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Don Lemon Tonight

Tug Of War In The Political Arena After Republican And Democratic Conventions. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired July 29, 2016 - 23:00   ET

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


[23:00:26] DON LEMON, CNN HOST: I don't need to tell you this, but fasten your seat belts; it's going to be a bumpy campaign. This is "CNN Tonight"; I'm Don Lemon.

This is already a race like no other. Fears that a foreign power is trying to influence our election as the FBI investigates hacking of the Clinton campaign. That, in the midst of a battle between two candidates who are the least liked in years and who never miss an opportunity to slam each other. Exhibit A, Donald Trump out on the campaign trail in Colorado tonight, doubling down on his favorite theme, Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Last night was sort of unbelievable. I went home and I thought that Hillary wasn't going to mention Trump because I thought it would be a class thing to do. She mentioned me 22 times, 22 times. The truth is, it was a little bit on the boring side, wouldn't you say, as a speech? It's like taking Sominex. So not a lot of people -- I don't think it registered. we're going to see.

You know, with the Republican Convention, I got a very big bounce; one of the biggest bounces in many years, right?

[Cheers]

TRUMP: We'll have to see. We'll have to see. We'll have to see if she gets a good bounce, if she doesn't; but the speech was really lies. One of the things she talked about was the rough and tumble campaign. She talked about me.

You know what this is? This is a speech writer writing a speech and she read it and that's what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton campaign's in Pennsylvania, blasting Donald Trump's vision of America and suggesting he is a threat to democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump painted a picture, a negative, dark, divisive picture of a country in decline. He insisted that America is weak and he told us all, after laying out this very dark picture, that I alone can fix it. Now, as I - as I watched and heard that, it set off alarm bells because just think about what happened here 240 years ago. Think about our Founders coming together, a Declaration of Independence, writing a Constitution. They set up our form of government, the longest lasting democracy in the history of the world -

[Cheers] [Chanting USA! USA!]

CLINTON: -- and, you know, they did it -- they did it because they knew they didn't want one person, one man to have all the power, like a king.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Here to talk about all this, W. Kamau Bell, hose of CNN's "United Shades of America". Kamau, good to see you, outside of outside Philadelphia. Nice meeting your lovely wife as well. First, I want to get your reaction to what happened today, a new investigation into a democratic email hack. What do you think?

W. KAMAU BELL, HOST, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA": I mean, I think, as some of your other guests said earlier, I think that's only a problem for Hillary if something emerges for that that is scary; but mostly it's a reminder to the rest of us to change our passwords. I think the bigger part of it is there was a time when the Republicans weren't courting the Russians and Donald Trump is on stage courting the Russians and the Russians, not that they seem to be listening, -- I don't know, it just seems if this was a Democrat who was courting this close relationship with the Russians, there would be a problem.

LEMON: I want your reaction to Trump saying that he - today that he's going to "take the gloves off" and no more "Mr. Nice Guy." Can you hear me, Kamau?

BELL: Oh, I'm sorry; I thought -

LEMON: You thought I was going to play the sound bite, right?

BELL: Yes, I thought you were going to play it. I was, like, let's hear it. My reac - I mean, can it get worse for Donald Trump? Is that what the leadership of the Republican Party wants, for him to take off the -- these have been the nice guy gloves he's been using? I think -- there's a long way between now and the election and now we get into the real season of the thing happening. What we're going to find out is when Hillary and Donald actually are on stage together, debating each other. That's when we really get to see what's going to happen in this election. Right now, we're still, basically, in the preseason. The debates are when we really get to see what happens. [23:05:02] Maybe Hillary takes off her nice guy gloves, too.

LEMON: The reason I ask you is because in "United States of America" this is your job, to go around and to get a - to interview people around the country, and you do the extreme so you get to see all of it. So I think it's important, for me, I want to hear your take on Philadelphia; your takeaways from Philadelphia and from Cleveland, but first Philadelphia.

BELL: You know, I think that the thing about the Philadelphia that was so intriguing was that there was really a sense that they had -- Hillary has a lot of good people who can speak for her. In some sense I felt she may have better people speaking for her than she can speak for herself. If Michelle Obama can tap Hillary on the shoulder and say I'll take it from here, I think this election would change in a heartbeat; but I think there's a little danger with Hillary that unless she can make every appearance a scaled down version of the DNC Convention, I don't know how well she's going to do speaking for herself because, like, the powerful moment you showed with Mr. Khan, like, if she can replicate that moment at every appearance she does, then great.

The funny thing with the Republicans is that we've seen things flip. Republicans used to always talk about how great this country was and Donald Trump and the Republicans painted a real bleak image of this country, so much so that at the Democratic Convention, when people booed it was a bad thing but at the Republican Convention they were actually courting the audience to boo.

LEMON: Interesting; so you gave me Cleveland as well in that. You mentioned - you just mentioned the Kahn family right now. Very powerful moment last night. Let's listen to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF HUMAYAH KHAN, DECEASED AMERICAN SOLDIER: Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.

[Booing]

KHAN: Donald Trump, you're asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution?

[Cheers and Applause]

KHAN: I will -- I will gladly lend you my copy.

[Cheers and Applause]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Kamau, I know you were watching with your in-laws. Did you have that same reaction?

BELL: Yeah, even my in-laws, my white in-law's stood up and went like this; like, that was an amazing moment -

[Laughter]

BELL: -- and also really screws up the narrative that Donald Trump has of sort of like Americans versus Muslims; like that man is the father of an Arab man who went to the war and fought for America. So it really -

LEMON: And lost his life.

BELL: -- totally obliterates that narrative in an amazing way.

LEMON: You're going to have to explain -- I don't have time to explain the last thing that you did to the audience but I'm sure most people - go ahead. You want to explain it?

BELL: Google "snapping your fingers"; make some Black friends, everybody.

[Laughter]

LEMON: Listen, tonight, you know, the dad spoke to MSNBC. He made a direct call to Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to repudiate Donald Trump; listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHAN: They have disagreed with his practices, his threats to minorities, disrespect to the legal system, the legal institutions. I want to ask them: if your candidate -- and I wish this would get to their ears and I will continue to ask this question: if your candidate wins and he governs the way he has campaigned, my country, this country will have constitutional crisis that never before in the history of this country and there comes a time in the history of a nation where ethical, moral stand has to be taken, regardless of the political cost. The only reason they're not repudiating this -- his behavior, his threat to our democracy, our decency, our foundation is just because of political consequences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Listen, people say they don't trust Hillary Clinton. They may not trust her but how can you doubt this man, his authenticity and his heart?

BELL: Yes; I think he's a very great speaker for what Hillary Clinton's trying to put forward. I think the issue here is the Progressive wing of the Party wants to know are you showing inclusion, are you being inclusive? I [23:10:02] think that there's a lot of questions still with the Progressive wing of the party. I mean, you don't have to look any further than Bernie Sanders face last night, every time they cut to him, there still seems to be some suspicion with the Progressive wing of the party.

That man is a great represent at this of that idea. He says "my country" and he's talking about America, he's not talking about another country. He's talking about America. Hillary Clinton has to be sent that when she goes out and speaks and people have to be able to believe her.

LEMON: Do you think -- he says that it's -- the only reason people aren't repudiating him is because of political consequences and he's insinuating that that's insidious in some way, that people aren't being genuine with themselves or they're not listening to their hearts, it's just about a political consequence. Do you think that he's right about that?

BELL: I do think that there is a sense in this country that we -- many of us are still divided in this two-party system. I think one of the things that's been highlighted with this election is the failure of the two-party system to cover everybody. I think there are some people who can't not vote for Trump because he represents the Republican Party and a lot of Republicans are asking themselves, but, wait, I'm a Republican. He's a republican; what do I do here? It, really, again, shows the failure of the two-party system to represent everybody's needs, as I certainly see on the left.

So I do think people are - when up hear that man speak, if that man doesn't affect you, you're not listening to your heart.

LEMON: Right; okay, well said. Another moment that struck a chord with me, and a lot of folks, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: -- it starts with listening, listening to each other, trying as best we can to walk in each other's shoes. So let's put ourselves in the shoes of young Black and Latino men and women who face the effects of systemic racism and are made to feel like their lives are disposable.

[Cheers and Applause]

CLINTON: Let's put ourselves in the shoes of police officers, kissing their kids and spouse's goodbye every day, heading off to do a dangerous and necessary job. We will reform our criminal justice system from end to end, and rebuild trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Kamau, those were conversations that I tried to have in Cleveland, because it was right after Dallas and Baton Rouge, and no one really wanted to have those conversations there, at least not in the way that I was able to do it in Philadelphia. People didn't seem to be open in Cleveland to that conversation. It was just sort of about pushing your narrative and blaming other people. I thought, I don't know if you did, I was surprised to hear a national candidate say that on a national stage.

BELL: I mean, I think it is great to hear her say this and I think that it goes even further, if, between now and the election, she actually meets with those groups she's talking about. I certainly know a lot of people in the movement for black lives who would like to sit down and talk to her about it because it's not even about us walking in each other's shoes. I think people want to feel like Hillary is walking in their shoes. So I think if she wants to meet with activists from the movement for black lives and immigration activists and really talk to them, I think that will go further to that conversation. LEMON: I think this is more important. I think this gets to the heart

of -- if you can speak to this, I think it would help the audience a lot because this is what you do. one of the first episodes you did with a Klan leader, you may not have agreed with him, you certainly are not going to be buddies, but at least you guys spoke to each other and you sort of talked to each other. if you can do that with a Klan member, a black guy and a Klan member, I mean my goodness.

BELL: And he still emails me, let me be clear about that, too. I think there is a need for people to sit down and have these difficult conversations; believe me, it's even weird for me because when I was in Philly, I had a state trooper come up to me and say I love your show; and it was still hard for me not to withdraw, like, what did I do wrong? I think there is still a need to have these conversations, really sit down and talk to people. So, again, I would encourage Hillary over the next few weeks, (inaudible) campaign, to really sit down and have these conversations --

LEMON: What about Donald Trump?

BELL: -- with these people -

[Laughter]

BELL: I -- I -- he's lost. I don't believe -

LEMON: You don't encourage him -

BELL: -- to have those conversations.

LEMON: Wouldn't you encourage him to do the same thing as well? I think it's incumbent upon him as well.

BELL: Well, yes. Absolutely; I would encourage Donald Trump to sit down and have those conversations. I guess I have a little more hope in Hillary than I have in Donald Trump to be able to hear those conversations, and I don't even know what percentage of hope I have in either one of them. I mean, my wife is "I'm with Her"; and I'm like I'm with her?

So I really do feel like it's important. If there's only so much time to have the conversations, I hope that Hillary sits down and has those conversations. With Trump, everything he does, every tweet he sends out, [23:15:01] every speech he gives is the opposite end of those conversations. So as much as I hope he has them, I'd rather him actually pull out of race and then we'll sit down and have those conversations.

LEMON: Well, he made it the most then if you think it's the opposite of what he should be doing.

BELL: His soul needs it the most, absolutely. His soul needs it the most but I don't know if I can believe he can have enough of those conversations before the election for me to feel comfortable with him as the commander-in-chief.

LEMON: Always a pleasure, my friend. You have a great weekend.

BELL: Thank you; you too.

LEMON: Coming right back; Donald Trump thinks Hillary Clinton should have congratulated him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So this is not a lot - this is not a campaign where you should be expecting a lot of Kumbaya moments, but we all, you know, with all the attacks going on, how is this going to sit with voters? Will it sit well with voters? Here to discuss all of this is Lanhee Chen, who is a former Policy Director for Mitt Romney; Mo Elleithee, who is a former DNC Director of Communications and Andre Bauer, former Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, and a Trump supporter.

Hello to both of you. Surprise, surprise -- we're talking about the -- we just got over the conventions and now it's time for the debates; let's talk about this.

I hate reporting on Donald Trump's tweets because he uses these tweets, right, to control the news cycle and we fall for it; but I think this one is important because he's complaining about the debates. He says, "As usual Hillary and the Dems are trying to rig the debates so two are up against major NFL games, same as the last time with Bernie. Unacceptable."

Is it unacceptable, because here is the schedule? The debate schedule is [23:20:03] that one is on a Monday, one is on a Sunday and one is on a Wednesday. So, Sunday; Monday there's going to be a football game, usually, if it's in the Fall; the Falcons/Saints. Sunday usually there's a football game, right, and then Wednesday there's no game. So - if you -- the thing is --

ANDRE BAUER, FORMER LT. GOVERNOR, SOUTH CAROLINA AND TRUMP SUPPORTER: If he's on his game, he should be concerned. If he's not on his game, then he should be happy there's something else to watch.

LEMON: This is your candidate. Why do you think he's blaming it on the Hillary Clinton campaign, that they're trying to rig the system? These are the -- this is what happens when you run for president; like, not releasing your tax returns. Most people release their tax returns. Most people, all people debate, have debates, and it's scheduled, usually for the same sort of things. Why is this different?

BAUER: I don't know. I don't know who decided what dates. I don't know how the input was from the different campaigns. You're letting him stay in the news cycle so he's winning. I'd move on to the next topic.

LEMON: I feel exactly the same thing that you feel. Do we need to discuss this? Do you guys want to discuss this; Mo?

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICTATIONS, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I mean, it's just another example of him not knowing what he's talking about, frankly. It's the Nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. I left over a year ago. Long before I left these dates were set. There was no - there were no candidates. Donald Trump was nowhere - Hillary Clinton was still just kicking off her primary. So to blame it on anyone, it's just --

LEMON: Lanhee?

ELLEITHEE: It's getting tiresome.

LANHEE CHEN, FORMER POLICY DIRECTOR, MITT ROMNEY: I mean, these date are actually going to be really significant, I think. If you look at the campaign, over these next couple of months, the campaigns are going to go back and forth. They're going to trade charges. They're going to have events. I don't know that anything's really going to change the arc of the campaign or the election until we get to the debates, and that's why the debates are important. I presume that's why Trump is talking about them.

Yes, I mean, these dates have been set for a long time. I would just hope, I think people will be inclined to tune in, even if it is up against an NFL football game. I think people will want to see these debates. I think just for the pure sport of it they will want to see these debates.

BAUER: If I were the NFL, I'd be worried.

LEMON: Exactly, that's the point. Do you think maybe that's the issue? do you think he's trying to wiggle out of them?

BAUER: I don't -- I don't know. If I were them I'd worry about --

LEMON: Andre, I know -- come on, Andre; what do you think?

BAUER: I think that part of it is structure. I'm a political guy that just loves politics and when I was running for lieutenant governor, I listened to all the Nixon-Kennedy debates.

LEMON: If you were up against an opponent that was much more experienced than you -

BAUER: It depends on the platform. Short answers will benefit Trump because he has the zingers. If they're longer, where she can talk in depth about world leaders and all of her 40 years of experience, they probably favor her a little bit. If I were him, I'd rather be standing. if I were her, I'd rather be sitting. I mean, all those things play into it, but you don't - that the average person doesn't think about.

LEMON: He's a ratings king, remember? He's the ratings king, why would he be worried about a little ol' football game?

BAUER: I'm not saying he's worried. He's probably looking forward. He probably relishes in it because it's that much more time on TV to take the gloves off.

LEMON: Why - Mo, why would he be worried about a little ball game? I mean, come on; he's Donald Trump. He's "The Apprentice", the boss. He fires people. He's the ratings king. Why would he be worried about football?

BAUER: As long as he's not up against Don Lemon, everything should be good.

LEMON: Mo, what do you think?

ELLEITHEE: Again, like, he's going to do what he's going to do and he's just -- debates, it's funny. You know, he always talks about what a great debater he is and how he beat all these candidates in the primaries. There's a big difference between a one-on-one debate versus sharing a stage with nine other candidates. These things are going to get pretty deep. They're going to get pretty in depth. They really test the candidates' knowledge, their skill, their temperament.

If I were Trump, you know - if I were the Trump campaign, I'd be a little nervous about it. I doubt Donald Trump himself is very nervous about it because he doesn't seem to be nervous about anything, but if I were the campaign, I'd be a little nervous.

LEMON: All right; moving on. Trump and Clinton both hit the campaign trail today. Let's take a listen to Trump responding to Clinton's speech last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: so I watched last night. I watched Hillary Clinton.

[Booing]

TRUMP: What a sad -- what a sad situation. So we beat her; we beat her and I think you tuned in out of curiosity with her. Most people - I was actually more curious. I was curious to see whether she would do a class act and not mention my name, or mention it with respect, like saying I'd like to congratulate my Republican opponent for having done something that nobody has ever done in the history of politics in this nation.

[Cheers]

TRUMP: And I would like to congratulate my opponent for having gotten more [23:25:03] votes than anybody in the history of the Republican Party, in the primary system.

[Cheers]

TRUMP: See, I thought she'd do that, give me a big, fat beautiful congratulations. You know, if she did that, would have that been cool? Would that have been great?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Lanhee, obviously that was sarcasm, correct?

CHEN: I think so. I think so.

[Laughter] LEMON: That's it?

CHEN: This is the funny thing, I was listening to that speech, and it's funny because it's so different from the kind of speech you could expect a, sort of, typical candidate for the president to give. I bet if we went back four years ago and listened to Mitt Romney and Barack Obama speeches after the convention, you wouldn't find anything even close to that; right? So this is really an unusual year. It seems to be working for him, style-wise; but the use of sarcasm, he might want to be careful, especially with all the stuff around the Russia hack, you know, because it's hard to tell when he's being serious and when he's being sarcastic these days.

LEMON: Mo?

ELLEITHEE: Look, you know, just as a communications strategist, huge missed opportunity. Huge missed opportunity. What you did was just played a sound bite of Donald Trump either being sarcastic or being narcissistic or some combination of both. What you didn't play a sound bite of was Donald Trump making a compelling case for his candidacy, or even a case against hers. There was no message there. There was no appeal to the American people. Every sound bite I've had heard today of Hillary Clinton speeches today have all been focused around that, some sort of a message, some sort of an appeal. So he's just missing these opportunities.

When he's given a teleprompter and he sticks to it, he gets a message out. Now we can have a conversation; but when he does this stuff, I don't -- he doesn't get anything out of it.

LEMON: You're shaking your head in agreement, Andre; why is that? Do you think it's a missed opportunity for messaging?

BAUER: It's conflicting. He's getting -- we're talking about him, again, about - again, he's the master. I've never seen anything like it. stuff I think is a stubbed toe, somehow he's able to spin it and get more people energized over it and tweet about it and it energizes new voters. so I'm shocked - it's so unconventional but it's working, Don. I'm still shocked by it.

LEMON: So you're not sure if it's a missed opportunity, as Mo said?

BAUER: Mo's a smart guy. I respect him. He's more schooled in politics than I am. I'm still of a guy who gets out in the trenches when I ran for office and I was unconventional, too, and it worked for a long time. It didn't work in the last one but it worked for a long time and I think Trump's going to ride this horse as long as he can, where it's working.

LEMON: Let hear from Hillary Clinton before you get I here, Lanhee. Hillary Clinton riding the momentum, and she isn't easing up on the attacks of Donald Trump. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: If you listened really closely to the Republican Convention, you know that Donald Trump talked for 75 minutes and did not offer one solution. In fact, his speech, his whole convention, seemed more about insulting me instead of helping the American people.

[Cheers]

CLINTON: Donald Trump talks about Make America Great Again. He doesn't make a thing in America, except bankruptcies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Lanhee, were her attacks, along with the President's and Michael Bloomberg's, make voters take a closer look at Donald Trump's record now?

CHEN: I do think if they're repeated enough, and obviously you're hearing some of the exact same language from Hillary Clinton today that you heard in her speech, the President's speech earlier in the week, the idea, as Moe alluded to is to come back to that message and really drive it home. I do think at some point that message is going to break through and people are going to take a look. Now whether it convinces them or not, that's a different issue.

I think Clinton's day after a convention was much more effective than Donald Trump's was last week. Recall, he had that sort of strange press conference, where, you know, there wasn't much of a message and it was a little bit meandering; but the bottom line is I do think people are going to take a serious look at the Trump record. I just don't know if it's going to matter because he is such an unconventional candidate that's been successful so far, even with the attacks.

LEMON: All right; stick around everyone. When we come right back, is Donald Trump actually having some doubts about whether he'll win?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:33:30] DON LEMON, CNN HOST: So on the day after the Democratic National Convention, Donald Trump seems to be on the defensive. Back with me now, Lanhee Chen, Mo Elleithee, Andre Bauer.

So, I want to take a look at Donald Trump's VP, Mike Pence, today, criticizing Obama for referring to Trump with the term "home-grown demagogue" in his convention speech this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE (R) VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, I just don't - you know, I don't think name calling has any place in public life and I thought that was unfortunate that the President of the United States would use a term like that, let alone laced into a sentence like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, --

[Laughter]

LEMON: I mean, you guys already know my question. Who wants it? Mo, go ahead, ask the question to Andre. I mean, does name calling -- Andre, is that not contradictory? Mo?

Andre, what? I mean, come on. Seriously. I'm being completely serious here.

He comes up with names for people. He's come up with Little Bloomberg now; Crooked Hillary, all these names and then his vice presidential -- I don't think you should engage in name calling? I mean, it's hard to -

ANDRE BAUER, FORMER LT. GOVERNOR, SOUTH CAROLINA: And I don't think you'll see it from the Vice Presidential candidate.

LEMON: -- sit here and pretend -- to be in an alternate universe and say, well, you know -- Donald Trump is the name caller. He invented it.

BAUER: What's the next question?

LEMON: So what are you saying? You're saying you can't defend that even as a Trump supporter?

[23:35:01] BAUER: They're two entirely different individuals, with two entirely different backgrounds. I never expect candidates to agree on everything. They are a team. The head of the team is Donald Trump, and in the end he's the one-

LEMON: So then -- why would he agree then to be his VP if he doesn't believe in name calling? If he's going to say I don't think anybody should engage in name-calling, then why would he agree to be in a campaign with someone who is the name caller?

BAUER: Well, Trump really had a weakness and really being able to get things through -

LEMON: No, no. I'm not talking about Trump; I'm talking about Pence.

BAUER: Well, you know, Pence has an opportunity to shape some of the message forward and he's taken the high road every chance and you can just see he has a different background and a different approach to running for office.

LEMON: Mo?

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Hey, Don; yes, look. I mean, --

BAUER: Be nice, Mo. Be nice.

ELLEITHEE: Andre, I'm going to help you out here because you've got a tough job tonight. Look, as a Democrat, you know, I've had my fair share of issues with Mike Pence over the years but I actually feel for him, too, because this keeps happening. He goes out there and says there's no room for name-calling and look what Donald Trump does every single day.

The other day he goes out there and puts out a statement saying Russia should face consequences if they're behind some sort of a hack. He puts out that statements minutes before Donald Trump goes out there and actually asks Russia to conduct a hack. So Mike Pence has a really tough job right now because his boss just isn't making it easy for him.

LEMON: Lanhee, I want to ask you this question -

BAUER: I think -

LEMON: -- let's move one because this is important to get in. At tonight's rally Trump went after another DNC speaker, this time retired Four-Star General John Allen, who led Coalition forces in Afghanistan; here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They had a general named John Allen and he -- I never met him; and he got up and he started talking about Trump, Trump, Trump. Never met him. You know who he is? He's a failed general. He was the general fighting ISIS. l would say he hasn't done so well, right? Not so well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Lanhee, Four-Star General?

LANHEE CHEN, FORMER POLICY DIRECTOR, MITT ROMNEY: Yes; I think that was a really ill-advised attack. What I think the Trump people would say is, look; the General went out there and gave a speech for Hillary Clinton. He's fair game.

But it's very difficult, I think, to call someone with a distinguished career of service, a very lengthy and distinguished career of service like General Allen, a failed general. Surely if there have been failures in our fight against ISIS, those are a function of the political leadership, not of the military leadership, in my mind. So I think Trump would have been better off directing his attack against the President, and against the President's appointees, rather than against a guy like General Allen.

I think, you know, again, this is not the first time that Donald Trump has attacked a military figure. It's not the first time he's attacked the military. So I have no reason to think the consequences are going to be any different.

LEMON: Thank you, Gentlemen. Andre, you have a great -

BAUER: I'm Mike Pence on that one.

LEMON: I'm going to buy Andre a beer after the broadcast. He's going to need it. Thank you, Gentlemen.

ELLEITHEE: Maybe a couple. LEMON: Have a great weekend. Coming up, believe it or not, Clinton and Trump are actually good friends, Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump that is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:42:17] LEMON: You might think nothing can bring Trump and Clinton together. Well, you would be wrong. CNN's Tom Foreman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Lyin', Crooked Hillary. She's a liar.

H. CLINTON: Donald Trump talks about making America great again. He doesn't make a thing in America except bankruptcies.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amid the campaign's fury, an unlikely alliance. Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton, fierce political foes; steadfast personal friends. Chelsea says it's so --

CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER, HILLARY CLINTON: Our friendship had nothing, has nothing to do with politics. We were friends before this election. We'll be friends after this election.

FOREMAN: And Ivanka does too, telling "People" Magazine, "We're both incredibly supportive of our parents, as we should be; but we also continue to have great respect for one another."

A dozen years ago when their families were friends, the two met and found they had things in common. They still do. Both are married, mid- 30's, with Ivy League educations and children. Both grew up with famous fathers facing personal turmoil, and both have taken a deep interest in their parents' bid for the White House; indeed, introducing them at their party's conventions.

C. CLINTON: My mother -

I. TRUMP: My father --

C. CLINTON: -- and our -

I. TRUMP: -- next president -

C. CLINTON: Hillary Clinton.

I. TRUMP: Donald J. Trump.

FOREMAN: But there are sharp political differences, too. For example, after Ivanka praised her father's record for hiring and promoting women, promising he'll do the same as president -

I. TRUMP: He will fight for equal pay for equal work --

FOREMAN: Her friend Chelsea quickly shot back.

C. CLINTON: How would your father do that, given it's not something he's spoken about? There are no policies on any of those front that you just mentioned on his web site.

FOREMAN: With the race growing only nastier, and each woman pushing so hard for her parent to win, it's fair to wonder if their cross-party friendship can survive.

H. CLINTON: A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.

D. TRUMP: I just beat 16 people and I'm beating her.

FOREMAN: Amid the scorching red-hot rhetoric, Ivanka said they've not seen each other lately. Although asked about a daughters summit to ease campaign tensions, Chelsea said:

C. CLINTON: It wasn't something that occurred to me, but it's certainly something I would consider.

FOREMAN: Not a bad idea. After all, Thomas Jefferson famously said he never thought anyone should lose a friend over politics.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: How true. Tom Foreman, thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:48:51] LEMON: Ivanka Trump-Chelsea Clinton's friendship, that is truly being put to the test right now. Here to discuss it is Michelle Cottle, Contributing Editor to "The Atlantic" and also Nischelle Turner, Entertainment Tonight host and CNN Contributor who got the inside story from Chelsea herself. You interviewed her, was it yesterday or today? When did you interview her?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND "ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT" HOST: Yesterday.

LEMON: Yesterday.

TURNER: Yes; yesterday right - yesterday morning, right before she took the stage.

LEMON: And so you got a chance to speak -- you saw Tom Foreman's piece. I want to play a little bit of it, about their friendship, and then we'll talk, Nischelle. I want to hear what she says to you; go.

TURNER: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D. TRUMP: I thought her daughter did very well, by the way; Chelsea, I thought she did very well. My daughter likes Chelsea and Chelsea likes my daughter. What are you going to do? That the way it is, right; that's okay. That's okay. My daughter likes Chelsea; Ivanka. Ivanka did great, right? [Cheers]

D. TRUMP: But I asked Ivanka, I said do you like Chelsea?

I. TRUMP: I do, dad.

D. TRUMP: Really?

I. TRUMP: No, I really do.

D. TRUMP: Ah, I wish you didn't. It would be a lot easier; right? No, but they like - Chelsea likes Ivanka and so I think that's nice. That's the way [23:50:01] life is and that's the way life should be; right? Don't we agree? It's okay; it's okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Yes; that is the way life is; right?

TURNER: It is, yes.

LEMON: They can't help what their parents do and they happen to be friends, but it must be unbelievably difficult on their friendship. What did Chelsea say to you?

TURNER: Well, it's interesting. When I tweeted out yesterday, to kind of talk about the fact I interviewed her about this, I called it "The Real Deal Grown Women Friendship" between the two of them because I really think that it is.

When I talked to Chelsea, I asked her (1) if she felt any kind of competition with Ivanka (1) to do a better speech than her and (2) because of this whole situation and she said look, we were friends long before politics came into play and we're going to be friends long after. We have kids around the same age. Our kids are going to grow up to be friends. She was very complimentary of Ivanka and said you know what? You know what I think about at the end of the day? I saw how proud she was to be up there representing her family and her father and it's the same feeling I have for my mother. I can't ever begrudge anyone that.

So she really feels like they have a strong friendship that's going to last. But, I also asked her, I'm fiercely protective of my mother. I know, if somebody talked about her, said something bad about her, I'd be ready scream and I'd be ready to fight. So how is she not? She told me, you know, she feels like it's because she grew up in front of politics, grew up in the limelight, knows the political game and she really can, she says, at the end of the day, separate the politics from the personal.

LEMON: Yes.

TURNER: Now, can Ivanka? I'm not sure.

LEMON: Especially since she grew up doing it. Michelle Cottle, Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump, I mean, they've have been friends many years now, as Nischelle pointed out there. They were introduced by their husbands. What has their friendship been like?

MICHELLE COTTLE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Well, I think Chelsea has made the point that it does not, like all sensible people, they don't go into their political differences now. They have a lot in common. They both know what it's like to grow up in the spotlight. You know, they're both privileged children but they have tried to kind of forge their own path, despite the fact that they've got these larger than life parents that you can't escape that shadow. So they have a lot of similarities and I'm sure they have plenty to talk about, when they are away from the political issues.

LEMON: Michelle Cottle, both of them have grown up with fathers who endured, you know, public, you know, sex scandals or scandals with women, each have held high positions; the Clinton Foundation, the Trump Organization. Do you think the vitriol in this election must be taking a toll on each of them and maybe even on their friendship?

COTTLE: Well I think it's hard to come out of something this nasty without some scars. As you point out, the Clinton family is very loyal, they're very tribal. Nothing makes the senior Clintons madder than somebody saying something unpleasant about Chelsea and Chelsea is very protective of her mother, in particular. So I think that it's going to take its toll, but also, nobody is more seasoned at learning to deal with this than Chelsea is. I mean, she's been doing since she was 14 years old.

So it probably will take a while, at the end of all this, because it is going to get super ugly but if anybody can do it, you know these two girls are professionals, or young women at this point, are professionals at learning how to do this.

LEMON: Women are much more evolved of the sexes, I have to say, so they can probably deal with this and it will go through - and their friendship may even grow from this. Nischelle, I want to listen to a little bit of your interview and then discuss.

TURNER: Okay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: You and Ivanka Trump are really good friends. Did you watch her speech during the RNC? I thought she was very strong.

C. CLINTON: I did watch it. I just could see how much it meant to Ivanka to introduce her dad. Our friendship didn't start with politics and it will last long after this race is done. May we be so blessed that our children will become friends as they grow up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So reportedly now, Nischelle, the friendship has been put on hold temporarily. What does that mean?

TURNER: Well, first I think it's because they want to see what happens through this election process. I can see that. I really understand that and I feel like if they're two grown women at the end of the day, maybe they can hug it out. Will they stay have the same friendship they have now, I'm not so the sure of that because, we know, and I asked Chelsea this, how do you stop from screaming leave her alone, when you hear the mud start slinging and she went back to that, listen, I can separate it. I grew up in this. I know what it is.

We know where Donald Trump can go. He can go for the jugular. I don't think we've scratch add the surface of what's going to happen in this campaign. So I'm not so sure the feelings will be all bright and puppies and rainbows at the end of this because, listen, if you love your family and you're protective of your family, it's going to get ugly.

LEMON: Hey, Michelle, I have to go. Quickly, do you think their friendship will survive this?

COTTLE: I think it will get bruised definitely.

LEMON: That's fair enough, don't you think? Again, I think women are much more able to deal with this than us guys.

TURNER: And that's why we love you, Don Lemon.

LEMON: Thank you, you guys have a great weekend; thanks for joining me. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:59:01] LEMON: When a baby is in intensive care, a family's life is turned upside down. Adding to the stress in many cities is an unexpected financial challenge, the cost of parking which can run into thousands of dollars. It's a problem this week's "CNN Hero" doesn't want anyone to have.

CARRIE MCGEE: These babies are in the NICU for not days, but months at a time. When your child is in the hospital for a long-term stay, you think about all the medical expenses or things of that nature, but when you end up with the reality that the parking is going to cost you so much money, it's just not something that people expect. It's definitely, you know, a significant burden on families and there are a lot of babies who are alone a lot of the time.

LEMON: To see how Carrie McGee is helping families spend more time with their babies in the NICU, go to cnnheroes.com. And while you're there, nominate someone you think should be a 2016 hero.

That's it for us tonight. Thanks for watching. I'll see you right back here on Monday night.