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Don Lemon Tonight

President Trump Arrives In Hawaii; Carter Page Met With Russian Deputy Prime Minister In July 2016; Trump's High-Stakes Asia Trip Five Nations In 12 Days; The Mystery Of Mary Trump; Inside The Trump Family; President Trump Visits USS Arizona Memorial; Former New Jersey Police Chief Charge With Hate Crime, America More Polarized. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired November 03, 2017 - 23:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:00:89] DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT NEWS SHOW HOST: This is CNN tonight I am Don Lemon it is a little past 11:00 here on the east coast and live with breaking news tonight. CNN Jim Sciutto has spoken with the last hour to Carter Page and has new information about his meetings with a high level Russian official. Plus, President Trump landed in Hawaii on his way to Asia for a high stakes 12-day-trip. With the dark cloud of the Russia investigation hanging over him, can he make headway with leaders in the part of the world that threatens to turn into a power kick? A lot to get to, but I want to get straight to our National security correspondent Jim Sciutto, he joins us now. Jim, you spoke with Carter Page in the last hour. What did he tell you?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right. He confirmed that during a visit to Moscow July 2016 that he met with a senior Russian government official and in fact he identified that official as the deputy Prime Minister of Russia. I should say Carter Page testified before the House Intelligence Committee and he met in Moscow with a senior government official that did not identify that official. We since learned who that was. The deputy Prime Minister. This is after earlier today. Carter Page spoke to my colleague Jake Tapper and Jake Tapper pressed him on the meetings he had in Russia and in that interview Carter Page said that he had only met business people academics. I should say that Carter page described this meeting with the deputy prime minister Russia to me not as a formal meeting sit down, but they were both speaking at the same conference at the new economic school in Moscow in July 2016 and he met him when they were in the course of that conference. He described it more of a casual hello rather than a formal meeting. To be clear he changed his story on this a number of times including as recently as a few hours ago on this very network.

LEMON: Jim, he spoke with you tonight. He spent almost seven hours testifying at the house. Two cable news interviews. Why is he talking so much when this investigation is clearly serious?

SCHNEIDER: I think Carter Page basically says he is not ashamed or scared or concerned to tell his story. He doesn't feel that he did anything wrong here. The trouble I suppose is that the details of that story have changed. Including just in a few hours today. But again I should say from his point of view this is not a consequential addition of information. In other words, I may not have told you I did meet this guy at the conference, but we didn't talk about anything important, etc. The trouble is when you have a series of changes like that overtime, it makes you question what might be revealed in the next conversation. I suppose the trouble is it's not confined to Carter Page because you had other advisers to the President who changed their story overtime about meetings that took place and even the content of the meetings with Russian officials and Russians that are known to the U.S. Intelligence.

LEMON: All right that is interesting. The advice from attorneys whether you are guilty or innocent, don't say anything. Thank you Jim Sciutto I appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: I want to turn to President Trump's Asia trip. Matt Rivers live for us in Beijing. Matt good evening to you. President Trump has been escalating his rhetoric with North Korea for months. This is a major threat to the region. How high are the stakes for President Trump's trip?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Frankly Don, given the worst case scenario that is possible with the ongoing crisis with North Korea, the stakes really couldn't be higher. Donald Trump is coming here amidst the very tense times. In the last 48 hours or so that we heard from the South Koreans that the North Koreans may actually test launch a missile while Trump is in the region and has to meet with a lot of different leaders to hopefully come up with a diplomatic long-term solution to the crisis. That alluded him so far and alluded the Obama administration and alluded the Bush administration.

[23:05:05] No one is thinking that, OK, over ten days trip Donald Trump will be able to solve the crisis in the long-term, but the fact of the matter is throughout his presidency and more recently, Donald Trump undermined his Secretary of State this this part of the world. He has declined to fill diplomatic positions that have been used throughout Asia and specifically with North Korea to help come up with diplomatic solutions to the tricky questions. When he meets with the leaders of countries like China and Japan and South Korea, they don't have anywhere else to turn. When they are trying to figure out what the U.S. is thinking here, they need to go to Donald Trump because there is no representation from members of his administration.

