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Don Lemon Tonight
Whole Host Of Lies From President Trump; A Picture That Tells A Thousand Words; Fact-Checking President Trump; Trump Weakened By Impeachment Inquiry But Are Dems Strong Enough To Win?; A Mother's Warning About White Supremacists And Neo-Nazis Recruiting Online; Football Coach Disarms Student With Gun, Then Hugs Him. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired October 21, 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]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.
There is a lot going on tonight we're going to look at six big developments in the hour ahead. The president reeling from setbacks from some in his own party who think that he has gone too far. Leaving our allies, the Kurds, defenseless. And violating the Constitution by trying to steer business to his own resort.
Is he being -- becoming more reckless? And what does that say about his fitness for office. I'm going to talk to two legendary journalists. Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson.
Also, the private Instagram page full of showing indicted Rudy Giuliani associates Lev Parnas with President Trump and members of his family. I'm going to talk to The Wall Street Journal reporter who uncovered the photos.
Plus, the president's incoherent and unpresidential cabinet meeting today. Al least 20 of the things he said were false. We're going to fact check them for you.
And in the midst of all this White House chaos you might think that the Democrats would be in a strong position for 2020. But are they?
We also got a shocking story of white supremacist online and one mom's warning for the parents of white teens. And a story you just got to see. The high school coach who disarmed a student and hugged him.
But I want to get right now to the big picture. The president's rambling cabinet meeting full of crazy comments like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Pelosi. Shifty Schiff. Schumer. These people are trying to destroy the country. It's a very bad thing what they are doing. The president of the United States should be allowed to run the
country. Not have to focus on this kind of crap. While at the same time doing a great job when Syria and Turkey and all of the other things that we're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, I've got two legendary journalists joining me tonight. Dan Rather, the host of Axios TV's the Big Interview. And Mr. Sam Donaldson. Good evening, gents.
Dan, the president's rambling cabinet meeting today the impeachment inquiry the -- his erratic foreign policy decisions. And I don't know if you saw that today.
DAN RATHER, HOST, AXIOS TV: Yes.
LEMON: Even his staunchest defenders are all but silent right now. What do you think is going on? Have you ever seen anything like this before?
RATHER: No. And neither has anyone else in terms of the American presidency. Don, I think that the danger of this moment in history boils down to one question. Do you have any idea how low this president is prepared to sink? And in effort to defend himself, his power and money. The answer is, no one knows.
His critics don't know. His enablers don't know. I don't much whether the president himself knows how low he is prepared to go. You know, I expect much more erratic behavior, much more dangerous behavior than we've seen already which makes it important that everyone tries best we can to contain this president and the damage that he's doing to the country.
LEMON: Yes. Well, Sam, you know, like Dan you spent decades covering multiple presidents. When you hear the blatant lies and the insecurity and the rambling, and on and on. What do you make of what we're seeing?
SAM DONALDSON, FORMER ANCHOR & REPORTER, NBC NEWS: I make something new. Because I haven't seen it before. You know, I think Donald Trump lies by default. I mean, he just says things that doesn't care what it says. Doesn't matter to him. And it doesn't matter that even if he knows they're not true.
For instance, he visited Mount Vernon. He looked at it and said it should have a George Washington's name on it. I like to put my name on things. He said if Washington to put his name here then people would have remembered him.
Gee, I kind of think Dan and I and others remember him. Well, it is dangerous though. When he does actions and it would divert with this other. Syria being one of them. And Dan points out I think correctly the Republicans are really now beginning to consider whether they should jump ship. Mitch McConnell he's the leader in the Senate. He's the leader of the
Republicans. He did an op-ed piece for The Washington Post, gosh, of all papers. In which he said the Syrian action by the president was not just a bad mistake or a serious mistake, it was a grave mistake for the security of this country.
[23:04:57]
And I have to ask the Republicans, well, that's true. And I think Republicans care about the security just as much as Democrats or independents or anyone else. But at what cost? Yes, they need the votes of the base to get reelected. But at what cost?
I think they should think of the security of the country and I think they should now join the Democrats in considering whether this man should be removed from office before he does any more damage to us and our security.
