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Don Lemon Tonight

Clinton Blames Everybody But Herself For Election Loss; Dems Say They Have Deal With Trump On DACA And Border; Danger In The Flood Water; Rescues In Devastated Caribbean. Aired 11-Midnight ET

Aired September 13, 2017 - 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 TONIGHT NEWS SHOW HOST: Why can't you say I did not run a good campaign? I ran a campaign that could had been run four years ago, eight years ago but not that time.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALIST: Political machines, successful political machines looked at this new, I don't know what you want to call them, this new candidate, this maverick. This novice who didn't have government experience coming in and he was stumbling and bumbling and talking about people, talking about size and how it mattered. And making a mockery of people in debates. But people looked at him as though he is not going to win. They under estimated him and the power of reality TV and entertainment in this sphere. That is what she had to go up against. She wanted to stay true and wanted to be that reassuring soul that you knew that you could count on. It didn't work with Donald Trump.

LEMON: Michael?

MICHAEL ISIKOFF, CHIEF INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT, YAHOO NEWS: I agree with everything that April just said, but, look, I think the Comey factor was real and probably did have a role. It is also worth saying that the only reason it did is because of her own conduct which got her under criminal investigation. She was the only modern Presidential candidate that I know of that was under criminal investigation. The entire country run for president.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: as of his own creations as well. He took them head on. As you said, look, instead of Bernie Sanders saying I'm sick of hearing about your damn e-mails why didn't she say I'm sick of talking about my damn e-mails. There is nothing in the emails, can we move on.

ISIKOFF: There were legitimate issues and her own inspector general at the state department.

LEMON: Always been --

ISIKOFF: It was not the nothing burger that she tried to suggest.

LEMON: Yes but there is always a way to handle it when something like that happens.

ISIKOFF: And be up front and tell the truth and get everything out. LEMON: Why not, April?

ISIKOFF: It is not what she did.

LEMON: Why not?

RYAN: Women are held to a different standard in politics.

LEMON: That is true. In all field. You could go on.

RYAN: Let me say -- in politics I remember when she ran against Barack Obama the first time. They were talking about we don't want you to sound shrill. It was so many different things that she had to worry about. And in this interview with Anderson Cooper she was laid back and wasn't worried about being upbeat and gentle yet kind but strong. She was herself. There is a difference for women in power versus an everyday person or a man. She had to be this woman, wasn't shrill, who wasn't trying to be boisterous or --

LEMON: I think that is people wanted April.

RYAN: Some people when you go to the polls this is what she was listening to from those. Same way she had to attack to Donald Trump. She was faced with those women that Bill Clinton had issues with. That would have been a big problem. She had to play it down the line.

LEMON: I have had (inaudible) and so have you. And my reasons are as good for staying as yours is for leaving. If you have a bullet just hit it where it hurts. I want to get back to this meeting tonight, because I think it is important. During the campaign he hit Hillary Clinton about the border wall. That was his main discussion point talking about she wasn't strong enough on immigration. Now he is saying I'm not going to deal with the border wall at this point and I'm going to save DACA. That is a huge political story and a huge pivot and a huge turnabout.

ISIKOFF: We will see. Also, Donald Trump has a habit of saying one thing one day and reversing himself the next. We'll see when he starts to get blow back from some of his own staff if he sticks to this deal. My sense is he is clearly dissed and alienated from the Republican leadership and so there is Pelosi and Schumer being friendly and nice and cordial to him so he is cutting deals with them. But how ironic will it be if he hasn't gotten health care trough and hasn't gotten infrastructure. We will see if he gets tax cuts if the first major piece of legislation passed is to protect and preserve DACA under the Trump White House that will be the first significant legislation except for the Russian sanctions bill. That the congress pass and made him signed. Those will be two big pieces of legislation that will have passed.

[23:05:06] LEMON: Does it matter to him more that maybe he gets major legislation passed and maybe the way to do it is to work with Democrats rather than keeping all of the campaign promises that he made on the campaign trail with the people who put him in office?

MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that may be his calculation and there may be some validity to it. I think a lot of Americans want to get something done. They feel like nothing is getting done and just putting some points on the board even if it is for something you don't care that much about or maybe you disagree with, at least this guy is now getting something done. I think culturally, stylistically he is probably more comfortable talking to Chuck Schumer than talking to Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. Donated to Chuck Schumer and all of that. I think there is something to be said out there. There is a sense that our elites and establishment have failed us, that they are impotent. They cannot get anything done. I think that if Trump can just start cutting deals and getting something done people might not care what it is. He is actually going to be getting something done.

LEMON: April Ryan, I think it is interesting he is getting something done. He ran on this whole thing that he was a populist maverick and that is going to be different. At the end of the day people who have known him for a while especially New Yorkers, remember he didn't win New York, people know that Donald Trump is pretty much establishment.

RYAN: Establishment for what? Business?

LEMON: Establishment for business. He is a self-proclaimed billionaire. You don't get more establishment than that. Come on.

RYAN: That is the piece right there. America wanted something new. They didn't want the same old. They wanted to break the system and they didn't know what they wanted but they got something new. Now they see it. You know, he is not a traditional Republican. I'm not going to call him a Democrat. He is Donald Trump. He does what he feels that he is going to do. They can say one thing at the podium and the next minute he is tweeting something totally different and they have to reshuffle. Donald Trump is unpredictable, working with both sides is something that many people want to see. And polls are showing that there is a problem with the fact that things aren't being done. He had to move. If this is the way he had to do it so be it.

LEMON: This is his first piece of legislation is DACA.

ISIKOFF: We'll see if it passes.

LEMON: So then where do you go from here?

Let's put the joint statement up from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer saying we had this productive meeting at the White House with president the discussion focus on DACA and so on. Focus on DACA to making it the law quickly and to work on a package of border security excluding the wall that is acceptable to both sides.

ISIKOFF: I mean look that reads well for Democrats. How is this going to play with hard core Republicans in the house? Also, there is a lot of Democrats who don't want to give Donald Trump anything. And even if Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are saying this is our deal, I wonder whether they will go along just because from their view why give Donald Trump any wind at all?

LEMON: Can you put up the statement from Sarah Huckabee Sanders? She is pushing back on the wall thing saying DACA and border security were both discussed excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to. Chuck Schumer's spokesperson saying that the President said he would do it at a later time which is Matt Lewis.

LEWIS: By the way, yesterday political Director was at a breakfast and said that Trump was willing to go forward with DACA without the border wall funding requirements so this isn't a surprise. The White House has been putting word out that he was open to this all along.

LEMON: He is tweeting about Hillary Clinton tonight. I'm sure he is watching. If he felt differently about what happened in that meeting or if that is not the case he would tweet about it and clear it up, don't you think?

LEWIS: I do. I think -- I'm curious why the press secretary Huckabee Sanders has pushed back at this. My sense is just putting everything we know together including the fact that they signaled that they were open to a deal yesterday without wall funding that why would Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer come out and do this? I think this is probably --

[23:10:24] RYAN: To get ahead of the President because there is a credibility issue. He may say one thing and what is reality that actually happened is another thing. People say different things. At issue Vice President Pence said earlier when it comes to DACA he said the President will have a big heart with this. Maybe this is that big heart. I have been trying to find out what the definition of a big heart is for DACA even before Sessions came out and talked about what the administration had planned to do. There are 800,000 people that are under this that are dealing with this. This is a big issue. This is a heart issue. It's an economic issue. It's a politically correct issue. It's an issue on so many different levels. This is dealing with people's lives. You cannot at a time when you have devastation in Houston and other places where you have large contingents of immigrant communities in those devastated areas to say I'm going to kick you out no matter what. Maybe this is the big heart the Vice President Pence was talking about.

LEMON: I don't know about that. I have to say, do you remember, does anybody remember during the campaign what did Ted Cruz and the guys say? If you elect Donald Trump he will start making deals with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Did he not say that?

ISIKOFF: He absolutely did.

LEMON: What is happening?

RYAN: Because he used to be a Democrat. Because he used to be a Democrat.

