good afternoon, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin. breaking news on capitol hill, speaker nancy pelosi issuing a blistering statement after speaking with the head of the post office louis dejoy about stopping the pre-election changes he's trying to make, pelosi saying in part, quote, the postmaster general's quote pause is wholly insufficient. politico is reporting that in just 45 minutes from now, house republicans will hold a call to discuss the democratic bill to shore-up the post office, that going up for a vote this weekend, meantime we're learning more about what exactly the democrats' legislation will do to help the postal crisis, not only calls for $25 billion in funding, it ensures postmaster general louis dejoy doesn't implement any changes until after the pandemic is over or january 201, which happens

later. moments ago, the white house press secretary was asked about it. >> on the post office, are you able to share if the white house is open to $25 billion the house is propose zmrg we don't have a cap. we're looking at $25 billion. >> we're expecting to hear from the president, president trump soon, he's due to give a briefing at 5:30 eastern. we'll bring you that, certainly follow that as it unfolds. joining us is jake sherman. let's start with that developing story there on capitol hill. jake, nancy pelosi not satisfied with louis dejoy's reversal there and assurances he's trying to give the american public. he said, quote, the postmaster general frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue

mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and the plans for adequate overtime which is critically for the timely mail are not in the works. all of these changes directly jeopardize the election and disproportionately threaten to disenfranchise voters in communities of color. bring us to speed on where things stand this hour and does there seem to be any kind of republican support for what the democrats are trying to do later this week? >> you know, ayman, we have to see what republicans are going to do, they're current tli discussing this, i'm interested to hear what kayleigh mcenny had to say but more of what the president says. i'm not sure they full lu reviewed this bill, i know the chief of staff mark meadows is aware of what's going on.

he's very familiar with the operations. nancy pelosi wants to hit the rewind button and say the post office needs to be where it was eight months ago, between now and election day or between january and election day, $25 billion for the post office, now oddly enough, the $25 billion for the post office is not a huge point of contention, republicans had agreed for $10 billion for the post office just a couple of weeks ago in these talks that fell apart on covid relief. the post office isn't a big lightning rod on capitol hill but i'm sure on saturday where the votes will fall. if the president is opposed whether the white house will lean in and go against this bill. i think even if the white house does lean in and tell the republicans to vote against this bill there will be a lot of republicans who want to vote for $25 billion for the post office because they're concerned. the post office is an issue no

matter where you are, people have postal service whether it's election based or not. i think this is going to be a tough vote for republicans to stay away from it. >> shannon, give us your sense from what you're hearing, where's the white house on this state of negotiations there, whether it's mark meadows or the president himself. we'll learn about it at 5:30 but in the lead-up to that do you have any insight this. >> first of all there's a yen sense from administration officials they want to decemb deescalate with the post office. there's an indication they're open to going higher a willingness to sign something, get something done on the post office, of course the devil's in the details, white house officials caution if democrats try to tie other things on here

that could be a dellmaker. the press secretary said they're willing to go above this $10 billion they previously offered for the post office. on that front, they want to get something going on the post office. i'm picking up a broader sense from the white house and people i talked to, they also want to get another deal done with democrats on this stimulus front where things have really broken down and there seems to be this urgency from the white house coming to get democrats back to the table, mcenany started off here briefing by trying to put pressure on the democrats to come back to the table. the stop gap measure put in place, the $300 is going to run out in two, three weeks. >> shannon, let me ask you about this other startling soundbite that's coming out of the white house, something that the president has reiterated in the past, the white house press secretary being asked about the president's comments that the only way he will lose is if the

election is rigged and whether or not he'll accept it. >> does the president believe any circumstance he could lose the elections fairly. >> the president believes he's done great job for the american people and that will show in november. he believes that voter fraud is real, in line what we see all across the country, particularly with mail-in ballots. >> the president if he doesn't win this election that will not accept the results unless he wins? >> the president always said he'll see what happens. make a determination in the aftermath. >> we'll see what happens and make a determination in the aftermath. no evidence of widespread voter fraud in this country as we heard. now the official white house strategy, shannon to try and ship chip away at the confidence of these results, it seems they're

