maeve reston is with us.he campaign what they think finally releasing the statement and acknowledging something did go wrong will -- how will it affect things? >> just as you said, john, clearly they're trying to get past the controversy after it dominated the news cycle for 48 hours. we've been talking to many sources yesterday trying to figure out how these passages got into melania's speech. we knew she had consulted a number of people. no one was stepping forward. a few minutes ago we got a statement from someone who worked would druonald trump wit his books, meredith mcgiver. apparently melania spoke to her asked for her guidance in helping with the speech this is the way she describes how this went down. as an innocent mistake, i'm going to read the statement to you -- in working with melania trump on her recent first lady speech, we discussed many people who inspired here and messages she wanted to share with the american people. a person she has always liked is michelle obama, over the phone she read

we have host of the david gregory show podcast and phil maltingly and maeve reston. es look like the system is rigged and from the leaked e-mails. quickly before we move on to trump, has the dnc justified with the e-mails? were they trying to undermine sanders? >> it seems like they were trying to move the story line to the russian hack as opposed to actually talking about addressing the content. >> when in doubt, go with the russians. >> but i think to be really interesting to see if the issue is addressed at all and how it is explained to bernie sanders supporters. we haven't seen a lot of that yet. obviously the clinton campaign is saying this is concerning and we want an investigation into this, et cetera. sanders has said he has seen victories this week with reforms to super delegates and hoping that the next chair will be imparti impartial. for trump, this fits into his argument. he is trying so hard to pick up some of those voters who were attracted to sanders' messages and in states of the rust belt were he needs a clean sweep. and in trade where the system is

david gregory and political reporter maeve reston and ron brownstein.want to start with you. you are not the only person to make this comparison. you have an interesting take on it. her speech was so different than donald trump's. you see something in that. >> i thought her speech was the a alternative reality to what donald trump had been. what if trump had run as the can-do outsider business executive. take his smarts and shake up the political system and make your life better without the harsh tone on immigration and black lives matter and other racially divisive issues? she gave him that campaign. her speech was alternate road. there was a debate among professionals. could he have won the nomination? i think in a stronger position today for the general if he won the nomination on that argument. the question is if he won the nomination. that speech last night, that was the man in the high castle. one of the alternative histories. that is what the donald trump campaign could have been. his speech had elements of that, but darker thread running through

we have maeve reston and errol louis and then david gregory. great to have you here this morning. what was ted cruz thinking? >> that he wants to run for 2020 and he is making a calculation that he can be the face of conservatively. this is a fight that included donald trump accusing his father being part of the jfk assassination and critical of his wife in an ugly and personal way. i think ted cruz using the language of the never trump movement was going to go out and deliberately sabotage the convention. the most important part of the week is party unity. he snubbed him. this was an -- we always say these are scripted. that was an unscripted show. to trump's credit. he saw the remarks and said let him speak anyway. the only real party unity at this convention is when people have literally called for imprisoning hillary clinton. that's the most unity you got. >> i guess you could spin it, errol, you could spin it that cruz did trump a favor. that is the first time we have seen the floor united in mutual outrage that wasn't about hillary clinton. it was about cruz. in fact, we hea

reporting maggie hager man of "the new york times," jonathan martin of "the new york times" and cnn's maeve reston. normally day four, the big acceptance speech is the final act. but what we're seeing in cleveland is very different. forget careful. the trademarks of the trump campaign are chaos, controversy and conflict. >> instead of a disciplined round one of trump versus clinton, what do we have today? a contentious round 999 of trump versus cruz. >> stand and speak and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the constitution. >> senator cruz was heckled as he left the hall, declared an ingreat. this morning at a contentious meeting with the texas delegation, senator cruz stood his ground. >> this is not a game. it is not politics. right and wrong matters. we have not abandoned who we are in this country. >> if anyone thinks i was eager to come to this convention and give a speech laying out supporting a great many of the policy positions laid out by donald trump, laying out why hillary clinton is utterly unfit t

. >> and my panel is back with maeve reston. okay, so this was the big unveiling, maeve. unveiling of the ticket together. i want to play several more pieces of it. first of all, she is saying i pick him because i trust him and i know that i can listen to what he says. which is sort of like a translation for having, you know, a no person in your life. somebody that you will take their guidance, their advice and we all keep asking the question whether donald trump has someone around him like that. i think to that point, you know, i think at every juncture her campaign is trying to make it clear that they're trying to be the steady hand and that kaine is someone that everyone in america could feel comfortable with. stepping into the role of president. but it certainly is her level of comfort with him is so different than what we have seen on the campaign trail. she looks happy when he is around. >> maybe in that sense she can humanize him. a less strident side. here's a moment that that was a little bit visible in this interview. let me play it. >> i just want to do everyth

joining us now on the political panel, here in washington, cnn national political reporter, maeve reston, ryan lizza, david chaleon, and christina a lessi. this is pretty surprising, corker appears with him and now he is not interested with being his running mate. >> not just at the rally, but also spent time with donald trump and his family members in trump tower before flying down to north carolina. and spoke of that experience. what he tells the "washington post" is you come to realize there are things you're good at not the best fit for you. after discussions, he said lengthy discussions over some period of time here, that he has come to the conclusion this is not the right role for him. it is going to raise a ton of questions about how serious in contention was he, was there something that came up in vetting that he thinks is not worth going through. because as you know, this is a process, where you hand over every piece of paper you have, everything you've ever done in your life. so whether there was something in that process that caused concern, or whether we take him at face valu

maeve reston, a speech writer from the trump organization has come forward, offered her resignation which donald trump has declined to accept. tell us the background. >> so, this obviously has been a huge source of confusion over the last couple of days, how did the passages from michelle obama's 2008 speech show up in melania's speech. the campaign was not offering details. they said they were trying to track it down today just a few minutes ago, someone who has worked with donald trump in the past on some of his books, think like a billionaire, came forward and she said -- took responsibility saying it was an innocent mistake and i want to read you some of that statement from meredith mciver who helped melania with the speech. she said in working with melania trump on her speech we discussed many people who inspired her and messages she wanted to share with the american people. a person she has liked is michelle obama, over the phone she read me some passages from mrs. obama's speech as examples. i wrote them down and later included some of them -- some of the phrasing in the draft that

and cnn national political reporter who's been zigzagging on the trail for months, maeve reston is heret is so nice to meet you and have you on. just beginning with, listen, wherever you fall, left, right, center, i just want to take a beat to appreciate you have the first african-american president essentially hugging, passing the proverbial baton on to who could be the first woman. >> and, brooke, it really is amazing when you think about kids who were born in 2004, 2005 who have grown up really seeing obama as their president, possibly followed by hillary clinton. let's say she gets re-elected. there is a 16-year span where they see an african-american president, a woman president, and america is going to be different. it is not clear how exactly but there is no turning back from this. >> maive, to you. president obama used humor as a device to say, listen, we didn't always get along, yes, she was my rival. talk about eight years ago. how bitter and difficult was it for them? >> well, let's all just remember that moment in the debate where he said "you're likable enough." right? >> i