And hes been really hit very hard by both sides for that speech. That speech was ridiculous. Do you have a response to Michelle Obamas speech last night where she said that youre in over your head and the wrong president for the country . Yeah, no, she was over her head. And frankly, she should have made the speech live, which she didnt do. She taped it. And not only was it taped, but it was taped a long time ago because she had the wrong deaths. He didnt even mention the Vice President ial candidate in the speech. And you know, she gets these fawning reviews. If you gave a real review, it wouldnt be so fawning. I thought it was a divisive speech, extremely divisive. Mm well, theres just something about the obamas that just gets under the president s skin. Something about the obamas, yeah. Two weeks after taking issue with former president obamas eulogy of john lewis, President Trump spent time yesterday smarting over Michelle Obamas speech from night one of the Democratic National convention. Yesterday was a bad day. I mean usually, joe, he deflects. Usually he distracts. Usually he does something, like some big, shiny object to distract from Something Like the incredible speech by Michelle Obama. But instead, those distractions came from the senate and from the head of the Postal Service. Two major developments with blows to the president s narrative. The release of a new Bipartisan Senate report concludes that the 2016 Trump Campaign eagerly embraced russias help in the election. As the Washington Examiner put it, the Senate Report on russia blows a hole in trumps hoax claims. Plus, the head of the u. S. Postal service says hes going to suspend the changes that democrats say are meant to sabotage the mailin vote. Hes pulling it all back. Its usually not a good sign politically when youre already warning about two elections. Absentee is great, but universal is going to be a disaster, the likes of which our country has never seen. It will end up being a rigged election or they will never come out with an outcome. Theyll have to do it again. And nobody wants that. And i dont want that. And by the way, i, as president of the United States, ive already, like, decided im mailing in my ballots. Okay. So, thats what hes doing. Along with my family and everybody else, but its okay, of course, for the trumps to do that, but it would be an absolute disaster if a Senior Citizen in florida who had health problems, or a Senior Citizen in arizona tried to do the same thing the president of the United States did. Correct. Were also going to get the big moments from last nights Democratic National convention. It was pretty amazing. Where joe biden formally secured the democratic president ial nomination with a Virtual Convention roll call like no noe other. Among our guests this morning will be the woman who closed out the night with a deeply personal speech about her husbands character, dr. Jill biden. How do you make a broken family whole . The same way you make a nation whole, with love and understanding and with small acts of kindness, with bravery, with unwavering faith. You show up for each other in big ways and small ones, again and again. Its what so many of you are doing right now for your loved ones, for complete strangers, for your communities. We are seeing that our differences are precious and our similarities infinite. We have shown that the heart of this nation still beats with kindness and courage. Thats the soul of America Joe Biden is fighting for now. Dr. Biden will be our guest this morning, along with former National Security adviser susan rice, former acting attorney general sally yates, and senator cory booker. This is a huge i mean, this is huge i mean, hes like, willie, its like night of a thousand stars, with Bert Reynolds and dom dellous. We have everybody that you would want to have. But you know, yesterday was was a huge it was a huge day. Was a genuinely bad day for donald trump. I mean, you know, willie and i are writing our own history book after my truman book comes out on the great routes of all time. And lets see, weve got a chapter, willie, of course, on napoleon at waterloo. Waterloo, yeah. The germans at stalingrad. Yeah. Thats willies favorite. The red sox at yankee stadium. And of course, donald trump in the white house yesterday. I mean, you had this russian report that came out, and the language was just hard. Republicans concluded that trumps coordination with russia proved a, quote, grave counterintelligence threat. A grave threat to american democracy. And were going to go through the report. But just looking at some of it here, you know, despite trumps recollection, the Senate Republican report said, the committee assesses that trump did, in fact, speak with they say trump lied. Trump committed perjury there and that donald trump knowingly pushed russian material the last month of the campaign, even after the Intelligence Committee warned him not to, that it was stolen material from russia. And then, of course, you had dejoy at the post office going, never mind. Oh, my god it was a bad day. Never mind. Listen, i know the president wants me to help him rig the election, but upon further consultation with my lawyers, my wife, and my family, i dont want to go to jail. Thanks. So, never mind, yall. So, all in all, quite a day for the president , who, of