starting to sow this doubt a lot earlier than in the 2016 race. >> remember back in 2017 the president started a whole commission on voter fraud because he claimed millions of people voted illegally in 2016 that of course disbanded without finding any evidence of voter fraud. this is something that the president has been hammering away at for years. the white house is in a difficult position here, because let's -- if the president does win, what are they going to say then? if democrats try to raise the president's own concerns about mail-in voting or voter fraud, by trying to undercut the results of this election they risk also undercutting a potential victory for the president at the same time. i asked kellyanne conway about that earlier, she said the white house continues to be opposed to universal mail-in voting. but they're for absentee voting. >> how will that strategy go over on capitol hill if the president pursues this more

aggressively, either to undermine the credibility of this election or also saying that he'll not accept the outcome of the election until it's determined come november? >> well, i don't know how the hill will react, i can tell you that right now there are at lot of senators and members of the house that are up for re-election and their elections will be conducted largely by mail-in balloting that's not because they want it to be it's just the reality of this election. when you look at senators who are up for re-election and a very tough battle for the senate the president is basically saying don't trust the system that many states use without a hitch and that's a tough argument for a lot of senators who are, again, relying on mail-in balloting not because they want to but because they have to, so the president i had a republican tell me a couple of weeks ago the president's greatest strength is his ability to turn out republican voters and get them to vote. he's now saying the principal

way that a lot of people may be voting is not good. a courageous strategy from the white house on many fronts, also on the front of the negotiation with covid relief. again, a strange strategy from my vantage point. we're also getting an exclusive look into the inner workings of vice president joe biden's campaign, just one day before he accepts the democratic nomination for president. his sister, valerie biden-owens, one of his closest advisers until this one she's been at the front of all biden's campaigns. she sat down with nbc's mike memoli. >> i was his perpetual sidekick.

it was natural. >> when you ran his first county council race, did you ever think he'd get to this point? >> i didn't think in terms of president, truthfully. but i knew that he was going places and i knew that i believed -- he -- he straight talks, you know, there's no daylight between the private person and the public man, he says what he thinks. >> all right, mike joins us now live with more of this exclusive interview. mike, you had a chance to sit down and speak with her, give us a sense of how close -- you've been covering the biden as a politician, as a presidential candidate for years now, how close is she and her brother and what kind of relationship do they have? >> reporter: yeah, ayman, one thing i've learned covering joe biden you cover him you cover the whole family. he peppers his speeches with

reference to parents, wisdom they learned around their kitchen table. with dr. jill biden and her speech last night how they rally around each other. valerie biden owens ran all of his previous campaigns, in this one she's one of his fiercest protectors. they have a new ad today that asked, what happened to joe? plays these clips making him look like searching for words. >> since i have been a little girl, anyone who attacked my brother because he stuttered, i'd go after him. it shows how desperate, i mean, what does donald trump doing talking about my brother that if i didn't see the ad, so i don't -- >> you know, he got his words -- you know, my brother -- okay,

it's real simple, my brother substituters. he was a little boy he couldn't string words together. he's not going to be defined by this bully. we got -- we have a man in the white house who has character and will be honorable -- but it's sign of weakness on trump's part. why doesn't he talk about what he's going to do to stop -- to not make it 175,000 deaths in this country? >> mike, let me ask you as well if you can about somebody who's criticized the former vice president, now his running mate

kamala harris, what did valerie tell you about that process, about the way joe biden ended up picking kamala harris as his running mate. >> reporter: a week ago we were talking about intrigue about who joe biden might choose as his running mate. kamala harris was always the betting favorite. what gave people pause, that debate moment whether there was any grudges within the family that might stop her from being chosen. let's take a listen to what valerie had to say about that. the day after he announced senator harris as a running mate, he has lunch with him, him, senator harris and you. what was that lunch like? >> to spend a little bit of time -- it was great. first of all, the answer it was lovely and it was comfortable and it was to, you know, just to

