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now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today. good day from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we'll bring you the latest as we begin with new reaction this hour to bombshell secret recordings of president trump's sister sharply criticizing him.

maryain trump spoke with mary trump for hours in 2018 and '19 unaware she was being recorded and saying things like this? >> [ bleep ] and the lying oh, my god, really, but you know it is the change of stories, the lack of preparation, the lying, the holy [ bleep ]. but he's appealing to the base. what they're doing with the kids at the border, i mean -- >> well the tapes were reported by "the washington post" and obtained and confirmed by nbc news and recordings were made here in new york where only one party needs to consent for a conversation to be legally recorded. meantime, the president is gearing up for a scaled down national convention set to begin tomorrow as joe biden and kamala harris sat down for the first joint interview as the democratic party nominees. >> watch me.

mr. president, watch me. look at us both, what we say, what we do, what we control, what we know, what kind of shape we're in. come on. just look. i think it is a legitimate question to ask anybody over 70 years old whether or not they're fit and whether their ready. but i just -- the only thing i could say to the american people, it is a legitimate question to ask anybody. watch me. >> our reporters across the country covering all angles. also developing today, a another critical story with curious aspects as the president is set to hold a news conference with the head of the food and drug administration. we're told it is about a major therapeutic breakthrough on coronavirus. this coming after the president slammed the fda as deep state over twitter accusing the agency of trying to delay scientific progress until after the election. confusing? perhaps so. we'll bring back kelly o'donnell at the white house to straighten it out for us. what do we know about the briefing. >> reporter: it is unusual for the president to hold an early evening briefing on a sunday

night. now that is happened at times during the period of coronavirus, but it stands out. it is certainly a way for the president to get some attention, to push the issues that are on his mind and of course it comes on the eve of his own convention. and it comes at a time when there is a lot of discussions about recordings involving his sister and the president may be able to get in front of that by giving us a new topic to talk about. and when you're dealing with covid-19 and any potential therapies, there is obviously enormous interest in that. it also stands out because of the tweet that you referenced where the president was accusing the fda just yesterday saying -- using the phrase deep state which is conspiratorial, claiming that those inside of that agency in my words drag their feet is what the president is suggesting and wait until after the election to have some developments. that is a damning charge made by the president who a few days

earlier said the fda is great when talking to reporters here at the white house. so the president a little bit all over the map on that. but today we heard from the chief of staff who gave a little bit more information, maybe a little more insight about the president and he claims it is an urgency and the president's part of wanting to get therapeutics, vaccines and various medical steps moved through the system without cutting scientific corners but trying to cut some of the red tape to move things along at a faster timeline than we would typically see in non-pandemic days. mark meadow as dressed this today and hinted at the president's sentiments about staff and their own timeline inside an agency like the fda. >> what the president was specifically addressing is something that i've been involved with over the last three or four weeks, is a real frustration with the bureaucrats think they could do this.

we're facing unprecedented times. the president is right to call it out and the announcement coming today should have been made several weeks ago. having been personally involved with it, sometimes you have to make them feel the heat if they don't see the light. i applaud the president for putting out the tweet. >> reporter: so, one of the questions will be, and as we we have a chance to question the president later today, once we know the specifics, one of the things that he's talking about recently is convalescent plasma to aid people suffering and people who have recovered and donating plasma and being used as a therapeutic, that is one of the things that the president talked about. could it be related to that. we inquired to the white house and they have not tipped their hand yet. but the question is is this just trying to move through bureaucrat hurdles or is any

science challenged at a pace that would not be safe or good for the public. those are the kind of questions that will come up as we hear what the president outlines later today. again, an unusual sunday evening news conference. >> kelly o., given the consistent coverage, my admiration of never developing a case of whiplash. so with me now, daniel straus and liz goodwin. good to see both of you. we'll go ladies first. i'm curious to hear what you might hear what is revealed in this meeting and applauding the president for calling the deep state and that whiplash i was referring to with kelly. what is your reaction? >> exactly. i agree with kelly that the therapeutic method that trump has been talking about is this plasma one. he's been sort of hinting that the fda is dragging its feet on authorizing it as atreme.

