♪ bring me a higher love ♪ there's that higher love ♪ i keep thinking of ♪ ♪ bring me higher love [ cheers ] there are a few first ladies who really are milestones, cultural milestones. who help us understand what's going on in larger society. >> it took me some time doing a little dreaming to be standing right here today. >> she hasn't forgotten that journey and the challenges that she faced. >> when you have worked hard and done well and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. no, you reach back and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed!

>> from the moment they entered the white house it becomes historic, but this is also a representation of americans' better selves. >> that is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to the stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done. so don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on earth. [ cheers ] ♪ ♪

>> when you were little, did you ever want to be the first lady? >> no, i didn't. i didn't know i could be the first lady. sometimes you can only be what you know exists in the world. and no one like me was ever the first lady of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] >> all first ladies are thrust into the spotlight, but michelle obama will be scrutinized more intensely than any of her predecessors. we talk about civil rights history, we talk about the series of firsts. this is within our lifetime. >> are you prepared to take the oath, senator? >> i am. >> it took my breath away. and i thought, oh, my gosh, this is really happening. >> i stand here today humbled by

the task before us. >> the reality of what they were about to embark on must have been very, very vivid for her at that moment. >> michelle traveled farther and overcame more on her journey to the white house than any first lady before her. >> she knew that she was making history and that her movements would be scrutinized ten times, 100 times more than any other first lady. >> everything that michelle obama has been doing in her life has really been preparing her to walk this tightrope. >> michelle was integral to barack obama's presidential campaign from the beginning. >> so we're looking forward to the first day of school. i know that all the parents out here are happy to have their kids out of their house. [ laughter ] you can admit it. let's give a cheer for that. >> 15 months before the election, polls show barack obama trailing hillary clinton by double digits.

>> we've got two beautiful little girls and we have a wonderful life. nothing would have been more disruptive than a decision to run for president of the united states. >> she knew enough about race in america, about breaking barriers, to know what that would mean for her. that she would face constant criticism, constant scrutiny. who would raise their hand enthusiastically and say sign me up for that? >> you know the reason why i said yes was because i am tired of being afraid. [ applause ] the game of politics is to make you afraid so that you don't think. we have a chance to make something real happen. think about that. and help us. >> for someone who avoided politics for much of her life, she had to take a crash course.

my first meaningful exchange with michelle was when we were filming our first ad. >> i'm barack obama. i'm running for the united states senate and i approve this message to say, yes, we can. >> he turned to me and said yes, we can, yes, we can. is that too corny? he turned to michelle and said, what do you think? she said, not corny. so right away i saw where i stood in the pantheon of strategic advisers. but other than that, she was happy to keep her distance from all of it. >> what many people don't know, she was actually the breadwinner in the family. vice president of community affairs and outreach at the university of chicago. that is a big job and it's a job that she loved. >> all changed, of course, when he decided to run for president. >> let me tell you a little bit about michelle obama. i'm a south side girl. very simple. my parents were working class folks. >> her story is not that different than half of the people she would meet in iowa. she talked about her parents and

how she was raised >> my father had multiple sclerosis. but he went to work every single day. he was never late and he never made excuses. >> and then she moved into the barack obama years. >> mixed guy named barack obama who grew up in hawaii. that's what i learned about him on paper. i thought this guy's got to be weird. >> michelle was involved in recruiting a prominent law firm in chicago. across her desk comes the resume of this hot shot from harvard who is being brought in as a summer associate. the firm asked if she would be his mentor. >> i learned that he became a community organizer. i was impressed. this guy could have been making money but he's working on the far south side what a bunch of churches. >> in her memoir "becoming," she describes their wedding in october 1992. we stood there with our futures still unwritten. whatever was out there, we would step into it together. 15 years later, their shared future takes a dramatic turn.

obama surges from behind to win iowa. michelle's months on the stump pay off. but now the couple must confront a new kind of challenge. >> there were concerns about his security that were very real and very dark. >> barack obama is given a security detail earlier than any other presidential candidate in history. >> we've seen what has happened to iconic black leaders in america. >> med gar evers, malcolm x, dr. king. if you come from the black community, almost every hero you read about was killed, and only michelle, who certainly had more to lose than the rest of us in the risk he was taking, could reassure people that it was worth the risk.

