DNC Day 1 Recap: Biden passes torch to Harris at hero's sendoff

Biden denied reports that he harbors resentments against Democratic party members calling on him to drop out of the presidential race.

"All this talk about how I'm angry at all the people who said I should step down — that's not true," Biden said. "It's been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president. I love the job, but I love my country more."

Instead, he said he was focused on finishing out the remaining five months of his term: "I've got five months left in my presidency. I've got a lot to do. I intend to get it done."

At the end of his almost hour-long speech, Biden was joined on stage by his family, including Jill Biden, along with Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff.

— Rebecca Picciotto

The thousands of Gaza war protesters at the DNC are demonstrating for legitimate reasons, said Biden, acknowledging a conflict that has polarized the United States and created deep rifts in the Democratic party.

"We're working around the clock, my Secretary of State, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now," Biden said. "But those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides."

— Rebecca Picciotto

Biden recounted the landmark achievements of his presidential term and made room to share the recognition with Harris.

"We've had one of the most extraordinary four years of progress ever, period," he said. "When I say we, I mean Kamala and me."

In what could likely be his most-viewed public appearance for the remaining months of his term, Biden listed out his administration's major policy accomplishments like the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act and others.

As the crowd chanted, "Thank you, Joe," the president responded: "Thank you Kamala, too."

— Rebecca Picciotto

Biden was unable to get a word in edgewise during the first minutes of his keynote speech, as he was drowned out by a riled up crowd that gave him a standing ovation and chanted "Thank you, Joe!"

The president thanked his daughter, Ashley Biden, who introduced him, along with his son, Hunter, and his wife, Jill Biden.

The overwhelming expressions of support for Biden cap a profoundly difficult month for the president, who decided to step out of the race on July 21, as the Democratic party grew increasingly concerned about his ability to beat Trump.

— Rebecca Picciotto

"Joe and I have been together for almost 50 years, and still, there are moments when I fall in love with him all over again," First Lady Jill Biden tells the convention crowd.

"Those moments when I'm reminded of all he's accomplished in the name of something bigger than himself... [like] weeks ago, when I saw him dig deep into his soul and decide to no longer seek reelection and endorse Kamala Harris," she says.

The first lady is also recalling when her and the president's late son, Beau Biden, first told her about Harris.

Beau worked with Harris when they were both state attorneys general, he of Delaware and she of California.

"He told me at the dinner table one night, 'Mom, she's special, someone to keep your eye on.' And he was right," she says. "Joe and I know Kamala. We have seen her courage, her determination and her leadership up close."

Turning to Harris and Walz, Biden says "Kamala and Tim, you will win."

– Josephine Rozzelle

Sandwiched in the lineup of speakers between Hillary Clinton and the Biden family was Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a first-term lawmaker from Texas whose knack for creating viral moments on Capitol Hill has catapulted her into the national spotlight.

In her turn on the DNC stage, Crockett drew laughs, and tears, from the crowd as she tore into Trump and tenderly recounted her first time meeting Harris.

Crockett, 43, worked as a civil rights attorney before she was elected to the Texas state House. She was elected to represent the state's 30th congressional district in 2022.

She has experienced a rapidly rising profile, thanks in no small part to her sense of humor and her willingness to clash with her Republican colleagues, including the lightening rod conservative Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

At one point she referenced one of her previous viral moments, as she slammed Trump over the boxes of classified materials that he kept in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom.

— Kevin Breuninger

Jim Clyburn, the Democratic House Representative from South Carolina, said that Trump cannot detach himself from the controversial Project 2025 platform, which he likened to a second iteration of Jim Crow-era policies.

"While Trump falsely pleads ignorance of Project 2025, which in my opinion, is Jim Crow 2.0, Kamala has been offering the American people enlightening proposals and visionary leadership," Clyburn said.

Clyburn, a close Biden ally, had a huge influence in helping Biden win over Black voters during the 2020 election, a key demographic of the Democratic base that catapulted him to win the White House.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Clinton just closed her remarks by rallying the arena full of Democrats to mobilize for Harris' campaign, saying, "we have [Trump] on the run!"

"No matter what the polls say, we can't let up," Clinton says, alluding to recent surveys that show Harris leading Trump by slim margins.

"For the next 78 days, we need to work harder than we ever have," Clinton says. "We need to beat back the dangers that Trump and his allies pose to the rule of law and our way of life."