LEMON: thank you Matt Rivers, I appreciate it. I want to bring in now CNN global affairs analyst David Rohde, national security analyst Samantha Vinograd and P.J. Crowley, the former assistant Secretary of State under President Obama and the author of red line American foreign policy in a time of fractured politics and falling states. Good evening to all of you and thank you for coming on. David you first, tonight North Korea is lashing out after U.S. air force b-1 bombers and other fighter jets flew off the Korean peninsula this week. The Pentagon say it was a long planned military exercise and tensions have rarely been higher. What does it mean for President Trump?

DAVID ROHDE, GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, CNN: I think it means that South Korea, he really has to watch his rhetoric. When Trump talks tough on North Korea, it is really endangering tens of thousands, probably hundred thousands of lives in South Korea. If he doesn't try to score domestic points in the U.S. by talking tough when he is on South Korean soil. It's a very dangerous situation and if there is conflicts, the vast majority of casualties will be South Koreans and fewer Americans.

LEMON: P.J. the President is heading to Japan and South Korea and China and Vietnam and the Philippines. His last international trip went pretty well, but you say this is an entirely different ball game. Why did you say that?

P.J. CROWLEY, SERVE IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: I think it's the longest trip that he will take in his first year as President. I think it is a region that is very important to the United States in terms of national security. In terms of economic security. As Matt was saying, it will be a major opportunity for the Trump administration to fill in the blanks of foreign policy. Is there a path forward on North Korea that the allies in the region and an equal like Xi Jinping can get behind? One of the first actions of the Trump administration was to withdraw from the transpacific partnership, the TPP. In terms of trade which the President said trade will be an issue he will talk about. What will replace the vacuum that has been created by the withdrawal from TPP? These are some major issue that is the Obama administration pivoted to Asia. Now the question will be is the Trump administration going to sustain that pivot or move to another part of the world?

LEMON: Samantha, you have been on trips like this with President Obama. How difficult are they? What is the administration up against the Trump administration, what are they facing over the next 12 days?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: These trips are highly complex and very tiring under the best of circumstances. That really leads to point is adlibbing on these trips is not good policy. When I was at the White House and preparing President Obama, we often asked the intelligence community for leader profiles of everybody that the President was going to be meeting with. That way when we crafted his talking points, we did so armed with the analysis of where they were coming from. If the President doesn't tick stick to the talking points in this situation, it could have nuclear consequences.

LEMON: They want to avoid getting the President out of his comfort zone. That includes food, a person involved in the trip said no whole fish with the heads still on, nothing too spicy for the President. How important are requests like this in avoiding slip ups? It may sound small, but is it a big deal?

VINOGRAD: It doesn't sound small. You start planning these trips months or years in advance. Every detail is planned to a t so there are no surprises and no miscommunication.

LEMON: Etiquette and protocol are really important in Asia, David. In many ways they are the opposite of President Trump's impulsive in your face style. A national security adviser H.R. McMaster just addressed that yesterday. Watch this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

H.R. MCMASTER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The President will use whatever language he wants to use obviously and what the President has done is clarified in all of his discussions and statements on North Korea our determination to ensure that North Korea is unable to threaten allies and our partners and certainly the United States. I don't think the President really modulates his language if you noticed. He has been very clear about it. Aware of the discussions about his inflammatory. What's inflammatory is the North Korean regime and what they are doing to threaten the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:10:12] LEMON: How do you think the President will be received by leaders in the region?

ROHDE: I think the Chinese in particular are not impressed so far. They see the bravado and the threats. There is a deliberate long-term strategy. Trump is the opposite. Very erratic. He meets so many threats against North Korea or so many months and not really followed them up with the military force. He keeps vowing to use them. This trip will test that rhetoric.

LEMON: P.J. the White House has not ruled out a meeting with Vladimir Putin on this trip. The President said it may happen. Given everything going on right now, do you think that is a good idea?

