200,000 troops on the ukraine border. the u.s. and russian leaders speaking today for two hours and one minute amid escalating tension as biden weighs new sanctions against putin s inner circle. the kremlin, meantime, quickly releasing video of the first moments of the call. hello. good to see you, again. and the biden administration, quickly, claiming that russia will be held to account in ways that it was not when president biden was vice president biden and putin annexed part of ukraine with zero force from the u.s. here is biden s national security adviser jake sullivan. the president was crystal clear about where the united states stands as we pursue diplomatic channels, we will also prepare for all contingencies just as we have been doing for weeks now, including through the preparation of specific responses to russian escalation, should they be required. specific, robust, clear responses should they be required. as president biden looked president putin in the ey
good evening, bret. presidentbiden is readying a stt the white house has refrained from using in the past just in case it becomes necessary. a financial sanction that russia considers economic warfare. u.s. officials are reportedly zeroing in on sanctions against vladimir putin s inner circle and on russian energy producers and banks to deter russian troops invading ukraine. considered back in 2014 but didn t ultimately make. cutting off russia from international payment. i m sure they are looking at sanctioning the banking system. sanctioning the energy sector. possibly cutting off russia from the swift system which enables them to financial transactions. at the time prime minister dmitry medvedev said cutting off would be tantamount to declaration of war. passed a nonbinding if russia invaded ukraine. the white house so far has not taken a position on it but issued stern warnings. we consulted with our allies and have a path forward impose significant and severe h
africa, and so far several other places such as belgium, hong kong, and israel have confirmed cases. in europe, travel restrictions are being weighed against seven african countries, six of those being added to the uk s red list. all flights from those locations suspended. today the world health organization meets to determine how they should classify the new variant. meanwhile, dr. anthony fauci says despite there being no indication the variant is in the u.s., we need to be prepared to take proactive measures. first of all, you want to find out if, in fact, it does evade the vaccines that we have. there s always the possibility of doing what the uk has does, namely black travel from south africa and related countries. we don t know that. that s certainly something you think about and get prepared to do. you re prepared to do everything you need to do to protect the american public, but you want to make sure there s a basis for doing that and that s what we re doing right
african countries. benjamin: researchers say the variant caught them offguard. experts are calling it a big jump in the virus s evolution. it has a large number of mutations. the concern is when you have so many mutations it can have an impact on how the virus behaves. benjamin: jonathan serrie is following it live from atlanta. it doesn t sound good. researchers are just beginning to stud ooh he the new variant. there are a lot of unknowns. international health officials are concerned the sheer number of mutations may make this new variant first detected in africa more dangerous than previous variants. listen. the early indications we have of this variant it may be more transmissible than the delta variant and the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective against it. britain imposed a temporary ban on flights from six african countries and requiring british travelers returning from those countries to quarantine in hotels. each time the coronavirus spr
american and we ll celebrate in our own way over there. i give thanks to them on the other side of the atlantic on this day. thanksgiving is back but it will cost you. meals expected to be the most expensive on record and surging gas prices are hurting americans where it hurts. one of the busiest travel days of the year. all of this spelling major trouble for president biden. he is struggling to address american s concerns and the polls have responded accordingly. the president and his family are spending the holiday in nantucket and that s where we find jackie heinrich. good to see you both. the president s 45th year on nantucket. a tradition that politico reports he only broke for the pandemic and the death of his son, beau. it started when joe and jill first got together trying to find a way to avoid competing family holiday invitations as many people are familiar with. if you walk around the island and look at local newspapers a lot of stories about the bidens on