it is a particular privilege and pleasure to have it on a history-making day, like this. the first, black woman, the first south asian woman named to a presidential ticket. this is a big deal. thanks for being with us tonight. this is going to do it for us tonight. "first look" is up next. ♪ a history-making vice presidential pick. joe biden has announced senator kamala harris has his running mate praising her as tough and ready to lead. with the polls lagging, the quick to give the nickname phony kamala. and the death toll in florida has hit another new record as the president insists without evidence that the united states is, quote, getting to the end of the pandemic.

good morning, everybody. it is wednesday, august 12th. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we have a lot to cover this morning, after many weeks and months, franklies of speculation, joe biden has announced senator kamala harris as his running mate in the 2020 election. in text messages and emails biden broke the news writing in part this, i have decided that kamala harris is the best person to help me take this fight to donald trump and mike pence and then to lead this nation starting in january 2021. shortly after that, he posted the announcement on twitter called harris a, quote, fearless fighter of the little guy and one of the country's finest servants. joe biden said the news of the pick highlighted his biggest

fundraising hour of his campaign. reporting more than 10.8 million in donations before 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. yesterday. biden's announcement comes more than a year after he and harris, a former presidential candidate, clashed on harris' record on race during the first democrat eck debate. if elected, kamala would become the nation's first black, south asian-american. and the president wasted little time going on the campaign, the campaign immediately put out a video calling kamala harris phony, and claimed she's part of the radical left. then at his news conference, the president repeatedly described her as nasty, mean and disrespectful. >> she was my number one pick, she was, as they would say, she was my number one draft pick.

and we'll see how she works out. she did very, very poorly in the primaries, as you know. she was expected to do well. and she was -- she ended up right around 2%. and spent a lot of money. she had a lot of things happening so i was a little surprised that he pick herd. i've been watching her for a long time. she was extraordinarily nasty to kavanaugh then. now judge kavanaugh, she was just nasty, the way she treated now justice kavanaugh. i won't forget that soon. she was terrible for our nation. i thought she was the meaniest, most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the u.s. senate. she's got a lot of difficult things that she's going to have to explain.

plus she was very, very nasty to -- one of the reasons it surprised me, she was very -- she was probably nastier than even pocahontas to joe biden. she was very disrespectful to joe biden. i like vice president mike pence much better. he is solid as a rock. he's been a fantastic vice president. he's done everything you can do. he's respected by every religious group, whether it's evangelical, whether it's any other group, they respect mike pence. he's been a great vice president. she's also known, from what i understand, as being just about the most liberal person in the u.s. senate. and i would have thought that biden would have tried to stay away from that a little bit. >> the one thing the president did not mention was the $6,000 that he donated to kamala harris' campaign for california

attorney general back in 2011. and in 2013, as well. joining me now from wilmington, delaware, indiana's mariana sotomayor. thank you for joining us this morning. good to see you. talk about the impact that this is going to have on joe biden's campaign. i mean, we're already seeing the influx of money they're getting when it comes to fundraising. weapon saw her fierce questioning on the senate judiciary committee, as the president mentioned there. what reactions are you hearing? >> reporter: sure, of course, many americans are waking up this morning to front page headlines pointing out the historical significance of this pick. as you mentioned, she is not the first woman to be a running mate pick, but, of course, she is the first african-american and also asian-american, so checking off a lot of boxes there that make

many minorities feel represented. and that was definitely the first reaction from many people on tv, commentators, politicians, friends and even members of the campaign. celebrating the moment that this -- that she brings as a woman. and, of course, looking ahead, this is definitely someone who is, obviously, younger than biden. checks off that box that biden said he wanted in a vp pick. someone who could potentially spearhead the next generation of the democratic party. and speaking of experience, biden, of course, has been vocal about what he was looking for in a vice presidential pick, often saying the thing he knows most about is being vice president. and that is what he mentioned in an email to supporters yesterday. saying that her experience, and their shared experience, i should point out, serving out on the senate intelligence committee, serving on the senate

judiciary committee which biden once shared for many years, as a reason that she chose her, not to mention her own experience serving as the attorney general in the largest state in the united states and california. of course, there's obviously personal ties as well. biden often mentioning on the campaign trail that she was someone that his late son beau biden respected. they both served as attorneys generals of their state. this brings enthusiasm, not only a candidate that biden was looking for but also someone who will rev up the party. back to you. >> nbc's mariana sotomayor, thank you. joining me now for the. willi "washington post" eugene scott. eugene, good morning. tell me what will you're hearing about joe biden's running mate? you hear mariana talk about