CROWLEY: They will both be attending this Asia summit and I imagine they will have an opportunity to have some sort of an encounter. Formal in terms of a meeting or whether it is informal, they sit together during a dinner and wait and see. I mean he is going to see a wide range of how will he deal with the allies? Those leaders that we need and for which we have key security alliances. How will we deal with an equal like Xi Jinping coming off a very significant political success in his own country? How will he deal with antagonists like Vladimir Putin? This is the opportunity for him to be very Presidential and as Matt was saying earlier, over all of this, what is Kim Jong-un going to do while the President is in Asia for 12 days. Chances are he might do something to draw attention away from this guys and back towards himself?

LEMON: The President was asked about filling empty positions in the state department. Here's how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We don't need all the people. I'm a business person. I tell my people, you don't need to fill slots, don't fill them. We have some people that I'm not happy with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not getting --

TRUMP: All right let me tell you, the one that matters is me. I'm the only that matters, because when it comes to it, that is what the policy is going to be. You have seen it strongly. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You heard him. I'm the only one that matters. What kind of message does that send in the major international trip?

VINOGRAD: I don't think it's good to undercut your national security team. This is a pattern throughout the administration. Having diplomats on the ground is critically important. We don't have an ambassador in South Korea right now. Which means we don't someone who can go to President Moon and prepare for this visit. That is really worrisome.

LEMON: All right. Thank you Samantha, thanks David, thank you P.J. I appreciate it and have a great weekend everyone. When we come back, the mystery of Mary Trump. Why President Trump almost never talks about his mother, but he talks about his father all the time. And stick around the disturbing story of a local police chief accused of a hate crime so awful, his own officers called the FBI on him.

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[23:16:38] LEMON: President Trump speaking out about his family saying he thinks they are being treated unfairly especially his daughter Ivanka and his wife Melania.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think my family has been treated unfairly. I think Ivanka has been treated unfairly frankly. Melania is really just powering through it. She has been incredible. People love Ivanka and people love Melania. They go through it. I do think the family has been treated a little bit unfairly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Family is everything to President Trump, but there is one member of his family he almost never talks about and that is his late mother, Mary. Why is that? Let us discuss now, Michael Cruz is here. He wrote the Politico article, the mystery of Mary Trump. So good to have you on. Fascinating, Michael. That was President Trump on Fox just last night. Speaking about the two most important women in his life, his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka, but we rarely hear him speak about his mother. You have a fascinating piece in Politico about President Trump's mother Mary. Why do you hear so little about her?

MICHAEL KRUSE, SENIOR STAFF WRITER, POLITICO: I have been researching and reading about and reporting about Donald Trump for going on 2.5 years and haven't we all. One constant is the relative absence of his mother in not only stories about her, but stories he tells himself about his own upbringing and own life. It got me curious. Why do we see this absence and the story? I talked to his boy hood friends, people who grew up in Jamaica state and spent time in the Trump household and talked to close business associates throughout the rest of his life and talked to psychologist, psychiatrist and family therapists to try to get a sense of what we might be able to learn about this relative scarcity of Mary Trump and how he talked about his life.

LEMON: OK. I want to read a quote from your piece and we will discuss more, all right? You said, Trump's mother who died in 2000 had been is some ways fading from view for many years before her son on inauguration day places hand on the bible. To discount her in the creation of the Trump persona is to disregard decades of study about family dynamics. Trump might not agree, but most psychologist agree your mother helps make you who you are. You did extensive research into Mary Trump, what influence does she have on him? Again why doesn't he speak about her that much?

KRUSE: You are obviously the result of both your parents to some extend for better or for worse. The emphasis is on both those parents. President Trump talked a lot for decades about his father and the profound influence that his father had on him. His mother doesn't talk about it at all. What you get from your mother something that you don't necessarily get from your father. You get among other things I learned from talking to a psychological professional is impulse control, the ability to empathize with others. These are things that we haven't seen necessarily in the behavior of Donald Trump over the course of his entire adult existence and certainly in the first 10 or so months of his presidency. They were careful in the story. If they clinically diagnosed him, they can observe the behaviors and in fact draw conclusions about why he might be behaving this way.

[23:20:40] LEMON: Was he simply not close, I mean to get to the point, he simply not close to his mother or was she not influential or a hands off mother? Why?

