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Don Lemon Tonight
Style And Platform Laid By Democrats 2020 Candidates; Going Down The Memory Lane Of Donald Trump's 2016 Controversies; Paul Ryan Says He Helped Trump Make Much Better Decisions; Several Major U.S. Cities Brace For ICE Raids Targeting Migrant Families; Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) Is Interviewed About ICE Raids, Health Care, And Tensions Between Centrist And Progressive Dems; CNN Hero, Luke Mickelson. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired July 11, 2019 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00] DON LEMON, CNN HOST: The leaders trying to differentiate themselves from each other and take on President Trump.
Senator Cory Booker says this tonight to Anderson Cooper while ICE agents are planning immigration beginning Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His fear-based politics is undermining the safety of communities all around this country where now you have immigrant communities who are afraid to even go forward and report crimes, sexual assault, violence, robberies to local police because they are afraid of being deported, afraid of dropping their kids off for school. This fear-based culture, it's a toxic thing that he's doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The former Vice President Joe Biden who is leading in the polls slamming the president's foreign policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The world sees Trump for what he is, insincere, ill-informed and impulsive and sometimes corrupt. Dangerously incompetent and incapable, in my view, of world leadership and leadership at home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Mayor Pete Buttigieg today unveiling details of his plan for racial justice which he calls the Douglass Plan named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Here's what he told Anderson tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everybody running for office right now, everybody running for president, has a responsibility to explain what we're actually going to do when it comes to systemic racism in this country, not just describing the problem but actually talking about concrete solutions across the fields of housing, education, health, homeownership, access to capital and economic empowerment, criminal justice and democracy. These are all areas where it's as though we're living in two countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And Senator Kamala Harris slamming President Trump's attempt to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census saying this tonight to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, what this president is contributing to is a faulty census that we'll have to live with for the next 10 years. It is highly irresponsible because it is yet another example of this president trying to interfere, and if not, weaken our democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Let's go big picture on the 2020 race with, let's put him up, dream team, and there they are. Keith Boykin, Angela Rye, Alice Stewart.
So good to have all of you on. Good evening, everyone.
KEITH BOYKIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good evening.
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good evening.
LEMON: Keith, we're seeing candidates announcing new plans almost daily, right? I mean, you heard Mayor Pete on Anderson he's talking about the Douglass plan that he's going to announce to combat racial inequality. He polled at zero percent with black voters in our latest CNN poll, but, you know, there's a real push for these candidates to aggressively go after the black vote.
BOYKIN: There is. It's important because the black community is a central part of the Democratic constituency, the Democratic base. If you don't win black voters, there's almost no chance you're going to win the nomination.
So, what you see is Kamala Harris got a bump after her debate performance when she challenged Joe Biden on the integration issue. She got a bump from African-American voters which gave her a bump in the polls overall, so she's seeing a result of that.
Now Pete Buttigieg is trying to make an effort to make a play for that vote as well. You see other candidates have been trying to do the same thing. If you don't do it, not just in South Carolina but on a national scale, it's almost impossible to conceive a way you can make a way to the nomination.
LEMON: Angela, I had Charlamagne tha God on last night. And you know him well. RYE: Yes.
LEMON: He was on the show last night.
RYE: That's my brother.
LEMON: He's hosted eight candidates so far on the show. This is what he told me about some of them and then we'll talk. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, CO-HOST, THE BREAKFAST CLUB: I think Joe Biden fumbles all the time. Because Joe Biden suffers from old white male entitlement where he just can't simply can't say I was wrong.
Mayor Pete is great. You know, with his -- the Frederick Douglass bill that he passed, that's a specific black agenda. I think Senator Kamala Harris is great, you know. I think Elizabeth Warren is good.
I think this is the first time that these Democrats have had to present a black agenda. I don't think Cory has an identity yet. I don't know when I want it to be yet.
LEMON: You don't know.
GOD: I think I want it to be Senator Kamala Harris only because I feel like, you know, Donald Trump is setting the stage for the first woman president specifically, a woman of color.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: So, well, Angela, where do we start? I mean, shall we start on Biden? He suffers from old white male entitlement. That's his words. Do you think that's right?
RYE: Well, I think that anyone in this country who has benefited from systemic racism and oppression starting with slavery 400 years ago absolutely benefits from that, right? I mean, that's just real.
