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As we come on the air, were live in brussels. But the focus is on his next stop with 48 hours to go before the president sits down face to face with Vladimir Putin. Before he does we did. Keir simmons with a brand new peace. You will only see it on this show. President putin getting testy when being pressed. Will you commit to sending no more troops into ukraiian soviet territory . Wait until you hear what he had to say about that. We have Keir Simmons Live In Moscow with more of his exchew sieve interview. We also have make memoli. Keir, good morning to you and boy this was a ride ranging interview, significant on a number of fronts including this issue that you ask id him about ukraine. Yes, we were trying to understand what his strategy is. His strategy is to attack, negotiate, attack, negotiate. Arrest americans and then try to negotiate a trade. What it appears to be is talking about troops and then i want to talk about nato. He also talks about history and resentment. Bush promising not to expand nato, but that agreement was never written down, take a listen. In the case of ukraine, they said you had more than 100,000 troops on the border, was that an attempt to get washingtons attention . Translator look, first, ukraine itself constantly and i think is still doing that, it kept bringing personnel and equipment. That is one. Two is that we conducted exercises in our territory, and not just in the south of the russian federation, but also in the far east, the north, and the arctic. Simultaneously they were being held and at the same time the u. S. Was conducting Military Exercises in alaska. Do you know anything about it . Probably not. Ill tell you that i do know. And that is in direct proximity to our borders. Thats your territory on your land, we didnt even Pay Attention to it. Now at our southern borders there is a war game, defender europe. 40,000 personnel, 50,000 units of Military Equipment, part of them have been air lifted your continent to ours. Did we air left them . No we did not. Many of those exercises are a response to your actions, mr. President. Do you worry that your opposition has strengthenned it . For sixth years nato has spent more on defense. That is some defense. During the gorbichov era, he got a promise. Where is that written down . Where is that promise written down . Translator right, right, right. Well done. Correct. You have a point. Got you good. Congratulations. Of course everything should be sealed and written on paper, but what was the point of expanding nato to the east and bringing this infrastructure to our borders . And all of this before saying that were the ones acting aggressively . Why, did russia present any threat to the United States for European Countries . We withdrew our troops from Eastern Europe leaving them on empty land. They lived there for decades in what was not normal conditions including to their children. And what did we get in response . We got in response infrastructure. And now you say were threatening. Were conducting war games on a regular basis including surprise Military Exercises. Why should i worry the nato partners, i dont understand that. Will you commit now not to send any further Russian Troops into ukraine sovereign territory . Look, did we say that were planning to send our information anywhere . We conducted war games in our territory. How can this not be clear . Im saying it again because i want your audience to hear it. I want your listeners to hear it. Both on the screens of their Television Sets and on the internet. We conducted Military Exercises in our territory. What if we kent troops to your borders. We didnt do that. We did it in our territory. You conducted war games in alaska. God bless you. You crossed an ocean, thousands of personnel and thousands of units of Military Equipment close to our borders and you believe were acting aggressively and somehow youre not . Just look at that. The pot calling the kettle black. And the president meeting with the secretary of nato today, saying it is a Pivotal Moment for the alliance. It including turkey and whether or not it can chand together in the face of President Putins threats, right . Yeah, the idea of the united threat against russian aggression here. Sarcastic applause for you from President Putin. Let me bring in one thing here. That is a sign, right . I think that is more than safe to say. President putin was called over prepared, but he spent the entire trip to prepare for wednesdays face to face sit down. And i can tell you firsthand part of that is watching keirs fantastic interview. Part of this summit here, nato, is a very full agenda. Theyre talking about yes, russia, china, talking about the future of afghanistan, but what the president has been doing in the uk in the g 7 summit and today as he is sitting down with a larger circle of leaders is talking to his counter parts to, in some cases, find out if there is a message they want him to relay, but also to get their perspectives on how to approach this conversation and just earlier this morning biden had a separate discussion with the leaders of several bbaltics. Very much heightened concern over his continued aggression against the west. So the white house very carefully approaching this summit very weary and looking for clues from the president. You could tell when he did not answer questions from peter alexander. Now not just russia, though, of course on the agenda. We know just in the next hour the president will be sitting down for what would be a fascinating