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Don Lemon Tonight

Protesters Show Calm and Camaraderie; General James Mattis Reached a Tipping Point; Four Police Officers Charged with Second- Degree Murder. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired June 03, 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]

DEONTE HARRIS, WIDE RECEIVER, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: The people are going to be -- the people that are in opposition towards these protesters towards the aims and the goals and the anger and the frustrations, the people who aren't listening are going to be the same people who are not listening during the civil rights movement when they were throwing things at Dr. King, when they were rebuking him and the New York Times and the L.A. Times for what he said.

That's what those people are going to be like in the future 10 years from now, 20 years from now.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Drew Brees, don't want to be on the wrong side of history, man. Come talk to me. Thank you, Deonte. Thank you, Benjamin. I appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for having me.

LEMON: Thank you.

This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.

It's top of the hour. Eleven p.m. here on the East Coast. And after a day of massive and peaceful protests, there are major developments in the killing of George Floyd.

Tonight, all four of the fired Minneapolis police officers involved in his death are facing charges. And fired officer Derek Chauvin who pressed his knee into Floyd's neck now facing the more serious count of second-degree murder. The three others charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Minnesota's governor saying, quote, "this is a step today that the public wants to see."

And in the face of all those protests, the former Defense Secretary James Mattis launching a blistering rebuke of President Trump, accusing him of trying to divide the country instead of trying to unite the American people and saying quote, "we are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership."

I want to get right to CNN's Alex Marquardt who's on the ground in Washington, D.C. tonight. Alex, what are you seeing? ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, well,

look at this crowd right here. I'll ask Jamie McMichael to pan over. You've got this whole crowd of people on their knees all taking a knee in front of this long row of National Guards troops. And this really speaks to the mood of what we've seen today. It has been an entirely peaceful protest. The crowds are thinning out. It's late, but they have taken a knee.

And we also seen singing. We saw live music, something of a concert- like atmosphere. But it is a faceoff at the end of the day. Don, this is a protest and they're protesting right up against this variety of law enforcement right here.

Now, the ones in the camouflage uniforms those are National Guard. They are some of the 2,000 to 3,000 National Guard forces who are in D.C. to support the law enforcement operation. We've also seen, Don, remarkable for most of the day is Bureau of Prisons officers.

Think about that. You've got essentially prison guards who are guarding the White House. A number of them that we've seen today had t-shirts with a Texas flag on them. So, they came from Texas. One of the, several of them, rather, had shirts that said FCC Beaumont. So that's a prison near Houston.

What is worrying, Don, is that, as you know, as these protests go into the later hours, they do sometimes have a tendency to get testier, to get more unruly, sometimes violent. And what's really different about today is there's no barricade. There's no barrier between the protesters and law enforcement, so of course there's the potential there for a flash point.

But again, so far, Don, everything has been quiet. The other notable thing today, Don, is that the protest is much farther away from the White House than it has been over the course of the past few days.

We have seen protesters right in that park, Lafayette Park in front of the White House until today. And little by little day after day they have been pushing the protesters out of the park. First out of the park, then they set a fence around the park. And now, when the protesters arrived today, they found that they couldn't go farther than this right here.

Now, Don, it's 11 o'clock. That means there's a curfew now here in D.C. That curfew was actually that made later. The last two nights it's been 7 p.m. But the mayor's office said that that is a reflection of the fact that these protests have been peaceful.

We do not expect the city, the metropolitan police department or any other law enforcement really to enforce that curfew as long as these protests stay peaceful. So, essentially, they are hoping that these protests will peter out on their own.

But there is very much a conflict now between the city of Washington, D.C. which of course is not a state and the federal government who has this huge patchwork of different federal agencies of law enforcement who have come here to control these crowds. And you have the mayor of D.C. saying, indicating, that the federal

government is taking too many liberties and that they are overstepping their bounds. But so far, Don, again, you can hear the energy. You can hear the passion. You can see that tension right there at the front between the protesters and law enforcement. But it is peaceful, Don.

[23:04:59]

LEMON: Alex Marquardt in Washington, D.C. We'll check back. Alex, thank you very much.

Now to the Mission District in San Francisco and CNN's Dan Simon. Dan, what's the scene like where you are?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. It's been quite a day on the streets of San Francisco. You know, we've covered many rallies over the years involving same sex marriage, immigration rights.

What we saw on the streets today in San Francisco is among one of the largest crowds I've ever seen. Right now, it's just after 8 o'clock. There is a curfew, police trying to get people to disperse the streets but they seem to be in no rush to get people off the streets here in the Mission District.

It has been an entirely peaceful protest. And over the past 24, 48 hours throughout the Bay Area, Don, we haven't seen a whole lot of looting, we haven't seen a whole lot of violence.