diversity that she's a black woman, asian-american as well. if she did win vice president, she'll be a first. you hear abouttiship that she have. and also what it says about joe biden himself, and how he's willing to pick someone as his running mate, who will keep him on check, as she did on the campaign trail. >> most voters i've heard from in the last -- you know, less than 24 hours, really pleased. kamala harris was most people's first choice that i asked about in the past week or so. and i think what the president is highlighting when he talks about her performance during the primary and perhaps not doing incredible well, fails to acknowledge that many people said, while they did not want her at the top of the ticket, they did want her to be vp. so, this is actually working out in a way that many voters who plan to vote left were hoping

things would about a year ago. what i think joe biden has communicated to voters is that he was listening to the concerns of liberal voters who said that they wants to see more representation of america on this ticket. that he had the opportunity to make a historic appointment, as we've noted before, that reflected the increased celebration of diversity on the left. but also someone who could really respond well to some of the biggest concerns about the trump administration moving forward. and that has to do withholding them accountable in terms of their value, espoused value about law and order. i think one of the things we've seen in the last few years is that senator harris has no problem attacking donald trump and his administration in senate hearings. and we can expect that, not only in this campaign, but certainly, if they're successful in november. >> and on the debate stage, i'm sure. talk us through, eugene, i know you got into it, that you wrote

about it, some of the most important things that we should know about the senator. >> well, we know that she served as attorney general in california prior to heading to the senate. which is how she became acquainted with the biden family, because we know the former vice president's late son beau was an attorney general in delaware. but this is something that has really shaped her view of justice and race issues in america, and the effort to address those. in the last few months, she's been incredibly vocal about the need to hold police accountable for violence against people of color. but also to implement policies that try to change how america responds to justice issues, period, especially noting that there's inequality and inconsistency and who is held accountable and how. so, with that mind-set, combined with what's happening with the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn, these are

some of the topics i would expect to hear from her most in the next few months. >> all right. eugene scott, thank you. stay close. i'm going to talk to you again in just a little bit. coming up, everybody, the latest in the legal battle over the justice department's push to get charges drop against national security adviser michael flynn. and later, russia has registered a coronavirus vaccine, but dr. anthony fauci is expressing doubts about the safety of it. those stories, and then a check of your weather, when we come back.

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welcome back. a federal appeals court on tuesday seemed to disagree with the justice department's argument that charges against former national security adviser michael flynn must be dropped without explanation. the majority of the d.c. appeals court appear to disagree with

the attorney argument that the lower court abused its authority by scheduling a hearing on the motion to dismiss charges. in a full session that ran almost four hours, judges rejected the claim that district court emmet sullivan should be prevented from reviewing the court's rules for the reason. the decisions of political favoritism will likely continue to the end of the election season. joining me now msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. good morning to you, danny. >> good morning. >> it seems that the full panel of judges, they didn't necessarily buy the argument. break down the case. >> you have three parties in the case, defendant flynn and judge sullivan at the district court

level. what happens the prosecution and the defendant are very much on the same side. they both want to drop the case. flynn has already pleaded guilty. the case is a little different than preguilt, preplea, where the prosecution won't always drop the case. the rules require judge sullivan to have a hearing. this appeal is not about something that judge sullivan did. this appeal, this mandamus action is about taking away the choice from judge sullivan, before he even has a chance to have a hearing. so at the rejudge hearing, which is normally how it works, the panel ruled in favor of flynn, i guess, in favor of the prosecution. now the entire panel, the en banc panel, all three judges are agreeing to rehear the decision. but it's only about whether or not the judge has the power to hear the case. they're not only appealing a decision by judge sullivan that

the defendant isn't happy with. we're not even there yet. but the major issue here is whether a judge, when the prosecution wants to drop the case, even has a role in the proceedings. >> so, if in fact judge sullivan does have the discretion to ask for the reasons behind the dismissal, if it ends there, can he then subsequently just refuse to drop the charges, to dismiss the charges, and proceed with sentencing? >> yes, exactly. i mean, like i said, this is all about -- even judge sullivan having the choice. so if it goes back down to judge sullivan, assuming for the moment it did, then such judge sullivan decides after the hearing that he cannot withdraw his guilty plea, or pleas, there were multiple. then you see another appeal up to the appeals court and we as a

result essentially all over again. flynn's options are hardly over, even if this decision by the en banc, the full appeals court, goes against him. he'll have another shot if sullivan makes a decision and has a hearing. >> and it goes on. danny cevallos. >> it goes on. >> good to see you this morning, my friend. it goes on as it always does. still ahead, everybody, the president tries to make the case for college football, arguing that players will be able to fight off the coronavirus. we're back in a moment.

