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Don Lemon Tonight

COVID Cases in U.S. Continue to Escalate; Kim Jong-un in Danger After a Heart Surgery; Georgia Mayors Bo Dorough of Albany and Hardie Davis, Jr. of Augusta Were Interviewed About Gov. Brian Kemp's Decision to Reopen Their State's Economy This Friday. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired April 20, 2020 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:00:00]

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: We've got to do better than what we're doing right now. This is America, the greatest strongest country with the most resilient people. Hard times make strong people. These are hard times. Will we show our strength?

Five weeks in, I argue, no, we have not, and we have to do better. That's my argument for you tonight. All right?

Let's take a break. Actually, and say good-bye. Do I say good-bye now or do I go to break and then say good-bye?

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: You're done.

CUOMO: I'm done? I'll say now.

LEMON: You're done.

CUOMO: I was trying to buy more time.

LEMON: you're done.

CUOMO: I was trying to make a move. I thought maybe Don wasn't wired up yet, but not tonight. He's on his game. CNN Tonight with my man, the family I choose, D. Lemon.

LEMON: I'm glad to see that you are on fire tonight. And it's good to see you and your family. I'm on fire, too. I'm so mad about a whole bunch of things. I have to keep my composure because I want to keep my job. I'm really mad.

You're upset about what you said about the president, it's because he doesn't want to admit his weakness, he doesn't want to admit what he got wrong, he doesn't want to admit that he was late to the ball game. He doesn't want to admit that, listen, this was something that happened.

If you just say we were not a little bit -- not a little bit behind, we were behind, we did some things wrong, we can -- let's make it right, right now, let's catch up, let's see what's right for the American people right now, instead of making it all about him. That's what he can't admit. And guess what? Until he admits that, it's not going to be right. It's not going to be right for him now.

CUOMO: I'll tell you what, D. Lemon.

LEMON: It's not going to be right for him in November, and that's what he's worried about. That's the question to your question. That's what your closing argument is really about.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Well, he's definitely worried about it. No question. That's what he wants. That's why the economy is so important to him. That's why reopening is important, but it's important to a lot of people.

I tell you what, I'm weakened by COVID. So, I don't want the first part. I'm OK with him not taking responsibility for it. I just want this country to step up more. Five weeks and we can't make gowns and gloves and visors when people are making them at home?

LEMON: Yes.

CUOMO: We can't make test kits, you know, when he held up that cotton swab on Sunday being like, what's this remind you of? Something we can't make. One company in this whole country, five weeks.

Man, we made ships and bullets and tanks and armor and women and men came out and did so much. That's what made us great. And now it's just on a hat, brother. And I can't believe we're not doing better than these five weeks in.

LEMON: We could be --

CUOMO: It's embarrassing.

LEMON: It is.

CUOMO: It's embarrassing.

LEMON: You think about -- and don't get me going about all the -- not everyone, but some of the people out there with those protests. They could be helping us figure out how to do some of those things, too. So, we got to talk -- I've got some break --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: He could be shouting those protests down, too. They're his people.

LEMON: Man --

CUOMO: He could be saying, go home, don't do this, I don't want you doing this. You don't represent what I'm about.

LEMON: Do you really want --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: He could say that.

LEMON: You don't want me going there. Because it makes me so angry because every night when I leave this studio and when I come in, there's an army of people when I go through New York City, an army of immigrants and people of color and poor people who are keeping this city running. They are disinfecting offices. They are cleaning people. They are changing bedpans and they are working, and those people are out there complaining because they don't have haircuts. Who the hell do you think you are?

And if you're so upset about it, you should be mad at the president because he's the one who's supposed to help your small businesses. I understand that you are hurting. I understand that people are hurting. Yes, a lot of people are hurting, but there are who are front line workers who have to get out there.

You know I did the color of COVID this weekend. Those people are at the grocery stores --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: It's a great --

LEMON: -- who didn't expect to have their lives be placed in danger because they have to work at the grocery store. They're driving busses and you're protesting against -- you're slapping the faces of people who are -- the health care workers who put their lives on the line every day because you want a haircut? You want to go play golf?

