Return to Transcripts main page

Don Lemon Tonight

GOP Officially Names Donald Trump Presidential Nominee; Red Meat Speeches Rally the Crowd on Night Two; Roger Ailes Accused of Sexual Harassment; Christie Attacks Clinton's Character; Favorite Moments from Tonight's Convention. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 20, 2016 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Red Meat speeches rally the crowd on night two of the GOP convention. We're half way through by the way. This is CNN TONIGHT, a special CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

On the night Republicans officially choose Donald Trump as their nominee, Hillary Clinton gets name-checked in a fiery speech by Chris Christie. The crowd chanting their favorite slogan, 'Lock Her Up.' That's what they were chanting tonight. But this night is officially all about Donald Trump and joining me now, the California delegate, who announces her state's 172 votes for Trump with her three sons standing by her. And, she is Shirley Husar who--she is here with her sons Douglas, Kenneth(ph), Jonathan(ph).

DOUGLAS HUSAR, SON OF SHIRLEY HUSAR: Hi.

SHIRLEY HUSAR, CALIFORNIA DELEGATE: Hi.

LEMON: I watched that moment today. How are you? I watched that moment today.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Thank you.

LEMON: You were so animated, and larger than life, and you were so passionate. It was great. Let's watch that moment. Let's watch what you said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUSAR: I am the mother of three boys of the greater Los Angeles area. Mr. Chairman, it is so important that my sons, my three sons, have hope and opportunities for their future. That there are good jobs and that there are families that need safety in their community.

UNKNOWN WOMAN: Right. Right.

HUSAR: Mr. Chairman, Donald Trump is a candidate that can provide for my boys and all Californians the hope and opportunity of the true America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Kenneth, look at your face. You were so proud. You're Kenneth?

DOUGLAS HUSAR, SON OF SHIRLEY HUSAR: I'm Douglas.

LEMON: You're Douglas. Oh, I thought you were the 19-yr old. Douglas, how old are you?

KENNETH HUSAR, SON OF SHIRLEY HUSAR: How do you think me--I'm Douglas? How could you?

LEMON: But I'll take--Kenneth, you're one. How old ae you?

KENNETH HUSAR: I'm 19.

LEMON: You're 19. You're Kenneth. And you're Jonathan.

JONATHAN HUSAR: Yes, sir.

LEMON: All right.

DOUGLAS HUSAR: That's correct.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: 28.

LEMON: 28? Ok so 28.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: 28, 19, 34.

LEMON: So why, why do you think that -- you're here with your family. This is family has been on stage talking about him. Why is he right for your family?

SHIRLEY HUSAR: He's right because he's for all American families. Look, we haven't had a president so vibrant, so on point, so non- politician in decades. Mr. Trump has such a passion for success not only with himself, but with his children. But I believe that America will be his extended family and we're a part of that.

LEMON: What's the number one issue? Tonight it was make American work again. But what's the number one issue for you Shirley?

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Number one issue for me are urban communities. I'm part of an organization called Urban Game Changers where we go into urban communities and we hold elected officials accountable. We're in Texas. We're in Florida. We're in Louisiana. And I think that the biggest challenge right now is a lot of urban communities are confused. They don't really know who to vote for. A lot of them were for Bernie Sanders and now Bernie is telling them to go for Hillary, but Bernie made it very clear all the flaws that Mrs. Trump--Mrs. Clinton, excuse me, has done for the urban communities.

LEMON: Yes. So, let's talk about that because we talk about urban communities. We mainly talked about people of color living in urban communities.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Yes.

LEMON: The polls have shown that he is not going to get a lot of support from African-Americans. Women, he has issues with women. Are you bothered by any of the rhetoric that is surrounding people of color and women?

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Absolutely not. Look, African-American people have not voted yet. The caste has not been put out there yet. Mr. Trump has not really debated Hillary yet. So there is a lot of hope for us. Where-- they are hungry. They want to learn. Look, African-American people are tired of the frightened communities, of the police brutality, but on the other hand we know that the men in blue are important to our communities. We want good police.

LEMON: Say that again.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: We know that we want good police.

LEMON: I think there is an issue, again you said there is no two different issues, but both of them that we can tackle and I don't think people hear that often enough.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Ok.

LEMON: Right?

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Right.

LEMON: Right. We want our men and women in blue, but we want people to do their jobs properly and not target people.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Absolutely. Look for every action is a reaction.

LEMON: Right. Right.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: For every non-action is an aftermath. And we are encountering the aftermath of the Clinton Administration that took place back in the '90, with Clinton Administration doing massive incarceration of black families. No one is talking about it.

LEMON: Thinking about that crime bill.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Absolutely. That crime bill was him and his wife. They were champions for that bill and look at the families incarcerated on bull crap. Three strikes, you're out laws that they incorporated.