LEMON: Dan, today the president he is trying to claim he doesn't profit from his presidency because he doesn't take a salary. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I give away my presidential salary. They say that no other president has done it. I'm surprised to be honest with you. They actually say that George Washington may have been the only other president to do. But see whether or not Obama gave up a salary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: First of all, he's wrong. Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy donated their salaries. But that is really beside the point. He's comparing himself to Washington. Why does he put himself on a pedestal like that?
RATHER: Because he's afraid. He's fearful of what's happening. He's lost control of the narrative for most of his presidency. He had control of the narrative. Just in the last 10 days, two or three weeks, he's lost control the narrative.
And I will say, Don, that all of this is part of a diversion. I'm talking about, you know, look I don't make any money. Everybody knows members of his family been all over the world making deals. Everybody knows he has a heavy investment in Turkey, which is one of the reasons it is suspected that he made the decision to leave the Kurds open to genocide.
I do think that a line was crossed when he double crossed the Kurds. Americans like to think of ourselves, we like to think of ourselves where we keep our word. And I do think that something moved. I won't say it's enough to get him impeached, much less convicted on impeachment charges. But there's something working out there, Don.
The story today about Mitt Romney secret Twitter account which a lot of people would just kind of laugh off. I think it's indicative of what a lot of Republicans are thinking or saying not in public, but behind the scenes. And Donald Trump senses this is happening. That there's movement.
Two and a half, three weeks ago others said chances of impeachment the House is going to impeach. But the chances of a guilty verdict in the Senate maybe 5 percent. Now things have moved so quickly I would say maybe 15 or 20 percent. Because one, I still remember with President Nixon for a very long time during the Watergate scandal. Public opinion was pretty much behind him.
LEMON: The Republicans were behind him as well.
RATHER: But now some of the polls indicate that not only do a slim majority of Americans favor impeachment. The slim majority favors of moving him off. And I think that frankly that scares the hell out of him. He has a feeling. I think Donald Trump has a feeling that metaphorically he's a guy with his back to the wall, his shirt tail on fire, and a bill collector and a process server are knocking at the door.
LEMON: Interesting. Listen, by the same token, you know, you want to call it putting himself on a pedestal. Because, you know, people have said that if you look at the polls, Barack Obama. The greatest president in their lifetime, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton are at the top. I don't think, you know, Trump is in there.
But listen, by the same token President Trump mentioned, Sam, Obama nine times in this cabinet meeting. Listen to this and then we'll talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Obama. Obama. President Obama. Obama. The Obama administration. Obama. President Obama. President Obama. Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He can't quit Obama. He just can't let it go, Sam.
DONALDSON: He can't let it go. And One of the reasons I think is all of that campaign to try to prove President Obama was not born in the United States born in Kenya had people actually believing him for a while. Until at the end he said, all right. I have now disproved this lie that he wasn't born in the United States. That the Democrats got started.
The man has no shame. And I think trying to outdo Obama, as Dan points out, his frailty, he's really a scared man. And scared not just for impeachment. I think much of his life. One of the reasons he's been a consummate con man ahead of just one step from complete bankruptcy is because he's afraid of being exposed to someone who is not the best. Not the greatest. Not always a winner. Someone who never has to apologize.
He's a very fragile human being. If I can feel some compassion for him I would. But I'm not that good a person. LEMON: I want to get this in before we go. I want you to listen to
the president telling Fox News about how he's covered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Covered worse than me.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Who?
TRUMP: Abraham Lincoln. I've heard the one person, he used to be five or six, now it's down to one. Honest Abe Lincoln. They said he got the worst press than anybody else. And I say I dispute it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Really. Abraham Lincoln? First, Sam, Abraham Lincoln? Come on.
[23:10:02]
DONALDSON: Abraham Lincoln. George Washington. Names we can remember without even putting their names on buildings. It's amazing. And this man will be remembered. He's right.
LEMON: Yes.
DONALDSON: He's going down in history but not in a way that anyone would want to.
LEMON: Dan, Abraham Lincoln, really?
RATHER: Well, I think these subjects and I don't need the president to ridicule but people will see these subjects the country to ridicule.
LEMON: Yes.