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hope is making a comeback. it is making a comeback, and lead t let let me tell you something. for the first time in my adult time i'm really proud of my country, and not just because barack has done well but because i think people are hungry for

change. >> everybody knew exactly what michelle meant. this has been a tough country to be black, to say that we're on the verge now of maybe putting some of that behind us, she got smacked down hard for it. >> i just wanted to make the statement that i have and always will be proud of my country. >> michelle obama was met with every single negative stereotype about african american women, magnified by a million. i think that there were forces that felt that if they humiliated her enough, if they insulted her enough, maybe she and her entire family would just go away. but they didn't. >> i called her in to show her what people were seeing, and i turned the sound down and just let her see herself. >> we live in a country, in a world based on fear. >> she was out on the campaign trail getting more and more passionate, and she had been so effective that i didn't see that it was being perceived as angry.

>> the easy trope of the angry black woman, when, in fact, what she was displaying was passion. >> she had a choice to make. go back home and pick up life with her children and her high-powered job, or does she just try to figure it out? >> in her memoire, michelle remembers the impact of that moment. this was a turnaround point. no one, i realized, was going to look out for me unless i pushed for it. after a year and a half on the campaign trail, michelle prepares for her national debut. >> she was going to be watched by tens of million of people who would get to know her. >> and barack and i are raised with the same values, that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know

them and even if you don't agree with them. >> her favorable rate jumped 20 points overnight. >> then let's stand together to elect barack obama president of the united states of america! thank you. >> cnn can project at 11:00 eastern time that barack obama is the next president of the united states, the first african american president in u.s. history. >> i would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend, the nation's next first lady, michelle obama. >> the next day, headlines said, "change has come to america," and i remember thinking at the time people will interpret that headline in very different ways. >> everyone was celebrating, but there was in the back of everyone's mind the fact that in

the morning we were going to come in to face an epic financial crisis, two wars, and more pressures than any president had faced probably since franklin roosevelt, and my sell, the god's honest truth is i don't think she knew what she was going to make of the position. it took her some time to figure it out. >> there is, as michelle puts it, no handbook for incoming first ladies. >> we set up the white house as a royal court in a way, and i think for michelle obama, a modern woman, a career woman, to suddenly be the great man's wife was an adjustment. >> she describes the role as, a strange kind of side car to the presidency. >> the first lady is not a job. i mean hilary clinton learned that when she turned it into a job. we don't want that.

that's going too far. >> she said the one that she took the greatest inspiration from was laura bush. >> after a bruising campaign, michelle is determined to control her own message. she starts with a simple statement, deeper than it first appears. >> you know, i joke that my first job is going to be mom in chief because with little kids i have to make sure that their feet are on the ground. >> obviously she is going to be mom in chief. >> she's not shy about being the mom in chief. >> sort of define her role more as first lady. >> she was concerned about her daughters, but was also just a very savvy way of saying, don't worry, this isn't a two-fer. you know, i'm not here to make policy, despite my executive experience. >> if i want to play the traditional first lady role, i can play the traditional first lady role, but don't be fooled. in a country that consistently demonized black mothers, black

women as welfare queens, black women as drug addicts, black women because of the decline of the black family, a statement as simple as i'm first mom and that's my priority is something that is profound because it is something that's been denied to black women for so long. >> she decided that in creating her role as first lady that she was always going to keep in mind the young michelle obama. she says in her memoire, i grew up to the sound of striving, and that's what the south side of chicago was. >> michelle's great-aunt and great-uncle bought a house in the neighborhood of south shore and invited michelle's mother and father and, of course, michelle and craig who were toddlers to move in with them. >> i grew up playing basketball with michelle's older brother, craig. they were shaped by the community, they were forged by the community, and i think she acutely felt the inequity, the

inequity in resources, the inequity in education opportunity. >> in many ways chicago is the place to create michelle obama. it is a place that is undergirded by a lot of the racial tensions an inequality that will shape her viewpoint in the world. >> this is where dr. king went and was defeated. the poverty and the racism in chicago is so profound that even dr. king can't move it an inch. >> i have never seen, even in mississippi and alabama, mobs as hostile and as hate filled as i have seen in chicago. >> chicago is a place where politicians are corrupt and idealists go to get defeated. i think americans forget she grew up in the middle of all of that.

