantage to allow russia to suffer. we want to send russia back, we don't want them to retain the military capability to keep ukraine under threat forevermore. i think secretary austin, said we want to see russia weakened. but he's correct in making that as u.s. policy. >> what message does it send russia? when you see secretary austin bring together 40 countries standing together. that kind of coordination doesn't happen overnight. >> it shows we have a posse, and we have friends. it's one of america's best assets in the world, our network of alliances. it's one of the things that the biden administration is absolutely prioritizing. it freezes putin out. when you go -- with a country one-on-one, he can win, he can prevailed. russia versus ukraine, but russia versus ukraine plus 40 countries, putin is done. >> i like that, putin is done. ambassador, moscow is now cutting off gas to poland and bulgaria. saying it's because of those countries are refusing to pay for their fuel in rubles. here's what i don't get -- doesn't that end up hurting russia? they need as much money as they can get in whatever currency. now they have cut off two countries. >> you're absolutely right stephanie, that's exactly what's going on. they are now losing revenue. the west has been talking about putting on embargo and stopping to buy the oil and gas from russia. and the russians are now making it possible. at a time when it's getting warmer. so the heating season has passed, and now they are losing the revenue. >> jeremy, nbc news is reporting that it was u.s. intel that was able to share information with ukraine that enabled them to shoot down a russian planes that was carrying hundreds of troops. what do you know about that? >> there are three ways we are helping the ukrainian, the weapons we talked about. the second is training, we are training them on other advanced systems. the third critical way we are helping them is by collecting, analyzing, and disseminating actual intelligence. so they can see where russian forces are operating. this is a huge benefit to the friendship with the united states. we have the most powerful intelligence community and the world. we can provide that information to ukraine. safeguarding sources and methods of course. we can provide that to ukraine. they have a decisive advantage on the battlefield. >> ambassador, the pentagon says it's keeping an eye on explosions and moldova. that's the small country just southwest of ukraine. why is that so significant? >> significant stephanie, they keep saying they're going to go all the way to moldova. they say they're going to cross the south, that means they're going to go through odessa. odessa is the last big port, it's the large port there on the black sea. so their ability -- the russian ability to go all the way to moldova would be a challenge, would be a problem for ukraine. it would cut them off from the black sea. however, it's unlikely that they will be -- that they have the ability to do that. they don't have the troops, they don't have the mound power. they are struggling in some of these main areas of the fight. what you can see there in donetsk. so they don't have the capability to go all the way across. they're having a hard time even getting to odessa. they're being stopped in mykolaiv. so i don't worry too much. now they are trying to provoke some action there by you know, we have heard these false flags, this is probably what's going on in moldova and transnistria. >> jeremy, is it fair to say the biden administration is taking a stronger stance against russia? and if so, is it strong enough? >> well i think it's effective, i think that's what we want. they have marshaled the world community to slap unprecedented sanctions on russia. they provided troops to the eastern flank of nato, an unprecedented level of troops. we provide unprecedented levels of weaponry, so i think we have had ukraine's back. they are obviously prevailing on the battlefield with russia. russia is failing, i think that shows that our support for ukraine has been successful to date. but nobody should be complacent, this is very fragile, we should remain vigilant. >> ambassador, ukraine's foreign minister says the quicker ukraine gets more heavy weaponry and more sanctions on russian oil and gas, the quicker they win. that seems sort of obvious in theory. but technically, is that true, and can we actually make that happen? >> it can happen, stephanie, it certainly can. ukrainians can win, they do need what the foreign minister said, they need the heavy weapons now. the lighter weapons that they used successfully north of kyiv, great in the forest. but we are now on step, we are now on plains, we are now in kansas. they need heavy weapons, long distance weapons and they need it now. they are anticipating the big thrust and the big push from the russians across donbas. so the foreign minister is exactly right. and they can't win if they get those weapons. >> jeremy, what is your biggest concern looking ahead in the days and weeks? >> i don't know what's putin's off-ramp's. what he wants to do, he wants to get up out of of any war crimes prosecution. i don't know anyone who will abide by that. he has had military options, i think the ambassador sized up the state of the military conflict well. it's gonna be armored force on force battle. i worry that putin who still has options like chemical and nuclear weapons will turn to those options. >> does he have any off-ramp ambassador? >> you know this business about off ramps. he got himself into this problem, he can get