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Don Lemon Tonight

CNN Sources Say Saudis Are Preparing A Report That Will Say Khashoggi Died In An Interrogation Gone Wrong; Hillary Clinton Claims President Clinton's Affair With Monica Lewinsky Wasn't Abuse Of Power; Warren DNA Test Shows Native American Ancestry; Neck-And-Neck Allegations of Voter Suppression in Georgia Race for Governor; Trump Hangs Painting with GOP Presidents in White House. Aired 11-12a ET

Aired October 15, 2018 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for joining us. After threatening severe punishment against Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. President Trump now seems to fully accept the Saudis denials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With that being said, the king firmly denied any knowledge of it. He didn't really know, maybe, I don't want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe this could have been rogue killers. Who knows? We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon. But his was a flat denial.

They deny it. They deny it every way you can imagine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The Saudis insisted that Khashoggi left the consulate alive soon after arriving without providing any evidence to support that claim, but now they seem to be changing their story. Sources are telling CNN the Saudis are preparing a report acknowledging the death of "The Washington Post" columnist and claiming it was the result of an interrogation gone wrong and yet President Trump took a significant point of leverage off the table saying he won't cancel on multibillion-dollar arm sell to Saudi Arabia.

So, if the Saudis admit in a limited role in what happened to Jamal Khashoggi, the question is, what will President Trump do about it? What will he do about it? David Rhode, Samantha Vinograd, Robert Baer, all here to discuss.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us. So, David, now the Saudis say that is was an accident. Are we really supposed to believe this new explanation?

DAVID ROHDE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: No, I mean, I don't believe it, but I think it's an easy out for the Saudis and for the President. We'll let him go forward with this arm's deal. You know, I think this is actually a terrible message in the Middle East.

This may sound extreme, but jihadist talk about this all the time. All the U.S. and the West cares about is Saudi money and Saudi oil. We talk about the rule of law. We talk about holding people accountable in justice, and this, you know, they will get a pass. I guarantee you they will be blamed on rogue killers and this again, will help this whole effort of demonizing the U.S. and demonizing the Saudis. It is just hypocritical in our part.

LEMON: Everyone expression, when I read the story and I read the story and I play the soundbite of the President, every single person who is sitting next to me who has been on the show, they do the same thing.

It's really kind of --

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Which is so implausible. It is implausible, because anybody that is been to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it's not really a roguish place. They have the third highest rate of capital punishment and they execute people for any number of crimes. There is no free speech. There is no free media. To the idea there would be some kind of rogue operation.

[23:05:00] But in the intelligence services which by the way, report to the king and crown prince is completely implausible. And so you just have to ask yourself, is the story now that the crown prince is saying that he was either incepted his job and did he not know what happened? Did he condone it and in the two weeks it happened didn't know what the answer was and didn't get another briefing, or he just doesn't care and thinks the world is going to roll over in this respect, and for all those reasons, Don, it's just completely implausible.

LEMON: I have one more question for Sam, since we're on this. If they are preparing thing report, does that mean there is concrete evidence somewhere or would they ever just out right admit that he was killed?

VINOGRAD: I think that we heard an inkling of that in what the President said this morning about rogue killers. That was a change. But Don, what about our intelligence? Why are we relying on the Saudis or the Turks, to find out what happened? We have significant intelligence assets, and before the President got on the phone this morning, typically you would have an intelligence briefing laying out what we actually know to be true.

LEMON: Yes, Bob. Talk to us about that. I mean, that is good question for you. What about our intelligence?

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, our intelligence on Saudi Arabia is awful, Don, frankly. We don't know what goes on in the royal family. We don't have an ambassador in Riyadh. We got intercepts, we intercepted calls between Saudi Arabia and Jamal saying why don't you come home? We are trying to lure him home. So, we know that much. But really it's the Turkish tapes that are going to tell us what really happened. Did they set upon him and beat him to death on purpose? I mean, frankly, I have a hard time believing that you would send a rendition team of 15 people, two airplanes and then interrogate him in the consulate. Very well you could have brought him home and done it there. That doesn't make sense.

