good morning, everyone. it is monday, february 21st. it's presidents day here in the u.s. it's 5:00 a.m. here in new york. thanks so much for getting an early start with me. i'm laura jarrett. christine has the day off. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. we begin this week with growing certainty that russia's vladimir putin has decided to invade ukraine and expanding efforts at diplomacy to deter such an invasion. president biden has now agreed in principle to sit down with putin so long as russia does not

invade ukraine. but u.s. officials tell cnn, no concrete plans have been made for this meeting, which was brokered by french president emanuel macron. meantime, u.s. officials say new intelligence shows russian commanders have now orders to proceed with an attack on ukraine. and new satellite images show russian military activity near ukraine's northeast border is rapidly intensifying. here is defense secretary lloyd austin on what this all means for the people on the ground. >> you could see a significant amount of combat power move very quickly now to take kyiv. so in terms of the types of things that could happen, one only need to look at what's on the other side of the ukrainian border. if he employs that kind of combat power, it will certainly create enormous casualties within the civilian population. >> enormous casualties. let's bring in international security editor nick payton walsh who is live for us in

ukraine this morning. nick, what are the ukrainians supposed to make of this? will they or won't they business? all these increasingly certain predictions of a u.s. invasion, but coupled with all this very high-level diplomacy? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, it is diplomacy that's on the forefoot today. it seems french president emanuel macron optimistic he can engineer this biden/putin summit. the kremlin said there are no concrete plans for that at the moment, and russian president vladimir putin will be talking to his security council today. so here in ukraine, certainly i think the longer the number of days that we see these incessant drum beat of warnings continue, people do grow in grej l-- incredulous. satellite images show some of the forces moving from their garrison areas towards the

border themselves. the consistency of the u.s. message here, which has outlined a very detailed plan. they believe they have intercepted or obtained of what vladimir putin wants to do here. and then, of course, what we're seeing in the separatist areas of the east. it is important to see that in the wider narrative because many believe the allegations coming out of there are force, shelling by ukrainian forces and evacuees leaving in large numbers towards russia. so russian-backed separatists claim is the pretext that the u.s. is often warned would be needed by russia in order to launch a broader invasion. that hasn't happened yet. and so far what we are seeing is a buildup of russia's forces inside its own territory, but it is extremely ominous, frankly, and the beginning of the separatist activity we saw last week does appear to be feeding this narrative of something pretty bad happening in the days ahead. >> all right, nick payton walsh, thank you for that. let's turn now to our senior

international correspondent fred pleitgen live for us in moscow. fred, good morning. what is the kremlin saying about the possibility of this meeting between president biden and vladimir putin, how likely is this in their view? >> reporter: hi, laura. well, they're not completely shooting it down per se, but they are saying it's not necessarily something that is going to happen very quickly. it was quite interesting actually on the call with the kremlin for the spokesman dmitry peskov and he was asked whether the summit would take place. after we heard from the french and president biden himself in principle, at least, agreed to hold a tatsummit with vladimir putin. they say there are no concrete preparations going on, however, the kremlin spokesman also said that a summit like this, a meeting like this could be organized very quickly. and he said it would be something that could happen in-person or something that could, for instance, happen via a phone call or some sort of video call as well. and the meantime, the russians are saying that it has been

agreed to continue the dialogue on the ministers level. later this week secretary of state blinken will be speaking and will be meeting his counterpart sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister. so certainly the talks are continuing. the diplomatic effort is continuing as well. of course, there was some information coming out of the u.s. saying they have credible information that apparently russia might be drawing up lists of ukrainians that would either be killed or put into camps in case there was an invasion. and the russians obviously captured ukrainian territory. that notion was completely shot down by the kremlin spokesman. he said there was no such list, and that this was a complete lie. finally, laura, i think this is something that is really important. the kremlin also saying that vladimir putin right about now is set to hold a meeting to chair a meeting of the russian national security council. and when asked whether this was a regular meeting, they said, no, this was an a scheduled meeting. certainly this is something that could yield some sort of new clues as to what the russians might be planning to do.