You're concerned about -- of course you're concerned about your business. Tell the president that. And you're out there with guns, with weapons strapped to your chest, saying, you want to get -- you're fighting against the people who are telling you to stay at home, trying to save your lives, you're upset with those people?

In the meantime, there are people who are keeping your cities going, keeping your loved ones alive and you want to get a haircut? Who the hell do you think you are? What is wrong with people? I don't understand, what is wrong with people.

Stay at home. Yes, you have the right to protest. You have the right to protest. Everyone does. Fine, I'm sure I will be criticized for this. And guess what? You have the right to criticize me. But I don't want to hear from those people who are out there protesting with guns, right, and that is threatening -- a threatening look for people. You're protesting with guns.

[22:05:02]

Don't -- don't criticize people who are taking a knee for -- at a ball game, an entertainment, saying I don't want people protesting at a ball game when people who are who are peacefully protesting -- don't give me that when you're out there protesting with guns and saying, I want to get back to work, I want my liberty.

Well, then you should be out there standing up for people who are -- and I want to hear the same argument go out there and help people who are protesting against their government as well for the treatment of their government as well.

CUOMO: You won't hear it.

LEMON: So, I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. Don't be a hypocrite. Stand up for those people as well.

CUOMO: But that's -- but that is the fringe partisan politics at play. They're not going to admit.

LEMON: It doesn't matter. We're all Americans. We're all Americans.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Nobody ever admits the weakness of their argument. I know, but what I'm saying is, look this is all about --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I'm so mad today.

CUOMO: I'm sure you would be. That is -- it is incensing. There's no question about it. But this is also about leadership. Those are the president's people. And we're not talking about a lot of people. These aren't massive protests.

LEMON: The majority of people in this country want to --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: But he could shut them down.

LEMON: -- a majority of people in this country aren't for, you know, what the folks are doing.

CUOMO: No, of course not. People want to be safe

LEMON: They aren't going back to work. They want more testing. Yes.

CUOMO: Most people aren't left or right, they're reasonable, OK? They're center, left and right. You know, they want to -- they want progressive pragmatism. They want things that make sense. They want principles that are acted on by performance. You know, most people are on the same page of most things --

LEMON: But those are the main people who are out there telling -- you know, when the president calls people SOBs for things like that.

CUOMO: Right.

LEMON: When people are -- are protesting for criminal justice reforms, when they're telling --

CUOMO: That's right. LEMON: When they're saying black lives matter. They're saying who are

you? I want to be entertained by the ball game. I don't want to do that. Well, those people have a right as well. I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong. But you should be standing up for everybody's right to protest. You shouldn't be criticizing anyone if you're going to have that sort of stance.

CUOMO: As a leadership point.

LEMON: Right. And the president is saying --

CUOMO: As a leadership point the president one upped his Charlottesville comments by saying liberate your states.

LEMON: Right.

CUOMO: And they're coming after your Second Amendment, too. What the hell does that have to do with COVID?

LEMON: Well, liberate --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: What kind of president takes people to liberate their state?

LEMON: And those people, it seems that they are upstanding and they are doing what's right and they are socially distancing. He hasn't seen the pictures.

If you're going to stand up for one group, Mr. President, stand up for every group, and don't call one SOBs and call the other ones upstanding citizens. That's just, that's just my point.

I go it to go because I got a bunch of breaking news. And I'm going to lose my cool and my composure and I may lose my job in the same breath.

CUOMO: You're not going to lose your job. Your job is to be passionate and to be smart and to give people what they need to know and to do it as well as anybody.

LEMON: Look at those cheeks. I have been eating Chris. You've got to help when you're done. We got to work out. You got to work --

CUOMO: Listen, I'm a shell of myself. As I kept telling you, now is the time to attack, Don. If you want the crown, come get it. Because the big dog is weak.

LEMON: I love you. I got to go. Stay strong. I'm glad that you're getting better and your family and Christina. My love to Cristina as well. We'll talk to you soon.

CUOMO: Thank you.

LEMON: I'm passionate and I'm fired up. So, there you go. And I'm waiting to see what you're going to say about this afterwards. This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.