LEMON: Let me ask you about that. Because the 15 Saudi men including a forensic expert, arrive in Istanbul the day that Khashoggi went missing. Sources are telling "The New York Times" that they brought a bone saw bob with them. If they just wanted to interrogate him, why would they need a bone saw and a forensic expert?

BAER: Well, exactly. I think they intended to kill him and I think we have to look at this is a message to the Saudi people. You know, we can get you anywhere, if you open your mouth, we'll kill you. We will do it in NATO country. We don't care if you work for the "the Washington Post" or not. Nobody is immune. I mean, what is next. If we don't go after the Saudis now they will start getting journalists in Washington D.C. and New York and everywhere.

What is going to stop them if we could have pass? I absolutely agree, this is not a rogue operation. It came out of Mohammad Bin Salman's office. He himself authorized it. He is a despot, he controls that country from A to Z. He is responsible. But this President is going to give him a pass and that is our ally in the Middle East, it doesn't make sense.

LEMON: To that comment, David, we're told these men had high level connections to the Saudi government. Is it possible that something like this could happen without the crown prince knowing it? The Saudi king or crown prince knowing?

ROHDE: I agree that there is no way. They definitely knew it and I think it was a message. I agree and this is, you know, how you intimidate people, this is how you are going to run Saudi Arabia and I think it will continue if they get the pass from the Trump administration which I suspect this will go on and on and will further these kind of brutal acts of by despots. And it will encourage others. It will encourage Putin, You know, Maduro in Venezuela, the rule of law murdering people, doesn't matter. I hate to say this, but if you're winning and, you know, people die in the process, you know, what matters is that you're winning.

LEMON: Sam, this President also believed Putin's denial about election interference and he also believed what Kim Jong-un said about nukes, right? Discontinuing nukes. And his regime's brutality. He believed that. What does it say about the President and his world of view?

VINOGRAD: It says that when the President hears somebody flatter him and tell him something that he wants to hear, he repeats it. The President today was a mouth piece for the king of Saudi Arabia. The readout that he gave of the call is what the King Salman said to him. What we did not hear from the President Don, is what he said to the king. What he said about how important human rights are to the United States and how important it is to have a credible investigation. None of that was mentioned, but the difference here is, to your point,

David, if the President doesn't act, Congress still can. The global Magnitsky act investigation was already triggered. Congress can block armed sells while the President may respond, there is bipartisan consensus that this won't go unpunished and as with the case in Russia, remember?

LEMON: Yes. He said severe punishment, the President did, but said he wouldn't rule out the arm sells. So, what kind of message David, does this send to the rest of the world?

ROHDE: It's a free for all. It is, you know, whoever is the boldest, the strongest or the most brutal can win. I do think there is a chance for, you know, Republicans in Congress to stand up. You heard that from Marco Rubio this weekend. And, you know, we'll see. I just fear that this sort of leads to chaos.

[23:10:00] I mean, it's a murder here. A trade war there. You know, he is defying all these norms, but it will emboldened people to just try more and more risky things.

LEMON: So, I want to ask you Bob, this is a statement from the family what they are calling for is an independent investigation. They talk about how much they are suffering and they want to be with each other at these times, but what are the chances of an independent investigation, an international one as they say?

BAER: Right now, I don't see it. You know, here is the problem at the end of the day. Saudi Arabia owns about one-third of the world's oil reserves. And we're loathed to take them on. They have already come back with a threat saying if you come after us, they are essentially saying we'll shut down the oil. Oil hits $250 a barrel. This President loses Congress. Loses the election and the rest of it, you know, I hate to use this pun, but they have us over a barrel, they really do and it's always been this way. In the 9/11 investigation, there were a lot of people that could have been indicted in Saudi Arabia and they weren't even interviewed by the FBI. This happens over and over again and didn't start with Trump.