RATHER: And if Donald Trump is not allowed to finish the presidency that will be one of the keys. That enough people with the American public at large get a sense that we're being laughed at. Ridiculed. But really one of the few times in our whole history. And no American president before this on a consistent basis has opened himself to this kind of ridicule.
He says these absolutely ridiculous things and it's reminiscent about the (Inaudible) saying that, you know, when he rants like he did today, you get the feeling that if bulls were music, he'd be a full symphony orchestra.
LEMON: Last word. Sam, I got to go. What did you --
(CROSSTALK)
DONALDSON: Don.
LEMON: I got to run though. What do want to say? DONALDSON: I just want to say in a future segment if President Pence is the president because he's removed. Does Mr. Pence pardon Donald J. Trump? I hope not.
LEMON: Yes.
DONALDSON: If he does there's a fire storm like you've never seen.
LEMON: Yes. We're getting a little ahead of the story. But that's things that make you go --
DONALDSON: hey, we could say that Lemon is first. You heard it here first.
LEMON: Let's see -- let's see where this goes. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate it. Always a pleasure.
RATHER: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: A private Instagram page full of photographs of an indicted Rudy Giuliani's associate with the president and members of his family. I'm going to talk to the reporter who uncovered the whole thing. That's next.
[23:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Newly discovered Instagram photographs from one of Rudy Giuliani's associates are raising a lot of questions tonight. An investigation by The Wall Street Journal uncovering photos from Lev Parnas who along with Igor Fruman -- excuse me -- has been -- has been indicted on criminal charges for allegedly funneling foreign money into U.S. elections. When the two men were charged earlier this month the president insisted that he doesn't know them at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't know those gentlemen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're in pictures with him.
TRUMP: That was possible I have a picture with him because I have a picture with everybody. I have a picture with everybody here. But somebody said there may be a picture of something where at a fundraiser or somewhere. So. But I have pictures with everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you talk to them?
TRUMP: I don't know if there's anybody I don't have pictures with. I don't know them. I don't know about them. I don't know what they do. But I don't know. Maybe they were clients of Rudy. You have to ask Rudy. I just don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Well, but the Journal's investigation shows that the men have met President Trump or members of his family multiple times since his political career began.
Let's discuss now with the Journal's Shelby Holliday who uncovered the photos. And Elie Honig, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. So good to have both of you on. And good tohave you back. We haven't seen you in quite a while.
SHELBY HOLLIDAY, VIDEO REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yes, good to be here. Thanks for having me. I had a little baby.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Little Zoey is what, six months old now.
HOLLIDAY: Six months.
LEMON: He's adorable. OK. We were looking pictures in the break. So many names. What is it? Igor or Igor ow however you want to say it.
HOLLIDAY: Igor Fruman, Lev parnas.
LEMON: OK.
HOLLIDAY: Those are two main ones, yes.
LEMON: OK. So, this post. I'm going to put this up. This is for you, Shelby. It says this is from a fundraiser that Trump held in October of 2015. That's Parnas on the left that you see there with his son. The caption reads 'let's go Trump. Next president and future president.'
Trump denies knowing anything about these guys. You found out that that is just not true. Is that so?
HOLLIDAY: Well, according to Lev Parnas' Instagram feed he started posting photographs in 2015. And that was one of the earliest photos he posted. And he posted a few of them really excited about Trump's campaign. Trump 2020.
If you scroll through our video, you'll see that he appears with President Trump a few other times throughout the years. So, you know, Trump does take photographs with a lot of people. However, he also posted a photo of a thank you note to Lev Parnas and have Lev's name on it. It was a thank you for your friendship and dedication. Signed President Trump and Melania Trump.
LEMON: Who signed president after he became president?
HOLLIDAY: After he became president.
LEMON: OK.
HOLLIDAY: It looks like a thank you note to a donor.
LEMON: OK.
HOLLIDAY: But Lev -- Lev on his Instagram feed and then his caption certainly claims to be quite close to the president.
LEMON: That's it right there.
HOLLIDAY: Right.
LEMON: But here's the thing, though. In October 2015, right, when that picture was taken. Trump was doing well in the polls. But his team was relatively small. Yet, there was Parnas.