LEMON: The difference between cracked cocaine and powder cocaine and sentencing.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: It's amazing. A little blunt, a little wheeze of it, and an adult could squeeze a smoke.

LEMON: Yes.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: You know I want my young men to realize that there are millions of black men with moms out there. Black, White, Latino, Arminian(ph), Japanese that want a family and California represents that so strongly.

LEMON: All right. I want to bring the boys in since you've spoken about them so strongly. Do you--do you agree with your mother on Donald Trump?

KENNETH HUSAR: Yes.

JONATHAN HUSAR: Absolutely

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Unanimous.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Ok. Why so? Why so?

JONATHAN HUSAR: Well, realistically Trump is one that is for the future that we see is the brightest. The one that we see down the line and we will be able to make something of ourselves. To have the opportunity to live and be better than we were and right now things are not that way.

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Exactly. For myself speaking, I can say that I am a business owner of two separate businesses and Trump comes from a business point of view where he wants Americans to be entrepreneurs and grow. I'm a young age. I'm having trouble starting. I'm trying to do the best I can and I can get a president in place that going to help push entrepreneurs--

LEMON: Is he an example for you as a business person?

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Yes. Definitely.

LEMON: A role model.

DOUGLAS HUSAR: My goodness, he's done so well in his own business and all the business people that I look at, they go. They grew up in a place where they were republicans and they grew up in a free market with capitalism that gave them that chance and I need that too.

LEMON: Do people go--say to you, like, 'What? Why do you support Donald Trump?'

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Always. Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

KENNETH HUSAR: It's because people have this weird type of idea that because it's your skin color, your gender, that you all must think the same and act as a hive mind and not be independent thinkers and think and talk amongst each other. If there is one thing I want to ask the American people is to bring back the idea of open dialogue, that intellectual ideas and things of that model.

LEMON: Yes please.

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Communication is key.

KENNETH HUSAR: Donald Trump has brought in the error of saying that he sees horrible things is centering people from having conversation about ideas. If somebody says something ridiculous let knowledge and let truth come forward for that and burn away the lies and stupidity.

LEMON: I should--I have been saying this for the last couple of nights here when I -- people of color, right? who won't support Donald Trump.

KENNETH HUSAR: People who are dumb.

LEMON: Is that African-Americans are not a monolith. There is no --

SHIRLEY HUSAR: They are not a what?

LEMON: They don't--everybody doesn't think alike. We're not a monolithic group.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Right. Right. Correct, we're not.

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Yes.

LEMON: Look at the dictionary it says this is what you have to do in order to be balck.

SHIRLEY DOUGLAS: Right. Absolutely.

LEMON: There is no -- there is nothing happening.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Right.

LEMON: What is the most powerful thing -- you're the youngest right?

KENNETH HUSAR: Yes.

LEMON: What is the most powerful thing you heard tonight?

KENNETH HUSAR: The most powerful thing that I heard tonight, to me personally was when Donald Trump Jr. was talking about the schools. I just came out of school and I went through the school system. I understood what he was taking about. All these kids are told, 'if you go to college and get a degree then you're set. They are just going to hand you a job and everything.'

They don't teach you that you have to go out in the world, you have to make a name for yourself, you have to push, everybody just things you're going to get handed to them. Because these schools they have their underlying agenda of 'get these kids to college so we can get our money and can keep our schools open and get paid.' They don't care about these kids.

LEMON: What do you say to the people who are on the fence? Because right now, the people who are going to vote for him are the people who are going to vote for him. He has very staunch supporters. But this is about addition. He needs to add people in order to win this election. What do you say to people who may be struggling or who are on the fence?

DOUGLAS HUSAR: I say to them, stop for a moment. Stop thinking about emotional side, stop thinking about all the politicalganda(ph) the media may not be doing. Look at the facts, go online, go to these people websites, look at your morals, what you want to get done, what is your agenda? Find that out. Find out their agenda. Then, find the person that matches closely. And for us, that will be Donald Trump.

JONATHAN HUSAR: That is it. That is the answer. There is no other.

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Yes, facts.

JONATHAN HUSAR: You must be open. I really feel that he is the candidate who will help us reach our goals that we want to reach.

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Talk to your community, talk to your parents, ask your friends, 'Who--what do you think? Where are you at?'

LEMON: Shirley, what does it feel like to have you--how did you get to be the person that --

SHIRLEY HUSAR: You know for the grace of god, I go and the chairman came to me and asked me. I've been involved with the republican party for a very long time.

LEMON: Yes, there are black conservatives.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Yes, there are black conservatives.

JONATHAN HUSAR: We exist. We exist

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Surprise!

SHIRLEY HUSAR: I was an appointee for Govenor Schwarzenegger. I served on Tuesdays boards. I was delegate for the CRP for 10 years.