LEMON: Thank you all. I appreciate your time. Hillary Clinton had some pretty tone deaf things to say about Monica Lewinsky over the weekend. Is she doing more harm than good to her party?

[23:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hillary Clinton hitting back at criticism over of her husband President Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky claiming their relationship was not an abuse of power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In retrospect do you think Bill should have resigned in the wake of Monica Lewinsky scandal?

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Absolutely not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't an abuse of power?

CLINTON: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people who look at the incidents of the '90s and they say the President of the United States cannot have a consensual relationship with an intern. The power imbalance is too big.

CLINTON: She was an adult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Let's discuss now. David Swerdlick, Hilary Rosen and Scott Jennings are all here. Good evening.

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey, Don.

LEMON: David, just to be clear, we're talking about a relationship between a 22-year-old who was an intern and the President of the United States, so her comments from Sunday are coming across to some people as incredibly tone deaf. Could that end up hurting the Democrats, those comments?

SWERDLICK: Yes, tone deaf to put it mildly. Look, Monica Lewinsky was an adult, a young adult, but beyond that point, there was obviously a power imbalance between the President, a sitting President of the United States and an intern for Secretary Clinton to sort of gloss over that, I think is either wishful or willful or something, but it's clearly not being straight with the interviewer or with her audience, and then finally, look, she is entitled to say he shouldn't have resigned.

It's someone she is aligned with politically and her husband, but that doesn't change the facts of what happened and doesn't change the facts that many Democrats now are looking back on those times and saying yes, we cut Bill Clinton a little bit too much slack or maybe even way too much slack in terms of some of those issues. That is the reality.

LEMON: All right, Hilary, I just want to play you the rest of Clinton's response to that line of questioning. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: She was an adult, but let me ask you this, where is the investigation of the current incumbent against whom numerous allegations had been made in which he dismisses, denies and ridicules?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Hillary, I mean, we, you know, when a Trump person does that or if Trump does that, we say, what about-ism, it is deflection. Is that a fair point, is she deflecting here?

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Sure she is deflecting and it's a fair point. Look, you know, I've defended Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I think she is wrong on this. Of course, it was an abuse of power, but it wasn't her abuse of power, it was her husband's. And I think the day should be long gone where Hillary Clinton is responsible for her husband's behavior. They are married. She loves him. They, you know, have put this in their past.

LEMON: Hillary that said, she doesn't have to respond in a way that is supportive. She could say --

ROSEN: She doesn't and it's a wrong response. And I agree with you. She should have said that was a mistake. He has said it was a mistake and you know, it went horribly wrong. That is what she should have said and she didn't. This is her blind spot.

LEMON: And now Hilary, we are talking about Hillary Clinton instead of the midterms.

ROSEN: We'd be talking about her no matter what. By the way, I think America and particularly American women have resolved their issue around the fact that Hillary Clinton has forgiven her husband and that the country has moved on. So, I don't think this has any impact on the election. I think there are a lot of candidates across the country who still want Hillary Clinton to come and campaign for them and she still has a lot of things to say, but indeed, this is a blind spot that people --

LEMON: Even in this #metoo moment. Do you think people across the country want her after that comment to campaign for them?

ROSEN: Well, I actually know that they do and that she is doing a lot of campaign appearances. Look, this is 2018. It is different than it was in those years. Things would not be the same were that the case as they are not the same for other people. But Bill Clinton is running for nothing. Hillary Clinton is running for nothing and it's a fair point to say people who still expect to have the public trust, who still want to run things and who still want to make policy are accountable today. That is a fair thing to say.

LEMON: All right. So Scott, I know you're sitting there you are probably thinking Hillary, keep talking.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, you know, I think Hillary and David had made some excellent points. I find Hillary Clinton's emerging in October interesting. It is not just this comment, you know, the comment she made the other day about you can't be civil with a political party that is trying to do whatever.