conversation with president erdogan of turkey. We will hear from him later today in a nude conference. And watching it right here on nsnbc reports. White house officials like our viewers are eager see what else he told you. I know youre going to have more from that discussion. Tell us about it. Yeah, what he doesntly dmuz this interview, and it is an interesting study of his strategy. And i challenged him on that. Back to the black lives Matter Movement and he begins to talk about that. Youre going to hear about why he brings that issue up in the next sound in the next hour. That interview, looking for your reporting throughout the day. Were going to have this on nbc news. Com. Were going to take a closer look at other news that President Putin made with keir including talking about a potential prison exchange. That is coming up. For now, i am joined by a former advisor. Good morning, igor, thank you for being with us. Thank youing me. Let me talk about what you just heard from President Putin about the ukraine. Its year eight of a issue with russia. We have to deal with their warfair on a regular basis. From what we see he doesnt seek to resolve conflict. He seems to want to prolong the conflicts. So i would not take everything he says at face value they are nervous and concerned because there has been mixed messaging. So we want this summit to happen once we know what is next. There was an interesting moment in that interview and im sure you picked up on it as well. Keir pointblank asked if he would commit to not sending more troops into the ukrainian sovereign territory. Im sure you also noticed that he did not answer and he turned the question back on keir. Of course, look at the history. Entering year 30. We were in year eight of russian aggression. So i would not take it at face value. I think that president boou tin really comes in with lying during live interviews, not telling the truth. So it is a bit scary when youre on the ground in kiev and you hear that. Why your country, why you will be handing on writing that expectations are that talked will produce a breakthrough. Even the slightest shifts will have con consequences. He is saying ill be frank with you, im scared by this situation. What will you consider success coming out of this meeting . To be honest, i think the worst Case Scenario is president Bide Listen Go with what we already know. Without any major push back, without appeasing him, with also appeasement, he will not get results. Russia needs to feel that push back. So the worst case is he will make it up and the best Case Scenario is for president bide ton be really firm with President Putin and to draw red lines for him that he is comfortable with. Very quickly, are you disappointed President Biden did not meet with president zelenski . Given the history with the u. S. In the last two years, i think the president deserves that white house meeting, i think it will also benefit from the signal, President Putin will get the message that ukraine matters. As another redline that has to be drawn, unfortunately we have to deal with the situation, but i prefer for him to meet with President Biden first. Thank you for being with us on the show. Making news with us this morning on a very busy morning. We appreciate it. More Breaking News in for the Supreme Court. I have just been handed this decision on a piece of rare bipartisan administration. Its the first set back. I want to bring in pete williams. This is one of a handful of decisions that we have been watching closely for a decision on today. Tell us what is at stake here and what the court is saying. What is at stake is people that had a small amount of koe cake and was sentenced, you had a higher amounts of Crack Cocaine to powder, a 100 to 1 disparity. If you could take advantage of lowering that disparity, potentially reducing your sentence in the first step act, it is a rare bipartisan agreement between the Trump Administration, dcs, and congress, allowing them to get back and get their sentences reduced. The Supreme Court said sorry, they cannot. This involved a florida man who possessed about four grams of cocaine which would be about the weight of four paper clips. He had nearly a pound of powder cocaine, and he wanted to seek a redemption. It was argument that the court was sympathetic but they said sorry, the way the law is worded no matter what the people in congress and the administration intended it to say, it doesnt say that or apply to people like him so theyre out of luck. The decision today was unanimous. What are you reading into that . The fact that the decision was unanimous and what are the implications of that from a real world perspective . The fact that this is the last case of the term that was unanimous suggests that the court didnt spend a lot of time hashing this out. They were pretty clear about where the law was. They were sympathetic to the defendant, the plain text said this would not count for something that could be reduced. I think what you see here is the triumph of a mode of statutory confirmation confirmation. The court read title seven to include sexual orientation, and here again it is ascended. Is there going to be something that congress will need to or want to take up after this decision in your view . There is definitely an invitation from the court to congress to take this up and to correct what might be an error in drafting or oversight in drafting and that happens pretty regularly. And we need the court and congress to have an interbranch dialogue. Whether or not Congress Take thats up will depend