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Don Lemon Tonight

President Trump Blames Media And Opponents For Threatening Political Climate; Authorities Treating Bombs As Act of Domestic Terrorism; President Trump Points Finger, Accepts No Blame For Heated Political Rhetoric; President Trump Points Finger at Opponents and Media on Day When Bombs Sent to Public Officials and CNN. Aired 11-12a ET

Aired October 24, 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 HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much joining us here this evening. Just hours before President Trump held a campaign rally in Wisconsin, several people he regularly attacks became the targets of very real and dangerous threats.

Right now, a search is under way for a suspect or suspects who sent explosive devices to two former Presidents. A former Secretary of State, former Attorney General and a current member of Congress, a liberal activist, George Soros and right here the New York offices of CNN. The President took to the stage just a short time ago and addressed the multiple threats. Well, sort of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories. Have to do it. Have to do it.

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERS)

They've got to stop. Bring people together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Oh, my gosh. The media has a responsibility to bring people together? The media is supposed to report on you. That is not our responsibility. That is yours. And the most head turning moment came when the President said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Ok. This is the man who calls his opponents names. OK? He

comes up with names like crazy Bernie. Crooked Hillary. Pocahontas. He is a President who has mastered the art of the nasty nickname. Just two weeks ago, he said evil people tried to undermine Justice Kavanaugh's confirmation. When asked if the President might ratchet down the rhetoric, a White House official tells CNN, well, we're not a door mat.

This is where we are right now. I want to bring in CNN White House Correspondent, Boris Sanchez and also joining us is James Gagliano. He is a retired FBI supervisory special agent.

Gentlemen, good evening to both of you. Boris, I want to start with you for news on what's happening, the President talked about the multiple bombs at his rally tonight. What do you have to say?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, yes, President Trump -- excuse me, started out with a message of unity for his supporters saying that any act of political violence was an attack on democracy, but then he became somewhat vague and as you noted he didn't mentioned any of his usual targets on the stump. Those who were targets today of these attempted bombings at all during his rally.

He actually said at one point that he did not believe political opponents should label each other as morally defective which has you outline, he has done before. The President at one point actually asked his supporters if they liked that he was being nice. He didn't mention Hillary Clinton which is a staple at one of his rallies. He also didn't have any attacks on the press, though he did have a message for the media. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I want to begin tonight's rally by addressing the suspicion devices and packages that were mailed to current and former high ranking government officials. My highest duty, as you know, as President is to keep America safe. The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories.

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERS)

Have to do it. Have to do it. They've got to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: To be clear, the President said the media has a responsibility to set a civil tone, this is the same President who has often joked about physically assaulting protesters, who has joked about assaulting journalists, who has called some of his opponents evil, who is peddled in conspiracy theories and of course was called the press repeatedly the enemy of the American people. [23:05:00] LEMON: Yes. Obviously this is a man who doesn't

understand the role of the press and his role, as well. Boris, stand by. I want to bring in now James Gagliano. James, none of the bombs detonated. Authorities have a lot of evidence. What are they going to be looking for?

JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: So the good news is obviously first and foremost Don is that no one here at CNN or any of the places where these suspicious packages were mailed or delivered was hurt. The other part that is good, we now have fully formed packages or bombs that where somebody attempted to put together that we are now going to be able to disassemble. If there needs to be a controlled detonation, there will be. But most importantly now, investigators can take a look at the bomb makers' signature.

Bomb makers are subtle (ph) like bakers. Every baker has a particular way that they make their apple pie. Same thing with bombs. There's a signature there. How they crimping wires. What type of tape they use, the computer and style of the return addresses, all those things that human intelligence talking to people, we're in Manhattan right now. There's 13,000 or 14,000 cameras here. There will be digital exhausted, lawmakers will be able to go -- I'm sorry -- law enforcement professionals will be able to go and put together --

LEMON: Especially the ones that were delivered, they were hand delivered by courier. I have to ask you though, the question that people have been asking me, they didn't go off. They didn't go off. So was this intended to scare people or do you think the actual intent was to harm someone?

