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Don Lemon Tonight
Las Vegas Massacre; Investigators Question Girlfriend of Las Vegas Gunman. Aired 11-Midnight ET
Aired October 04, 2017 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:00:02] This is CNN Breaking News.
DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT NEWS SHOW HOST: This is CNN tonight I'm Don Lemon. Thank you for joining us. Just about 11:00 p.m. on the east coast, 8:00 here in Las Vegas where I am. We have breaking news. Stunning new video of Sunday night's massacre. It shows the moment when it became very apparent to the crowd that they were under attack, also officers begin urging people to keep moving.
I have to warn you this video you're about to see is very disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not shots.
(GUNSHOTS)
(SIREN)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go to the right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, open the door. Open the gate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay down. Stay down. Get down. Stay down.
(BEEP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down, now. Get down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open the gate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't do this.
(SIREN) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get over here. (GUNSHOTS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get down. Get down. Get down. Everybody down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down right here. Right here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go! Go! Go! Go! Keep going, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you. I got you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep going. We got to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want me to take care of this and you go there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just need bandages, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Medical (BEEP). You're going to be all right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how to take care of him so you can go (BEEP)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down. Get down. (BEEP).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those are shots. Run, don't walk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run, Go! Go! Go! Everybody go. Go, run, keep your head down. Go! Keep your head down, go!
(GUNSHOTS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run! Keep your head down! Keep your head down, run, go! Keep your head down, run where are go! Come on, run, go! Come on. Keep your head down, run, go!
(GUNSHOTS)
(BEEP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep your head down, go! You guys go! Go! Run, run, run.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go. Get up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get up, run.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, get up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up on your feet. On your feet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go. You don't (BEEP).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Run that way, go! Go!
(GUNSHOTS)
[23:05:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go! Clear out, go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait till the gunfire stops. Wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run that way. Go, stay down against the wall. Go now had the go against the wall. Stay down, go that way against the wall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where's it coming from.
(GUNSHOTS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay down. No, no, no, now go. Go! Go! Go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to ran that way, it will be a lot safer. Run while they're not shooting. Go!
(BEEP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, you need to go this way. (BEEP).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Run! Go this way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go that way. (BEEP)
Stay down. Run this way. Keep your head down.
(GUNSHOTS)
Keep your head down the run that way.
Yo, yo, yo, come on. Keep your head down, run this way. Keep your head down, run this way. Keep your head down, run that way. Keep your head down, run this way. Keep your head down, run that way. Keep your head down, run that way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep your head down and run that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Wow. Unbelievable to watch. I want to bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Art Roderick, Chris Swecker former FBI assistant director for criminal investigative division and CNN law enforcement analyst James Gagliano. By the way, the man who shot that video Raymond Patz did an extraordinary job at guiding people to get out of here, don't walk, run. When I'm watching this, it's making me mad.
JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes.
LEMON: Because this is a war zone. That is what you hear on a war zone. Why is this happening in an American City.
GAGLIANO: You've got three retired law enforcement professionals up here. The vast majority of law enforcement professionals were military members, are strong second amendment proponents. What we just witnessed a couple days ago is insanity for you to be able to take a legal semiautomatic weapon and convert it with a $100 gizmo and turn it into a fully automatic 750, 900 rounds-per-minute weapon of destruction, that is what it was, it's a weapon of mass destruction. We can make rules against sawing off a shotgun barrel, against silencer purchases or filing off the serial number on a weapon or filing down a sear, but it's ok to buy this, own it, put it on your weapon you just can't use it and then it falls into the hands of a madman like this and we have what just took place the other night, 58 dead people.
LEMON: Listen there are is about the time, this is a little bit shorter than the time of the shooter because he started this right after this started.
That was a whole heck of a lot of time that he was just shooting. These people were just sitting ducks. Even if someone had a gun in the crowd, that is not going to reach up to that hotel, it's not going to help save them. What's going on here?
CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION: If you count 600 rounds per minute, ten minutes, that could be as many as 6,000 rounds fired down on that crowd. In a scenario where you can't miss. So, you know, we've been talking about soft targets for a long time. We've been worried about these soft targets. We've seen these kinds of attacks. This is sort of the pinnacle of that soft target attack. And it's -- when somebody's diabolical in the way he offset himself outside the venue. The venue could have great security, it's like the airport you could have great security at the airport but now they're going to hit people as they que up at the security line.