HOLLIDAY: Yes. There was Parnas. His team was relatively small. He was self-funding, he wasn't raising a lot of money at that point.
LEMON: Yes.
HOLLIDAY: But Parnas did become quite a big donor for both Trump and the GOP.
LEMON: All right.
HOLLIDAY: And was a huge supporter from 2015.
LEMON: All right. Let's go, there's another photo. The day after Attorney General Barr released his summary of the special counsel's report. OK? And it says Parnas is at a working dinner with Giuliani and Trump attorney Jay Sekulof (Ph). There it is. Sekulow. Excuse me.
He captions this. He says, 'Congratulations team Trump. Job well done. Even during our celebration dinner everybody hard at work. Hash tag Trump 2020.'
Why would the CEO of the company named Fraud Guarantee be dining at such a critical time with two of President Trump's tops lawyer -- top lawyers? That's the question.
HOLLIDAY: So, a few things about this photo. Number one, Parnas took three photos and that's what you see in this post with that caption. We never see him at the table. So, it's unclear if he was dining with him if he just there to take photos. But he certainly claims in his caption that is our celebratory dinner.
Another thing that's quite interesting is this dinner was the day after William Barr released the summary of the Mueller report. So, they were out celebrating no collusion, no obstruction.
[23:19:59]
And this dinner occurred several months after Parnas allegedly began funneling Russian money into U.S. campaigns. And here he is on a victory lap saying no, you know, no collusion.
LEMON: I see your face --
(CROSSTALK) HOLLIDAY: It's also interesting that he's there with Trump's legal
team.
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I love it. I love it. This is what Shelby did as a reporter is exactly what any good prosecutor or investigator will do. Social media can be a gold mine as we are seeing right here.
LEMON: Right.
HONIG: Because what happens is everyone starts playing the distancing game. trump starts saying I don't -- even I don't really know Rudy whether he's my lawyer. Bt I don't know these guys. And Rudy will start distancing himself from these guys. And then what you do you slap these photos up in front of the jury and you go look, it tells, it's worth a thousand words.
LEMON: OK. Well, good. There's this. Parnas and Fruman's lawyer -- Fruman -- excuse me. John Dowd who also used the -- used to President Trump, they sent a letter to Congress. We'll put it up there.
And it says, "Be advised that Messrs. Parnas and Fruman assisted Mr. Giuliani in connection with the representation of President Trump."
What exactly were they doing to assist President Trump's lawyers and representing?
HONIG: We don't know. But that's a whoopsie-daisy statement. That's going to come back to bite him.
HOLLIDAY: no, but, I just --
(CROSSTALK)
HONIG: Yes.
HOLLIDAY: I don't want to interrupt you but I will say --
HONIG: OK.
HOLLIDAY: -- Lev now has a new lawyer and he's saying the same thing.
HONIG: Right.
HOLLIDAY: I'm not sure it's a whoopsie-daisy statement.
HONIG: And we were talking about before. No. I think it's a whoopsie- daisy statement of truth. Like not something you want to say out loud. And the fact, we were trying to figure out could either these guys be cooperating? Because if they are it's potentially really bad news for Rudy Giuliani and maybe others.
And a key thing is the fact that John Dowd who represented Trump used to represent both of them. Which suggest to me he's there to prevent them from cooperating. But now one of them has a different lawyer, which, to me, can be an indicator that that person is now starting to cooperate.
LEMON: During the general election campaign and the beginning of Trump's presidency Paras his Instagram goes dark. And then in July of last year he posts these pictures with Florida's now Governor Ron DeSantis and then Donald Trump, Jr. I mean, you have got reporting I understand here about Parnas that what he was up to in the years between those photos. What is that?
HOLLIDAY: Well, in between these photos it's a little unclear if he had photos and he deleted them or he just wasn't posting on Instagram. We did see what the campaign legal centers complaint. Their initial complaint. They screen grabbed some Facebook photos of Parnas and Fruman at the White House, for example.
So, they were active on social media. But we don't know why his account went dark until 2018. The he pops up and h starts posting all of these pictures from midterm events, and he's on a private jet with Rudy Giuliani. And click on our videos, scroll through it you'll see all the states they hit.
