welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt alongside ayman moll whhyeldin and alex burgdor. >> the biggest fluff in oscars history after warren beatty announced the wrong winner for best film. he and his co-star made the announcement for what she assumed is "la la land." we'll go live to hollywood in a bit for more on that. and residents in san jose, california, are slowly returning to their water-logged homes days after being inundated with historic floodwaters. some are being forced out since school is back in session today.

those who were allowed back to their homes have been forced to wear protective gear against bacteria and other contaminants. and the man who plowed his pickup truck into a crowd of mardi gras revelers had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit. 28 people were hurt including a 1-year-old child and a female police officer who were sent to the hospital. the 25-year-old driver nielson rizzuto is facing charms including hit-and-run. and the democratic party elected the man tasked with leading the party to ultimately become united. >> the result is 235 votes, mr. perez, and 200 for mr. ellison. it is my great honor -- it is -- it is now my honor -- it is my

honor to present the gavel of the next chair of the democratic national committee to mr. tom perez. mr. perez, congratulations. >> you can hear it there, the crowd erupting in a mix of cheers and boos after former labor secretary tom perez was named the dnc chair after beating out mr. ellison. many chanted, party of the people, not of the money. but immediately after taking over, perez named ellison his deputy chairman. the two men addressed the crowd calling on fellow democrats to come together and capitalize on opposition to president trump the quickest. >> if you came here supporting me, if you're wearing a keith t-shirt or any t-shirt, i'm asking you to give everything you've got to support chairman perez. >> shortly after perez's

election, the rnc sent out a statement that read in part, quote, by selecting a d.c. insider, democrats only create deeper divisions within their own party by pushing a far left agenda that rejects a majority of their base outside washington. president trump tweeted, quote, congratulations to thomas perez, who has just been named chairman of the dnc. i could not be happier for him or for the republican party. perez fired back, quote, call me tom. and don't get too happy. keith ellison and i and democrats united across the country will be your worst nightmare. and president trump says he's planning to skip this year's white house correspondents' dinner. he made that announcement on twitter saturday adding, quote, please wish everyone well and have a great evening. the correspondents' association responded in part, the whca takes note of president trump's announcement. the dinner will continue to be a celebration of the first amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic. ronald reagan was the last

president to skip the dipper back in 1981. of course, at the time he was recovering from a gunshot wound in that failed assassination attempt. reagan still, however, called in to provide a few remarks. the u.s. military is looking ahead to the long-term strategy to defeat isis, but president trump's military staffer is developing a unique culture with the president himself. as we learn that the nominee for secretary of the navy is taking himself out of consideration. joining us onset is msnbc's cal perry. great to have you with us this morning. obviously, a lot to talk about, excuse me, but walk us through some of the headlines with the secretary of the navy and other news. >> so this will be a big week, especially in the west wing, especially with the generals surrounding president trump. there's a big address to congress tomorrow, but we have to take president trump at his word. a lot of people during the campaign said, well, listen to what he means and not exactly what he says. well, he's a pretty literal guy, i think. i think we can draw that conclusion. and he said within 30 days he'll plan to defeat isis from the generals. he wants the plan to come from

h.r. mcmaster, who is being the new national security adviser, and general mattis. h.r. mcmaster, you see him on the screen, that's general mattis, h.r. mcmaster recently held a meeting at the national security council and said calling radical islamic terrorism, using that phrase, is unhelpful. that seems to be a split with president trump. the thing that makes this most interesting is that h.r. mcmaster wrote a book called "dereliction of duty" in 1997. and the entire book's theory was that generals need to speak truth to the president. >> and we heard the president make comments at the governor's address yesterday saying to some effect that had the presidents been away from the middle east over the past 15 years. >> had they gone to the beach. >> yeah. they would be better off. you're looking at general mattis and mcmaster who came up the ranks really in the last 15 years during the war on terror in iraq and elsewhere in afghanistan. how is their world view going to shape the president's policies

you think? >> is it going to be their view or bannon's view? that's the big question. if this is their view, we'll see subtly to u.s. troops in iraq. mcmaster has been there and got the silver star during the first gulf war and a hero during the second world war. >> cal, thank you, we know you spent a lot of time in iraq. nobody knows it better than you. thank you. >> thank you, sir. chief petty officer william owens is demanding an investigation into the death of his son. owens was killed during a january military raid when everything went wrong. don't hide behind my son's death to prevent an investigation. i want an investigation. the government owes my son an investigation. bill owens himself a veteran and retired police detective refused to meet with the president saying, quote, i told them i didn't want to make a scene about it, but my conscience

wouldn't let me talk to him. the white house maintains the mission was a success, though there are plenty of critics including senator john mccain and yesterday's spokesperson said she, quote, imagined the president would be supportive of an investigation. we'll turn to business now where global stocks are bracing for president trump's address to congress tomorrow night. nancy hungerford is joining us live from london. nancy, overseas markets appear to be in retreat this morning. >> that's right, we're getting a mixed reaction from the european stocks this morning. and without a doubt, investors are counting down to the big joint session in congress looking for any comments coming from president donald trump to give additional clues on big plans for stimulus plans including tax cuts, infrastructure spending and a presumed regulatory rollback because investors were pushing u.s. stocks higher once again to record levels last week. but certain traders say they want to see additional up for