[23:10:03] Now we're going to see people snipering from hotels surrounding a large event like this. This puts thoughts in your head about things that we need to do to protect ourselves and prevent this from happening. Perhaps we need a big visual barrier around the fairgrounds so nobody from hotels can shoot down on you or at least see you.
LEMON: How do you do that every place? If look at all the hotels around here. We're talking about building a wall, I mean, come on. What do you think of this?
ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALSYT: Two quick points about this video. We've discussed this off camera, but this is a shooting position. This is a sniper position that he set up. And what he did is he offset himself far enough back because we've been looking at this same video trying to see flashes coming out of those windows and you can't, which means he set himself back. Now he also set up a position that is a quarter of a mile away from the venue and people freeze because they don't know where the rounds are coming from which gives him further opportunity to lay more ammunition down range, so he got a distance to takes him a while to figure out where the rounds are coming before everybody start running.
GAGLIANO: Don, to Art's point, what the shooter did was employed plunging fire so it's like shooting indirectly because he is over top of the people down where the concert was going. And you've got to remember just because the maximum effective range of a semiautomatic rifle is 560 to 600 meters, a bullet can travel 3600 meters. So when he fires it in that plunging fire type of rate, it's like we talked about the other night, it's raining bullets down and he is area aiming. He is not aiming at a particular target, he is just spraying it and spraying.
LEMON: So listen, you have this and then you also have this other ammunition that he, according to sheriff, said 50 pounds of explosives, 1600 rounds of ammunition found in his car in the parking lot. He is planning another attack, is that --
SWECKER: Or maybe had he hopes of planting bombs outside the venue prepositioning them and be able to either snipe them and explode them that way or set up an IED as we saw in Paris, some of the attempts in the terrorist attacks.
LEMON: I think everyone believes in the second amendment, that is part of the U.S. Constitution. But look, can we put the pictures of those guns up? Why -- why does someone need those guns? And I'm just asking the question. As Congressman Lewis said, you can't use those guns for hunting, because they would destroy your prey. But we don't have, according to him, we don't have animals and lions walking down United States streets.
GAGLIANO: I'm struck by the fact that United States military has taken fully automatic off of many of their weapons. They've taken off because they understand how unreliable soldiers in battle when your adrenalin's up that you can't aim when you're on fully automatic. The rounds go out discriminately. So they put a three-shot burst on a military style assault weapons. Why would a civilian need that? There's people that argue and say they want to do target practice. But a fully automatic weapon or a work around, this is the circumvention of the law that says you can't own an assault rifle. By putting a $100 gimmick on your weapon, you turn it into an assault rifle.
SWECKER: Don, real quick.
LEMON: Go ahead.
SWECKER: The international association chiefs of police has a position on firearms and gun control and they have come out very heavily for the last ten, 15 years and they have come out strong against this. And law officers in general are a conservative bunch and most of them will tell I they don't think these assault weapons need to be in civilian hands.
LEMON: Agreed. I spoke to some members of the military who were there, who helped save people and they said this was more frightening than what they saw in Iraq and in Afghanistan and that they survived that and they come back to America and have the possibility of being gunned down.
SWECKER: The expectation's not there that anything's going to happen to them.
LEMON: Thank you, gentlemen. When we come back why authorities are saying tonight there's a possibility that the gunman, Stephen Paddock may have had help carrying out his deadly plan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:17:57] LEMON: Tonight investigators say they have a timeline of the mass shooting here in Las Vegas. The first shots fired 10:05:00 p.m. 10:15 the shooting stops. Ten minutes of deadly violence. Kyung Lah joins me now with more of the investigation. Just a short time ago Sheriff Lombardo talked about the possibility of accomplices. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said that you're still trying to figure out whether he had an accomplices.
SHERRIFF JOE LOMBARDO, LAS VEGAS POLICE: We're obviously going through that. It's troublesome that this individual was able to move this amount of gear into a hotel room unassisted. It's troublesome for the amount of stuff he had at both residents unassisted. So there's people that know this individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Have we found out any more about that?
KYUNG LAH, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: You can hear the frustration in the sheriff's voice because if you think about what was inside that hotel room, not just of the electronics, the cameras, the ten suit occasions, 23 guns, that is just what we know. There may be additional stuff that they still haven't yet released. That is just the hotel room. Then you think about his house and the explosives in the car. The common sense there is that he must have had somebody to help him.
LEMON: You have also been looking into his finances which have been in question as well. What were you able to find out?