We had white kids in court saying that they had affluenza (ph) like it's a thing. So, yes. I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on that but absolutely it's an issue. I think with all of the other things that he's raised; I think that we're in a position right now where candidates should have to present a black agenda. I'm not satisfied.
[23:05:01] LEMON: Like Mayor Pete Buttigieg?
RYE: Yes. I mean, he can call it the Douglass plan, but I would implore him, you know, to consider some of Frederick Douglass' speeches, right. Like don't pay homage by naming your plan. What did Frederick Douglass stand for, right? He stood for abolition in a very real way and black Americans are free yet 400 years later and I would argue no.
So, I think that his plan needs to benefit from that substance. I know that Kamala Harris in her rollout at Essence talked about her black agenda and she referenced the black futures lab plan when they polled more than 30,000 Americans.
You had Aisha on earlier, 30 -- more than 30,000 black people who had to talk about what their greatest concerns are right now. I think that's major and not enough attention has been given to that, not just by the candidates by us either. This should be all over everywhere.
LEMON: Yes, yes.
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Don.
LEMON: Alice.
STEWART: I think what we're seeing with the African-American community and the Democrats is very similar to social Evangelicals in the Republican community. You can't just call them up on a Friday night and ask them out for a date and then avoid them on Saturday morning for breakfast. They need to hear you want to take them out Friday night. You have an agenda for them, and you're going to follow it through.
So oftentimes parties, Republicans and Democrats, will reach out to these different constituencies when they need them and not follow through. And as Angela said show them an agenda and follow through on that. I think that's really important.
It's good to see a lot of these Democrats saying this is what I will do and I will follow it through. And it's critical not just to say here's what I plan to do but follow through, and I think that's what Donald Trump has successfully been able to do to say here's my agenda for the social Evangelical or my base, and he's followed through on that.
And a lot of these Democrats I think laying out these plans, Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, a lot of them are saying here's what I plan to do, and the key is instilling the confidence in the African-American community but not just saying it today but that they will follow through.
LEMON: OK. Keith is about to jump out of his chair over here.
BOYKIN: No. I didn't --
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: Me, too.
BOYKIN: I just didn't want to get off track on this conversation. I don't really care about the social Evangelicals. I think Donald Trump was completely hypocritical in his response to them and everything he did.
RYE: Yes.
BOYKIN: All the pussy-grabbing and all the other crap he did is completely inconsistent and especially Evangelicals are not even relevant to this conversation. The point is, African-Americans are the base of the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party has relied on African-Americans for 50 years now to get elected.
RYE: Yes.
BOYKIN: To presidential races and lower level races and the Democrats now owe something to the African-Americans. We've been -- we've been loyal to the party. Now let's have a chance to pay back what the party owes to African-American people.
LEMON: But I do get what she's saying.
RYE: You know, Keith.
LEMON: Hold on, hold on, Angela. You'll be next. I do understand what she was saying though, is that if we're going to elect you, meaning Evangelicals --
BOYKIN: Yes, yes.
LEMON: -- then you make sure you get the person on the Supreme Court who is going to do this, and I think that's what -- but you're right about the completely hypocritical when you look at --
(CROSSTALK)
BOYKIN: Yes. I just didn't want to get off on that because we'd be having an argument for an hour about that.
LEMON: OK. Go ahead, Angela.
STEWART: Yes. I didn't mean to go in that point. Keith is right, but my point is I think they are actually saying, OK. Tell us this today or tonight, but --
LEMON: OK.
STEWART: -- give me some assurance that you'll follow through on that.
LEMON: Go ahead, Angela. What did you want to say?
RYE: Yes, I think just quickly. I actually disagree that candidates have successfully done that. That was the exact opposite of my point. I think that there have been a few. It's not enough to Keith's point.
We have been courted a long time two weeks before election day, and now I'm just starting to question frankly, Don, whether or not we are doing the work in putting demands forth, and I think my point about black futures lab was just that.
This is for the first time when they said we're not going to decide what the black agenda is for black folks. We're going to talk to black people about what those needs are.
And so, I gave kudos to some of the candidates that have done that, but I'm not seeing a black agenda for most of these candidates.
LEMON: OK.
RYE: So, I want to be very clear about that.