implementation. january tends to be a month in which prescription drug prices increase, but according to a report coming from raymond james associate, that was not such a big increase this time around. in fact, there were fewer posts of 10% or greater increases to that level. in fact, overall, the media drug prices rose about 8.9% according to that survey. guys, back to you for now. >> nancy hungerford live from london, thank you so much. still ahead, much more from last night's epic academy awards. >> and if you fell asleep when you heard the first announcement of who wop, you missed the best part. we'll go live to hollywood for a complete wrap. >> i want to say thank you to president trump. i mean, remember last year when the oscars were racist? that's gone thanks to him.

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visit booking.com now to find out why we're booking.yeah this is very unfortunate what happened. personally, i blame steve harvey for this. i would like to see you get an oscar anyway. why can't we just give out a whole bunch of them? >> i'm going to be very proud to hand this to my friends from "moonlight." >> jimmy kimmel is trying to make the best out of the epic flub when "la la land" was announced for best picture when "moonlight" was the actual winner. joining us from how hollywood, jennifer bjorklund. everyone is waking up scratching their heads. explain how this happened. >> reporter: eyyeah, it was a b argument all the way to the end. and the biggest argument is the

twist no one saw coming. it's all anyone can talk about this morning. >> and the academy award -- for best picture -- >> you're impossible. come on. >> "la la land." >> so you saw it there, warren beatty opening the card for best picture, said "la la land," for whatever reason. so he hands it to fay dunaway. but in reality the winner was "moonlight." so what happened? here's emma stone backstage. >> of course, you know, it was an amazing thing to hear "la la land." i think we all would have loved to win best picture, but we are so excited for "moonlight." i think it is one of the best

films of all time. so i was pretty beside myself. i also was holding my best actress in a leading role card that entire time. >> so the producers decide what the order of the awards will be. this is from an interview with price waterhouse cooper from a month ago saying, we each have a full set. i have 24 sets in my briefcase. martha has 24 in hers. we stand on the opposite side for the entire evening and we each hand the respective enve tone to the presenter. it doesn't sound very complicated but you have to make sure you're giving the presenter the right envelope. so, what happened? apparently, someone gave the presenter the wrong envelope. the one that said emma stone's name on it. she had one she took backstage from her win in the category before, and then somehow the wrong envelope got handed out again. so it's one we'll be talking about for a very long time,

louis. >> it looks like warren beatty passed the buck to fay dunaway. he made her read it. he wasn't sure. jennifer, thank you so much. as far as the reaction, there was an embarrassment on twitter. plenty of people dressed up steve harvey's flub at the 2015 miss universe pageant when he announced the wrong name. now the miss universe account tweeted at the film academy, have your people call our people. we know what to do. some other highlights on the night after being slammed for the lack of diversity last year, several nominees of color prevailed last night. iranian director asghar faradi won but he did not appear at the awards last night. >> i'm sorry i'm not there

tonight. i decided to stand with the other six countries not allowed into the u.s. this creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war. these wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression. >> in addition to nabbing awards for best supporting actor and best picture, "moonlight" received the best screenplay. >> all you people out there who feel like there's no mirror for you, that your life is not reflected, the academy has your back, the aclu has your back, we have your back. and for the next four years, we will not leave you alone, we will not forget you. >> this goes out to all those black and brown boys and girls and non-gender conforming who don't see themselves. we are trying to show you, you and us, so thank you, this is for you. >> and before the cast of "hid

up figures" announced the documentary feature, they applied three african-american women. katherine johnson was invited to the stage for a standing ovation. that was a really nice moment there. >> it really was. can i just -- i want to defend warren beatty for a second, i think when he saw the crowd, he was up credulous. it was not making sense to him. he showed fay dunaway to say, are you seeing what i'm seeing? we're having a discussion here, ayman and i, and he disagrees. >> i feel like he should have warned her, given her a heads-up, before he led with the oscar goes to -- the academy goes to -- it's a tough situation. >> this is not making sense. >> let's just say, you and i will never be in that situation. >> thank goodness. we'll go right to weather with bill karins. >> what do you think was worse, steve harvey with the miss universe or was that worse last night? >> i would say last night because of the way they announce the awards at miss universe

because they say and the first runner-up that means miss universe then becomes -- >> it's all less than ideal. so the story of the next two days is severe storms. not so much today. we have rain moving through mississippi and tennessee, a little bit in louisiana, but it will be tuesday and the last day of february and the first day of march that we'll deal with severe weather. and it shouldn't be a surprise. it's still incredibly warm for this time of the year. and it's been an incredibly warm february across much of the nation. so tomorrow, 25 million people, so a heads-up day tomorrow. and i'm sure we'll add all the schools will be advised and everyone from little rock to memphis, south to springfield, the ozarks, this is the greatest risk of tornadoes. then the line of storms is going to be a pretty strong storm to blow all the way to the east coast. so those storms will be early in the morning and heading to the eastern seaboard. 62 million people on wednesday at risk of those severe storms, guys. so, yeah, i don't think we'll have a huge tornado outbreak. hopefully it won't be deadly or anything like that, but there will be a few tornados to deal with tomorrow.