LAH: The reason why we're focusing on the finances, Don, is that we're looking for the reasons what could have been the possible motive here? And then if you look at what his finances, specifically his house in Mesquite, it's that house when he bought the property he told some of the residents and he told the realtor that he made upwards of a million dollars a year as a professional gambler and that he bought it in cash. Almost $400,000 he just dropped it in cash.
LEMON: Do we know anything else about the house in Mesquite? He just bought with cash, that is all we know.
LAH: He bought it with cash and it's the situation of where it was situated. It's unique in that it sits on almost the cliff side. It's edge of a retirement community. There's nothing behind it. It is very isolated, very private.
23:2008] He does have neighbors on either side of the house, but what is unique here is if you have a private residence like that, why would you put up a fence. That is the first thing he wanted to do, a privacy fence with some type of screen. The residents got very angry at him, the neighbors. They filed a complaint with the HOA, they made him take it down and what he told his neighbors is he doesn't want anyone looking at him, he doesn't want to see anybody else.
LEMON: And the girlfriend was -- they're talking to her.
LAH: They are talking to her. She did release a statement through her attorney.
LEMON: She was out of the country.
LAH: She was out of the country, she was in the Philippines, she did fly back and she was met in L.A. by authorities. She did come willingly, she was wheeled in a wheelchair, brought to Las Vegas and she is talking to authorities.
LEMON: Kyung Lah thank you very much. By the way, the gunman's girlfriend her name is Marilou Danley who returned last night from the Philippines. Questioned today by the FBI. So let's talk more about that. I want to bring in Mary Ellen O'Toole, a former senior FBI profiler. Thank you for joining us here this evening. We heard from law enforcement earlier tonight they are trying to piece together who the killer was. I want to you listen to this and then we'll talk.
MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGNET: Ok.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOMBARDO: More than 100 investigators have spent the last 72 hours combing through the life of 64-year-old Stephen Paddock to produce a profile of someone I will call disturbed and dangerous. What we know is Stephen Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and living a secret life. Much of which will never be fully understood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So take us behind the scenes. How do investigators piece together a profile, Mary Ellen?
ELLEN O'TOOLE: Well, what they'll actually be doing an assessment of their personality. What they'll be doing is looking at the crime scene behavior because that crime scene manifested certain traits of his that are associated with him as a person. And then they'll talk to people to get the consistency across a period of time. It's not just talking to someone that saw him one day, they're looking for patterns of behavior that existed over a protracted period of times in terms of how did he treat people, how did he interact with Marilou, did he go away for periods of time and no one knew where he was. Did he have places in the house that were off limits to Marilou. That is the only way they'll get a much better sense of his personality.
LEMON: The FBI deputy Director says he is surprised that they haven't found any evidence pointing to a motive. Are you surprised by that, Mary Ellen?
ELLEN O'TOOLE: Am I surprise that they didn't find it or that that is what they said?
LEMON: Interesting. Both.
ELLEN O'TOOLE: I'm not surprised that that is what they've said. And, no, I'm not surprised that they have not found it yet. But when they -- he wanted to cause maximum lethality. But what was the event that caused him to put this plan into action? When it is uncovered, that event will probably be remarkably not extraordinary.
LEMON: Not extraordinary. Explain that. Talk to me more about that.
ELLEN O'TOOLE: Sure. First of all, there's nothing that could have happened to him that would have justified what he did. So that being said, when you took -- when you look at someone like this who creates this like one-man incredible play where he is the Director and the actor and is very sensational and it's incredibly violent, the event that caused him to decide this is what I'm going to do because he shows indicators of being an injustice collector, someone who goes through life somewhat paranoid and collects injustices from other people, the incident which may have solidified in his mind this is the way it's going end for me, I'm done with it but this is the way it's going to be, it's not going to be that sensational, otherwise it would have been found out very, you know, very early on.
And this is a man that is lived for 64 years where he is pretty -- pretty well handled his frustrations and stressors in life. And he is done it in what appears to be a pro social way because he hasn't been to jail and doesn't have an arrest record.
23:25:04] This event if it didn't come out right away as oh my gosh, look what happened to him, that kind of makes sense, it's going to be something that was unique to him, it irritated him, but it's not going to be that sensational. It will be something, though, that to him changed -- changed life for him but when you and I hear it we'll be that is it? Really? That is the reason?