Excuse me.

This Mission District where we are now, there are a lot of restaurant, lot of shops. Most of the buildings have been boarded up. It's also an area where we see a lot of gentrification over the years. So, that has added to the concern there could be potential for violence and looting.

But it has been an entirely peaceful protest today. And just a few moments ago when we were in front of the police department where these folks gathered, we did see several officers take a knee, Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Dan Simon in the Mission District of San Francisco. I want to get to CNN's national correspondent Sara Sidner who joins us from Minneapolis. Sara, good evening to you.

Man, there's a grown -- look at that memorial. It has grown. It's a dramatic day. All four officers on the scene were charged today in George Floyd's death. What's the reaction from Minneapolis?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here it was a sense of at first almost a celebration. But they were reminded by George Floyd's son and by the Floyd family attorney, Benjamin Crump that you can't celebrate something like this because this doesn't mean justice. It just means charges.

And a lot of people know that over the years a lot of times when these charges are brought up that the officers actually end up not being convicted. And that's the way that the justice system goes and juries decide. But in the mind of the family, they want to see, of course, a conviction. And so, they told everyone to hold steady, be peaceful, but not to completely, you know, throw up their hands and say OK we've done something here.

The -- certainly, we've seen now charges for all four of the officers including a more severe charge for Derek Chauvin, the fired officer who you see there with his knee on the neck of George Floyd for more than even minutes. But you are also getting charges, and he's being charged with second degree murder now and manslaughter as opposed to third-degree murder and manslaughter.

And now the other three officers who were on the scene, a couple of them who were kneeling down on George Floyd's back or near George Floyd who were -- who didn't stop anything and who the police chief called complicit as we talked to the chief, Don, they are now being charged as aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting manslaughter.

These are very strong charges, not as strong as some people would have liked to have seen, but strong nonetheless, especially for police officers in this country, Don.

LEMON: Sara, we've been looking at, watching protests all over the country. We have some pictures up of Washington, D.C. Now we've been looking at them in New York City. There were protests obviously in Minneapolis, that was the epicenter of this where it started. What have the protests been like where you are today?

SIDNER: Today and the past two days they have been nothing more than peaceful, quite beautiful. There has been incredible caring sentiment here. There was a piano that was rolled in. Different people including children were playing songs on the piano. There was free food for anyone who needed it or wanted it.

There were grab bags with diapers and Similac and canned food and fresh fruit and vegetables that they needed to bring that home. This was a place of healing for the last couple of days. And you will notice that this neighborhood, while there are boards that are up, it certainly wasn't torn up.

And there's a reason for that. Because this is considered a sacred place and time and again people have come out here and treated it as a sacred place because it is the place where George Floyd was killed and people want to recognize that, Don.

I do want to mention that we did talk to the attorney Benjamin Crump and we did talk to George Floyd's son and I'd like you to listen to what he said when he heard the charges that were meted out for all of the officers including that additional or higher charge for officer Derek Chauvin.

LEMON: Thank you, Sara Sidner in Minneapolis. Sara, thank you very much. We'll get back with you as well. We'll continue to check in with the cities across America where there are protesters throughout on the street.

[23:09:57]

Meantime, President Trump' hand-picked first defense secretary delivering a blistering rebuke and the president is reacting tonight. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The president's hand-picked former defense secretary issuing a blistering statement about the Trump presidency. General James Mattis writes in part, "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people, does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We're witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership."

I want to discuss this now with CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel, and CNN White House correspondent John -- John Harwood. Wow is all I'll say. Good evening. Now, let's go to the break. No, seriously.

Listen, John. General Mattis, his rebuke of the Trump presidency is really jaw dropping. Hard to overstate the significance of his words.

[23:15:02]

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I agree with that, Don. It's a very significant development for the president for a couple of reasons. First of all, Jim Mattis was the single most respected cabinet member under the Trump administration from the beginning. Very well-regarded military leader, special credibility among conservatives because he clashed with President Obama over Iraq policy.

And when you put together his scathing statement likening the tactics of the president to those of the Nazis, saying that he makes a mockery of the Constitution, saying that he tries to divide Americans. You put that together with Defense Secretary Esper's rebuke of the president today saying he doesn't agree that we need to send active duty military, invoke the Insurrection Act, send military officials into American cities, and also the criticism from two former member -- chair of the joint chiefs of staff.

What you really have there is a statement not in formal terms but informally from the U.S. military establishment to the American people that this president has gone too far. And at this moment when the president's standing is so tenuous with the polls showing him significantly behind Joe Biden and with economic turmoil with the pandemic and now this crisis of peaceful protests in many American cities, this is a grave situation for the president's prospects for re-election.