LEMON: So give me your final pitch as we end.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: My final pitch is Hillary Clinton wants to continue to think that black children in America are predators. She still comes in different ways and she says that we are super predators. She won't say it today, but she's said it in the past. I still strongly believe in that. I also believe education communication is the key thing to understand. Don't judge us based on the republican party's name, but talk to a republican.

LEMON: Yes.

SHIRLEY HUSAR: Ask them what that is. We need small enterprises in the urban communities and thank god for Donald Trump because he understands that.

LEMON: Let me ask you this. You remember during the last time the republican lost they did this whole post-mortem. We're going to have a bigger tent. Do you think the republican party is going to have to reach out to people of color?

SHIRLEY HUSAR: I think the Republican Party was in trouble. They understood that there are people in the troops that understood we needed a newer regime and a newer ideology and that's why we've embraced Mr. Trump. We're not going toward that politician side. We're going towards the Trump side. It talks about education, jobs, and security. Security is the key thing that Mr. Trump has been subsiding and that's why black people need a better security and a better representative.

LEMON: We are out of time. Thank you Shirley. Thank you Douglas. Thank you Jonathan. Thank you Kenneth.

JONATHAN HUSAR: Thank you.

KENNETH HUSAR: Thank you. Glad to be here.

DOUGLAS HUSAR: Thank you.

SHIRLEY: God bless you. God bless California.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much. We're going to Manu or we're going to break? All right I need to get you. Thank you guys. I need to get to Manu Raju. Manu Raju joins us now on the convention floor. Manu, as I understand it, you have some news on Ted Cruise's speech tomorrow night. What's the latest?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, that's right. This is the first time, Don, that we're going to hear from Ted Cruz that he dropped out of the presidential race. First time we're going to hear him speak in depth and publicly. And one thing that we're hearing is that he will not endorse Donald Trump tomorrow night according to -- reporting from out colleague Dana Bash.

This is an interesting position that Ted Cruz is in because I've been talking to Ted Cruz's advisors and allies, and a lot of them expect him to run for president again in 2020. Especially if Donald Trump loses and he wants to be sympathetic to that 'Never Trump' Movement who do not like the way Cruz himself was treated by Donald Trump on the campaign trail, but at the same time he doesn't want to look like he's preventing this party form uniting behind Donald Trump. So he's kind of in a box, Don, as he is not going to endorse Donald Trump tomorrow night, but he will make some calls for the party to unite against Hillary Clinton so an interesting predicament, but we're not expecting endorsement tomorrow night.

That's the news, Don.

LEMON: So Manu, what do you think as you were watching this evening the biggest moment of the evening? Was it Donald Trump Jr.? What did you think it was?

RAJU: Yes, he clearly was, but there were some other interesting moments as well. The congressional leaders essentially getting behind Donald Trump and they are more forceful than we heard before, particularly House speaker Paul Ryan, downplaying his disagreement with Donald Trump. Even at one point when Paul Ryan he called his comments about a Mexican-American judge a textbook of a racist definition.

Well you know this is signs of life. All parties have these disagreements. He really downplayed that, but clearly his family again, Donald Trump's family, again playing a big role in making the case for Donald Trump. Listen to Donald Trump Jr. talk about his father in a light that most folks have just not heard that Donald Trump being spoken about in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: Let me tell you how he ran his businesses. And I know, because I was there with him by his side on job sites, in conference rooms, from the time I could walk. He didn't hide out behind some desk in an executive suite. He spent his career with regular Americans. He hung out with the guys on construction sites; pouring she-rock, pouring concrete and hanging she-rock. He listened to them and he valued their opinions as much, and often more, than the guys from Harvard and Warton, locked away in offices away from the real work.

He is recognized the talent and the drive that all Americans have. He's promoted people based on their character. Their street smarts and their work ethic. Not simply paper credentials.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now in addition to that, we also saw a very aggressive case that republicans made against Hillary Clinton for the second straight night. Including by Chris Christie, a really Red Meat speech to this crowd. Laying out the casing against her and you hear -- heard the crowd chant 'Lock her up! Lock her up!'

Talking about Hillary Clinton, of course. That's been becoming the unofficial theme of this convention, Don.

LEMON: Manu Raju, live from the convention floor. Thank you. Appreciate that, Manu. We're going to be right back with much more live from the CNN Grove here in Cleveland.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As the GOP officially picks Donald Trump as its nominee, one republican power broker is not in Cleveland and that is Fox News chairman, Roger Ailes who may be on the verge of leaving his powerful post.

I'm going to bring it in now Dylan Byers. He's CNN's Senior Media Politics Reporter. David Chalian is here, CNN Political Director. Kayleigh McEnany, a Trump supporter, Maria Cardona, a Hillary Clinton supporter, Amanda Carpenter, Former Communication's Director for Senator Ted Cruz, and Andy Dean, Trump supporter.