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people are going to be out there -- they're going to be out there playing football. they'll be able to fight tell off. and hopefully, it won't bother them one bit. most of them will never get it statistically. but we know we'll see more cases at some point. >> all right. welcome back. that was the president weighing in on whether college football should be played this fall. those comments coming on the same day that two major college conferences, the big ten and the pac-12, each announced they were sidelining college football. and other fall sports, because of the coronavirus. both conferences cited the risk of trying to keep players from contracting and spreading the virus when the programs are not operating in a bubble as some pro sports are attempting to do. all right. let's switch gears and get a first look at your forecast with meteorologist bill karins. listen, it seems like an incredibly logical decision,

bill. and there are a lot of football fans that are very disappointed, understandably so. i think it's pretty impossible to figure out a way in which to keep players, coaches, their families, so on and so forth, as the bubble gets bigger safe playing these games. >> it's tough, if you've ever lived in the southern half of the country. it's a way of life, saturday, college football. yeah, it's hard to give up these things. the biggest thing i heard yesterday from a lot of -- the presidents and people from these colleges was we just don't know the long-term effects if you do get it. maybe you can recover and be fine. are their long-term ramifications. the virus hasn't been around long enough, yasmin. so that's one of the big issues that the colleges are dealing with. let's switch gears to the soupy air mass in place for much of the eastern half of the country. today, we'll have downpours. a few overnight.

a flash flood watch, the tropical watch and the hurricane come through. and some areas of rain. and now additional areas of rain. just there in washington, d.c., 23 million in flood watch, pretty much new york city southward all the way to virginia. as far as the rainfall totals go, the highest, 3 inches around here from lattsburg to harrisonburg. from boston to providence, to hartford, all the way south. as far as how hot it will be, not as hot as yesterday because we will have the afternoon thunderstorms. but so humid. washington will feel like 103. raleigh, it will feel like 101. i do have good news, there's a

little coolish, or cooler air, maybe, around cincinnati and that's going to slide into the mid-atlantic and the northeast over the weekend. compared to how it was it's going to feel nice being in the 80s for all of the areas. if you wonder where the heat is going, it's all going to our friends in the west who may stay up late. it's typical dangerous heat in the west where temperatures are going to be very warm. as we head towards the weekend, i don't know how they do it, phoenix, 113, 114, 114 -- >> geez. >> yes. it's kind of like us in the middle of winter complaining about a cold snap, i guess. >> that is brutal. thank you, bill. still, more on joe biden's historical pick of senator kamala harris.

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♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we are going to begin this half hour with more on senator kamala harris being selected as joe biden's running mate. a biden campaign aide telling nbc news the former vice

president called senator harris 90 minutes that she had in fact been selected. we learned that jeanpierre will serve as the chief of staff. she is the first black woman to serve in that role. this is video of the viral event when she stepped between harris and a protester who stormed the stage and grabbed a microphone from the senator's hand. the newly selected chief of staff is a white house staffer. she just recently joined the campaign and will continue to serve as senior adviser to joe biden. >> other potential female vice presidential picks embrace joe biden's pick of kamala harris. senator elizabeth warren saying she has been a great partner for joe biden and making our government a powerful force for

good in the fight for social, racial and economic justice and i'm so looking forward to seeing kamala take on mike pence on the debate stage. and a great partner on the campaign trail. gretchen whitmer tweeted that harris will be a fierce team to build america back together. and tammy duckworth promised to work as hard as she can to elect the democratic deal. and here is what mayor keisha lance bottoms had to say. >> obviously, i was disappointed when i got the call earlier today from vice president biden, but that being said, i am absolutely thrilled that it is kamala harris. and i think that this is such an important choice for so many reasons. it highlights the diversity of our country. >> all right. back with us now, reporter for