They were in Michigan, New Hampshire, Indiana, Nevada. This is in November right before the midterm elections. This is also while they were allegedly making illegal campaign contributions.
HONIG: Yes. Public service announcement to all criminal defendants do not post photos on Instagram of you jet setting around with your co- conspirators. It will come back to bite you.
HOLLIDAY: Private account or not, it's true.
LEMON: Thank you, both. Thank you. Great reporting.
HONIG: Yes.
HOLLIDAY: Thank you.
LEMON: Always good to see both of you. And again, congratulations. It's good to see you.
HOLLIDAY: Thank you so much.
LEMON: We've said it before the president is lying a lot today. Lying a lot. We're going to fact check him next.
[23:25:00]
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LEMON: The president trying to defend himself today in an unhinged cabinet meeting monologue with at least 20 false claims and there's more. The president speaking out tonight on a Fox News interview where he made even more work for our fact checkers.
Let's get right to the facts first now with CNN's Daniel Dale. Daniel, we got to go fast because there's a lot to cover here. Good evening to you. let's start with President Trump's interview tonight. Trump kept
making this false claim about his phone call to the president of Ukraine. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Now they don't talk about that anymore because that letter was so good. So, they don't talk about it anymore. They don't mention the letter anymore. And they don't mention whistleblowers and they don't mention any of these people anymore. They don't like to talk about the phone call because it was perfect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, the letter all of a sudden? What's he talking about.
DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: The phone call has become the letter today. I don't know why. But it is the same phone call. And everyone or at least a whole lot of people in Washington are talking about this phone call. The president seems to want to wish it away.
But this phone call remains the center of the Democrats impeachment inquiry. It's the subject of tons of media discussion. So, yes, people are still talking about this phone call.
LEMON: OK. And there's President Trump's cabinet meeting today, he responded to critics who say holding the G7 at one of his resorts would violate the Constitution. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: George Washington they say had two desks. He had a presidential desk and a business desk. I don't think you people with this phony emolument's clause. And by the way, I would say that it's cost me anywhere from $2 to $5 billion to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, there's nothing phony about the emolument's clause. It's the Constitution.
DALE: It's in the constitution. In fact, there are two clauses that can be called the emoluments clause. There's one clause that prohibits presidents from accepting payment or gifts from foreign governments or foreign officials. And there is one that prohibits presidents from receiving domestic payments from any source other than their official salary. So, no. Of course, this is not phony.
LEMON: So true to form today, the president also made this false claim about his crowd size at a Dallas rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: My largest year in Dallas. I have 25,000 people close in that arena. I had a record crowd. The history of the arena. It's the biggest crowd they've ever had. And we had 20,000 people outside at least.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Fact check that for us, Daniel.
[23:30:01]
DALE: So, this crowd outside claims are among my favorite Trump's claims -- of Trump's claims. They are reliably inaccurate. So, my colleague Maroney (Ph) and I asked the Dallas Police how many people were outside. They said it was approximately 5,000. Just upwards of 5,000, not 20,000 or 30,000 that Trump had said before. And the capacity of the arena itself is about 20,000. So, no, he did not have about 25,000 in there.
LEMON: Still a great crowd. Why would he have to do that?
DALE: This is what he does. He perpetually exaggerates even numbers that are impressive when said correctly.
LEMON: That is beyond embellishing. That is an exaggeration. Thank you very much, Daniel. I appreciate that.
You might think that the impeachment inquiry into the president would be boosting Democrats' chances to win back the White House. Why some are saying not so fast.
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[23:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The president's out of control cabinet meeting today, the impeachment inquiry, is a series of bad foreign policy decisions. You might think with all of that, Democrats would be sitting pretty in 2020. But that may not be so true.
Let's discuss now. Joe Trippi is here, and Rick Wilson, the author of "Everything Trump Touches Dies." Hello to both of you, gents. Rick, you first.
RICK WILSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Hi, Don.
LEMON: Last week, President Trump had one of the worst weeks yet. He is facing impeachment. Yet there are numerous articles about concerns that there's not a Democrat who can beat him. Explain why that is.
