>> tonight, a convicted capitol rioter, calling for the execution of mike pence, and members of congress. trump, comforts her with a hug. new abortion restrictions, actually, failing and red states. our conservative lawmakers waking up to what voters want? plus, russia launches its largest missile strike in nearly two months. ukraine gears up for a much anticipated counteroffensive. the 11th hour gets underway, on this friday night. >> good evening, i am ali velshi, and for my friend stephanie ruhle. during a campaign stop in a new hampshire diner, the former president praised, and hugged a woman who served prison time for her actions during the capitol attack. and we see news reports of trump told her to, quote, just hang in there. then he added this. >> what they're saying is so sad. what they've done to january 6th. so bad. patriots. i mean, here the woman, she's a terrific woman. >> a terrific woman. told nbc news that she believes, members of congress who voted to certify biden's presidential

election should be executed and she would like a front seat of mike pence being executed. former republican congresswoman, liz cheney, vice chair of the january six committee, responded to this on twitter. quote, trump is embracing a j six defendant, who called for the execution of members of congress. two elected republicans who have endorsed him, you are endorsing his conduct on january 6th and, everyday sense. the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil's forget man to do nothing. trump support for january six defendants comes to this jacks mitt continues his investigation into the former presidents efforts to overturn the 2020 election. earlier today, the former lead counsel for the january six committee said this about donald trump. >> his support of them, is continual good words to them suggests that he was on board, on january 6th. the central issue for jack smith is what did the president intend with

his words, and deeds, or lack thereof of january 6th? did he intend for the joint session to be disrupted? sessions like yesterday, to this rider, to me, are strong evidence that he intended for them to succeed. for them to do exactly what they did, and more. it is outrageous, and very telling. >> meanwhile, still no verdict in the trial of five members of the proud boys, charged with seditious conspiracy for their rules on january 6th. the jury, in that case, continues its deliberations on monday. with that, we bring our lead off panel, jean allen, national politics reporter for nbc. the co-anchor of pbs news hour, and an msnbc contributor. barbara mcquade, a veteran federal prosecutor, and former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. good evening to all of you. john, i need to start with you. your conversation with donald trump was last night, i can't remember, where mike pence had gone to testify before jack smith's grand jury, and you are sort of trump about it? >> i did. i was standing outside of

that diner in manchester new hampshire, which is a bit of an iconic political stop. when trump came in, and of course, we were just talking about him speaking with the january 6th lady. i caught him outside and i asked him what he thought about mike pence testifying in federal court, and he said, he did not know what mike pence said, but he had confidence in him. that's not all waited arnold trump says about mike pence. >> let's talk about this a little bit. the washington post wrote, trump has steadily escalated his advocacy for people charged in the capitol riot, including by pledging to pardon them if, he returns to the white house, praising them as patriots, participating in a recording with january six prisoners singing the national anthem, and playing it at its first rally of the 2024 campaign last month. as opposed to this hurting him in any way, as a presidential candidate, and amongst republicans, and possible moderate republicans,

he is leaning, fully, into not just january 6th, and what happened, but to the actual people who were arrested, charged, and in some cases, jail because of it. >> that is right, ali. in some ways, this interaction you've been reporting on, we've all been reading about with this one woman who was, herself, a january 6th insurrectionists. very proud, and that moment, to talk about that, to talk about her criminal behavior, to talk about the fact that she did jail time, to brag about the fact that she wished she had been able to hang on longer. that was her regret. she shows no remorse and taking part in the activities that day at the capitol. look at, it is not surprising, in many ways, that mr. trump would support someone like this in the way that he did. hugging her, saying she's been through so much. but, it is still shocking. we need to underscore that, because it is not normal for a former

president to embrace a group of people who have so, brazenly, broken the law, and attacked the capitol in the way that they did in january 6th in 2021. but as you said, this is part of a pattern. mr. trump has talked about them as if they are patriots, they're hinted as if they want to pardon them, again, if you were to become president, but these are his supporters. he knows who he's talking to. these are the same folks who were fueled to show up on mass, at the u. s. capitol, in an attempt to overthrow a legitimate election because they believed in an election lies that they had been sold, by mr. trump. ally, he continues, to sell to this day. i think we also need to remember, this speaks to the potency of that lie, the fact that the majority of self-identified republicans, today, despite the fact that there is no evidence supporting this, still believes that joe biden was not legitimately elected in 2020. it speaks to this idea that we will be seeing this again, and again,