himself out. he knows how to do this, he can sit down and negotiate with president zelenskyy he has tried to get in deep water to negotiate with someone who committed war crimes. he's willing to sit down if that will stop the war on his terms, zelenskyy's terms. putin, if he has an off ramp great. but we need to support the ukrainians and their pursuit of this war. >> he can sit down and negotiate, it is highly unlikely that he will. thank you so much to jeremy bash ambassador william taylor for joining us this evening. coming up next, he spent nearly six weeks reporting on of the millions of ukrainians fleeing for their lives. my dear friend and partner ali velshi and i compare notes on the desperate situation. and what comes next for the refugees outside of the country and around the world, when the 11th hour continues. >> we have 300,000 coming to just one city. of course it puts an enormous strain on the city's services because we have granted ukrainians citizen like status. access to free education, free health care, free social protection. so of course the service of the city are strained. we can't envision a second wave. of course, 3 million refugees and one country, that's a hell of a lot. >> sure is. it is worth repeating, this is a war against humanity itself. more than 5 million ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries. and poland alone has already taken in a close to 3 million refugees. my dear friend and partner ali velshi as back after five weeks of reporting in the region. welcome home. you were on my mind last week when i was in poland. i was naive, i was at a border crossing, and i had this notion that when people would cross the border they would somehow have a look of relief. or happiness. but that wasn't the case, because when you cross the border, your journey has just begun. most people don't have the currency, don't speak the language. can you speak to what the refugee journey looks like? >> i remember the first night i was on tv with you when i got to budapest. >> you gave directions. >> that was exactly the point, she had landed somewhere. she knew she wasn't in ukraine anymore. she wasn't even sure when she was, clearly i wasn't either. that's the problem, the level of confusion, the languages are not the same. certainly in hungary it was impossible, in poland there's some overlap. because they are slavic languages. the money, you come into poland with ukrainian money, no one will change or money for you, no one will give you a discount. and all of these people who you saw, mostly women and children, had a left a father, brother, or a sun behind. so there is no relief, there's some sense that i might not die now that i'm in poland or i'm in hungary, or i'm in moldova. there is no actual relief, this is not a great my life is starting all over again. the poles are's trying to help them, particularly the cities like warsaw, where more than 300,000 people have gone, with education, social services. it will keep them alive which is great. >> but for how long? but for how long are these neighboring countries going to be willing to do it? you just heard it poland offering free health care, free education, that's great. but they could also face serious backlash overtime from their own people. look at the election in france. yes macron won, but there are a whole lot of people supporting marine le pen who are anti immigrant. >> everything, all the right wing in europe are about anti-immigrants sending back to 2015. denmark which actually really likes immigrants, which has social safety nets. they started getting a negative reaction to refugees after 2015. hungary basically tells people come in here move off as soon as you can. and poland has done a much better job of this. in the end, by the way poland has a labor shortage. so they can benefit from some of it. poland has been a place for mostly people have left over the years, ireland, the uk, and germany. but they don't have a 3 million personal labor shortage. at some point people start to say, hey are these people using my health care, are they doing this, it's not correct. but it's how people think. in a short war, the ukrainians will be welcome in poland, in a long war, this may turn out to be one of those things they will start to face difficulties. and they still won't have their menfolk who are back in ukraine. they can't move on to something else. >> to that point, when we hear the biden administration announcing that we will be opening up to take more refugees. do ukrainians really want to come here? there weren't full families crossing the border, right. it's women and children. leaving their husbands, leaving their adult sons behind. do they really want to be -- >> i think generally, generally speaking people want to come to the united states. if you know that there is someone who might be 500 miles away from you, you may not be in great contact with them. there's a chance you will see them next week, or one day, or they will get out of the country, or zelenskyy will allow fighting age males to leave. while you have family there, i think it becomes very hard to envision a new life in america, or canada, or something like that. poland, hungary, moldova, the balkan states, they all make more sense in the short term. >> are those countries going to be turning let's say to us in the coming months? and saying hey guys, when are you going to cough up some dough and help us? when i was in poland, i'm looking at all the increased police, when you're at a refugee center, the huge covid testing. that's a