we are looking to see whether or not we'll be hearing from vladimir putin during that meeting, or after that meeting. certainly something to look forward to, laura. >> the timing of that certainly notable. fred, thank you for your reporting as always. to the increasingly tense situation at the border expected to dominate a meeting of the eu foreign ministers getting upped way soon in brussels, so let's go live to brussels where we find cnn's scott mclean. scott, there are calls for the e.u. to start sanctioning russia even before any invasion. but is there any appetite on the e.u. side for that? >> reporter: the short answer to that question, laura, is no. but you're right, it was actually the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskiy making that point over the weekend. if the west is so, so convinced russia is going to invade ukraine, his point is, look, what are you waiting for with these sanctions? now, that is a point that the ukrainian foreign minister had an opportunity to make this morning to the foreign ministers

from the 27 e.u. member states. he met with them for about an hour and a half or at least that's what he was scheduled to meet with them for. and the e.u.'s top diplomat joseph burrell said, look, the package of sanctions the e.u. is proposing is already prepared and ready to go, but still needs to be approved by each of the 27 member states. it is very likely or he's confident that will happen. but it will not happen until what he says is the right time. in other words, after a russian invasion. zelensky's other point, though, is, look, at least the west should make clear what exactly those sanctions will be. they have been quite vague up until this point, though we know that european commissioner said yesterday if russia were to invade, they would be essentially cut off from the international financial system. and e.u. sanctions are being coordinated also with canada, the united states and switzerland to make sure everyone is on the same page so that there is no way for russia to get around what's going on

here or to get around those sanctions, excuse me, laura. >> all right. scott, thank you for that. appreciate it. all this as new satellite images released sunday show russian ground troops moving out of their garrisons and training fields and advancing closer to ukraine's border. let's bring in retired air force colonel and cnn military analyst cedric leighton. so nice to have you. i feel like we've been going through this the past couple weeks and it keeps inching closer and closer. the u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin saying russian tanks rolling into kyiv is highly likely. when you see these new images, what is your reaction to this apparent escalation in military activity? >> well, good morning, laura. it looks very much like you said. they're inching closer and closer to the border. every time they do something like this, it means to me that they're getting more and more ready to actually cross that border. so if they do that, that's going to, of course, change the entire

equation when it comes to both the military aspect and the diplomatic aspect. but what i do see is more preparations, more efforts to bring front line combat troops forward, more efforts to make sure that logistical training is taken care of so they can take care of supplies, re-supplying their forces should they go in and, of course, medical care for those forces. so there is a lot of activity in that regard, but it looks closer and closer on the ground, at least, like they're getting to a point where they will actually move across the border. >> can we play this out hypothetically? you have so much experience here. is this over nile we'll see troops storming across the border or will it be a slow incursion, sort of dribs and raindrops over several days? >> so, they could do it either way. the russians could go in in drips and drabs, or they could go in full bore all the way.

i think what they will do in this particular case is they'll move really quickly. they'll do everything very fast. usually what they would do is make a lightning strike and secretary austin mentioned they would go in and take kyiv. that would be one major way of doing this in kind of having a very quick time line so people can't respond to it. if they go in drips and drabs, it will be easier to respond to their efforts f. they do it quickly, it will be much harder. >> so, president zelensky of ukraine has expressed frustration of america's inaction of imposing sanctions on russia. if we impose it now, what's to hold them back? that's john kirby's view, the communications director over there. what do you make of this apparent rift that has emerged, if i can call it that, between washington and kyiv during this crisis at certain points?

>> it's a difference in tactics and strategy. there could be some strategic issues there as well. but in terms of the communications, clearly ukraine wants russia to be stopped. and if they think that sanctions would do it, it seems like they do, then imposing the sanctions from the ukrainian point of view would be the right thing to do. from the west's perspective, the threat of sanctions should be enough, they think, to deter russia because russia doesn't know what the sanctions will be. and they have to at least question in the back of their mind whether or not they can keep their economy going, whether or not they can keep their military operations going. if those sanctions fall into place, so there is a definite difference in tactics and that's something that is serious, but not consequential when it comes to actual responses to a potential russian invasion. >> all right. colonel cederic leighton, thank you so much for your expertise

as always. we're going to need more of it for sure. >> you bet, laura. any time. thanks so much for having me. coming up for you, queen elizabeth has tested positive for covid-19 just as england is set to relax restrictions. we have the latest on how she's doing. and chaos on the court. we'll tell you what set michigan basketball coach jawan swinging in the handshake line. >> players are pushing and shoving. ♪ pedialyte powder packs. feel better fastst. i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. with the new ww personalpoints program, i answered questions about my goals and the foods i love. i like that the ww psonalpoints plan is built just for me. get started for just $10 a month at ww.com. hurr offer ends february 21st! (vo) verizon is going ultra! and so is mny! event planning with our best business unlimed plan ever! with 5g ultra wideband now in many more cities and up to 10