in particular, if mr. trump is, again, the republican nominee. >> barbara, all of this is interesting, on into itself. i'm particularly curious, given that jack smith is looking into these allegations about what role donald trump had on january 6th. what do these actions -- to they play any role? are they admissible in a case? that donald trump continues to associate with people who broke the law on january 6th? on the other hand, the proud boys trial, they are all at disavowing him. >> yes, elie, all of the statements he is making our potential evidence against him in a trial. it doesn't change what he did intend on january 6th, but it can be a window into what he intended on january 6th. so, when he has seen praising them, it does suggest, he was intentional about what

happened on january 6th. that he saw it, he approved of it, even if he didn't deliberately set it into action, when he sent that tweet at 2:34 pm, knowing that the mob was already in the building, and talking about how mike pence didn't have the courage to do what was necessary? if he sees what is folding, and he approves of it, it suggests that that could have been an act to assist in inciting an insurrection. so, all of those things are, potentially, very damaging as evidence against donald trump. it is the reason that prosecutors pay very close attention to everything people say, and it is the reason that defense attorneys tell their clients to keep their mouths shut. when your client is donald trump, it seems, he's a little incapable of that. >> john, on the one side, you have marjorie taylor greene who was into these january 6th people, who have all been arrested and

jailed, but on the other hand, you have what liz cheney said. when donald trump embraces these things, it does sort of speak to his support for what happened in the insurrection. where is everybody else in the middle on this one? donald trump continues to get endorsements from republicans he, continues to have people run against him for the nomination, but this is a flash point. this is the thing where people say, hey, i like donald trump or other things, i don't like the january six stuff, he keeps reminding you, and he's in your face about it, that he was january 6th. >> the vast majority of americans disapprove of january 6th. many of those americans, probably a majority of them, abhor what happened on january 6th. but what we see as a political pawn that donald trump is in. these folks thought they were serving him. what they have gotten from him is not a pardon while he was president, not significant financial support for them in the legal battles that they have, and i think he is trying to make sure that they do not abandon him, or turn on him, as he is trying to put together a

coalition to win the republican primary. it will be difficult for, as he continues to praise the january 6th folks, for folks who have endorsed him to not have to answer that question. it will put some of them, at least a few of them, in a little bit of a political pickle. for most people who have endorsed him so far, they are not people who are worried about winning their next general election. they're worried about winning their next primary. >> what do you think happens here? america is waiting. we have two things going on with donald trump legally. we have the manhattan d. a. situation, we have the e. jean carroll trial, under way the definition and battery trial, but really, the one that a lot of people are waiting for his weather fani willis in georgia does something about election interference. the finding of all of those votes he asked the secretary of state to handle. and, the jack smith investigation, which has to do with january six, some of georgia, and some of the mar-a-lago documents. what is your sense about the status of all of these? >> you know, just listening to list off those cases, i think it's a good

reminder for everyone about exactly how much is at stake. exactly how much we don't yet know. and, how much will unfold over the coming months. something i think we need to remind folks of is this reporting about former vice president, mike pence, testifying to that federal grand jury yesterday. so, this is one of those people who was a loyal servant to mr. trump during their time in office, has refused, until now, to testify, and his hold a lot of, potentially, key information about conversations, and the meetings, leading up to january 6th. so, there is that piece of the puzzle that could be filled in, once and for all, but there is the political implication here, which is that if former vice president pence, himself, decides to run, how could that information be used? how could it be leveraged? especially against his former boss, the president in this case? that is one piece of it. more holistically, when you look at these cases, and combine the political impact that they could have, i think it is worth reminding everyone, until now, they have not had much of an impact with two coming to dentist or trump space. despite