local, military, police departments, that they're having to pay for that, for the long term. >> unhcr the international rescue committee, they all said before 5 million refugees, we hit that in no time at all. generally speaking, refugees want to stay as close as to their origin country as possible. which is after syria most of them went to turkey or jordan. until about a week ago, turkey -- turkey was by far the biggest refugee recipient country in the world. poland is now number two, two weeks ago, poland was whatever -- before the war started it was like 100 out of all of the countries. so folks want to stay close to home. it's going to wear out, the rest of the world has to take the refugee crisis seriously. it doesn't look as serious as it did six weeks ago. but there's still millions of people who are not in their home country, who have to make a go of it. you saw them, you looked in their eyes, you knew these are real people who need real health. and the world has to step up. >> we're going to keep paying attention. >> yes we are. whoa! >> ali -- >> look at that, this is a velshi in world. this is the way to go. sorry, good thing -- >> a real come back. five minutes and he spilled water all over the side. my partner ali velshi, can't not mess with me. when we come back, the kremlin helped make this man a very very rich. but now he is denouncing putin, our exclusive interview with an oligarch changing his stance on russia. when the 11th hour continues after we mop up the room. thanks ali velshi. everyone remembers the moment they heard, “you have cancer.” how their world stopped... ...and when they found a way to face it. for some,... ...this is where their keytruda story begins. keytruda—a breakthrough immunotherapy that may treat certain cancers. one of those cancers is advanced melanoma, which is a kind of skin cancer where keytruda may be used when your melanoma has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. keytruda helps your immune system fight cancer... ...but can also cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body. this can happen during or after treatment and may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain or tenderness, severe nausea or vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion or memory problems, muscle pain or weakness, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. these are not all the possible side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if you've had an organ transplant, had or plan to have a stem cell transplant, or have had radiation to your chest area or a nervous system condition. today, keytruda is fda-approved to treat 16 types of advanced cancer, and is being studied in hundreds of clinical trials exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see the different types of cancer keytruda is approved to treat at keytruda.com, and ask your doctor if keytruda can be part of your story. >> crank up the volume, we have an nbc news exclusive tonight. dimitri, remember that name? ukrainian billionaire so-called oligarch. you may remember him from the first impeachment of president donald trump. four years he supported pro russian causes and ukraine. but with its homeland now under russian attack. he is speaking out against putin and speaking exclusively with our own tom winter. >> what has your reaction been to what you have seen going on in your homeland? >> [interpreter] i want to cry it tears apart my soul. >> one of the richest man in ukraine, dmytro firtash made billions in natural gas, mining, and agriculture. among supported pro putin political forces in kyiv. >> [interpreter] to believe that in 2022, when the center of europe, that's such a massacre can be taken place. no normal person can believe that. >> he has made a career of trying to bet on the right party, the right player. >> [interpreter] i was never pro russia, you have to understand, i am a businessman. >> so now he is doing something he has never publicly done before, taking aim at vladimir putin. >> [interpreter] he's never going to come out victorious. >> if you could pick up the phone and call him what would you tell him? >> [interpreter] it's time to stop there will be no victory the longer this war takes place of the worse it will be for the russian people. >> do you think that your personal safety is a concern? >> [interpreter] i don't really have a choice. >> putin's wrath isn't the only risk he faces. here in the u.s., he's accused by federal prosecutors of conspiring to pay bribes abroad. in austria. after paying the largest bill in austrian history, nearly 100 $74 million. he has been living at this villa, under house arrest for the last eight years here in vienna. what do you say to the indictment against you? >> [interpreter] 100% not guilty. >> in that case, there's a specific filing that says you are an upper echelon associate of russian organized crime. what is your response? >> [interpreter] we are in the middle of a criminal case that statement in open court was and we have been instructed not to dignify announcer. >> that's lanny davis, a former clinton spokesperson now representing firtash. firtash has other connections to u.s. politics. during the 2020 presidential campaign, rudy giuliani held up a memo prepared for's austrian attorneys. as part of an effort to fight his extradition. the memos from ukraine's former chief prosecutor, talking about hunter biden. your name came up in connection with the impeachment of then president trump, specifically an effort to dig up dirt on hunter biden. did you ever try to do