[23:20:02] I just -- I feel like her inserting herself into the conversation is going to make its way into some Republican campaign advertising in the last two or three weeks. Maybe not in the congressional districts that she carried in 2016, but in somebody's big red rural states with their Senate races going on, may be even in some and state legislative, gubernatorial campaigns out there, I can see them using Hillary's most recent comments in their advertising to remind voters, you rejected her in '16.

ROSEN: Because they are also pro-women. They are all running in a pro-women thing. Come on. Really? Don't you think they have enough ammunition in what they are already doing, abusing women with the Kavanaugh stuff and all of that? Come on. They are not going to start on this. That is crazy.

JENNINGS: Well, I'm probably more qualified to tell you what a Republican campaign might do than you are and I would just tell you that Hillary Clinton is a powerful surrogate for reminding people what they rejected in 2016. But I would add one thing to this Hillary Clinton conversation, Don. And that is, I do think it's dangerous when we try to crawl inside someone else's marriage and pretend to know what is going on between two people.

I wondered this about the Clintons for years. And you know, some of the people on this panel I am sure are married, I'm married. And I just --when you try to crawl inside this and figure out how they answer questions and live in the public eye --

LEMON: Listen, I think most people will agree with you, whatever works for you in your marriage, that is your business, but this wasn't a marriage question or this wasn't about their marriage. This was about whether it was an abuse of power, something that her husband admitted to or whether that was an abuse of power. I think most people would agree with that.

Let's move on now. I want to talk now about this is the theater of the absurd I like to call it. Senator Elizabeth Warren releasing the results of a DNA test that shows that she does have some form of Native American lineage. Here is what president said about that earlier this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Warren released DNA results that show a strong likelihood she does have Native American roots.

TRUMP: How much? 1/1,000?

No. She owes the country an apology.

What is her percentage? 1/1000?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have the exact percentage.

TRUMP: When you have the percentage, tell me what to say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the money that you told her you would --

TRUMP: You mean -- if she gets the nomination in a debate where I'll have her tested. I'll only do it if I can tested personally. OK, that would not be something I enjoy doing it, either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Test her personally? Is he a geneticist now? David?

SWERDLICK: Look, Don, I think this issue which we would be dealing with now as the Presidential campaign is basically starting for a while is crap, honestly. OK? Senator Warren faced these accusations in her first Senate race against Scott Brown. The President, the President of the United States brings up the insult Pocahontas on a regular basis. He brought it up at an event in the (inaudible) east room of the White House.

LEMON: I remember that.

SWERDLICK: OK. So people on the right who say that Warren is, you know, only somewhere between 164th and 1/1000 American Indian. She took this test as a response to all of the feedback she is getting from President Trump and from others in the Republican Party. That is number one. Number two is she has never -- you know, someone at some point, someone is going to come on Twitter right now and say the Cherokee nation said that she has no right to triable citizenship. Guess what? She never claimed she had a right to tribal citizenship.

She said that this is her family history. I think this is smart politics to get this out of the way now to address it, and look, President Trump is going to be the frontrunner in 2020. Democrats are kidding themselves if they think Trump is going to be an easy out, but Senator Warren looks like the first person who is out here doing the thing she needs to do to take him on for a real way.

LEMON: So, Hilary, let me ask you then, was it smart of Warren to do this, it so close to the midterms? Do you think it could end up being more of a distraction than anything else? Could she wait until after the midterms? Does she even need to do it?

ROSEN: Well, I think she could have waited till after the midterms. You know, but I don't think anybody cares. What I do think people care about, I don't think anybody cares if Elizabeth Warren has Native American heritage. What I think people do care about is that the reason that this issue is even a discussion on television is because of President Trump's consistent racist sexist treatment of her. The way he says, calls her Pocahontas.

He is not being a friendly guy, he is not just wondering really who her ancestors are. He is using it to try to diminish her, to insult her and belittle her and, you know, that is clear to everybody. So I think that really is the issue here, not whether or not Elizabeth Warren feels like for other reasons she needs to prove her heritage.

