good morning to viewers here in the united states and around the world. it is thursday, january 7th. i m brianna keilar with john berman. we are beginning with a rare opportunity for a struggling president to reenergize his party and to make history in the process. supreme court justice stephen breyer set to announce his retirement at the white house today, giving president biden a chance to deliver on a campaign promise to nominate the first african american female justice to the bench. let s get a sense of the timing, short list, and republican plans to slow down the process. jeremy diamond is there. jeremy, if i also in on the details. reporter: well, we learned yesterday justice breyer is set to retire after 30 years. he was tight-lipped on this. without a formal announcement, the president would not weigh in. but today they are set to make this official. and this opening gives biden a chance to nominate a justice to the supreme court and potentially make history
february and that the nominee will be a black woman. the person i will nominate will be someone of extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity. that person will be the first black woman ever nominated to the united states supreme court. it s long overdue, in my view. i made that commitment during the campaign for president, and i will keep that. in the end, i will nominate a historic candidate, someone who s worthy of justice breyer s legacy and someone, who like justice breyer, will provide incredible service on the united states supreme court. breyer s announcement today takes his relationship with the president full circle in a way. then senator biden presided over breyer s confirmation hearings in 1994. let s go now to cnn white house correspondent m.j. lee. the president, he made it clear he s not chosen his nominee to the court yet. so, what happens now? reporter: that s right. though it is clear that the search has already begun, choosing a
speak with ukrainian president zelensky last hour as tensions along the border persist. a source has told cnn zelensky is expected to tell president biden he s concerned about the rhetoric from the u.s. and other allies about the situation in his country. the united states reportedly made no concessions to russia in its written responses to the kremlin s security demands, and the russian foreign minister said there is, quote, no positive reaction, end quote, because it fails to address his government s main concern. sam kiley is in kyiv for us. do we know any more about this call from the ukrainians? reporter: well, no, we don t know any detail yet. we haven t had a readout from that call. there are indications of what the substance of it it would be, as victor was saying about some of the rhetoric. now we unpick how president zelensky has been reacting to some of the statements made by the united states and others, particularly the united kingdom over the last couple of
for optimism. that s the line from the kremlin this morning after the u.s. offers a diplomatic off ramp to the standoff off ramp. and the u.s. blows past 73 million covid cases suns the start of the pandemic. but we start with what happens now that justice breyer is retiring. peter alexander is standing by. leann caldwell is with us and also joining us aaron haynes, an msnbc political contributor. peter, do we have any word yet about when we might see the president and justice breyer today? and what can you tell us about where the white house is in terms of choosing a nominee? yeah, chris, no official guidance from the white house. in fact, this gathering with both justice breyer and president biden is not even on the official white house schedule but we are getting indications that this could happen within the next several hours here at the white house. and it is a significant moment for president biden. it s also a rare one. very rarely do you see a sitting president ev
us. we begin with the news that broke yesterday with the supreme court. justice breyer plans to step down at 28 years on the bench. his formal announcement could come as soon as today. his decision gives president biden a chance to name his replacement while democrats still control the senate. nbc news justice corner pete williams has the details. reporter: people close to justice breyer say he made the decision to step down within the past several weeks and prepared to formally notify the white house this week. at age 83, he is the court s oldest justice and appears to be in good health. he remains highly productive, writing last term as, some of last year s decisions. he knows how washington works. he was well aware some progressives said justice ruth bader ginsberg stayed on the court too long despite battles with cancer. he death allowed president trump to appoint amy comey barrett. he said last fall he knew of the pressure for him to step down. most of the considerat