so the fact that he has this kind of aggressive tweet yesterday calling the fda the deep state and then now there is a press conference all of a sudden with a big announcement, and the head of fda joining him, i imagine he's announcing that they've agreed to authorize that. however, in the past, the president has held press briefings that have big announcements like i don't know if you remember the mobile testing centers early in the pandemic and they haven't panned out. sow ha-- so you have to be real careful to think something will happen in this white house. >> so daniel, as we look at big picture, the president's tweet slamming the fda and posted yesterday as liz said ahead of the white house announcement that it would have later on this evening, later that evening about what we would have this evening. do you think that had an impact on the scheduling of today's

announcement, that tweet? would the president have to get out from that? >> i mean, it didn't help. and this comes at a time when the white house is trying to bat back allegations that they like to swim in conspiracy theories. remember, this is not long after the president himself was asked a question about qanon and said i don't know much about them but isn't it a good thing that they like me. and this sort of falls into -- or the tweet falls in line with sort of that assessment that the white house and trump is prone to sort of making allegations without a huge amount of information on the topic. >> so, i want to get both of your reactions on the secret recordings of the president's sister as she was sharply criticizing the president and went after his character and unaware she's being recorded by mary trump, the president's

niece. let's listen to the exchange. >> he had somebody take his -- take the exams. >> no way. >> and he -- >> [ inaudible ]. >> s.a.t.s or whatever. >> oh, jesus christ. >> that is what i believe. i even remember the name. >> oh, man. >> so, liz, what is your reaction to all of this? these recordings? does something stand out to you? >> definitely. one of the first things that stand out to me is just the timing of it. because conventions are all about really putting your best foot forward to the nation. and for candidates it is a lot about sort of trotting out people who know you really well, especially family members, to vouch for you and say this is a person who has a good character, this is a person you could trust. which we obviously saw last week with the democratic convention with biden's family members and kamala harris's family members and that is also an aspect of the rnc no doubt.

and tof to have someone who has been very close to the president, inadvertently, because it doesn't seem like she knew she was being taped but to have it come out right now, as they're rolling out the convention and hisone sister is saying he lies, you can't trust him. the timing could not be worse for president trump. >> look, daniel, no one is going to be shocked by these allegations but to liz's point, the fact that it is his own sister had mark meadows pushing back but he wasn't pushing back on the content but that the recordings were being made at all and how deplorable that was. sometimes you have the statement out of the mouth of babes, right, comes the truth. if somebody doesn't think they're being recorded, aren't they more likely to speak candidly and honestly, potentially? >> i mean, i know sometimes people have not spoken candidly to me when i've stuffed a recorder in their face. >> but they knew that they had a

recorder, right? they knew it? >> yes. >> so, you know. >> look, i think in this case what is real shocking about this is not even the single comments by mrs. trump here, it is that, a., they came from a recording from mary trump, and this was an intimate conversation. this was not something that a critic of trump has made, not from someone who knew trump. it was from trump's family members in a conversation with him. and second, as liz said, the timing of this is important. and it underscores that liz goodwin as the article said, is -- or mary trump has said, is very interested in unseeding or doing waver they can to oust trump including sharing information about her family that is pretty secretive and private and that is what is going on here. >> well, absolutely, in terms of the timing. 100%. guys, thank you so much. meantime, we're counting

down to the republican national convention. just one day away and it kicks off tomorrow. let's go to amanda golden in charlotte, north carolina for us. so what do we expect with this and, again, we reflect on the president's history prior to taking office, the fact that he was a television reality star and producer of a very successful show. how much do you think that will help shape what we see over the next four days? >> reporter: we know, alex, it will have influence and what president trump is looking for with the rnc, is a emphasis on live speeches. we know that for the majority of the rnc it will take place throughout washington, d.c. both at the white house and the auditorium and fort mchenry and the president is now confirmed to be speaking every single night of the convention at various points. it is to be determined if that is live or in prerecorded remarks. but in addition to the speeches, we'll hear from a lot of notable