LEMON: So, Keith, Senator Kamala Harris is hitting Joe Biden again. He's on with Charlamagne tha God tomorrow. Charlamagne was on last night. ABC News has this clip. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I'm not going to let us engage on a debate stage for who is going to be the next president of the United States. I'm not going to allow us to engage in revisionist history, and I can't stand on that stage and allow certain conversations to be taking place because, remember, I didn't bring this conversation up about these segregationists. That had been going on for weeks.
But I cannot be on that stage and not speak up to make sure that we are having a full accounting for American history on these issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Is this something she should continue to hit Biden on?
BOYKIN: Well, it's something that Biden should just apologize for. He made a mistake.
RYE: Yes.
BOYKIN: Let's move on, Joe, but the more he drags this on --
(CROSSTALK)
[23:10:01] LEMON: You mean about the segregationist. He did apologize on segregationists.
BOYKIN: I mean, apologize in the sense of he's -- he's deflecting by attacking Kamala Harris and making this an issue and giving this story legs. It doesn't have to be.
He wrote a letter to segregationist Senator James Eastland basically thanking him for his support of his anti-busing bill. This is not something that's debatable.
Nobody wants to talk about what happened in 1970, but it does have some impact on what's happening on 2020 if the candidate who has that record doesn't at least acknowledge it, apologize for it and move forward.
LEMON: Here's interesting. I just want to put these polls up, OK? South Carolina, this is a new Fox News poll, among black voters who make up the majority of likely Democratic voters, 41 percent, Biden, 15 percent, Sanders, 12 percent, Harris, 4 percent Booker, 2 percent, Warren. New poll out tonight from CNN. There's a new poll out from CNN, Biden,
25, and then there's a tight race for second. You have Harris at 16 -- I'm sorry, say again.
STEWART: Don, I think --
LEMON: Yes, it's a CNN poll of polls, excuse me. And then we have Harris at 16, Sanders at 15 and Warren at 15, so those are the numbers. They are pretty close. There was a big bump after the debate, but it looks like it's leveling back out again.
STEWART: Don, I think the key is watching these individual states. Biden is still doing well in Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and these are state-by-state races for these primary, and I think that's the key.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I got to go.
STEWART: We get a lot wrapped up in these national polls, but the state-by-state races are critical.
LEMON: To be continued. Thank you all.
RYE: Thanks.
STEWART: Thanks, Don,
LEMON: I appreciate it. See you.
It was one of the biggest shockers of 2016 and the 2016 campaign, and we'll go behind the scenes. What you don't know about how the Trump campaign reacted to the release of this tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I just started kissing them, it's like a magnet. I just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[23:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, we're getting a new inside look at that shocking October surprise that rattled the 2016 election. I'm talking about the Access Hollywood tape.
It's all in the pieces posted on Politico from its chief Politico correspondent Tim Alberta. OK? So, let me explain it to you. In an excerpt from Alberta's book there's behind-the-scenes -- a behind-the- scenes look at how then presidential candidate Donald Trump and his campaign reacted to the publishing of that infamous tape.
Alberta reports that the Trump -- that as Trump was prepping for the second presidential debate which was just two days away his campaign was asked to comment by "The Washington Post" David Fahrethhold about an old audio recording.
Well, Fahrenthold had sent a transcript of that recording to the campaign and upon reading Trump remarked "this doesn't sound like me."
Well, Jared Kushner even downplayed it saying, quote, "you know, I don't think it's all that bad." Then RNC Chairman, Reince Priebus disagreed.
The group that had gathered to prepare for the debate was now paralyzed with silence. The book says Hope Hicks was ashen-faced. Many of them thought their chances for victory were over.
Moments later, the Washington Post sent over an audio file of the tape. In a conference room higher up in Trump tower, Trump and his aides heard for the first time the tape that went on to shock us all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I'll show you where they have some nice furniture.
I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn't get there, and she was married and all of a sudden, I see her. She's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's your girl as hot as shit in the purple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, yes, whoa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the Donald has scored.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What, my man. Wait, wait. You've got to look at her.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Set this up.
