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Don Lemon Tonight

Hurricane Michael Leaves Fast But Damages a Lot; Hurricane Claims One Life; President Donald Trump Pumping Up Voters at a Rally in Pennsylvania; Hurricane Michael Now Making Landfall Over in Georgia; New York Magazine Reporter Shown an Unexpected Interview with the President and All Senior Staff. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired October 10, 2018 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:00:00] (JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: And that should be our focus. We should focus on how we see it when we cover these stories, the humanity and people. They don't care what gender you are, what ethnicity you are, how old you are. If they can help you, they help you in these situations, and we shouldn't be focused on the president.

We know that this is a man of hypocrisy. We know what he said about the former president, but he doesn't seem to hold those same values when it comes to himself. So I think we should keep the focus on that and try to put it on the people down south who need our help.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: But remember, a lot of that help is going to come top-down.

LEMON: Yes.

CUOMO: You know what I mean. They're going to have need. We're going to have to call on people to remember their brothers and sisters. There but for the grace, you would be in their place. People in Wilmington, North Carolina, kids just got back to school. They have so much. This storm is going to come through again. Who knows what happens.

But a lot of it is going to be federal and it is going to have to be federally orchestrated. That means the president. We have to make sure that his head and his heart are in the right place. That's what the job demands.

LEMON: Well speaking of the storm, do you remember the last time when we would tell people I've never experienced anything like this. It's been raining, it's been raining for 24, 48 hours.

This one came through just like a typical hurricane comes through. It comes in, lots of wind, lots of rain, and then it moves out pretty quickly. The last one just sat and sat on top -- I would say the last one wasn't a TV storm, if you know what I mean, right?

CUOMO: Right.

LEMON: This one was that because you saw the winds and you saw all the water all coming down at once, and then it was gone. This one did a lot of wind damage. You see all the properties, and they still don't know how much is damaged. Tomorrow at daybreak, man, who knows what they're going to find?

CUOMO: The unique challenge, right?

LEMON: Yes.

CUOMO: We were dealing with major population centers all through the Carolinas where we were. Here it's about remote areas. It's about places that are hard to get them. The comms are going to be light. Getting access to them is going to take time. You're not going to know the true toll of this storm for days.

LEMON: For days. This is where I vacationed growing up, along Pensacola, Panama City, Destin. Man, my thoughts are with those folks down there. We'll see tomorrow what the extent of the damage is. Chris, thank you. Great show. I enjoyed it. I'll see you tomorrow.

This is CNN TONIGHT. I am Don Lemon.

Here's our breaking news. Of course it is hurricane Michael. Hurricane Michael is a fast-moving, monster storm. It's leaving a trail of destruction moving across Georgia tonight after pounding the Florida Panhandle.

The National Weather Service is warning it is not over yet. This is a storm that is breaking records across the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SCOTT, GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: Hurricane Michael is the worst storm that the Florida Panhandle has ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Storm to make landfall in the continental United States since Andrew 26 years ago. The strongest to hit Tallahassee in a century. And the first to cross into Georgia as a cat three since the 1800s.

One official saying, quote, "we got punched in the mouth by this one."

And as the hurricane batters the southeast, President Trump decides against canceling his campaign rally in Pennsylvania tonight. There were some questions about that, about whether a split screen like this would be a good look.

But to be fair, to be fair, we do want our president to be able to handle more than one thing at a time. He did make calls to the governors of Georgia and Alabama from Air Force One.

The White House putting out pictures of those calls, pictures so similar that you can hardly tell them apart. But back to the president's campaign rally. This was clearly the right thing to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to send our thoughts and prayers of our entire nation to everyone in the path of hurricane Michael, especially in the Florida Panhandle, where it's hitting and hitting hard.

My administration is working closely with Florida Governor Rick Scott and the governors of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, anybody else affected, to provide the full resources and steadfast support of our federal government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Just remember he criticized the last president for campaigning during super storm Sandy. But then President Trump got back to his favorite thing, bashing Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What the radical Democrats did to Brett Kavanaugh and his beautiful family is a national disgrace.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: It's a disgrace. What they did was a disgrace. But on November 6th, you can vote to reject the Democrats' shameful conduct by electing Republican House, and really we need it badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[22:04:56] LEMON: That didn't take long, did it? And really you would think that he would skip the tough talk just this once. But that's not the way this president operates.

