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Don Lemon Tonight

Mysterious Illness Targeting Children; President Trump Not Satisfied With Dr. Fauci's Warning; South Dakota Governor Clashes With Tribal Leaders Over Coronavirus Checkpoints; Ahmaud Arbery's Football Coach Speaks Out; About 15 People, Some Armed, Confronted The Wrong Black Teen For A Girl's Disappearance; L.A. Times: FBI Serves Warrant On Sen. Richard Burr In Investigation Of Stock Sales Linked To Coronavirus. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired May 13, 2020 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

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DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

It's 11 p.m. on the East Coast. We've got the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. There are nearly 1.4 million cases of the virus here in the United States. Coronavirus death toll in the U.S. now surpassing 84,000.

As President Trump pushes for states to reopen, he is now putting some distance between himself and Dr. Anthony Fauci. The president saying Fauci did not give an acceptable answer when he urged caution about schools reopening and suggested schools in some parts of the country should stay closed in the fall.

And sources at the White House saying the president is privately questioning whether the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. is inflated. Fauci testified to the Senate yesterday that he is almost certain that deaths from the coronavirus are being undercounted.

Also, the ousted vaccine chief Dr. Rick Bright testifies before Congress tomorrow and plans to say that the Trump administration was not prepared for the coronavirus pandemic and that the U.S. faces the darkest winter in modern history if a coordinated national response is not put into place.

Joining me now, CNN's White House Correspondent John Harwood and our resident fact checker Daniel Dale. Good evening to both of you.

John, over 84,000 people have now died from this virus in the United States. The World Health Organization is warning that it may never go away. President Trump is spending his time undermining our country's top infectious disease expert. What is going on?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What's going on is the president has, himself, psychologically, and he's trying to move his government past the issue of controlling the coronavirus and full bore on to the issue of reopening the economy. The president is running for re-election. He thinks the economy is the

key to his re-election, restoring its growth. He also does not want to be blamed for having an economy with depression-level rates of unemployment, millions and millions of jobs lost, GDP apparently going down around 40 percent in the second quarter.

It's a dismal situation. And he's decided that whatever's been done on the coronavirus so far is enough and he's going full on the economy. And that puts him in conflict with Anthony Fauci and other public health officials across the country who think that we are at serious risk of falling back, seeing infections spike, and doing worse long- run damage to the economy later in the year.

LEMON: John, here's the president trying to shoot down Dr. Fauci's concerns about schools reopening in the fall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I was surprised by his answer, actually, because, you know, it's just -- to me it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.

The only thing that would be acceptable, as I said, is professors, teachers, et cetera, over a certain age.

I think they ought to take it easy for another few weeks, five weeks, four weeks, who knows, whatever it may be, but I think they have to be careful because this is a disease that attacks age. And it attacks health.

And if you have a heart problem, if you have diabetes, if you're a certain age, it's certainly much more dangerous, but with the young children, I mean, and students it's really -- it's -- just take a look at the statistics. It's pretty amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: It's not acceptable for a doctor to raise concerns about keeping children safe at school, or it just doesn't align with Trump's push to reopen the economy?

HARWOOD: The latter. When he says it's not an acceptable answer, what he means is it's not an expedient answer. Donald Trump has proven robustly over and over that his principle concern is Donald Trump.

Anthony Fauci was speaking on behalf of the school children and the risk to them. Donald Trump does not care about those school children.

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Donald Trump cares about what is in his own interest. And he also has zero credibility on these issues. This is somebody who a couple of weeks ago was suggesting that people inject themselves with disinfectant to cure the coronavirus. That's why a vast majority of the American people don't believe what Donald Trump says on the coronavirus and they do believe Anthony Fauci. So, it's inconvenient for Donald Trump to have Anthony Fauci giving

his best judgment about the risk for students, but that doesn't change the fact that Anthony Fauci is well motivated here in trying to figure out the best public health solution.

LEMON: Daniel, you just heard the president suggesting that this virus isn't a problem for young children -- children. What are the facts here?