– Josephine Rozzelle

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton contrasted Harris' record as a prosecutor with Trump's recently established criminal record — prompting the DNC crowd to chant, "Lock him up!"

"As a prosecutor, Kamala locked up murderers and drug traffickers, she will never rest in defense of our freedom and safety," Clinton said.

"Donald Trump fell asleep in his own trial," she said," and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history: The first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions."

The irony was hard to miss. When Clinton was running for president in the 2016 election, Trump's campaign rally crowds routinely chanted, "Lock her up." Trump, despite recently claiming he discouraged those chants, repeatedly echoed the calls to jail Clinton.

— Kevin Breuninger

Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr lauded the Harris-Walz ticket and pledged to spend each day until the November election trying to boost voter turnout.

"They have devoted their lives to serving other people, whether Vice President Harris was defending her community in the courtroom or Governor Walz was inspiring the next generation in the classroom or on the field," Kerr said. "By the way, coach to coach that guy's awesome."

Kerr was a late addition to the DNC speaker list. He said he only received his invitation a couple days after he wrapped up his time at the Paris Olympics where both the men's and women's U.S. basketball teams won gold.

"I know very well that speaking out about politics these days comes with risks," Kerr said. "I can see the shut up and whistle tweets being fired off as we speak."

"But I also knew as soon as I was asked that it was too important as an American citizen not to speak up in an election of this magnitude," he added.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Creators are having their moment at the DNC this year.

Content creator and reproductive rights activist Deja Foxx spoke on the convention floor tonight, marking another indication that the campaign is focusing on attracting young voters for this year's election.

"For young people, this is a fight for our future," said Foxx. "We have a responsibility to do this, and we have a responsibility to do it right, and that's why we're going to show up for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz."

More than 200 digital content creators were given credentials to attend the convention. The creators also have their own platform on the convention floor, a lounge to work on their content and access to high profile members attending.

Foxx has over 140,000 followers on TikTok and previously worked for Harris' 2020 presidential campaign as an Influencer and Surrogate Strategist, according to her website. Four other creators are planned to speak throughout the rest of the convention, Carlos Eduardo Espina, Olivia Julianna, Nabela Noor and John Russell.

-Zach Vallese

Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow took the DNC stage wielding what appeared to be a large bound copy of Project 2025, the 900-paged policy plan for a second Trump term drafted the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

McMorrow will read from the book every day of the convention this week, each night highlighting a different theme of the plan that Democrats say threatens Americans' rights and freedoms.

"Tonight, I want to tell you about just one aspect of Project 2025: Its plan to turn Donald Trump into a dictator," McMorrow said, reading from sections that discuss broadening Trump's ability to fire civil servants who disagree with him and ending law enforcement's independent status.

"That is not how it works in America," McMorrow said. "That's how it works in dictatorships, and that's exactly what Donald Trump and his MAGA minions have in mind: An expansion of presidential powers like no president has ever had or should ever have."

– Josephine Rozzelle

There is a lot more electric green at this year's DNC than ever before.

After the performer Charli XCX said Harris embodied the ethos of her megahit album "Brat," the Harris campaign embraced the messaging — and it's signature electric green hue.

The unlikely alliance between Harris and the carefree "Brat" attitude has produced viral content online that draws hundreds of millions of clicks on social media.

Now, convention VIPs are getting in on the trend. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was spotted wearing a neon green tie. Other attendees are sporting bright green outfits around the convention floor. Hats embroidered with "Demo(b)rat" are being sold at the DemPalooza market.

-Zach Vallese

Harris made a surprise appearance to praise President Joe Biden, who is speaking later Monday night, and fire up the DNC crowd.

"This is going to be a great week," Harris said after taking the stage to a lead-in video featuring the music of Beyonce Knowles.

She invited the crowd to kick off the week by celebrating Biden for his "historic leadership .... and for all you will continue to do. We are forever grateful to you."

The crowd briefly began to chant, "Thank you, Joe."

Harris told the audience, "We are moving forward," adding, "When we fight, we win."

— Kevin Breuninger

The head of the Service Employees International Union told the convention that, with Harris as president, "we will usher in a new era of worker power."

"We're all in for Kamala Harris because Kamala Harris has always been all in for us," said SEIU President April Verrett, one of several major labor leaders addressing the convention tonight. "She shares our vision of a modern-day union movement."

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said, "Four years ago we faced a pandemic and a recession with a president who didn't care one bit for what working people were going through."