figures within trump's orbit, everyone from mitch mcconnell, to mike pompeo to kellyanne conway, to nikki haley and to members of the trump family. one member of the trump family will also be speaking each night of the convention. but all of that asaid, the formal business takes place here in charlotte and started over the weekend when 336 delegates were trickling in behind me for some of the business of actually renominating the president. so tomorrow we'll see the roll call with a condensed amount of delegates and nominating speeching throughout washington, d.c. this week. >> you give us a heads up for me to say this as i thank you. our special live coverage of the rnc begins tomorrow starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc. after a mostly glitch free virtual convention, democrats are trying to keep the momentum while republicans are taking the spotlight this week. the party is planning a counter programming all week pushing joe biden's message of unity and

painting another trump presidency as chaotic. deepa joins me now. give me a sense of what this counter programming will look like. >> reporter: that is exactly right. we're seeing the push for momentum, democrats wanting to carry the fundraising into next week as the rnc kicks off. and so the kind of themes that we're seeing in this counter programming is like you said around chaos of what they say is this administration and also crisis. so we have some of the themes lined up. tomorrow starts off with families in crisis and moving on to the economy in crisis, health care in crisis, there is a trend that you could see here building. and the idea is to kind of point at that -- the mess that democrats say -- that the trump administration has put us in with this pandemic and with the economy. and countering that with joe biden as someone who has led the country through an economic crisis and led the country

through the ebola crisis before. so that experience and as a parallel to what we're seeing with the trump administration today. we rrnts sure if we're seeing joe biden and kamala harris but we'll see pete buttigieg, nancy pelosi, val demings who will all be speaking on this. i do want to play a little piece of sound. there is an interview coming out tonight, kamala harris's and joe biden's first joint interview and one of the things that joe biden did talk about is kind of kamala harris's prosecutor record and what he had seen from her throughout her career and how that played into his selection process in choosing her as his vice presidential running mate. take a listen to that piece of sound. >> it just seemed to fit the closest and the best. i thought i understood and i think i understand her -- where she comes from, what her instincts are, her character. i watched her take on the big banks, i watched her take on the gun lobby, i watched her the way

she was a prosecutor. i watched her as a united states senator. i mean, she's an incredible woman who just -- and on judiciary committee. which i chaired and i watched her insist on getting the answers and not relenting. >> reporter: alex, you hear him there talking about her work as a prosecutor throughout her career in the senate. and as we think about how kamala harris is going to counter president trump possibly this week, the kind of attacks that we might see ramping up from the ticket against the current administration, i think that kamala harris's record as someone who has been demanding answers of trump officials like bill barr, like brett kavanaugh and that is something that we could see moving forward especially this week in the rnc. alex. >> thank you very much. omarosa is next to talk about steve bannon's arrest and a trump confidant calling him

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one day before the rnc and the president issing a mine field of unflattering revelation from different sources. the president's estranged niece particulary trump releasing a recording of her aunt disparaging the president in 2018 and 2019 and she called the president, quote, cruel with no principles. she did not know she was being recorded. showing me omarosa and author of unhinged a inside account of the trump white house. here is a couple of questions. did you find, first of all, the content of this recording surprising? >> you know, i think what is surprising, the family is very disciplined about what they say and when they say it. that you'll seldomly get one of the family members saying

something bad about donald publicly. so to hear his sister, said to be the closest sibling, saying these things about him, calling him a liar and cruel and admitting that he cheated to get into college, it is pretty surprising. >> yeah. you know this president, i want to reiterate she did not know she was being recorded. so whatever candor with which she was speaking, may have been unintentional had she known it would be made public. how would this news be received in the white house, how would it be received by the president? >> you know, i think that this president would actually react to this different than any of the other disclosures about him. because as i stated, his relationship with his sister has always been very close. so to have someone who is so close to him admit some of the things that you have seen so many people say over and over again, donald trump is cruel. donald trump does not tell the truth. donald trump is out for himself.