>> bill, thank you very much for that. still ahead, iraq makes major advances in the battle to retake mosul from isis. plus, top republicans appear divided over whether a special prosecutor should investigate the trump campaign's ties to russia. who is pouring cold water on the idea? next. because, actually there's 5. aaaahh!! ooohh!! uh! holy mackerel. wow. nice. strength and style. which one's your favorite? come home with me! it's truck month! find your tag for an average total value over $11,000 on chevy silverado all star editions when you finance through gm financial. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. it's just a date. i can stay. i'm good. i won't be late

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truly remain end pen didn't. independent. mark warner said he is concerned. he thinks the white house sought the help of senior intelligence officials on the house and senate intelligence committees to combat news stories over the alleged connections. meanwhile, top republicans remain divided over calls for a special prosecutor to handle the investigation. >> you cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, jeff sessions, who was on the campaign and who was an appointee. you're going to need to use the special prosecutors statute in office to take, not just to reuse, you can't just give it to your deputy, that's another political appointee, you do have to do that. >> we are way getting ahead of ourselves here, chuck. there's no allegations of crime occurring. there's no allegations of criminal investigations underway by the fbi as opposed to counter

investigations, which occurs all the time. if we get down the road, that's a decision that the attorney general sessions can make at the time. overseas now, iraqi forces continue to make progress as they advance deeper into western mosul. nbc news has now confirmed that eight neighborhoods have been fully liberated. joining us live from london, nbc news foreign correspondent lucy cavanaugh. a good morning to you, lucy. >> reporter: ayman, good morning. iraqi troops are reportedly making slow progress in pushing back islamic state fighters in the southern districts of western mosul, but much of this progress has been defending villages, the strategically important airport, the nearby military base. the real challenge will be pushing into western mosul proper. as you know, this is an ancient, dense part of the city. the streets are narrowed and winding. you can't get armored vehicles through them. that's exactly where the iraqi forces have weather have to do house-to-house combat.

and that will be a great cost to the troops. as they retreat, they have been ramping up the use of car bombs, armed commercial drones to drop bombs. also a danger to the troops and civilians. and already we have seen a surge in casualties. at least 30 iraqi forces and more than 200 civilians killed or wounded in the last three days alone. a kurdish journalist was also tragically killed over the weekend in a roadside bomb blast. she was just 30 years old. broke many barriers in the male-dominated profession. a tragic loss, indeed. but this just close to show you how difficult and dangerous this fight is. and it will continue to be. we took over 100 days for the iraqi forces to take east mosul. it's likely this tougher part of the battle for the western portion of this city will take much, much longer. ayman? >> nbc's lucy cavanaugh live in london. thank you for that, lucy. still ahead, a look at the stories happening in the day ahead. and coming up on "morning joe," senator duke dick durbin will

join us. we'll talk about the party's first step it needs to return to power. and talking about the oscars, including this epic video of a man, willie geist, and family reacting to the best documentary. she was an executive producer on the film. we'll have that reaction just moments away. this is the story of green mountain coffee and fair trade, told in the time it takes to brew your cup. let's take a trip to la plata, colombia. this is boris calvo.

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before we toss it over to "morning joe," we'll bring you a check on the stories in the morning ahead. >> and nbc news' kelly o'donnell has more from the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, louis. with all the buzz about the academy awards, you hear a lot about the governor's ball, the one out in l.a. here at the white house, president trump and first lady melania trump also hosted a governor's ball. it's an annual event where governors from around the country are invited here to the white house. coming up today, the president will be meeting on the issue that will affect many of the governors, what to do on health care. and he'll be having ceos here at the white house. in addition, he'll also have

meetings with house speaker paul ryan and the top republican in the senate, mitch mcconnell. important because tomorrow night the president makes his very first address before a joint session of congress. it will feel a lot like a state of the union, but it's different when you're a new president. and for donald trump, the expectations will be very high. advisers say he'll be talking about some of the things he's done in the first five weeks in office. but he'll also focus on how he can work with congress for bigger issues down the line. among them, how to deal with the health care law and tax reform. louis? >> thank you to kelly o'donnell for that report from the white house north lawn. ahead of the president's speech tomorrow night, chuck schumer and house democratic leader nancy pelosi will give a p prebuttal to the president's speech. and bill cosby's team will be moved to another pennsylvania county. that's a wrap for us on this monday. we are still arguing about the warren beatty thing.

we'll argue about it all day. meantime, i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. >> this is not a joke. >> this is not a joke. moonlight has won best picture. "moonlight" best picture. >> awkward. that happened actually. good morning, everyone. it's monday, february 27th. welcome to "morning joe." joe has the morning off. did you all see that? >> i fell asleep. >> i watched this morning. >> i need you to get cell phones. we will go over that later. with us on set political analyst and coauthors of "game change" mark halpern and john heilemann. former democratic congressman harold ford jr. >> good morning. >> in washington, msnbc political analyst and former