GAGLIANO: It doesn't matter when you're investigating I'm sure. We're assuming this is terrorism. The purpose of terrorism is to do what? It's violence or intimidation to stoke fear for political or social gain. The fact that they didn't go off, one of two things.

One, it wasn't a sophisticated enough bomb maker or someone who couldn't find the component parts, they couldn't get PTEN, they couldn't get the c4, the couldn't get the initiator like the blasting cap so they put something together to make it look and literally, I looked at those packages -- I talked to special agent bomb technicians today from the FBI down in Quantico, those packages screamed for attention, it was literally like somebody wanted you to know there was a bomb there.

LEMON: let us go to the x-ray images of it. Let's put up the x-ray images of them. Here they are. What does it tell you when you look at this?

GAGLIANO: OK. First of all, the package, right, so the packaging there, PVC pipe. They are using two types of casing for this. One is PVC pipe, they will stuff it with nails or other type of shrapnel's like nuts or bolts or they will use a cast iron pipe with the pipe itself, the package becomes the shrapnel. Four bomb components. There is a power supply, which typically a battery, there is an initiator, which is typically a blasting cap, there is shrapnel, in this instance it will be the things that are stuffed inside of it and fourth would be the switch. Was it electrical fuse, was it a trip wire or was it possibly a key fob or cell phone somebody was going to activate once the package had been delivered.

LEMON: It's been said these are crude devices. Just because they're crude it doesn't mean they're any less potent.

GAGLIANO: I was in Afghanistan. I saw what it looked like whether he an IED went off. Limbs get ripped off of people. The damage -- pipe bomb that size could have done massive destruction. Anybody that would be in that room could have been killed or maimed and a lot of destruction of property.

LEMON: Let us talked about, because you talked about the number of cameras. There are cameras all over, the one that was delivered to CNN was delivered by courier. The one that was delivered to George Soros was left in the mailbox. I'm sure there are more cameras here, I'm sure he has them on his home. There are more cameras in the city. How do they go through and look for all of that?

GAGLIANO: In the 21st century, police scientist and methodologist have improved drastically. Why so? The digital imprint. We get on our phones, we open up our laptops. Anybody that is driving around, license plates scanners here, EZ-pass, photos taken. In Manhattan alone, there's probably close to 20,000 security cameras, whether it's private businesses, whether it is the bridges and tunnels here, whether it is the subway, public housing. Trust me. Devices like this that were delivered will be captured. Somebody will have picked up a license plate or videotape or photo of the people involved. Person or people.

LEMON: All right James, I want you to standby. Listen, if you guys can hear me in the control room, someone has an open key maybe in the satellite truck or somewhere and I'm hearing your conversation. So can you guys correct that? Thank you.

I want to bring in now Susan Glasser and also Ryan Lizza. Here now. Good evening. Thank you for joining us. Susan, you heard President Trump denounce the bombs at the same time blame the media for being part of the problem. Did you expect more from him?

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, THE NEW YORKER: To be honest, Don, no I'm not surprised by this evening. In many ways it's the story of the Trump presidency, right. We're often shocked by things that he does or doesn't do in this case, but not necessarily surprised. It was controversial for him to continue to go ahead with the rally as it was after what really amounts to a fairly unprecedented coordinated would be attack. You know, sending these bombs to a wide array, a two former Presidents of the United States.

[23:10:00] I just can't think of another public official in any context in our public life who would have acted in such a brazen manner today. I noted that he never even mentioned the names of the targets who were sent these packages today. And I thought that was very notable at his rally. You know, he was told to tone it down. He didn't attack Hillary Clinton. He also never mentioned that two of his predecessors in this office of the President of the United States were among those targeted today.

Again, I just -- it's inconceivable that any other public official in our public life would have ever act this way today.

LEMON: It's just -- two former Presidents and Democratic leaders to not even call and say, hey, how you doing? It's just outrageous and beyond, I don't even know the word, I would say gauche, but there's a much better word. It's just not done. You know, Ryan, when President Trump stands there tonight and he says, you know, the country needs to come together, we need to unify, how much credibility does he even have?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Not that much. I mean, I thought today the last time that there was assassination attempt on a former President, it was when George H.W. Bush visited Kuwait in 1993 and Saddam Hussein or a team that Saddam Hussein sent tried to kill him with a car bomb. And once that plot was uncovered, the outrage that President Clinton felt and expressed was pretty serious, right?