course, youve got to ive just got to say, chided Michelle Obama for getting the death count wrong because Michelle Obama was being conservative and said only 150,000 americans died because of his incompetence, instead of 170,000, so that we know of. So, if thats his, you know did he really need the other 22,000 added on that badly . Again, just a miserable day for a miserable man who sees his political fortunes going in just a terrible direction. Yeah, his big criticisms of Michelle Obamas speech were, number one, that it was taped. Thats the best he could do. And then number two, i think we call that, joe, a selfown, when you say, she got the deaths wrong, actually on my watch. Since she taped that, there have been 22,000 more deaths from coronavirus in this country. So, yeah, it was not a good day for him. Were going to comb through the details of the report in just a moment, the Postal Service. And meanwhile, you had the Democratic Party putting on their show and pulling it off, despite all this digital madness that were having to go through right now. And you have jill biden telling a story of humanity, the story of her husband, but also her own story. And i think what came through to a lot of people was decency, good people. Yes. You know . And i think theres going to be policy, of course, on the ballot, but also, i think character and decency will be on the ballot. Well see how people respond to that. But i was thinking, joe and mika, of february 11th, when the three of us and Mike Barnicle were sitting in a restaurant in New Hampshire, and joe biden came in on primary day and sat with us. And when he walked out, i think we all looked at each other and said, wow, that sounded a lot like a political funeral. The room was quiet. He was quiet. He ended up finishing fifth place after having finished in fourth place in iowa, went on a distant second in nevada. It, frankly, felt like it was over. And i think he thought it was over. And then last night, he was nominated. Hes the nominee to become president of the United States. So, it was an extraordinary night, and well get into that. But lets talk go ahead, joe. I was just going to say, that was an incredible day. And i didnt remember, so february 11th. And when he walked in on our set in New Hampshire, after having yet another bad, bad performance, he quietly asked, hey, guys, do you mind if i sit next to mike . Because he and mike had been friends for a long time. And i remember joe biden sitting in the middle chair, mike to one side. I was on the other side. And ive got to say, ive never been around him and Mike Barnicle, where all three of us werent talking 100 miles an hour, laughing, joking. And he just sat there in silence. And we were trying to think of something to say to him. We just couldnt do it, because a lot of white democrats in iowa and then a lot of white democrats in New Hampshire had, in effect, decided that he was not worthy to be the nominee. And we had been complaining all along that, you know, the democratic primary was too white in those first two races. And then a lot of black democrats, mika, in South Carolina said, hold my beer. Right. Now its our turn. Were the backbone of this party. Yeah. Lets get this done. And they put joe biden on, really, one of the most unlikely paths to president ial nomination that weve seen in modern history. Just one final point about that moment in New Hampshire. It was dead quiet. I think none of us knew what to say, but i was looking at his face, and this is a man whos been down before, and he just gets up. He seemed most okay in the room. Like, it was awkward for his friends and for members of the media around him, his friend, mike, because we kind of felt it was over. Just the numbers seemed to be looking that way. Yeah. And joe was good, but it was quiet. It was an interesting moment. Well, and we feel that way, willie, by the way it must be said we feel that way about anybody that comes in yeah, oh, for sure. And they have a bad loss, and you see how hard campaigning is. You feel it. For all of them. And its just a difficult position. And here you have a guy who had been trying this since 1988 and hadnt won a single primary. In fact, i think a lot of people were saying he had never finished better than, like, fourth or fifth in a democratic primary, since 1988. And again, then, man, the turnaround. And then the race to the nomination. The most unlikely of nominations that weve seen in quite some time. Extraordinary, yeah. Lets get to everybody else in just a moment. But first, the story we touched on here. The senate Intelligence Committee yesterday released a nearly 1,000page report on the 2016 Trump Campaigns ties to russia. The bipartisan report goes further than special counsel Robert Muellers report, in detailing the extent to which the Trump Campaign sought help from a foreign power to win the 2016 president ial election. Approved by the committees republican majority, the Senate Report found that President Trump had discussed hacked emails with roger stone, despite the president telling mueller that he didnt recall doing so. Under oath. Really . Under oath. He lied under oath. Last month, the president where i come from in the Redneck Riviera, we call that perjury. Yeah. Last month, the president commuted roger stones sentence after he was convicted of seven felony