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: Don, there is truth here but there's also some important missing information. So, the truth is that the early data from around the world do show that children are significantly less likely to experience severe symptoms from coronavirus infections than adults are. They're less likely to be hospitalized, less likely to die. So, that's accurate.

However, they do die. Some of them do need hospitalization. They can also pass the infection to others. In addition, Dr. Fauci warned us yesterday that these are still early days. There's a lot we don't know when he says we can't be cavalier in thinking we know how this will affect children.

And to that end, we know 17 states and D.C. are looking into a mysterious inflammatory syndrome that experts think may well be linked to the coronavirus, and that's a syndrome seriously affecting children. So, yes, statistically proportionately children are less affected. They're still are -- they're still are affected though. They certainly are not immune.

LEMON: Daniel, we're going to get into more detail about the impact of coronavirus in children in just a minute. But the president also talked about testing today. I want you to take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Ten million, we set an all-time record by far. If you look down here, these are other countries that have not done anywhere near what we're doing. We're double -- if you add them up and double them, we've done more tests, but I can't get the press to print that unfortunately. They just don't want to print it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What are the facts, Daniel?

DALE: We don't want to print it because it's not true at all. This is an example of this president taking a false claim and making it even falser. He used to say that the U.S. leads the rest of the world combined. That's not even true.

Now he says we're more than double the rest of the world combined. That's especially untrue. If you add up a bunch of other countries, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia, et cetera, again, the U.S. is not number one compared to all of them combined.

In addition, the U.S. is not the leader per capita. It's way down the list if you look at tests per confirmed case. And again, as I said on this program, the U.S. was slow to get started in its testing which allowed the pandemic to spread further in this country than it did in other countries like South Korea that the U.S. has now passed in terms of per capita testing but lagged behind in those crucial early weeks.

LEMON: Daniel, John, thank you -- Daniel and John, it sounds like the same person, thank you both. I appreciate it.

I want to bring in now Dr. Harvey Fineberg. He is the chair of the Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and Dr. Celine Gounder, she is an infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist. I appreciate both of you joining us.

Dr. Fineberg, President Trump said it is not acceptable that Dr. Fauci raised concerns about sending kids back to school in the fall. Are you worried about the kids spreading coronavirus at school?

HARVEY FINEBERG, CHAIR, STANDING COMMITTEE ON EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Any reasonable public health person would be concerned about children as potential spreaders of infection. And with the new evidence about this multisystem toxic syndrome also concern about the risk to the children themselves.

LEMON: Yes. This Kawasaki-like disease that you're -- that you're referring to right now. Dr. Fineberg, another question, a new study out from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Pennsylvania is estimating that coronavirus could remain in the air for eight minutes after talking loudly for one minute. Does this mean that we should be wearing masks out of -- out of the home even if no one is around?

FINEBERG: In general, this is a study that demonstrates that talking and particularly certain consonants that spread this virus can in fact produce droplets that can stay in the air for some minutes.

This is especially important in closed spaces, in rooms. It's why health workers especially need to have that personal protective equipment when caring for patients.

Out of doors, it's important to wear a mask to help prevent anyone who is infected from inadvertently spreading the infection to others. But the risk out of doors is much less than it is within a closed indoor space.

LEMON: So, Dr. Gounder, how can you open schools if droplets from talking can stay in the air for eight minutes?

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CELINE GOUNDER, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Well, I think we have to look at a few different things. One, do we -- is it safe to even open schools? I think secondly, is there a way to decrease the density of children in a classroom? Is there a way to improve ventilation in the classroom? And should all of the children and teachers and staff be wearing masks in these settings? And I think it's one thing to ask maybe a child of the age of 13 or

more to wear a mask and to abide by these things. But to ask a five- year-old to do this I think is going to be a lot more challenging.

LEMON: Yes.

GOUNDER: So, you know, I think there's what is medically advisable and then there's what's logistically possible and what is safe for the general public.

LEMON: Yes. What about school buses, Dr. Gounder? I mean, loading kids, unloading kids, the proximity, sanitizing the buses. I mean, there's so many questions.