TRUMP: Look at you. You are a pussy. Maybe it's a different one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It better not be the publicist. No, it's her. It's --
TRUMP: Yes, that's her. With the gold. I've got to use some Tic-Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. I just kiss. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can you do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the pussy. You can you do anything. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: According to Politico, after Trump heard that, he admitted that's me. And then just before 4 p.m. on that Friday, October 7th of 2016, that tape was published on the Washington Post's web site. From there it hit the airwaves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We're following two major breaking news stories tonight, including a bombshell in the race for the White House. An audio recording has surfaced of Donald Trump engaging in a very vulgar conversation about women.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Questions tonight if Donald Trump and his campaign can recover from this. The candidate caught on tape describing and endorsing forcibly kissing women and grabbing them by their genitalia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Trump did offer a written apology saying what we all heard was, quote, "locker room banter." People weren't buying it, including then House Speaker Paul Ryan. Remember, Ryan was supposed to have an event with the president the next day. Ryan quickly called Reince Priebus to tell him that wasn't happening. He didn't want to be on the same stage as Trump.
And shortly after, Ryan put out a public statement saying he was sickened by what he heard. At the same time, several Republicans publicly started to abandon Trump.
Remember this was all unfolding in real-time. Congressman Jason Chaffetz even called into this show to say that he would no longer support his own presidential nominee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FMR. REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R-UT): These are abhorrent. They are wrong. To use a baseball metaphor. I've got to call balls to strikes the way I see them, and, you know, my wife Julie and I, we've got a 15-year- old daughter.
[23:20:06] Do you think I can look her in the eye and tell her that I endorse Donald Trump for president when he acts like this and his apology? That was no apology. That was an apology for getting caught.
To say that Bill Clinton did it and did it worse. I mean, that should have been (Inaudible) that's a wrong behavior. So, I'm not going to put my good name and reputation and family behind Donald Trump for president when he acts like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: But behind the scenes of the Trump campaign there was a scramble to do something. Alberta reports that Trump's senior aides were convinced that a thorough videotaped apology was the only chance to survive the weekend. And just after midnight hours after the tape came out, we went live with that video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Stand by. The statement is here. Let's play it, and then we'll talk.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Here we go.
TRUMP: I've never said I'm a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. I've said and done things I regret and the words released on this more than a decade old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it. I was wrong and I apologize.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That apology may have been put out for the voters, but Trump wasn't worried about them. Actually, it may surprise you who Trump was focused on just after the tape came out. It was all about his running mate, vice presidential candidate Mike Pence and his wife Karen, because as a new reporting says to the extent that Trump felt regret it was over disappointing the Pence's.
Let's discuss now. Ana Navarro is here as well as Philip Bump. Good evening. Interesting, right? We were here. We lived through that. Were you here with that night?
PHILIP BUMP, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST: I don't think I was here.
LEMON: You were here with me that time?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I can't even believe you're asking me that question. I think you've got early onset dementia.
LEMON: I've been doing this for two hours almost every single night.
NAVARRO: OK.
LEMON: So, listen, so good evening to both of you. It's good to see both of you. In this new reporting from Tim Alberta, Philip, we also learned about Mike Pence, you know, and how President Trump felt. But it's reported that Mike Pence went AWOL when the tape came out.
Pence was, quote, "nowhere to be found. He didn't even answer calls from Speaker Ryan, and there was talk that Pence being on the top ticket -- putting him on the top of the ticket." He was a bigger player than we thought.
BUMP: Yes. That certainly -- at least in terms of influence over Trump, but I think the fascinating lesson from that is less about how Trump responded to Pence but how Pence responded to Trump and Pence really demonstrated what we have seen since with Donald Trump and Evangelical/religious voters which is, you know what, I'm going to put those feelings aside and just trust this guy is going to deliver for me politically.
That was the gamble that Mike Pence made at that moment and that was the thing that actually got Donald Trump elected that November.
LEMON: Yes. So, as I said you were on the show that night. It's all coming back to me now because you and Scottie Nell Hughes, who was a Trump supporter, you had this classic exchange. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAVARRO: I think that every single Republican is going to have to answer the question what did you do the day you saw the tape of this man boasting about grabbing a woman's pussy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.
LEMON: OK.
SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN COMMENTATOR: Will you please stop saying that word, my daughter is listening --
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: You know what, Scottie, you know what Scottie, don't tell me you're offended when I say pussy but you're not offended when Donald Trump said --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.
NAVARRO: I'm not running for president. He is.
HUGHES: Yes. And I said I'm OK with Donald Trump.
