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Don Lemon Tonight

Police released Body Cam Footage Of Shooting; Shooter Fired For 9-11 Minutes; 58 People Killed In Shooting, 527 Wounded; Russian Linked Facebook Ads Targeted Michigan and Wisconsin. Aired 11-Midnight ET

Aired October 03, 2017 - 23:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

[23:00:00] DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT NEWS SHOW HOST: What we're learning tonight is stunning. There's no photos from inside the Stephen Paddock's hotel room at the Mandalay Bay right behind me. The photos obtained by the Daily Mail, they should a luxurious room scattered with guns and ammunition. And in one, what police confirm tonight is a lifeless body of that shooter. Police officer releasing dramatic body camera footage showing officers responding as bullets rained down on the Vegas strip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go back. Go back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back. Get back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: My goodness. CNN Martin Savidge is here with more information now on all of this. Martin, officials just released that footage, it's stunning. They also released the photographs you're seeing inside. What are you learning about them?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the things we're learning especially when you look at the weaponry that he had inside, we knew had he a lot of guns. One of the new things that is come forward is he had a bump stock or a bump fire stock. This is an attachment, goes on the outside of the weapon. You're not changing the mechanism on the inside, it's perfectly legal at least in most states. But what if does is when you squeeze the trigger of a semiautomatic, you have to keep squeezing it. The bump stock takes the recoil from the first time you squeezed the trigger and causes a repetition. So in a layman's mind I would say that takes a semiautomatic and allows it to mimic at least is the best way to put it, firing automatically, which is why you can hear his weapon just bang, bang, bang going off.

LEMON: And then nine to 11 minutes, that is a long time to be firing.

SAVIDGE: It's an incredibly long time and if you're on the receiving end it is an eternity. When you look at the body camera video and see those officers under fire, very much what your other guests were describing of frontline combat there, you have automatic weapon fire. And coming from on high. The shooter there has all the advantage looking down and he is looking down on a venue in this case the concert, that is illuminated like broad daylight.

LEMON: Yes.

SAVIDGE: The shooter all of the advantages here and the authorities and certainly the victims had every disadvantage.

LEMON: Talk to me about the cameras because I understand two cameras in the hallway, one in the peephole of the door, correct?

SAVIDGE: You know, this is really kind of -- chilling as it were it's often overused but this in this case it is it shows you the methodical nature of his plan here. You got two cameras in the hallway. One was hidden in a room service cart that he had received. You had one camera there and they're looking down one direction left and one looking right. He is basically got cameras to monitor his back for him because he knows once he opens fire, eventually authorities are going to come gunning for him. So he wants to have a trip wire, a visual trip wire, know when they're coming. He put one more in the door because he wanted to know when they're right at the door. And in this case, he used that camera to fire at the first security officer that approached the door and actually wounded that officer.

LEMON: Martin Savidge thank you. I appreciate you joining us here this evening. Now I want to turn to the story of one of the 58 people who lost their lives right here in Las Vegas. Bob Patterson wife Lisa came here from Los Angeles to see the concert with four friends. Bob joins me now along with his daughter Amber. Bob and Amber thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm so incredibly sorry for your loss as tragedy took the life of your wife Lisa. When did you hear that something had happened at that concert?

BOB PATTERSON, LOST WIFE IN VEGAS SHOOTING: I was called, I would say, about 10:00 on Sunday night and I started calling my wife right then. And got no response for the whole evening.

LEMON: As I understand, you drove to Las Vegas to look for your wife with your teenage son and your daughter. How long -- you were searching for her, right? What happened?

B. PATTERSON: We got there about 11:00 in the morning. I couldn't find my wife and I couldn't find out any information or anything that was going on. We went to three different hospitals. We were told she was on a hospital list but every time we went to the hospital her name wasn't actually on the list. And then I was notified by the coroner about 8:00 that night.

LEMON: Yeah. It's hard to -- I can't believe that you guys even are standing right now. B. PATTERSON: It was the worst Dave my life.

LEMON: Amber, I just -- Amber, I see it in your face. I'm so sorry.