LEMON: Yeah. Yeah. And why so long? Why October of last year until now? So his girlfriend Marilou Danley described him as a kind, caring, quiet man. How does that square with the biggest mass killer in modern times? ELLEN O'TOOLE: It doesn't. What it does square with we know in other
crimes of violence over the years the FBI has looked at what we call compliant victims. And a compliant victim, the spouse or a girlfriend of a violent offender can be someone who's been groomed over a period of time to see that boyfriend or that husband in the way that he wants her to see him. And she may not know what she knows and she is -- she is been diluted and he is -- he was the one in a very controlling relationship. He told her, you don't see what you see. I'll control everything about your life, I'll give you all the money, I'll control who you visit, what kind of makeup you wear. So at the point where she now describes him as this warm and loving person, it sounds like somebody that really basically has very little self-esteem with somebody that does not really know what she was looking at and does not really understand what he was capable of.
LEMON: Mary Ellen O'Toole, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
ELLEN O'TOOLE: You're welcome.
LEMON: When we come back we'll break down how Stephen Paddock immense his deadly arsenal and why his stash at least 47 weapons didn't raise any red flags.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:31:35] DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT NEWS SHOW HOST: Breaking news, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo saying tonight than Las Vegas police found 50 pounds of explosives and 1600 rounds of ammunition in gunman Stephen Paddock's car in the Mandalay bay hotel parking lot. That on top of dozens of guns they've already recovered. More tonight from Jessica Schneider.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, the numbers are massive. Investigators have found 47 firearms combined from the gunman's hotel room and his two homes in Nevada. 33 of those guns were acquired in the last year alone from multiple gun shops all over the western part of the country. A former ATF special agent in charge tells me the way the law currently stands there's nothing that could have been done to stop these multiple purchases.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: Law enforcement sources say Stephen Paddock amassed 33 guns just in the past year.
(GUNFIRE)
Many of those 33 may have been stockpiled inside his Mandalay bay hotel suite where he orchestrated a shooting massacre. The spray of bullets lasted nine to 11 minutes killing concert goers. Inside the suite investigators counted 23 weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's still being determined which firearms, used in the shooting.
SCHNEIDER: 12 the weapons inside Paddock's room were equipped with bump fire stocks, a device demonstrated in this YouTube video. It allows the weapon to fire in rapid succession, simulating rapid-fire. A bump fire stock is legal and easy to obtain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very easy. It can be purchased directly from the company or in different online sales from a number of vendors.
SCHNEIDER: Investigators have uncovered 47 firearms so far, 23 from inside Paddock's hotel room and another 24 from his homes in Mesquite and Verde, Nevada. They say he is been accumulating his collection of weapons for the past 20 years. The sales apparently never raised any red flags since he had no criminal history. Out west, the possession of large quantities of firearms by hunters and collectors isn't uncommon.
SAM RABADI, FORMER SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, ATF: There are states in the country where there's a lot of hunting that goes on and outdoor activities. There are also areas where you have a higher population of collectors. So the purchase of that many firearms in and of itself would not necessarily be an indicator for us.
SCHNEIDER: Rabadi estimate Paddock's arsenal costs tens of thousands of dollars with some weapons costing $2,000 to $4,000 each. Paddock purchased his guns in four separate states, Nevada, Utah, California, and Texas according to the ATF, frequenting shops in Nevada. He bought several long guns at Khumbella in Verde according to a law enforcement source. In Las Vegas he bought a shotgun and a rifle from the new frontier gun shop and two rifles and one handgun from discount firearms and ammo in November and December of 2016. In Mesquite, Paddock purchased a handgun and two rifles from guns and guitars within the past year. And the owner of Dixie GunWorx in St. George Utah sold Paddock a shotgun.
CHRIS MICHAEL, OWNER OF DIXIE GUNWORX: He passed all of our background checks here in the store. He passed every red flag that could have popped up, but it still -- it's still there, it's still something that I'm still going what else could I have done better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: There is no national registry of firearm ownership in the United States, so even though Paddock acquires those 33 guns in the span of one year, since they were from different locations and he presumably passed background checks, no red flags were ever raised enabling him to carry out this horrific attack. Don.
[23:35:17] LEMON: Jessica Schneider, thank you very much. appreciate that. joining me now Sam Rabadi who you just saw Jessica's story. Sam thank you so much. As you just heard, 33 guns purchased in the span of one year. How does that compare to the average gun owner?
