0 phone call to georgia secretary of state, republican brad raffensperger a year ago. begging him to find the 11,780 votes to overcome joe biden's win in that state. the judge's order says the grandeur will begin hearing evidence on made the second and, quote, may make recommendations concerning criminal prosecution. according to the atlanta journal-constitution, the investigation goes beyond trump's phone call and will include, quote, the abrupt resignation of the former atlanta-based u.s. attorney, bj park, and november 2020 call with senator lindsey. and false claims made by trump attorney, rudy giuliani, during a hearing before the georgia senate judiciary committee. the report adds that willis will previously argue that appointing a special grand jury was necessary because a significant number of witnesses and perspective witnesses have refused to cooperate. as that investigation picks up steam in the house and the investigation committee will be talking with at least one former member of trump's cabinet. specifically, bill barr, you may recall that even the ultra loyal barr refused to go along with trump's whole stolen election scheme. and told the associated press, there was no widespread fraud. committee chairman, benny thompson, has confirmed the panel is in talks with barr. and it's also looking into a draft executive order that would've prevented the defense department to seize voting machines all across the united states. >> we have had conversations with the former attorney general already, we have talked to the department of defense individuals. we are concerned that our military was part of this big lie on promoting that the election was false. >> political reports former new york city police commissioner and allies, bernie kerik, told investigators that that plan to seek voting machines was the work of an ex army colonel need phil waldron. waldron also circulated a powerpoint that urged trump to declare a state of emergency after the election. that would've been illegal as the former a.g. likely would've advised the former president. earlier this evening, another member described the investigation with barr >> they were informal conversations done by the investigative staff with the former attorney general. he was in a key spot, saw a lot and will remember that there are a lot of things that i didn't agree with the former attorney general about. but at the end, he did say that these claims of voter fraud were baseless. >> would you say he's cooperating with your committee? >> i don't know -- what does that mean. he is willing and has in fact had conversations with our investigator. >> as the committee continues its we're trying to get to the bottom of the capitol insurrection, the former house speaker, newt gingrich, another trump ally, has reportedly been advising -- and offered up this warming of the upcoming midterms and beyond. >> i think when you have a republican congress, this is all going to come crashing down. and the wolves are going to find out that they're now sheep. and they are the ones in fact who are going to face a real risk of jail for the kind of laws they are breaking--. while that threat did not sit well with committee vice chair, republican liz cheney who posted this on twitter, quote, a former speaker of the house is threatening jail time for members of congress who are investigating the violent january 6th attack on our capital and our constitution. this is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels. this is also would make authoritarian looks like too. the man who actually did when the 2020 election is facing an escalating crisis in your. where there are growing fears of a russian invasion of ukraine. today, president biden put 8500 u.s troops on high alert for possible deployment. at the state department is now evacuating family and some staff from ukraine. nato, in the meantime, is not moving more military equipment into eastern europe since russia has shown no sign of removing any of the hundred thousand troops it has stationed along the eastern border with ukraine. late this afternoon, biden held the secure video with european allies about the russian military threat and the possibility of sanctions should the kremlin make a move. >> i had a very, very, very good meeting. -- >> how speaker nancy pelosi and chuck schumer both asked that the white house brief all members of congress on the tense situation in ukraine. and late tonight, the white house was contending with the controversy of an entirely different sort created by a hot mic moment. it all occurred when the white house correspondent for fox tried to shut a question to the president on the issue of inflation. >> will you take questions on inflation then? >> thank you. >> do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms? >> it's a great asset. more inflation. what a stupid son of a bitch >> not long ago they reported that the president called him tonight and told him quote, it is nothing personal pal. with that, let's bring in our lead off guests on this monday night. yamiche alcindor, anchor and moderator of washington week on pbs and political contributor for msnbc. ashley park, pulitzer prize -winning white house bureau chief of the washington post. and professor melissa murray of the nyu law school, she was a law school clerk before her nomination to the supreme court thank you all for joining me. melissa, let me start with you. you are the law professor on the panel. the atlanta journal-constitution writes this about the decision to appoint a grand jury. special