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♪ four months into the obamas' represent the triumph of inspirational politics, but michelle's optimism is tempered by what she calls the ugly red versus blue dynamic which has taken over washington. >> she goes to watch her husband give his first speech to a joint session of congress. >> members of congress, first lady of the united states. >> she is looking over this sea, as she describes it, sea of whiteness and maleness, and she is very aware of the body language and the expressions of

many republicans. >> the american people expect us to build common ground. >> michelle watches as all of the republicans remain seated, but the first lady is being watched as well. >> this may have been one of the most talked-about moments from last night. michelle obama and her sleeveless dress. >> it was especially unfair for michelle obama because jackie kennedy wasn't criticized for completely changing the look of the first lady. >> michelle obama, baring arms, has a whole new meaning inside the beltway. >> people zeroed in on her arms because they were not the arms of a fragile damsel who was white. nonwhite americans have for years looked at a white first lady and were still able to say that she represented them, but i think it becomes much more challenging for some white americans to look at a black

first lady and see themselves in her. >> instead, they simply saw her as an alien. ♪ >> four months into the obama's first term, michelle takes her first official trip abroad, accompanying her husband to london. the next day while her husband huddles with other g-20 leaders, the cameras follow michelle as she meets with their spouses. >> but she wasn't just going to go as a figure head and just as a spouse. she actually wanted to interact with real people. >> and so michelle makes a solo visit to a girls' school a few miles across london but worlds away from buckingham palace. >> the first lady of the united states of america. [ cheering ]. >> michelle writes that looking at those london girls, i almost felt myself falling backwards into my own past. ♪

>> she said, i see myself in them, and i'm not sure that we've heard first ladies speak like that before. >> you have to be stronger, you have to be smarter, you have to be twice as good with half the resources, and this is something that michelle's family, her community, her experiences really instill in her. >> we are counting on every single one of you to be the very best that you can be because the world is big and it is full of challenges, and we need strong, smart, confident young women to stand up and take the reins. we know you can do it. we love you. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> that simple statement, "i see myself in them," and there is so much in that. not just saying that, but then figuring out how to act on that.

>> every first lady is expected to have at least one crusade. barbara bush, literacy. nancy reagan, say no to drugs. michelle's crusade was to empower children and their parents to eat better. >> the president and congress are going to begin to address health care reform. nearly a third of the children in this country are either overweight or obese. >> the scope of michelle's initiative is strategically masked by her simple opening move, which she describes as a harmless and innocent undertaking by a lady with a spade. >> get up, get some shovels. come on, let's go, let's go. >> when you have one in three kids are on track to have diabetes in their lifetime, it doesn't matter what we do with health care if we don't solve that side of the problem. when we were doing our first planting, the kids were running around, you could hear the

cameras clicking constantly. she looked at me and she was like, this better work. >> 31 million american children participate in the federal school meals program, and many of these kids consume half of their calories daily at school. >> she has the audacity to say maybe kids should eat good food. now, this strikes me as a noncontroversial thing for a mom to say. >> we'll start by updating the law that sets nutrition standards for what our kids eat at school. >> and yet you would have thought she was ushering in s l stalinism through the lunchroom. >> who should be making the decision what you eat for dinner, school choice. should it be government or the parents? it should be the parents. >> the united states was entering a very partisan, very polarized environment. >> it is indeed the nanny state. >> it is not a nanny state. >> even something as innocuous as eating better became

politicized. >> it is no longer what father knows best or mother knows best, it is what government knows best. >> the food industry fights back, doubling spending on lobbyists. >> one of the first lady's major health initiatives is in jeopardy. >> says a slice of pizza qualifies as vegetables because it has two tablespoons of tomato paste. >> we put this in the mainstream of our culture. >> michelle knows how to handle the political fire that her nutrition campaign draws, but personal attacks are different. >> when people started to hit her, hit the family, hit him, it hurt her. >> the more confident michelle grows in her role, the more intense these attacks become. >> it was part of a strategy. it was a strategy that tapped into a kind of nativism that we see to this day.