I mean this is--this is a bombshell, right? This is unbelievable.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: This is a bombshell.

I want to go to Dylan Byers now. Dylan, Fox and CN Roger Ailes in talks now reportedly to leave the network filing sexual harassment allegations. What's the latest? DYLAN BYERS, SENIOR MEDIA POLITICS REPORTER FOR CNN: Yes, Roger Ailes is in Tox(ph). He's in what we can effectively call exit negotiations and there is no question that this investigation into the sexual harassment charges has yielded more admissions from more people. The latest report is that Megyn Kelly, the network's star anchor, has come forward and acknowledged improper behavior by Roger Ailes 10 years ago. Which really is a bombshell because of course Megyn Kelly is the star at that network. It's a huge revelation and what the Murdochs in 21st-century Fox have concluded is that it's no longer tenable for Roger Ailes to be in his position.

And that is a huge moment. It's a huge moment in the history of American media and it's also a huge moment in the history of American politics when you consider just how significant Roger Ailes' influence has been on the Republican Party and from the national discourse. So they are now next in negotiations. We could have an announcement as early as tomorrow morning. We could have an announcement as late as next week, but what they are doing right now is figuring out the set, you know, how much he'll get paid, non-compete clauses, all that sort of legal issues that you have to go through in a case like this.

LEMON: Yes, again as we said this is a bombshell. I'm going to -- stand by Dylan, I want to go to Amanda now because Ailes is republican kingmaker in so many ways. He probably controls the most powerful conservatives, media platforms, and that probably is the most conservative media platform in the world. How is this going to affect the GOP?

AMANDA CARPENTER, TRUMP SUPPORTER AND CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well I think a lot of people are very interested in how the coverage my shift. I know there is many conservatives that have stopped watching Fox News because they thought they were playing games with the coverage in terms of favoring the candidate like trivial and maybe Trump.

And so, seeing how they navigate that without the old(ph) will be very interesting in how the conservative audience reacts. But I think it's sort of impossible to talk about this topic with us--also addressing Megyn Kelly suffered not only possibly suffered from Roger Ailes, but also Donald Trump. I mean, there is a story here about how women in very high places in the media, have been treated by powerful men in media and politics. And that certainly seems throughout this election that it is playing out in grand fashion at Fox News.

LEMON: I want to ask you this, Dylan because again you mentioned Megyn Kelly, but Gabe Sherman over at the New York Magazine or at New York Magazine is reporting that Megyn Kelly rallied at least one colleague, at least a Fox anchor to speak out against Ailes because Gabe Sherman's sources Megyn fely like people weren't getting the whole story. I -- what do you make of this?

BYERS: Well here is what we do now. What we do know is that what Gretchen Carlson alleged is she's not the only one alleging, that many stories about Roger Ailes behavior within the network. And look, he has a lot of defenders in the network. Many of them have come forward publicly, but there are people of allegations and Roger Ailes history of going back to the 1960s as Gabe Sherman also reported.

It's clear that we know from Megyn Kelly's lawyer that she cooperated fully with the investigation. That she was truthful to the quote that she was severely implying, that she did tell the investigators something that would echo some of Gretchen Carlson's accusations and it's quite easy to deduce from that that anyone else in the building who may, and anyone who used to be in that building who may have had stories. It's not inconceivable that she would have talked to them and encouraged them to come forward as well.

LEMON: David Chalian, the timing of this is significant. The turn all over at Fox News--

(INAUDIBLE)

At the GOP convention.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, and I actually think this moment in time where we are with the Republican Party is Fox just played a huge role in that. I mean if you look over the last 10 years of how we have gotten and sort of looked at this divide between the Grassroots and the establishment of the party, the kinds of stories that fuel the conversations among Grassroots activists out in the country, In Iowa town halls, and New Hampshire town halls, dedicated Fox News viewers because of what Roger Ailes put together there. Donald Trump's nomination is a result of this long time sort of--I don't want to call it takeover, but of increased influence of Fox inside the Republican Party.

LEMON: What do you think the influence is on the GOP?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Roger Ailes has had a significant influence of the GOP. You look at, you know, Fox News started in 1996, the end of Premiers. It really ushered in the era of the New Republic and the era of Bush. Fox has left and enveloped impression on the Republican Party. I don't suspect that will change even despite these Kelly allegations.

ANDY DEAN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I disagree completely with the analysis, with all due respect. I mean, Donald Trump wouldn't -- he first started the campaign. He almost operated outside of the Fox News bubble, who wanted a more traditional candidate and Donald he had a fight with Fox--

CHALIAN: I agree with that, Andy. But, what I'm saying is--totally, it wasn't that Fox favored the Trump campaign.

DEAN: At all.