LEWIS: But I would say you are talking about the irony earlier about DACA being only major accomplishment of his first year. Back to only Nixon can go to China thing. Donald Trump was so anti-immigrant that it very well may be that he is like the only Republican who could get away with doing this kind of thing. Again, if Marco Rubio -- Marco Rubio did try to do something with Chuck Schumer on immigration. He was destroyed by the right wing for lack of a better term of his own Party. Donald Trump I think has the leeway to leverage to get away with it. People all of a sudden if -- you will be attacked as a liberal squish for not supporting DACA.

LEMON: Oh boy. It's all very interesting. I can't wait to watch new day tomorrow morning and see what happens and watch our coverage throughout the day. Thank you all. Fascinating conversation. I really appreciate it. When we come right back the dangers lurking in flood waters in Florida and Houston. What those waters could mean for people health and eight people dead from the sweltering heat in Florida in a nursing home. What happened?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:17:07] LEMON: There is a lot of breaking news in both politics as we have been discussing here and will have much more on that. Also breaking tonight in Florida where hurricane Irma continues to claim lives in the aftermath with the deaths of at least eight people in a nursing home. I want to bring in now CNN's Miguel Marquez. Miguel thank you for joining us outside the rehabilitation center. So many questions tonight. What is the latest on it?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, aside from the eight being dead there are another 12 that are in critical condition so the death toll could go up. 158 total patients have been moved to other facilities. The facility itself has been shut down by the state and a full on investigation by the police department here, criminal investigation is underway.

LEMON: So the nursing home administrator for the rehabilitation center released a statement that reads this, the Center did not did lose power during the storm it did lose one transformer that powers the air conditioning unit. The center immediately contacted Florida power and light and continued to follow up with them for status updates on with repairs would be made. Outreach was also made to local emergency officials and first responders. Here is what Florida power and light says. What we know now is that a portion of the facility did in fact have power that there was a hospital with power across the parking lot from this facility and that the nursing home was required to have a permanently installed operational generator. As we emphasize before, during and after hurricane Irma we urge our customers who don't have power to call 911 if it is a life threatening situation. It seems finger pointing has begun in this.

MARQUEZ: There is a lot of finger pointing and seems to be a lot of blame to go around. The agency for health care administration for Florida says they were in touch with the facility, as well. For three days it knew they did not have air conditioning for patients. They were told that there were fans and spot coolers being used. It seems no one from the agency ever checked to make sure that it was adequate. The law enforcement saying today that when they entered that building it was uncomfortably hot. It was about 90 degrees here today. It got up well above 100 when you factor in humidity. Just a miserable situation. The first responders that went in there said there were doctors from memorial hospital treating this like a mass casualty situation when they went in there. This was is the emergency room doctor for memorial hospital here, a level one trauma center who went in there and couldn't believe what he saw. He was just in shock.

LEMON: How close are those local facilities? It is just right next door you were saying?

[23:20:00] MARQUEZ: This is the most bizarre and frustrating thing about the whole situation. The facilities are here. The rehabilitation center and another facility next to it. They are 50 feet away from memorial hospital which has no relationship to the facilities, but is a level one trauma center. It's a massive hospital campus. Anyone, any staff member, any family member, any patient in there had to do was call 911 or go across the street 50 feet to get help. No one did. It's shocking.

LEMON: It is shocking. Miguel Marquez, it should not go unnoticed working around the clock and here he is. We appreciate you joining us late. Thank you Miguel, thank you very much.

I want to bring in CNN Brian Todd in the devastation in the keys. Good evening to you. You witnessed frustration in the keys. Describe what you saw.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a check point between lower Matecumbe Keys where we are standing which leads you to the keys on the southern end of the chain here. This was a spot of real tension today and for the past several days. Right here is where authorities are turning people away from going back to their neighborhoods. They have been doing that for the last three days and turning them away by the hundreds. They come to this check point and were told they would maybe get through and they get here and are turned away. Sheriff's deputies saying that it is not safe to go back there. There is no water or power. If something happens to you there are a lot of hazards and you can't call us. You are isolated. The people are furious. This became kind of a de facto refugee camp here because when people were turned away they would park cars here and wait to be let through here and they have not been let through and no time table given to them. So they are just furious and very frustrated. I spoke to a woman about the anxiety and frustration she was feeling. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: What happened when you went to the check point?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we get to the check point we had the reentry sticker to get back in, in hopes that they told us we can come in. They said you can't go through. Once we get here we are told no.