[23:05:00] AMBER PATTERSON, LOST MOTHER IN VEGAS SHOOTING: Yeah, it's really horrible and it's such a ridiculous situation. Not -- this shouldn't have happened to any of those people and it really breaks my heart that it happened to my mom.

LEMON: What do you want people to know about your mom, Amber?

A. PATTERSON: She was such an amazing person. She cared for so many people, she was so enthusiastic. She -- she was literally the best mom and she was my best friend. So it was really heartbreaking to hear all this news.

LEMON: How's your son doing, Bob?

B. PATTERSON: He is ok. He is here with us in the other room. It's very tough on all of us. It's -- we're still all in shock. I -- it's still not real to me, to be honest with you.

LEMON: Yes. And you know there are other families who are going through this. I've been speaking to some of the families. Some of them have relatives in the hospital in critical condition, some have lost family members, and there are at least 59 families dealing with this, but hundreds more, thousands more people who are saddened and have lost friends and beyond.

B. PATTERSON: Just -- just my wife dying has affected at least a thousand people. I have had such an outpouring, my wife was involved in the church and in recreation softball, working for my company. She --

A. PATTERSON: She touched everyone.

LEMON: Yes. Go ahead, Amber, go on. Tell us about your mom.

A. PATTERSON: She -- well, like my dad was saying, she was a part of basically everything. You would -- all my friends today would tell me, like, I ask them if you have any fond memories of my mom. People were telling me I'm really sorry for your loss and although that is really nice and stuff, I just wanted to hear -- I want to celebrate her life. I don't want to remember her as this terrible incident. So I just -- everyone was telling me fond memories about her disliking hairless cats and stuff like that. Like fun memories like that that I enjoy. And when I got my bellybutton pierce and her going with me and that kind of stuff really is what brings -- like makes me think of her and makes me happy to remember her and making everyone like remember her, I guess.

LEMON: Bob, I also understand that you left your 8-year-old daughter at home when you went to Vegas.

B. PATTERSON: Yes.

LEMON: To look for Lisa?

B. PATTERSON: That is right.

LEMON: How's she handling it?

B. PATTERSON: I had to come home today about noon and the first thing I had to do was break the news to her that her mother had passed away and is now an angel. And it was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

A. PATTERSON: I actually brought her into the other room and was just like holding her. And I remember -- and I asked her because she drew a picture of my mom. She usually does that whenever my mom leaves and comes back home. She drew a picture for my mom and I asked her if she wanted to hang it up in our room. And she hung it up and right next to the picture was a cross. And she stood there for a second and just held the cross like this and then start -- just went back down on her bed and started crying.

A. PATTERSON: I asked her what are you think something and she goes honestly this can't be happening. My life is just beginning and that really broke my heart, because she doesn't deserve that. She deserves to have the same. I got to grow up with my mom and she was there for me through everything and it breaks my heart that my sister's not going to get the same.

LEMON: I'm sure you'll be there to help her, but there's nothing like a mother's love.

B. PATTERSON: Exactly.

LEMON: Bob -- you're there for your kids. Who's helping you?

B. PATTERSON: Yes. Luckily I have a great, great support of family and friends. I've had probably at least a hundred people come to my house all day. My mother-in-law lives right up the street, my sister- in-law helps tremendously. A lot of Lisa's family has already come into town. My family's very small, but Lisa's family was huge. They've welcomed me from the first day I met my wife 29 years ago. I was married for 21 years. And they have always treated me like family and stepped up and helped me out and I'm sure they'll help me through this and all of our family through this.

LEMON: Are you guys going to take advantage of the grief counseling that they have been offering or you're going to do it on your own?

[23:10:05] B. PATTERSON: I'm going to probably look into it. We're a very catholic-based family and go to church regularly.

A. PATTERSON: Yes, and --

B. PATTERSON: So we have a lot of support there also.

A. PATTERSON: And our family gives us a lot of support too, so.

LEMON: Listen, when this happens, I have to be honest with you, I'm at a loss for words. I just -- I can't imagine the overwhelming grief that you're feeling right now.