Well, back in the storm zone, millions of people are facing a rough night. Michael is now a category one with 90-mile-an-hour winds. There are fears of life-threatening storm surges, catastrophic winds, flash floods and tornadoes.

Over half a million people without power tonight. Lines down, transformers exploding, residents warned to stay off the roads.

And if you need proof of just how damaging a storm like this can be, take a look at this incredible video of homes being ripped to pieces in Panama City Beach. This is earlier today. I want you to listen to what a storm this powerful sounds like.

CNN's reporters all over the storm zone tonight as we are learning that rescues are beginning. So let's get straight to our reporters now. Scott McLean is in Albany, Georgia, and he joins us now.

So, Scott, a devastating hurricane. What's the latest by you, where you are?

Having a bit of trouble with Scott's audio. But, again, he is in Albany, Georgia, tonight. That storm making its way up to Georgia where they are experiencing hurricane winds, very high winds there. Also our Miguel Marquez is out there as well, he is in Panama City

Beach, Florida. We'll get to Miguel and we'll try to get back to Scott. And Miguel, treacherous conditions by you. What can you tell us?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Treacherous conditions everywhere. I want to show you the power of the winds here. This was a service station at one point. This was the canopy on that. That's steel. That's metal right there that this thing just pummeled.

This is the other piece of it. You can see how it just twisted it around here. It wasn't much match for those winds.

And we're just west of Panama City here. So we're even out of the area that was hit the hardest. But we just tried to get over to Mexico Beach. The number of trees down in the hundreds, certainly, the thousands in the area, but certainly hundreds crossing the roads that we tried to get through.

They're starting to saw through some of those trees now, but there's lots of lines now as well, which is a brig problem. And then lots of standing water in different areas around this area as well.

And the most shocking thing is that you go into these neighborhoods and are there hundreds and hundreds of people still in these neighborhoods, people who just didn't leave for many, many reasons, whether they thought it wasn't going to be as serious, they had a sick loved one at home, or they just didn't have the money to be able to get out and actually find a place to go for a few days.

The stories are across the board. It's also cooling down a little bit tonight, so it's going to be tough to stay warm. It is extraordinarily dark out here.

I mean this is the major road here. This is 38. This should be lit up, and this should be a, you know, a busy intersection here, and now it is just a ghost town. Very dark out here. A very, very long way to go for the Panhandle of Florida. Don?

LEMON: You're exactly right, especially 38, that area, it's so warm there that their season extends well past the typical memorial to Labor Day season that we get in most regions of the country.

Miguel, thank you very much. Stand by. I want to get now to CNN's Brian Todd. Brian is in Panama City Beach, Florida, for us as well. Brian, you have seen some tremendous destruction where you are. Describe what you're seeing.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Don. This is surf drive, one of the hardest hit neighborhoods of Panama City Beach. This house here was the subject of some video earlier today, some very dramatic and horrible video where you saw the roof being torn off this house. The side of it being torn off.

This is the aftermath. We talked to the son-in-law of the owner of the house. He came here with his wife, whose mother owns this house, and they said the family was completely devastated.

Luckily, Don, no one was here at the time that that occurred, but the family is just heartbroken over what happened here. I can tell you here in the aftermath some of the information we learned about the house from that family who owns it. This part up here that got completely blown away, the roof got sheared off.

By the way, that roof, a hunk of twisted metal, was tossed about 75 yards down the road here and it's still kind of embedded in a fence. But this area here on the second floor that I'm pointing at used to be the kitchen and the living room, and that's not going to be in a state of being inhabitable anytime soon as you can see.

[22:10:02] And that's the result just below it of the wall being just completely disabled and tossed around. So that is what people are dealing with here. This heartbroken family has got to come here and see that.

This is another house that had its roof torn off, and it's got a downed power line there. There's a gas leak around there. So, again, very perilous situation around here. As you can see behind me, it's just pitch black.

People coming into these neighborhoods are going to be facing some very dangerous situations. That's why, Don, officials are saying you still cannot come back to these neighborhoods.

We also have to tell you there has been some looting going on in downtown Panama City Beach but we did talk to a sheriff's official who said they have that under control and do have people under arrest tonight.