GOUNDER: Well, and the school bus is basically a really crowded environment. You're not going to be able to do social distancing in that environment. The school bus driver, I'm certainly concerned about in that setting. You know, would you be able to open all the windows and ventilate that way?

But then, you know, there's also the risk of what kids are bringing home to their parents, and their parents are the ones who we know are at risk. And children, yes, are at risk too. But the parents are definitely at risk and the rest of their extended family. So, to me this looks like a vector of infection, you know, in the school buses.

LEMON: Dr. Fineberg, another question for you. This is a new study. It found cases of this -- we were talking about this inflammatory syndrome among children -- appear to increase 30-fold in the Bergamo -- Bergamo providence -- province -- excuse me, of Italy, this was shortly after the coronavirus spread on to the region. Could it be more prevalent than we realized?

FINEBERG: This problem has expressed itself in Italy, and frankly it's also appeared now in New York where we had many cases of infection. The exact frequency with which it occurs is not really known mainly because we don't really have a good baseline of the total number of children infected.

There are some who develop this syndrome without ever having previously actually showed the symptoms of being infected with coronavirus but now develop this syndrome and have had the infection. So, it is a real problem. The exact frequency remains to be

determined, but something to be very concerned about.

LEMON: Dr. Gounder, CNN has learned that the CDC is preparing to warn doctors about this mysterious inflammatory syndrome that affects children that is believed to be linked to coronavirus. Your hospital has been dealing with some of these cases. What are you learning about this illness?

GOUNDER: So, Kawasaki is basically a disease of two different pathways. It's the immune system is out of control, is attacking the body, and it's also a disease of inflammation of the blood vessels. And that description is not just about Kawasaki's in children. It's really what coronavirus looks like in adults as well. So, it's really a spectrum of disease, and this particular syndrome in

children is part of this whole spectrum of COVID that we see in people in general. So, it's not surprising that we're seeing this, but it is very concerning that we're starting to see this in children too.

LEMON: All right. Thank you both. I appreciate it. We'll see you soon.

And be sure to watch MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, and activist Greta Thunberg and more. They're joining Anderson and Dr. Sanjay Gupta for a new CNN global town hall. It's Coronavirus: Fact and Fears tomorrow night starting at 8 p.m. Make sure you tune in for that. It's going to be interesting and informative as well.

Forty-eight states in the process of reopening while experts are warning the coronavirus may be with us forever.

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LEMON: Tonight, the coronavirus death toll in this country surpassing 84,000. That as 48 states are in the process of reopening.

Erica Hill has more.

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shopping, restaurants, the beach. Signs of pre-COVID life returning as experts warns the virus itself may be here to stay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities. And this virus may never go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The CDC preparing to alert doctors to a new inflammatory illness in children possibly linked to COVID-19 which can present weeks after the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ESTHER CHOO, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: We just have to remember we have more to learn about the virus than we have yet learned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: New York State is now investigating more than 100 cases, prompting new questions about what school could look like this fall if children can return to the classroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): Probably smaller classrooms, more distancing, teacher probably wearing a mask. LILY GARCIA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: I have 39 kids

in my classroom one year. How are you going to socially distance 39 kids?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Across the country, grocery prices rising to their highest levels in nearly 50 years. New cases in Georgia and South Carolina, two of the first states to reopen, mostly flat over the past week. South Dakota posting some of the highest spikes along with Arkansas and Delaware.

New Orleans, once a major hot spot, allows some businesses to return this weekend. Restaurants told keep customers contact information for 21 days to aid with potential contact tracing as the push for a measured approach continues.

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ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: Opening up prematurely just sets us up for big outbreaks which will force us to shut down again. So, if you care about not being shut down, we should really let science drive how we open up safely.

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HILL: Washington, D.C. extending its stay-at-home order today through June 8th. Colorado's tourism office asking out of state visitors to stay home as Miami Beach offers a plan to reopen more than 1,600 businesses and restaurants.

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RICKY ARRIOLA, COMMISSIONER, MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: Every day that we keep these folks out of business it just prolongs not just the economic suffering but the suffering of the families that work in these establishments.