And we're here tonight. We have -- we're covering two big major breaking news stories for you of course. The coronavirus epidemic facing the United States. More than 784,000 cases of coronavirus in this country. More than 42,000 Americans have died. Just three months since the first reported U.S. case.

And we have breaking news. And it's out of North Korea tonight. The U.S. is monitoring intelligence that Kim Jong-un is in grave danger. This is after surgery. That is according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation. We're going to have a lot more on this throughout the next two hours.

Our Jim Sciutto and Will Ripley, they are reporting on the story. From here, also in Asia as well, and we're going to be with you -- they're going to bring us the story, what we know on this extraordinary -- these extraordinary developments throughout the broadcast and throughout the hours here on CNN.

But we're going to begin with this breaking news on coronavirus. Tens of thousands of people it has killed here in the United States in such a short period of time. That number that I gave you just a moment ago, 42,000 dead, it's a death toll that has nearly doubled in just the past week.

That is proof that no matter what anybody tells you, no matter how many hopeful signs there may be, it's far too early to let down our guard. It's far too early to go back to the lives that we were living just last month, just as of a few weeks ago. Not when the death toll has doubled in the past week.

Yet states are making moves to begin reopening parks, beaches, some businesses are risking, I don't know, a surge of infections. And if that shocks you, it should. They're putting their own people at risk.

Georgia announcing tonight that gyms, barbers, hair and nail salons, massage therapists can reopen as early as this Friday. The businesses being told to keep up social distancing and screen employees for illnesses.

[22:10:04]

A serious question. Think about this. How do you maintain social distancing in a barber shop? Or a hair and nail salon? At a massage therapist? Think -- they're touching you. It is impossible. And the fact is, Georgia hasn't even met the president's own guidelines to reopen. Guidelines that call for a two-week sustained decrease in cases. Yet the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, says this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): I will say that, you know, when we have more people moving around we'll probably going to have to see our cases continue to go up, but we're a lot better prepared for that now than we were over a month ago. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And our very own Dr. Sanjay Gupta said it best tonight that Governor Kemp closed late and he's opening early. Remember, it was just a few weeks ago that Georgia's governor in a stunning display of willful ignorance claimed that he had delayed issuing a stay-at-home order because he had just learned that people without symptoms can spread the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEMP: Those individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad. Well, we didn't know that until the last 24 hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The fact is we have known about asymptomatic transmission of the coronavirus since at least January.

And a sign of just how hard the crisis has slammed the economy, U.S. oil prices today hit negative $37. That means producers are essentially paying to get rid of barrels of oil. You want a barrel of oil? They're going to pay you to take it. Something that has never happened before.

And Wall Street was spooked. Stocks finishing sharply lower. More than 42,000 people dead in the United States. The death toll nearly doubled in just one week. The economy is in a free fall. Yet the president tonight passing the buck again tonight on testing, suggesting that the governors just don't understand what the administration is doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Earlier today Vice President Pence spoke with governors from all 50 states about our unified effort to defeat the virus. He had a great call. It was a great call. Very positive. I'd say every way.

Prior to the call, we provided each governor with a list of the names, addresses and phone numbers of the labs where they can find additional testing capacity within their states. Many, many labs. We're providing you with the list. We'll show it to you now if you need it. We'll give you the details.

But hundreds and hundreds of labs are ready, willing and able. Some of the governors like as an example the governor from Maryland didn't really understand the list. He didn't understand too much about what was going on, so now I think he'll be able to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Didn't understand the list. That is just another attempt to distract, to play the blame game while Americans are dying.

Here's the fact. The president wasn't even on the call. He left the job of reassuring governors on testing to the Vice President Mike Pence. After the president has repeatedly passed the buck to the states on testing.