LEMON: Your word is a good one, perilous. Thank you very much. I appreciate that, Brian Todd. Nick Valencia joins us now, and he is in Tallahassee. Nick, good evening to you. How badly was Tallahassee hit?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, we're not seeing the catastrophic damage that Panama City Beach or Mexico Beach saw, but we are seeing major damage like this. Big trees that have blocked roadways. Most of the problem has been in these neighborhood streets. Those main roads have a lot of Spanish moss, some tree limbs, bent light posts, things like that, but not the kind of damage we're seeing here in the neighborhoods.

We just check this out, Don. This huge tree that's blocked this roadway, narrowly missing this house, smashing the back of that car and taking down a power line with it which is why it is just pitch black dark around here.

It's dozens of homes without power. Tens of thousands estimated here in the city of Tallahassee are without power. And some may be watching this at home and say, listen, Florida gets hit all the time with severe weather, but this was different.

This storm was the strongest storm in nearly a century here in Tallahassee. And I spent some time earlier with Florida Governor Rick Scott in the emergency management room, and he was really worried about things like this.

These 40-pound tree limbs, things like that, imagine that coming at you 100 miles an hour, hurricane-force winds. The good news in all of this, though, Tallahassee did not take the direct hit. The storm sort of curved around Tallahassee.

But we did see throughout the day tremendous wind gusts, rain bands, and just as I say that, more wind is picking up now. But these streets, these roadways, Don, just a mess. And when they wake up tomorrow morning, they're going to have to deal with all that. Don?

LEMON: Tree limbs like or branches or signs, street signs, anything can become a projectile very dangerous in those wind conditions. Nick, thank you very much. I want to get to CNN's Scott McLean in Albany, Georgia for us. Scott, take us through it how devastating was it where you are?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. About an hour ago the center of this storm passed over us. The winds seemed to die down briefly. The winds seemed to taper off briefly, but now the winds have switched directions. We're now on the back side of this storm and they are sustained into the 40s or 50s at this point, gusting even stronger than that.

That is important because they are strong enough right now to keep first responders from actually responding to 911 calls. They won't go out unless the winds are below 30 miles per hour sustained. It is also enough to knock out power to a lot of people.

There's no power at the hotel that we're running off of right now, and there are 25,000 people across this county right now or customers, I should say, across this county without power. We will not know the full extent of the damage until tomorrow. Don.

LEMON: Scott McLean, thank you very much.

Brooke Baldwin joins us now from Destin, Florida. Brooke, hello to you. Again, this is the strongest storm to make landfall in the continental U.S. since hurricane Andrew back in 1992.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Yes.

LEMON: You anchored your show from there today. This became a major storm that turned deadly.

BALDWIN: It did turn deadly. You know, it's incredible what a couple dozen miles make, right? I'm here in Destin. Beautiful sunset here and people fared pretty well, but in Greensboro, Florida, there has been one death reported according to sheriff's deputies there.

A man was in his home, and a tree fell on him. That's what we heard. Also they're reporting another injury in that county. And you know, Scott just hit on it. That there is so much else out there, that, you know, all these different emergency crews can't quite get to because of all these trees that are down. We heard from that same sheriff's deputy in that county saying it's a

communication issue. Radios down. Cell phone tower issues. So they can't get the estimate they need just yet, but, you know, places like Mexico Beach, PCB devastated in parts, Don.

LEMON: Yes, wow. Brooke, as I was watching your show today, you spoke with a councilwoman named Linda who has a home at Mexico Beach, I believe.

BALDWIN: Yes.

LEMON: She wasn't sure that she'd have a home to go back to.

BALDWIN: It was just gut wrenching listening to her. She has cried and cried and cried today. She says she's been getting texts from friends, so she actually had a planned vacation in the villages down here in Florida.

She left yesterday, and then is really left under the auspices that she wouldn't have a home to go home to. And from some of her friends who rode out the storm in Mexico Beach.

[22:14:59] This is a town, this is two miles wide, you know, two by three miles, just a thousand people who live there permanently. This little seaside town between Port St. Joe and Panama City Beach, and it is just leveled.

I mean, crews haven't been able to get in there, and she was saying to me she lost her husband in November. This is the first time she's had to do all of this all by herself. She's six hours away and getting texts from friends, Don, basically saying they think she's totally lost her home.

LEMON: My gosh. Thank you for the work you're doing down there. We appreciate it, Brooke. If we need you, we'll get back to you. Brooke, Scott, Brian, Miguel, and Nick Valencia, thanks to all of you.

