This is

is CNN breaking news.

I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

Wolfhitcher is off today. I'm Anderson Cooper in the situation room.

We are following breaking news.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has picked California Senator

Kamala Harris as his running mate.

That announcement coming from the campaign just in the last hour,

we're covering all the angles on this breaking news this hour.

Let's begin with CNN Senior Washington Correspondent Jeff Zell and Jeff

bring us up to speed. Well, Anderson, it is the biggest decision that Joe Biden has

made in his political career and certainly in his presidential campaign. By choosing Kamala Harris, he sets his campaign off on the next 85 days or so here

to the general election of race.

We do know that he was choosing between 11 potential candidates, all women, so this was always going to be a historic choice.

But when you talk to friends of the former vice president, they say he was consistently looking for someone who could be a governing partner.

Also taking into account the moment that this country has been going through the last

to several months and certainly Senator Harris's record on justice, record on reform and

showing that she is indeed a trailmaking figure in her own right certainly led to

this decision but they have also had conversations of course throughout

the presidential campaign they were rivals which we all remember very well but that

quickly was set in the past there's no one that to vice president Joe

Biden he knew I'm told that he needed someone who had campaign experience

...