"the washington post" eugene scott. well, it seems that the mayor there was pretty honest in admitting that she was disappointed that she got the call that she was not the pick, but then obviously going on there to praise the senator. listen, i lot of folks would have love to have gotten that scoop that he was choosing kamala harris. but it seems as if there were no leaks coming from the biden camp up until the announcement came through. what do you make of the campaign's ability to keep this decision so close to the vest here? and i'm wondering if it had anything to do with covid lockdown measures and that folks aren't out and about milling around on the campaign trail? >> i think that's very possible. i think in a normal campaign, you would see people in teams coming out of buildings in locations. that would raise a flag for members of the campaign. or maybe other people who worked

in a ed ed by building who had that information become public. but that's not what we had due to the pandemic that we're currently in. but also it suggests that maybe only a few people at the top knew this announcement. as recently as this weekend, there were candidates still being interviewed for this position. so, it's not like that the biden campaign knew for sure this was the direction which sthey wante to go at least a week ago. part of what you noted or we highlighted in the post there aren't so many people that the biden people were considering for this position, after the vice president made the announcement that he really was looking for a woman to join the ticket with him. >> there was also some reporting in the lead-up to his decision that basically all the balls were in joe biden's corner at that point. it was just his decision as to who he was picking as the vice

president. so it really came down to just him. and the leak would have had to come from him, subsequently. it seems that kamala harris when she was campaigning for president, she was attacked on her record as a prosecutor. and on her record as attorney general. as prosecutor, she was known as somebody tough on crime. in california, she largely intervened in cases involving police killings. how does she and the biden camp, how do they defend that record, while this country is having a reckoning over racial justice? >> well, i think that's one of the points that the biden campaign will highlight to counter the accusations from the trump campaign, that kamala harris is his antthis anti-poli radical leftist. her record does not show that at all. very often when individuals were found have to committed crimes, harris wanted them to do time.

and that, i think, will be helpful for some of the more centrist voters who want to make sure they get behind someone who does take law and order seriously, albeit not the same way that president trump does, given all of his rationalized and xenophobic approach to policing. we've also seen from the george floyd protests and even before, the senator being vocal about the need for police reform. and reconsidering how lawmakers and governments respond to police departments who have displayed a problem with anti-black racism and their police tactics. and so, i think that's something that she will continue to try to communicate and get to voters in this current moment, where there's so much interest in that issue. >> all right. eugene scott, my friend, great to see you this morning. thank you for joining us. i want to get to the latest on coronavirus right now,

despite a lack of evidence, the president claiming that we're getting to the end of this pandemic. and that u.s. vaccines are in his words, ready to rock. >> we're doing very well in everything, including corona, as you call it. but let me just tell you, we're getting to an end -- and the vaccines are ready to rock. we're going to be very close to a vaccine. we're ready to distribute. and we're will for the therapeutics which, to me, is even more important, frankly, it makes you better. it's more important than the vaccine. >> so, let's talk about the real numbers here. florida added 276 new covid deaths yesterday. this is marking the highest number of deaths reported in a single day by the state since this pandemic began. the new record is bringing the death toll to over 8600 since march. florida's one of the hardest hit states in this country, by far, but daily new cases have appeared to decline in recent days. however, some experts believe

testing declined in part due to hurricane isaias, which disrupted some of the state's covid response efforts. meanwhile in georgia, a record 137 people died from the virus on tuesday, their highest single-day death tolls since the start of the pandemic, surpassing the state's record from last week. and nationwide coronavirus deaths in the u.s. topped 1,000 again yesterday. suggesting that the trend of four-digit single-day death tolls will continue for a fourth week. the white house is also backtracking over just how much money unemployed americans will receive under the president's executive action after initially announcing a $400 unemployment insurance benefit, 75% of which would come from the federal government. 25% from states. srl a senior administration officials are saying that individuals will receive just $300. that's on top of the regular unemployment payments they were already getting from their state. here's how white house economic

adviser larry ckudlow tried to clarify things. >> we've modified slightly had the mechanics of the deal. so, initially, and states can still, if they put another $100 in, to raise the benefit more generously, that's fine, it's up to them. but the way we're leaving it now is, any state who put in $100 before, for unemployment benefits, and every state did, they will then qualify for the extra $300. >> states that we know and governors have been talking about are already suffering economically from the major loss of revenue because of the covid shutdown. so white house officials saying that the unemployment payments will be coming in, in a few weeks, and will be retroactive to august 1st. still ahead, dr. anthony fauci casting doubt on russia's claim that it has developed the

first safe and effective vaccine for coronavirus. also, wild video showing strong winds ripping the roof off this building in chicago earlier this week, as debris goes flying through the air. wow. bill karins has a look at the storm damage and the rain and flood threat for later today. your "first look" add "morning joe" is back in a moment.