NAVARRO: OK. So then don't act outrage and offended when I say the word and you're not outraged by the man who you are supporting is saying. That is just absurd.
(CROSSTALK)
HUGHES: I said I was --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I do remember that. Listen, there have been so many outrageous since that happened, but we have to remember that tape went off like a bomb. Upon seeing that and reading this account in Politico, what do you think?
NAVARRO: You know, I -- I honestly thought that was the moment, right? We kept -- he kept doing things throughout this campaign where you said, the 2016 campaign where you said, OK, there's no way he can get away with criticizing POWs, there is no way he can get away with criticizing John McCain. There is no way he can get away with telling Megyn Kelly this. There is no way he can get away with saying this about Rosie O'Donnell, there is no way he can -- you know, it was one thing after the other. But that was the moment where you were like, certainly, there is no way that this man can get elected president and have Republican support after they hear him boast about grabbing a woman's pussy. Guess what? We were wrong. And not only did they line up and support him.
LEMON: They have doubled down.
NAVARRO: But since then --
LEMON: Yes.
NAVARRO: -- we've seen more and more women come out. We now know he paid off, he paid hush money to a stripper and a Playboy money. We now, you know, have heard him be accused of rape, and that didn't even get a shrug a couple of weeks ago, so I think that was the moment.
LEMON: Yes.
[23:25:00] NAVARRO: When the Republican base, when Republican voters and the people who are Trump supporters completely lost their soul and their moral compass and their convictions and were willing to accept absolutely anything from the cult leader.
LEMON: I've got to say I watch Jason Chaffetz now?
NAVARRO: Why?
LEMON: But just -- the 180 he did from that night to now is just really perplexing to me. And he, you know, invoking his family and his wife and whatever and then now is one of the biggest apologists.
I've got to ask you, Phil. Less than an hour after that tape came out WikiLeaks began publishing e-mails hacked from the personal account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta. And according to this account, which is in Politico it helped them get through the scandal because of the media coverage about her e-mails.
BUMP: No, it's a 100 percent accurate. I mean, I actually went back and looked at media coverage over that last month of the campaign, you see these huge spikes with Access Hollywood, you see some spikes when people start coming forward with these accusations of Donald Trump actually having done that to them.
But you see all of it drowned out by the coverage of WikiLeaks, and of course, then then FBI director James Comey's later at the end of the month reopening the e-mail server investigation.
Those things absolutely really did allow Donald Trump to get back on his feet. It's absolutely the case, as Ana says, that his supporters were standing with hem. you know, when he said on January 2016, I could shoot someone on the middle of Fifth Avenue and still -- he's not even to lose a vote, he's absolutely right. Right?
This is the political equivalent of murdering somebody and he got away with it.
NAVARRO: And you know, one of the things --
BUMP: That's true.
NAVARRO: -- that I -- as it's all coming back to me, too. Remember, it was after that moment, that he had the chutzpah, he had the gall to show up at the debate against Hillary Clinton with women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault, sat them there next to Chelsea and Bill Clinton while Hillary Clinton was silently bearing it.
LEMON: Well, stand by. We're going to get more. Hold that thought, because both of you. This book also has some quotes from Paul Ryan, and it seems like the president's read them because he just responded on Twitter. We'll talk about it.
[23:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Retired House Speaker Paul Ryan says he stopped President Trump from making bad decisions, but he is looking out the rear view mirror. Is it with rose-colored glasses? That's the question.
Back with me now are Ana Navarro and Philip Bump. So, let's talk about this. "The Washington Post" also got a hold of some of the new excerpts from Tim Alberta's book. Paul Ryan said this on working with Trump.
He says, "Those of us working around him really helped to stop him from making bad decisions all the time," Ryan says. "We helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was. Now I think he is making some of these knee- jerk reactions."
Is this revisionist -- a little revisionist thinking, do you think?
BUMP: Maybe, you know. It sort of strikes me as the anonymous op-ed in The New York Times saying, look, we're trying to keep Donald Trump in check. Trust us. We are working behind the scenes.
Certainly is if you are someone who has been working with President Trump and you recognize how most of the country feels about the president, it certainly is in your interest to say, hey, you know what, actually I was doing my best to keep him corralled. The extent to which that is true is, you know, we'll have to leave that to historians.