all investigations, all evidence that was uncovered after the many january 6th public hearings. all of the information we have learned about the many investigations into mr. trump, his numbers remained largely the same. if there is to be an implication at all, it may be energizing for democrats, it may sway some independents who are on the fence, but by and large, she still remains the front runner within the party. >> if it does not grow his base, it certainly solidifies the base. the base is serious about this kind of thing. barbara, you and i talked about this a little tonight. about mike pence, and the value of his testimony. obviously, an interesting week because on wednesday night, donald trump lost his appeal to prevent mike pence from testifying. by thursday morning, mike pence was testifying, for several hours. this means he was in washington, or at least ready to go with that testimony. something he had

been implying for a while that he would be prepared to do. what does it do? let's just remind people, what does that mike pence's testimony to? jack smith, and the rest of the country, because of the january 6th hearings know lots, and lots, around the conversations that mike pence and donald trump pant. but, we know what almost all from the side of the people who heard donald trump side of the discussion. >> yes. i think it is important for jack smith to get mike pence in front of the grand jury, as he did, under oath, and to lock in some of the things he has already said. there is some good material in his book about telling donald trump that what he was proposing was illegal, and trump not refuting it. saying, what are you, or rules master? as many of those admissions could be very valuable, so locking in those things and i think it's important in volunteering he has volunteered in his book, and of the things that were said, besides those that were

published there. i think when people tell their own story, they may be selective in what facts they share, and they might hold others back. so, when he's under oath, it's a chance to ask him those questions as well. i think the third reason you need to get his testimony, is just to play defense. to lock him into a story right now, so that donald trump cannot call, in this case, go to trial a year from now, or more, and suddenly, there is a new story that they have never heard before. so, it prevents what they heard two as, recent fabrication, by locking them into a story. now, they know what the story is, they can make charging decisions based on that. >> john allen, something else happened this week, which given all of the other news falls away from the headlines but, joe biden announced he's running for president again. how does this campaign look different from the last campaign? >> we will

have to wait for a little while to see that campaign rollout. it's being ramped up a little slowly, but there is a big reception tonight in washington, for several hundred of president biden's elite supporters, donors, other people who are influential. basically, biden spoke, kamala harris spoke, and what i am hearing from democrats right now is a lot of electricity about getting behind biden. there is a real appetite to defeat not only donald trump if, he is the republican nominee, but anyone else who would be the republican nominee. i think there is some confidence among democrats, at least among some of the folks that i've been talking to, that they are in a good position to do that. they believe the contrast that joe biden has against trump, and other republicans, particularly with regard to what biden calls, the extreme maga movement, or the ultra maga movement. they believe that contrast is good, they believe that biden has a record that is solid to run on, and i believe there is a lot of electricity around the campaign right now. >> your thoughts on

that? last time joe biden ran, it was about the soul of the nation. now, it is still a discussion about extremists, but those extremists rate then were on the fringes. now, many of them, spent the last few years central to the operation. ali velshi, -- tiki torches back in charlottesville -- very first word you heard from mr. biden's mouth was freedom -- and white house officials about this, you talk about the -- that this battle for the soul of the nation is not yet over. and that there is no reason for mr. biden to step off the path while we are still in the middle of this, and he's still a good president doing good work. these are their words. i have asked of them if we will hear more about his record, is actual presidential record, because we have heard them over the last few years talk about

the big legislative wins he has been able to push through, and the bipartisan legislation he's been able to push through. they do say, we will hear more about that, of course, in the months -- but this core message about the battle of the soul -- battle for the soul of the nation, that is something we will hear throughout. because, as jonathan allen said, this is something that mr. biden sees essential to the election. that we are at a pivot point as a nation, and that fight against those maga extremists, the fight against rising authoritarianism, is not yet over. >> a privilege to talk to the three of you tonight, thank you for being with us, jonathan allen, i amna nawaz and barb mcquade. coming, up abortions fail into deep red states as former president trump waited to the debate. and later, children are among the dozens killed in ukraine, as russia launches its worst attack on civilians in months. the former ambassador to