i believe her exact yet was donald is out for donald. and i think that that is truly a terrible indictment on this president. >> you were working at the same time at the white house as steve bannon who was recently indicted for fraud. what was your reaction to the charges this week and his claims that it is just a political hit job? >> well, you know, there are so many ironies to this particular story. the first, of course, is the president's statement that he wasn't very close to bannon and that bannon only worked with him closely and i could attest all of that is not true. donald was very close to steve bannon. steve bannon was an adviser to him for the campaign. i mean he was there throughout the entire time that i was there and that is the whole time. and then he brought steve bannon into the white house. and steve bannon had his own little corner, his silo in the white house but he frequently advised the president.

so these charges against steve bannon are shocking because the wall is one of donald trump's biggest prize policy agendas. and so to see this type of scandal surrounding this fraudulent behavior and really taking advantage of people who support the president and wanting to see the wall built. i think it is really just a testament to steve bannon's character and then donald trump because he said that he doesn't know about this particular charity, but his son, of course, was there endorsing it and of course his son advises him on most of these projects. so -- >> okay. so on top of all of this that we've learned this week, there is a new round of trump themed books getting ready to come out and one of them by michael cohen, the president's former fixer. the title of the book, it is called "disloyal." do you think trump should be nervous because cohen handled

his legal matters? >> well i could tell you exclusively that cohen shared some of this book with me and it is just a doozie. some of the stories, he shared in his testimony but there are so many things that michael cohen shares in the book that are not only damaging to the president but they're down right illegal. this book could certainly cause a lot of legal problems for donald trump and so, of course, michael has shared some of the more shocking things related to it. some of which i don't want to share because they're sexual in nature. but it just shows how close michael was to this president and the stories that he will share. i'm sure everyone will be very interested in. >> i had anthony scaramucci on the broadcast yesterday and he said that there is a lot of documentation in this book. >> mm-hmm. >> and you could confirm that as well. do you have that understanding?

>> oh, absolutely. i mean, michael took very, very diligent notes. but as we all know, he has tons and tons of recordings of this president. copies of documents, financial documents, tax returns, i mean all times of things that he was involved in negotiating so many contracts that this is one of those books that i think people will take note of. >> to what end? do you think this will sway die hard trumpians if you will, those that are his base that have stood by him from the last year of the campaign and through any manner of issues and accusations, through certain levels of malfeasance, even the last three and a half years. >> i don't think that michael cohen's goal is to sway the base. i think that this is michael cohen telling his own truth and his own story and sharing things that he wanted to share beyond his testimony on the hill. but also, because the president

went after michael cohen in such a terrible way, including attacking his family and as we all know, he got michael cohen arrested in order to keep this book from coming out. so i think michael's goal is to share his story and to tell his truth. >> and then see where the chips lie if you will. what about media reporter brian stelter. he's also releasing a book about trump called "hoax" discuss the relationship with fox news. here is what he told my colleague rachel maddow. >> there are real journalists at fox who are very uncomfortable with this and disturbed by the situation but they don't have the power. the prime time tars have the power and the fax and friends people in the morning have the power. they're talking to trump and they are turning around and telling friends in hannity's word, trump is a run on sentence. he's not well. it is such a disconnect between the on air rhetoric and the off air reality. >> does that surprise you to

hear what is being said behind trump's back at fox news? >> well, you know, god bless brian and i hope the book does well. but we've seen the relationship between donald trump and fox. i mean, in fact fox was pivotal in getting donald trump elected so i don't know there is anything new to be revealed in the book. but there have been people at fox that i've talked to who i got to know over the last couple of years who were very uncomfortable with what was happening. but i don't know that brian is going to show anything that we already don't know. we see the relationship between fox news and donald trump. and so we'll see how it turns out. >> we know about unhinged, what all went on there thanks to you. thank you. our special live coverage of the rnc begins tomorrow. it will start at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc.

meantime the qanon threat, will the gop keep ignoring it. we've got some answers next. e g.