I mean we launched air strikes to punish Saddam for that. And this is obviously a very different circumstance. We don't know who did this, but to pick up on Susan's point, the attempted assassination or damage of former Presidents you know, in our lifetime, that was treated as one of the most grave national security issues you could imagine.

And today, the President left the White House and went to a rally. And barely sort of explained to the American people the gravity of that kind of attempted political violence. So you know, I do, your question about what we expect from President Trump. I don't think we can expect all that much. I mean, I think we have to look -- he is not the moral leader that other previous Presidents have been.

LEMON: We have to look other places.

LIZZA: I think we have to look at other places and frankly other political leaders have to step up to take on that role, because you know, the football can be picked up only so many times until you realize what we crave in a President in these kind of moments we're not getting. And you're not going to get it. So we have to look other places. People in business, people in Congress, they need to step up and play that role.

LEMON: It's just sad that the person who is sitting there is dragging the office and the dignity of the President to beyond below the sewer. Susan, everyone who received a package today has been a target of President Trump. This is him in his own words. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But if you want the fake news to finally investigate Hillary Clinton, we'll just have

(CHEERS)

-- man.

Don't worry. I don't like him either. OK? Good old Maxine. Low I.Q. individual. Low I.Q.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So Susan, let's be honest about this. OK. And I want to make this very clean, very clear. We don't know exactly who sent these bombs or why, but we cannot ignore that these targets all have one thing in common. They are all people President Trump has criticized.

GLASSER: Don, I think that is right. Of course, we can't get ahead of the investigation, but just look at how painful it is to listen to the President of the United States speaking and carrying on in this way. A couple weeks ago, I sort of binge watched six of President Trump's rallies in October, six hours and 51 minutes of President Trump talking like that and what I was struck by was not the escalating series of falsehoods and whoppers although there were many and in recent days, he is even increased that pace.

And it really was what you just pointed out, it was the level of vitriol and hatred directed towards his political opponents in a way that you know, and we've become desensitized to it. And you know, you often hear from the President's own advisers essentially versions of don't pay attention to the President's rhetoric. Don't pay attention to what the President says. You know, just look at our policy or whatever.

[23:15:05] I think this really underscores for me the fallacy of that. The President of the United States, if he says things like this it's important for us not to look away. It's not a reality show. It's reality. And unfortunately, these are real pipe bombs that were sent to the two former Presidents of the United States and others today. And whether or not this individual we have no idea if it was a group, if it's an individual, but we do know that these are people that President Trump has targeted with his rhetoric with hateful rhetoric.

And for him then to pivot and say gee, we should come together and we should unify without in any way acknowledging the role that his own words have played in creating a climate of fear and hatred in the midst of an election is something that, again, is something I never thought to see in a President of the United States. It has nothing to do with party. How can it be that this is the President of the United States speaking in such a manner?

LEMON: Listen, Ryan, we have only I guess time will tell before he comes out and starts attacking these people by name again. The question is, how long will that be before he does it?

LIZZA: Well, I mean look, you know, just to give a little bit of credit where credit might be due, I do think that the statement he made at the White House was good. And some of the things he said at his rally tonight where appropriate. But he is not -- even in such a dramatic circumstance has this where you have explosives being sent to former Presidents and other leaders and to news organizations, he is such a stubborn human being.

LEMON: Ryan --

LIZZA: Yes, go ahead.

LEMON: He always says the right thing, yes, I will let you finish. He says the right thing when it's on paper on a teleprompter, right?

LIZZA: Absolutely.

LEMON: And then the real Trump comes out when he veers from that and says exactly what he means. Go on, sorry.

LIZZA: You already saw that today with the statement at the White House and then as the day goes on and he is no doubt watching the media and fuming about being attacked and criticized for having anything to do with this, right? And he gets to the rally and there's the energy of the crowd and already you see the sort of prepared remarks from the White House sort of being ignored and forgotten and to answer your question, Don, you're right. We all know in the coming days the kind of rhetoric we're likely to hear, right?