grand juries, which include 16 to 23 people are rare in georgia. they can't issue indictments but they can't subpoena witnesses and compel the production of documents and information. how big a win is this for the district attorney in georgia? and how could this help advance our investigation? i know we've asked this question before but could trump be in real legal trouble here? >> i think it's a significant development for da willis down in georgia. one of the things a special grand jury can do is that it could focus exclusively on a single investigation as opposed to the general grand jury that has to investigate a wide range of different crimes. so this would be purely focused on the trump investigation, and again, it can't issue indictments. but he can subpoena witnesses. and given that many witnesses have exhibited at this point, it would be really helpful to da willis if those subpoenas can be issued and those witnesses can testify. >> it is going to be fascinating what happens there in the coming weeks and months. yamiche, donald trump was clearly obsessed with georgia. if you remember, on 1-6 in this rally on 1-6 in that now notorious speech, he now mentioned -- have a listen. >> we are leading pennsylvania, michigan, georgia by hundreds of thousands of votes. and then late in the evening, or early in the morning, boom. georgia, georgia, they defrauded us out of a win in georgia. georgia, georgia, georgia. they missed georgia that much. i love georga. and that do. it's a corrupt system. georgia, georgia, georgia. >> georgia, georgia, georgia. given all of that, we know that the 1-6 committee is looking to overturn the election at the federal level. do we know whatever the committee is making at the local and state level in places like georgia? >> well, thanks for having me on tonight. really, we do know that lawmakers who are on the january six house select committee, they have a team of lawmakers and aides who are looking specifically at former president trump's effort to try and influence local elected officials and local election officials to try and overturn the election. so, of course, georgia is going to be at the center of that. also remember that there were michigan lawmakers that were brought to the white house. and the president, was talking to them about the election. there was also officials in pennsylvania that were present. trump reported-- so what you see here really is lawmakers in the january six select committee taking this very seriously, but you also see, in, georgia da willis taking it very seriously. also in some ways, making a very clear to the people who were on that call, including brad raffensperger, who had the-- to record this. called that they were needed to be witnesses. according to the da, including brad raffensperger that they are not wanting to be involved in this case. they are not wanting to comply with her and cooperate with her as witnesses. which is why she wanted the special grand jury to be in panel. and the grand jury, is to subpoena people, it's literally to compel people to testify. so it's interesting to see -- sorry not to subpoena people but to indict folks. so it's very interesting to me to see that one, this going after a local officials. who, at the time were obviously alarmed by former president trump's pressure. but that they are at a federal level investigating and looking into the former presidents actions. >> yeah, and when we think about the raffensperger phone call, you mentioned the michigan meeting. those are only the conversations that we know about that trump had with state officials. who nobody said on the phone calls that we don't know about. actually, there's been a lot of focus on which trump allies were not cooperating with the 1-6 panel. meadows, i'm bedlam -- but now we're learning about those who are like bill barr. what does that do to the theory that all these loyal trump -- are standing by the president. and what might barr be telling the committee? >> i think that you are right that the people who have fought and testified have gotten all the attention. but under the radar, there's a number of people like bill barr, the vice former president chief of staff-- who have been with little fanfare, going up and cooperating with this committee. and what it tells you is that, first of all, not everyone in trump's orbit is fighting. for various reasons, there are some people who don't want to risk the subpoena or don't want to fight a subpoena. there are some people who were, frankly, alarmed by what the president said and did in the run up to january six. and as someone who's tried to report on this, with the january six-- one of the challenges is that there was a very small group of people left in the white house in the west wing and former president trump's orbit at that time. but some of these people, like bill barr, he was there through christmas, i think the official day was november 23rd. he was there that day. these are people who actually have real firsthand visibility in what the president was saying, doing, thinking, ordering his team to do. and that is going to be incredibly helpful to the january six committee. >> yeah, and of course i should point out that bill barr was a loyal a.g. but as soon as he said there was no fraud, trump started attacking him as he does attack many of his former employees. pretending that they were always useless apart for when he hired them and praised them. melissa, max boot has a new piece out in the washington post. former republican, never trumper. headline, sorry