TODD: Did they explain it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. They didn't. No residents. I said even if you are medical personnel and he said nobody can come in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And sheriff's deputies did explain to us why they are turning people away. They say it is just not safe. You are too isolated and if something happens to you, you will not be able to call first responders. There could be something else going on because we saw ambulances going in here, refrigeration trucks going in here. We are asking if they are finding casualties. In the meantime people tell me she is worried about her home in Key West being looted. Real anxiety as people trying to get through here are just furious.

LEMON: Listen I have to ask you, being in a shelter this long has got to be just frustrating and uncomfortable. And if you are in a hotel it has to be expensive. Where are people who are turned away going?

TODD: That is a good question. A lot of them told us they don't have anywhere to go and they have no money anymore for hotels because they have run out of it. What is interesting is they threatened tonight to arrest all of these people who are line in the street just waiting to arrest them if they didn't get out by night fall because of the curfew. There were confrontations. They offered a place to stay at a high school north of here on the keys. So they were taken up on that. Again, when you're at the end of your rope and have no money and no hotel left and having to sleep on the floor of a high school isn't much consolation.

LEMON: Brian Todd, we appreciate you staying late, as well.

A full week after hurricane Irma slammed into the Caribbean many people are desperate for help. One official calling the Caribbean a nuclear landscape. I want to bring in, one of the heroes conducting rescues. Joining me on the phone, Sal Sferrazza the combat unit rescue team. Thank you for joining us. We are showing some video now. We'll put it up. Your unit conducting rescue operations. These are truly amazing pictures. Tell us what it has been like for you down there.

SAL SFERRAZZA, COMBAT UNIT RESCUE TEAM: You know, we don't ever wish to get the call to respond to one of these disasters, but unfortunately it comes through. We are honored to help. Much like we saw in Harvey, Irma was able to have havoc on what we see is day to day normal functions in a town. Unfortunately it was significantly disturbed. With Harvey we saw a lot of flooding.

[23:25:15] With Irma we dealt with the massive amounts of evacuation from island to island. A little bit different from the actual threat on the environment. A pretty significant disaster.

LEMON: Officer Sferrazza, can you give us an estimate of how many people you have rescued so far?

SFERRAZZA: From Irma the number was in the thousand. I couldn't give you a firm number right off the top of my head. We considered this a noncombatant evacuation from that area. It was over the cost of three days it started at night. We worked the first couple of loads of people out and then the next two days was dedicated the entire time to moving people out. Day two we had significant weather coming in with the second storm rolling into that area. The air crews were fighting with that significant impact and ability to get in and out of the airport. LEMON: You helped facilitate a rescue involving our next guest and

his wife. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? What condition were they in when you first got there?

SFERRAZZA: I remember him coming up through the line and was pretty excited showing prior military I.D. And as did for most of the day on either side tried to crack a little bit of a joke and lighten the mood. Spirits across the board were significantly high. The best way I could paint the picture is the middle of the day. Pretty warm, zero shade, zero cover from the elements. Food and water was being distributed. It wasn't the most comfortable. Everybody was extremely happy, extremely grateful for the opportunity to leave, completely different than what you would expect if you were getting on a commercial airline if things were five or ten minutes off schedule. There are a lot of complaints and worries. There was none of that here. There were times when we couldn't give a solid timeline of when the next were coming in. People would be fit on that aircraft and people were just completely understanding. You were seeing complete strangers help out trying to move multiple kids. There was a lot of good humanity going across.

LEMON: I want you to stand by because I want you to bring Jay Mangan, the man you rescued. You were among those rescued by Sal and the rescue team at St. Maarten. I can't imagine what you have been through. Tell us what happened.