While Harvard researchers say we need to do half a million tests every day, and we're not even close. Maryland Governor, Larry Hogan, a Republican, telling Wolf Blitzer tonight that the list the president was talking about was a list of all the lab facilities in their state, facilities the governors already know about. Saying many in his state were federal facilities or military installations where they haven't been able to do any testing. And going on to say this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): I had a pretty good understanding of what's going on, and I appreciated the information that was provided by his team, but he wasn't there for -- I'm not sure what he was trying to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Governor Hogan managed to get half a million coronavirus test kits from South Korea because his wife who was born there helped negotiate the deal. Asked tonight whether his downplaying of the virus for months cost lives, the president pointed again to his so-called bans on travel from China and Europe, bans that were full of loopholes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I stopped China from coming to the United States. I stopped Europe from coming into the United States. Long before the March date that you're talking about. So, people should say I acted very early. That was a very hard thing to do. Doing that was a very hard thing.

I didn't want to do that. But I did it because I thought -- and Dr. Fauci said that by doing it President Trump saved tens of thousands of lives. So, I did take it very seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rallies in February and in March and there are some --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I don't know about rallies. I really don't know about rallies. I know one thing, I haven't left the White House in months except for a brief moment to give a wonderful ship, the comfort.

[22:15:01]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You held a rally in March.

TRUMP: I don't know. Did I hold a rally? I'm sorry. I hold a rally. Did I hold a rally?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Did I hold a rally? Did you hold a rally? Yes, you did hold a rally. And that's not a got you question. The president is playing politics. He knows he held a rally. Those rallies were fueling his re- election hopes. And you think that's not top of mind for this president, even now in the midst of a deadly pandemic? Just listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But remember this. We're dealing in politics. We're dealing with a thing called November 3rd of this year. Do you know what November 3rd represents, right? You know better than anybody in the room.

November 3rd of this year, it's called the presidential election. No matter what I do, no matter where we go, no matter how well we do, no matter what, if I came up with a tablet, you'd take it and this plague is gone. They'll say Trump did a terrible job. Terrible, terrible --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He's making it all about him. At a time when more than 42,000 Americans have died and that's why he is encouraging the kind of protests that we're seeing in communities like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, calling for an end to stay-at-home restrictions.

So, let's remember some important facts here. The vast majority of Americans are not protesting. More than 97 percent of us are under stay-at-home restrictions, and as pictures of this video of nearly empty LaGuardia Airport in New York today, it shows we're staying home and we're doing it by the millions.

Yet protesters are completely disregarding the fact that those restrictions are the only thing that could turn the tide. It looks like they're also completely disregarding masks and any attempt at six feet of social distancing.

The president encouraging them, even though they're protesting his own guidelines. The guidelines they billed as the president's coronavirus guidelines for America. And how many times did the vice president stand up at the briefings and give the president credit for those guidelines?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The president's 15 days to slow the spread.

We need every American to put into practice the president's coronavirus guidelines, 15 days to slow the spread.

The president's coronavirus guidelines. Fifteen days to slow the spread. Putting into practice the president's guidelines for combatting the coronavirus and its spread.

To continue to put into practice the president's coronavirus guidelines for America. Thank you for stepping up.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: And I've said this before, but it is a stark fact that bears repeating. The numbers of people at those protests, the number, I should say, doesn't remotely compare to the number of dead in this country. Over 42,000 tonight. Just three months into this crisis.

I don't usually like to report every tweet the president tweets, but he just fired off that he'll be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration to the United States.

We will check on this and report back to you, but no amount of travel bans can change the fact that coronavirus is here. It is here now. It has been here spreading for months. And we don't have the proper testing or PPE to be able to keep Americans safe as states push to open back up.

Georgia's governor is admitting that there will be more coronavirus cases as they reopen the state. I'm going to ask two Georgia mayors how their towns feel about reopening. That's next.

And we're going to have the latest on the breaking news out of North Korea tonight. A U.S. source saying Kim Jong-un is in grave danger after surgery.

[22:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Georgia's governor making moves to reopen his state's economy even though Georgia hasn't even met the president's own guidelines to reopen. The governor announcing that certain businesses including gyms, barber shops, hair and nail salons can reopen on Friday, and local officials are not permitted to impose their open restrictions, but Governor Brian Kemp also admitting his state will probably see an uptick in cases.

So, let's bring in Mayor Bo Dorough of Albany, Georgia and Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr. of Augusta, Georgia. Thank you both very much. Mayor Dorough, let's start with you. So, the county -- Dougherty County where your city is has seen the most coronavirus deaths in the state, 98 deaths. You're in a hot spot. Did you know about Governor Kemp's plan to reopen starting Friday?