So it is a bad night for millions of people in the southeast tonight. More than half a million without power as this hurricane slams the region 80 miles an hour -- 90-mile-an-hour winds and heavy rains. More from the storm zone. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hurricane Michael battering the southeast tonight after slamming into the Florida Panhandle as a mega powerful category four storm. It's leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Widespread flooding, life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds. At least one person is reported dead. More than 500,000 customers without power tonight in parts of Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.

[22:19:59] Joining me now on the phone is Mayor Andrew Gillum of Tallahassee, Florida's capital. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. This storm--

(CROSSTALK)

MAYOR ANDREW GILLUM, (D) TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: Of course. Thank you.

LEMON: -- has left tremendous damage across the Panhandle plowing, is plowing north. Your biggest concern at this hour?

GILLUM: Well, Don, obviously first it probably goes without saying our hearts just go out to those along the coast. Many of us have seen the horrific pictures as they've come in showing the real, frankly, tragic occurrence there.

And I know here in my own community, we're mostly concerned about the trees and the fact that just earlier this evening, I just returned in from surveying some of the damage in my own community. Tons of trees, over 200 roads that are now impassable.

We've got over 100,000 of our customers, our utility customers that are out of power. This storm, although it did not come -- the eye did not come to us, the impacts have still been heavily felt here, and I think tomorrow morning when we've got some daylight, we're going to see even more. I feel confident that we will be resilient and get things back up and going, but we've certainly got a lot of work to do tomorrow.

LEMON: As you were speaking there, we were watching a tree that was, you know, just topple over really, I mean, and a large tree at that. I imagine that's happened all over Tallahassee and in the Panhandle. You know, we've seen a lot of downed wires, other safety issues throughout the Panhandle. Do you know what the power situation is right now in Tallahassee?

GILLUM: Well, in our current city, we are, as I mentioned, have about 100,000 customers that are out. Our total customer base is about 120,000, and so we've been significantly impacted by this storm event.

We did pre-stage over 100 linemen in our community prior to this storm's impact. Those folks will be getting to work as early as 6 a.m. in the morning. They've already been out surveying, getting an assessment of what they're working into tomorrow morning, making sure they have the appropriate supplies.

We did have a portion of our sewer system fail but it was on, you know, we were able to get it back on generation and so not too much of an incident there. But we've got a grid system to put back together tomorrow morning, and I think what we have still yet to learn is how deeply the impacts are, whether we're dealing with broken, severed poles, or whether these are lines that have been brought down that might be a little bit more easier to put up than frankly reassembling an entire pole and restringing new lines.

So we've got our work cut out for us. We have requested maximum support to get our utilities back up and going. So we'll have the manpower, womanpower we need to get going. The question is how long this process might take, and we won't know that answer until we get a complete analysis of the storm's impact. LEMON: You took the words out of my mouth. You do have your work, you

do have your work cut out for you, and we especially thank you for coming on tonight given the situation of Tallahassee. Thank you, mayor.

GILLUM: Of course. Take care.

LEMON: Joining me now is the mayor of Apalachicola, Florida, Van Johnson. He is in Destin tonight. Mayor, good evening to you. When we spoke last night, you had evacuated your city. What are you hearing about the damage?

MAYOR VAN JOHNSON, APALACHICOLA, FLORIDA: Good evening, Don. What I'm hearing coming out from Apalachicola is that we have had widespread outages, trees down, flooding, and just total chaos. Something that we have never seen in at least the last 20 years.

LEMON: So there's been looting arrests in nearby Bay County. Any issues with looting in your city?

JOHNSON: Not at all. In fact, early on we issued a curfew prohibiting people from sunset to sundown from even leaving their home. So we tried to get a handle on that situation early. But most importantly we did it because people was just migrating out into the streets and could have potentially put themselves in harm's way.

LEMON: Mayor Van Johnson, we know that you're busy. Thank you so much. We appreciate you joining us as well. Best of luck to you.

JOHNSON: All right. Thank you.

LEMON: We've got a lot more live from the storm zone. Next, I'm going to talk to a man who chases storms like this for a living, and a Florida resident who rode out the storm at home.

[22:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hurricane Michael killing at least one person in Florida after slamming into the Panhandle as a category -- a powerful category four storm, bringing with it catastrophic winds, devastating flooding.

Michael is the strongest storm to hit the continental U.S. since hurricane Andrew since it flattened parted of south Florida in 1992. Hurricane Michael now making its way up through Georgia.