[23:25:13] LEMON: Listen, maybe people who are not partisan, maybe they don't care. Republicans care. Trump supporters care. If you listen or watch conservative media, they certainly care, because they are using and Scott I'm sure will agree, a lot of people care.

ROSEN: They only care as an insult. They don't really care about the issue.

LEMON: I am not saying, but a reason they do.

ROSEN: Republicans haven't done anything to help Native Americans. I mean the tribes are suffering on every level and in fact we have Supreme Court cases where the conservative justices are screwing them over. They don't care. They only care as a way to insult her.

LEMON: That is a much more constructive conversation. OK, listen. Scott, I can't get you in because we got to run. I want you to come back and talk about something else. You guys stick around.

There is a major fight brewing in Georgia, Democratic candidate for governor accusing her opponent of voter suppression and he is hitting back. Plus, it is a painting everyone is talking about. What it says about the President that he hung this one up in the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're back now with David, Hilary, and Scott. We're going to talk about allegations of voter suppression in Georgia where two candidates are locked in a neck-and-neck for governor. Election day is in three weeks but today is the first day of early voting in that state and a lot of Georgians are anxious to make sure their votes count. So, let's all take a look at what CNN's Kaylee Hartung found out there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the first day of early voting in Georgia, these phones keep ringing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Voter Protection Hotline (ph), how may I help you?

KIKI WILSON, VOLUNTEER, VOTER PROTECTION HOTLINE: Today for the first time we've had some elevated anxiety about, can you make check and make sure I'm registered?

HARTUNG: Kiki Wilson is a self-described blue blood Democrat, but she says her work for the last six weeks as a volunteer at the Georgia Democratic Party's Voter Protection Hotline has not been partisan.

WILSON: We just want people who want to vote to vote. I think people really have decided I'm going to vote, I'm not going to let the system get me down.

HARTUNG: But there is skepticism about the integrity of the voting system in Georgia.

STACEY ABRAMS, GEORGIA CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR: The miasma of fear that is created through voter suppression is as much about terrifying people about trying to vote as it is about actually blocking their ability to do so.

HARTUNG: Tensions are red hot in the race for Georgia's top job. Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate, is accusing her opponent, Republican Brian Kemp, of voter suppression.

BRIAN KEMP, GEORGIA CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR: That's a smoke screen trying to hide her radical views. HARTUNG: As Georgia's secretary of state, Kemp is in charge of voter registration for statewide elections including his own. Abrams is calling for him to resign that positin and is being sued by a coalition of civil rights groups. According to the lawsuit filed Thursday, more than 50,000 voter registration applications are on hold.

The problem, they didn't meet the standard of a voter verification law known as exact match. The error could be as simple as a missing hyphen or a typo. And because of problems in the database, sometimes the applicant isn't even at fault. Some 80 percent of the people in limbo are minorities, civil rights groups say.

Emory University professor of political science Andra Gillespie explains why.

ANDRA GILLESPIE, PROFESSOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE: This could potentially affect people who have more culturally unusual names in the United States, people who have unusual spellings of names. These people tend to disproportionately be people of color.

HARTUNG: Kemp says Abrams' claims are a manufactured crisis to turn out her base, and he assures all voters, their votes will count.

KEMP: Those votes that are on the pending list, all they have to do is go to the polls, show their photo I.D., and they can vote.

HARTUNG: Kemp addressing and batting down the accusations head on. But when Georgia Senator David Perdue was asked about the controversy while campaigning for Kemp over the weekend, things got touchy, so to speak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, how can you endorse a candidate?

SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R), GEORGIA: No, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You stole my property. You stole my property.

PERDUE: No, you wanted a picture?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give my phone back, senator.

PERDUE: You wanted a picture, I'm going to give it to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me my phone back, senator.

PERDUE: U.S. Senator David Perdue.