B. PATTERSON: Thank you so much. Thank you for having us.

LEMON: If there's anything you want to say about your wife and your mom.

B. PATTERSON: My wife was so special, she was so special to me and to so many people. More than anything, I just want people to know who she was. That is why I've come on here now, it is senseless and it's tragic and my heart goes out to every single family that this has happened to. Something like this should never ever happen to one family let alone the hundreds that it's happened to today. I am -- I -- things need to change, that is all I can say.

LEMON: Anything else you want to say, Amber?

A. PATTERSON: I just -- this is such a horrible situation and although the horrible situation has happened, I am going to celebrate my mom and her life and I'm going to miss her every single day and I love her very much and I know that all her loved ones that she had, which was so many people, care and are going to be there for me and my family and for her up in heaven and her angel wings are probably so beautiful up there. So I really want to celebrate her life and I appreciate, like, you guys having us, too.

LEMON: Thank you both.

B. PATTERSON: Thank you.

LEMON: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:15:39] LEMON: 58 people lost their lives here in Las Vegas Sunday night when 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on thousands of people at a concert. I want to you listen to Mayor Carolyn Goodman has she describes a scene of chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CAROLYN GOODMAN, LAS VEGAS: They had no idea. They knew they were at this great country western festival and they'd been there for the nights before and they said they thought it was something to do with the electrical system and the speakers. And then they thought it must be fireworks. And then it clicked, because of the rata-tat-tat- tat. And then they realized what was happening. But almost to a patient, they didn't know where it was coming from. They knew it was coming from one side, but they also thought the bullets were coming in and the noise was coming from the other side. So that indicated to everybody they didn't know where to go because they were in the controlled environment there with metro as we always have there for crowd control. But, I mean, oh my gosh. It's just so devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Ryan lost two friends in the massacre and he joins me now. Ryan, my deepest condolences to you losing two friends in this horrific massacre. How you holding up tonight?

RYAN CHIAVERINI, LOST TWO FRIENDS IN LAS VEGAS SHOOTING: You know, Don, like everybody else in this country, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this madness, around this senseless crime. And, you know, I lost my former brother-in-law Chris who served this country in Afghanistan and he served this country because he wanted to protect Americans. And the irony and the painful part is he comes back to this country and he is killed by an American with military artillery that no civilian should have access to. My other friend Hanna who was there completely separately with her husband just trying to enjoy a music festival was shot and killed and, you know, I woke up yesterday to some missed phone calls from my sister-in-law Shannon and also a text message that said call me. And I knew immediately when you get missed calls in the morning and a text message like that, you know something's bad. And so I turned on the news as I was calling her just bracing myself for what was to come.

And I'm seeing the casualty number on the screen. And she answered the phone with that somber voice. I said what? What? Tell me what's going on. And she said Hannah's dead and Chris has been shot in the chest and he is missing. We didn't know all day whether or not Chris was alive and then we finally got the word about 5:00 yesterday. I was told that Chris was shot in the chest and he realized that he was shot and he actually lifted his shirt up and showed his friends that he had been shot. They laid him down and they were trying to stop the bleeding and then first responders were yelling for everyone to take cover and to leave the wounded while they tend to the wounded. And so that is why he was on this missing list, because everything was scattered and I know a firefighter tried to tend to him and saw him take his last breath.

LEMON: Yeah. Ryan, Chris was a navy vet who served in Afghanistan, you mentioned that. He was struggling with his war experience back at home. In his final Facebook post he wrote what is it like being shot at a question people ask because it's something that less than 1 percent of our population will experience if the it's a nightmare, no amount of drugs, no amount of therapy, no amount of drunk talks with your war veteran buddies will ever be able to escape. How are you deal with the fact that Chris survived a war and you mention today a little bit earlier, then he loses his life at a country music festival right here in the United States?