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HILL: Arizona and Florida announcing professional sports can return to the states.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): There's been reports that Major League Soccer may have their season in Orlando, do it. We want to have you here. We want to have the basketball practicing again. We would love to have the Major League Baseball.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: New CNN polling shows Americans are split on whether players should suit up. Locally, some teams are experimenting with socially distant baseball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's weird.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it doesn't feel normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Disinfectant in the dugout, distant umpires and fans. Weird but worth it.

Erica Hill, CNN, New York.

LEMON: All right, Erica, thank you.

South Dakota governor threatening to sue Native American tribes for setting up coronavirus checkpoints but those tribes say this is what they need to do to protect their community. So, we're going to talk to the president of one the -- of that tribe. He joins me live, next.

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LEMON: Tensions rising in South Dakota where Governor Kristi Noem who has threatened to sue the Cheyenne River and Oglala Sioux Tribe over coronavirus traffic checkpoints set up by the tribes.

Well, the governor is saying the checkpoints are unlawful and are interfering with traffic. But the tribe -- the tribes say that the best tool that they have -- they have the best tool they have to protect their communities from this virus.

Joining me now is the president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Julian Bear Runner. President Bear Runner, I appreciate you joining us. This is an important story and we want to get your perspective on the air for this.

You say that the checkpoints are necessary because Governor Noem isn't doing enough to protect tribal health and safety. What does she need to do?

JULIAN BEAR RUNNER, PRESIDENT, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE: She -- I really feel that the governor needs to really have a serious consultation with the tribe and not try to dictate to us as tribal leaders what is in the best interest of our people but rather listen and support the tribes because we live here. We know our people. I've been born and raised here. And nobody -- we involve our spirituality within our actions. And that's what helps lead and guide us. And, you know, that has got us through history to today.

And so, we incorporate a lot of our traditions with the decisions that we make as tribal leaders. So, you know, my advice to her is to really sit down and take her lead from the tribes, listen to us, and support us. LEMON: How are you conducting these checks because Governor Noem says

that you're keeping essential workers from moving freely. Is that true?

BEAR RUNNER: No, sir, that is not true. We have a system, a process, that is set up that anybody that is providing services or business here on the reservation, there's a permit process so that they can freely move through those checkpoints.

And so that comes from the secretary of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. She process those applications and then I sign off on the final approval and we ensure that the leadership or, you know, their departments or their functions -- their leadership or their functions are the ones that reach out to the tribe to send us a list of the times that we can be expecting them, whether it be 8 to 4.30 or 24 hours a day, you know, so that they don't run into those stop -- the stopping mechanisms where they have to answer the questions, the health care questions.

LEMON: You and leaders of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe say medical resources are very limited. An outbreak would be devastating. The closest ICU, hours away. Is standing your ground a matter of life or death?

BEAR RUNNER: Indeed, sir, it definitely is a life or death situation for us. You know, right now here on the reservation we currently have four ventilators that is being provided through the form of the Indian Health Service which is a treaty obligation of the United States to provide us that health care.

I reside amongst 30 plus tribal members that reside -- correction, 30,000 tribal members that live here on the reservation. You know, we have 45,000 enrolled members, and we have a service to each and every one of those individuals. But, you know, how is four ventilators going to really assist us if this pandemic or this virus hits the reservation? And, you know, a great majority of my membership suffer?

And right now, you know, we currently have positive cases here on the reservation and they're not requiring those intensive medical procedures at this moment.

But, you know, if you look at our -- one of our southern relatives, the Navajo Nation, you know, Indian Health Service, the United States government has a duty obligation to them as well. And you know, it's just, it's very fearing for me as a tribal leader because I have an obligation to look out for the health and welfare of every enrolled tribal member.

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LEMON: This conflict comes at a time when the governor refused to issue an official stay-at-home order and South Dakota's new COVID cases are on the rise. There are now more than 3,700 cases in the state. Do you worry about this virus, that it could get out of control? BEAR RUNNER: Definitely. You know, all of our tribal programs, all of our treaty obligations that the United States government has to -- the first nation people, you know, the indigenous people, you know, are always underfunded. Our roads, our infrastructure, our ambulance program are underfunded.