say, hi, i'm val and she said, hi i'm kamala. we're going to continue to help this guy. whatever i could do to help the ticket. but she's -- she's good. my brother is smart to pick her. my brother knew what was necessary, what he needed, what the qualifications for the vice president. he knew what he needed to be comfortable with, he chose her and i'm all for it. >> reporter: so not necessarily denying that some in the family had hard feelings. her brother doesn't have a mean bone in his body, he doesn't hold these grudges and because he made the pick she endorses it herself as well. >> mike, and we're getting some breaking news about the third night of the dnc coming into us just a few minutes ago, nbc

exclusively able to report that former president barack obama will make his convention speech tonight from philadelphia. lot more details after the break about that announcement. also, kamala harris not only the first black woman on a major party's presidential ticket, she's also a huge indian american woman. we'll hear from her family that's in india after the break. plus, what we expect to hear from harris when she makes her historic speech just hours from now. you're watching msnbc. a home and auto bundle. he's been our insurance guy for five years now. he makes us feel like we're worth protecting. [ gasps ] why didn't you tell us about these savings, flo? i've literally told you a thousand times. ♪ oh, danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling ♪ i'm just gonna... ♪ from glen to glen

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rode the rails home every night so he could be there to tuck his kids into bed. when joe talks to gold star families, who have lost a hero, we hear another father of an american veteran, somebody whose faith has been tested, and who knows who to lean on to find the light. a resilient, and loyal, and humble servant. and through his life, he has never once forgotten the values and the moral fiber that made him who he is. the best part is he's nowhere close to finished. i'm joe biden and i approve this message. i'm joe biden it's more than just fast. it keeps all your devices running smoothly. with built-in security that protects your kids. protects your info and gives you 24/7 peace of mind that if it's connected, it's protected. even that that pet-camera thingy. can your internet do that? xfinity xfi can because it's simple, easy, awesome. get advanced security free with the xfi gateway. download the xfi app today.

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♪ welcome back, everyone. as americans look to tonight night three of the virtual democrat national convention. kamala harris will deliver her acceptance speech. her family in india spoke to nbc news about the reaction to this moment. joining me now from london is nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley. tell us what you heard from harris' family about this historic nomination. >> reporter: well, of course, ayman, the subcontinent, they're all very proud, we talked to some people in new delhi, a lot

of them hadn't heard of kamala harris before all of started, before she was nominated to to be first vice president of indian heritage in u.s. history and that's because, you know, there's been at will of achievement on part of india in america. there's so many indian americans who do so well in business and economics but elected government, that's still a final frontier for many indian americans. here's what he told us.

>> reporter: so there were signs written in the language in chennai the hometown of kamala harris' family. we spoke with some young women who said that young women in india are especially inspired by this. but kamala harris' uncle said that india has been inspiring kamala during her spire career. particularly her own mother. she traveled to america to get a degree. that was very unconventional and kamala harris' uncle he described how deeply impressed he was by seeing this trail blazing sister of his moving to the united states, throwing herself into the university of

can california, barkley, seeing her as one in the movement of racial justice. a movement that kamala harris' uncle says that she'll be tirelessly dedicated to when she reaches the white house. >> if you follow harris' political career you see the impact her mom has had on her life. matt bradley live for us in london, matt, thank you for that insight. as we await her historic acceptance speech just hours from now, we're getting an inside look at how the vice presidential nominee has been taking in this convention so far. harris' husband capturing this photo of her watching last night's convention saying, quote, kamala is loving this roll call. joining me now is vice news h. t