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abortion policies continue this, week but this time it is coming from within the party's own

ranks. in south carolina, and nebraska, both red states republicans failed to pass new bills restricting access to abortion care. nebraska senator who cosigned the bill to ban abortion at six weeks ultimately abstain from the vote, citing correctly that many women may not know they are pregnant in that window. in south carolina, all five women members of the republican -led senate, three of whom are in fact republican, successfully filibustered a near total abortion man. with us for more is mini timmaraju, president of naral, the oldest abortion rights organization in the nation. mini, thanks for being here. one thing i want to be clear about -- with all these women in south carolina, including one federal representative from they are and the people in nebraska, nobody is claiming to be a liberal. nobody is claiming to be a progressive. these people are not with

conservative credentials saying various things. there are different accusations, and some of them are that this is overreach, this is control over, women and a lack of understanding of the basic issues. some conservatives are just saying, can we not be leaning into this topic because there are other things that people care about and we are becoming this weird, anti-abortion, draconian party. i loved your evaluation. what is happening? why are some of these abortion bans being stopped in their tracks by republicans? >> so first, i want to give credit where credit is due. with the remarkable activists on the ground in those states. often we look at red states and think that they are impossible, but there are folks on the ground who have been tireless advocates of abortion rights and reproductive freedom and first credit needs to go to them. the rockets and noise they created, right? what is happening is a couple of factors. you have got members coming out from the republican base, in the wake of the texas mifepristone case we had 51% of

republicans who supported medication abortions. we had majorities of national republicans showing that they support legal abortion access. so i think that you have a party where there is a lot of conflict happening about -- prognostication, worry about what is going to happen at the ballot box, and then i think that you are also seeing -- i'm going to give credit to some of these republicans for actually listening finally, and understanding how horrific the impact is in neighboring states and places across the country from these abortion bans. you are seeing stories every day, you've got the case in florida where somebody hemorrhaged in a salon bathroom, you have the case in texas where women have barely survived, and not getting that abortion care. >> there are a few cases like this in nebraska and south -- but we have seen women -- republican women pushed back. that has been something that has been thought about after after the fall of roe v. wade, but it seems to have

materialized in the midterm elections and in those ballot initiatives across the country, some of which were brought by groups who supported abortion rights, some of which were brought by groups who did not, or the election of the supreme court election in wisconsin. does this give more cover to moderate republicans and republican women who do not want to be the tip of the spear on antiabortion activities? >> i do not know if it does. here is the challenge for candidates and elected officials. you have organizations like susan b anthony latest, yesterday refuting nikki haley's latest speech in saying that i know she is with us. you've got a very organized, antichoice, antiabortion extremist movement in this gop and many of their activists and their candidates and party officials are beholden to them. we do not see a lot of shifting and changing. what we are seeing is more we

publican base voters shifting there perception on what abortion access means, and we are also seeing a shift with independent voters being willing to step up and step out. so in kansas, what is important to understand, in that ballot initiative last year, which was an antiabortion initiative. the margin of victory was actually unaffiliated voters who are not democrats or republicans, and that is going to be so important going into 2026. 2024. >> let me ask you about the idea that, while some republicans are leaning away from this, you've got others, particularly on the national, level -- you've got lindsey graham, about senator tim scott, who might be running for president, of south carolina -- you've got mike pence, all of whom have said that there should be federal legislation banning abortion. lindsey graham keeps bringing it up, mitch mcconnell actually said that he's not interested in this stuff, but there are still people who are looking to do that. would that be worse than what we've got right now, where a bunch of states are imposing draconian measures? would a federal legislative ban

on abortion be yet worse? >> yes, i think unequivocally, yes. i also want to add donald, trump who made comments today who indicated support for a national abortion, ban despite some and hawing. and i think it is the activists in his party you pushed him to do that. and a national abortion ban, it would be horrific. while we have 19 states with some form of restrictions and bans on the books right now, we have 22 states, plus the district of columbia, with abortion protection on the books. so national abortion ban would be catastrophic. yes, some states have worse bands then total bans -- important for your viewers and listeners to understand is that bans are bans. but -- we are losing the argument, we are losing the point. the horrible stories we are hearing about women dying because of miscarriage mismanagement, because of

sepsis, or young people who can't get access to care, women of color who are marginalized, and cannot get access to care. these are acts happening to all stages of pregnancy and ban -- them would be horrific. >> many thanks. you make everything very clear. we appreciate your time. tonight mini timmaraju is the president of naral pro-choice america, the oldest abortion rights organization in the country. thanks for joining us. tomorrow morning tomorrow morning on my show, velshi i'm going to speak with two women who -- state senators katrina shelley and sandy sand, starting at 10 am eastern. coming up, ron desantis spent the -- ever sublease's foreign policy credentials were upstaged by his ongoing feud with disney. when the 11th hour continues. parodontax toothpaste... ...is 3x more effective at removing plaque bacteria, one of the main causes of bleeding gums. parodontax. the gum experts.