So I want to bring in now hurricane chaser Mike Theiss. He joins us now on the phone from Panama City, Florida. Good evening to you. I hope you're being safe out there. You rode out this storm in Panama City which got slammed by this hurricane. You've got some video. And then we're going to put it up now of a train that you saw after it was blown off its tracks today. It's crazy.

MIKE THEISS, STORM CHASER: That's correct, Don.

LEMON: Yes. Tell me about that. THEISS: Yes. That was probably one of the most impressive displays of

the power of wind that I've seen in the aftermath of a hurricane. And at first I didn't know what I was looking at because you can see in the video it's kind of dark. I pulled up to it, put the headlines on, and it was a train that was blown off its tracks. It's going to look (AUDIO GAP).

LEMON: Are you there, Mike? I think we're losing Mike. If you keep talking, we can see if you're in a better place.

THEISS: Yes. Can you hear me now?

LEMON: Yes, I can hear you now. It's just amazing to see that considering the weight of a train. I mean, that must have been some really powerful winds for that to happen. Mike, are you there? All right.

So we're having an issue with Mike, and you can imagine -- you can understand considering the conditions down there. We'll get him back if we can.

Joining me now is Spencer Hawkins. He's the director of the Macon-Bibb Emergency Management. He is in Macon, Georgia. Good evening, to you, Spencer. This storm has wreaked havoc all along that path.

(CROSSTALK)

[22:30:07] SPENCER HAWKINS, DIRECTOR, MACON-BIBB EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Yes, it did, Don. Good evening.

LEMON: Yes, good evening. So what are the conditions like on the ground in Macon?

HAWKINS: Right now, we're just seeing the first effects of the tropical storm force winds reach our area. Those are the 40 to 50- mile-an-hour sustained winds. The rain is picking up. We're expecting between four to six inches of rain throughout the night.

LEMON: Yeah. Are you worried about tornadoes?

HAWKINS: We always are. Whenever you see a storm like this, we're always watching for tornadoes. And we've prepped our citizens to be ready for those tornadoes.

LEMON: What about rescue operations in the area? Are you getting any calls?

HAWKINS: Yes, we are. We're getting calls in. We've got about half a dozen roads closed. We've got some trees down, and we have approximately 1,200 customers without power. And because of the dangerous situations outside, we are logging all that information in. And we will start operations as soon as the worst of the storm clears, with the exception of any specific critical life-saving missions that need to happen.

LEMON: I got to ask you because this one came up pretty fast, caught a lot of people by surprise. Do you think you were given enough time to prepare?

HAWKINS: There's always -- there's never enough time to prepare. But just about 13 months ago, we went through Hurricane Irma. And we had damaging effects from that. And we have one of the best teams in Georgia. And we survived that and recovered from that very well. And are EOC has been activated and operational since Monday.

We've got 50-plus agencies and departments here working together, and we're ready for it.

LEMON: Yeah. Spencer, are you confident in -- what about the structures, the structural integrity of the homes and the buildings in Macon.

HAWKINS: What we're asking everyone to do is if they have concerns about their homes or where they're staying, we've partnered with the American Red Cross, and we've opened up a shelter at one of our newest recreation centers. And we've asked everybody if they don't feel comfortable in their homes, to head to that recreation center. And we've had -- we've got about 25 or 30 folks who have sought shelter there to stay safe.

LEMON: All right. Spencer Hawkins, thank you very much from the Macon Georgia Emergency Management. We appreciate you calling in this evening. And we know it's a very busy -- it's a rough time there.

HAWKINS: You're welcome. Thank you.

LEMON: Absolutely. To help those who are impacted by Hurricane Michael, make sure you go to CNN.com/impact. So while Hurricane Michael wreaks havoc tonight, the President is pumping up voters at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. And there are questions about whether that is the right thing to do right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:35:00] LEMON: OK. So our breaking news tonight, of course, Hurricane Michael now slamming Georgia, 90-mile-an-hour winds and rain, this is just hours after it made landfall in the Florida panhandle as a devastating category 4 storm. So while millions of Americans were impacted by this storm, a thousand miles away, President Trump held a campaign rally.

And while he did mention the people in the storm zone, he also didn't hold back from slamming his usual targets from the Democrats to the media. So let's discuss now. Frank Bruni is here and Alice Stewart, also Olivia Nuzzi, who is a Washington Correspondent for New York Magazine and its new intelligence (Inaudible), which launched today. Congratulations for that, by the way.