Maybe someone at the White House will talk some sense and say look, why not have you know, reach out to the former Presidents at the very least. Maybe have them you know, go over to the White House. There are a lot of things that I'm sure a lot of smart Republican leaders are advising him to do, helping him understand what a traditional President would do, but you know, I know this from, you know, talking to people in and around the White House there's such -- he is so aggrieved and has such a sense of being persecuted by the media and Democrats that he just can't come around to the kind of actions that we're talking about here. And like I said before, you have to look, other people have to step up and provide that leadership in a moment like this.

LEMON: Maybe if he reaches out to the former Presidents, and they say, they may give him one of those tell them I'm not home. Maybe, you may never know, thank you very much, because I certainly would. I appreciate it.

LIZZA: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Why do Republicans defend and dismiss a President who invites his supporters to beat up protesters and the media at his rallies.

[23:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: President Trump attacks his perceived enemies and his supporters are going right along with it. I want you to take a look at this. I need everyone to see this, all right? This is -- this sign was spotted outside of a Florida gubernatorial debate tonight. OK? It says Democrats fake news, fake bombs. These devices were not fake. They were intended to injure and kill Americans. Is this what politics in America has become? And where is the Republican Party in all of this? Where is the Party?

I'm joined by Presidential Historian, Douglas Brinkley and also Max Boot, who is the author of "The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right." Good evening to both of you. Max, what is going on especially in light of today's events with the

attacks where people could have been killed? What is happening with your former party?

MAX BOOT, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL FOR FOREIGN RELATIONS: It's a very dismaying development, Don. The Republican Party has essentially become a whole owned subsidiary of the Trump organization. There's almost nobody in that party aside from a handful of outliers like Jeff Flake, who are on their way out the door were willing to speak out against Donald Trump even as he engages in this shocking demonization of minorities of the opposing party.

I mean just think about the violence of his rhetoric where he is saying that Democrats are evil, they're traitors. They want to open the borders, they're in league with MS-13. You know, all these horrible things that just the kind of poisonous rhetoric we've never heard from a President before. And Republicans are either joining in or they are pretending not to hear.

And one of the most dismaying things for me has been the silence of the Republican Party elders. And I think in the Senate of folks like Senator Lamar Alexander or Rob Portman who have been around, you know, since the Paleolithic era, they had been around Washington forever. They are the wise old (inaudible) in previous Republican administration, what do they think when they hear this kind of stuff? I mean, I don't know what they think. Because they don't send anything, they don't call out Trump when he lauds a Congressman for attacking a reporter when he incites violence in that fashion.

[23:25:07] The Republican Party has just lost its moral bearings and it's become essentially part of this Trumpian cultive personality where they're afraid to challenge the President no matter how dangerous or demented his conduct may be.

LEMON: Yes. Listen, the President said tonight, Douglas, that it was basically inferring it was the media's job to unify the country. It is one of the President's jobs is to unify the country on days like today. Did the President do that?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: No, it was one of the worst moments in the Trump presidency. I thought the Wisconsin rally was a bust. It was a golden opportunity to be large, to try to say something that would unify the country as we've been talking about. Two former Presidents had assassination attempts along with the Attorney General and a Congress person and you know, and a business industrialist like Soros, CNN.

He refuses to mention any of them because it doesn't fit into the political narrative. He is driven only by one thing, the upcoming elections and keeping the base stoked. This was inconvenient for him today and he came off in my opinion as a very small President. I never thought I would live to see a day that a U.S. President when you're having this kind of bombs and assassination attempts going on not addressing it in a forth right fashion.

It began in the morning Don, when he had Vice President Pence tweeted something appropriate and he retweeted it. But at the White House today, he didn't say enough. And at the rally, it was awful to blame the media on a day when CNN has had a bomb in the building and have to evacuate on the heels of Saudi Arabia where Khashoggi and you know Turkey is murdered and there's a complicity going on with the Trump administration with that.