>> you've said harris being on the democratic ticket is introducing a whole new immigrant narrative into this country and our politics, what do you expect we'll hear from harris tonight and how monumental is this nomination for minority communities? >> it's huge, right, because i think the power of what we're going to see tonight in canal ya he -- kamala harris a story of the rise of the black woman, of a new generation of immigrants. you just showed an incredible clip of harris' uncle and i think that's powerful voting bloc right now in this country. in the last 20 years the immigrant eligible voters have more than doubled. so this november, more than 23 immigrants will be able to vote. in kamala harris you suddenly understand the daughter of indian immigrants can reach the

white house. >> senator, i want to ask you about last night's convention. alexandria ocasio cortez she posted on instagram that she was thankful to the biden campaign for the opportunity to speak. >> politics is about coalition building and it's about stitching together groups and individuals, diverse groups of individuals, we'll always, always have our differences, and that's not a left or a right thing, it's just a human existence thing. it's possible for us to make sure that we elect joe biden. it's really important. guess what it's also really important that the moment joe biden is elected we continue our fight for guaranteed health care, we continue our fight for

living wage. let me pick up on that last point of her statement. you're a political ally of the congresswoman, do you think the biden campaign and the dnc generally made the best use of her at the dnc because as politico points out, if biden is elected, joe biden will be hearing a lot more from aoc if in fact he wins. >> well, look, i think that congresswoman ocasio-cortez is one of the most effective communicators in our party and she represents the future and so we should be giving her as much of a platform as possible. with that said, what she represents and what the future of this party represents is elevating the voices of all the young, progressive women and people of color who are being elected across the country. i mean, these are the lawmakers, many of them state lawmakers who represent the future and the state of the party.

i think that, you know, making sure that we are including a diverse range of voices is really the future of where we've got to go as party. >> the dnc has featured a lot of washington's old guards, many republicans most notably some including colin powell who, you know, helped lead this country into the iraq war, does the dnc need to do a better job of bringing in young voters? >> of course, i mean the answer is yes, can they do better? absolutely. one of the biggest questions people have right now. we've seen a dnc that's trying to make an effort to unite the party. but the biggest question is, are they pursuing folks? those 50% of young voters that didn't show up in 2016, right, and i think there's an alliance for youth action that shows out that 40% of joe biden supporters

haven't been reached out by the biden campaign, this is when barack obama comes in tonight, this is where he'll speak directly to young people, when i told you to get fired up and ready to go, this is it. this is why it's important. you know, i think that's the biggest threat that the president can bring in tonight. >> no doubt. everyone's going to be watching to see if he does strike that tone. senator, the upcoming election has many like you concerned about the state of the u.s. postal service as we've been covering on this network. tell us more about the lawsuit that you've filed alongside several others from across the country. >> sure, so, listen, i think that many of us can probably agree that the post office is absolutely fundamental to our democracy and that any attack on the post office is frankly un-american, it's even more

egregious that's going on, when tens of millions of americans are planning to vote by mail and we're in the middle of a global pandemic and so this attack by the president as well as the postmaster general dejoy on the post office was really what motivated myself and my co-plaintiffs to file this lawsuit, we couldn't stand idly by and watch these two individuals before an election that's probably one of the most important elections of our lifetime, attack the post office and so why and how does this affect new york? during new york's primary in june, many of the hundreds of thousands of new yorkers who voted by mail received their ballots late, they didn't receive them at all, they maybe didn't return them on time, with a direct connection between the election as well as the post office this is not the time to be removing mailboxes or sorting

machines or cutting back on overtime. >> all right, thank you both for joining us this hour. appreciate your time. an eye-opening warning coming out from the w.h.o., the coronavirus now spreading fastest among young people and what jill biden says about schools and universities reopening about in-person learning. we have a lot more to get to. you're watching many, ing msnb. , , and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra

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the coronavirus pandemic, florida is now the fifth state in the country to report more than 10,000 coronavirus-related deaths, 10,666. a new cnn poll finds that 57% of americans say they don't want schools in their area to open for in-person lessons. 39% say they should. it shows that 77% of trump supporters want schools reopen

while only 11% of biden supporters do. this morning on "today" potential first lady jill biden discussed whether colleges made a mistake in reopening their campuses. >> well, you know, i think we have to listen to the experts and the doctors and the scientists and when they say it's safe to go back. >> all right the world health organization has issued a warning that young people are becoming the main spreaders of the coronavirus. half of the recent infections in australia and japan have occurred in people younger than 40 years old. joining me now is msnbc science contributor, laurie garrett. with the news that just came out from the w.h.o. earlier this week, what do you make of the decision by some school districts and colleges across the country to insist on

returning to in-person classes? >> well, everybody's struggling to figure out how to keep their local economy going, get workers back to their offices without closing schools. it's very hard to put all those pieces together and of course that's driving a lot of tough decisionmaking and a lot of universities really can't survive without the revenue from tuition payments from families, so there's a lot of pressure on one side to get everything going, get the schools open, but increasingly we're seeing evidence that young people indeed be transmitters, even small children can spread the disease, and the big struggle now, in countries that had their epidemics under control, that looked like they were on the path of recovery is what do you about the 20-something and

30-somethings who are looking to go out and end up in their travels and mobility spreading the disease widely. europe is seeing real resurgences of covid that are all about young people that went to holiday and returned home bringing the virus with them. >> let me ask you about information the information flow is so critical on how we track this pandemic. there's no national tally that's tracking school-linked covid-19 cases, instead it's being left up to local officials to decide what information is made public to those parents and in some cases it's down to each school or each community, how do you see this impacting the ability for schools to safely stay open this fall and get information to parents. >> this is just one of many ways that we're flying blind in this

epidemic, you know, the smart play would be that we have some national recommendations, national policies, we're comparing and collecting data on a national level, so every single school district can plug in and see what are other school districts are doing, what's working and not working, they would know about testing. we don't have any of this. some of it is being organized by teacher unions and some parental organizations but the bottom line is, every single district is making their own decisions and often making those choices based more on politics than on sound science. it's a really, really messed up situation. >> the numbers that we were just discussing there, how do you explain why these issues have become so politicized? >> well, public health is always political because it's part of government. by definition, you know, it's

influenced by political affairs but in this case, we've had an erosion if not an out and out destruction of the real voices of leadership that typically have guided us through outbreaks and epidemics, whether they are food poisoning events or major catastrophic events like the arrival of hiv/aids to america back in the 1980s. those leadership voices came out of the centers for disease control and our national institutes of health and the department of the surgeon general and so on, well, we're just seeing everybody clammed up, muzzled and the overriding voice consistently is the white house. >> yeah, very different story than what it used to be. thank you. overseas, eu leaders are

ramping up the pressure on belarus' authoritarian president to step down, rejecting the results of his contested re-election and vowing to sanction officials in that country. we'll take you to minsk after the break. you're watching msnbc. let me tell you something,

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i trust em, i think you can too. european leaders announcing today they plan to impose sanctions on belarus officials over the nation's contest eed re-election of the president alexander lukashenko. now earlier, belarussian opposition leaders called the eu to help facilitate a peaceful tra transfer of power. >> for the second week if a row, our nation is fighting for its

constitutional right to vote for its leader. mr. lukashenko has lost legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the world. >> this as russia's government is now warning the eu from staying away to putting political pressure on minsk. the defense ministry of belarus has ordered up a ramping up of military presence along its borders with poland and lithuania. richard engel joins me from minsk, belarus. >> despite the rain here the protest rers still coming out, still coming out in fairly large numbers and you can hear right now, they're chanting against alexander lukashenko. he's been the president of this country for 26 years and they say it's time for him to go.

elections just over a week ago they were fraudulent and they stole him the vote. they want him to step down. this problem was triggered by what they say was an illegal vote but brewing for a very long time. this country is often called the last soviet-style dictatorship in europe. they're protesting right in front of a statue of lenin. they're denouncing specifically the president alexander lukashenko. they're not against russia, they're not against their soviet past, they just want a new president. the election they say fraud was perhaps the final straw that broke the camel's back, before that, a lot of angry here because of the president's behavior toward covid.