i find it appalling that the media, when we have all of the important things that are going on, a list of top 20s that the first question at a press briefing would be about qanon that i had to google to figure out what it is. it is not a essential part of what the president is talking about. i don't know anything about it. let's look at domestic terrorism and look at antifa and a number of other areas and quit spending time on something that 81% of republicans don't even know what you're talking about. >> chief of staff mark meadow this is morning downplaying the president's refusal to denounce qanon, the conspiracy theory claiming saton worshiping pedophiles control hollywood and the government and only donald trump could stop them. so while it may to many seem like a fringe movement, one expert is sounding the alarm.

calling it a threat to democracy and a coming 20 crisis. joining me now is frank figliuzzi and a msnbc national security analyst and author of "the fbi way." good to see you, frank. i want to get into this. because mark meadows is making it seem like no one heard of this conspiracy and yet the president's own former security adviser michael flynn was seen reciting the qanon oath. what do you make of the administration's response. >> this kind of famed ignorance, alex, is extremely dangerous. and in fact, if you just listen to mark meadows, he said 81% of republicans don't at here to this. holy cow, does that mean that 19% of republicans do adhere to that? because that is an awful lot of people adhering to an extremely dangerous cult-like set of beliefs.

as you said, that flesh-eating satanic worshiping pedophiles are somehow running the world and that donald trump is the only thing that stands between that and safety. here is where i'm really concerned. first, on a smaller level, this poses a threat to the republican party and its future. if they don't denounce this strongly, they are risking becoming essentially a party of deranged thinking lunatics but it is worse than that. there is a cult-like posture to this group. and when you study cults, you understand that when their predictions and beliefs don't come through for them, what they end up doing is something that experts call force the ending scenario and force the ending scenarios look like waco and the branch dividians, they look like jim jones and guyana, because

you need to make happen what isn't playing out for you. what would that look like in november if the election doesn't go their way? it would look like violence. and finding lone wolves who are mentally unstable, who might act out is going to be extremely hard to prevent. >> and listen, the fact that you point out that, yes, 81% don't believe in this, according to mark meadows, that 19% that potentially do is eye popping. how the president responded to all of this this week. here it is. >> the qanon movement -- has been gaining followers you could talk about what you think about that and what you have to say to people following this movement right now. >> well, i don't know much about the movement other than i understand they like me very much. which i appreciate. but i don't know much about the movement. i have heard that it is gaining in popularity. >> and yet he puts out tweets supporting it. how dangerous is that? >> let's look back to the

horrible tragic mass slooting at the walmart in el paso and look at that shooter's background and mindset. the language that shooter was using was the language of the president who we've kept referring to mexican migrants as invaders, the brown people. the brown invaders. now fast forward and here we are with the trump -- trump saying he doesn't know much about it, with republican candidates winning primaries for congress, for state legislature, dozens of them who adhere to the concept. all of that enables and empowers and affirmed crazy people with a crazy set of beliefs who now feel they are embolden to act out because leaders refuse to denounce them. >> sobering. i want to switch gears here with you, frank. and talk about what acting homeland security chad wolf said if the president discussed with

him sending sheriffs to polling places, something he floats on friday. let's take a look and a listen. >> that is not what we do at the department of homeland security. we have law enforcement authorities and officers at the department and we have express authorities given to us by congress and this is not one of them. >> what do you make of this whole situation? >> well i'm actually encouraged. it is the rare time that i find anything that chad wolf says encouraging. but let's understand something. there is federal law that prohibits ordering armed civilian personnel or military personnel into polling places in the united states. so chad wolf seems to understand that. what we need to be watching for, some clues that i'm asking people to watch for are not the ordinary local police who come and direct traffic at the parking lot of your polling place or make sure there is orderly voting, that we should expect and not get panicked about that. what i want you to focus on is

off-duty officers, people being paid by the campaign or its surrogate groups who might be armed and then intimidation, if you start seeing people approaching people in the parking lot, who are minorities and democratic-leaning precincts and being arrested in the parking lot or pulled out of line while voting and questioned by off duty or surrogate representatives of law enforcement, that is what we need to watch for. >> that is chilling, frank figliuzzi. thank you. i'm glad to talk with you. coming up next, a preview of the republican convention and then a bit later college classmates of kamala harris will tell me what she was like way back when. e way back when.