WILSON: The election is still a long way off, the field of the Democrats is still enormous, and the election is really being held in about 15 states. We kind of know how California and Massachusetts are going to go. We kind of know how Mississippi and Alabama are going to go.
But the 15 or so swing states where this is going to be fought out are still very much in play. And Donald Trump is still culturally in some ways a better match in those states for some of the politics.
The states are not particularly far to the left. They are not particularly woke (ph) as they say, as the kids say today.
But I think that there is a real challenge to stay ahead of the curve here on making the case that 2020 is a referendum on Donald Trump and not to get lured into the tricks and the traps that he is going to use, his consultants are going to use against the Democrats in the coming months.
LEMON: Still in 2016, the election was basically decided by about 77,000 people in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Barack Obama won those three states in both 2008 and 2012. Can a Democrat win the White House without taking those states back is the question.
JOE TRIPPI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't think so. I think we got to put the blue wall back together in those states. And then I think, you know, we still have to move into some of the other states that Rick is talking about, there are 15 of them.
But, look, I think the problem for Democrats isn't our own primary. The primaries tend to make the eventual nominee stronger. Right now, Trump, the lower his numbers go, there is only one way out for him, and that is to drive the democratic candidates numbers down, lower, making it one of the ugly -- looking probably at one the ugliest races, making 2016 look - -
LEMON: Suppress the vote, you're saying, right?
TRIPPI: He has already got a head start. Yeah. He has got a head start right now because while we're fighting it out, they're spending millions of dollars on digital ads targeted into these 15 states.
LEMON: Yup.
TRIPPI: Into the targets they want to reach and poisoning the water on whether it's Joe Biden or Warren. It doesn't really matter if Kamala or somebody or Amy Klobuchar emerges later on in a few months. They'll just turn that fire power on them. And there isn't a unified democratic digital response to that right now. Candidates are all again dealing with each other.
LEMON: Rick, let's talk about independent voters in 2016, shall we? Because Trump won 48 percent of them in Pennsylvania compared to Clinton's 41 percent. In Michigan, Trump won 52 percent of independents. Clinton won 36 percent. Wisconsin, Trump won 50 of independents. Clinton won 40 percent. How much is a Democrat need to close that gap to make up that 77,000 vote margin?
WILSON: Well, they need to close that gap significantly, Don, and I'll tell you why. Those folks right now are in the wind. They are not happy with Trump. They're not overwhelming Trump supporters. But they are also part of that big squishy suburban demographic of folks who when they hear things like we're going to take away all your private health insurance, their eyes pop out and they go, wait, what? LEMON: Right.
WILSON: And they get a little bit frightened. They're not looking for radical regime change to the left. They are just looking for a return to some normality and some basic civility, and for government working without it every day being a day like today where it is just like a raw torrent of crazy all day.
LEMON: When you say you'll going to give health insurance to undocumented immigrants and some of them are, like, wait a minute, I have family who are American citizens --
WILSON: Right.
LEMON: -- and don't have health insurance. And they go, wait, what's going on. This is what Trump told Sean Hannity about Elizabeth Warren. This is a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to talk about it because, you know, the last time I took on Elizabeth Warren, I thought she was gone. Embers. You know, burning embers down.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST (voice-over): Pocahontas.
[23:40:00]
TRUMP: And Pocahontas. There's only one. And it's not her.
HANNITY (voice-over): OK.
TRUMP: So what happened, Sean? And she rose from the ashes, and I give her credit for that. But I don't like talking about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: So Joe, how much is that admission, he thought that she was gone but she rose from the ashes, boosts Senator Warren?
TRIPPI: You know, he -- it is hard to getting into what he's talking about or who he's really worried about. I don't think it matters that much. She has run the most disciplined campaign so far. I think of any other candidates, and it shown she has risen steadily, not a pop and then bumping down.
But she is now emerging as the co-frontrunner or frontrunner and that's going to get her the focus that you don't really want sometimes because the doubts that people have about how are you going to pay for these things and those kinds of questions are now going to dominate for a while.