So thank you all for joining us. So Frank, you know, what do you think of the President, the timing of this rally? Did he not want to disappoint his crowd of fans there? Is that what happened?

FRANK BRUNI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think he wanted to disappoint his crowd of fans. And I don't think he wanted to disappoint Donald Trump. This is what he enjoys doing, these rallies. You know it's a gamble. But if the federal response to this storm goes well, if there aren't a lot of questions on the morning after about whether there were enough resources, whether there was enough coordination, then I don't think he's going to pay too much of a price for this.

But the gamble is if there are questions about the federal government's response to this, and then you have footage of Donald Trump spending his evening at a rally talking about how wonderful he is and lighting into his enemies, that's not good.

LEMON: Yeah. Let's hope the response is good.

BRUNI: Yeah, because we want people to be safe.

LEMON: Alice, OK. So back in 2012, the aftermath of Sandy, here's what President Trump tweeted. He said, yesterday Obama campaigned with Jay-Z and Springsteen while Hurricane Sandy victims across New York and New Jersey are still decimated by Sandy, wrong. So that was days after Sandy hit the tri-state area.

And President Obama wasn't campaigning the same day Sandy made landfall. Another example of hypocrisy, you think?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, that goes into another file that under -- there's always a tweet with regard to Donald Trump. And we're always going to see that. But the reality is we all know that these rallies are planned days and weeks in advance, just like tonight was. And it's important to note that, look, he has FEMA fully engaged in making sure that the people of Florida and now Georgia and throughout the path of Hurricane Michael, engaged in making sure that the proper response is there, and making sure the proper federal resources are available and communicating with the governors in all the affected states.

And part of what he said tonight was we want to make sure the people of Florida know that the prayers of people across the country and in Pennsylvania tonight are with the people in the path of the storm. And once the storm settles and it's safe for him to go and he's not interrupting with the rescue and recovery efforts, then he will go there. I am sure, and let them know that federal help is on the way. And I think it's -- you know, it's not...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: My question, though, was, was it another example of hypocrisy.

[22:40:02] STEWART: It is another example of -- with Donald Trump. There is always a tweet that contradicts what he's doing on the ground right now. And that's not going to change, because he was Donald Trump before he was President Trump, and this is no exception. But I think he did the right thing by focusing on the mission ahead with regard to midterms are just a few weeks away. And when it's time for him to address people personally in Florida, he'll do so.

LEMON: All right. I will take that as a yes, then. So listen, Olivia, the President took a bizarre dig at the MeToo movement during his rally tonight. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pennsylvania hasn't been won for many years by Republicans. But every Republican thinks they're going to win Pennsylvania. They didn't quite get it, but I got it. It's called the workers. I got it. Every Republican -- I use an expression. You know there's an expression. But under the rules of MeToo, I am not allowed to use that expression anymore.

I can't do it. It's the person that got away. So in the old days, it was a little different. Pennsylvania -- he says do it anyway. I would do it except for these people up there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I am sure people, especially people who have been affected by the MeToo movement, are they thinking -- have you no shame, Olivia?

OLIVIA NUZZI, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Well, they may be thinking it, but it's certainly nothing new. It's not as though Donald Trump has not spoken this way before. I think that's probably one of the least offensive things that he has said on this topic, even over the last few weeks. And I think it's probably very difficult for anyone to be surprised at this point when he is not particularly sensitive, even on a topic like this.

LEMON: The President insisting -- a similar question to what I asked Alice, Frank, the President insisting on having a rally tonight. It's got to show how he is. And Alice mentioned that that's the task at hand. How concerned he is about the midterms. I mean, you know, he has Air Force One. He has everything at his disposal. He could have postponed it but...

BRUNI: He could have postponed it, but I think you're really wise to bring up the midterms. Everything -- we're really, really close, you know? It's well under a month. These midterms are enormously consequential. Everything we see him do and say, his behavior -- with Olivia and her tremendously great article...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: We're going to talk about that in a moment.

BRUNI: Yeah. The whole show -- everything he's doing now is with the midterms in mind. Yes, so his desire to stay the course of that rally absolutely reflects that. But the question is, again, if the federal response doesn't go perfectly, if there are big flaws with it, he may with that rally have done himself great damage in the midterms, so it remains a gamble.