welcome back, russia's president vladimir putin saying that a coronavirus vaccine developed in his country has been officially republic sistered and declared ready for use, adding that one of his daughters has already been inoculated. russia is the first country to register a vaccine. but scientists in the country and abroad are skeptical, as the vaccine has registered before critical phase three trials that usually last four months and involve thousands of people. no data has been published by the researchers and only a few

dozen people have been injected with the vaccine so far. a phase three trial is due to begin later this month. the long-term effects and safety of this vaccine also currently remains unclear. and it is worth noting that someone who have been giving it have experienced fever. in a statement yesterday, the world health organization said it is in touch with russian scientists and authorities and look forward to reviewing details of the trials. back in july, officials from canada, uk and the united states claim that hackers connected to russian intelligence services are trying to steal the vaccine research. and dr. anthony fauci said that he, quote, seriously doubts that the russian vaccine is definitively proven to be safe and effective. >> well, i mean, having a vaccine, deborah, and proving that a vaccine is safe and

effective are two different things. we have half a dozen or more vaccines. so if we wanted to take the chance of hurting a lot of people or giving them something that doesn't work, we could start doing this next week, if we wanted to, but that's not the way it works but i hope, and i haven't heard any evidence that makes me feel that's the case, i hope that the russians have actually definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective. i seriously doubt that they've done that. but that's what people need to understand when they hear announcements from the chinese or the russians that we have a vaccine, we're giving a vaccine, and people are saying why aren't the americans doing that. well, because we have a way of doing things in this country that we care about safety and we care about efficacy. let's switch gears and get a check of your weather once again with msnbc meteorologist bill karins. talk to me about the wild weather. >> in the pictures that you showed.

>> yeah. a roof was blown off a building. >> yeah, you talk about what went through in indiana, portions of michigan, they say they never saw anything like it. it was an incredible burst of wind. it's called a derecho, it went for 670 miles. and we have 600,000 people out of power because of winds that rolled through the region. also, one of the impacts is the damage that's been done to the crops throughout the region. governor kim reynolds was saying it's over ten million acres of iowa farmland has been flattened. you can imagine, the corn was getting ready -- almost harvested, happened at the worst time. that storm system is long gone and hopefully for tomorrow for the weekend. as far as any storms we have strong storms in southern portions of arkansas that we're dealing with. we do have that alittle area of

the tropics, the tropical depression, josephine, as we go throughout the day. it looks north of the win ward islands. just missing the puerto rican islands. we're hoping it peters out, maybe even dissipates. at this point it does not look to be a threat for the east coast. for today, we're watching the heat and high humidity. and high heat offers a chance of thunderstorms. i will update one of the covid numbers, obviously this was one of the big stories you led with at the top of the show, all of the deaths in florida, the record numbers. yesterday, yasmin, was our deadliest day since may 27th with 5004 new deaths. the new number of cases is right on the seven-day average. >> that is not good to see, thank you, bill. still ahead, everybody, a new study on the correlation between vaping and covid.

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welcome back. a new study from the stanford university school of medicine shows a grim correlation between vaping and covid-19. among the teens and and young as tested, e-cigarette users were up to seven times more likely to be infected than nonusers. young people who had ever used e-cigarettes were five times more likely to contract the coronavirus, while those who smoked both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes within the past 30 days were 6. 8 times more likely to be diagnosed. the research is based on surveyed of over 4,000 participants, ages 13 to 24 years old across the country. all right, want to turn now to business. after its gdp shrank a record 20.4% last quarter, the uk has officially entered a recession

triggered by coronavirus pandemic. karen tso is joining us live from london on this not good news this morning for the economy there, karen. so, talk us through what you know about the economic situation currently. >> yasmin, we've had back-to-back quarterly declines, economic recession, a contraction of 2.2% in first quarter, but clearly we saw an acceleration in those declines as we had severe lockdowns enforced by the government, so the decline of 20.4% in the second quarter. these are preliminary figures, but services, construction production all saw record quarterly falls. the reopening of the economy, which you witnessed here in june with pubs, restaurants and bars, that didn't start to make a difference. we saw in june gdp up 8.7%, so an expansion on the back of that deep contraction, but today's print unfortunately gives the uk the worst-performing g7 country and is worse than france, which contracted by just shy of 14% and also the united states, down 9.5%. the uk chancellor has also

warned of more job losses ahead here. meantime, to other news. tiktok, the chinese video app, has apparently been tracking users online without giving them the option of opting out, effectively skirting around a google android operating policy. this is thought to have happened because of an extra layer of encryption that's occurred. tiktok is very much in the sights of president trump. the chinese app has been given 45 days to separate the u.s. operations through a takeover by the likes of microsoft or twitter's also thrown its hat into the ring recently, but clearly google investigating now. also, quickly around airbnb, rental platform known for the listings of private rooms, hoping for a listing of its own on the u.s. stock market. it is chasing that. the timing is uncertain, though, as it is expected to file paperwork with the s.e.c. shortly. it was recently valued at $18 billion, down from a $31 billion valuation. yasmin, back to you. >> all right, karen tso live from london for us.