MAYOR BO DOROUGH, ALBANY, GEORGIA: Well, we certainly anticipated that the governor was considering not extending the shelter in place beyond April 30th. We did not see this type of withdrawal of the restrictions this early.

LEMON: So, what's your concern? Are you concerned? I'm sure.

DOROUGH: We're simply not ready to reopen. I mean, we have 62 people on ventilators. I think it's rather imprudent to set dates as opposed to goals. I mean, even the White House says we're going to do this in phases.

And if you look at the four criteria for phase one, we haven't met but one of those criteria. Our hospital is still at capacity and we certainly don't have the capacity to contact trace those people who are infected so that they can be identified and isolated.

LEMON: I just -- I want you both just look at this graph. I mean, we can -- OK, well, there -- we have a graph that shows the trajectory of cases in Georgia.

[22:25:00]

We haven't seen that 14-day decline. It doesn't show that. We saw the mayor of Atlanta showing cases going up there. Which is, you know, what is outline in the federal guidelines to start reopening.

So, Mayor Davis, why this aggressive push to open now? Why?

MAYOR HARDIE DAVIS, JR., AUGUSTA, GEORGIA: Well, Don, I'm not sure why. We were all caught off guard, quite frankly, surprised that the governor moved as swiftly as he did to open the state back up. What was even more surprising is the fact that he took those nonessential businesses and on Friday will begin opening those businesses up.

When you look at the fact that, again, as our Mayor Bo Dorough has indicated, the three T's are important. That's testing, contact tracing and treatment. None of which we were able to do successfully and brought great numbers into the great state of Georgia.

And so, when you look of communities like Augusta, certainly Albany, Georgia as well and only 1 percent of Georgians have been tested at this point, 84,000 tests have been conducted in the state of Georgia, we're just not there.

And I think this is a time for measured but at the same time compassionate leadership, and if we move as swiftly as the governor is proposing right now, we could find ourselves mashing the gas on the economy when in fact we need to be putting the brake on where we are right now and continuing with a shelter in place.

Continuing to find ourselves making sure that we're flattening the curve and, in fact, right now we see the incline continuing as opposed to us getting a place of plateauing where we flattening the curve. We're just not there in Georgia.

LEMON: Mayor Davis, I asked Mayor Dorough if he knew about what the governor was going to do. Did you know?

DAVIS: Again, this is my first time hearing it when we watch the press conference this afternoon. I've enjoyed a very strong relationship with Governor Kemp. Again, we've talked about on a number of occasions where we are not just in Augusta but in the state of Georgia.

And when again when the press conference began, we began the conversation about opening gyms and those businesses that have been deemed nonessential, but I think the thing that struck me as equally odd was the conversation around houses of worship.

I not only serve as the mayor of the city of Augusta, Georgia, but a pastor of a church here in this community as well, and to hear that we can continue to worship live stream and also in parking lots, but if you wanted to go back to the sanctuary, I was extremely shocked by that, particularly in light of the fact that the governor has indicated on a number of occasions his grave concern was around religious worship places, houses of faith where you saw those initial outbreaks in the state of Georgia.

I do want to applaud the governor for his leadership up to this point, but I think all of us -- those of us who are hub city mayors leading some of Georgia's largest cities, we find ourselves, quite frankly, shocked by the decision that took place today.

LEMON: We're having a bit of trouble with Mayor Dorough's shot. If we can get it back up, we'll bring him back in. But Mayor Davis, let me continue on with you.

Everybody is worried about the economy, about people's jobs and businesses. And if you own a gym or work at a bowling alley, I'm sure you want to be back up and running, but what about the risk to employees and the public as a whole? Has this been thought through enough? Because they're saying practice social distancing. How do you practice that when you have to touch people and you have to be in their face?

DAVIS: I'm not sure what the approach was in terms of the governor getting input or data from those advisers that he has, but when you look at places that people congregate at, gyms are certainly those places, barber shops, hair salons, nail salons, those are places where we're all in close proximity to one another, and without a series of educational efforts to those industries, it's going to be extremely difficult for us to continue to flatten the curve.