CHALIAN: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: The Trump's rise is some of the same elements that Roger Ailes tapped into in the country and found some before as he built Fox too. LEMON: He operated outside. Not really. I mean, he would go, like, say for a couple of days, "I'm not going to go on Fox News." And then he would be on every show on Fox News.

CARPENTER: Yes.

DEAN: It was really his personal relationship with Bill O'Reilly. They are personal friends. They go to ball games together.

(CROSSTALK)

Let's just be honest. Bill O'Reilly's the only talon on that place. If he goes, they are going to go to the bottom of the basement in the ratings.

LEMON: He's on hand sometimes. So he was on to your point. He was on Hanity(ph) all the time. He's on their morning show all the time. He's on Bill O'Reilly's show all the time. Even though he would get upset with him again, he didn't operate outside of Fox. That's false, that's not true.

DEAN: Well look, I just see the idea that Fox News created the candidacy had a problem with that. Donald Trump operated outside of all traditional lines and that's where his candidacy came from.

CARPENTE: I think it was a slow burn. He ultimately did get champions at Fox, without a doubt. You can look at Sean Hannity's coverage. It's very glowing.

DEAN: Even with the Cruz guy that was Sean Hannity.

CARPENTER: No, but more he came back and said I'm not a journalist.

DEAN: Now he is.

CARPENTER: Yes, really. Any way you can look at that coverage, but you know it is going to be very interesting where the leadership is and whether they choose to cover stories or not. Everyone know you can cover a story very differently. Fox has a lot of coverage on the plagiarism story. I think they are reluctant to --

LEMON: I wonder what the papers look like tomorrow. I think the New York Post is a new post, but the post is saying , you know, they are doing a story on it and who owsn the post?

DEAN: Yes.

CARPENTER: Yes.

LEMON: And Rupert Murdoch and that's the signal.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: And you can't really get away from the political kind of influence that Roger Ailes has and the empire that he built. But I do want to say this, this kind of issue is not just a republican issue right?

LEMON: No.

CARDONA: I mean this happens, sadly, way too often in every business and you know community or -- and not even just business. I mean it happens everywhere and what I think this underscores is that--you have to look at this issue, take it seriously. When I first heard about this, the same things started to bubble up. A lot of people started questioning the woman. Well, what are they going to do about this? Are they doing this just for the money? And you can't really -- you can't blame them. You have to really underscore what is at stake.

MCENANY: We should also underscore this pending litigation too.

LEMON: Yes. Innocent until proven guilty. We're talking about in-talks Selen(ph). Dylan Byers thank you very much. We appreciate your reporting. Everybody else stay with me. We are going to have much more live here from the CNN Grove in Cleveland.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:33] LEMON: Speaker after speaker at the GOP Convention last night, or tonight, however you want to see it, it's depending on where are you in country slamming Hillary Clinton back with my dream team now, David Chalian, Kayleigh McEnany, Maria Cardona and Amanda Carpenter.

DEAN: I'm not ...

LEMON: Andy Dean.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: So, Chris Christie unleashed a full-scale attack on Hillary Clinton's record and character. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: She fights for the wrong people. She never fights for us. She doesn't get the real threats that America faces.

Finally here at home, and one of her first decisions as secretary of state, she set up a private e-mail server in her basement in violation of our national security.

Let's face the facts. Hillary Clinton cared more about protecting her own secrets than she cared about protecting America's secrets. And then she lied about it over and over and over again. We didn't disqualify Hillary Clinton to be president of the United States. The facts of her life and career disqualify her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, let's talk about it, Kayleigh McEnany and Andy, how did Chris Christie do, was his speech effective first?

DEAN: I thought he was excellent. I'm a big Chris Christie fan. And I think that when Trump was torn with the vice presidential decision, one of things that he was weighing that Chris Christie is so effective as a communicator. I mean, he's most famous of course for the New Hampshire. Some call it the murder suicide when he took out Marco Rubio, and then blew up his own candidacy which really helped Trump at that time.

I mean, Chris Christie is incredibly effective and I thought he did an excellent job tonight on focusing on the issues with Hillary Clinton and her truly problematic behavior and he said the lying. He also has a gift for communication. Like she values her secrets over American secrets and he cuts to the nonsense. And just also find him to be a very, very likable guy who I think was -- David mentioned it, he was saddled with this bridge gate, which somebody else was responsible for and everybody is like Chris Christie, the bridge guy but he's actually much more than that and I like him.

LEMON: Yeah, but doesn't it -- I mean, everybody says the buck stops with me when you're the governor or mayor or the president. I mean, someone else could be responsible for it even with the whole you know, blazer something with Melania Trump, she probably didn't do it, but the words did come out of her mouth, many people get stained with things even if they're not the people responsible for it.

DEAN: I'm not going to disagree with that. You can get stained by just by association but at the end of the day I mean, he suffered what I think was it improportional bro - disproportionate level of bolt like blow to his career, versus something that he actually didn't do.