on the mood of congress. And if there is bipartisan support to make the changes. Ari there is another piece of news coming out of the Supreme Court this morning as it relates to Affirmative Action. Will they hear this case, this Headline Making Case from harvard or not. They basically said we want more information from the Biden Administration. Whats going on here . Exactly they invited the biden doj to weigh in. And the case we were discussing had a new input from a new administration which happens. This is an area where the lawyers will represent the position of the United States government, aka, whoever runs the white house. Were seeing the court buy time and also just solicit where does the Biden Administration stand . We had discussions about diversity and ways to lead with diversity. Some people argued that perhaps the way that harvard is doing Affirmative Action some under represented groups might discriminate. It is paying difference groups against each other. The doj will have to weigh in further. Pete my view on this is i agree completely. I would just say one other thing. I dont think they care what Biden Administration thinks about Affirmative Action. I think this is strictly a delaying tactic. We have abortion next term, we have gun rights, i think this is the conservatives on the court saying enough block busters, lets put this off. At this point now the earliest they will hear from the Solicitor General is late this year and well into the start of the next term. I think this is strictly a delaying tactic. This is my question on the timeline piece. I think that is quite likely. I think that is the reason they can be like this. Melissa, final thoughts to you . This is a big case, but it is a barn burner. It will be late in the term and we may not hear about what is going to happen until october 2021. I think this is off of the table for awhile. When will we get a decision from the scotus . Thursday. Thank you all for being with us as we break this developing news here on msnbc reports. Coming up next, were two days away from the high stakes summit between president s putin and biden. Coming up, the dilemma when it comes to a possible Prisoner Swap with moscow and the very personal plea from a family that is affected. Affected. Hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. Oh, we can help with that. Okay, imagine this. Your mover, rob, hes on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. We cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. Yeah i shouldve just led with that. With at t business. You can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. Ahead of wednesdays high profile summit, there is maybe some new hope this morning for the families of two americans that have been issued in russia. We hope that happens very soon because they have been there long enough considering theyre innocent of the charges against them. We dont care how he comes home. If they want to exchange trevor for low level criminals, were final with that. But aPrisoner Swapped brings up some questions. Why agree to a swap rather than demand their release. Vladimir putin this morning opening the door to a possible Prisoner Exchange. They two former marines. Trevor reid is suffering from covid in prison. I know we have certain u. S. Citizens in prison. He is a drunk and a trouble troublemaker. He got himself [ bleep ] faced and he hit a cop. There is nothing offensive about it. He got drunk on vodka and started a fight. They are accused of assaulting a Police Officer after a night of drinking in 2019. He says he doesnt remember what happened and denies the charges after being sentenced to nine years in russian prison last year. They called the evidence preposterous. He was diagnosed with covid last month. After traveling there for a wedding accused of being a spy which he denies. His brother tells nbc news he has mixed feelings about a potential Prisoner Exchange. They are negotiating the release of russian convicts. Saying i think the american side has begun initiating talks with biden. It could also be a gimmick. You never know until you see the details. Im joined now by jane harman. He is the author of insanity defense. Let me start with one more thing that driver reids dad told The Today Show this morning. This Prisoner Exchange is probably the easiest thing they could do and if they can accomplish anything in this summit it would be this exchange. To put it a different way i talked with former Confidence Building ben holds. Well, it depends. The offense of drinking too much vodka russian vodka is really powerful. I once had too much of it myself. It seems to me, again, easy to do in context, but we dont know what the context is. It would be wonderful if this meeting also coming up with a russian declaration that it will crack down on criminal syndicates that are all around. And the u. S. Has sent a strong signal without talking about it with which is, if we got into networks and rolled back a lot of the Bitcoin Payments that Colonial Pipeline made. Were getting better. Means the impact of these folks is going to reduce and that is a great signal to send to russia. Youre talking about these ransomware attacks. In the interview with keir simmons, they came across as very disingenuous. Russia is outside of the big outside of the trip. It is a contributor. Theyre not doing anything about climate that im aware of at all. And theyre not confronting china and these are the subject of conversation today, and i think that biden comes in with a strong hand, Vladimir Putin comes in with a weak hand. I