RABADI: Well, in the case of long guns and folks who are collectors, even -- even sportsmen, it's not all that unusual to acquire that number of weapons in that span of time.
LEMON: To acquire -- we heard that he acquired I think 30 some weapons over the last year. 33 firearms mostly rifles over the last year. That is not a lot of weapons to purchase within the span of just under a year?
RABADI: Yeah. You know, there are collectors who are engaged in this business, especially when you're talking about higher end firearms who purchase and resell those guns to make a profit. So in and of itself, absent any other factors, Don, such as any of those firearms being recovered in crimes, that is one of -- one of the main indicators that we look at when you start to see guns that are purchased numerous guns and then some of them start appearing at crime scenes, those are some of the factors that we look at to see if there's any kind of -- any kind of criminal activity that may be related to those purchases.
LEMON: Well, that is not the only thing that they found out. They found 50 pounds of explosives, 1600 rounds of ammunition in the shooter's car in the Mandalay bay parking lot. Ten one-pound containers of Tannerite, two 20 pound containers of Tannerite, 1600 rounds of ammunition. What could he do with all of that? It's crazy.
RABADI: It certainly is, Don. You know, I have a general sense that his plan was probably going through different stages over the last few weeks. I think just based on what I understand, this is something that was meticulously planned on his part and probably had different types of things that he wanted to do, like for example with the explosives he may have wanted to try to set up improvise explosive devices with the Tannerite and ammonium nitrate. You know, the number of rounds that were recovered in the hotel room, I think based on what I saw in the photos, if not but for the actions of that tactical team, the shooting probably would have kept going on for quite some time.
LEMON: Sam Rabadi thank you. We appreciate your expertise.
RABADI: Thank you.
LEMON: We're learning more tonight about some of the 58 people who lost their lives in Sunday's massacre here in Las Vegas. Steve Berger was in Las Vegas with friends to celebrate his 44th birthday. He was shot in the back and separated from his friends in the chaos. And then Jordan Rivera was a fourth-year student at Cal State University studying healthcare management. Her childhood friend said she was a role model. 55 year old Victor Link was from California. He worked in the mortgage business, his boss said he brought a smile to everyone's face. And then there is 44-year-old Chris Hazencomb who's at the concert with a good friend. He was excited to see Jason Aldean play and thought the gunfire was just fireworks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:43:36] LEMON: President Trump and the first lady visiting Vegas today, meeting with survivors of the massacre and first responders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will tell you the people of Nevada and the extraordinary city have shown the world their incredible character, courage, and resolve. Words cannot describe the bravery that the whole world witnessed on Sunday night. Americans defied death and hatred with love and with courage. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Let's discuss the President's visit with Bob Cusack, editor and chief of the hill. Also joining our panel, CNN political commentator Margaret Hoover and David Swerdlick. Thank you all for joining me. I wish we could have seen each other under better circumstances. David, you watched President Trump in Vegas today. What did you think? How did he do?
DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well he certainly did better than he did yesterday in Puerto Rico. You know, I think he sounded a somber tone, said all the right things, talked about the fact that we are a nation in mourning. Said that he, you know, the bravery of first responders. Talked about the fact that when the worst of humanity happens the best of humanity stands out and that was certainly advanced by some of the heroics of average citizens helping people in the midst of the massacre in Vegas.
[23:45:03] I think he sounded in appropriate tone and it stood in stark contrast, Don, to what was a completely inappropriate tone day before in Puerto Rico where he was seeking praise for essentially doing his job as President. I think he is off on a good foot with the Las Vegas situation and I think it's appropriate that he deferred today on gun control, but I don't think it will be appropriate if he continues to defer on gun control because this is an issue that people are looking for leadership on.
LEMON: Bob, President Trump has been playing the role that every U.S. President unfortunately has been called upon to play when it comes to these situations, counselor and chief. How do you think he handled his visit here to Las Vegas?
BOB CUSACK, EDITOR IN CHIEF, THE HILL: I definitely agree with David that he did very well today and it was a different tone. He didn't have any feud with anyone in Las Vegas like he did with the San Juan mayor. I think it was measured, it was Presidential and more expected and it's what people want. I think it's totally fine for the President to be thanking first responders whether it's to the hurricane or to this tragedy in Las Vegas. So he was definitely on message today. I think that helped and I think it was very Presidential. This President can be inconsistent at times and what he is feuding with local officials in Puerto Rico, that is going to generate more negative headlines for him which he doesn't like.