"Enter Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," Saunders said. "Within weeks they passed the American Rescue Plan, pulling the American economy back from the brink and putting us back to work ... This November we're moving forward with Kamala Harris as our president."

- Dan Mangan

A former self-described "full-fledged member of MAGA" turned Harris voter urged Republicans and independents who are watching the DNC to consider swearing off Trump.

"I finally stepped outside the MAGA echo chamber, I stopped listening to what Trump said and looked around with my own eyes," said Rich Logis, a Florida resident who wrote an op-ed last year about his conversion from four-time Trump voter to "Never Trumper."

"And I realized, he had been lying about pretty much everything," Logis said in a prerecorded video. "I made a grave mistake. But it's never too late to change your mind."

"You don't need to agree with everything you hear tonight to do what is right," he added. "We need to be able to trust our leaders. That's why I'm all in for Kamala Harris."

— Kevin Breuninger

Gwen Walz opens up about her fertility struggles in a new feature in Glamour Magazine.

"Our fertility journey was an incredibly personal and difficult experience," Walz says in a post to her X account, linking to the profile. "After seeing the extreme attacks on reproductive health care across the country, @Tim_Walz and I spoke out about our experience."

Tim and Gwen Walz have been outspoken about the issues they had getting pregnant, and their ultimate decision to use intrauterine insemination.

As Republicans struggle to clarify a position on reproductive rights and family planning, Gwen Walz's story is an example of how the Walz family has used their deeply personal struggles to drive home the stakes for women and families this November.

The Trump campaign has wavered on abortion ban exceptions, birth control and IVF, trying to walk the line between appealing to parts of its base that support hardline restrictions, and not alienating more moderate voters.

Click here to read the full Glamour story.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Police have made four arrests after a group of protestors tore down a barricade outside of the DNC venue, Chicago Police spokesperson Tom Ahern tells NBC News affiliate WMAQ.

"The Chicago Police Department remains on-scene and is working to clear the area," the statement said.

"Law enforcement personnel were immediately on-scene and contained the situation," the DNC Public Safety Joint Information Center said in a statement. "At no point was the inner perimeter breached, and there was no threat to any protectees."

– Josephine Rozzelle

U.S. national security and intelligence agencies say Iran's attempts to influence American elections are getting more aggressive as the presidential race enters the home stretch.

"We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns," the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, say in a new joint statement.

"This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump's campaign."

Earlier in August, the Trump campaign said foreign hackers breached its internal systems and obtained confidential documents.

The FBI says it is still investigating the potential cyberattack, but that the broader intelligence community agrees that Iran is the perpetrator.

Iran has been working to breach the cyber defenses of "both political parties," the agencies say.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Trump said he will publicly release his medical records, while denying that his health was affected in any way after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt a month earlier.

Trump in a television interview with CBS News said he would share those records "very gladly, sure."

He denied that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after being grazed by a bullet from a would-be assassin at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.

Trump also says he just received a "perfect score" on a medical test and has "aced" two more cognitive tests.

"I think anybody that runs for president, whether they're 75 or 65 or 45, I think should take a cognitive test," Trump told CBS.

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump said he would offer Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk a Cabinet position or an advisory role in his administration if he defeats Harris this fall, and if Musk "would do it."

But Trump also said he would consider getting rid of a $7,500 tax credit for certain new electric vehicles, which might make Musk unhappy since Tesla sells EVs.

"Tax credits and tax incentives are not generally a very good thing," Trump told Reuters after a campaign event in York, Pennsylvania.

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump shared images purporting to show fans of popstar Taylor Swift wearing "Swifties for Trump" shirts and said he would welcome their support.

The problem: Many of the images Trump shared were generated by artificial intelligence and did not show real people at all, NBC News reported.

Another photo Trump shared in a Truth Social post on Sunday appeared to show an AI rendering of Swift dressed in an Uncle Sam costume in front of an American flag.

"Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump," read a caption laid over the image.

"I accept!" Trump wrote in the post above the images, which had originally been posted by accounts on X, formerly Twitter.

Swift has yet to endorse any presidential candidate in the 2024 contest.

Swift endorsed then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

— Kevin Breuninger

Leaders of some of the largest labor unions in the country will deliver a joint address on the DNC stage tonight in support of Harris, according to the convention.

The six union leaders set to speak together are:

• Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
• April Verrett, president of the Service Employees International Union
• Brent Booker, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America
• Kenneth Cooper, international president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• Claude Cummings Jr., president of the Communications Workers of America
• Elizabeth Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who earlier this month campaigned with Harris and Walz at the union's headquarters, will deliver a solo address later in the evening.