KRUSE: What I learned from talking specifically and in particular to the boys who were friends of his and friends of his brothers in the Trump household is that Mary Trump was a nice woman and friendly woman and detached from the regular interactions that they experienced there. She would not be as involved as Fred Trump, his father. They would go down stairs in the Trump mansion in Jamaica States, they describe a massive train set and the person who would come down there to interact with the boys was not Mary Trump, it was not even Fred Trump, who is often at work, but was often the living maid. The friends of President Trump when he was a boy do not have a ton of recollections of interactions with President Trump, so this meshes with the ongoing absence of Mary Trump and his upbringing and of his adulthood.

LEMON: What is the significance of the president using the bible, his mother's bible in the inauguration?

KRUSE: One of the things he got from his mother was his faith, certainly his mother was the most faith base member of that family at that time. She was the driver of his attendance in Sunday school classes at first in Jamaica and queens. She wanted him to be active in the church. The first Presbyterian church. Something more similar to what she experience in her upbringing in Scotland where she was very religiously oriented and sternly religious. Upbringing and upbringing that was mark by poverty and extremely difficult life. Her father was a fisherman, you know all the siblings pitch in a small household, she and several sisters came over to New York for essentially a better life. During the depression, before the depression and during the depression, this was the better option for Mary Trump than staying in the northwest corner of Scotland.

LEMON: I want you to stick around Michael, because when we come back, I want to talk more about the complicated dynamics of the Trump family and how all this can be influencing his presidency.

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[23:27:28] LEMON: The president's mother Mary, a woman the public knows very little about. A new article goes in-depth about her and the role she played in the President's life. Back with me now Michael Kruse and we are joined by Glenda Blair, the author of the Trumps three generations of builders and a President. CNN contributor Michael D' Antonio, the author of the truth about Trump. So fascinating. Good to have all of you on. Glenda you wrote a book about the Trumps. You interviewed her and what did you learn about her relationship with her son?

GWENDA BLAIR, AUTHOR, THE TRUMP, THREE GENERATIONS OF BUILDERS AND A PRESIDENT: I talked to her when she was at the New York military academy when Donald was being given an award as an outstanding alumnus. She was obviously very proud of him. She told me a lot of kids would have been home sick going away to a school like this. But not Donald. Robert would have been miserable. Donald, this was the place for him. She seemed to have a good sense to him. She was very tuned in to him. And that was the moment when she did show up.

LEMON: She was not there. They were not very close?

BLAIR: She is not somebody who comes up when she talks about his life. It's always his dad. Like he is a y chromosome guy. He was all about dad. His sister said the girls in the family, she and her sister, no way that they would get to take over the business. They were not in the running. That was just not possible.

LEMON: Interesting. She lived a hard life. Mary Trump did in Scotland, only to become fabulously wealthy. Was she comfortable with all that money?

BLAIR: She is pretty comfortable to me. Chauffer, limousine, she looks very comfortable.

LEMON: Michael you also wrote a book about Donald Trump the president worshipped his father but why so little talk about his mother. What did you find out?

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: As Gwenda said I think she was very comfortable with her wealth. She is the person who would wear that fur coat and go off in that limousine to collect the coins in the washing machines and the driers on the Trump buildings. She really enjoyed her wealth. I think she was a very narcissistic in a way that Donald is as well. She liked being the center of attention.

[23:30:00] The President has talked about that himself. You know, everybody often focuses on the mother and when they talk about what's going on with the offspring and mothers come in for an awful hard time sometimes. And I was thinking this evening while Michael was talking about how hard it would be to be young Donald Trump mom. We all would have distanced ourselves a little bit from this kid. He is tough, I think he was really a hard kid to mother.

LEMON: In which is Michael Kruse that bring me to a question about, another part of your article. This is a description of Donald Trump life in the military academy that he was sent to. Why do the parents send him there and what picture emerges of a president from that?

MICHAEL KRUSE, SENIOR STAFF WRITER, POLITICO: He was 13 when he went to New York Military Academy. He left behind his life in Jamaica. Really having talked to a wide variety of classmates. Some of them told me that he brought up his father here and there. Never ever brought up his mother. This was a stern place he was shipped off to and quite formative years. She was more out of the picture. By the time he was 13 and thereafter.