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to be experiencing cold-like symptoms. anna stewart joins us from england. the queen is receiving the best medical care possible. what is buckingham palace saying she is doing right now? >> reporter: good morning, laura. well, we've had no real updates in terms of her health condition this morning. as you say, she is very well looked after. she has a whole team of physicians. when they broke the news yesterday she had tested positive for covid-19, they also said she will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all appropriate guidelines. medical attention may suggest she is on antiviral drugs or something of that ilk given she's 95. more high risk for severe covid-19. currently she is okay. i don't expect we'll get any real updates about the queen's health unless it sickly changes. buckingham palace has stopped giving a running commentary on the queen's health the last year, not least she has had health concerns, last october she was admitted to hospital and underwent some testing. we're still not really entirely

sure what for, but she was assigned bed rest. she canceled multiple events. and really, ever since then they have been fairly tight lipped when it comes to her health. we believe she is triple vaccinated, but, again, we don't actually know. we knew she had the first one the beginning of last year with prince philip who sadly died last year. what we are seeing, she has had the following vaccinations that is widely reported in the media. hopefully she'll be okay. she is continuing to work, albeit with light duties. >> i saw that, putting out statements about the olympics, soldiering on. anna stewart, thank you. back here at home, justin bieber has also tested positive for covid. the singer was supposed to postpone his show in las vegas last night. his representatives are calling it a mild case as well. bieber's justice world tour started last week. the las vegas concert has been rescheduled for june. still ahead for you, the game was a blowout, but we'll show you how the michigan/wisconsin match up

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michigan basketball coach juwan howard likely facing punishment for taking a swing at wisconsin's assistant coach after yesterday's tough loss. andy scholes has it all covered in this morning's bleacher report. so, andy, help me out here. this whole thing started over a time-out he didn't like? >> yeah, that's right, laura. so the badgers had the game won in the closing seconds, but they called the time-out to avoid a

potential ten-second backcourt violation. that's what upset coach juwan howard. he said to the wisconsin coach, i'll remember that. he then grabbed howard to explain his reasoning for that time-out. a tussle ensued. players started getting involved and then howard striking a wisconsin assistant coach. some punches were also thrown by players. an ugly scene. afterwards, howard, though, did not apologize for what happened. >> i just didn't want him to touch me . it was uncalled for for him to touch me. that's what escalated it. >> they took a time-out, it got us a new ten seconds, and helped them get organized to get the ball in. he did not like that when he came through the handshake line. so i'll leave it at that, and the tape will show the rest. >> yeah, big ten conference says it will review the matter for,

quote, swift and appropriate disciplinary action. the daytona 500, meanwhile, kicking off the nascar season yesterday. austin kendrick holding off bubba wallace to get the win in overtime. the 23-year-old becoming the second youngest driver to win the great american race. wallace coming in second. he drives the car owned by michael jordan. jordan was at the race before bolting for cleveland for the nba all-star game. jordan part of the all-star 75th anniversary celebration where they honored the 75 greatest players of all time. you see jordan and lebron there sharing a pretty cool embrace during that ceremony. as for the game, the stars born in akron , ohio. lebron also born in akron. the cleveland fans were booing steph due to their history. he still put on a show, making 16 three's in the game. 50 points, taking home the mvp

award. in the final moments, lebron's team two points away from the target score. coming through in the clutch, hitting the game winner back in his hometown. team lebron beats team durant 163-150. he told the athletic he's going to do whatever it takes to end up playing his last year in the nba with his son brony. if you want lebron on your team, draft his son in a couple years. >> before we go, can we go back to juwan howard? what do you think is going to happen to him? definitely a suspension in the future for him? >> definitely going to be some sort of severe punishment, laura. i imagine it's going to be a lengthy suspension. maybe even as much as the rest of this season. obviously the worst case scenario for juwan howard would be he loses his job over this. that's what a lot of people were

calling for on social media. it's become this big argument. he didn't instigate the situation, but he obviously was the one who threw the first blow. he escalated it. right. we'll see. i imagine we're going to hear something from the big ten conference in michigan later today. >> andy, i know you'll stay on top of it. thank you. >> all right. coming up, a last-ditch effort at diplomacy. as president biden looks for a foreign policy win on ukraine, could the strategy backfire here at home? and following the backlash against dave chappelle's last netflix come by special, the the streaming giant just decided to let him host and produce four new ones. that's next. unlimited plan eve! with 5g ultra wideband now in many more cities and up to 10 times the speed at no extra cost, the downloads are flying fast! verizon is goingng ultra, so yor business can too.