HARTUNG: Perdue's office says he thought he was being asked to take a selfie. Since the news broke, thousands of voters could be challenged to cast their votes. The Voter Protection Hotline has received more than 2,000 calls. The volunteers continue to problem solve.

WILSON: I have grandsons calling for their grandmothers. I have parents calling for their parents. So everybody seems to be helping each other out, but I think people are waking up to the fact that if they don't vote, they really can't say anything about the result.

HARTUNG: Even if you're on the pending list, Professor Gillespie says, go vote.

GILLESPIE: What I would encourage people to do is to take Secretary Kemp at his word in this case. So if somebody knows that they are on the pending list and they can take their voter I.D. and try to correct the situation on the spot, if they encounter problems there.

HARTUNG: Not everyone on the pending list is aware. Check the state's database to ensure your voter registration status or call the voter protection hotline. And if you have trouble at the polls, a provisional ballot will allow you to cast a ballot in person even if all the requirements for doing so cannot be met at the time, then you'll have more time to sort it out.

Kaylee Hartung, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Kaylee, thank you very much for that. David Swerdlick, Hilary Rosen and Scott Jennings, I want to hear from you what you think right after this break.

[23:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So first day of early voting in Georgia met allegations of voter suppression. The race for governor in that state neck-and-neck, really. Back with me, David Swerdlick, Hilary Rosen, and Scott Jennings.

So Scott, these 50,000 plus voter registrations that are on hold now for things as missing hyphen, having a typo, do you support rules like that?

JENNINGS: Well, I support two things. I support voters being able to vote and I support following the laws of a state. I think it sounds like in some cases people are being unnecessarily held up but it also sounds like from what I have been able to tell from listening to the secretary of state who is also the candidate for governor, that anyone who is a legal voter in Georgia can show up and vote.

[23:40:04] So if I had a message for people in Georgia who aren't quite sure what their status is, it will be just show up and vote. They will sort it out later because I don't think anyone should be kept away from the polls based on a typo. I'm pro-voter engagement. I think if people are legal residents and citizens of a state, they will be able to participate in the election.

LEMON: That sounds weird. As you were saying, that sounds weird coming out of your mouth, you said the secretary of state is also running for governor because basically he's in charge of the campaign? Don't you think that's a little odd? JENNINGS: You know, it happened in other states where you have these down ticket constitutional offices become stepping stones for higher offices. I think it does cloud this issue that the chief election official is also a candidate in the race that is in question here.

I don't necessarily think he should resign because I don't think it's been shown that he has done anything wrong, but I think he has to be extra careful not to make it look like there is a conflict of interest.

LEMON: All right. Your thoughts now, Hilary, because some 80 percent of the people in limbo are minorities. So, do you think that's intentional?

ROSEN: People in power don't like to give up their power. And we have seen this time and time again. Stacey Abrams has been registering minority voters in Georgia for years and all of a sudden, she is close to getting the governorship.

And, you know, the white Republicans in Georgia don't want her to win. And, you know, people can go on and on about their -- you know, how they want them to go to the polls and they want them to vote but they don't because if they really wanted them to, they wouldn't have thrown out this number and this scare (ph).

We're seeing this in North Dakota with native Americans. We've seen it in Wisconsin and Milwaukee around people of color. This is pure and simple a power play by Republican governors who don't want to let go of control.

LEMON: I think the best question we got is from David because you pose this question. Why are we even purging voter rolls to begin with? What's the answer?

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, exactly. Look, I go back to what Scott said. The only way for voters in this election to address it is to go vote and sort it out later. But if you have the candidate for governor is the person in charge of sorting it out later, how much trust do people have in the process?

If there was a huge problem in this country with voter suppression, I think you'd have a better argument, Don, for doing a purge of voter rolls or closer scan of voter rolls but there are lots of studies out there.

The Brennan Center 2017 study comes to mind but there are others that say voter fraud is minimal in these national elections and yet, the Republican Party has pushed this and most people agree that, as Hilary said, they pushed it because low voter turnout particularly among communities of color and younger voters advantages Republicans in these elections.