JAY MANGAN, EVACUATED FROM ST. MAARTEN: Well, our day that morning of the rescue started with a loud rap on the door of the condo where we were staying in our building. It was one of our neighbors who took it upon himself to having seen the planes start to arrive to wake us up and get us out of there. I think he is one of the everyday heroes just did a lot for people on the island in general. He got us out of there and insisted that we don't pack anything. We dumped our passports and whatever money we had and a couple of shopping bags and we were in his truck within ten minutes of being awakened. He took us to the airport and we got to be number six in line on the American side. There was a Dutch side and American side lined up. Very well coordinated. Very well supported by Dutch marines and I think there were French military there as well as U.S. We stood in line and we had no idea when it was going to happen when we would board any planes. The first was a French cargo plane. I believe it was a Dutch one after that. We were sitting there as the measure said in the sun for about seven hours. There were mothers there with babies in arms. One of our neighbors in the building was there with her 2 month old and her 6-year-old son having just said good bye to her husband who was part of infrastructure on the island and had to stay. She was going through quite a traumatic thing. People were taking care of her both military, Dutch marines were spectacular. All of them spoke English. They were patrolling up and down the line answering questions, whatever. At one point one of the airlines passed out umbrellas so we could shield ourselves from the sun. It was about a seven hour wait until we saw the glorious American flag on the tail of a c130 landing. There was a cheer from the American side when they came in. And so then the very next vision we had were embassy folks pouring down the line with paperwork again being extremely helpful and moving people up to the head of the line with babies and whatever. So then we knew we were going to get out. We weren't sure until then.

DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT NEWS SHOW HOST: We are glad you were out. There were so many folks in need who need to get back to some normalcy. We thank you for joining us Jay Mangan and also Officer Sal Sferrazza, we appreciate it. When we come back the major health risks lurking in the flood waters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:35:22] LEMON: Irma may be gone but danger is lurking ahead for people across Florida and they are going to have to take caution as they return to their damaged homes. It has to do with the flood waters that caused so much destruction not only to homes but personal property and the environment. That water is contaminated with sewerage, chemicals, run off and all sorts of toxins. In additions, Floridians will have to be careful about mold caused by that flooding. This is exactly what people in Texas are dealing with in the after math of hurricane Harvey, just a few weeks ago. I want to discuss now with Dr. David Persse EMS Physician Director for the city of Houston, thank you so much. We appreciate you joining us. You examined the standing water in Houston after hurricane Harvey. What did your test reveal?

DAVID PERSSE, EMS PHYSICIAN DIRECTOR, CITY OF HOUSTON: We tested for many, many things. We found what we expected is that there are lots of contaminants both chemical and bacterial in the water. We see this with flood waters. It is interesting that a lot of folks think flood waters are like lake water. It is very dirty. There are lots of contaminants in the water and need to pay attention to that.

LEMON: Communities across Florida are dealing with similar floodwaters. Once chemicals get into the water what can be done to clean it up as quickly as possible? Can it be done?

PERSSE: It can be done but you have to be really thorough and pay close attention to what you are doing. Reenter your home there is mud and the obvious stuff that needs to be cleaned out. That is the first thing you do. Sometimes you need shovels, whatever it is to get mud and heavy debris out. Once that is done while things may appear clean you have to recognize that they have to be sanitized. You need to go over pretty much every surface with some type of bleach solution to clean that off. Of course, everything has to get dried. One thing I worry about is people doing repairs and re-sheet rocking and putting walls back in place. You have to make sure that it is as dry as possible or you will get mold. Here in Houston we had some homes that had water in it for days. By the time folks returned there was clearly obviously mold growing on the surfaces. That requires more dedicated effort to get that mold out of there and a stronger bleach solution to remove the mold.

LEMON: How long should they wait? If you see mold or moisture, how long do you wait? How do you know that a piece of wood or something behind something that is not dry enough yet how do you know that?

PERSSE: You can get moisture meters that will help with that. The other thing is to just assume that it is wet. When you find a water line in your house you need to remove the sheet rock at least a foot higher than that because it will wicked up into the sheet rock. You may have a water line at two, three, four, feet you have to assume it is absorbed higher into the wall. Take that sheet rock down and go to town in cleaning and cleaning and cleaning.

LEMON: I'm sure after this happens you see an uptick in people effected by illnesses. How long can the toxins have an impact on people down there?

PERSSE: That is a really good question. We need to do more research in the area. We know that with the mold we hear stories of people developing respiratory illnesses from mold in their homes months to a year later. There are other toxins that get into the wood and the flooring and things which you don't tear out of the building. We need to do more research to find out if there are long term effects. So to some degree the question is not yet fully answered. You have to assume that there are dangers there and try to clean it as thoroughly as possible. Don't be too anxious to rebuild. Make sure it is clean and dry before you start rebuilding.