LEMON: Ana, the president seemingly responding on Twitter. "Paul Ryan, the failed V.P. candidate and former speaker of the House, whose record of achievement was atrocious, except during my first two years as president, ultimately became a long running lame duck failure, leaving his party in the lurch both as a fundraiser and leader."
"When Mitt Romney chose Paul, I told people that it's the end of that presidential run. He quit Congress because he didn't know how to win. They gave me standing Os (ph) in the great state of Wisconsin and booed him off the stage. He promised me the wall and failed happening anyway. He had the majority and blew it away with his poor leadership and bad timing. Never knew how to go after the Dems like they go after us. Couldn't get him out of Congress fast enough."
NAVARRO: Good god, how any of us can sleep at night knowing this guy has the nuclear codes is, you know, is beyond me. Look, first of all, congratulations, Tim Alberta. Trump tweeting against your book probably means that it's going to become a best-seller, I sure as hell. I am looking forward to reading it.
On Paul Ryan, I know him, and I think he -- I think it was a difficult period for him. I think he agonized about it. I think he put the interest of being the chair of the Republican Caucus in Congress, the speaker of the House above his own interests, and that's why he only had a stomach to do it for two years. He's now happily hunting with his children, spending time with his wife, and making money and, you know --
LEMON: But he did look the other way on a lot of stuff.
NAVARRO: Yeah, he did. He did. He did in order to -- look, I think Paul Ryan himself would admit that he compromised his convictions and his principles in order to move an agenda. He got his baby through, that tax bill from hell, which I'm not sure who it helps. It certainly doesn't help me. I'm not sure about you.
He did it. And then he said, I'm out, I don't have -- I can't do this anymore. Paul is, you know, Paul is going to have to live with that. I think this is part of the catharsis.
LEMON: Thank you both. Interesting. Real time. Talk about happening in real time. Thank you, guys. Thousands of --
NAVARRO: He needs to go to sleep, you know.
LEMON: Yeah.
NAVARRO: Somebody just needs to give him a baby bottle and burp him and put him on to bed, gee.
LEMON: We'll be right back.
[23:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is moving forward with nationwide raids starting Sunday to arrest thousands of migrant families who already have court orders to be removed. Nine cities are bracing for the operation, which had been announced and postponed last month. New Orleans was on the list, but New Orleans got a reprieve with tropical storm bearing down.
Joining now to discuss is mayor of one of the cities that ICE is expected to target and that's Los Angeles. He is the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti. Thank you, mayor, for joining us. I really appreciate it.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Absolutely. Good to be with you.
LEMON: Let's talk about this. Have you been given a heads up about these raids?
GARCETTI: No. I mean, in the past, we have, and I think it is best when local law enforcement knows what actions are happening in a city so there can't be any miscommunication. But, you know, besides some general information, no, we have not had any close coordination and, of course, we are careful with our local law enforcement, which I have deep trust in immigrant communities to now participate in the civil administrative actions that we see being threatened from ICE here today.
LEMON: Let me read this because this statement is from the LAPD, OK? It says "The Los Angeles Police Department has not been made aware of any increased enforcement. However, policies and procedures regarding federal immigration enforcement and the arrest and detention of criminal suspects are consistent with local, state, and federal laws. Regardless, LAPD does not and will not participate in the enforcement of civil administrative law."
[23:39:57] In saying the department will not participate, how will police interact with ICE during these raids, if at all?
GARCETTI: We don't at all. Obviously if there's any situation that breaks out and these can be volatile situations and we want to safeguard everybody's safety, we are the ultimate force multiplier here. We have 10,000 police officers just in the city of L.A. alone, amazing men and women who protect us every single day. ICE in Southern California has about 400, 500 agents.
So, we want to be aware so we can help maintain law and order and make sure there's safety for everybody, but also let people know their rights and that's not just our police department's responsibility, but to let people know that you don't have to be a citizen to know that you don't have to open your door unless somebody shows you a warrant, which they can do through a window or slip under your door, that, you know, you can you talk to an attorney before you have to talk to ICE.
And those things, I think, are important, especially when ICE agents were, you know, invest in other things that say police and people might be confused it's a local police officer concerned about something in the neighborhood when they are actually there without a warrant many times to take an action against them.
LEMON: You know with these raids, you're likely to be dealing with U.S. citizen children being left behind as their non-citizen parent could be taken away. How is L.A. preparing to help these kids?