It's a kind of neo-Fascism. And I don't see any other way you can say it. They want to put down the press, destroy the Democratic Party and create a kind of Trump movement. The GOP is rudderless right now. It's all Donald Trump.

LEMON: Yes. Listen, Max, Obama sent to CNN headquarters, his address to former CIA Director, John Brennan, here is part of what he said earlier tonight. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR: I hope that more and more people, more Americans and especially people who are part of Mr. Trump's political party, Republicans, are not just going to turn a blind eye because of other things that maybe is he doing and that they want to see accomplished, but call him out and say, this should not happen. This is inconsistent with our values as a country and what it is that you should be doing as a President. And it's overdue. And too many of the individuals in the Republican Party are not fulfilling their responsibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Max, a wake-up call for Republicans?

BOOT: Well, they've had a lot of wake-up calls and they snoozed through all of them. I mean, how could Republicans not come out against Trump last year when after the Charlottesville attack when remember a young woman lost her life to a terrorist attack from a white supremacist and Donald Trump said there were fine people on both sides? How could Republicans stay silent when he earlier this year he began locking children in cages to discourage their parents from coming here.

I mean, proven so many atrocious moments with this President and each one of them basically has gone by. Republicans are actually more loyal to him now than they were before. And his approval ratings are higher. More Republicans are with him. To me, this is, you know, truly the moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party. And it's a very dangerous state of affairs where, you know, they look at -- they basically have moral myopia. Because they look at a handful of things they like. Like the tax cuts and judges and they try to tune everything else out.

And you often hear from senior Republican leaders, I don't listen to the president's rhetoric, I don't listen -- know what he is tweeting. I just focus on results. I like the results. Well, you know, when the President has the bully pulpit, it's incredibly significant what he says and what he doesn't say. The way he conducts himself, the tone that he sets for country. That is something Republicans knew when Bill Clinton was getting impeached.

They were attacking him for degrading the moral tone of the country. While, you know, if Bill Clinton was degrading the moral tone of the country, Donald Trump is destroying it all together. His venomous poisonous attacks on the Democratic Party and hate figures like George Soros and others, it is just doing horrific damage to our democracy.

And in fact, just last week, I was writing there's a real danger that the social fabricate will rip all together leading to violence in the streets. And sadly you're seeing our prediction come true. I have real fear and concern for the future of this country, honestly, Don, the way that we're headed. There is no sign that Donald Trump is going to rein himself in and certainly no indication the Republican Party is going to rein him in.

LEMON: Yes. I think you are right on with that. I will give you the last word, Douglas. To that and to Brennan's comments, what do you say?

BRINKLEY: Well, you know, you mentioned that fake bomb thing that's going on social media with the alternative right. That's kind of the way that Donald Trump wants to see it, fake news, fake bombs today, because he spins conspiracy theories. He knows nothing about American history. What he does is make people think about the deep state and confusing people, Ted Cruz's father helped kill JFK, Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.

And so his way out of today instead of just being big and talking about it like an adult is going to be kind of give a nod and a winking to conspiracy theorists and let them stoke this as being a kind of Democratic stunt today. And that's very sad that we have a president that would sink to that kind of inaction on a day like this when we need to hear a voice of power and decency, moral fiber. He was AWOL and seemed to me to be in hiding with his just in a corner today.

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

[23:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So no doubt, there is a lot of fear in this country right now. President Trump has been trying to stoke fear for a while. Lately he has been trying to make you afraid of the thousands of migrants making their way north to the U.S.- Mexico border. He kept at it tonight, saying the caravan is full of criminals and Middle Easterners.

There's absolutely no evidence to back that up, but he doesn't seem to care. Trump wants you to believe that all immigrants and minorities are inherently dangerous. He tries to scare you. And then says he's going to protect you. But as the president was lying and fearmongering about people traveling by foot more than 1,000 miles away from this country, by the way, it seems a deeper threat was being planned right here at home.

What happened today was an act of terror, an act of terror targeting two former U.S. presidents, a former secretary of state, a former attorney general, a sitting member of Congress, a wealthy businessman, a former CIA director, and CNN. We don't know the suspect or his or her motive, but investigators have surely noticed that all of the targets are people President Trump has attacked.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Fake as hell CNN.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: The worst.