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ladies and gentlemen, please welcome michelle obama! >> i don't think there's been a first lady in recent memory who so many people are fascinated by. >> what she is, who she is, her passions, they are real. at least they come across as real, and it makes her a star in her own right. >> michelle embraces pop culture in a way that no other first lady has ever done before. >> she takes to tv and tv takes to her. >> two years into the first term, michelle steps into a brave, new world. >> so now i just press tweet. do i press this? >> she is the first first lady in the age of social media, and

that, too, has transformed the landscape. >> i did it. >> yay! >> i'm pretty certain that there was some consternation about the use of social media by the east wing because it was not done, it was not in anybody's playbook. >> as a lawyer i was one of the strong naysayers against the president or the first lady ever having a twitter account because every presidential statement is heavily vetted. but we had a young staff who realized that social media was where a lot of the people that we were trying to reach were going. >> don't waste your time trying to connect with your kids via e-mail. that antiquated method is as useless as morse code. >> you look good. >> michelle now has a direct line to millions of people around the country eager to hear her message. >> can you guys do a little dougy? >> but social media is a two-way

street. >> there's so much anger and pure hate every time a public person says anything. >> did you see the picture of his wife yesterday? >> looks like she's a little girl dressing up in her mama's clothes. >> the trolling that happened any time there was coverage of her was unlike anything any first lady had faced before. >> she wasn't engaging in it, which i think was the right thing to do. >> she would get up really, really early in the morning and she would work out, and she uses that as a way to find the strength to take on life's challenges. >> that's who he's married to. >> you could not go to a reputable website, "the washington post", "the new york times", and look at the comment section and scroll down more than an inch and not see "n" word, "n" word, "n" word. monkey, monkey, monkey, on any article about michelle obama. >> we are in this moment where a good portion of the american people declares that we are in a

post-racial america. >> and then to be hit with wave after wave after wave of just viciousness. >> we've got trash in the white house. >> she didn't blink. >> it is my responsibility to work with all americans, and i want to stay focused on the work rather than, you know -- >> other things? >> other things. >> she tried to ignore most of it, but you can't ignore all of it. >> i feel strongly about the fact that barack obama should provide the public with a birth certificate and he should do it soon. look, his birth certificate. >> the birther movement was an excellent example of where something was completely made up and then used to try to incite hate. >> we're going to send mr. obama home to kenya or wherever it is. we're going to do it. >> he's not even a citizen of the united states and they're hiding that. >> one in four believe president

obama definitely or probably was not born in the united states. >> it was ludicrous, but at the same time it was in keeping with something that was growing in the country. >> it was more than just finding a reason to disqualify ba rahm husain obama. it was about finding a reason to disqualify more than 10% of the american population. >> in her memoire, michelle describes these attacks as crazy and mean spirited but also dangerous. >> i have to say that every single day it was in the back of my mind that it just takes one crazy person. >> she adds, what if someone with an unstable mind loaded a gun and drove to washington? what if that person went looking for our girls? >> there was something that michelle lived with in a really intense way. >> donald trump, michelle continues, with his loud and reckless innuendos was putting my family's safety at risk, and for this i could never forgive

him. >> she understood that the consequences could be fatal for her husband, for her children, for herself. >> one night in the first term, michelle has a dream. a man leads her family to the south lawn to see some animals he has gathered for them to admire. michelle is apprehensive. michelle lives day and night knowing that her family is a target for violence. >> this is the secret service calling from 1600 pennsylvania avenue. i need to report a shots fired on 17th and constitution northwest. >> somebody had shot a rifle from constitution avenue into one of the windows in what is known as the yellow oval.

>> seven bullets hit the white house, one smashing a window by the living room. sasha and michelle's mother are inside. >> her thought was they could have been out on the truman balcony, her children played all over. she had been assured it was safe out there. you know, that wasn't the only incident, but she put her head down and she trusted the men and women of the secret service to protect her children because she was not going to let undisciplined people tell her how to lead her life ever. she was the first lady of the united states. she was the first lady to all people of the united states whether they liked her or not. >> hey! more savings on car insurance!? they helped with homeowners, too! ok! plus motorcycle, boat and rv insurance! geico's got you covered! like a blanket!