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desantis is attempting to showcase his foreign policy credentials ahead of a likely presidential run. the governor's visit to london today capping off a tour that took him to tokyo, seoul, and jerusalem. but pressure is mounting for desantis back at home. he now faces a lawsuit from disney, one of the states biggest employers as donald trump widens his lead in the polls. meanwhile, nbc news reporting the growing number of supporters are frustrated with the governors current strategy. one republican megadonor says he cannot even get desantis to return his calls. watch this. >> he is who he, is he is a good american. but his people skills are very,

very bad and what i find out is that, the more that people hang out with him and the more -- one friend of mine said he was sitting next to him at dinner, and he never said one word. so, his people skills are not good. and i think that is one of his major problems. >> out of fairness, that is john casten naughtiness. he is a character himself. joining me now to discuss this is the former florida congressman and msnbc contributor, david jolly. there's so much to talk about here and i'm so glad to have you here. let's first start with a disney thing. observers just think this was a weird fight for ron desantis to pick. he had gone down this road of being what he calls anti woke. some people need to tell him that the people who are the thing that he calls woke don't use it all that much. he went down this road a joke at all the way it is. disney said it did not agree with his don't say gay stuff, and now he is doing things that

look punitive to, disney and we have a first amendment that says that is not all of, great and disney is suing. it feels like a weird fights to have picked. >> except for the very basic human emotions of vanity and vengeance, which is what this has always been about, with ron desantis. remember that it started a year ago when they passed the don't say gay bill. disney, under some pressure -- it took them sometime, but some internal pressure from the disney, community, and their employees -- he said i'm glad he's the powers of the state to change your tax status. but what looked like a strong culture war hand at the time, a year ago, ron desantis looking very powerful, has really turned into complete debacle that could sink his presidential run. ali, the question tonight is what does a win now look like for ron desantis in this fight? because if he actually extracts a cost from disney, now he is a big government republican to use the powers of his office to punish corporate speech and the first amendment rights of the

disney community, or does he lose this and then he looks weak and ineffective? ron desantis tonight has himself in a tough spot. i'm not sure that he comes out on the winning side of it either way. >> i will say that there may be some benefit to him in this big disney fight, as somebody who is going up against donald trump who is a presidential candidate. but as a florida politician, tell me about this. how would you think about going up against a disney in your state? it is uniquely popular. it brings a lot of tourists, it is one of the biggest employers directly in the state. you may not like -- and i think there are reasonable people who may say that disney got a sweet deal in 1963 that is unlike what a lot of other corporations get. that said, disney is really good for florida. >> yeah, disney has paid back that sweet deal ten times over. and disney also has a special taxing district that about 100 other communities have in the state of florida. it's airports in other

similarly situated municipal entities. so there is nothing unique about this tax status, this was complete vengeance on his point. it is so out of first step with republican politics that you see the more mainstream -- call them a moderate, if you will -- chris christie and -- speak. out you see hard right libertarian justice devaughn's speak out, and how you are seeing kevin mccarthy and marco rubio speak out. this is a sinking ship before ron desantis with is disney fight. he is disciplined enough to recognize that. if he can keep his vanity in place i suspect he will go quiet on this. but, look, the vanity israel with a lot of politicians, desantis included. >> we have a couple of weeks before his anticipated declaration that he is either going to form a presidential committee or run for president or something like that. he has not had a great few weeks. is it possible for desantis to take on trump effectively? >> look, it is. he is as the republican

megadonor was saying -- i think a big question was, does the announcement actually hurt him then help him. but as we sit here today, ali velshi -- or ron desantis -- and everybody else is a distant alternative and so for ron desantis, you have someone, despite all his foibles and ability to lampoon him and his mistakes, he has built an infrastructure that can carry him through to be the off ramp to donald trump. i subscribe to the theory that the only person who can wound donald trump is donald trump himself. and we've yet to see what that looks like. it's not an indictment. it's not credible allegations of rape. it's not january 6th. it's not impeachment. so, there may be no way to overtake donald trump. but you have to build up the infrastructure to be -- if trump falter. that's essentially a theory of ron desantis's campaign right. now >> david jolly, good to see you as always. -- david jolly in florida.

all, right coming up the ukrainian army gives -- counter offense as civilians face a new wave of russian missile strikes, when the 11th hour continues. what are folks 60 and older up to these days? getting inspired! volunteering! playing pickleba...!