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while we believe president putin has made the decision, until the die is cast, it settles, tanks have moving, planes are flying, bombs are dropping, we're going to do everything we can with diplomacy and deterrents and dissituation to get president putin to reverse the decision we believe he's made. and part of that is making very clear what he risks in terms of sanctions. >> that's, of course, secretary of state antony blinken clinging to hope diplomacy can prevail here. the white house says president biden has agreed in principle to holding a meeting with president putin as long as the russian president does not invade ukraine. cnn's jasmine wright is in washington with the very latest this morning. jasmine, the french government

says that president macron actually brokered this potential summit between putin and bieden. what more do we know about how all this developed? >> reporter: laura, it came after a week of last-ditch diplomacy. president biden convened a rare security meeting with his advisers in the situation room with the white house with one official telling me it lasted nearly two hours as they tried to chart a path ahead on this high-tensions issue. and so shortly after president biden spoke with french president macron who, as you said, acted as a broker, he had had multiple conversations with russia's president putin. and so they agreed to this on principle, but i want to be clear here that there is no time set, there is no venue set for this presidential meeting. it all exists in principle on the very high condition that russia does not invade ukraine at all. and, of course, this comes after we heard lots of warning from

u.s. officials over the weekend. we've learned that u.s. intelligence officials had intelligence suggesting that russia's putin had given an order to his commanders to invade ukraine. of course, we heard president biden on friday make big news saying for the first time that he was convinced that president putin had decided to invade ukraine. he had not said that before. so all of that comes after this. so, in terms of what happens going forward, white house officials say that secretary blinken, who repeated that as we heard that warning that he believed putin had also made the decision to invade, blinken will meet with his russian counterpart lavrov on thursday where they will iron out details. but again, that meeting is on the condition that russia should not invade ukraine as well. so, really, really, conditional meetings here on principle. nothing is actually certain. so if that meeting goes well, if they haven't, potentially we will see -- hear more

information about when this presidential summit could take place and how. but as blinken said on "state of the union" yesterday, biden is willing to meet with putin any time, anyplace, if it means they can deter war. so here we see that playing out. laura? >> everything really seems t.b.d. at this point. jaz jasmine, appreciate it. joining me now is rachel, author of political playbook. good morning to you, rachel. i want to start with gop candidate j.d. vance. he got in hot water saying he doesn't care about ukraine. to be honest he's probably sadly not alone in that view. in your view, has the president done enough to explain to american people why ukraine matters? >> i mean this is a perfect example of why biden, president biden when he came into office really wanted to sort of draw back american troops and why he

is reluctant to sort of send any american troops right now. this is a political reality, and that is a lot of americans couldn't pin payne ukraine on a map. it was a challenge during the first impeachment investigations against trump. it's going to be a challenge now. and so, you know, president biden, he's really got a tough job right now. he's had issues sort of selling his own agenda in the past in terms of highlighting things that were passed through congress. now he's got to tell the american people why we should be involved, why should these sanctions go through. and, again, he's going to need to articulate this is also in america's interest and the future of democracy worldwide. so it's a tough job. it's a really tough job for him. >> right. to your point, there is never a good time for war, but this crisis comes at a tough time for this position still trying to position things carefully, of course, for the democrats ahead of the midterms this fall. do you see this issue affecting democrats in the fall? >> it's going to really depend

on how it impacts americans' pocket books, i think. right now inflation is at an all-time high in decades. obviously people are paying a lot more at the pump here in washington. we're about $4 a gallon. and there is a real situation here that could arise if this summit that you guys were just talking through falls through, and putin ends up invading ukraine, we could see oil prices spike even more which could affect americans here back home. even though we don't rely a lot on russian oil, we rely on other countries, including our own, but it still impacts the whole world and the whole, you know, oil market. we could also see stock markets plummet and that will impact americans. and so to the extent that it could affect inflation, it could affect economy, and prices at the pump, this absolutely is something that president biden is going to be watching and the administration is going to be watching at a time when they're getting pretty tough marks on these issues, right. voters are really concerned

about these things and they want to see them addressed and they're not a simple fix. and so this absolutely could have some sort of spill-over effect before the midterms. >> what are you hearing from your sources on the hill? are democratic lawmakers prepared to back him if, in fact, there is a war in europe? are they prepared to sort of figure out how to shore up the messaging on this politically to make people understand why it's so important? >> i mean, look, i think they've been in lockstep so far with the white house and been in touch with them as they have been trying to negotiate some sort of sanctions in the senate bill. obviously that hasn't come together yet, but democrats have shown that, yes, they're going to be absolutely in lockstep with this president. i think the interesting thing to watch will be how do republicans respond to this, you know. they've been sort of trying to get -- some republicans have been trying to get the white house to do more in advance of russia doing anything in terms of moving into ukraine.