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i now have the privilege of introducing the star of the show, michelle obama. [ cheering and applause ]. >> she threw open the doors at the white house as a place where americans were allowed to see themselves. >> tonight's event is really just another way for us to open up the white house, and, once again, make it the people's house. >> mrs. obama said we want to make sure that people who have perhaps previously never been to the white house have an opportunity to do so in a meaningful way. >> just get comfortable here, right. get comfortable with a little greatness. >> she wanted to bring in

diverse voices, diverse bodies, diverse people, diverse genders. said, everybody come on in. >> if you feel like this day is special, it is because we think you all are special. >> whether it is kids that have gotten in trouble before, whether it is college dropouts. >> today i want all of you to know that you belong right here in the white house. >> that's a game changer because then they could see themselves there in the future. >> remember this moment and remember that the first lady of the united states told you that you can do anything you want to. >> the 2012 election is only a year away and the president's approval rating is worryingly low, but the first lady's popularity is soaring. >> reelections are the president's to lose. there is a power that comes from incumbency that is hard to defeat in american history. that was not how people looked at barack obama's chances in 2012. >> michelle's popularity is now essential to his reelection

campaign. >> thank you so much. thank you. >> michelle was the president's lifeline to humanity. >> so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean. >> she had an innate common sense quality that helped ground these lofty discussions. >> being president doesn't change who you are. no, it reveals who you. >> it was valuable. >> let me tell you, i love my husband more than i did four years ago, even more than i did 23 years ago when we first met. >> barack obama comes from behind in the polls to secure a definitive victory and a second term as president. >> we often said that the first election was aspirational, the

second one was affirmational. >> watching the thousands of performers on inauguration day, michelle doesn't know that one of them, a high school majorette from chicago, will drastically impact what she fights for in her second term. >> first lady michelle obama is returning to her hometown to attend the funeral of 15-year-old hidea pendleton, a bystander shot dead in a chicago park a week after she performed in the president's inauguration. >> she became the 42nd person killed this month in the president as hometown. >> i ran the chicago public schools for seven-and-a-half years. on average we had a child killed every two weeks due to gun violence. hidea reminded me of michelle. >> hidea was a straight a student and a casualty of a stray bullet walking home from school. mrs. obama knows by the grace of god go i.

it could have been her at any time as a little girl on the south side of chicago. it aeffected her very deeply. >> we thank you for the first lady and the other officials who came to comfort. >> we read that story day after day, month after month, year after year in this city and around this country. let me tell you, it is hard to know what to say to a room full of teenagers who are about to bury their best friend. >> michelle understood the very visceral, very personal level how horrific the violence was. she couldn't solve gun violence by herself but she had to try to create some hope and inspiration for kids in communities that were living on a daily basis with a level of fear and trauma that's untenable, that's unacceptable. it is not right. >> what it takes to build strong, successful young people isn't genetics or pedigree or good luck. it is opportunity. >> but for some young african americans, opportunity is out of reach.

>> we begin tonight with the latest in the trayvon martin case. >> the investigation into the deadly police shooting -- >> the ferguson unarmed teen. >> michael brown. >> eric gardner's death at the hands of a new york police officer. >> a cop did wrong. >> his last words, "i can't breathe." >> i can't breathe. >> what do we want? >> justice. >> when do we want it? >> now. >> the road ahead is not going to be easy. it never is, especially for folks like you and me. >> after the 2012 election, the kind of caution that really defined the obamas during the first administration, some of that goes by the wayside. >> no matter how far you rise in life, how hard you work to be a good person, a good parent, a good citizen, for some folks it will never be enough. >> and we see michelle obama that is less coy about race. >> it can make you feel like your life somehow doesn't matter, and those feelings are

playing out in communities like baltimore and ferguson and so many others across this country. >> you can say it would have been a massive opportunity to really say something transformative. >> black lives matter! >> but at the same time she is still operating within the boundaries of the white house. >> black lives matter! >> today i want to be very clear that those feelings are not an excuse to just throw up our hands and give up, not an excuse. they are not an excuse to lose hope. >> five, four, three, two, one. >> in the summer of 2015 a 21-year-old white man joins a bible study at the emanuel african methodist episcopal church and then starts shooting. the shooter reportedly accused the all-black congregation of taking over the country. nine people are killed. >> what does it mean to be proud to be the first african-american

inhabitants of the white house and now it is linked to movements, it is linked to individuals who see that as an affront to things that are rightfully theirs? their progress riled up some of the worst forces in our world. >> the way to defeat hope is to make people angry and resentful. we're going to make you angry that these people are in the white house and we're going to make you certain that every problem you face, every misfortune is the fault of people like that. >> hatred is really just fear in a different octave. she was using her voice to speak to the hatred and to speak to the fear that people had. >> here in america we don't give in to our fears, we don't build up walls to keep people out because we know that our greatness has always depended on contributions from people who were born elsewhere, but sought out this country and made it