leaders have been dismissive of covid perhaps none more so than lukashenko. he was insulting towards victim, they were weak, that offended a lot of people. at that point, people felt the president was just adding insult to injury and when the election result was stolen it was just too much and now people are out on the streets and for the first time the eu is coming out in support of them. the eu has said it also doesn't consider the last election to be valid and it wants a transition, democratic transition of power. ayman. >> all right, richard engel. back here, the u.s. press secretary pressed on the qanon

republicans, her answer after the break. r the break. y it and love it or get your money back. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

we have some breaking news about president obama's speech at tonight's democratic national convention. peter alexander joins us from wilmington, delaware with more on the details. peter what do we know? >> reporter: yeah, ayman, of course, we're in wilmington officially hosting tonight's events but the former president barack obama instead will be delivering his remarks we have learned from the american -- the museum of the american revolution in philadelphia, about an hour away from here the point of that location i'm told by democratic officials is to underscore that it's america's very democracy that's on the line in this election, we're told by sources familiar with the president's remarks that are still being completed as we speak right now, that there will be a level of intensity in his remarks, again trying to underscore the threat of a second term for president trump,

president obama won't mention trump by name. he'll emphasize one of the key points that his wife michelle obama made earlier this week, how voter thank you for that. and president trump has fired off a series of tweets touting the win of laura loomer, a far-right activist who just won the republican nomination in florida's 21st district, where the president and first lady now vote. loomer is known for calling islam, quote, a cancer on humanity. today, white house press secretary kayleigh mcennayny was asked about the president's support loomer. >> the president last night congratulated laura loom terrify for her win and backed marjory taylor green in georgia and both have expressed anti-muslim sentiments. does the president endorse their views of muslims and does he believe that their views belong in congress? >> the president routinely congratulate people who officially get the republican

nomination for congress, so he does that as a matter of course. he hasn't done a deep dive into the statements by these two particular women. i don't know if he's even seen that, but he supports the muslim community. >> so president trump congratulated loomer on the heels of offering similar praise to marjory taylor green. she's a believer in the qanon conspiracy theory who is now the gop nominee in georgia's 13th district. joining me now is "washington post" columnist, eugene robinson, and associated press white house reporter, jonathan la mir. they are both political analysts. jonathan, let me begin with you, if i can. what does it mean that the president has taken to evaluating candidates like loomer and green, given their notorious comments in the past? >> well, first, my friend, let me congratulate you on the new show. >> thank you. >> well deserved. in terms of the president, this is not that new. i have covered donald trump for quite some time and when the qanon movement really started

earlier in his term, particularly we saw quite a bit when the president was on the road in 2018 in the midterms, quite a bit of "q" signs that dotted the crowds. and quite a bit earlier this year when the president was still able to have rallies. we know that he is one that is very reluctant to denounce or signal out members of his following. it is well documented, how he was slow to criticize the white supremacist involved in charlottesville, that it took him a while to disavow the likes of david duke and other times, he's had to be really pressed about white nationalists, because some of them had been supporting him and he was slow to distance himself from them. and it seems he's of a similar pattern here, with these conspiracy theories. now, it's possible. we've heard the press secretary say that the president wasn't aware of some of the anti-muslim rhetoric from these two candidates. that's impossible for us to know, at this moment. but certainly, he, himself, has taken some pretty harsh stances against the muslim community in the past. and we will know, as a final point, that these are people who

involve themselves with people in the president's circle. laura loomer celebrated last night with roger stone, who the president, of course, just commuted his sentence not too long ago. stone being perhaps one of his oldest political adviser. >> eugene, there is one thing we can pretty much safely say triggers president trump, and that is the mention of president obama. we've just learned that the former president will be speaking from philadelphia at the dnc tonight. president trump is trying to counter the convention with his own commentary, if you will. here's how he criticized michelle obama's speech this week by saying she couldn't even keep up with the mounting coronavirus death toll. watch. >> frankly, she should have made the speech live, which she didn't do, she taped it. and it was not only taped, it was taped a long time ago, because she had the wrong deaths. >> given what we just learned about tonight's speech, ferocity of it, according to peter alexander, how do you think trump will react to obama's speech tonight? >> oh, not well. because the obamas get under his skin.