LEMON: Yeah.

STEWART: But he was able to check three important boxes tonight. He was able to attack Casey. He was able to show support for the coal industry, which is important in Pennsylvania, and offer condolences and support for people of Florida. So at the end of the day, he was able to check all the boxes of what needed to be done. But Frank's got a great point. If things don't go well in Florida, then there will be many questions.

BRUNI: But Alice, what about the box of his profound derision for the MeToo movement. I mean that just seems to me completely gratuitous. And you can, in given situations, in the discrepancy between Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford. You can say in this case I am worried about the presumption of innocence. In this case, I am worried about the absence of corroborating witnesses.

You can do that without showing the gratuitous and profound derision for the MeToo movement and for the women that have come forward that he shows. That's offensive. That's another box he checked tonight. And why is he doing that as a storm is...

LEMON: Well, speaking of that, I want to talk about this. This is an amazing find. Presidential historian, Michael Beschloss, dug up some tape. It's of President Lyndon Johnson talking about protesters in the civil rights and anti- war movement. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNDON B. JOHNSON (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: They marched here, and we arrested 600 of them. And we gave 29 of them pretty tough times. We found most of them really were mentally diseased. We talk too damn much about civil liberties and constitutional rights of the individual and not about the rest of the masses. I think we're more in danger if these left-wing influences than we've ever been in 37 years I've been here. And they're working in my party from within.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The only thing I didn't hear there, Alice, was left-wing mob.

STEWART: Yeah. Look, I mean certainly little different times but similar circumstances. And, look, I know that we don't like to -- for people to say the mob mentality, which has happened. But like I said, when you combine chasing U.S. senators and press secretaries out of restaurants from their private time, banging on Supreme Court doors, and chasing senators in elevators while they're doing their job, it is a mob-like mentality, like it or not.

[22:44:59] And it's completely different than tea parties who are at their rallies, at a protest, and people are covering a protest. It's a completely different situation. And if we continue down this road, I don't think it's a good way for us to move forward. There are peaceful protests. And there is the mob-like mentality, and I think the lines are being blurred.

LEMON: I have already said how I feel about this. So Olivia, I will let you jump in.

NUZZI: Yeah. Look, I think Alice is making a point about people who are maybe a danger to public officials. And that's very different than people who are protesting. And I think it's just important to note that these are people who are in public office or they are lifetime appointees to the Supreme Court. They answer to the public. They answer to the press.

And I don't think that we should conflate people who are perhaps a danger to anybody with people who are protesting and yelling. You know yelling is not exactly going to harm somebody in public office.

LEMON: Yeah, OK. Stick around, everyone, because, you know, Frank read ahead in the notebook, in the textbook here. Olivia Nuzzi has a great article out tonight about her completely unexpected meeting with the President and his most senior staff in the Oval Office. And you're going to want to hear it. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:50:00] LEMON: At this hour, Hurricane Michael rapidly moving inland, slamming Georgia with high winds, heavy rain, just hours after it made landfall on the Florida panhandle as a very strong category four storm. And while the administration and millions of Americans were preparing for the storm yesterday, a reporter looking into how the Chief of Staff, John Kelly, has survived in the White House was treated to an unexpected interview with the President, the Vice President, the Chief of Staff, and the Secretary of State.

It is quite a story. You can't call it a trifecta because there are four, (Inaudible) four-fecta, whatever you call it. Back with me now, Frank Bruni, Alice Stewart, Olivia Nuzzi. Olivia Nuzzi -- she's actually -- I don't know why I call Nunzi all the time, Olivia Nuzzi.

NUZZI: That's fine.

LEMON: I'm sure people do it all the time. She's a reporter who got a private Oval Office press conference. And she writes about it in New York Magazine's new intelligence (Inaudible) site. So Olivia, just tell us about it. So you called this meeting a private Oval Office press conference. So -- and it's a wild read. Tell us about it.

NUZZI: Well, it was not planned. I don't really know what to call it. That was the best thing that I could come up with. But I had been in the White House yesterday morning for a series of meetings and interviews for the story I was working on about Chief of Staff John Kelly. And right as I was leaving, I saw I had a missed phone call, and it was from Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

She asked me to come back into the White House. And quite unexpectedly, she brought me back into the Oval Office where I was met by the President. And he wanted to tell me I think he said a few things before I wrote my story. And it just sort of unfurled from there where it was a series of very senior government officials coming in kind of one after the other. And it felt frankly ridiculous after a while.