CHIAVERINI: Right. And he was involved in some pretty bad fire fights in Afghanistan and he dealt with his PTSD when he got back here and he was finally really excelling in his career and got promoted in his company. We were really proud of him to see him come out of that. He was proud that he served our country. He was proud that he protected Americans. And he signed up for those fire fights and he knew about that. He signed up to face those military weapons when he was in a war zone. Nobody signs up for that as a civilian and, you know, as much as we're grieving right now as family and as friends.

[23:20:00] You know there's a part of me that is also incredibly angry right now. We keep seeing this over and over again. When 9/11 happened we changed the way we travel in this country forever to prevent from ever happening again. Yet this continues to happen and we do nothing. This is happening in schools, high schools. I played college football at the University of Colorado when columbine happened and we wore the columbine flower on our uniform for the entire year. That was 18 years ago. And here we are again. I mean, when does it stop? When can we find some common ground and common sense in this country? It's not about the second amendment. I'm not a gun owner, but I'm not against people owning guns. I'm against people owning military assault rifles that nobody needs to protect their family or to hunt with.

LEMON: I can ask you something, Ryan? Because the people who are saying that this shouldn't be discussed are saying that it shouldn't be discussed out of respect for people like you who have lost loved ones. What do you say to them?

CHIAVERINI: I say we need to discuss it. We need a round table and get Washington involved, everybody involved. Our loved ones would still be here if we would have done something about this a long time ago. Columbine was not the first mass shooting, as we know. It was the first one that got a ton of press and coverage. But how many have there been since then and how many more does it take? For me, that is where the anger lies for me. It's like we got to do something. We mentioned -- I just mentioned 9/11. We changed a lot of things. We got uncomfortable as Americans during that time to prevent it from happening again. Why can't we save some people lives here? It's not a political thing, it's not a second amendment thing, it's about just common sense.

LEMON: Yes. And, Ryan, we thank you because we know with sadness and grief there's a lot of emotion. Anger can come as well and you want something done and we certainly understand that and I can't imagine the loss and the grief that you're experiencing, but we certainly thank you for coming on CNN. Best of luck.

CHIAVERINI: And, Don, I want to thank you -- I want to thank you for letting us share these stories because I think it's important that we do that. I would be remiss if I don't say that Hanna as a loving mother who had three beautiful children. Her youngest was 3 years old. And I don't know how you explain that to a 3-year-old. And she lived for her husband Brian and they were together for 20 years and now he is alone. Chris married my stepsister. He was turning 29 on Monday and now she is literally driving his body back from Las Vegas and we're planning a funeral. It's painful and for every family that is been affected by this. We got to do something.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you. We appreciate it.

CHIAVERINI: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: People want to know all the time why do you interview people who are grieving? People who are grieving want to come on and talk about it. Sometimes it's just a form of them to vent or to have their story told. They want their relatives and their loved ones, their stories told. So it's not exploitation, we're doing it for them. You just heard a little bit about the life of Christopher Roybal. Well his boss described him as a big teddy bear with an infectious laugh. You also heard about Hanna Ahlers. She leaves behind her husband of 17 years and three children. Off duty San Francisco police officer Stacee Etcheber attended the concert with her husband. He told her to run while he tried to attend to the wounded. 50-year-old Denise Salmon Burditus and her husband came to Las Vegas to enjoy a getaway weekend. She died in her husband's arms. And Brennan Lee Stewart died while trying to shield his girlfriend from the hell of gunfire and guide strangers to safety.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:28:32] LEMON: We've got much more ahead here in Las Vegas on the worst mass shooting in recent American history, but we have some breaking news we need to tell you tonight on the Russian investigation. We're learning that some Russian-linked Facebook ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states crucial to Donald Trump's victory last November. That is according to four sources with direct knowledge of the situation. I want to bring in Dylan Byers who has the reporting tonight on this Russian link Facebook ads targeting Wisconsin and Michigan as well. So tell us, what's going on here? What do you know?