GARCETTI: Well, that's the most heartbreaking thing about this. I think a lot of people don't recognize that these are households full of citizens, and you take away a primary breadwinner, you take away someone's grandmother. We all pay the price for that. So we have a justice fund to help people who are in legal proceedings to have legal counsel. We also make sure that people know those rights and that they have places that feel that they can be safe, where they know Los Angeles police officers and others in a library or in one of our parks, in our schools, will do everything they can to make sure that the letter of the law is being met. And that's what's important. I think this is to spread fear, and I want to see limited resources on ICE going to the most dangerous criminals.
Fortunately now, they are going to break up families and anybody who is pro-family has to look at that from those kids first, most of them overwhelmingly U.S. citizens, and think about the consequences of those actions, not just that letter of the law.
LEMON: Well, as you know, the L.A. city council approved a resolution declaring it was a sanctuary city. That happened earlier this year. What -- will it be legally binding? Does that change how your city might deal with these raids versus non-sanctuary cities?
GARCETTI: This just brings, I think, into an official capacity what has been our standing policy since the late 1970s. Those who remember Los Angeles back then, it was a very conservative police chief named Daryl Gates, who wasn't exactly progressive on all sorts of things, but even he knew that local law enforcement needed to have the trust and the cooperation of all people in the city, including immigrants, regardless of whether they are undocumented or documented.
So this has been 40 years of standing policy. We strengthened it to make sure that applies to our police officers in our airport, our port, and our city personnel.
But it really just brought about kind of a reminder to folks, don't lose your head, know your rights, be vigilant, but don't stop with your lives, don't stop investing in our main streets, don't stop going to school, don't stop going out with your families, don't stop chasing the American dream, and don't stop pushing Washington to do the right thing when it comes to immigration with comprehensive immigration reform.
LEMON: Listen, it is not legally binding, but you said it is policy. It's a longstanding policy.
GARCETTI: Absolutely.
LEMON: It is --
GARCETTI: It is legally binding on us.
LEMON: All right.
GARCETTI: Absolutely.
LEMON: Thank you, mayor. I appreciate your time.
GARCETTI: Appreciate it. Good to see you. Thanks, Don.
LEMON: Democrats in Congress aren't all getting along right now. It's The Squad versus the speaker, and their infighting has some concerned that it could hurt the party. I'm going to ask a freshman Texas congressman if he is worried. That's next.
[23:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Nine American cities targeted and ICE raids expected to begin Sunday, but fear is spreading in communities across the country. Joining my now to is Congressman Colin Allred, a Democrat from Texas. Congressman, I appreciate you joining us. You know, though these raids are not likely to impact your district, you serve in a diverse district in a border state. So what's your reaction to these raids?
REP. COLIN ALLRED (D-TX): Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me on, Don. You know, any removal proceeding is a law enforcement action, and I'm concerned that these law enforcement actions are being politicized. When you see the president kind of making this into a stunt, I don't think that's in the interest of the American people or in the interest of us being sure that laws are being followed.
But to me this is also a failure of the piecemeal approach we've taken too long to our immigration system and just drives so even more why we need to have comprehensive reform that addresses some of these issues.
LEMON: Let's talk some health care now, congressman, which has been a key issue for you since you took office. An appeals court is deciding whether to overturn Obamacare, and the case will likely end up before the Supreme Court. Do you think Obamacare is at risk? Do you think it will survive?
ALLRED: Well, it's certainly at risk, and it's at risk because of a cynical partisan attack to do through the courts what they couldn't do legislatively. We all remember John McCain walking out and putting thumbs down. Now, they are trying to get rid of the ACA and its protections for people with pre-existing conditions through the courts.
I am still hopeful that the chief justice will vote the same way he did last time when the ACA came before his court and that the Supreme Court will uphold the constitutionality of the law, but should it be struck down, this will have an enormous impact on our country. We're talking over 20 million Americans who will lose health care immediately, many of the protections that people got used to going away. It will be a disaster for us.
[23:50:02] LEMON: The president just over two weeks ago, here he is claiming that he is in favor of protecting those pre-existing conditions. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had a choice. I could have let it implode and killed it, or I could --
CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: You're still trying to kill it. Why are you still trying to kill it -- this lawsuit that the Department of Justice joined, it could get rid of pre-existing conditions.