LEMON: Thank you Dr. Persse, appreciate your time.

PERSSE: My pleasure.

LEMON: When we come back the President dining with Democratic leaders tonight and making some deals. The question is will he side with Democrats on issues instead of his own Party?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:43:27] LEMON: So we are back now. This is breaking news. President Trump having dinner with Democratic leaders. Both sides saying they have agreed to a fix on DACA. I want to discuss this now with the Tara Setmayer former communications Director for Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, also CNN political commentator Van Jones. And Jeff Ballabon a member of the Donald Trump for President advisory board. So Jeff, I have to get to you first breaking news out of the White House this dinner tonight it is stunning the President is meeting with Democratic leaders. The house minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer tweeting we had a very productive meeting at the White House with the President. Discussion focused on DACA. We agreed to work out a package of border security excluding the wall that is acceptable to both sides. Is he morphing into a Democrat?

JEFF BALLABON, MEMBER OF THE DONALD TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT ADVISORY BOARD: Nope. He is being Donald Trump. He is trying to make America great again and he is going to do it regardless of the malaise that is Washington, D.C. This is exactly consistent with what he promised to do and he is going to do it?

TARA SETMAYER, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR CONGRESSMAN DANA ROHRABACHER: He promised that he was going to build a wall and Mexico was going to pay for it and that there wouldn't be amnesty. I worked on the issue of immigration for seven years on Capitol Hill. I can tell you that it is a very complicated issue and it is something that has oiled the country for many years. Republicans have not been able to do it. Democrats have not been able to do it. Here we are and Donald Trump won on this issue.

[23:45:04] That was one of the issues that propelled him into the White House was how tough he was going to be on this issue. He said he was going to roll back DACA in the first day in office. Here he is. Those of us who are conservatives that warned against this that warned against Donald Trump morphing back into a Democrat since he was for most of his life, that he was going to do this and he doesn't care about policy. He doesn't care about conviction and consequences. He just cares about winning. He just cares about winning --

BALLABON: He cares about America winning. DACA is unconstitutional.

SETMAYER: I don't disagree with that.

BALLABON: Because of the way Obama did it. He is putting this back to congress. Will it be tough to do it? Everything is tough to do in congress. He is breaking down walls in order to get it done. He is not inhumane. And he is putting it back to congress where it belongs that is exactly what is supposed to be done here.

LEMON: I know you guys agree on some things and it was never tested legally in court. Van what are your thoughts on this.

VAN JONES, AMERICAN POLITICAL ACTIVIST: I think this is a tremendous victory not for Donald Trump and not for Democrats. It is victory for grass roots uprising among the actual young people and families who are impacted. The heartbreaking stories of people who are serving in the military, young people who were actually employing Americans, looking at being sent out of here to a country that they didn't know where they have to speak a language that they didn't know and live in places they had never seen before. I think it was an untenable outcome. I give a ton of credit to those for speaking up. These are young people that are not three years old. They are young people who trusted America's government. They have given the government their names, their home address, bio metrics, gone through background checks and looking at is America's government going to take information I gave them and use it to come after me? It was untenable. Young people stood up for themselves and forced even a Donald Trump to change his tune.

LEMON: You said this was a victory or win for Americans. They call it President Amnesty. Some people expected President to be bipartisan but I'm not sure they expected him to be bipartisan in this way. He is getting blowback from his base right now. Does that supersede the victory? How much does that matter?

JONES: We don't have a victory yet because we haven't gotten a law passed yet.

LEMON: The statement is coming from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

JONES: There is no true victory until a law is passed and we have to clean up the entire immigration system because more people deserve support here and relief. I will say this. Donald Trump has a nose and a radar. He understands whatever his friend and his base want there is a certain bridge. Once you start grabbing dreamers by the tens of thousands the blowback is going to be tremendous. He has enough sense to get out of the way.

SETMAYER: Just really quick on policy. He was never going to go against this. In his heart he wanted to do this so it is the idea that he was being during the campaign.