LEMON: Kayleigh?

MCENANY: Yeah. I think that's exactly right, and I completely agree with you about Chris Christie.

DEAN: You're a genius.

MCENANY: No, you are. I thought Chris Christie being effective tonight. I thought, you know, he was brilliant and I think that it is effective because look, you look at Hillary Clinton. When the FBI director contradicted what she had been telling the American public.

Her honest trustworthy numbers took a big hit. We saw them decline. Now she's at 28 percent of the American people trusting her. That is abysmal. So to hit her out of her weak spot and lay out factually and pain is taking every reason the American public shouldn't trust her, I thought it was very effective.

CARPENTER: I guess my question about it. Was this Chris Christie plan ...

CARDONA: ... too far.

CARPENTER: ... for the future. You hear him talk about being possibly attorney general in the Trump administration. There's a certain level of seriousness you need to have if you're to go to that high level and be in charge of, you know, dolling out justice for the executive branch. Speeches like this are dangerous, because they come off as intensely political.

And so, it was a good speech, fun, audience liked it but if he wants to be A.G., that's going to damage him.

LEMON: Should there have been more support for Donald Trump rather than criticism of Hillary Clinton in that? Because it was -- I don't know if he ...

CARDONA: Yeah, sure. I think so. And I think what that betrays is that first of all, there is not uniform support within the party even the people who weren't were here for Donald Trump. I mean, Speaker Ryan, I don't he even mentioned Donald Trump once.

MCENANY: No, he did, three times.

CARDONA: OK. Three times. Wow. But, you know, clearly he has had big issues with things that Donald Trump has done, and you could tell that he was there to mostly talk about his agenda as supposed to talking about Donald Trump's agenda.

[02:34:59] For Chris Christie, I thought he was very effective for the people in that room, the red meat for the people who already support Donald Trump. I was waiting, though, after the whole litany of things that were not factually correct that he was talking about, and everybody that was holding up Trump signs, I was waiting for everybody to pull out the pitchforks, because that's what it felt like.

LEMON: Wow.

CHALIAN: I think we've seen now, because we are at the halfway point in this conundrum, we've seen two nights that have been really about dismantling Hillary Clinton as best the Trump campaign can, really calling into question her competence or in her character and really trying to dismantle her.]

I am -- what I am curious to see over the next two nights is, does the Trump campaign make a turn here into these last two nights and really start filling in the vision forward, because you've got to remember, I know a lot of folks have been tuning into this election season. We've seen unprecedented levels of interest in it. But this is a moment where some new folks are tuning in for the first time, and all they know is sort of an SNL version or a news proportion of Donald Trump, and now he's got two more nights to try to tell them what he's going to do.

LEMON: That's why it's so important, I feel, to hold people's feet to the fire and have them give facts, because so many people are watching and are just now starting to tune in and it's important when someone comes on that they don't just rattle over you and give things and say things that aren't necessarily true.

Chris Christie had some things that were true in his speech. He has some things that were not true in his speech. And if you're watching, I get to sit at home because we do this late night thing and watch the entire days speakers and everything. So, as an observer, there's been a lot of negativity. A lot of negativity about she did this, this person is bad, our country is falling apart we're not secure. Where's the positivity? Where are the answers? How are you going to fix it? I have not seen much of that come from this convention thus far.

CARPENTER: The one question I have is, yes, you know, people can agree that Hillary Clinton is bad. I think certainly things she has problems but how much more do you need to convince the public when her disapproval ratings are at record level high. The public already doesn't like Hillary Clinton. So, why are we twisting this night again so hard, so hard, so hard? The work that needs to be done is warming up Donald Trump. Unless this is like a gutter ball ...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: His untrust ability numbers and his unlikability numbers as well.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: I mean, this is going to be nasty, nasty, nasty at the following.

MCENANY: And this is where Mike Pence I think is so important, because this is someone who, when you listen to him speak, you cannot help but like him. He's a man of character and conviction and he has a soft demeanor. And he is just really likable. And I agree with David, that it is time to show this side and I think Mike Pence tomorrow is a huge opportunity to present that.

LEMON: I've got to go. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:41:03] LEMON: Back to now live at the CNN Grill in Cleveland, night two of the GOP convention ending with a prayer from my next guest. Joining us now Sajid Tarar, he is the founder of "Muslims for Trump". Thank you for joining us.

SAJID TARAR, FOUNDER "MUSLIM FOR TRUMP": Thank you for having me.

LEMON: You're a Muslim, Pakistani immigrant right?

TARAR: Exactly.

LEMON: I'm sure you're asked all the time why you support Donald Trump.

TARAR: That's a million dollar question. First of all, I'm part of negative angry Americans. I'm disappointed within that comes in the Washington D.C. It happens toward in a pretty concise all of my life. I went to law school twice. So that was a - that's a first thing.