DYLAN BYERS, SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS, CNN: Don, CNN has learned tonight that a portion, and I want to stress a portion, of the 3,000 Russian bot Facebook ads did target specifically geo target the states of Michigan and Wisconsin. These were states, as you mentioned, where Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by a thin sliver. We're talking about 10,000 votes in the state of Michigan, a little over 20,000 votes in the state of Wisconsin. Again small portion of the ads. But when you think about the fact that 3,000 Facebook ads alone reached an audience of more than 10 million, you begin to understand how that might have influenced voter sentiment in two crucial states in the 2016 campaign.

LEMON: Do we know, Dylan, if Russians had help in choosing what states to go after?

BYERS: We don't. And that is something that investigators on both capitol hill and with special counsel Robert Mueller are going to be looking at as part of their investigation. The big question here, was there any sort of communication, any sort of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in terms of how they targeted those ads, if they find that that is a bombshell.

DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT NEWS SHOW HOST: All right. Thank you very much, Dylan Byers reporting from Los Angeles on this Russian Facebook link. President Trump flies here to Las Vegas tomorrow. He is going to meet with survivors. Earlier today he was in Puerto Rico to see firsthand the devastation from hurricane Maria. I'm going to bring CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta and also from San Juan our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Good evening to both of you. Jim, you first, the President arrives here tomorrow to console the city of Las Vegas but the national conversation already starting to turn towards gun control. Do you expect the president is going to address that tomorrow?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We don't expect the President to talk about gun control tomorrow. He was asked about this on air force one earlier today and he basically told reporters there's a time to talk about this issue but now is not the time. That is in line with what we've been hearing from other administration officials. I did talk to a Democratic congresswoman here in Las Vegas earlier today Jacky Rosen who said now is the time to talk about it and here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES ROSEN, FOX NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think this is exactly the right time to have this conversation, because as the President comes here, he looks at the victims, he looks at the mothers bearing their children and the children bearing their parents, this is exactly the time to remember those people and have those kinds of difficult conversations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, Don, earlier today we did receive word from a Republican source close to the White House that the White House has been issuing these talking points to its surrogates. Essentially urging those surrogates go out and say now is not the time to talk about gun control, that we have to wait for the facts to come in. But the facts are in. We've had these mass shootings over and over and over again and the members of congress up on capitol hill have simply done nothing about it. You have an issue here in Las Vegas where this gunman was able to convert a semiautomatic weapon to an automatic weapon essentially and while you have members of congress who are backed by the NRA and the Republican side saying that is supposed to be illegal in this country, it doesn't matter if it's illegal, it's happening. And members of congress, lawmakers are doing nothing about it.

LEMON: We've had several family members on that said the same thing. This is the exact time it should be talked about. So those talking points are really off base. But the President, let's turn to Puerto Rico. He also visited Puerto Rico today. Where do we begin? He made several offhanded comments, actually saw some of it live as it was happening.

ACOSTA: Yes.

LEMON: And we talk a lot about what he is tweeted but he is said things. How is that being received.

ACOSTA: It seems when the teleprompter is off often the wheels come off and we saw that happen earlier today in Puerto Rico. The President at one point compared the loss of life in Puerto Rico to what happened in Louisiana, Michigan after hurricane Katrina. You don't compare one tragedy to another when you're President of the United States, you're there on the ground to be consoler and chief. He made the comment about how Puerto Ricans have blown the budget out of whack because of the devastation down there. That is not what people on the ground during a natural disaster want to hear, they want to hear that help is on the way not how much it's going to cost.

LEMON: Katrina was a real tragedy, I'm not sure how he meant that but as he said it I'm sure people were stunned by it, but I want to talk about at one point he made a visit to a relief center and started throwing things -- let's watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What do you think?

ACOSTA: Don, this is what I was thinking on the way to come over to talk to you tonight. Can you imagine if we were covering President Barack Obama visiting a hurricane zone, an area devastated by a hurricane and Barrack Obama had been throwing rolls of paper towels at hurricane victims? To me, it's almost like we've lost our sense of what is purely outrageous coming from this President anymore. That is just a strange and un-presidential thing to do, to be throwing rolls of paper towels at people and yet you hear the President make these comments all day long. He was making comments as he was returning back to Washington that we need more help on the ground, we need more local help from the people of Puerto Rico again sort of making these comments that the people of Puerto Rico somehow can't help themselves.