LEMON: I have to move on because another big story today there is a reporter or anchor who called the President a white supremacist. ESPN responded. You will hear from her next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:51:26] LEMON: The White House responding today to this tweet by ESPN host gentlemen Mel hill, Trump is the most ignorant President of my lifetime. His rise is the result of white supremacy, period. It was just one of tweets. Sarah Sanders has this to say about ESPN host.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm not sure if he is aware, but I think that is one of the most outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that is a fire able offense by ESPN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Back now with my panel. Van Jones, there's a lot to unpack here, but let's start with her comments. And I'm going to read -- before that, here is what she said. She said my comments are twitter -- she just tweeted this out tonight. My comments on twitter express my personal beliefs. My regret is the public way I made them painted ESPN in an unfair light. My respect for the company and my colleagues remain unconditional. She didn't apologize. She didn't take it back. Her comments, is it inappropriate or is it appropriate for a sports media personality to tweet the things that she did?

JONES: Well, it's very interesting to me that the outrage I'm hearing now from the right, I remember when Glen Beck came on national television and said that President Obama was a racist and he was cheered by conservatives across the board. And it took a boycott led by progressive organizations to finally get Glen Beck off the air, almost more than a year later. So if it's wrong -- if it's right for Glen Beck to call President Obama a racist with no evidence at all, I think it's weird to me to hear conservatives be so concerned about someone pointing to a President who does have a history of giving some aid and comfort at least rhetorically to white supremacists.

LEMON: I want to hear from Jeff. Go ahead.

BALLABON: I would say I disagree completely with Van's assessment of Donald Trump giving any aid or comfort to any racists. That is just flat out false and it's part of a media narrative. The two stories we talked about are actually very related. There's been this myth that is been put out there. What if he is not a racist, anti-Semitic? What if he is trying to serve America and get the job done correctly? They're trying to find rationales and explanations -- LEMON: It's a narrative created by the media. These are Donald

Trump's own words and the way that he responded. I remember when Donald Trump called the last President, was saying the last President wasn't American and also led this whole birther movement against the former President, Barak Obama. That never happened --

BALLABON: Donald Trump hasn't been called for anybody to be fired --

LEMON: Did you say the White House press secretary said it was a fire able offense.

BALLABON: That is correct. My understanding of that is, you know, right now it's true that many companies would take umbrage with somebody going out publicly and saying something like that.

LEMON: Why is the White House and the White House spokesperson concerned with an anchor on cable news on ESPN? Don't they have better things to do?

BALLABON: She is answering the question. I don't think she raised it. I think she was asked the question --

LEMON: A good way to answer that is no comment. We have other things to do. We're dealing with a storm. We're dealing with victims down in Florida. Why use that to infer that this person should be fired by saying it's a fire able offense.

BALLABON: What kind of response would it be for the White House to say, oh, is Donald Trump a racist or white supremacist. That is absurd. It's an outrageous thing to say --

[23:55:10] SETMAYER: Look, first of all, just as a point of clarification, all conservatives did not applaud Glen Beck when he made those comments. He was actually resoundingly criticized for it. That was not an overwhelming agreement on that just as a point of clarification. But in this instance right here, look, this is coming from -- she has every right to feel how she feels. Twitter is giving -- is one of those avenues that allows people to sometimes say things that in their personal opinions that get in the way of their professional jobs. And ESPN has run into this political slant lately that I think that some people don't want to see. As a sports fan sometimes they don't want that. They want a reprieve from it. But the White House should not be getting involved in these things. There's bigger fish to fry.

LEMON: Van, you wanted to make a point.

JONES: Well, I was going to say that given an opportunity when the whole thing went down in Charlottesville, the reporters said hey, do you accept support from white supremacists and Donald Trump didn't respond. So he doesn't respond when somebody asks him a question, do you support white supremacist --

(CROSSTALK)

BALLABON: I'm sorry, but, you know, once again, a week later and Nancy Pelosi has to back up Antifa. His point in Charleville was exactly correct. That is correct. The both sides is correct. That is exactly correct.

SETMAYER: And that is why we are where we are today.

LEMON: Thank you very much, everyone. That is it for us tonight. I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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