pottinger and former deputy press secretary sarah matthews t. two were inside the white house on january 6th 20, 21, were among the most high-profile officials to resign in protest in the aftermath of that attack. the new york times is reporting this about their role. mr. pottinger and ms. matthews are expected to help narrate what was unfolding in the west wing during those 187 minutes in a hearing that the committee sees as a capstone to a series of public sessions in which it laid out in detail trump s efforts to remain in office despite his defeat and how they led to the storming of the capitol. ms. matthews is expected to, among other things, speak to the efforts to get mr. trump to issue a statement. people familiar with the planning said by having them testify, the committee is sticking to what is now a tried and true practice of having trump insiders tell us the story of january 6th and explain the ex-president s push to overturn the 2020 election. with help from al
as a huge surprise given the well-established history inside trump world of pressuring potential witnesses in key investigations. washington post lays it out like this, quote. evidence across multiple state, federal and congressional investigations points to a similar pattern. trump and his close allies privately shower potential witnesses with flattery and attention extending vague assurances that staying loyal to trump would be better than crossing him. meanwhile, trump publicly blasts those who offer testimony against him in bluntly personal terms offering a clear example to others of the consequences of stepping out of line. the new york times offers another view of this type of carrot and stick witness pressure campaign reporting this, quote, former president trump s political organization and his allies have paid for or promised to finance the legal fees of more than a dozen witnesses called in the congressional investigation into the january 6th attack, raising legal
immediate peril if you think that it may put americans who are out traveling around the world right now at risk of being arrested or abducted by russia or iran or any other country that says, hey, we can get people out of jail, or we can get some assets unfrozen. and this is what the white house is wrestling with right now, and it s excruciating. michael crowley, ann simmons, tom firestone, it s an excruciating human experience. i appreciate all your reporting and expertise on the topic. thank you so much for starting us off this hour. when we come back, another brutal attack by russia on civilians in ukraine. this time, it is an apartment building near odesa as the ukrainian government urges the world not to look away. our good friend, igor nobikov, will be our guest after the break. and later for us, here at home, we re entering the fourth of july weekend with fewer freedoms than we had one year ago. most notably, the chaos women
struck residential areas 50 kilometers from odesa, including an apartment building, killing 21 people, including children, and injuring at least 30 more. that s according to ukrainian media. ukrainian officials believe the attack was retaliation after russian forces on snake island, a small piece of land off the southern coast of ukraine, were forced to withdraw under ukrainian shelling. the new attack comes after nearly a week of air strikes by russian forces all around the country, including in kyiv and that shopping mall we told you about in the city of kremenchuk that killed at least 19 people. joining our conversation, our good friend, the former advisor to president zelenskyy, igor nobikov. you re back in kyiv. tell us what it is like right now. hi, nicole. it s quite a dangerous and depressing situation. basic, we have continuous air strikes all around the country, every night, pretty much. it all started with kyiv on
audience falling in love with your and your family and seeing those videos of your young daughters at the beginning of the war, and my team knows that i would wake up every morning and say, has anyone heard from igor today? and then message you. so, it is a connection that all of our viewers and certainly my entire family feels with yours. we re still waiting to take you to disneyland or universal. we work at universal and we re really proud that you inspired this idea, and we thank you for everything. all your contributions, igor, thank you. thank you, nicole. as igor just said, our special, ukraine: answering the call airs sunday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern and 7:00 p.m. pacific. it s on nbc. if you miss that for some reason, it will be on at 10:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. ahead for us, as we head into fourth of july in this country, a look at the rights republicans have already managed to take away over the last year from reproductive healthcare for millions of women across the