That strikes people as being incredibly offensive insensitive on the ground in Puerto Rico and it's not helpful if the that is why I was talking to people earlier today here in Las Vegas there's some sense that they just don't know what President Trump is going to say when he comes here. Is he going to strike the right tone? Is he going say the right thing? He sort of did that on Monday in response to this at the White House when the remarks were prepared for him, scripted, and in those teleprompters, he was strike in the right tone. But when those teleprompters are pulled away, he sometimes can't help himself and we have what we saw earlier in Puerto Rico. I think that is going add to the tough feelings that the people are feeling here if the President can't get this tone right tomorrow.

[23:35:26] LEMON: Thank you Jim Acosta for being there. Give him credit for talk but some of the things are a little odd.

ACOSTA: Yes.

LEMON: I want to turn to the Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta who's on the ground in Puerto Rico. And before taking off for Puerto Rico, the President said the following, Sanjay, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think she is come back a long way and, you know, I think it's now acknowledged what a great job we've done. And people are looking at that. And in Texas and in Florida we get an a plus and I'll tell what you, I think we've done just as good in Puerto Rico and it's actually a much tougher situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Sanjay, how would you rate the government response? SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: It's not -- not an

"a" plus, don, not by a long shot. To be fair, look, disasters are always difficult and its -- they never go perfectly in terms of the relief efforts. But this has been slow, this has been inadequate, and at times it's been in some areas of the island it's been basically nonexistent. I mean, today there was -- there was glimmers of good news, the U.S. comfort arrived, hundreds of bed in the hospital, hospital ship, I heard that they might be evacuating at least one patient tonight from the island to the ship. So that is some good news. But this is almost two weeks in, Don. There are places that we have visited on this island where they have gone without for way too long. Basic necessities, basic human necessities, including medication, life-saving medications that are present on the island in many cases. So they're here and they haven't gotten to the people who need it, which I think in some ways makes it worse, right? Because half the job was done. These medications got to the island but then it was at that point people thought hey, the job's done, we're good. The actual -- the people who actually need today often times didn't get it. That is ongoing. This is an ongoing story, Don.

LEMON: Yes. Sanjay, listen, you've covered tragedies worldwide and national disasters. I want to get your impression of the President's visit overall, because Toronto star is watching the correspondent Daniel Dell tweeted that a Puerto Rican told him regarding Trump's visit. He takes two weeks to visit a disaster zone where 3.5 million American citizens live. He arrives with a smile on his face. He makes fun of the situation, he shows no empathy, lies and lies on camera and, as he does 24 seven, then throws paper towels to people in need as if he is playing go fetch with dogs. That is his assessment, a rough assessment, but I'd like to add that the President has since blocked Daniella Dale on twitter. Give me your reaction.

GUPTA: It was self-congratulatory. People being called up to talk about what a terrific job they've done. There are people who are still dying. I mean, the death toll at the time of the -- the time when President Trump was here, 16. Right after he left it went to 34. I mean, 18 more people either they were people who hadn't been accounted originally or they were people who for the last two weeks have been suffering and wanting basic things unable to get those things, suffered and then died from what we call a preventable death, a death that did not need to happen. Certainly disasters happen, Don, as you well know and they're tragic and people do die in these disasters. But now there are people dying whose deaths could be prevented. So I think was so stark a difference to hear the self- congratulatory meeting and a conference and then seeing what's going on here on the island of Puerto Rico, visiting people near the center of the island who, in particular, just haven't seen what was being described. That is what really struck me.

LEMON: You have been going door to door there, what's the biggest need?

GUPTA: The biggest issue is that, you know, do you have an island of people who are already older, have more likely to have chronic disease than you see on the mainland. These are people who are not necessarily affected by the hurricane or they were affected by it but they survived it. They got through that, but now have gone without their day-to-day life-saving things, basic necessities. So the biggest need is basically being able to access those folks.