But I think she -- we're a long way off, and I think it's unclear whether he's really trying to pick an opponent or not. Again, I think it's what they're doing, pay on digital, that matters the most and the Democrats have to find way to fight back on that.
LEMON: All right. It got to be the last word. Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it. We'll be right back.
WILSON: Thanks, Don.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: White supremacist and alt-right groups taking their message of hate online using social media to recruit kids as young as 11. After seeing the social media account of her young son filled with sexism and racist content, one mother posted an open warning to parents. The overwhelming response proves she is not alone.
Sara Sidner has more now. Sara?
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, it's been nearly 75 years since the end of World War II and the Holocaust. So why it is that Nazi culture is seeping into American youth culture now? A mother of teen and twin boys says she has the answer, and she has a warning for parents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOANNA SCHROEDER, MOTHER AND WRITER: Do you have white teenage sons? Listen up.
SIDNER (voice-over): Joanna Schroeder has a message to moms just like her of teen and twin boys. Pay attention to your children's online gaming or social media because even if you aren't, white supremacists are.
SCHROEDER: Everywhere from the alt-right which is kind of a more comfortable way of saying, not quite a Nazi to true neo-Nazis, they have studied the way that our young men interact online, they have looked at what these boys need, and they have learned how to fill those needs in order to entice them into propaganda.
SIDNER (voice-over): As a writer of online content, she was surprised when she heard some of the coded language she was often confronted with coming out of her own sons' mouths.
(On camera): What are some of the warning phrases or words?
SCHROEDER: The first word I heard was "triggered." And this is a tough one because you will hear this from your conservative uncle and you may also hear this from a kid that is getting a lot of alt-right messaging online. That's everyone is too sensitive today.
SIDNER (voice-over): There is whole Lexicon shared by members of these online communities. One common thread among the words and ideas they favor, she says, are complaints about people who are too sensitive. SCHROEDER: And that's a very alt-right talking point. That is an entry way kind of terminology. It's not racist. No, it's not. But it's often used against people who are calling out racism or sexism or homophobia as a way to imply that, you know, those of us who don't accept that language are just too sensitive.
SIDNER (voice-over): Her teen like others we've talked to was drawn in by snarky memes. She and her son scroll through his Instagram explore feed which recommends content based on what it thinks a user will enjoy. She was stunned.
SCHROEDER: And I saw an image of Hitler. And I stopped him. And I said, was that Hitler?
SIDNER (voice-over): It was a meme implying a time traveller would have tipped Hitler off to keep him alive.
SCHROEDER: I know my kids understand Hitler. But as I scroll his, I saw more memes that joked about the Holocaust and joked about slavery.
SIDNER (on camera): So normalizing.
SCHROEDER: Yeah.
SIDNER (on camera): Horrible things.
SCHROEDER: And desensitizing or kids to things we should be sensitive, too.
SIDNER (voice-over): She decided to take to Twitter to warn other parents and it went viral.
SCHROEDER: I've been watching my boys' online behavior and noticed that social media and bloggers are actively laying groundwork in white teens to turn them into alt-right white supremacists.
SIDNER (voice-over): The reactions were strong. One self-described gamer said, "This exact thing happened to me in high school in this exact way." Others attack Schroeder, calling her all the names she warned her kids about. It clearly hit a nerve because her thread ended up being posted and criticized on one of the most virulent neo-Nazi sites. The white supremacists' propaganda is on just about every popular social media site.
SCHROEDER: It's just the door that opens for the white supremacists to walk in and take your kid's hand. It's your our kids inability to sniff it out propaganda.
SIDNER (voice-over): Ultimately, she says parents need to educate themselves about their children's online life.
SCHROEDER: I'm sorry, parents. You have to have a snap chat account.
SIDNER (voice-over): In Instagram, Reddit, and Discord. Then talk about it.
SCHROEDER: The kids and I are conspirators together.
[23:50:00]
SCHROEDER: These alt-right guys are trying to trick you, like they think you're dumb, and you're smart, you're smart.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: Now, she says that she has been attacked online for trying to brainwash her kids or trying to bend her children's mind. She says, of course, I'm trying to bend my children's minds. I taught them to cover their mouth when they cough or to wash their hands before they eat. All I'm doing now is trying to teach them analytical skills when it comes to the internet.