And second thing is, the first candidate among the rest of whom who has identified radical Islam as a threat and I believe that radically Islam is not only a threat to rest of civilization is in fact toward that. And this is what my case I'm having to trying to put it up that we are victim at the same time.

LEMON: Yeah.

TARAR: And so, Mr. Donald Trump is - has proven himself as a doer at the Muslim who is delivering amount of traditional politician, amount of part of the legacy politics. So there's so many other things from the Islamic point of view and as an American point of view.

LEMON: Did you spoke to him?

TARAR: Yes, I did.

LEMON: And were - I want to get to the other thing but were you nervous up there?

TARAR: Not at all. I mean to say, I have been going to the rallies of Donald Trump and the way I have received, it was - it's amazing. The people have been coming and hugging me and taking the pictures with them. And is this is amazing. Let me say ...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: So when Donald Trump talks about a temporary ban on Muslims coming into the country, how do you feel about that?

TARAR: You know that, when he came over this idea of banning Muslims, first of all that there was incident of California. Second thing, the flood of Syrian refugees that were coming and we had no strong immigration policy to vet them. We had no system - and we still don't have a system in a fact to see what are their objectives are when they come here.

And ISIS has said that we will send all operators.

LEMON: What do you feel about temporary ban?

TARAR: A temporary ban obviously, you know, let me take -- safety of America, his number one priority with Donald Trump. And that's a Muslim-American, that's my number one priority, as well.

LEMON: So if there was a temporary ban in place, you may not have been able to come here. Is that bother you?

TARAR: No the ban he always have said, the ban within exceptions. And I come into the category. I came as a student, and that's my intentions.

And second thing he has said in his tweet, that people don't - those don't agree with American values, they are not supposed to come here. But I love American values. I love this country. And so I never ...

LEMON: How do you figured that out? If you when you were coming. How would someone can figure that out? TARAR: Obviously, I came here 30 years ago. And let me tell you why I came here. Like the country I was born and raised is next to China. It was next to Russia. But I was so fascinated by American dream. The coming together, the people come from different part of the worlds and vet by American dream and then they work hard. And I was inspired. The second reason was freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of our dictatorship. So these are the things that I was attracted. When I came to the country, my country was run by a military dictator. And still today, I mean is that most of the Islamic countries that run by kings and dictators.

LEMON: Right, but there are people there who were under same thing who have an issue and they want come for freedom.

TARAR: Yes.

LEMON: ... and they can't come. Is that -- they may not be able to come if there's a temporary ban on Muslims?

TARAR: You know that thing is, if they want to come from the freedom, but look at to what is going on at the international arena today. We have a weak leadership. Our country is the sole superpower on the planet. The last eight years, no foreign policy. The world is in chaos. The Middle East is a nightmare and due to weak leadership. We need some strong leader to come and take the dramatic steps -- drastic to steps to identify. And Donald Trump has identified that is the radical Islam is a threat.

LEMON: Just to nail it down here. You're OK with a temporary ban on Muslims?

TARAR: For the country, yes, I am in favor of that.

[02:45:04] LEMON: I'll open that to the panel. My question was how do you figure that out? You know who is the right person to come in, who's not the right person?

DEAN: I will say this I think you are the bravest man that I -- person that I've seen in the entire, you know, thing in Cleveland here. And so, the guts it takes to do what you're doing and speak the truth, I'm in awe of it, sir. And it's an honor and I think you need to do more things for the campaign for ...

CARDONA: 100 percent.

DEAN: You know, but to the idea of the Muslim bans specifically, I think what it's starting to turn into and you've seen Trump's language migrate into it. Is that there's certain countries. Let's just call them 10 to 15 problem countries that have very extremist ideology and not just 5 percent, 10 percent over 50 percent of population all using Sharia law.

So you know, we mean to be snowing to death. Those type of populations that are filled with such hatred. We didn't decide who comes into this country and what values these people are bringing. And we cannot let people with this terrible hatred come from these 10 to 15 select countries without extreme vetting. So to me, it's not I against Islam. It's more about American values. And Islam has wonderful values, too but there are problem countries and cannot be honest about that put us all in danger.

LEMON: It didn't say extreme vetting. It said a ban on Muslims.

CARPENTER: It is really important ...

DEAN: He's immigrating from ...

CARPENTER: Here's the question, its sort of interest in learning about because, you know, I agree that some things needs to be done. And I get the question, how do you carry out something like this? And Donald Trump probably made a mess up in saying we're going to have deportation forces but certainly we need to find visa overstays, we need a more breath vetting process. What conversations have you had with the campaign about how he would go about this in a smart strategic way?

TARAR: Personally, I have met him but I haven't got into a detail either with campaign or either with him.

CARPENTER: Sure.

TARAR: But of course he has said several times that if you want to build a wall, there will be doors where the people will becoming back with the legal process.

And same thing, let me say if there will be a ban, there will be exceptions.

And again, I may say his top priority is that America first. And I agree with him, and this is my number one priority at the same time America.

MCENANY: And yeah, America first.

LEMON: Hang on. Hang on ladies. As you were speaking tonight, someone said - someone yelled out, no Islam. How did that make you feel?

TARAR: You know, the thing this is, he matter of fact, that he has declined my objective to come here in Cleveland. Because I stood up and I told the whole RNC and everybody watching that there are Muslims like myself, those that in love with this country and those are part of the American fabric.

LEMON: But you didn't like that? What was the mood someone yelled out?

TARAR: I may say the thing this is, I don't think they lead into some person did that people that can be always a troublemaker. Tonight, it doesn't bother me. And when you look at the picture, everybody look at from the different angle have and have the opinion.

MCENANY: And its important emphasize that the Muslim's like Sajid are the victims of Islamic terrorism. Those four girls in Bangladesh, one of whom was an American student, she was a victim. And when Donald Trump says America first, it means moderate Muslims first who live in this country and want to be safe from radical Islamists who want to kill moderate Muslims.

LEMON: I'm going to break quickly, Maria, please.

CARDONA: Can I ask you a question in terms of foreign policy? Don't you think that the way that Donald Trump talks about Islam is offensive to those countries and the leaders of those countries that we actually need to be allies of ours in the fight against ...

LEMON: Terrorism

CARDONA: ... against -- exactly, against terrorism.

TARAR: The thing this Islamic ...

CARDONA: So how do you square that?

TARAR: You know, to me is look at the Islamic world right now, majority of them that run by the kings and military dictators all the platform of democracy.

We are a victim and we are victim of our own oppressive -- oppression. And not only this, let me tell you, most of the kings and these military dictators that supported by American Foreign Policy. So we have to revisit that. We have to look at the other nation building process and we have to educate them. And, you know, we need a strong leadership to begin with, who can fix this at Middle East in a mess.

Right now, that we don't have any Foreign Policy, look at the Foreign Policy, what we have $115 billion to Iran and they will support that terrorism right here, expansion Wahhabism. We are buying oil from the Saudis and they are funding Wahhabism against America and the of civilization.

MCENANY: So true.

LEMON: Thank you. I've got to go. I got to go. We talk to you longer. Thank you.

CARDONA: Thank you.

[02:49:22] LEMON: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back now with my political dream team here, I'm going to get final thoughts, but as we get -- hand that to me, please. Let me give that, final thoughts, because it is David Chalian's birthday.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Happy birthday.

CARPENTER: Happy birthday.

LEMON: Everybody get one.

CHALIAN: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

MCENANY: It's so pretty.

CARDONA: It is.

DEAN: So, happy birthday to you, happy birthday. You want to go -- can I get one of those?

CHALIAN: Yeah.

(OFF-MIC)

LEMON: You want to tell us how old you are now? No?

CHALIAN: I don't want to tell.

LEMON: You don't want to tell the whole ...

CHALIAN: I'm now 43-years-old today.

LEMON: Oh that's great. All right guys, everybody can have one. So we'll all have the - well you get mad if I go first?

CHALIAN: Yes.

LEMON: So, happy birthday.

CHALIAN: Thank you.

LEMON: So, I'll let you go first. What is your favorite moment from tonight?

CHALIAN: Tiffany Trump, I thought who actually was my favorite speech tonight. I got more insight into Donald Trump as a father because Donald Trump, Jr. who gave great speech, I got more insight into Donald Trump, "the businessman" because that's sort of the - it seemed like of access point to him.

But Tiffany, I thought gave a real speech, a real familial speech in that way that I hadn't really heard some of those anecdotes before.

LEMON: Quickly.

MCENANY: She was phenomenal, Donald Trump, Trump Jr. was and have wait for Ivanka. She's going to be great.

LEMON: I barely like 30 second. Go ahead. We have a little bit more.

CARDONA: I think the big challenge for the Republican Party, you know, Don, you said that it remains to be seen what they're going to do to pivot to a wider audience. How long have we been saying that about Donald Trump and the campaign? And he hasn't done it. I think he has made a calculation that he does not want to reach out to Latinos that he does not want to reach the African-Americans that he doesn't think he needs those voters because nothing that he's doing is indicative of that kind of desire or that kind of necessity to want to broaden that kind of appeal.

[02:55:05] LEMON: But are there enough, Trump voters now in the voting pool in order for him to win without minority votes?

CARPENTER: No. He's got to bring to more people in, but I don't want to end on a low note. I like Donald Trump to hear his speech because if he is going to plagiarize some maybe a conservative writer. So I know someone and the campaign over here.

(CROSSTALK)

(OFF-MIC)

MCENANY: Positive in my book.