I will tell you what has surprising in terms of need. You've got 70 hospitals on this island, Don.

[23:40:02] There are some, I've talked to FEMA today and HHS and DHS, they said they've reached out to the hospitals but there are some hospitals that don't have a satellite phone to be able to call if they have a need. They're told they have hours of fuel for their generators but they're not guaranteed if that fuel's going to be replenished. How do you run a hospital like that? Do you take new patients? How do you adequately take care of your existing patients? It's really tough, this is very frustrating for the doctors and the leadership of these hospitals? How could they not have satellite phones? We have satellite phones. How do you not get 70 satellite phones and say we're going to have the hospitals connects so we can communicate with them, they can communicate with us, we know what's needed and get those things to them. It's almost two weeks in, how has that not happened yet?

LEMON: Yes. Well, I got to tell you what, we definitely sent the right person there and your reporting has been incredible. Not only have you been reporting back, but you've been helping people as well. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the ground in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Appreciate all your service, sir. When we come back, could there be fallout for the President after today's visit to Puerto Rico and what message should he send in Las Vegas tomorrow?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:45:41] LEMON: The President visiting Puerto Rico today and praising his administration's handling of the disaster saying that he only heard thank you from Puerto Ricans and cracking a bit of an awkward joke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now, I hate to tell you Puerto Rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack, because we've spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico and that is fine, we've saved a lot of lives.

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LEMON: Joining me tonight to discuss this CNN senior political analyst David Gergan, political contributor Maria Cardona, and political commentator Scott Jennings. David, I know you were extremely put off by the President's comments today. Your thoughts.

DAVID GERGEN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYT: Well, Don, I do think you have to give him credit for at least he went. I do think some Puerto Ricans were encourage that he was there. They're reporting on the flight back into the mainland, he was saying more needs to be done. All of that is good. Having said that, the overall trip was very much in character with Donald Trump and I'm afraid that did not send the message of empathy, of sympathy and empathy that many Puerto Ricans were looking for and that certainly American press was looking for. If you just compare it to the way other Presidents have handled national disasters, this was jarring. You just can't put it any other way. It was a P.R. trip, he wanted to talk about him, about him, and about him. He wanted -- he was self-congratulatory. And he just didn't seem to capture the spirit of the moment. That is, where is the urgency with almost two weeks now gone that would have been shown had this been a U.S. Military installation? You would have had planes and boats and ships and everything else, you know, plowing into there to help people. And indeed you have to wonder, Don, as we've said before. And things have been white Americans with the response have been as slow and torturous as this?

LEMON: Yes. Republican strategist Anna Navarro and senior commentator as well joins us added to the panel. I want to go to Puerto Rican, Maria, what did you think of -- what did you think a Puerto Rican American, what did you think of President Trump's trip? Did he do anything to clean up the fallout from the weekend? You know he attacked the mayor of San Juan.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

LEMON: Accusing some Puerto Ricans of wanting everything done for them and then call some of his critics politically motivated in greats.

CARDONA: Don, no. He did not do anything to clean anything up. In fact, I think he made things worse. I kind of disagree with David. I think this trip there are was not a Presidential trip, it was a monumental insult to the 3.5 million Americans that live in Puerto Rico. I think he made things worse. I got messages from my friends and my family that essentially said to sum it up, they were saying (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) which means I want to vomit. People were left disgusted, they were left disappointed, they were left not understanding what this so-called President was doing. This is somebody who they were looking to for some humanity, for some civility, for some sensitivity. You know Sanjay is right. These kind of disaster are never perfect from the beginning but the people in Puerto Rico were not looking for perfection. They were looking for some kind of human connection from their commander and chief. They got everything but. They got a celebrity President who acted like he was part of a cheap basketball show in the middle and it was just so disgusting and didn't add anything to what the people actually needed and wanted from him.

LEMON: Maria, I have to say, I do say that -- aware that I'm saying Puerto Rican Americans because I think you have to remind people that Puerto Ricans are Americans. It's a U.S. territory.

CARDONA: I agree. Absolutely.