LEMON: Jamie Gangel, I want to bring you in because General Mattis also wrote this. He said "we must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution." I understand that you've been talking to your sources. What are you hearing? JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what? They all said

exactly what you just said, Don, at the beginning of this segment. When I heard that, I went wow.

You know, Jim Mattis, as John just said, is very well-respected. And remember the old commercial, when E.F. Hutton speaks, everyone listens. When Jim Mattis speaks, everyone listens. And also, he knows first-hand what goes on behind the scenes.

So, when he says these things, it's like the story of the child who says the emperor has no clothes. He is calling him out. As John said, this was devastating. This was scathing. And I think that other people will speak out because he has either given them a cover to speak out or permission to speak out or he's inspired them to speak out.

One of my Republican sources said that they think this is going to be a tsunami, a wave of criticism that's going to come out.

LEMON: We see retired U.S. marine corps 4-star General John Allen has penned a piece of his own, it's in foreign policy where he criticizes the White House and what they did. And he writes this, Jamie. He said, Donald Trump isn't religious, has no need of religion, and doesn't care about the devout except in so far as they serve his political needs. Mattis needs -- I mean, he seems to have inspired others.

GANGEL: Absolutely. And I think -- so, now there's some questions. There have been some people we've been waiting to see whether they would speak out. Former chief of staff, also retired General John Kelly. Will he speak out? H.R. McMaster, former national security adviser.

These men all have something in common. They're military. They respect the chain of command. And I think that a lot of people were wondering if there would be a point where that would break. And I think Jim Mattis has -- has done that.

LEMON: John, you know, obviously the president is now tweeting, calling Mattis overrated, saying that he is glad he is gone and talking a lot about the general's nickname. But he spent a lot of time raving about his former defense secretary, didn't he?

HARWOOD: He did. And of course, that undercuts his criticism. But there's a larger point that undercuts his criticism. As Jamie just said, Jim Mattis is somebody who is reticent to speak out on events in politics. When he does, his words mean something. His words are carefully chosen. They have weight.

Donald Trump's words have no weight. Words to him, attacks on other people are like little rocks he picks up on the playground and throws at someone. He was asked about this in a Fox News radio interview. Brian Kilmeade asked him, why do you spend your time attacking Joe Scarborough and Chris Cuomo?

[23:19:59]

And he said, Trump said I just do it. They hit me, I hit them back. They are written in -- his statements are written in sand. The next wave washes them over and they're gone. Jim Mattis' words are different than that.

LEMON: Yes. Why does he care about cable news hosts including myself? I don't understand that. He's the president of the United States. I'm surprised that he would even --

(CROSSTALK)

HARWOOD: I think he's gone after you too.

LEMON: Yes. But I'm just -- why would he even know my name? If I was the President of the United States do you think I would even know -- I'd be like -- who -- that guy on the cable news? What? You understand what I'm saying, Jamie?

GANGEL: But he watches you. And I've been on the set with you where when we could be on the set together, when you would say something and he would pretend not to be watching --

LEMON: Yes.

GANGEL: -- but he's really actually obsessed with what you would say. And then you would speak about him and we would go three, two, one, and he would tweet about it.

And I just wanted to go back to what John's point was about picking a fight and names. The whole bunker going -- being taken to the bunker, what happened to him this weekend was that on Twitter, his favorite tool, there was a hash tag, and it was hash tag bunker boy --

LEMON: Yes.

GANGEL: -- and he did not like that. He does not like that --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: He said he went to observe and to check it out. He wasn't -- yes.

GANGEL: Yes. I don't think so.

LEMON: And inspect it.

(CROSSTALK)

HARWOOD: Yes. That' his ego talking.

LEMON: He was inspector.

HARWOOD: That's not reality talking.

LEMON: Thank you both. Good to see both of you say.

GANGEL: Thank you.

LEMON: Stay safe.

I want to bring in the former director of national intelligence, General James Clapper. Director, I've been wanting to talk to you about this all day. You know General Mattis. Are you surprised by this blistering attack of the president?

JAMES CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Actually, I'm not, Don. I thought it would -- all along it would be a question of time before Jim would reach a tipping point or an inflection point where he would be compelled to speak out as he has.

And I think the fact that he did stay largely silent except for a comedy bit at the Al smith dinner in New York some time ago, the fact that he remained silent having served in the administration and then spoken as eloquently and compellingly as he did is a huge message.

I think it's a one-two punch here on the heels of the article yesterday, I guess, by former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullin, also in Atlantic, also a scathing indictment of the president. I thought those two together are the one-two punch that is a huge message for the country that I hope people think about.