You know, we're short staffed. Every -- every -- you know, every opportunity that the government has, they give us less than what they are required to give us.

LEMON: Yeah. President Bear Runner, your tribe on Monday issued a three-day lockdown on the Pine Ridge Reservation, saying that at least two people there have recently tested positive for COVID-19. Do you have the tests and manpower to contact trace, to prevent an outbreak that you need?

BEAR RUNNER: We need more. You know, we need more funding to purchase those tests. But, right now, Indian Health Services is currently declaring what they have in order to begin these contact trace tests. And with these two individuals that tested positive, you know, it's very unfortunate that, you know, they went through our -- we don't know. We don't know where they've been. We don't know.

And, you know, with our jail systems, with the close contact, with the underfunding, and the shortage of housing here on the reservation, there are some homes where nine families live in one home. So, we don't even have -- you know, we're trying to quickly establish quarantine sites for these individuals. And, you know, it's causing us to quarantine one home, and our homes are in cluster housing.

So, you know, I fear as a tribal leader that if this pandemic gets out of control and we don't get a grasp on this immediately, that, you know, we may have to quarantine a whole entire community, which would be hundreds of people. If we had the resources, we could really narrow this down, you know, per individual. LEMON: Well, President Bear Runner, we appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much. Please be safe, OK?

BEAR RUNNER: Yes, sir. I appreciate you. My people appreciate you and this opportunity. Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you very much. Next, more on the story that we have been following for you, the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery. His football coach speaks out, next.

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LEMON: As the investigation into the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery continues, those who love him feel the pain of his killing every single day. Tonight, I want to talk to Coach Jason Vaughn, Ahmaud's football coach at Brunswick High School in Georgia. Thank you so much for joining us, Coach Vaughn. I really appreciate it. I'm so sorry for your loss. I know you were there last night as we were doing the interview. So, we really appreciate it. Ahmaud was one of your players. I know you want people to know more about him than that horrible tape. So tell us about Ahmaud.

JASON VAUGHN, COACH, BRUNSWICK HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Oh, man. Ahmaud was a great soul, a great spirit, beautiful smile that lit up a room. Ahmaud had a special gift that teaches him to relate to some kids, you know. You just love on just a little bit more. Ahmaud, he could sense when you're having a down day or, you know, your lesson plan wasn't going quite right, Ahmaud would always do something quirky or weird to kind of, you know, to lift your spirits up.

What he used to love to do, he used to love to imitate me all the time. If I was in the hall trying to look real serious, he would come sit beside me and say, all right, Coach Vaughn, I'm you today, all right, I'll get the class, hurry up, hurry up, don't be late, you know, just to put a smile on my face because he realized, you know, how down I was feeling and everything else. He was just a wonderful soul.

LEMON: How hard is this for you to see all these tapes coming out? I mean, the one where Ahmaud stops and walks into this open construction site, looks around, and then, you know, the day that he was shot. People are drawing all kinds of conclusions. But you know him best. What do you want people to know who might have the impression that he was doing something wrong here?

VAUGHN: Oh, man. I mean, every man knows that pivotal time in their life when they're around 25. You know, your life starts to change. You start to think about family and marriage and different things like that. You know, a light bulb goes off in your life. You know, he was 25 years old. You know, he's a hometown kid. You know, he has his girlfriend who is also from Brunswick. You know, just a hometown story.

And me knowing Ahmaud, he probably stood in that house because you see him stand there, just how he stands still. He's probably standing in that house just imagining how his life can one day be, you know, him and his girlfriend at the time, just visualizing how life can be. I'm a southerner. So, houses are under construction all the time. We walk into houses all the time. I guess it maybe is just a southern thing. We just do.

[23:39:59]

VAUGHN: Even houses in my neighborhood now -- well, I clearly wouldn't do it now. But, you know, it's just -- it's just something -- you know, people just kind of do it around here.

LEMON: Yeah. You know, he was -- nobody is perfect. He was not a perfect person. But you say he was a good person.