You had Republican figures quoted or recorded on tape saying things to that effect in recent election cycles. So I think there is the issue of Georgia right now and then there is this bigger issue of, you know, Republicans on one have frequently say, why don't we get more traction with voters of color?

On the other hand, there is an answer which is as long as voters of color perceive, however true it is, perceive that the Republican Party is trying to keep them from voting, people are not going to trust the party.

LEMON: So, what do you guys think about this Voter Protection Hotline? What do you think of that? Who wants to go first? Nobody.

ROSEN: I mean, every little thing helps, right? There is no question about that. And so being told when you call, of course, they got 2,000 calls, but there are almost 60,000 people whose voter registrations are in question. So query whether that is really going to solve the problem.

But every little bit helps. If Secreatary Kemp in Georgia really believed what he says when he's interviewed by national television that he really wants everyone to go vote, he would make more of an effort in Georgia to make sure that people actually do go vote but he's not doing that.

LEMON: Yeah. He is saying bring your voter I.D. to the polls and then you can vote. I don't know if that's good enough. Listen, Scott, I have a short time here, really quickly, almost 60,000 people purged. That's not a bit suspicious to you?

JENNINGS: Well, there many states that have laws that deal with how you're supposed to keep the voter rolls clean. I'm against ruling people out over typos. I think legitimate taking people off does need to happen in some voter rolls but again I'm for anything that allows people to get to the polls.

I am glad he said what he said. I did notice there is an increase in early voting in Georgia which I think shows people are actually paying attention and they are exercising their rights which is what they should do.

LEMON: Thank you all. I appreciate it.

SWERDLICK: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Everybody is talking about this painting that is hanging in the White House. You got to hear the story behind this one. That's next.

[23:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: President Trump made headlines during his "60 Minutes" interview, but one image is getting a whole lot of attention. I want you to check out this -- look, we got inside the private residence. All right. Anything stand out to you? Take a good look. A little closer. There you go.

There is a painting on the wall of President Trump sitting at a table drinking and laughing with former Republican presidents like Lincoln, Nixon, Reagan and Eisenhower. They are drinking but it looks like Lincoln is a plain water kind of guy. The glass next to President Trump probably has his favorite drink which is Diet Coke, of course.

So, what is the deal with this piece of art? It's called "The Republican Club" and it was painted by Missouri-based artist Andy Thomas. It was apparently a gift to President Trump from California Congressman Darrell Issa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[23:50:00] ANDY THOMAS, PAINTED PICTURE OF TRUMP IN GOP PRESIDENTS' CLUB: I actually had gotten a call a couple weeks ago from President Trump and that was a real highlight. Darrell Issa was there and so was Vice President Pence. That was quite a treat. I didn't think he was going to call, but he said that he'd seen a lot of paintings and most of them he didn't like, but that he liked what I'd done. He was very -- he was very gracious and kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Thomas said some president had a natural smile. But according to him, Donald Trump and some others have more of a forced smile that doesn't look quite right in a painting. So, how did he paint Trump smile? Here's what the artist told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS: I always try to make the president's look as nice as I can. I want him to still look him, but I want to flatter him if I can. I want him to be happy. So, I looked for a good smile. President Trump was another challenge because he's -- even though he tans, he has a fair complexion and no deep recesses. And so, you know, he's a very subtle person to paint.

And the face I painted on there is actually the second face. The first one I painted I was happy with, but it wasn't a real -- it wasn't the smile we usually see. This is a challenge to paint. You know, he has different looks and different profiles. So, all I know is he said he liked what I'd done, and that made me feel great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, over the years, the artist has created four paintings featuring American presidents, two each of the political parties, I should say. So here's the Democrat one. It's called the Democrat Club. It features President Obama alongside other Democratic presidents.