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cross ukraine last night. russia launched its largest round of airstrikes nearly two months, killing at least 25 people including two children. nbc news correspondent alison barber has more from ukraine. >> tonight a frantic search for survivors after a barrage of deadly russian airstrikes.

rescuers combing through smoldering concrete and metal. it is all that is left of an apartment building after a missile hit in the middle of the night. residents were fast asleep. marina telling us that she lived nearby and rushed over to help. -- is anywhere in ukraine safe? >> nowhere. i moved a lot since the war started. nowhere is safe. >> among the dead are at least four children. people here are overwhelmed with emotion, the safety of a home shattered by russia's war again. russia claims that they were targeting military related to spaces, but if you look at the people here, the little ones concluded, and you realize what a residential part of the cities is. these are apartment buildings all around. this one the apartment building that was hit, the hardest people who live here say this side of a building. that's where most of the bedrooms were. >> these are the first large-scale russian missile strikes in nearly two months,

hitting several cities. a stripe in dnipro killed a toddler and her mother. in kyiv, a child was injured. back in human, we met darria, a 20 year old volunteer. >> it is the most heartbreaking part was the loud cries of women. i saw the man who was crying because he was the only one who is still alive in his family. tonight ukraine's military officials says they are getting closer to launching that highly anticipated spring and offensive to take back territories now occupied by russia. >> thank you for that. back with us tonight is william taylor, a former united states ambassador to ukraine is also the united states institute at peace vice president for russia and europe. ambassador, good to see you again. >> good to see you ali. >> we are seeing this new activity from russia in the face of several months of not a very meaningful successes on russia's part. there is all this talk about a

spring offensive from ukraine. it's sort of the -- all the weaponry that they got over the last few months, sort of a demonstration that they can take this, they can train on these weapons, and they can do something, which involves, probably, taking back some territory. give me a sense of what this all means. because every day in the news our viewers are hearing about this expected spring offensive. >> and i believe it's coming. i believe that the ukrainians are preparing. they have gotten somewhere, ali velshi -- trained by nato forces. all of which have these new weapons, all of which are prepared for this big offensive. the generals -- the cranium generals, ali velshi, have been extremely good at the military art of deciding when and where to attack. they have fainted before and then gone to a different

direction. so, they are there preparing. and they know this is an important operation for them. >> ambassador, talk to me about the staying power of the west and nato. there were several months ago when i spoke about this, when there were calls, don't do this drip, drip, drip, six weeks at a time. work amid what you can to ukraine now so that they can win this war. and a lot of countries -- the germans provided the leopard tanks, the americans provided the abrams tanks, pretty much short of the f-16s, ukraine got much of what it needed. now something has to happen, experts say. they say that something has to happen tinted you to get the support of voters in texas in these countries to continue to back ukraine. >> you are right. something does have to happen, and ukrainians know. it. ukrainians are preparing. but they can concentrate these new forces, ali velshi. they can concentrate these

forces -- that you've seen described and reported on, these russian fortifications up and down the line. what the ukrainians have to do is concentrate these new forces, he's tank forces and break through these lines. they have to find a place to breakthrough the -- and then exploit. and once they do that, they can run through that breach of the line so that can have a devastating effect on the russian morale. that will have a good effect, a positive effect, on ukrainian morale, on european morale, american morale. this will have a great effect on the ability to pursue this. were >> we talk a lot about the weaponry and the arms, but i want to talk about the ukrainians and their military. i'm speaking to the former president, petra zhengzhou, who said that after the invasion of crimea, one of the things that nato -- one of the things that ukraine did, though it is not a nato country, and would like to be, is that they started to adopt nato warfare techniques. it's something that the russians still have older soviet warfare techniques, which is why the those battles in eastern ukraine look a