And so out of an abundance of caution, I would encourage great Georgians all across this state out after an abundance of caution to be very measured in going back into those places of business, whether you're patronizing or whether your employees.

It's extremely important for us to continue to follow the CDC guidelines right now, and I don't know of any communications that are being prepared to distribute in communities across Georgia, particularly with the goal of opening up on Friday through this weekend and on Monday restaurants possibly opening up as well.

I think we just, again, are at a place where we're putting folks in harm's way as opposed to taking these grave measures to continue to flatten the curve.

LEMON: Well, that's Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr. of Augusta, Georgia. We appreciate that. And we had the Mayor Bo Dorough of Albany, Georgia. And I just want to say again for Mayor Bo Dorough, Dougherty County is where -- is where he is. His city is -- has seen the most coronavirus deaths in Georgia, 98 deaths. It is a hotspot.

We wish both of them luck. Mayor Davis and Mayor Bo Dorough and everyone in the great state of Georgia. Good luck. And we thank them both for joining us.

[22:30:02]

Here's our breaking news tonight. Sources telling CNN that Kim Jong-un is in grave danger after having surgery. Stay with us for the latest.

[22:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Good luck and we thank them both for joining us. Here's our breaking news tonight. Sources telling CNN that Kim Jong-un is in grave danger after having surgery. Stay with us for the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. So here is our breaking news tonight. It is out of North Korea. And it's a serious question about the health of Kim Jong-un following recent surgery. This is what a source is calling the concerns of credible, but saying that the severity is hard to assess. CNN's Jim Sciutto is here with more. I know that is a bit complicated, but Jim Sciutto is going to explain all of it to us, as much as he can right now. Jim, I'm so glad that you are here. You would know about all of this, talk to me about you're reporting. Break it down for us. What are you learning?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Don, a U.S. official with direct knowledge tells me that the U.S. is now monitoring intelligence that the health of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un is in grave danger.

[22:35:00]

This is following a surgery in recent days. We should note that five days ago Kim was notably absent from a ceremony marking, honoring his grandfather, Kim Il-sung. This is the kind of public ceremony, like the one you're seeing here on the screen that Kim Jong-un traditionally takes part in. He was absent from that ceremony five days ago. It was four days before when he was last seen in public in a public bureau meeting.

So during those intervening days there were questions, why is he absent? And it's more recently that the U.S. has been monitoring intelligence that he had a surgery that the aftermath of that surgery, there were complications, and his health is now in grave danger. Don, I should note that with any intelligence issue regarding North Korea that North Korea is the blackest of black boxes when it comes to intelligence for the U.S. A difficult box to penetrate.

So, when discussing intelligence about North Korea, you always have to keep that in mind. But, again, you really have a combination of indicators here now. The intelligence about this surgery. The complications following it. But also his absence from that event a number of days ago.

LEMON: OK. So, you said the blackest of black boxes, meaning very tough to get information out, an accurate information, not transparent, no transparency at all or very little. So then, do we know what would happen next, Jim? Do you know that? SCIUTTO: Well, here's the thing about North Korea, it's very top

heavy government. He's a dictator of a hermit state here. And we should note as well that Kim has taken great pains in recent years to eliminate any potential competitors for power, including taking the step, the alarming step of assassinating his half-brother Kim Yong-nam in Kuala Lumpur airport. This is a couple of years ago. Using a nerve agent. There are other senior North Korean officials who he eliminated via assassination.

So, that leaves gaping holes if, and this is a notably large if, of course, Don. If he were not to survive this. There is his sister who is in a very powerful position there, other senior officials, but it raises enormous questions. And we can report as well that the U.S. as these questions has been raised have reached out to North Korean experts, including on the peninsula, to ask about contingency planning.

You start to think about questions about what do you do if there is an out flux of refugees? Is there a need for humanitarian assistance? Again, these are questions you begin to ask and prepare for if worse events follow what we know at this point. But we should also note as well, North Korea is a prime national security threat to the U.S., so any instability there is one that the U.S. watches very closely. It's a nuclear power. It has missile capability of striking U.S. targets. So the national security implications for the U.S. enormous as well.

