a.m. out we i m lipid see riser at msnbc headquarters in new york heightened anticipation as we watch for a potentially unprecedented decision from a new york grand jury about whether to indict trump. his former fixer, michael cohen, could head back to the grand jury today as a rebuttal witness. that s because they re about to hear from a different unexpected witness today, robert costello, michael cohen s former legal adviser. looming over the decision, the former president s statement over the weekend that he expects to be arrested tomorrow. with uncertainly swirling, prominent republicans including the speaker of the house are coming to his defense. it doesn t matter what side of the issue you re on it doesn t matter if this was president trump or if this was a democrat there should be equal justice in america, and stop going after people because you have political differences. also this hour, a high-stakes meeting in moscow between chinese leader xi jinping and russia
a very good wednesday morning to you, i m jim sciutto. and i m erica hill. we begin this hour with new details about the victims and also the gunman in that deadly mass shooting at michigan state university. first, the three people killed who have now been identified and so young, 20-year-old brian fraser, 19-year-old arielle anderson and 20-year-old alexandria verner. the 43-year-old gunman we ve learned apparently did leave behind a note and a criminal history that includes a gun charge, but what is still unknown this morning, the motive, and also how he got the firearm, which was reportedly used in the shooting. you look at pictures of their kids you think of their poor families. also ahead this morning, former south carolina governor nikki haley makes the first stop of her 2024 presidential campaign, we re going to take you live to charleston, south carolina, and just in a key report shows that retail sales surged in january, beating expectations. more signs of a ve
jennifer griffin at the pentagon and the latest information about the balloon. good evening, jennifer. good evening, shannon. fox news has learned the chinese spy balloon could exit u.s. continental territory moving off the east coast in the next 60 hours. the spy balloon first flew over alaska on january 28th, exited u.s. airspace and then reemerged to cross into the continental u.s. on january 31st. passing from canada into idaho. the balloon was most recently seen flying over missouri. the balloon has changed its course. right now we assess that it will probably be over the united states for a few days. the pentagon is not buying china s apology and explanation that this was some sort of civilian research balloon that was blown off course. the spy balloon left montana airspace and moving east over the continental u.s. fox is told it was launched from mainland, china. this is a chinese balloon that has the ability to maneuver. the balloon continues to move eastwar
mike: president biden approving mississippi disaster declaration earlier today after tornadoes tour through the state friday killing more than two dozen people carving path of destruction more than 100 miles long. play for these teams so a tough pill to swallow. we heard from the superintendent from schools who says that the schools will be closed for at least a few days now because there s some damage to some of the schools down here and there s a lack of water and power but, mike, i can tell you that we have seen utility crews out here all morning long, in fact, some here behind us working on utility pole and they are beginning the process. we spoke to one of the city workers this morning who tells us that half of the town is at least with power now, so plenty of progress going on here, mike. mike: charles, have they given you context of how bad this is compared to previous storms? charles: yeah, i ve spoken to a lot of people who live in this particular town and a lot o
booster vaccine schedule for all americans regardless of their coronavirus vaccination history. good day, everyone. i m andrea mitchell in washington. vladimir putin s forces are responding to the decision by the united states and its allies to supply president zelenskyy s forces with dozens of abrams and leopard 2 tanks by launching a new group missiles. defense forces shot down 20 missiles. one civilian did die from falling shrapnel. joining me now, raf martinez. there were 55 missile attacks. they were self-exploding drones. what are you hearing from military leaders and city officials? reporter: andrea, the only good news, if you can call it that, on this very bloody day across ukraine is the ukrainian air force is saying, they shot down most of those 55 missiles. the russians followed what at this point is a grimly familiar pattern. they sent a wave of those iranian-made self-destructing drones in what appears to have been an attempt to overwhelm ukraine s air defens