LEMON: I have to say that I spoke to some of the families. They were very happy with the President and the first lady coming here and also they think he struck an appropriate tone and they were glad he was here. Margaret, I have to talk about the White House saying now that now is not the time to discuss gun control and they point to the fact that nothing can stop a madman who wants to do harm. What's your response to that?
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it isn't -- I mean, I agree with the co-panelists tonight. Today wasn't the day to talk about it and you hear sort of this Democratic meme well if not now when? You know, not the day that you're visiting people in hospitals and not the day that people are mourning their dead relatives. I mean, you do give it a rest, that is appropriate. And everybody says we ought to have some political leadership now, and maybe that is true. But let's look at the political reality. Aside from the fact that you have, you know, Republicans who run the house, Republicans who run the senate, you also have six Democrats in red states that are up in 2018 who are very strong on the second amendment and aren't -- aren't frankly interested in sponsoring gun legislation or talking about gun control before their election. So it's a very difficult political reality that frankly Presidential leadership might help you get through, because there are things that could be done especially in light of this attack, this $100 mechanism bump stocks that you can put on guns. Carlos Carballo Republican in House of representative is writing legislation to sponsor a bill to make that illegal. A reasonable measure that could be supported by both Republicans and Democrats. But the time for it is in a few days, Don, and that is reasonable.
LEMON: All right. I want to you stay with me, everyone. When we come back, here's a question for you. Did the Secretary of State call the President, quote, a moron? He is not denying it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:52:51] LEMON: President Trump, who was here in Las Vegas today, saying he has total confidence in the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. That comment after Tillerson praised the President's approach to foreign policy while side-stepping a report that he called the commander in chief something pretty un-presidential.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to address the main headline of this story, that you called the President a moron and if not where do you think these reports --
REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm not going to deal with petty stuff like this. I mean, this is what I don't understand about Washington. Again, you know, I'm not from this place, but the places I come from, we don't deal with that kind of petty nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Back now with Bob Cusack, Margaret Hoover and David Swerdlick. OK. Let's us talk about this, Margaret, your reaction to Rex Tillerson not denying reports that he called the President a moron during a private meeting.
HOOVER: It looks -- it's not a good look when your spokesperson comes out and out right denies it, but the plan himself doesn't deny it. It makes you wonder the speculation is always what if there's tape of it, or e-mail. Maybe that is why he didn't want to put it out there. But the more substantive point here is that the Secretary of State today scrambled a press conference in order to say that a rumor about how he -- what he said about the President isn't true. What you see is this sort of unraveling, this public unraveling between the President and the Secretary of State, an effort from the Secretary of State and the state department to mitigate that damage. And we've seen this before in the Trump administration with senior officials. We saw it with the first NEC Director. We've seen it with Bannon, Reince Priebus, the chief of staff. You wonder if Tillerson is just a man not long for this world in the Trump administration, that is. I don't mean in the larger sense.
LEMON: I'm glad you clarified that. So Republican Senator Bob Corker had more criticism for the Trump administration today. Watch this.
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SEN BOB CORKER, (R) TENNESSEE: Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis, and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. I think he is in a very trying situation, trying to solve many of the world's problems a lot of times without the kind of support and help that I'd like to see him have.
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[23:55:16] LEMON: Bob, that is pretty harsh indictment, isn't it.
CUSACK: Yeah. That is a direct shot at the President without a doubt. And Republicans including John McCain generally like the people that Trump has around him, but have been very critical of Trump. Corker -- Trump has taken some shots at Corker and Corker is not running for re-election. The state department is just not as strong as it used to be because whatever you think of President Trump, he is not diplomatic. So I think the state department overall has not the best moral and partly because they're not as powerful as they used to be.
LEMON: David, what do you think he meant by separating our country from chaos?
SWERDLICK: Well, I mean, there's one theory that, you know, there's this sort of thin line of folks who are -- you know, the cooler heads prevailing against some of the President's more mercurial instincts. And I do think that now that Senator Corker has announced that he is not running for re-election, he probably feels freer to say some stuff like that. He made some comments a few weeks ago. But, you know, you have to really read between the lines and figure out what they're saying. I think if anything some of these folks are signaling to other Republicans that it's okay to distinguish their position from the President if they feel like they have to do that.
LEMON: Thank you, panel. I appreciate that. When we come back, new video tonight showing the terrifying scene unfolding as Stephen Paddock rained fire down on concert goers in Las Vegas.
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