LEMON: Why was he sent there? Does anyone know why?

KRUSE: Discipline and corrigible boy.

GWENDA BLAIR, AUTHOR, THE TRUMP, THREE GENERATIONS OF BUILDERS AND A PRESIDENT: Yes, exactly.

LEMON: OK. And Michael's article, Gwenda friends of Donald Trump. Why are you laughing Michael D'Antonio?

D'ANTONIO: Well he made his father miserable, his dad was very engage with his goal he attended, he was a trustee and gave a lot of money to the school and thy kept calling home saying do something about this kid and eventually what he did was send him off. He was the classic bad boy as a youngster. Got what his father thought he needed.

LEMON: How did Mary describe her role as a mother? Gwenda?

BLAIR: When I was writing my book, he died and so another Arthur was his successor at the church and he told me Mary had said to him I know all the good teaching that are in there, because I put them in there. You might not see that, but I know they are in there.

LEMON: What do you mean?

BLAIR: The bible, you know to various moral maxims and the 10 commandments said they are all in there.

LEMON: Michael D'Antonio I want to ask you about something else, another business at hand, in an interview last night on Fox, the President was asked about his Secretary of State. Vacant jobs at the state department, I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One that matters is me. I'm the only one that matters, because when it comes to it, that is what the policy is going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So many people have talked about how self-absorbed the President is and even narcissistic. Anything that you learned about Trump help explain that?

D'ANTONIO: He is telling you the truth. As far as he is concern, the one that matters is the president and ultimately that is true in all administration. This is what he said during the campaign. He said only I can fix it. Even during the week, we heard a lot of his advocates on CNN in particular talk about all power should ultimately reside in him. Even as they were discussing the FBI and Podesta department which by design operated independent of the interference of the president in criminal matters. I think there was an ambition in control of everything and asserting the sense of it's all about me, because he is not quite in control especially were Robert Mueller is concerned.

LEMON: Michael, Michael, and Gwenda thank you very much, I appreciate it. Fascinating conversation. We have breaking news about new documents release tonight about John F. Kennedy's assassination including a secret FBI file about Martin Luther King Jr. The 20-page document is part of the attempt to dig up dirt on Dr. King attempted to tie him to various communist influences. And included insinuations about Dr. King's personal life.

[23:35:12] The document was hidden for nearly 50 years and intelligence agency files about the Kennedy assassination, even though it has nothing to do with Kennedy. We'll be right back.

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LEMON: Let me get you to live pictures from Hawaii, Pearl Harbor to be specific. The President is just walking in to the USSS Arizona. He is visiting Pearl Harbor and stopping in Hawaii before he makes his way to Asia. In the meantime, we have new developments in a shocking story in New Jersey. A former police chief himself charged with a federal hate crime for allegedly assaulting a black teenager, he is also accused of openly talking about violence towards African- Americans. He was turned in by his own officers. CNN Jason Carroll has the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM FITZPATRICK, NEW JERSEY ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY: The conduct alleged is shocking. It's a shocking breech of the duty.

[23:40:00] JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: New Jersey's acting U.S. attorney could barely contain his anger.

FITZPATRICK: One of the most disturbing and disgusting events I have seen in over 20 years in law enforcement.

CARROLL: His anger directed at this man in charge to uphold the law. Frank (inaudible) Jr. Board in the township's former police chief. He recently retired now faces federal hate crime charges.

FITZPATRICK: He is harbored in intense senseless irrational and bigoted view towards African-Americans.

CARROLL: A criminal complaint details the allegations centering on an incident in September of last year. The police arrest two African- American teenagers for failing to pay their hotel bill and assaults the male teenager when he slammed his head into a doorjamb causing bodily injury. The complaint says an officer heard the teenagers head makes a loud thud has it hits the door jamb. I could shoot one of these (BLEEP) and that (BLEEP) lady, she almost got it.

FITZPATRICK: On that day he came into contact with a prisoner. That prisoner was in custody. That prisoner was restrained. They were handcuff and not an immediate threat to anybody.