Hillary is a very dishonest person. If you look at the things she says, I mean, they're so dishonest.

I think Brennan is a very bad guy. If you look at it, a lot of things happened under his watch. I think he's a very bad person.

And, of course, the legendary low IQ Maxine Waters.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Low IQ person.

It was very polarized under President Obama. Unbelievably polarized under President Obama.

They'll go to a person holding a sign who gets paid by Soros or somebody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So the president has condemned the attempted attacks today, but hasn't taken any responsibility for the rhetoric that we just heard. Instead, at a rally in Wisconsin tonight, he blamed the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As part of a larger national effort to bridge our divides and bring people together, the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories. Have to do it.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Have to do it.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: They've got to stop. Bring people together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Trump also complained of mobs. Mobs. That is a reference to the protesters who opposed Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination and confronted Republican lawmakers. So the president is going after the media and he is going after Democratic protesters on the same day that explosive devices were mailed to the Obamas, to the Clintons, to CNN and other public officials. But he also said this tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There is one way to settle our disagreements. It's called peacefully at the ballot box. That's what we want.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: That's what we want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, I couldn't agree more. The way to resolve our political differences is at the ballot box. Ultimately, the choice about this country's future is in your hands. It is your right and privilege to vote, so make sure you do it. Plenty to discuss as we move forward. Joan Walsh, Scott Jennings, Juliette Kayyem. They are all here to break it down.

[23:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back. There are new questions being raised tonight about the sharp political division in America. And why bombs were sent to some of President Trump's frequent verbal targets. I want to bring in now Joan Walsh, Scott Jennings and Juliette Kayyem. Good evening, everyone. I'm so glad that you could join us here. Let's talk about the finger pointing, the tone and the responsibility, Joan. What did you think of the president's remarks tonight?

JOAN WALSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, I thought they shouldn't have happened, Don. I don't think there should have been a campaign speech on a night that two of our presidents, our former secretary of state, congresswoman, et cetera, were threatened this way. It's not a night for political campaigning. So, you know, I just want to step back and say, we lower the bar for this president all time. We take for granted.

Of course, he's going to campaign. He should not have campaigned. His statement this afternoon as well as at his rally if he had it should have mentioned the victims, should have mentioned each and every one of them, and expressed some sort of concern about them and their families and a promise to keep them safe, including us, but you know, leave us aside.

LEMON: Yeah.

WALSH: We're all Americans. This is very scary. So those two things together, it's just like he has no idea how to respond and then he continued to go on and call Democrats evil people who were encouraging the caravan and to do another version of his Charlottesville speech where he said yes, we should not have violence, but also the media should just drop its negativity. It's basically blaming the victim. We brought it on. It's like your wife made you beat her. LEMON: Yeah. Juliette, I want to ask you. What did you think of the

president's tone at the rally in Wisconsin? Because as I sat there, I watched.

[23:45:01] I was preparing for my show. I was watching on closed captioning as it was going across. OK, OK, all the right words, all the right words. And then all of a sudden he gets down to blaming the media on a day when the media was attacked.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. It's just a remarkable capacity of this president to always be the victim which is just an odd thing to see from the most powerful, one of the most powerful leaders in the world. I think my take away since I didn't expect much, I think he knows how to say the right words at this stage, was just that White House's incapacity to recognize what happened today.

I just wrote a list. This was an attack, right, of the leaders of essentially the opposition, right? Right before an election. Those leaders are the former -- two former presidents and their families, the former secretary of state, the former head of the CIA, the former head of the Justice Department, a major media institution, a philanthropist, and a leading member of Congress. That's a big deal.

I think just whatever the atmospherics are, it's just the incapacity of the White House to recognize. For the American public, this is a big deal. The caravan, not a big deal. This is a big deal. And just to give the American public a sense of the gravity of the situation which they did not do today.