crimes. The report also cited testimony and other information provided by several witnesses referring to the possible existence of compromising tapes and witness accounts of trumps conduct with women during past visits to moscow, but the allegations were not confirmed and the report stressed that it could not establish that russia had collected compromising material on trump. The senate Intelligence Committee affirmed muellers investigation and stones prosecution on the subject of wikileaks, saying in part, quote, staff on the Trump Campaign sought advance notice about wikileaks releases, created messaging strategies to promote and share the materials in anticipation of and following their release and encouraged further leaks. So, to talk about all this let me go to willie on this for a second, because we need to underline that. Yeah. Willie, so blaring headline. Donald trump and im going to speak slowly, because some of his hacks on capitol hill and some of his hacks off capitol hill love to say, no collusion, that this is a hoax. Donald trump openly accepted what he knew to be russian help. He was told by the intel communities in august in august that russia had stolen material and that they were going the russian gru was going to use wikileaks to launder their stolen information. What did donald trump do with that information . He used it. And not only did he use it, knowing that he was promoting an asset of russias spy agency, he went around saying, we love wikileaks, i love wikileaks. And he used that information over the last month of the campaign, knowing, again, that this was all in coordination with russia. And that was in the Senate Report. Thats well known to everyone. Likewise, of course, i just have to say this, too trumps Foreign Policy adviser, his National Security adviser, his Campaign Chairman, his Deputy Campaign chairman, his personal lawyer, his political consultant, and his attorney general were all busted for lying to the feds or congress about their contacts with russia. This republican report lays all of it out in the starkest of terms. It does. And the argument from President Trump, from roger stone, anyone else swept up in the Mueller Report, has been that we were passive observers. That, yes, maybe russia interfered in the election, but we were just watching. What this report says again and you said it at the top, but its worth underlining this is a republicanled committee. Of course, republicans are in the majority in the senate. Richard burr of North Carolina leads the Senate Intel Committee. This is a republicanled, bipartisan report, exhaustive report, almost 600 pages. It shows that not only did russia interfere, but that the campaign willingly accepted what they dug up in their interference and that roger stone actively worked to get those wikileaks emails that, as you said, donald trump went out and touted those emails on the campaign trail, saying, we love wikileaks, cited information from those emails on the campaign trail. The Senate Report also talks about Paul Manafort helping, working alongside russians to get information, to get these wikileaks emails out. It is clear, once again, we get another report showing, not only did russia interfere, but that the Trump Campaign in 2016, make no mistake, willingly accepted and used that information. Well, and also, mika, it was coordinated. You had stone coordinating it. You had stone talking to wikileaks. You had stone talking to trump. They knew when all of this was coming out. You had stone on the day of the access Hollywood Tape coming out pushing to get the wikileaks information out there because he wanted to stir the pot up and have a distracting headline. So, again, anybody that talks about a russian hoax, as ive said weeks ago, as i wrote in a Washington Post column a few weeks ago, theyre just going to look like absolute fools and useful idiots throughout history. Americans may be worn down by the onslaught, but this is a moment where leaders in washington better get on the same page. With us, we have msnbc National Affairs analyst, cohost of showtimes the circus and executive editor of the recount, john heilemann, former u. S. Senator, now an nbc news and msnbc political analyst, Claire Mccaskill, and our legal panel. Nbc news and msnbc law analyst and editor in chief of law fair, benjamin wittis, and former u. S. Attorney for the Northern District of alabama and an msnbc legal analyst, joyce vance. How devastating is this report for donald trump and the administration . You know, if people read it, it is devastating. As you just described, it shows a degree of involvement on the part of the Trump Campaign and donald trump himself that even the Mueller Report did not quite describe, partly because the report is, you know, its not a criminal report on an investigation, the way the Mueller Report is. Its actually a little bit more of you know, its almost more journalistic report based on a congressional investigation of counterintelligence risk. And so, it can be a little freer than mueller could. The most important thing about it, however, is not the facts that it contained, its the names who were on it. Its the fact that this was a bipartisan report by the senate Intelligence Committee, which actually, unlike the house Intelligence Committee under devin nunes, actually did its job, did a full and co