She says she wants her kids to know the difference between right and wrong. Don?
LEMON: Sara, thank you very much. I appreciate that. So take this video. A coach is disarming a student at school and moments later enveloping that student in a hug. We have that story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So take this. An extraordinary moment caught on tape at a high school in Portland, Oregon. Look at this. In the video, you see what happens after a football and track coach Keanon Lowe disarms a student with a shotgun.
The student walks into a classroom at Parkrose School High School, intending to use the gun to take his own life. When this happened back in May, reports said the coach tackled the student, but new video released by officials show something that is very different.
I want you to take a look. After the student enters a classroom with the shotgun, video footage shows that Coach Lowe backing out of that classroom with the shotgun in his right hand and then with his other arm, he holds the student just a little bit away from him.
And that's when another staff member enters. You see him. There you'll see him come in a moment. There he is right there. Then he takes the gun away. And then a moment of embrace. You can see it is far from a tackle. The coach wraps his arms around the student's arms, and then he rubs the student's back, and he holds him close. Coach Lowe says it was all instinct.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEANON LOWE, HIGH SCHOOL COACH THAT DISARMED STUDENT: Pretty crazy situation, you know, in a fraction of a second. I analyzed everything really fast. I saw the look in his face, look in his eyes, looked at the gun. I realized it was a real gun. And then my instincts just took over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Here to discuss now is Neill Franklin.
Neill, it is so good to have you on to talk about this. What are officers trained to do in a situation like this?
NEILL FRANKLIN, FORMER MARYLAND STATE POLICE OFFICER: Thanks for having me on.
LEMON: Did the coach do everything right, you think?
FRANKLIN: Oh, he definitely did. I can't think of anything that he did not do right. It's acting quickly. He's unarmed, but he recognized something. He recognized something in this kid. As we know, most of these kids are troubled, and they're dealing with some emotional issues.
And he recognized that. He recognized the kid was armed. He recognized an opportunity to do something about it very quickly, which in my mind, in my opinion, ended up saving the lives of a number of people and even the life of that kid.
There are two really good stories here. Number one, yes, he disarmed this kid and potentially saved the lives of many others. But then the second story is the compassion that he demonstrated for this kid. That hug, that compassion for minutes afterwards is probably going to change this kid's life forever for the good.
LEMON: Mm-hmm.
FRANKLIN: And hopefully others see this and take something good away from this encounter with this young man. Coach Lowe is amazing.
LEMON: We don't see the exact moment that the gun is taken from the student. But I mean grabbing a shotgun out of someone's hands, not an easy thing to do.
FRANKLIN: No, it's not. But Coach Lowe, obviously, he appears to be in great physical condition. We know he played wide receiver for the Ducks. He's the coach at the school. But I'll tell you something. This is what coaches do. Coaches understand when there's a time to be a warrior, when there's a time to be tough, to be tough on kids, but then they can take that hat off and put on the hat of compassion.
And as we've seen with Coach Lowe in this video, that's exactly what he did. There are opportunities to make good things happen, and he recognized that in both of these scenarios, disarm him and then to show compassion.
LEMON: I have a short time left, but this is what we understand. The student pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in public --
FRANKLIN: Yeah. LEMON: -- in a public building and one count of unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in public. Under the agreement, the student will receive mental health and substance abuse treatment. What do you think of that?
FRANKLIN: I think it's good. But the key is to closely monitor this kid to ensure that he not only receives the treatment but responds to it as well. They're going to have to watch him very closely because it took a long time for this kid to get to that place of despair. It's going to take a long time to get him to a place of moving forward and dealing with his issues.
LEMON: Thank you. Neill Franklin, I appreciate it. Again, Coach Keanon Lowe did a fantastic job, as Neill said, did everything right and also showed compassion, which we could use a lot of in this society at this time. Thank you, Neill. Again, appreciate it.
FRANKLIN: Tip my hat.
LEMON: Absolutely.
FRANKLIN: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: Thank you, everyone, for watching. Really appreciate it. I'm Don Lemon. Our coverage continues.