that? >> [interpreter] i never took part in the digging up information on trump or biden. the fact that i'm being dragged into this whole situation connected to giuliani i never met him, not by phone, nor in person. >> mr. firtash, the u.s. says you're a criminal. they allege you are in organized crime, your homeland has you sanctioned. why is it do you think so many people allege so many bad things about you? >> [interpreter] you know when you want to know something about a person you should look at who his enemies are and then you can judge what this person is worth. >> he says he'd rather go back to ukraine right now and fight. if prosecutors would let him. and experience what he calls " the new ukraine ". >> [interpreter] we have to say a big thank you to mr. putin. and i believe we should be building him a monument in the very center of ukraine. because he turned out to be the only politician that in the last 30 years managed to unite the country as one whole. >> nbc investigations correspondent, my dear friend tom winter is here tonight. tom, here is what amazes me. this guy has a billions and billions of dollars. why hasn't he left austria to avoid extradition? we could call him back here at anytime. >> you have that question, and i think pretty much anyone in the fbi that handles organized crime, for eastern europe has that question. as well as federal prosecutors. i asked him that, and he said -- >> i could be a member of the fbi in eastern europe. i've got the job. >> one could say that's a possibility. but when you make it through the tests, yes then you've got it. i have faith in you. look, he says on the record, i will not flee. he says that because of his family he doesn't want to be labeled as someone who fleeced. he doesn't want his children to have -- for the rest of their lives, you know someone whose father fled these charges. he is adamant and according to his own words that if the order finally comes to appear to a chicago courtroom. he will be on that plane, and he will be here in the usa. >> that's his issues with usa, that's not his issues with russia. several oligarchs and their families have died under mysterious circumstances, since putin invaded ukraine. is he not worried about his own safety, his family's safety? >> i think his answer to that question was really interesting in what he didn't say. he certainly did not say there is no threat. and i think when he looks at the totality of the circumstances, just being in ukraine period. he's lost eight employees, even though his mother refuses to leave. his mother refuses to leave ukraine. i think when he looked at the environment he might be heading back to he could be in potential danger if he goes back to ukraine. >> his mother is still there, a strong woman. bet on moms. tom winter, incredible reporting, great interview, exclusive to nbc news, thank you for bringing it here. coming up, very important news today, a light bulb. that will likely have the former guy pretty upset. you want to catch this before the 11th hour wraps up. after my car accident, i wondered what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. when that car hit my motorcycle, insurance wasn't fair. so i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, our r inry a attneysys wk hahard i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, to get you the best result possible. call us now and find out what your case could be worth. you u mit bebe sprisised >> and then they were forcing ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ me to buy light bulbs, it cost a fortune. so i signed something, a couple of days ago, that gives you the right to continue to use the incandescent light. >> the last thing before we go tonight, the former guys bright idea. back in 2019, the trump administration blocked an energy efficiency rule for light bulbs. that was set to go into effect in 2020. this rule was not part of some super going green liberal agenda. this rule was passed in 2007. under the bush administration, it ordered a face out of older incandescent bulbs. today the biden administration announced it is reversing trump 's decision, giving company 75 days to face out the older inefficient bulbs and take them out of production. so that is back on track. we did a little research. what's possible reason did trump have to want to keep those older bulbs in the first place? >> i look better under an incandescence light then these crazy lights that are beaming down. oh, they took away our lightbulb. i want to look better. the bulb is many times more expensive and i hate to say it. it doesn't make you look as good. i say why do i always look so orange. because of the new light they are terrible, you look terrible. of course being a vain person, that's very important to me. it gives you an orange but i want the orange look. so the new light bulb, of course of your five times as much, and it makes you look orange. and i was more interested in the orange than i was in the -- >> our investigative reporting did not end there since it was so important to the former president. we decided to check in and see how his complexion is looking these days. >> i think it's ridiculous, and it's sad. >> there you have it. on that note, good, sad, or bad, i wish you a very good night. from all of our colleagues, the networks of nbc news, thank you for staying up late with us. i will see you at the end of tomorrow. tonight on all in. >> tension is too high, but countries do crazy. i do not want to look back and think we call something or we missed something and someone got hurt.