CARROLL: It further alleges they have of making racist comments. They heard them say these (BLEEP) are like ISIS. They have no value. They should line them up and mow them down. I would like to be on the firing squad. I could do it. He is accused of using police dogs to intimidate African-Americans. His own officers so fed up with his behavior alerted the FBI. They repeatedly used racial slurs.

TIMOTHY GALLAGHER, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, NEWARK: The overwhelming majority in the state of New Jersey. Those we choose to use the authority to discriminate against individuals will be treated as criminals arrested and prosecuted.

FITZPATRICK: The people most disgusted about it are the members of the New Jersey law enforcement community. Because this defendant made their job much harder.

CARROLL: Residence of the small New Jersey town shed outrage. Someone sworn to protect all citizens of all races could act so much hate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did something like that, he deserves whatever is coming to him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this was all true, I just don't know why it took so long for all this to occur, to me at least, earlier.

CARROLL: No one answered the door at their home for comments and it is not clear if he enter a plea, his attorney did not return our calls. The man responsible facing a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Jason Carroll joins me now. Do you have inn indication that this behavior went beyond others in his command?

CARROLL: that certainly concerns for a lot of those folks in their community, investigators were asked about that in a press conference. The U.S. attorney feels as though their investigation led them to a point where they believe it does not extend beyond him. However there are those in the community who do realized that his son is also in the force, so you can perhaps understand why there might be some concern once again, the U.S. attorney said they believe that they are confident, their investigations stops with him.

LEMON: Jason Carroll thank you very much. When we come back how could a behavior like this had gone in the police department and not had been reported sooner and is the current political climate at least partly to blame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:47:35] LEMON: A former New Jersey police chief charge with a hate crime for allegedly assaulting a black teen accused of making racist remarks and taking hostile actions towards African-Americans. Let's discuss now the story with legal analyst Mark O'Mara, Cedrick Alexander the former President of the national organization. A black executive and Neill Franklin a retired Maryland state police major. Good evening gentlemen. Neill to you first. We just heard Jason Carroll story about the former police department. The description of his behavior in this complaint is horrific. What is your reaction to it?

NEILL FRANKLIN, RETIRE MARYLAND STATE POLICE MAJOR: Well it is very horrific and quite alarming. Here's the chief of police with this type of behavior. Here are my concerns. This guy has been a member of the police department for a long time as chief. What has he been doing for the couple of decades that he has been a law enforcement officer for this township? They need to go back and interview everybody that at least every person of color that he arrested. They need to look at all of the cases. They need to find out whether or not these cases were appropriate. Whether the arrests were appropriate. That is why where I would begin. I want to say this. The officer that came forward under these conditions and we know what the police and culture is all about and how difficult it is. I applaud that officer for coming forward and bringing this to the public.

LEMON: Cedric I got to ask you to Neill's point, how could he become a chief of the police department and spent an entire career with no one speaking up about his action?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, CNN: That is the bigger question. That is my concern to Don. You are talking about a police chief. You are talking about the chief executive of law enforce officer in in that small town who have to interact with all kinds of people in the community. It's a slightly diverse community as well. How did he raise through the ranks to that level. That type of behavior and attitude is not just demonstrated once. The bigger question for me, who hired him. How did he become a police officer? But who put him in that position as a chief? People in that community quite frankly should be asking that of the elected officials. How did he even get in that position? It's despicable. It is embarrassing to me as a law enforcement and a former law enforcement official and to many of us across this country who are chiefs, it's just a behavior and an attitude that is just horrible.

[23:50:14] LEMON: And Mark, to Cedric's point here, he is now retired. How long has this been going on here and who knew?

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, we know now and we'll find out as the investigation continues that this is not one of five or ten isolated events. This guy has been who we now know him to be his entire career, his entire life. He is been a racist. The way that he is treated the African-American community has been disgusting. And without making light of it, this guy is the Harvey Weinstein of law enforcement. And I'm telling you, I think law enforcement needs to take this guy as the example and say this is the type person who when we find him in our ranks, the thin blue line goes away, everything goes away, because if we don't get rid of this type of cop, we will never to the point where the healing can even begin. And the wounds are just going to get deeper.

