joining us from virginia is caitlin jewitt from -- a political science professor at virginia tech and the author of the book "the primary rules: parties, voters and presidential nominations." let us begin with the situation we are in the democratic party. president biden dropped his reelection bid, and it would appear that his vice president, kamala harris, is the presumptive nominee. are there federal rules in place by the party to deal with this situation? guest: there are. there are party rules in place, though the nomination process is harvard -- governed by parties and private organizations. there is no federal or state law or constitutional mandate that dictates how this will unfold. it is up to the democratic party. host: what rules do they have in place? guest: the democratic national committee's rules committee helped hammer this out because this is an unusual and unprecedented situation. beginning in about an hour the delegates to the national convention will do an online and virtual vote for the nominee. and vice president harris is the only candidate to qualify for that ba

then virginia tech political science professor caitlin jewitt talks about the democrat party nominatinges and how president biden's campaign contributions may be used in the future. we

then virginia tech political science professor caitlin jewitt talks about the democrat party nominating rules and how president biden's campaign contributions may be used in the future. we will also talk about his proposed supreme court changes first with the president and ceo of first liberty institute kelly shackleford and later with the executive director of fix the court gave roth. also former dnc chair in pennsylvania governor ed rendell talks about the virtual rollcall to nominate vice president harris and the impact pennsylvania could have on the fall campaign. washington journal starts now. ♪ host: good morning everyone. there are 96 days until election day. this morning on the washington journal we will begin with your reaction to former president donald trump's interview at the national association of black journalists convention in chicago. here's how you can join the conversation. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independent, your line this morning,. >> for american citizens to go back where they came from. you have used words like animal and a rabid t