lab in chiwuhan, china. and in east palestine, the new technique to track contaminated water from that city. and the growing concern to other cities taking in truckloads of contaminated soil. and an image in oklahoma, cnn is on the scene. welcome to the lead i m jake tapper. we start with the groundbreaking assertion with the u.s. energy department that the covid-19 pandemic likely began from a lab leak in wuhan, china. this all comes after the energy department updated its 2021 report with this claim, saying it made the new conclusion, based on new evidence coming to light. two sources telling cnn the department is issuing the report with, quote, low confidence. that s a term that doesn t mean that they don t believe their own conclusion. it means that the evidence as of now is only circumstantial. the new assertion reveals that the u.s. intelligence community is more divided than ever on how the pandemic began. four other agencies in the u.s. government said the outbr
ukraine will never be a victory for russia. what does victory look like and are we give them enough to win the war or just surviving? if you want victory, we have to do more. plus, rising tensions. you are approaching chinese airspace. as the u.s. continues to warn china about sending weapons to ukraine, tensions are rising in the south china sea. is the pentagon preparing to move more troops to taiwan? my guests this morning, if national security adviser to president biden jake sullivan and dan sullivan of alaska. and off the rails. i sincerely hope that when all of the politicians get here including biden to get back from touring ukraine that he s got some money left over. donald trump travels to the site of the toxic train derailment in ohio to bash the biden administration for focusing more overseas, creating the first real split screen moment of the 2024 campaign. joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news chief white house correspondent kristen
being controlled by the cartels and smuggling drugs. the family of bruce willis revealing he has been diagnosed with ftd, a form of dementia. his condition has gotten first. but first this. president biden: make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the american people i will take it down. bill: president biden finally breaking his silence. we ve been waiting for ten days on those aerial objects shot down by the military. says the last three do not appear to be connected to beijing or any foreign surveillance campaign. meanwhile a hobby club out of northern illinois fears its silver coated party-style balloon may have been shot down by a side winder missile over canada. the missile costs a lot of money. the balloon not so much. sandra: estimated cost $12 of the balloon. bill: the missile upwards of $4 hundred grand. dana has the day off. welcome, i m bill hemmer. sandra, welcome back to you. sandra: i m sandra smith. president bid
pace since june. and that could have major economic and political fallout. lucas tomlinson is live at the white house with more on this. lucas. reporter: jon, jp mayor began ceo jamie dimon thinks the fed has lost some control over inflation. a chemming contact congressman representing joe biden s home hometown in scranton responded earlier on fox. i wouldn t go that far, but what i will say is i think they got a late start. i think they should have started ticking interest rates up a little bit much earlier, maybe six months earlier than they did. reporter: new economic data shows inflation is getting worse. the personal if consumption execs pendtures price index, the fed s preferred gauge for inflation, rose .6% in january. the annual inflation rate also rose to 5.4%, the first increase since it peaked in june making some wonder if the fed is behind on inflation. president biden reacting to the economic news in a statement which read in part: annual inflation in janua
running? we have heard him say several times it is his intention. are you not believing this? how many times as have to say it until you believe it. he says he s not done. he is not finished what he has started. and that is what is important. look at all that joe has done, has accomplished. he brought us out of the chaos. he did that. he was elected because people want steady leadership. i think they saw that intro here they saw his character. so all that s left at this point is to figure out time and place for the announcement? pretty much. okay still top democrats are not convinced but according to politico his top aides potential democratic presidential candidates are mulling a plan b. alright, great to be with you guys today, to see you again. i want to talk about. okay we are talking about president biden, will he or won t he announce his reelection bid? why don t we listen to what he had to say he was inside of abc news and broach the subject, let s take a liste