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you might have heard that someone jumped the white house

fence, last week. but, i have to give secret service credit. they found michelle, brought her back. it it's only nine more months, baby. >> it's hard to believe that it has been eight years. >> in michelle's final convention appearance, she delivers a rebuke on donald trump's attacks on her family. sharing the mantra they used for years in the white house. >> i told you about our daughters. how, we urge them to ignore those, who question their father's citizenship or faith. how, we explain that, when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level. no. our motto is when they go low, we go high. >> for eight years, she had been criticized for tiny, little things. both of them bent over, backwards, to respect presidential norms. and yet, in the 2016 campaign,

they see somebody who doesn't care about these norms. >> ione month before the election, an old video surfaces. >> and when you are a star, they let you do it. you can do anything. >> she felt that she had to say something. knowing that people looked to her for inspiration. >> and i can't believe that i'm saying that a candidate for president of the united states has bragged about sexually assaulting women. >> she shook off her supreme caution that she had exercised for eight years. >> too many are treating this as just another day's headline. >> she became a great, first lady, because she spoke for so many. >> as if our outrage is overblown or un -- unwarranted. as if this is normal.

>> and i think she reached eleano eleanor-roosevelt territory. >> new hampshire, be clear, this is not normal. this is not politics, as usual. >> michelle spends election night watching a movie. as the messages start coming in, she heads off to bed. >> cnn projects donald trump wins the presidency. >> the day after election day, was extremely difficult. and i think, none of us wanted to go to work but we all picked ourselves up, and we came into the office. and mrs. obama e-mailed the chief-of-staff and me, at the time, and said i'd like to talk to the staff. >> the first lady brought us all together, and she said i want to hear from you all. how do you feel? >> people were afraid that a lot of the work that we had poured

our hearts and souls into, would be unwound. >> she assured us that, what we did was remarkable and to go on and continue that. this house was just the beginning, for some of us. but it's not the end. >> maybe, you still can't believe we pulled this whole thing off. let me tell you, you're not the only ones. michelle. [ cheers and applause ] you took on a role, you didn't ask for, with grace and with grit and with style and good humor. you made the white house a place that belongs to everybody. and a new generation sets its sights higher, because it has you as a role model. >> she was exhausted. we were all exhausted.

i mean, the dogs were probably exhausted. it's like you're running a marathon, for eight years. and then, all of a sudden, it stops. >> michelle obama walks out of the white house, for the last time. >> on inauguration day, 2017, we see a michelle obama, who has slicked back her hair and shows none of the usual care that we see in moments of political import. it's such a clear moment. such a clear moment, that she is over it and done. >> michelle stays out of the limelight, for a time. and then, bursts back onto the scene. more than any other first lady, michelle obama has become a symbol of hope and possibility,

for millions across the united states, and beyond. >> she redefined the role of first lady, on her own terms. >> her background is something that she celebrates, as much as her accomplishments. and i think that is one of the reasons why she is such a unique first lady. >> each of us has a mission, in this world. >> she gave lots of kids around the country permission to be themselves, walk a little taller, think a little bit bigger, dream a little bit higher. >> my story can be your story. >> i think that's her greatest legacy. >> are you listening to me? do you hear what i'm telling you? >> she always had this inner strength and tenacity and conviction and compassion. >> so, don't be afraid. do you hear me? young people, don't be afraid. be determined. lead, by example, with hope. never fear. >> yes, she's grown, mightily. but, the core essence of

michelle robinson, who i met in 1991, is still there, today. >> being your first lady has been the greatest honor of my life, and i hope i've made you proud. [ applause ] hello and welcome to our viewers here, in the united states, and all around the world. i'm michael holmes. welcome. coming up here, on cnn "newsroom." exploding, covid case numbers in the u.s. filling up the icus, crippling small businesses, and forcing many to line up just to eat. president trump. hitting the golf course and blasting out fact-free tweets. and funeral plans set for a top, nuclear scientist, killed on the streets of iran. his government, promising to retaliate.