Notably absent from the lineup of union leaders tonight is Teamsters President Sean O'Brien, who in July became the first Teamster to ever speak at a Republican convention.

"Sean O'Brien has not received an invite in response to our request to speak at the DNC," Teamsters spokesperson Kara Deniz told CNBC in an email.

Responding to CBS News' reporting that the Teamsters will still be represented on the DNC stage tonight, Deniz said: "I do not know about the presence."

– Josephine Rozzelle

Trump attacked the DNC for presenting its party platform as an agenda for President Biden's second term, rather than updating it for the Harris campaign.

"In the JUST RELEASED Democrat Platform, they mention Crooked Joe Biden's 'second Term' over 20 times," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It shows that the Platform is not that important to them when they won't even make the change."

The DNC Platform Committee on Sunday released its 92-page policy document, which it had written and passed on July 16, five days before Biden dropped out of the race. The document highlights Biden's first-term achievements and plans for his now-abandoned reelection bid.

The document refers to Biden's second term at least 20 times.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Biden on the campaign trail even though his election opponent is now Kamala Harris.

When Trump was running as an incumbent in 2020, the RNC decided not to adopt a new policy platform and said it would instead renew its proposals in 2024.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Trump is countering the DNC kickoff and the recent unveiling of Harris' economic plan with an announcement about his own agenda to "unleash American energy and lower costs for American families," the Republican's campaign said Monday morning.

The campaign said in a press release that Trump would preserve the tax cuts he signed into law in 2017, while accusing Harris of wanting to let the cuts expire after 2025.

The press release also claimed Harris wants to ban gas-powered cars. Both accusations included links to articles from 2019, when Harris was a Democratic presidential candidate.

Trump is scheduled to hold an economy- and energy-focused campaign event at an equipment manufacturer in York, Pennsylvania, on Monday at 3 p.m. ET. Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, will speak about energy and the economy in Philadelphia earlier Monday afternoon, the Trump campaign said.

— Kevin Breuninger

Shares of Trump's social media company on Monday touched their lowest price since they began trading on the Nasdaq after a merger nearly five months ago.

The recent slide of Trump Media stock came after Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee, upending the race that Trump had previously been favored to win.

The company, which owns the Truth Social app platform and trades under the stock ticker DJT, this month reported a loss of over $16 million for the fiscal quarter ending June 30, while posting just $837,000 in revenue in the same period.

Trump, the majority owner of Trump Media, has also resumed periodically posting on the social media site X.

Trump last week participated in a live-streamed interview on X with the platform's owner, Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

— Kevin Breuninger

The following VIPs will deliver speeches tonight, according to a spokesperson who just briefed reporters at a convention press conference:

• UAW President Shawn Fain
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
• Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
• Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
• Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas
• Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y.
• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear
• Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
• Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
• First lady Jill Biden
• President Joe Biden

– Josephine Rozzelle

Walz delivered brief remarks at the Pennsylvania delegation breakfast, where he focused on protecting freedoms, one of the primary themes of this year's DNC.

"We keep talking about freedom. Freedom to make your own health-care decisions, freedom to read your own books, freedom to send your kids to school without them being shot dead in their classroom. Those are freedoms, too," Walz said.

Walz did not mention Trump by name, but still hinted at contrasts between the Democratic and Republican tickets.

"Picture the other side trying to do these things, showing a little kindness, showing a little decency, talking to a child, lifting up someone, comforting someone who comes to a rally and say they just lost their parents, whatever it might be."

— Rebecca Picciotto

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is pushing back on some of Trump's frequent economic talking points, including that the stock market performed better during his presidency.

"The Dow and the S&P were worse under Donald Trump than they were under Biden-Harris," Buttigieg told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning. "Energy production, one of the things you hear Republicans talk the most about, domestic energy production is higher under Biden-Harris than it was under Trump."

Both indexes hit record highs in July, and the United States produced more crude oil in 2023 than any country in history, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"He can't afford for us to be talking about that, so every couple of days he's going to blurt out something outrageous so that we're talking about that instead," Buttigieg said.

– Josephine Rozzelle

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning on spending much of this week in court, not on the campaign trail, as he fights for ballot access in several states for his long-shot White House bid.

Kennedy is scheduled to testify Tuesday in a Harrisburg, Pennslyvania, court, where a Democratic Party-aligned group has challenged the signatures of his ballot petitions and the legitimacy of his stated home address in New York.