Another thing you may notice in both paintings is the exact same subtle shadowing figure hovering in the background. You see, right in the background there? There you go. Who is she? The artist says she represents the first female president approaching the table as either the first female Republican president or the first female Democratic president. So there you go, mystery solved.

Let's get more mysteries solved now. It's so good to have you on. Jerry Saltz is here. He is a senior art critic of New York Magazine. It's so good to have you on.

JERRY SALTZ, SENIOR ART CRITIC, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Great to be on.

LEMON: Thank you. You won a Pulitzer just this year.

SALTZ: I did.

LEMON: So what do you think -- what was your initial impression of this?

SALTZ: Well, my first impression is I didn't even recognize it as Trump. He's shed about 40 pounds. He's got sort of a washboard chest I had no idea. The coat is not on, which usually covers everything. The hands are teeny, but that -- no. But then I thought it might be a dog's playing poker painting.

And then it kind of came into focus that it's a bunch of presidents and then I made out it's Lincoln, the Bushes, et cetera. It's a really good illustration but actually is not a painting that you're seeing. This is a print of the painting. The actual painting is still down in Missouri.

LEMON: Oh, so it's not. That's not the one that's --

SALTZ: No, it's in a little cheap frame, in the White House, is what makes it different here.

LEMON: Jerry, you got a lot out of that painting. I looked at it, and I said, where are the Democrats? And then I realized it was one for the Democrats and one for the --

SALTZ: He did do one.

LEMON: But listen, you can't fault him for that because he says he tries to make every -- he tries to make every president look good. Our promo pictures here are us at our bests, if you see journalists, reporters or hosts.

SALTZ: I get it. You're supposed to flatter when you're painting a portrait.

LEMON: Yes.

SALTZ: That's the job of a portrait painter. This is something we sort of call social realism. It's not uncommon in political painting. Stalin used a lot of it. But it's like old west painting, Norman Rockwell, Thomas Kinkade. On his own Web site --

LEMON: I didn't even think about Thomas Kinkade, but you're right.

SALTZ: Yeah, the artist called himself a -- he had a leave it to beaver like childhood in Carthage, Missouri.

LEMON: Right.

SALTZ: And I thought in a way that's what this particular painting represents, that kind of old very white male America. First, I thought it was Kamala Harris coming up. LEMON: OK. OK. So, you say that. It's funny because when I looked it and they said this was -- if I looked at it, I said it kind of looks like Kamala Harris. I mean it does, right? It's a shadowy figure, but it does look like her.

He said the president liked the painting so much that he called him to rave about it. Why do you think he liked it so much, because it's flattering or --

SALTZ: Well, he did --

LEMON: It's a power -- it shows -- it's kind of power. He's actually -- you can tell that he is -- I'm bringing the football to my mouth -- he is sort of the center, the focus, here. I'm not sure if you can tell on the Democratic.

SALTZ: The conversation seems to be the most interesting people at the table are Lincoln and Trump sharing something, and everyone else is reacting. Trump liked the picture of himself.

[23:55:00] He hangs it in the White House. It might have been nice for him to also hang the Democratic one. But it's just odd. I wonder what would have happened had Obama put the same painting in the White House of himself having a great dinner with the founding fathers and --

LEMON: Yeah.

SALTZ: I'm not sure. It's good for the artist. It is --

LEMON: Really good for the artist.

SALTZ: Yeah.

LEMON: Lets me tell you his name is Andy Thomas. He is a Missouri native as you said. He's clearly -- he was clearly thrilled to hear from the president and to have the president display his works. At the end of the day, it's a nice thing for the artist, and artists are often struggling, right?

SALTZ: It's a great thing for the artist. It's a tiny little crumb on what's going on now, and it's a fun little genre (ph) conversation piece moment.

LEMON: Yeah, maybe he can paint us.

SALTZ: That could be good.

LEMON: Because I could lose 10 or 15. Thank you very much, Jerry Saltz. Thank you.

SALTZ: Thank you for having me.

LEMON: Absolutely. Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues.

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