do they squawk about that? how do they take the news that president biden might sit next to president putin which, as you know, putin loves to have a global audience. and so some people might say that sort of plays into his hand. at the same time, though, biden has to show he's doing everything he possibly can to stop war, to make sure that, you know, it's not impacting the world, not impacting america, specifically americans. so it's a tricky political position. but this is certainly not what democrats want to be talking about. >> right. >> they want to be talking about their -- they want to be talking about how they're trying to fix inflation right now. so it's another talking point and things that people are going to want to know more about that is not, again, what's going to help them in the midterms. >> rachel, thank you so much for getting up early on a monday. appreciate it. now to this disturbing case of five people who were found dead inside an apartment in a denver suburb on sunday. police say officers made the

discovery after responding to a medical call at that apartment. >> there were three females and two males that were deceased inside the apartment. what i can tell you, and again, this is in the infancy of the investigation, there does not appear to be any blunt trauma or any violent incident of any nature. >> the police chief says an adult and baby were found alive inside that apartment. both were taken to the hospital. the baby thankfully believed to be around four months old is said to be doing well. the adult is now talking to investigators. and this, a harrowing day at the beach in south florida. take a look at this video of a helicopter crashing into the ocean on saturday within just a few feet of swimmers and sun bathers there. wow, you can see two people in the chopper were transported to the hospital in stable condition. a third was not injured in that crash. the cause of the accident is unknown, and the faa is investigating.

all right. a little programming note for you here on presidents day. what drove lyndon johnson's decision to escalate the war in vietnam even as he pushed through the most productive legislation in history. lbj triumph and tragedy on cnn. the hate crime trial in the men who murder ahmaud arbery. could the case go to the jury this afternoon? spiderman tom collins in the box office again with his new movie. i i like that the ww personalpoints plan is built just for me. download the ww app today for a 14 day free trial. getting the incredible iphone 13 without t-mobile, - three...two...one... - mamakes as much sense as playing hide-in-seek... ready or not, here i come. ...in the desert. [sighs] really guys?

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welcome back. police in canada are ramping up their tactics to break up these ongoing protests against vaccine mandates. now authorities are freezing

demonstrators' bank accounts to choke off their fund being. cnn's paula newton is live in ottowa with more on this. paula, do you have any sense of how many accounts have actually been frozen? what kind of scope are we talking here? >> reporter: well, police put a number on it. they told us it was more than 200 personal and commercial bank accounts, and that is interesting. most of the people that seem to have been targeted would be the organizers. we even heard one protest organizer who was arrested and charged saying the bail hearing, i don't have access to my funds. you know, laura, this goes far beyond just the scope. this is all part of the emergencies act which remains highly controversial in canada right now. i will tell you the streets of ottowa quiet at this hour. it is largely because of that emergencies act. this city is under three states of emergency local, provincial and national. and right now that emergencies act, while it is invoked immediately, the trudeau government will have to vote on it tonight to see if they can

keep it in place. what's interesting is here is some of the tactics you are looking at on the street, police say without that act, it would not have been possible. and that includes trying to cut off the funding. now, you and i just discussed those personal accounts. but at issue as well, laura, is funding that is coming from crowd sourcing accounts, from cryptoaccounts, and those bitcoin wallets. and also accusations from the trudeau government backed up, they say, by their investigations that a lot of the funding has also come from the united states. this is going to be interesting to see if this works going forward. certainly even the civil liberties association here in canada, laura, which you will appreciate are trying to fight this in court, saying that this emergencies act goes far too -- pardon me, goes too far in trying to restrict people's rights. and really that fine angel pinch is at issue this hour. >> paula newton, thank you for breaking it all down for us. so, some people choose to

take a polar plunge even in winter. this week millions of americans, like it or not, will experience one as temperatures take a nose dive. here's meteorologist karen mcguinness. >> laura, it's going to be some topsy-turvy weather the next several days as back to back winter systems impact much of the united states with very cold air, sharply colder air, plunging temperatures with a rare exception across the deep south. this is where we have the potential for severe weather. to point out, kansas city, the temperature on monday should be rolling around in the low 70s, but by wednesday it's only going to be 27. now, both of those temperatures are not normal for this time of year. should be in the 40s. 71 is not normal, temperatures in the 20s not normal. look at this arctic plunge down a across the central plains, great lakes, interior sections of the northeast. it's the deep south that will