VAUGHN: Awesome person. Awesome person. You know, unlike what Roddie's lawyer said, Glynn County has great teachers here who really care about their students and really care about their education. That's just a falsehood. That's probably not the last falsehood you're going to hear from Roddie or his lawyer. But we are a caring community here.

We love Ahmaud. Ahmaud used to run. He'll stop. He'll play basketball with the kids until they got tired and then he will just go off on his run. I talked to a lady the other day in our community and she said her morning routine was to walk her dog. He would see Ahmaud every morning. She realizes now that when she steps out, she will never see that smile again. She'll never see him nod his head as he jogs by. He was just a key part of our community.

LEMON: What do you make of -- you mentioned Roddie. Listen, we don't know if he's involved. His attorney said he's not involved. You mentioned the interview that he did here on CNN. His attorney is saying, you know, talk about the teachers and the school system and that he had a high school education, that he -- that he was -- what did he say? He was a mechanic. Basically -- anyway, I'm not getting into that. But what do you make of him bringing up Ahmaud's history or past and all of that?

VAUGHN: I think it's very interesting that a lot of times, in cases like this, people begin to question the past of the victim instead of --

LEMON: Let me ask you why I'm saying that. I'm saying that because I read a post of D.L. Hughley. I thought it was brilliant. D.L. Hughley said that Ahmaud Arbery is a suspect in his own murder. Those are his words. And I thought that was very profound. Again, I'm not saying that it is a murder, but he was gunned down on videotape. But go on. That's why I'm asking that, coach.

VAUGHN: Oh, yeah, I completely understand. But, I mean, I guess when you put lives together, you just try to -- you just try to throw and string everything along with it. The "I run with Ahmaud" campaign had been vocal out against these attempts to just attack his character.

The fact that you have to bring up something from eight years ago, you know, which had nothing to do with what happened on that day, I mean, America has seen that tape. And on that tape, out of all the gentlemen on that tape, the only one that was a law-abiding citizen during that time was my student. My football player was the only law-abiding student during that time on that tape.

LEMON: Coach Vaughn, I said to you last night to keep these young people close and take care of them. I'm going to say that again to you and take care of the family. And send them our thoughts. And thank you so much for what you're doing. Thank you for appearing on CNN.

VAUGHN: No problem.

LEMON: And for speaking out for this young man. Thank you.

VAUGHN: Yeah.

LEMON: Thank you.

VAUGHN: You're welcome.

LEMON: A family confronted at their home. They say a group of men, some armed, came up to their door like a "lynch mob," demanding their teenage son answer questions. That son and his mother join me, next.

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[23:45:00]

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LEMON: A North Carolina corrections officer is out of a job, facing misdemeanor charges after he and about 14 other people allegedly harassed a black teenager they mistakenly believe was involved in a girl's disappearance. Eighteen-year-old Dameon Shepard and his mother say some of the men were armed and try to force their way into their home.

Joining me now is Monica Shepard, Dameon Shepard, and their attorney, James Lea. I'm glad to have all of you on. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Dameon, I'm going to start with you. Bring us back, please, to May 3rd. What happened that day?

DAMEON SHEPARD, TERRORIZED AT HOME BY ABOUT 15 PEOPLE: Around 10:00, I hear some very loud banging on the door. So, me being the person I am, I run to the door without checking, without hesitating because of the type of neighborhood I live in. I was expecting someone to come to the door banging like that is looking for help. So, I opened the door without hesitating.

As soon as I open the door, I'm in shock. I see people with guns and there's a county officer standing in front of me, and he's the man that came into my house. So, all of it was wild.

LEMON: What was going through your head when you first saw these armed people at your home? You said it was a lot, but what were you thinking?

SHEPARD: I was thinking, OK, why are these people here? What is going on? I just -- I hope they're not here to, like, shoot me or do some bad things to somebody in the house. That was pretty much what was going through my head.

LEMON: Monica, when did you realize that something was wrong?