TRUMP: I am in favor of pre-existing conditions.
TODD: So get rid of it -- so drop the lawsuit. So drop your aspect of the lawsuit.
TRUMP: It has nothing to do with it. The lawsuit is one thing. We are going to put in a bill, total pre-existing conditions, and the Republicans are in favor of pre-existing conditions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Is that fair for him to say when he -- when his DOJ is refusing to defend it in court?
ALLRED: Well, no, it's not. And it's not just his Department of Justice. We have a long record here, I think over 50 votes in the last Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. We were, as I said, one thumbs down away from it going away. And, as you know, Don, there was always the saying that they were going to repeal and replace, but there was no plan to replace and there is no plan to replace.
This is something that shouldn't be political. Cancer doesn't care what party you vote for when it strikes. We should be taking care of folks and trying to lower health care costs, work together to try and smooth out and make the ACA work better for people. I'm disappointed that this partisan sabotage is continuing.
LEMON: Yeah. Listen, I also want to talk to you about some of this tension, the tensions between Speaker Pelosi and the so-called The Squad, four women representing the party's more liberal wing. Do you believe that Speaker Pelosi is working to protect more moderate members like you who flipped red districts? What do you think is going on?
ALLRED: Well, I actually don't think we're as far apart in our caucus as some of the reporting has indicated. There are always going to be differences of opinion. That is pretty normal and natural and also within the democratic party it's nothing new, but I think we're united around a few basic things that, such as, you know, lowering the cost of health care, making it easier for folks to get ahead and chase their version of the American dream.
That's what unites us in our caucus, and I think that's what the speaker is ultimately trying to focus on. And I actually think that regardless of kind of the political ideology there, you know, within our party, that that's what holds us together. So, you know, I'm a freshman class co-president. I can tell you from my vantage point, I don't think we're actually as far apart as what you might have been reading and seeing.
LEMON: But you know supporters of the president. They're looking at this, bickering. They are loving it. I mean, his son, Don Jr., has a new op-ed in The Hill claiming the president will be the ultimate victor of this civil war. This is a quote that he said, civil war between Democrats. Are you concerned that this gives the president ammunition?
ALLRED: Well, I think that we need to keep in mind who in the end is preventing some of the things that we want to happen from happening, whether it's Mitch McConnell or whether it's this president not delivering on many of the promises that he made in the campaign to the American people about lowering the cost of health care, about not cutting Medicare and social security. Many of these things that they have gone back on almost immediately and not delivered on.
That's what I think we have to keep in mind. I'll certainly be using my position to try to remind our members of that. But, you know, there are always folks who want to try and play up our divisions, to try and create fissures where they might not be or widen small ones where they exist.
But I'm confident that we're going to stick together on the important issues, deliver on the issues that we talked about in the campaign in 2018, and continue to try to pursue our agenda that I think is in the interest of the American people.
LEMON: Congressman Allred, thank you, sir.
ALLRED: Thank you so much, Don.
LEMON: I appreciate it. A quick note about a new project that I've been working on. Check out the "Up From the Grave" podcast, where I tell you the story of a deadly fire that extinguished the lives of 21 boys, who were padlocked inside their dorm room at a reform school. You can list on Apple podcasts or wherever you find your podcasts. We'll be right back.
[23:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Last fall, we shared the story of Luke Mickelson, a top 10 CNN hero from Twin Falls, Idaho, who saw the need to help a few children in his hometown and ended up quitting his day job to follow his newfound passion. Giving kids a good night's sleep by building free bunk beds and getting kids across the country off the floor. In less than a year, his project has taken off in ways that a small town farm boy never would have imagined. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE MICKELSON, CNN HERO: We went from just one little community to almost over 200 communities now, over 30,000 volunteers. We've also received over 50,000 bed requests.
We're here to deliver beds. You want to show me where they go?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
MICKELSON: All right.
We started a new program in 2019 to help those kids who had been affected by natural disasters throughout the country.
Probably the best, huh? Yeah.
We bring dignity, self-respect.
Perfect.
We're bringing something that they own and can be proud of.
Yeah! You like it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is how I go on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: How many beds can one man build in a day? Go to CNNHeros.com right now to see Luke's full update story and to nominate someone you think should be a CNN hero. Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues.