experience the potential for isolated thunderstorms. could see some large-size hail and damaging winds. about 21 million people impacted by this going for monday. by tuesday it shifts towards the east. but guess what happens. for new york city towards the end of the workweek, temperatures only in the 30s. so enjoy the mild weather while it lasts, laura. >> got to enjoy it while it lasts. karen, thank you. this morning closing arguments are set to begin in the federal hate crimes trial of three white men travis mcmichael his father gregory and william roddy brian. all three were convicted in state court for chasing down and killing black jogger ahmaud arbery in georgia. both the property dugs and defense rested their cases on friday. let's bring in criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor bernarda. good to have you back on "early start." appreciate t. there is no real dispute. this trial is about the motivation for the killing, that the men shot ahmaud arbery

because he was black. do you think prosecutors have met their burden on that score? >> the government has met out their burden in this case, especially when you think of that the government and law enforcement did their due diligence in the sense of scouring through social media, text messages talking about phone calls and investigating and talking through neighbors and coworkers and colleagues to try to get into the mind frame of these three men. what were their views on black people, or just people in general. and i think because there is an enormous amount of evidence that has been presented, that the government has made out their burden in this case. >> take a step back for me here. we have now seen a conviction for the former officer who killed george floyd, the one who killed daunte wright, and the mcmichaels there were already found guilty in state court and are facing life in prison. are we seeing how critical video evidence now is in these types of cases, almost essential, perhaps? >> absolutely, laura.

you have to think that but for the video in this case, there would not have been an arrest. you have to think that the history of this prosecution, it took four different district attorney's offices in order to get an arrest and an indictment in this state case. that's how long it took just to even get here. but for video, we would not be here at all. >> so, let's turn now to the situation in minneapolis where we will hear more from the police officers, the three who were at the scene when george floyd was murdered by derek chauvin. they have essentially been trying out a blame it on chauvin defense saying, he was the senior officer. he was the one doing everything. he's the one on video that we've all seen. how is that defense working out so far? >> well, i don't think it's really working out for them. but, however, we'll see how closing argument works out today. you have to think this is what exactly we expected. it was in their best interest for derek chauvin to be separated from the case in the sense that he already pled guilty because they could all

point their fingers towards derek chauvin. he's the one who had his knee on the neck of george floyd for the nine minutes 29 seconds and you're talking about two rookie officers and then two who was supposed to be crowd control. >> i want to ask you while i have you, kim potter the officer who killed daunte wright just getting two years for that manslaughter case, prosecutors i think had asked for seven. were you surprised by the judge's sentencing? >> i was surprised by judge chu's sentence. no matt how many years she would have got, it is not representative of his life. the probation report recommended probation in this case, and you have a veteran of 26 -- i'm sorry, of over 20 years as a police officer. you found judge chu that it was difficult for her to sentence -- she started crying.

>> yeah, all right. thank you so much. appreciate it. nice to see you. >> thank you. now to this. netflix announcing the release of not one, but four upcoming comedy specials hosted by comedian dave chappelle. the series is called "chappelle's home team" and focuses on veteran comics who have been in the business 30 years. this after netflix stood by chappelle after they criticized his netflix the closer as transphobic. it premieres monday, february 28. chrissy tiegen has a message for her well intentioned fans. stop with all the questions about whether she is pregnant. the former model revealed in a instagram post she is going through another ivf cycle saying she is trying to save as many eggos as i possibly can and make some strong healthy embryos. tiegen sharing news after she and her husband john legend lost their third child jack during

the pregnancy. the other children luna was conceived by ivf. tom holland following up the block buster with another hit now. >> i've been dreaming about this stuff since i was a kid. my brother sam left one final clue. >> his new movie, uncharted, tops at the box office. the video adaptation taking in an estimated $44 million in just the first three days of the long presidents day weekend. it is the biggest film debut since spiderman no way home which made nearly $2 billion worldwide since premiering in december. thanks so much for joining me. i'm laura jarrett. christine is back tomorrow. "new day" is next. strypaper? luckily, there's biotrue hydration boost eyeye drops. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservrvatives. try biotrue! i lost 26 pounds and i feel i incredible.

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♪ good morning to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. it is monday, february 21st. it is presidents' day. i'm john berman with brianna keilar. is there a new path to diplomacy this morning? overnight president biden agreed in principle to meet wit