progressives, the criminal justice system is unlikely to save us from trump. he points out that mueller and two impeachment trials came and went trump is still a free man. it's unlikely a former president will ever be in person in the united states. he's got a point, hasn't he? >> well, i think this president has given ronald reagan a run for his money in terms of being the teflon president. but it's unclear how far this will actually go. again, i think that criminal investigation in georgia on unlike toro front is the only criminal investigation into the events leading up to the january six insurrection that can actually be traced. that could be incredibly promising. of course, any conviction that could come from a trial there would be appealed in the georgia state court which are controlled by republicans. that could be problematic. but i'm not sure the max boot is entirely right that all hope is lost. that there would be criminal accountability for all of the acts -- >> so, let's stop talking about the former guy now. let's talk about the current guy. let's talk about what joe biden is up. two crisis in europe, ashley, what is the white house for tonight on the situation ukraine? is there an expectation that will be a military confrontation at least between the ukrainians and the russians if not only the u. s. troops? or is diplomacy still viable option from the white house's point of view? >> well, president biden in the administration in general are a very fluid situation for any of their allies will tell, and are still trying to figure out what are right now the best deterrent and best parts to take. -- especially after you came out the press conference and said he is going to be traveling around the country and getting out the bubble more and to handle this crisis. there's a number of agencies in the administration that we believe that russia is going to invade the ukraine. that sort of attack is intimate by february. but, they really don't know. i think we'll learn more from capitol hill tomorrow. but again, they are putting more troops on alert. they are taking a more aggressive posture. but we sort of don't know because they have not made any official decision yet. >> yes, it's tense times. and in the middle of tense times, we've got this little blowup this evening. so earlier today at the white house, we mentioned joe biden's off mic moment with the fox reporter. yamiche, i want to bring you in here and ask about this comment that biden made. how much was that the president letting off steam irritated with the fox reporter not realizing the mic is on? how much is that an outrageous attack on the press? i mean, you are someone, who i remember, received some pretty vicious personal attack from the former president in the briefing room. is this anything comparable? what do you make of this whole incident today? >> i think it's fair to say that the president of the united states, whether democrat a republican, should not be cursing at reporters. whether they are frustrated that them or they don't like the question. i do see of course that he had a relationship with president biden. his question was on inflation was a pretty incredible thing to be asking the president on about today. and throughout this time we're seeing record highs. obviously, if you are supported president biden, you see this as him blowing off steam and him sort of attacking a president. at attacking a reporter, rather. but if you are a reporter, like, me when i hear from my fellow reporters is that this is not a good look for this administration, a reporting is that peter got a call from the president of the united states tonight, apologizing, and asking him to move forward. what you see there is also president biden recognizing that this is not an appropriate thing to do and apologizing to this reporter. >> yeah, i'm not sure how many times donald trump rang up people like yourself to apologize. i am going to guess, zero. melissa, last question to you before we run out of time. while this is going, on christmas in europe. legal challenges in georgia. am i right seeing that the far-right supreme court that we likely have is about to strike down affirmative action in higher education? is that what you understand is going on in these new cases? >> i think it's very likely, the court took certain two cases, one from harvard and one from the university of north carolina, both pose real question -- the last time the court took this up was in 2016. of course, the court is incredibly different constituted now, in that 2016 case. it was justice kennedy who wrote for a 4-3 through majority. now the court is stacked with the system three super majority of conservatives. three of whom were appointed by president trump. i think it's unlikely that we are going to see affirmative action continue in the form that we know, it whether or not they will dismantle it entirely is entirely up to the court and they will take up that case next term. >> melissa, i think it's fine i think all of the supreme court justices will follow the law and not their own political bias as i promise you. michelle, ashley parker, melissa murray, we will have to leave it there. thank you so much for your time. as the u.s. prepares equipment and troops for ukraine, how close are we really to war? alaska former u.s. ambassador to russia and nato why swing state arizona, yet again a troubling microcosm of where today's republican stand on imaginary voter fraud and very real voter suppression. the 11th hour, just getting underway on a monday night. stay with us.