Pennsylvania is seen as a key state — and possibly the key state — to win for the candidacies of Harris and Trump.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Kennedy plans to testify at an appeal of a ballot access case in New York, where a judge last week ordered him removed from the state's ballot after finding his claimed home address in Westchester County was not a "bona fide and legitimate residence, but merely a 'sham' address that he assumed for the purpose of maintaining his voter registration."

— Dan Mangan

The president and first lady will both take the stage tonight for speeches that are vastly different from what they planned to give just a month ago.

Aiming to cement the president's legacy of a decadeslong career in public service, the first lady will honor her husband's "strength and character" in her prime-time speech, a person familiar with her remarks told NBC News.

The president will then make a case for electing Harris and tout their administration's achievements, multiple Biden officials told NBC News. Biden will also emphasize what he believes to be a grave threat to democracy if Trump returns to the White House.

"After saving democracy in 2020, President Biden is determined to defeat the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump," one official told NBC News.

— Josephine Rozzelle

The Harris campaign has launched a new, bilingual WhatsApp channel called "Latinos con Harris-Walz," designed to connect with the nation's roughly 36 million voters who identify as Hispanic or Latino.

"Now more than ever, we must meet Latinos where they are, and creative programs like this WhatsApp channel are how this campaign will reach the voters who will decide this election and win in November," said Maca Casado, the campaign's Hispanic media director, in a statement.

WhatsApp is the #1 most popular social media platform among Hispanic and Spanish-speaking individuals, according to the Pew Research Center.

— Christina Wilkie

The "For the People" theme will be focused on President Joe Biden's "leadership and legacy as a historic president who put the American people's interest above his own," the Democratic convention committee says in a statement.

The day's lineup will also highlight the party's view that "while Donald Trump puts himself first, Democrats are fighting for the American people."

Convention chair Minyon Moore said the four days of events are "an opportunity to bring the story of our party to the American people — not just the story of what we've achieved under the Biden-Harris administration, but how the Harris-Walz ticket is planning to build on that historic record for a new way forward into the future."

— Christina Wilkie

Harris and her chosen running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, revived the tradition of U.S. presidential campaign bus tours, riding through Pennsylvania the day before the Democratic National Convention.

Long a staple of American campaigning, bus tours have fallen out of favor in recent cycles. Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton did much bus touring during the 2016 presidential race. Four years later, bus tours were put on hold entirely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

— Christina Wilkie

The president and first lady will depart for California late Monday after the White House leader delivers his speech at the convention.

The White House daily schedule says the Bidens will fly from Chicago to Santa Barbara, then take a chopper to Santa Ynez. A local news outlet, Noozhawk, reports that airspace is restricted around the area for the rest of the week.

The Bidens' travel plans underscore the complicated role that Joe Biden currently occupies within the Democratic Party, which is preparing to "pass the torch" to Harris later this week.

It's also a reminder of the broader options available to a president who does not have to spend all his or her extra time on the campaign trail running for reelection.

— Christina Wilkie

As Democrats gather in Chicago, the two Republican nominees will spend the day at separate campaign events in battleground Pennsylvania.

Trump will deliver remarks at an "economic and energy" event in York at 3 p.m. ET.

Vance will be in Philadelphia, where he will speak on the same topic at 1 p.m., according to the Trump campaign.

The New York Times polling average shows Trump and Harris neck-and-neck in the state, with Harris up one percentage point, 49% to 48%, as of Sunday.

— Christina Wilkie

As tens of thousands of protesters fill the streets, many of them pro-Palestinian demonstrators, members of the Uncommitted National Movement say the DNC has agreed to hold an official panel today at 4 p.m. ET on "Palestinian Human Rights in the Democratic Party."

The group released this speaker list:

• Layla Elabed, founder of Uncommitted National Movement
• Hala Hijazi, a Palestinian-American party organizer
• Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care surgeon
• Former U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich.
• Keith Ellison, Minnesota attorney general
• Jim Zogby, president of Arab American Institute

"We thank the DNC for recognizing this pivotal issue and remain dedicated to pushing VP Harris to stop providing weapons for Israel's assault on Gaza," the movement said in a statement announcing the panel.

— Christina Wilkie

As Democrats descended on Chicago, they were greeted by messages projected onto the side of Donald Trump's branded skyscraper, Trump Tower. NBC News reporter Alex Tabet captured several of them.

— Alex Tabet