LEMON: Yeah. Scott, the president was stumping for Republicans, OK, including Senate candidate Leah Vukmir at the rally. She called Hillary Clinton "crooked Hillary" while the crowd chanted "lock her up." Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAH VUKMIR, REPUBLICAN SENATE NOMINEE IN WISCONSIN: Crooked Hillary Clinton?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lock her up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, I mean, what she said -- what do you think, Scott? It's mind boggling.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I think I would have left the political barbs for anyone who received one of these bombs out today. I didn't mind that the president and the Republicans went ahead and had an event tonight because anytime they had an event, the big crowd, it gives you a chance to make a speech and to say the right things.

There were things the president said today that I liked. He condemned political violence. He called for national unity. He said we shouldn't cast dispersion on the morality of our political opponents which I absolutely agree with.

And it think an important thing he said was that we should always resolve our political differences by voting. So if I were going to advise the president about how to move forward over the next few days coming out of this, it would be to continue to talk about how we resolve our politics in this country. That's by voting, asking every American to exercise their right to vote.

Tomorrow, I would call all of the affected parties. I would ask them all to come to the White House. I would ask them all to join him in a statement of national unity. I would meet with the head of the secret service and reassure the American people that their protectees are safe.

I would talk about how the secret service thwarted the plots against the former presidents. I heard Ryan Lizza call this assassination attempts earlier. I hadn't thought of that, but it absolutely was assassination attempts. We foiled it, which ought to make the American people feel good that the government was doing what it should do in protecting people. There's a number of things the president can do tomorrow.

LEMON: Scott, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. That's all well and good. And you're right on all of those points. But is this the Donald Trump that lives in the head of moderate Republicans? Because this isn't the one that lives in the real world. You're saying all the right things but Donald Trump does none of it.

JENNINGS: Well, I said he said some things tonight that I liked. He also did some things I didn't particularly cared for. I didn't like it that he portrayed himself to some degree as a victim. I don't like it when he goes after the media and some of the ways that he does. I think it's fine for presidents to joust with the media, but I don't like when he calls for media people to be body slammed. I don't like that rhetoric. I think it's bad for democracy when we don't have a trusted free press.

LEMON: Why do you support him? Why do you continue to support him?

JENNINGS: Well, I support the president's policies and I support a great deal of what the president does. But like every politician, I don't support 100 percent of the things he says and does. And I've been willing to come on your show, Don, and say when I like what he does and when I don't. like I said tonight, there was a list of things I like and a couple of things I didn't.

LEMON: No, I understand that, I appreciate that, I understand that, but then how much, like, where does it end? Where do you draw the line? I don't understand it. I don't understand how people come on in the most reprehensible behavior, not that you -- I'm not calling you out. But the most awful behavior and they say well, I don't like what he does, I don't like what he does but I support his policies, I don't like what he does.

How much further in the gutter does he have to go and take the country for people just to say you know what, this is enough, stop it, like just stop it, I cannot support you any longer if you continue to exhibit this vile behavior?

[23:50:01] JENNINGS: I think on this particular case, I think what you're going to hear a lot of Republicans say is before we jump to conclusions, we have to figure out who did this and why they did it. We do know who did it. We don't know why did it. But we do know one thing.

The president can lead us. He can try to unify us. He can try to be better. I thought he got some things right today and he can do better on others. I hope tomorrow, he tries even harder because he is in a unique position to try to unify the country especially at a time when we're very divided heading towards an election.

KAYYEM: Can I just say something to that why they did it --

LEMON: I've got to get to a break. We'll be right back.

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LEMON: Back with Joan, Scott and Juliette.

Juliette, as you were saying before the break.

[23:55:01] KAYYEM: So I respect Scott wanting to wait in terms of the investigation of the why. But any sort of credible or sophisticated law enforcement investigation at this stage is going to take the obvious that the subjects of the attacks were all from a political party or a bent, a liberal bent or a perceived liberal bent. And that's where the investigation is going to lead.

We don't have to be so worried about making judgment to not state the obvious, whether it was an attack against an opposition party, whether Democrats or media institutions that are viewed as aligned with them. And I think we can say that without sounding like we're jumping the gun at this stage.

LEMON: All right. That's all we have time for. Thank you, all. I appreciate it. Everybody, stay safe out there. Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues.

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