LEMON: Were you thinking, is this really happening right now?

NUZZI: You know I was on no sleep at all, and I hadn't had coffee. And I just kept thinking like what is happening?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Why do you think you were called back in? Do you think you were called back in because they wanted to squash rumors about chaos?

NUZZI: I suppose. I mean that is what the President kept saying. He said look around here in this room. Do you see any chaos? I am paraphrasing. But he was trying to make it seem like, as he calls it, a well-oiled machine. It seemed like they were very concerned about there being yet another story perpetuating what have been these fairly persistent rumors about the President's relationship with different members of his staff, and especially John Kelly since he joined the administration last July.

LEMON: Didn't they give you a list? And why did they go to such lengths to insist that everything is going well and to make sure that you pointed out, these are the accomplishments.

NUZZI: Well, clearly, because things are going very well, Don. No, I don't know. The President is very obsessed with his media coverage, as we all know. He watches networks like CNN, FOX all the time. He tracks pretty closely negative stories about his administration. And I think that they saw enough what they thought was an opportunity to influence a story in a way that they thought would be beneficial.

STEWART: Don?

LEMON: Go ahead, Alice.

STEWART: If I can say a couple things. First of all, if you read any of Olivia's work and you look at all of her writing. You see this is a heck of a smart woman. She's a heck of a talented writer. And then you see her...

LEMON: Well, she's not done yet.

(CROSSTALK)

NUZZI: There's going to be a but.

STEWART: It's not a shock that she can draw a crowd in the White House. Look, I was at dinner tonight, and I happened to look across the room. And I see one of the people in her piece. And so I walked over to him and say I am on Don's show tonight with Olivia. And what's your response to the article? And he said well, I can't say who this was but he was there in the room.

And first of all, he wanted to say this is a good example of how the White House is accessible and wants to tout the record on the accomplishments of jobs and the economy, and certainly the Supreme Court. And he said make sure you tell Olivia that this was a very fair piece. They were pleased with how it came out, because it was virtually, the piece was like you live blogging.

And they were an appreciative that you gave them the opportunity and you told the story fairly and you presented it as it was presented to you. And they say this is a classic case of what fake news is not. And so they wanted to say that they appreciated the opportunity that you gave them to tell the story. And I think you did a great job.

[22:55:05] It was a great piece. And as someone who loves journalism, it was great to see you, funny thing happened on the way to leaving the White House. And it was a great read. And I hope everyone gets a chance to read it.

LEMON: All right. Well, thank you and good night, everyone.

NUZZI: Wait. Alice, who said that, I have got to know.

STEWART: I cannot reveal my sources.

LEMON: Cannot reveal -- you...

(CROSSTALK)

NUZZI: Don't let her out of this building, Don, until she tells me who said that.

LEMON: I will let you two fight it out. I will give you the last word, Frank. What did you think of the article? I mean it was -- someone texted me not so long ago, somebody said that article is all kinds of crazy. I said crazy good or crazy bad. He said crazy good. I loved it.

BRUNI: Crazy riveting...

(CROSSTALK)

BRUNI: I tip my hat to Olivia. It's a great piece. It's a rollicking read. And as was mentioned before, one of the take aways is Donald Trump, he says fake news. He pretends he hates us.

LEMON: He loves the media.

BRUNI: He cares so much. And one of the things that Olivia really conveyed well in that was he wants her to like him. That comes across so strongly. He cares about her opinion. And so when he tells everybody he has no respect for us, that's garbage.

LEMON: Yeah. The guy you see on stage is an actor. Because I remember when, you know when I was interviewing him during the run up to the election. I would interview him, and then I would see this person on television and I would say who is that person?

BRUNI: Not the one who was trying to charm you moments ago.

LEMON: Yeah, right. Thank you, all. Congratulations, Olivia, Alice, wow. Thank you and good night.

STEWART: Hats off to Olivia.

NUZZI: Thank you. This is the best segment ever, Don. Thank you. (CROSSTALK)

NUZZI: Everyone compliments me. I love it.

LEMON: Happens every night here. We -- I have got to run, though. We've got a brand new forecast for Hurricane Michael coming up right at the top of the hour. Make sure you stay with us to find out what's next for this monster storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)