little bit like old war battles. the cranium's have -- you can throw all sorts of weapons at a lot of people. if they don't use them well, if they don't trained on them, if they don't manage to use them to effect, it's the of no use. the ukrainians have done that. that has exceeded all expectations. >> it has exceeded all expectations and that is what they are training on right now. these new units that we are just talking about, that is exactly what they are training to do. it is maneuver warfare, it is using the tanks, it is using the infantry, it is using the artillery, it is using long-range fire. it's probably not the f-16s, but there are other long range fires that can be brought to bear on the russians. to enable this maneuver warfare to break through these lines and then run through and get into the russian rear. once that happens, the russians can panic. that was what they have been training on in poland, and ukrainians have been training in germany at u.s. bases.

and the ukrainians have been training in western part of ukraine. so that is exactly what they are preparing for. >> let's talk about zelenskyy and president xi of china, they had a meeting that was described as long and meaningful. now china is a friend of russia's, but at this point they have not put their thumb very heavily on the scale in favor of russia. i am worried, in a world of ammunition and arms shortages, and soldier shortages in russia, that when and if china decides to put their thumb on the scale for russia, that could be a game-changer. tell me about president xi and zelenskyy talking together. this is something that zelenskyy has wanted for some time, he felt that if he could talk to president xi, he could pressure on him on not helping russia when this war. >> and president zelenskyy may have gotten that, ali. he may have gotten. that we don't know. what went on in that over an hour conversation. but one of the chinese came out

and said that president xi jinping so they were not going to throw fuel on the fire. that sounds to me like they are not going to provide the weapons in the ammunition that you just mentioned to the russians. the chinese are in a difficult position. they would like to step up and be a big player on this, but they know that they cannot as long as they are so closely associated with the russians. and a good conversation that president xi had with was zelenskyy, it goes some distance -- some way toward educating that the chinese are recognizing the value of the principles that they have been. that is, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and that is what the russians have violated in ukraine. >> ambassador, always good to talk to. you thank you so much for analysis tonight. ambassador william taylor. tomorrow morning on my show, velshi, i'll be speaking with the wife of the key russian opposition activists who

sentenced last week to 25 years in prison for his criticism of the russian invasion of ukraine. you can catch it starting at 10 am eastern. coming up it is the end of an era, james corden says goodbye to late night with a little reminder to his american audience when the 11th hour continues. continues. by your side, byou get to., you also get to trim this, edge that, and blow everything away. isn't the outdoors great? it is great. because you made it that way. get the job done right with craftsman. we build pride. i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> james corden, ever the showman. the last thing before we go tonight, look for the light. after eight seasons of hosting cbs the late late show, signed off for the final time last night, with plans to be back to london enclosed family and friends. he thanks his staff, family, and shared his thoughts on how -- since he first arrived and what he hopes for all of us. listen to this. >> we started the show, we started with obama. then trump, then a global pandemic. and i have watched america change a lot over these past few years. i have watched divisions grow and i have seen, and i have felt a sense of negativity

bubble, and at points, boil over. i guess all i really want to say tonight is that i implore you to remember what america signifies for the rest of the world. my entire life it has always been a place of optimism and joy. and yes it has flaws, so many, but show me a country that does not. show me a person that does not. me, you, all of us, we are all trying to figure this out. we are every single one of us a work in progress. and just because somebody disagrees with you it is not make them bad or evil, we are all more of the same and then we are different. and there are so many people -- [applause] there are so many people who are trying to stoke those differences, and we have to try as best we can to look for the light. look for the joy, because if you do, it is out there.

and that's all this show has ever been about. all we have never wanted to just be a little bit of light and levity at the end of your day. thank you for letting me do this, thank you for letting me into your home every night. i have never taken for granted what an absolute privilege this has been. >> look for the light and look for the joy, great advice for all of us heading into this weekend. congratulations to james corden on a great run as the host of the late late show. on that note i wish you for a great night, i'm ali velshi in for stephanie ruhle. remember, you can watch me every night 10 am eastern on msnbc. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thank you for staying up late, see you this weekend. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline".