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Don Lemon Tonight

CDC Says COVID-19 will Rank Up a Top 10 Leading Cause of Death; President Trump Cancels Jacksonville Republican National Convention; President Trump to Throw First Pitch at the Yankees Game. Debunking Face Mask and Misconceptions; A Video Released by the Biden Campaign Of Obama-Biden Conversation; Biden Holds 13-Point Lead Over Trump in Florida; MLB Players, Teams Showing Support for Black Lives Matter; New Episode of "United Shades of America" Looks at the Challenges Facing Black Farmers in America; NBA Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Speaks with Don Lemon About Racial Injustice in the United States; A Key Miscalculation by Officers Contributed to the Tragic Death of Breonna Taylor. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired July 23, 2020 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: -- CNN Tonight, I'm Don Lemon, 11:00 p.m. here on the East Coast.

Today marks a grim milestone in the worst in coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The nation passing 4 million officially confirmed cases. More than 144,000 Americans have now died from the disease today alone. Over 1,000 Americans died from COVID-19.

And because of death toll is rising so fast, experts at the CDC telling CNN they now expect COVID-19 will end up among the top 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. in 2020, the severity of the crisis forcing President Trump to do an about face.

Tonight announcing he is canceling the parts of the Republican National Convention that were to be held in Jacksonville, Florida. As we know Florida is one of the hardest hit states. Today it's reporting more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases and a record number of deaths from the disease.

Joining me now is CNN's White House correspondent John Harwood and Dr. Jonathan Reiner, he is the director of the Cardiac Catheterization Program at George Washington University Hospital. Gentlemen, good evening to you.

John, a big convention is everything Trump loves but today finally forced to really face reality. The virus is winning. He's retreating.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No question about it. And I think this announcement today spoke louder than anything the president has said all week as he's resumed these briefings, you know, telling people to wear masks after not doing so, telling people it's going to get worse before it's get better. Then he had a different tone yesterday and said a bunch of things that were not true at the briefing. But this was the big event of these briefings this week. The president wanted that event. He was angry when the state of North Carolina under Democratic governor told him he couldn't have it in the way he wanted to have it. So, he said I'm going to go to a place that will let me have the kind of event I want. He found Florida, where he got a sympathetic Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican run city in Jacksonville.

But, in the last few days, the sheriff has said that it was too difficult to do security given the resurgence of the pandemic. And so the president's position became increasingly untenable. Many Republican politicians said, they were not going to go to the conventions. So, he was faced with trying to put on this big event and it have -- it being potentially a disappointment in addition to a potential public health problem. And so he was forced to retreat today. I think that was a signal of the gravity of the situation that was stronger than we have gotten from anything else at the White House this week.

LEMON: This is how the president explained his decision Dr. Reiner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I looked at my team and I said, the timing for this event is not right. It's just not right with what has happened recently. The flare up in Florida. To have a big convention, it's not the right time. It's really something that, for me, I have to protect the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK, but Doctor, he still pushing to reopen schools. How do you square that?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: You can't. This is the same president who, at the end of June, despite record daily cases in places like Tulsa and Phoenix, thought that having rallies with thousands of people was a good idea. But look, Don, there was no way this convention was going to happen. Florida has become the epicenter for the pandemic on the planet. And even under the best possible circumstances, where finally the virus starts to add in Florida and things get better over the next few weeks, there would be no way to bring 10s of thousands of people to Florida and then risk reigniting the virus back in Florida. So, it was destined to be canceled. I think people finally just got to the president and convinced him of that.

LEMON: It's interesting how he and the Governor, Ron DeSantis, or bragging about how reopening early did not hurt. And you know, everything was fine and then now, look at what happened. John, listen, President Trump is going to throw out the first pitch at the Yankees game on August 15th. That is what he said. This is what he said at Sean Hannity about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I hope everyone is standing. I hope they are not going to be kneeling when the flag is raised. I don't like to see that. That would hurt a lot of people in our country. They don't want to see that. With the NFL or baseball or basketball or anything else. We want to -- there are plenty of places you can protest, you don't have to protest on the raising of our flag.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, I said this in the last hour that all the nationals and Yankees players kneeled during the anthem. They kneeled during a pregame moment of unity, not during the anthem. So, however, in the Giants Dodgers game tonight, a manager and three players were seen kneeling during the national anthem. So, John, it is going to be interesting to see how this plays out when President Trump is around.

[23:05:12]

HARWOOD: Well, I think it's going to be difficult given the momentum for permitting this kind of a protest and accepting this kind of a protest. Which is much different from when Colin Kaepernick did it a few years ago. It's going to be very difficult I think for -- to get both teams to agree not to kneel when the president throws out that first pitch. When he says a lot of people in the country would be hurt by it, he's the one I think who is at risk of being hurt, being embarrassed. Being felt that he is being shown up if athletes do kneel during the anthem in the game where he's throwing up the first pitch.

LEMON: Just for him, kneeling at all. Even if it is not during the anthem. The fact that those players are all kneeling is, you know, to him, an insult. It's insult to injury.

HARWOOD: That's right. I think he would take that as a humiliation and I think the players are likely to feel it as a challenge. Like, are you going to back down from your commitment to protests? And obviously, every player is different. But surely among those two teams, there are going to be people who are supportive of protests. It is going to be very hard for them to resist expressing themselves in that way when this very unpopular president goes to throw out the first pitch.

LEMON: Yes. And the players now in all the major leagues are feeling powerful and they are standing up in the way that they didn't before this, before the death of George Floyd. Thank you both, I appreciate it.

I want to get to the Trump fact checker and that is Daniel Dale. Daniel, good evening to you. You know, we reached a grim milestone that I mentioned, 4 million cases in the U.S. today. But here's what President Trump said about the pandemic earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You also see a lot of the countries has no problem whatsoever. Most of the country actually. The country is in very good shape, other than if you look south or west. Some problems that will work out. It goes away and it goes away quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What's the truth?

DANIEL DALE, CNN FACT CHECKER: The country is in good shape, other than if you look south and west. That's like a self-fact checking statement. I don't need to say anything there. Beyond that though, Don. It is of course obviously untrue that most of the country has no problem whatsoever. This virus is everywhere. We have 23 states with rising cases. Week over week. And it's not just states on the West Coast and in the south. It includes states like North Dakota, Maryland, Illinois, Indiana.

Dr. Deborah Birx listed a list of cities yesterday that she was concerned about. It included places like Baltimore, like Columbus, like Pittsburgh. So, the idea the president was propagating today, that this is confined to, you know, certain coast, certain spots, it's just not true.

LEMON: And even if it's in the south and the west, I mean, there are a lot of Americans who live in the south and the west.

DALE: Those are major population's centers. You can't say a lot of those major population centers are doing great. It doesn't make sense.

LEMON: Let's take a listen to what the president said about his decision to cancel the Jacksonville part of the convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They said sir we can make this work very easily. We have great enthusiasm, incredible enthusiasm. Even the polls say about the most enthusiasm they've seen. We can do it safely and we can do it responsibly. I said there's nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You've noticed a pattern with the president's sir stories

DALE: Right. Yes, Don. Basically any time the president tells a story in which he hasn't unnamed person calling him sir. Something about that story is inaccurate. I don't have any proof that this particular story in inaccurate, but in my years of fact checking this man, almost every sir story is wrong in some important way.

LEMON: All right. Daniel Dale, our fact checker. Thank you very much, I appreciate it. The U.S. now officially recording more than 4 million cases of coronavirus since the pandemic took hold. More tonight from CNN's Nick Watt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 173 people reported dead today in Florida. An all-time high for that state.

MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ (R-MIA): One person is getting exposed or sick and they are infecting every single member of their household.

WATT: Today, we passed 4 million confirmed COVID 19 cases across this country. Now getting to the first million cases took 99 days. The next million, it took 43 days. The next, 28. And getting from 3 million to 4 million, just 15 days.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, VACCINE RESEARCHER, DEAN OF THE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: There's no end in sight in the sense that, if there's no plan to control the virus at a national level, it is not going to go away by itself.

WATT: We are now six months in and the president still thinks testing is overrated.

TRUMP: Instead of 50, we did 25. We would have half the number of cases. So, I personally think it's overrated, but I am totally willing to keep doing it.

[23:10:05]

WATT: Doesn't he realized that a case is a case whether it is found by a test or not? And unknown case can be contained. That is largely why we test.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Finding and tracing those very early individuals is really critical.

WATT: So says Dr. Deborah Birx, who right now is privately worried by recent upticks and test positivity rates in these 12 cities. Among them, Las Vegas, St. Lois, Baltimore.

BIRX: I know it may look small and you may say well that only went from five to five and a half. And we're going to wait and see what happens. If you wait another three or four, even five days, you'll start to see a dramatic increase in cases.

WATT: So in all of Oregon bars and restaurants must now close at 10:00 p.m. Anchorage Alaska now reintroducing restrictions on the size of gatherings. Listen to this from a just published study. If the United States had collectively waited longer, opened more slowly and then kept our gathering sizes small. We might have reduced case counts like Europe or Canada and experienced a relatively normal summer.

Instead, baseballs opening day is today. Late July, with no fans and no spitting. Last year, opening day was late March. Dr. Anthony Fauci threw out the first pitch at the Nationals. We have ever thought? A mild mannered 79-year-old immunologist would be on that mound? A sign of our times. Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Nick, thank you very much. We all know by now that wearing a mask is one of the best weapons we have against the virus. But there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about masks. We will debunk them with an expert. Next.

[23:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: There are a lot of myths and misconceptions out there about masks, so many that my next guest made a video debunking them. Joining me now is biologist Joe Hanson, the host of it's OK to be smart on PBS, also Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University. Hello to both of you. Doctor, I see you are wearing your masks. Which is what we all should be doing.

Joe, I'm going to start with you though. Let's talk with one of the most common myths, that wearing a mask deprives you of oxygen. I hope everyone is watching this. OK. Here is your experiment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE HANSON, BIOLOGIST: According to the American Lung Association, there is no evidence that no oxygen levels can occur from wearing a face mask. And I have been wearing six masks for like five minutes. And this fingertip oxygen meter tells me, well, I still have 99 percent oxygen saturation. Which is like an A plus. (Inaudible). Look at that. It is 99 again. A plus. OK, I don't want anybody claiming that I don't -- I don't want anybody claiming I don't really have six masks on. One mask, two mask, three mask, four mask, five mask, six masks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Breathing while wearing a mask can sometimes feel like it takes more effort, but it's not going to cause people to suffocate.

HANSON: That's right. I mean, this is weird. It is new for many people. But, you know, we always can just look at history, surgeons, doctors, nurses have been wearing masks in their work for over 100 years now. I think, and you know, hours at a time, not just the five minutes that I did there in that video. They would have told us and so many doctors and surgeons have taken to the internet to sow their own experiments, hooked up to much more expensive machines to show that this really is safe in regards to your normal breathing.

LEMON: Yes. Doctor, the flip side of that myth is that by wearing a mask, you are inhaling dangerous levels of your own carbon dioxide. But that's not true either, right?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: No. That's clearly not true. You are exhaling perfectly fine. You are getting the bad air out, just as Joe says. You get the good air in. If it can come in, it can go out. So wearing a mask just works fine. As Joe said, you know, we in medicine have been wearing masks for 100 years. You wouldn't certainly want your surgeon suddenly accumulate bad air, that carbon dioxide, during surgery. Well, of course it doesn't happen.

LEMON: Yes. I heard a soundbite of a woman somewhere saying, yes, we are inhaling dangerous carbon monoxide. There you go. So this is where we are right now. Joe, another mask myth is that a cotton mask aren't densely woven enough to block the coronavirus. This is how you break it down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANSON: Here is the weave of a typical cloth mask under a microscope compared to the size of a typical droplet. And here is another commonly used mask fabric. None of these fabrics will stop 100 percent of virus particles from escaping, but experiments do show that any of them will give you good droplet blocking power. This isn't just about the size in the holes in a fabric weave, it's also about how the fibers within the fabric are layered and stacked.

We can see that by looking at the fibers in a medical mask. It's more like a rat nest than a weave. By layering household fabrics, we can get some of that effect. So a chain link fence can't stop mosquitoes, but to overlap chain link fences can definitely stop mosquitoes if they're flying around inside tennis balls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Interesting. Cloth masks are enough to get the job done.

HANSON: That's right. We have to remember that people who are potentially breathing out this virus are doing it inside of larger droplets of moisture. And a mask is not intended to be a magic device that is going to block everything coming out of someone's mouth.

[23:20:05]

But multiple layers of fabric, just like the multiple layers of the surgical mask or an N95 mask can interfere with that. And just protect you at some level to be combined with these other strategies that have been recommended from the beginning, like washing your hands, like physical distancing, like staying home. This really is a multi- strategy kind of effort that we are adding layers of protection, just like layers inside of that mask.

LEMON: Dr., there is a new study, it's published in the British medical journal Thorax, it found that cloth face covering should have at least two layers, and preferably even three to be the most effective. What do you think about that?

SCHAFFNER: Well, as Joe says, having layers works better. It blocks the droplets going out. And we need to remember, Joe will agree, masks don't prevent infection. Wearing them prevents infection. So you got to wear the mask. Let's not quibble about this mascara that mask. The important thing is to wear them, to wear them constantly when you are around other people. That is what we have to get people to do.

LEMON: Doctor, just real quick, because I am up against the clock here, but the guidance on masks hasn't changed that much, because there were never -- it has never been said that the masks would protect you. It has always been to protect other people. And that's what they were saying in the beginning. A mask is probably not going to protect you. But the change in guidance was, but you should wear them so you can protect other people. That has become a talking point. So, can you just please say something about that? SCHAFFNER: Well, it soon became apparent that we had to wear masks.

When it became clear that people could spread this virus without symptoms. And when that happened, then we all had to wear masks to make sure that we were not infecting others and others had to wear masks to make sure that they were not infecting us. And you can't tell whether you are infected by how well you feel. Because transmission without symptoms is very common. That is how this virus likes to spread easily.

LEMON: Yes. And I want to be clear, the part about protecting you by wearing a mask never was a guidance and still isn't now. You are protecting other people.

SCHAFFNER: That is correct.

LEMON: Thank you both. I appreciate it. New polling shows that Joe Biden is way out in front of President Trump in several battleground states. Is he into deep of a hole to get out of it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:25:00]

LEMON: The Biden campaign has released a new video showing the former vice president having a socially distance conversation with his former boss, President Barack Obama, about the challenges of rebuilding the country and the importance of health care. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Making sure everybody has health care. And now we have a chance. We can add a public option now.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right.

BIDEN: But this guys in court. In the middle of a pandemic, he is trying to take away the protection for 100 million people who have pre-existing conditions. I don't think he has any sense of empathy. I don't think he can associate at all.

OBAMA: You and I had experience dealing with health crises. Public health crisis. And in each instance, what you and I understood, and why I have so much confidence that you are going to be able to deal with COVID and the way that other countries with our kinds of resources are dealing with it right now, which is the smart way, I have confidence that you are going to actually listen to the experts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Jim Messina is a former Obama campaign manager who also was a White House Deputy Chief of Staff. He joins me now. Jim, it is good to see you. Thank you for doing this. Good evening to you.

JIM MESSINA, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN MANAGER: My pleasure. Good to be here. LEMON: They were socially distanced, by the way. Did you see how far

apart they were? Listen. Biden and Obama are focusing on health care and the pandemic, and I imagine that is a very deliberate strategy.

MESSINA: Absolutely. Look, health care is the reason why the Democrats picked up 41 seats in the House in 2018, during all this COVID crisis, President Trump's leadership and lack of any sort of plan has opened up a huge avenue for the Biden campaign. And you know, people forget there are 6 million Americans, Don, who voted for both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. And they are looking at this right now and saying, gosh, we sure wish we had Barack Obama here and not Donald Trump.

And so this is a not so subtle way to remind people of a connection between Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and to put the race back on the health care terms. And issue where Biden has a very big lead over Trump and can continue to expand the two biggest playing fields that we are seeing right now. The first is suburban women. And the second is senior voters. Biden now leads with seniors, which is a huge change from four years ago. And it's primarily because of COVID and health care.

LEMON: Yes. And I would imagine also they don't like the attacks coming from the right, and the president on Joe Biden. I would imagine some you know seniors, or many seniors, are offended by that. So Jim, new polling out today from Quinnipiac continues to look really bad for Trump.

Listen, you mentioned, you know, suburban women and so on in his polling. Florida voters picking Biden over him by a 13 point margin that lead growing nine points.

[23:30:00]

That's since April. Clearly here we are seeing a shift in strategy in the president's handling of the pandemic with numbers like that, right?

MESSINA: Yeah. I mean, look, Florida is what I called the one percent state. Every election in Florida is one percent. Trump won it by one. The last two governor races were one point. To see Joe Biden at a 13- point lead, whether you believe one poll or not, he is now over 50 in most polls in Florida.

And the numbers I am really looking at are the independent numbers. You know, Biden leads Trump by 16 points. He leads in every single age demographic, including the seniors we talked about. And then you just talked about these swing women. You know, Biden leads Trump in Florida by 18 points in this last poll with women voters. That is just numbers we have never seen in Florida.

There is no scenario in which Donald Trump can get re-elected president of the United States without Florida. You can run any scenario you want. He simply has to have Florida.

LEMON: Interesting. Jim, Biden also has a healthy lead in three other crucial battleground states. Let's put them up. Thirteen points in Minnesota, 11 points in Pennsylvania, nine-point lead in Michigan. Why do you believe he is performing so strongly in those states in these polls?

MESSINA: A couple of reasons. One, Trump's negatives on COVID had absolutely tanked. Now, the independent voters, 70 percent disapprove of his handling of COVID. You referenced this earlier. This is why you are seeing a new message from Trump this week. They are trying desperately to get to some sort of parity on COVID. They can't.

If you look at these numbers in the Midwestern states -- and a reminder, these Midwestern states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, are the reason why Donald Trump is the president. He won those three states combined by 78,000 votes, which is less, as you and I know, than are in the big house or Camp Randall on any Saturday of college football.

(LAUGHTER)

MESSINA: We are talking about a very small piece of the voters here. He is now down double digits in all three of these states. He also spent real -- Trump has also spent real money in Minnesota trying to put Minnesota on the map. In this Fox poll today, you know, it shows Minnesota is not even close. There is no real chance for Trump in Minnesota.

So, again, his pathway to 270 electoral votes looks really, really hard if he continues to tank with suburban voters and with the senior voters that have traditionally been his strength.

LEMON: Jim, you've been in this game for a long time. You know there is long way to go between now and the election even though it doesn't seem that way. Does it make you nervous to see this big lead this far out because complacency should be a concern for anyone?

MESSINA: Yeah. Look, the Democrats are the party that lost to the sky the first time, right? So we should never be complacent. We have 104 shopping days left to make our case before the election.

But, you know, the early vote starts in a little over 70 days in some of these battleground states. And so I don't think you are going to see any Democrat be complacent. We know that last time, Trump, you know, resurrected his campaign in the final days. We also know he will do and say anything.

I think you can see an absolutely united Democratic Party in pushing all the way to the election because there is just no way in any scenario that we can allow this guy to get re-elected president. So I'm not worried about complacency, I am worried about some of these lawsuits and the ways people can vote or not be able to vote in some of these battleground states.

The rules on how you can campaign during COVID and how you can vote are the things that keep me up at night, not democratic complacency.

LEMON: Jim, it is a pleasure having you on. It is good to see you. Be safe. Thanks so much. MESSINA: Thank you.

LEMON: The MLB season kicking off with many players taking a knee, and some wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts before their games. Are we witnessing a new era in sports? W. Kamau Bell is here to discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Major League Baseball kicking off opening day of their condensed 2020 season in an empty stadium tonight amid the raging coronavirus pandemic. Before the game, players for the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals knelt in a call for racial unity.

In Los Angeles tonight, an L.A. Dodgers player and members of San Francisco Giants were seen kneeling during the national anthem. Both teams were seen wearing t-shirt saying "Black Lives Matter" before the game. All of this comes as more and more athletes are speaking out against racial injustice in America.

Let's discuss. W. Kamau Bell is here. He is the host of "United Shades of America." What is happening?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: I can't believe I just said all of that! Do you remember the conversations we were having just -- I don't know -- six months ago and sons of you know what and oh, my gosh! Oh, what is happening?

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST: I know. Colin Kaepernick is somewhere laughing or crying, depending on how he feels about this. Remember when I did that, everybody?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: And I got blackballed and --

BELL: Yeah, don't have a career.

LEMON: Yeah. But listen --

BELL: Yeah.

LEMON: The MLB players, you know, they can show their support for causes like Black Lives Matter or, you know, shirts and cleats and wristbands and the teams themselves are doing it, too.

[23:40:00]

The Washington Nationals stencilled BLM on the pitching mound. And today, the Red Sox is putting up a massive Black Lives Matter banner outside Fenway Park. Do you think that these sports leagues now are really committed more than just doing these symbolic movements?

BELL: I mean, that's the real question because like, really, when Black Lives Matter first started, was founded like several years ago after Trayvon Martin was murdered by three black women, that was the time to really say Black Lives Matter --

LEMON: Black Lives Matter was started by three black women after Trayvon Martin was murdered. OK. Yeah.

BELL: Yes. Thank you for retweeting what I said.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: But yeah, I just want to say that was the time when you think if they had come out then with that, it would have been very brave and bold and it would have been more of a political statement.

I'm glad they're doing it now. But now, it's about what is work you're doing in your community, are you creating more opportunities at high levels for black people to rise to the levels of Major League Baseball, team ownership, those kinds of things.

So it is great, but it is just -- this is just walking -- this is just talking the talk. Now, you have to walk the walk.

LEMON: Yeah. Listen. Let's talk about your upcoming episode in the "United Shades of America." You look at the challenges facing American farmers, especially farmers of color. Let us take a look at it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BELL (on camera): Do you have special problems being a black farmer out here?

GEORGE ROBERTS, THIRD-GENERATION FARMER IN OKLAHOMA: Oh, man. I am the only black farmer out here. So I have all kinds of problems.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL (on camera): Well, that's one problem.

ROBERTS: Right there.

BELL (on camera): You're the only one. At the meetings of black farmers --

ROBERTS: Yes.

BELL (on camera): -- it's just you.

ROBERTS: Just me. That's where we at now.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Kamau, you talked in this episode about how many black farmers have lost their land over decades. How difficult is it for black farmers trying to operate their farms and pass them on to the next generation?

BELL: It is very difficult. We talked to a man named John Boyd, who leads a black farmer organization. He said the average -- at one point, the average time that a black farmer had to wait for a loan was over a year and the average time a white farmer had to wait for a loan is 30 days.

Now, every farmer needs operating loans. So those are essential to keeping your farm going. So, it's -- black people were literally brought to this country to learn how to farm, and then when we were freed from slavery, we wanted to take advantage of our skills, and as soon as we get that land, they started chipping at it and taking it away.

LEMON: Yeah. Listen. We talked about this discussion last time. I spoke with the basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on today's episode of my podcast, "Silence is Not an Option," about the ongoing protests for racial injustice across the country. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, AMERICAN BASKETBALL PLAYER (voice-over): I'm really pleased to see the diversity of all the people that have taken to the streets and have not gone home. That to me is extraordinary. I never thought I'd live to see that. And I'm glad to see that very diverse cross-section of America understands that, you know, systemic racism is a cancer and we can't live with it. We have to figure out ways to eliminate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Yeah. So, again, do you think this represents a real shift in Americans in racial issue?

BELL: When you look at Portland, Portland is out on the streets every night talking about Black Lives Matter. That is not a black city. We talk about how few black people are still there. So, I do think there is a shift.

My mom was 83, has noticed that there are more people out there, different races now, than when she was out there in the 60s.

LEMON: Yeah. Love to see you, brother. Thank you very much.

BELL: Good to see you.

LEMON: Be safe. Continue success. Be sure to check out the all-new episode of "United Shades of America." Kamau is in Oklahoma, digging up the truth on farming in America. It's Sunday night, 10:00, on CNN. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [23:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight, NBA star LeBron James says that he is fighting for justice for Breonna Taylor, the young Louisville emergency room technician who was killed in a hail of police gunfire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER: I want to continue to shed light on, you know, justice for Breonna Taylor and to her family and everything that's going on with that situation. We want the cops arrested who committed that crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Kentucky's attorney general expected to announce any day now whether he will seek charges against police officers involved in Taylor's shooting death. Louisville police officers bashed down Taylor's door, and she died in a hail of gunfire.

A CNN senior investigative reporter, Drew Griffin, explains the operation was seriously flawed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Breonna Taylor's family, the entire tragic story boils down to one question: Why were police breaking down her door in the middle of the night?

BIANCA AUSTIN, AUNT OF BREONNA TAYLOR: They should have never been there in the first place. That should have never happened.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): A CNN analysis finds key miscalculations, including using months-old information, led Louisville police to include Breonna Taylor in a high-risk operation targeting drug houses. Some facts are in dispute, these are not.

Police raided Taylor's apartment under the suspicion that she was involved with handling money and drugs for an alleged Louisville drug dealer, her ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover.

When it was all over, police found no drugs, no money in her apartment. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, who worked two jobs, who had never been convicted of a crime, was dead, shot five times by police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): 911 Operator Harris, where is your emergency?

KENNETH WALKER, BOYFRIEND OF BREONNA TAYLOR: I don't -- I don't know what happened. Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): To understand how this tragedy unfolded that night, you have to come here to the door where it began.

[23:49:58]

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Just before 1:00 a.m., March 13th, officers for the Louisville Police Department arrived with a no knock warrant, but say they did knock anyway. Sergeant Jon Mattingly recorded in this police interview -- admits he had limited information.

JON MATTINGLY, ONE OF THE OFFICERS INVOLVED IN THE SHOOTOUT THAT KILLED BREONNA TAYLOR (voice-over): They said she was probably there alone. So we determined, predetermined to give her plenty of time to come to the door. Banged on the door. No response. Banged on it again. No response. At that point, we started announcing ourselves police, please to the door. Police, we have a search warrant.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Inside, Breonna Taylor wasn't alone. She had just dozed off next to her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Walker telling police the knocking, banging at the door scared them, thinking it could be Taylor's ex-boyfriend breaking in.

WALKER (voice-over): She's like, who is it? Loud at the top of her lungs. No response. So I'm like, what the heck? So then I grab my gun, which is legal, like I'm licensed to carry, everything. I've never even fired my gun outside of a range. I am scared to death.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Walker says he never heard anyone say police, neither did multiple neighbors who spoke with CNN, including a neighbor whose door is just inches away. What they heard was shouting, banging, gunshots.

WALKER (voice-over): The door like comes like off the hinges. So I just let off one shot. Then all of a sudden, there are a whole lot of shots. There's just shooting, like we're both on the ground, and then when all the shots stop, I'm like panicking. She's right there on the ground like bleeding.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Walker said he purposely aimed his gun towards the ground. Sergeant Jon Mattingly was struck in the leg and was one of three officers who returned fire.

MATTINGLY: As soon as the shot hit, I could feel the heat in my leg. And so I just returned fire. I got four rounds off. And it was like simultaneous. It's boom, boom, boom, boom.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Mattingly is on administrative reassignment along with a second officer who fired shots that night, Myles Cosgrove. The third police officer to fire his weapon, Detective Brett Hankison, was standing outside and fired ten rounds through a closed and curtained patio door. He has been fired. He is appealing.

But according to Louisville police chief, his blind shooting displayed an extreme indifference to the value of human life, which his lawyers deny.

RENEE PRUITT, NEIGHBOR OF BREONNA TAYLOR: I was sleep, and I woke up to gunshots. And it scared me. As soon as I woke up, they were just going off.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The gunshots went through walls, windows. Bullet holes were found everywhere -- in the kitchen, bedrooms, in a neighbor's apartment with small children nearby. Multiple neighbors called 911 asking for police, only finding out later it was the police.

One of the neighbors recorded this video of Taylor's boyfriend being arrested while pleading with police to help his girlfriend bleeding inside.

WALKER (voice-over): What's happening?

GRIFFIN (voice-over): All charges against the boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, would be dropped.

AUSTIN: You can tell it was brutal.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Breonna Taylor's sister Juniyah, who police apparently did not know also lived in the apartment, was out of town that night, returning to find her bedroom covered in bullets and a pool of her sister's blood.

JUNIYAH PALMER, SISTER OF BREONNA TAYLOR: When we had to clean up, if I could show you what it looked like in there, you would be like, wow, that is very horrific.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Attorneys for Breonna Taylor's family say the police mistakes began well before they knocked down her door.

LONITA BAKER, ATTORNEY FOR THE TAYLOR'S FAMILY: Sloppy intelligence getting a no-knock warrant when it was not necessary to have a no- knock warrant.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Police got five warrants approved. Four were for suspected drug dealers and suspected drug houses. (INAUDIBLE) into that with similar language was the warrant for Breonna Taylor's apartment.

According to a source, police told the judge Taylor was Jamarcus Glover's current girlfriend and the warrant suggests Glover was having drugs delivered to Taylor's apartment by mail to be shuttled to the crack houses. Her family says the information police had on Taylor was outdated or incorrect. She hadn't dated Glover in months.

A package, police say, they saw Glover picking up at Taylor's apartment was likely a pair of shoes, according to the family attorney. And despite what officers were told before the raid, Breonna Taylor, certainly did not live alone. Family lawsuit against police summed it up as the incredibly stale nature of this intelligence.

AUSTIN: We just want the truth to come out. And we don't want to rush anything. And we know it's complicated.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Circuit court Judge Mary Shaw, who signed the warrants, tells CNN in a statement she "spent more than 30 minutes considering the warrant application and subsequently made the probable cause determination required of me by law. Breonna Taylor's death was a tragedy." The judge told CNN, "her death will stay with me forever."

Taylor's family wants more than sympathy and understanding. They want police officers charged with murder.

(On camera): I'm sure your attorneys have told you that it is hard to do in the United States.

[23:55:01]

AUSTIN: Oh, it -- we don't expect it to be easy. We don't expect the truth to be easy to know, because it's not easy to us. But we know the truth. And we're willing. We are. We're going to fight this till the end. You know what I mean? So, I mean, she's just a Breonna Taylor to y'all but this is our family to us. This is our baby. And she's going to get the justice she deserves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Don, just one of the three officers involved in the shooting responded to CNN. Sergeant Jon Mattingly, through his attorney, said he was just following orders that night, wasn't involved in the planning, and followed all established police procedures.

Louisville remains on edge, waiting to see if any of those officers will be charged in Breonna Taylor's death. Don?

LEMON: Drew Griffin, thank you so much, and thank you for watching, everyone. Our coverage continues.

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