first, let me add my congratulations as well, ayman. well deserved and happy to have you here every day at 3:00. no, he will go ballistic and he'll have -- and that's predictable, because michelle obama got under his skin. and it was a ridiculous defense. gee, she forgot 20,000 more deaths that i'm responsible for. that's not exactly exculpatory. just one word on laura loomer and marjory taylor green. that's a reminder to me that the racism and the xenophobia and the bigotry are not bugs in the software of trumpism, they are features. and i don't give -- i don't think president trump can be ignorant of everything. ignorant of all of these remarks by all of these people, who support him. he's embracing them for a

reason, i think. and that reason is, he wants to be seen not rejecting their message, but rather, accepting it. >> and some saying that he's even enabling it, to some extent. gene, i'm curious to get your thoughts on this in terms of how the dnc has featured a significant number of republican speakers so far. you know, you had colin powell, john kasich, even a videonat narrated by cindy mccain. but if elected president, these are not the people that joe biden will have to be working with in congress to get anything done. he would have to be negotiating as i mentioned earlier with proifg progressives like alexandria ocasio-cortez, maybe even bernie sanders. is it a misstep, politically, to give them this platform when they have little to do with how he governs as a president? >> i think the view in the biden campaign is probably that he will worry about how he has to govern, once he gets elected. and the biden camp felt that this sort of open-armed

invitation to a moderate republicans, non-trump republicans, former republicans, to vote for him and this show that it's okay for you to vote for him. he clearly believes that helps him get elected. you can't figure out how you're going to govern and how you're going to negotiate with the progressive wing and all of that if you don't get elected in the first place. so i think it's first things first. >> jonathan, finally to you, the president seems to be disappointed with the fact capitol hill is going to be scheduling these hearings at the beginning of next week. he blamed the senate for it, but it's not the senate that's going to be holding that postmaster general hearing. >> right, it's the house. and certainly, this is the first time that the president has gotten some of the basic facts wrong based on the legislative process. this is more than once now that he's urged them to hold the hearings not opposite his convention next week. but he is eager to provide, i

should note, counter programming against the democrats. he won't be shy tonight weighing in on the speeches by hillary clinton, barack obama, and kamala harris. and then tomorrow, of course, just hours before joe biden speaks and accepts the democrat's nomination, the culmination to this point of his political career, where will the president be? joe biden's backyard. he will be visiting scranton, pennsylvania, biden's birthplace, and delivering a speech on the, quote, half century of failure by joe biden. that's what the campaign has said. so the president tomorrow will be engaging in a little bit of troll politics in his own effort to distract from the dnc. >> yeah, nothing new there. jonathan lamir, eugene robinson, good to talk to both of you, my friends. appreciate it. and a reminder, join msnbc for special coverage of the democratic national convention. night three beginning at 7:00 p.m. eastern. that wraps up this hour for me. i'll see you right back here tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. eastern. "deadline: white house" with nicole wallace starts right after this quick break. nicole wallace starts right after this quick break hike!

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hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. tonight, senator kamala harris will step on to a stage only ever occupied by two women in this country's history and never before by a woman of color, as she makes her own history, senator kamala harris will make the case for joe biden's presidency tonight in her address to the democratic virtual convention. harris will also be making the case for herself, stepping into the rarefied air of a vice presidential nominee for her party's ticket and introducing herself to some americans for the very first time. harris will become biden's number one surrogate in making the case against donald trump, and she can be expected to draw on her prosecutorial expertise to do so. a source close to harris telling me today that she will lean into biden's unique ability to lead in this moment, as america struggles with the deadly pandemic, its devastating impact on our economy, and