thank you so much, karen. good to see you. coming up, axios' "1 big thing." and ahead on "morning joe," more on joe biden's historic selection as kamala harris as his vice presidential running mate. reverend al sharpton joining the conversation to explain what she brings to the ticket. also, chicago mayor lori lightfoot on kamala harris and the violence plaguing the city of chicago. "morning joe" is moments away. n.

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put your left hand on the bible and raise your right. do you solemnly swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith allegiance to the same? do you take this obligation clearly without any mental obligation and purpose of evasion and you will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which you are about to enter, so help me god? >> i do. >> now, you've got some family out here? >> thank you. come on up, family! >> welcome back, everybody. the pick is in, as we've been talking about all hour, and joe biden and kamala harris will be joining each other later today to make more remarks. want to bring in msnbc's kasie hunt to talk more about this. it was much anticipated, this

decision, and finally came in. no leaks until all of the announcements came in on our phones with a text message announcing kamala harris joining the ticket. what are you hearing in washington, the reaction to this pick so far? >> the no leaks was impressive! i mean, the entire press corps, not just here in washington, but anyone who's covering politics from every corner of the country is always trying to break this. and i think it speaks to the loyalty of his team and, you know, the fact that they were able to build this out. but it did stay so quiet until they actually were ready to announce her. and you know, this is kind of the rare vice presidential pick that is both historic -- she's the first black woman on a national ticket -- but also is the relatively safe choice. and you know, as we were reporting out the conclusion of this vice presidential search process, everyone always had the sense and were reporting that kamala harris was the person that was most likely.

and if someone else was going to come up and make a serious play to be in contention, they were going to have to demonstrate why they would be a better choice than harris. and we also reported extensively about concerns about that debate moment and whether that was what was potentially holding up the biden camp in terms of just making the decision outright. but in the end, he went with a pick that a lot of people expected. and i will say, yasmin, i've covered kamala harris since she came to washington in that 2017 clip that you showed of her being sworn in. she and donald trump have been here in washington for the same amount of time. and from the day she got here, it was very clear that she was planning to run for president, as she did in 2020. and she very assiduously and carefully courted reporters, she courted operatives, she kind of built all of the right relationships to lay the groundwork for that. and they were very careful in how they built up her public

profile on capitol hill. i remember in the beginning of her tenure as a senator, it was really hard to get her to come to the microphones in the hallway to talk about things. they were, you know, perhaps afraid that she was going make a mistake. she wasn't particularly comfortable, necessarily. but that changed with time, and she stepped into that bigger role on the judiciary committee, and it became more clear that she was more comfortable with those of us in the hallways. she got to know all of us, you know. she is a politician who has that kind of personal feel, who is able to remember personal things about the people that she's talking to. so, you know, i think it made a lot of sense to those who are watching this process. now, of course, her presidential campaign didn't go as well as i'm sure she had hoped, but she still went through the crucible of that, she still came under that scrutiny. she's familiar with the level and depth of the attacks that come when you stand on that kind of a stage. and when you're running against donald trump, the ultimate calculation was, that's really what matters the most, yasmin.

>> all right. kasie hunt for us. thank you so much. good to talk to you this morning. kasie, by the way, will be joining "morning joe" in a moment. that's it for me this wednesday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now. >> how do you rate kamala harris as a vp? there's a rumor -- >> i think she would be a fine choice, kamala harris. she would be a fine choice. i thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the u.s. senate. >> first of all, for donald trump to call any politician mean, horrible, disrespectful -- >> what a meanie! >> it's hilarious. >> last month -- >> that's hilarious. but also, if she were -- i mean -- how do you go from being a good pick to being mean, horrible, and disrespectful? well, i guess you get picked by joe biden as your vice presidential selection. >> and he also contributed to her. we'll get to that. >> no, they like her a lot. >> they love her! >> the family.

and this wasn't like