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i just... when i... let's try again. everybody back to one. accident forgiveness from allstate. click or call for a quote today. more now on decision 2020 with more details on the rnc. the convention is certainly kicking off tomorrow in charlotte, north carolina. preparations underway as we speak. and joining me now stacy washington, a trump campaign surrogate. good to see you again. i'm glad to have you here. can you tell me about the main message that republicans plan to present at the convention this week? >> well, there is going to be a very detailed explanation and look at what another four years of a trump administration would look like. to include what he'll do about major issues facing americans, and a very hopeful picture of america as a place that -- that we're the number one place sought out for immigrants to

want to live in on the planet and it is a hopeful ideology with the strengths and the things that we share. >> so what about the latest cbs news battleground tracker poll in which it shows joe biden leading president trump by ten points. what do you think president trump could say to reverse these numbers? >> well, last week rasmussen had a poll that showed a four point swing toward the president with 47% of those polled going for biden and 51% for trump. so that happened during the week that the democrats were putting on their convention. and giving their message. which notably, alex, did not mention any denunciation of the violence on the streets of america or acknowledgment that he plans to raise taxes on 82% of americans his first day in office if elected. so i think the president is doing actually very well with voters. his message is getting out there.

he's been out in four separate states last week shaking hands, meeting voters and asking them for their vote which is far and above more than we've seen joe biden do while he's campaigning. >> well, listen, with all due respect i'll let the biden folks, the biden team discuss what they're plans and their policies are going to be going forward. but one question i do have the president, if he has any special plans to target undecided voters? how is he going to get them to come on board? >> well, the targeting of undecided voters is similar to all voters. all voters are interested in the policy for the next term. we're talking about taxation. ez made that cut. and he's brought in record number of jobs including as the pandemic, we see record numbers of jobs coming into the economy every single month. he's also doing a fantastic job on a foreign policy and made trade deals that have really

re-set the table with our allies and trading partners and those trade deals favor americans. there is also the opportunity zones that are all over the country. those specifically speak to his commitment to making sure that investment goes into hard hit disadvantaged urban areas and of course the criminal justice reform and the mideast peace deal that he just penned. so it is been a fantastic run for him for the first three and a half years an the next four years will look even better. >> so let me ask you this, with all due respect, because the pandemic has permeated every facet of this country from economy, to education, to businesses, i mean it is been an extraordinary thing, obviously health. the president has not gotten good marks on that. how will he address that? will he address that head on? >> well, so, alex, with all due respect, usually means something disrespectful is coming and i do

respect you and i appreciate you having me on. but the responses to the president's pandemic actions, things he's done to help americans, when they're covered in the media are completely skewed against him. he has a 98% negative media coverage from people on networks like yours who refused to acknowledge anything he does. and he plans to continue what he's doing now which is ramping up testing and such as the recomme remdesivir and the plasma getting people back to help and making sure that every possible methodology is available to americans because he cares about all of us, to ensure that we could all get through this pandemic together. >> all right. well, stacy washington, in fairness i'm glad to have you on and speak your truth on behalf of the trump campaign. >> thank you. >> thank you. now to one nation and an effort to bridge the digital divide.

9 million children do not have internet access at home and that is because so many are resulting to virtual learning. in baltimore, 40% of kids don't have internet access but a new program is working to create hot spots across the city. >> this is our way of reclaiming power in the communities that we serve. and creating the space and opportunity for communities of color to actually identify where priorities are. >> instant. i like this wi-fi. that was immediate connection. that is awesome. >> and that project is also a learning opportunity for local teens being trained to install and maintain those internet networks so it is both connecting a community and bringing students up to speed. so what was kamala harris like in college? we have two former classmates that will tell me next. ssmates that will tell me next [ thunder rumbles ] [ engine rumbling ]