LEMON: I say it as often as possible. Do you give any credit for the President at least showing up and going to Puerto Rico? [23:50:06] CARDONA: Well, It certainly was - it could had been good -

but here's the problem, Don, I was ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. In fact I said on television this morning that he has a great opportunity to step up to the plate and show he is not just after self-congratulatory appearances. But here's what happened. His motorcade was three minutes away from a children's hospital who was hours away from running out of diesel fuel. He was three minutes away from a grocery store, a Costco that had a two hour line of people going into the supermarket and the shelves were nearly empty. Those would have been fabulous places for him to have gone, to have talked to the people and for him to say, look, as good as I think things are going, we need to do a lot better. Let's work together to make sure everybody is getting everything they need. That would have been progress. That would have been actually very anti-Trump and very refreshing to the people of Puerto Rico and people who normally criticize him like me, but he was not able to do it.

LEMON: Ok, I've got to get to the break. Scott and Anna I will let you guys get in but I got to get to a break, we will get on the other side. We'll be right back.

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LEMON: All right, I'm back now with my panel. So I want to get to Ana and Scott. So Scott, officials say only 70 percent of Puerto Rico has power access and drinking water has been restored to just about 45 percent of the island. And yet President Trump gave himself an a plus today. Why does he have to praise himself or even grade himself?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think the President wanted to go to Puerto Rico today and see first-hand what the federal government is doing. There is over 12,000 federal personnel on the scene, there are a number of enabled assets on the scene. I think what is important here is that even though sometimes this President may speak unartfully, that doesn't mean his heart is not in the right place. And my suspicioned is he is going to go back to Washington and make rebuilding and getting Puerto Rico back on its feet and up and running again and keep part of what he asked the congress for. So I know there's a lot of people out there that wants to attack the President over everything he does. But I was encouraged that he made the trip and he was able to see some of the devastation. Because I think the hurricane rebuilding efforts here and in Houston are going to redefine the success of his first term. He is confronting hurricanes, and I think they're ultimately going to get it right with the rebuilding.

LEMON: Ana Navarro, it took some time for him to get there. You heard people on the ground saying things aren't really as rosy as he is making them out to be. Isn't it better to talk to people and listen to what they need instead of patting one's self on the back as he does as President?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know Don, I can tell you he is right. I think most Floridians think the federal government, the state government were working together and did it very well in Florida. For the life of me I can't understand how they could have done well in Texas, how they could have done well in Florida and then a couple weeks later botched it so badly in Puerto Rico? Why is Puerto Rico getting such un equal treatment. From a P.R. perspective, from the communications perspective, this has been a disaster. He is taunted Puerto Rico's bankruptcy, talked about what it means to the national budget, picked a fight with the mayor of Puerto Rico who's wading in waist-deep water. He is told Puerto Rico that they want everything done for them. And then he shows up and starts lobbing paper towels into the crowd. It has been condescending, inappropriate, very lacking Presidential behavior and offensive. But more than that are the actual actions. You've got the President who's lifted the jones act but wouldn't do it for Puerto Rico. It took a national campaign and pressure from congress. They have just refused the use of food stamps for hot meals, which they did in Texas.

They did not have the same level of troops on the ground for a storm that was going to be much worse and hit at a much higher category. It took days and days for the U.S. Navy conquered ship to get dispatched to Puerto Rico. So the question remains being why are you treating Puerto Rico in an unequal manner in the way you did Florida, which you did well, Texas, which you did well. Explain that to me. If he went to Puerto Rico and stuck a foot in his mouth, I'd be fine. I'd be good with it as long as the actions were not what they are. But here the communications is lacking. It's offensive, condescending, and the actions are lacking, condescending, offensive, are unequal to the other treatments that the other states and the mainland's have gotten.

LEMON: There's a much longer conversation that we'll continue on the network, but I've got to get to the other breaking news we have. Thank you all. We appreciate it. When we come back, breaking news into the investigation of the massacre here in Las Vegas. The killer's girlfriend is now on a plane heading back to United States. We'll tell you what we know about that.

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