LEMON: Neal, he has been accused of, racist comments and behavior including slamming an African-American teen's head into a metal doorjamb. Saying black people are like ISIS and he'd like to be on the firing squad. Why would a police chief feel emboldened enough to behave like that?

FRANKLIN: Because he is never been held accountable. Not only has he not obviously been held accountable, but we don't see a lot of accountability across this country when it comes to our police officers and the things that they do that are inappropriate and sometimes even against the law. We've got to start holding people accountable.

LEMON: And there have been two other recent inappropriate incidents. The University of Nevada, Reno police officer wore a Halloween costume mocking Colin Kaepernick. Many felt the costume was racist. Anti- Indian, anti-Chinese campaign mailers were sent anonymously to homes in Edison New Jersey proclaiming make Edison great again and calling for deportation of two Asian school. Is this the type of -- this is the type of discourse that we hear across the country. We've heard it from the campaign. Sometimes we hear it from the White House and beyond. Is this fanning the flames here? Cedric?

ALEXANDER: Absolutely it's fanning the flames and it's unfortunate because there seems to be an attitude out there that is becoming more and more emboldened and certainly we hear where we know where we're hearing some of these dog whistle messages coming from. But I think that aside, we as Americans have to decide that we're going to have to be a lot more sensitive, particularly now in the climate that we're in, and we need to be conscious of what we say. We need to be very sensitive to each other, ask we have to remember that we're all Americans trying to live our lives in a Democratic way every day. But we cannot allow ourselves to, Don, to be offensive and just make statements and act out in gestures that we know are going to be offensive.

LEMON: Marc, why are you shaking your head?

ALEXANDER: That is just not helpful.

O'MALLEY: Well, because I really try to. We have to deal with some harsh realities that we have become a more polarized country in the past year than I've ever seen before or that I've ever read about.

LEMON: Right.

O'MALLEY: We now have a situation where the bigots, the racists are so emboldened that we have things like Charlottesville and we have situations where outward racist and bigoted attacks seem to be happening on a daily basis. So, Cedric, I agree with what you're saying and we can't let this get us down too far, but we also have to deal with the harsh realities that what we've tried over the past decade or two or three, if it's led us to today and this past year, this form is not working right and we've got to do something new, something different, something better.

LEMON: Neal, I'll give you the quick last word.

FRANKLIN: Well, I'll tell you, listening to this rhetoric coming out of the White House and what we're seeing nationally and this spotlight that is being placed upon race and how people have become more emboldened, like Marc says, I kind of think it's a good thing, because it's bringing things into the light. Things that are there, things that have been hidden and now it's coming into the light. Letting us know that we have to work extremely hard on this issue of race in the country, so I think people are ready to come together and do that. I hope so at least.

LEMON: Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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[23:59:08] LEMON: CNN is proud to announce the top ten CNN heroes of 2017. Each honoree will receive a cash prize and a shop at the top honor. CNN hero of the year, which will earn one of them an additional $100,000 for their cause. And you get to help decide who that person will be. Here is Anderson Cooper to show you how.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, BREAKING NEWS SHOW HOST: Now that we've announced the top ten CNN heroes of 2017, it's time to show you how you can help decide who should be CNN hero of the year and receive $100,000 to help them continue their work. Just go to CNN heroes.com where you can learn more about each hero, and when you're ready, just click on vote. Log in using either your e-mail address or Facebook account and choose your favorite. Then confirm your selection and you're all set. And this year you can also vote through Facebook messenger. You can vote up to ten times a day per method every day through December 12th. Then rally your friends by sharing your vote on social media. My friend and co-host Kelly Ripa joins me to reveal the 2017 hero of the year live during our 11th annual, CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, Sunday December 17.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: :Meet all this year's top ten heroes and vote every day at cnnheroes.com to help decide who should be our CNN Hero of the Year. All 10 will be honored at the 11th annual, CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, but only one will be named CNN Hero of the Year.

Join Anderson and special guest host Kelly Ripa, live Sunday December 17.

That's it for us tonight. Thanks for watching.