[23:50:00]

MONICA SHEPARD, CONFRONTED AT HOME BY ABOUT 15 PEOPLE: When I came out of my room. Like he said, it was -- it was around 10:00, a little after, and I was asleep. And I heard the banging on the door, as well. I looked out of my window, which was facing the front of my house. And I saw a group of people, all Caucasian. And I saw the long flashlights.

When I come out of my room, into the living room, Dameon already opened the door. And I noticed that they were trying to force their way in, and he was trying to close the door on them to keep them from coming in the house.

LEMON: What happened when the group, Monica, realized that they were at the wrong home?

M. SHEPARD: Well, they were apologetic. They were saying that they were sorry. But, by that time, of course, things are transpired from the time that I got to the door and to the time they realized that they're at the wrong house. And we were all -- Dameon and I were both upset and afraid.

LEMON: Yeah. So, James, listen. The -- the former sheriff's deputy, who harassed the Shepards, Jordan Kita, did an interview today with the Port City Daily. His family was there, too. I want you to take a listen to how he described the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORDAN KITA, FORMER NEW HANOVER COUNTY DEPUTY: So we went to the address. At that point, we discovered that this guy was not there. He did not live there. We were at the wrong address. There was no accusation. There was no argument. There was no -- there was no reason for us to be angry. It wasn't about racism. It was about looking for our --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What's your response, James?

JAMES LEA, ATTORNEY FOR MONICA AND DAMEON SHEPARD: Well, first and foremost, I've seen that statement. I've seen the comments their attorney made about the comments I've made, which I am unoffended by, obviously. But, the fact of the matter is, in this state, within this story, they say the Pender County Sheriff's Department was involved in this process.

And what's just unacceptable, on so many levels, is that this is a group that's taken the law into their own hands, going out into the community and terrorizing people, whether they realize it or not. I mean, when you walk to a black family's door and you have a gun, you have the sheriff's outfit on, you have a gun on your side, and you're backed up by people with a shotgun, an assault weapon, what the heck do you think is going to be the response?

There is no excuse. They can -- they can say whatever they want to. There is absolutely no excuse for that behavior. You just -- I mean, we live in the United States of America. If you've got something you're worried about, you turn to the police officers, sheriff's department, whatever, but you don't take the law into your own hands, and that's what they did. They cannot back away from that, anyway, whatsoever, and it's disgusting.

It's just -- we cannot live in this country that way. It's too much going on. I agree that racism is a terrible problem that we need to come together. The way the white community has come out in support of the Shepard family afterwards has been great. But it doesn't make up for what happened that night. They made a horrible, horrible mistake. LEMON: I want to play this before we run out of time. Monica, here's

what the Kita family wants to say to you and Dameon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KITA: I mean, I feel like we would just want to speak to them, family to family. You know, father to father, mother to mother. This was not about racism. We are not racist. We're good people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Will you sit down with them?

M. SHEPARD: Don't have a reason -- well, I can't really say that I'm at a point where I can sit down. And I never said anything about there being racism issues. You just don't come to people's homes with guns and try to force your way into their house.

And they kept pointing at my son, saying, you know, accusing him of being the individual that they were looking for. And, you know, the bottom line is, you came to my house with guns and you were trying to get in my home. So whether it's -- it's an issue of breaking the law.

LEMON: Yeah. It's just interesting you have to -- you know, these people who are -- the people in Georgia with the guns who are, you know, and then you got the people here with guns, as well, when all you have to do is call law enforcement if you have an issue. Thank you, all. I appreciate you joining us. Please keep us updated. Thanks so much.

LEA: Thanks very much, Don.

M. SHEPARD: Thank you.

LEA: Appreciate it.

LEMON: I have some breaking news that I want to tell you about. Federal agents tonight are seizing a cellphone belonging to Senator Richard Burr. Senator Richard Burr is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

[23:54:56]

LEMON: That is according to the Los Angeles Times, which reports that a law enforcement official says it is part of the DOJ's investigation into the senator's controversial stock trades as the coronavirus first struck the United States.

CNN has asked Senator Burr, his attorney, the DOJ, and the FBI for comment, and we will keep you updated on this story as we get more information. Again, this is being reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Thanks for watching, everyone. Our coverage continues.

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