LEMON: All right. Jim Sciutto with the breaking news as you see it there on the bottom of your screen. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in grave danger after surgery. Jim is on top of this. We will get back to him as warranted throughout the evening here on CNN. So make sure you stay tuned.

Other breaking news that we're following tonight, the president claiming that he is temporarily suspending immigration into the country. CNN has reached out to the White House for more information and we'll bring it to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:40:00]

LEMON: We're following some breaking news tonight. The president claiming tonight that he will temporarily suspend immigration into the United States. I want to bring in CNN White House correspondent, John Harwood with more. John, good evening to you. So the president saying that he's going to suspend all immigration. I mean, this is a -- really a tried and true play from his playbook. What's going on?

JOHN HARWOOD, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know for sure what's going on because all we have is this tweet. We do know that since the beginning of this administration, President Trump has been trying to cut legal immigration. It's part of his nationalist make America great again agenda. Trying to reduce the flow of people from other countries into the United States.

But I got to tell you, announcing this on a tweet after 10:00 o'clock at night on a Monday night gives every impression of a president who is sitting back in his residence watching TV struggling with the pressure of this coronavirus situation, the harsh judgement that he's getting from the American people, the harsh judgement that he's getting from other politicians, from news coverage. He knows he's in very deep trouble and this is a -- gives the appearance of a panic move to try to rouse his base and figure out something else to talk about other than his struggles to get on top of the coronavirus situation.

I had a brief conversation a few minutes ago with Kori Schake, who is the head of Foreign Policy International Relations at the American Enterprise Institute, conservative think-tank in Washington. She served in the Bush administration, the George W. Bush administration on the National Security Council, and her reaction was simply, he's dangerous right now.

LEMON: But, John, listen, no matter what kind of a travel ban this turns out to be or whatever he's saying about immigration, it will be -- it's going to do absolutely nothing to fix the problem that -- that Americans are dealing with right now. That is testing, shortages of PPE, the economic damage. Coronavirus is here and this White House has been talking about opening states back up. He has done a poor job on this coronavirus crisis. It's going to -- that's going to do nothing to change any of that.

HARWOOD: Well, that's the issue. It would be one thing if you said because of the danger of coronavirus we are either going to screen every single traveler coming into the United States because people are still coming into the United States or you could say we're going to suspend all travel into the United States and say nobody from another country can come here.

[22:45:10]

But to single out refugee -- immigrants and say, well, other people can come to and fro in our airports, but not immigrants, that has every appearance of a pure political play from a president in trouble looking desperately for something to grab on to, to revive his own situation. He's focused most right now not on the issue of coronavirus, and this was made clear in the briefing and all recent briefings. He's focused on his own reputation, the criticism he's getting trying to justify what he's been doing.

LEMON: It's also irresponsible to tweet something like that out with no explanation to the American people. If you're going to do it, you should explain it so that everyone knows what you're talking about. But, John is going to be back next hour. We are going to have much more.

HARWOOD: If you're going to do it --

LEMON: Explain it.

HARWOOD: That's right. If you're going to do it, you do it with your Secretary of State.

LEMON: Right.

HARWOOD: You do it at the coronavirus briefing. You lay out the rationale.

LEMON: That's how a president would do it. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

The U.S. reaching over 42,000 deaths from coronavirus. How did we get here and what needs to be done to keep Americans safe going forward? The former Obama White House Ebola czar ways in next.

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[22:50:00]

LEMON: The Trump administration tonight claiming that every state has enough testing capacity to move to phase one of the White House reopening guidelines. So, let's get the truth about testing. Here's to discuss Ron Klain, he is former White House Ebola response coordinator. Ron, thank you so much. It's good to see you again. Thanks for coming on. I know it's a very -- a busy and tough times.

RON KLAIN, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Thanks for having me, Don.

LEMON: Listen. The governors on both sides of the aisle are saying that they need more testing supplies. I'll play this and we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): The problem is that there's a big difference between testing capacity and getting testing results. And what's the big difference? All those things in between that you need like swabs, and viral transport medium and our extractor, reagent.

GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R-SD): What my communication has been with the administration is I can have the machines but I need the supplies to run the machine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to need some pieces and components, things like swabs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, does administration understand that testing doesn't just involve the machines but that everything that goes with it?

KLAIN: Well, Don, they either don't understand that or they're just really trying to obscure their failure here. The fact the matter is that we are not able to give the test to the people who need tests. And our rate in this country of testing remains very low compared to other developed nations. Very low to other nations that have seen this disease going on as long as it has.

Yes, we have made some progress in recent weeks. But we're still just testing well under 1 percent of the population every week. I think every expert both Democrat and Republican agree that you got to be well over 1 percent a week to talk seriously about reopening the country in way that's responsible. And we're not anywhere close to that yet. And it is because of all the things you heard governors on that tape, both Democrats and Republicans, set up a partisan issue in the states. It's a pragmatic issue. If they don't have the pieces of the puzzles they need, they cannot run these tests.

LEMON: Speaking of, give me -- speaking of governors. What's your reaction to Georgia announcing plans to reopen later this week and at the same time we have over three quarters of a million cases in the United States and over 42,000 Americans are dead?

KLAIN: Yes. I mean, look, I think it's very hard to understand Governor Kemp's decision. Both the decisions to reopen and the specific kind of things he's talking about reopening. Businesses like barbershops and you know, kind of spas and places where people have close physical contact with one another. I mean, I think, you know, if you want to talk about the kind of phased reopening that even President Trump has talked about. It's been about reopening with social distancing. Reopening with trying to keep workers and consumers safe.

The idea that everyone is going to be just jammed on top of each other in places like bowling alleys, in places like that just seems like it's defying all the expertise, all the -- and look, what are the consequences is going to be? They will have -- maybe they will have an opening next week. But when people start to go to these businesses and get sick, when workers get sick, when customers get sick, what kind of economy is that going to be? Let alone, the healthcare consequences. Who's going to go back a second time if they go someplace and get sick when they go there?

LEMON: They are taking a big risk. I hope it works out for them. But it is a big risk. So, Ron, listen, you led the Ebola response in 2014. And I just want to play what President Obama warned us what happened then. Here it is.

KLAIN: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There may and likely will come a time in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly. And in order for us to deal with that effectively we have to put in place an infrastructure, not just here at home, but globally. That allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly. So that if and when a new strain of flu like the Spanish flu pops up, five years from now, or a decade from now, we have made the investment. And we're further along to be able to catch it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, listen. That was December 2014. And this happened in December of 2019. That was exactly five years. And he said five years. What is it like to hear that and then realize that the Trump administration squandered not only those warnings? But the time that was bought in January and February of this year.

[22:55:09]

KLAIN: Yes, I mean, it's obviously painful. I mean, President Obama gave that speech at the National Institute of Health in the middle of the Ebola response. Where we decided to make investments. Not just to fight Ebola. But to prepare this country for the next one that was coming. I mean, when President Trump says no one knew this was coming. Everyone knew this was coming. That's what President Obama was talking about back in 2014. And so we invested in global surveillance programs. We built a Pandemic Preparedness Office at the White House. We ramped up on the preparations you need in advance to this.

And President Trump unwound those preparations in 2017, and 2018 and 2019. And now we're paying the price for that. And as you said, Don, on top of all that, when the warnings came in late 2019 and early 2020, we had time to get our testing. We had time to get our hospitals equipped. President Trump was busy trying to down play the risk. Trying to tell people we had nothing to worry about. Trying to sweep this under the rug. And as a result we're seeing the consequences, we see now. South Korea and the U.S. had the same first case on the same day. And yet, now we have many, many times the deaths they have. Many times the cases they have. Because we didn't take the steps we could have taken to get ready for this.

LEMON: Ron, we appreciate your time. You be safe. OK? You and your family, thank you so much.

KLAIN: Thank you very much.

LEMON: Thank you. The coronavirus death toll in the U.S. doubling in just a week. As leaders at all levels of the government are trying to find a way to reopen the country. We are going to have the latest and speak with Mayor Eric Garcetti next.

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