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i keep thinking about that 25-year-old indian woman, all of 5 feet tall, who gave birth to me at kaiser hospital in oakland, california. on that day, she probably could have never imagined i would be standing before you now and speaking these words. i accept your nomination for vice president of the united states of america. >> when kamala harris accepted the nomination to run for vice president, thousands of americans watched her make history. her family, friends, and young girls across this country cheering her on from home. joining me now are two of harris' biggest supporters, jill lewis was a sorority sister in alpha kappa alpha. shirley tomkins was a student government rival who became a good friend. ladies, welcome to you both.

jill, tell me when you met kamala harris and what you remember most about her at that time? >> i met her when we were initiated to alpha kappa alpha at howard. what i remember most about her was her ready laugh. that bright smile you see instantly, that is what i remember so vividly when we were together at the sorority and at college. >> that's a great memory. what about you, shelly, because it's my understanding that you two started off as rivals big time. you were running for student government. both of you won the class representative positions and becoming friends, but i think she's called you her toughest opponent ever. tell me what that competition was like, and hindsight being 20/20, were you able to see politics would always be in her future? >> yeah, she caught me by surprise by calling me her toughest opponent. so coming from her, i took that as a real compliment. but you know, kamala early on

was very tenacious. just fierce. i can just say that i knew great things were in her future. whether or not i knew or i thought she would be running for the president of the united states and then subsequently vice president, i can't say that i saw that, but let's just say i'm not surprised whatsoever. >> yeah, that makes sense. you don't have a crystal ball, for heaven's sakes, and it might have seemed absolutely unplausible during the day, but here we are. jill, as you listened to harris' acceptance speech, what were you thinking? what was it like to see a really good friend make history, particularly as the first black and asian american woman to be on a major party ticket like this? >> it's a little surreal because you know the real person. this is not somebody who you don't have a connection with. this is not someone that you have not had real kind of girlfriend type conversations with.

and then, just a moment of intense pride. i remember watching it and feeling moved to stand up while i watched it, kind of like we do in church when something really true is happening. and i stood up because i wanted to receive that moment of importance and impact as a standing person. >> wow. i really love that. what about kamala harris as her run for the presidency, of course, now as joe biden's running mate. it's opened the door to a lot of criticism. it's from her record as a prosecutor to her sense of ambition, shelly, but as someone who actually knows her, what do you say to anyone who doubts her? >> yeah, i'm going to say that kamala is true through and through. and she's absolutely a person who's interested in helping all those that, you know, she has responsibility for. and you know, you're always going to hear people say

negative things, and she even said, you know, that in a report that hey, i'm not perfect. none of us are. but just as jill said, through and through, she's just a genuine person. who you see is who she is. >> yeah, you know, jill, i'm a sorority girl, and i have to wonder what the members of alpha kappa alpha are thinking right now. are they joining forces, because that kind of sisterhood thing in college, it's at a very formative time and there's a lot of loyalty there. what are you getting in terms of a sense of aka members and the extent to which they're going to support kamala? >> well, when someone who is of your group, be that friends, college people, or organizations, you know, the entire divine nine of sororities and fraternities, are just very excited in terms of the validation of our mission and the validation of our striving for excellence. it's exactly the kind of impact

that we hope we would have as an organization, to be able to send someone forward to really give life to service and to duty. and she's doing that. >> she's doing it pretty darn well, i must say. jill lewis and shelly tompkins, i'm sure you're both very proud of your good friend, and thank you for sharing what you know about her from way back in the day. appreciate it. that's going to do it for us this hour. i'm alex witt. up next, lindsey reiser will be speaking with bill kristol about the president's character. does it matter anymore despite the new recorded comments from the president's sister? stay with us. ith us

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good afternoon. i'm lindsey reiser. new developments today as president trump prepares for his big convention. the bombshell release of tapes from the president's sister, maryanne trump barry, with a brutally honest assessment of her brother. >> his god [ bleep ] tweet and lying, oh, my god, i'm talking to you freely. >> that's just a taste of what's on the tapes secretly recorded by the president's niece. reaction from the president in just a moment. >> and we'll be hearing from the president himself in just a few hours in a 5:30 news conference to announce what the administration says is a breakthrough in covid treatment. the surprise briefing announced just hours after the president appeared to go to war with his own fda. in a tweet that has experts concerned that hs