LEMON: Here's the -- so, today in -- you know, when this first came on, I was on with Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room. And he asked me my response to this. Not that I downplayed it, but I said it was my thought that the general should have spoken out when he was in power.

And since I've spoken to people who said -- and you know, I could be wrong, who knows. This is my thought. But if I hear from people whom I respect, then I could say that I'm wrong or maybe I got that one wrong or I was a bit misguided on some of this.

They said you have to understand the military and who General Mattis is, and you should not in any way -- and I did not mean to because I was glad. I respected him and I'm glad that he spoke out. But why he is speaking out at this moment and why this is such a huge moment that someone like James Mattis would criticize a sitting president after he served under him?

CLAPPER: Well, I think as I said, he reached an inflection point or a tipping point, whatever you want to call it. And I think that the prospect -- the events of the last night or night before in the White House and the threat of using active duty military to police up our own citizens and the incredibly tone deaf rhetoric used by the secretary of defense about dominating the battle space when we're talking about U.S. citizens is just -- I think that just -- as it did for a lot of people, I think --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Bridge too far.

CLAPPER: -- was the tipping point.

LEMON: Yes. CLAPPER: And he had to speak up. And I expect there will be others

that will speak out as well. I mean, it's a controversial thing. Believe me, I know. I spent 34 years in the military. But military people who serve long and faithfully for the country, to speak up against the commander in chief, that's a controversial and a very personal thing. And I think different people reach decision points at different times.

[23:25:05]

LEMON: Understood. Thank you, director. I appreciate your time. You be safe.

CLAPPER: Thanks, Don. Same to you.

LEMON: President Obama addressing the country on camera for the first time since the protests broke out. His message is next.

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LEMON: The former President Barack Obama addressing the nation's protests urging young -- young black people to understand the importance of ensuring this moment brings real change.

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[23:29:54]

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have seen in the last several weeks, last few months, the kinds of epic changes in events in our country that are as profound as anything that I've seen in my lifetime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:30:00]

LEMON: He's talking to all the young there. Here to discuss is Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change. He was part of the virtual town hall with President Barack Obama. Also with me is CNN political commentator and former New Orleans mayor, Mitch Landrieu. Thank you both for joining. I appreciate it.

Rashad, I'm going to start with you, because watching the former president, you know, sum it all up today was fascinating, but many people have been waiting for leadership, specifically to hear what the first black president of the United States would say about what's happening right now in this country. What's your take away from this message?

RASHAD ROBINSON, PRESIDENT, COLOR OF CHANGE: Well, I think it was really important. You know, what he's talked about was how much this moment creates opportunity to shift the paradigm, shift what is possible. And the president didn't just speak about sort of where he thought we were as a country and talk about some of the things that he worked to achieve and some of the things that we didn't quite achieve during his time in office.

But he presented, I think, for a lot of us. He sat there, and he also listened to us. Me and the other activists and local elected officials talking about some of the work on the ground, the work to change the way that district attorneys do their jobs, the work to sort of change the way that we fund policing in this country and the ways that we invest in other ways to have safety and justice.

And so, you know, I think it's really important that the president speaks because his platform can really send a real message that the country has moved. And also, at the end of the day, it's kind of nice to be able to sit in the room with a leader that has read the information about criminal justice, that has an informed opinion, and that isn't knee jerk (ph).

You really miss the sort of measured, thoughtful conversation. Even if we didn't always agree, you always knew that President Obama knew what he was talking about.

LEMON: Yeah. Mitch Landrieu, I want to bring you in here, mayor. President Obama -- former mayor -- President Obama is directly addressing young people today, African-Americans, black people, but also talking about the diversity in the crowd, really addressing all the young people. But his message is important for everyone in this country to understand. What do you make of what he said?

MITCH LANDRIEU, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: Well, first of all, what I loved about President Obama is he never really lets anybody off the hook. He says to people, I understand your anger, I understand your frustration, but the work is going to be done by you and it has to be done on the street and you have to pay it forward.

So, that was the important message. There's a lot to be done here. It's not just about helping people and their personal interactions with each other. It's about changing institutions.

It is about who you elected, the state legislature, who creates the legislative districts, who is the district attorney who actually handles the prosecutions, or who the police chief is that reforms the department so you have the kinds of restrictions in place that help police officers protect and serve in terms of use of force, in terms of early intervention, in terms of peer training.

All of those things are critically important as we go forward that are not going to be easy and are not going to stop when the protests end.

LEMON: You know, the president, the former president, Rashad, closing his event with a veiled message to those who have criticized or worried about the ongoing protests. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: For those who have been talking about protests, just remember, this country was founded on protests. It is called the American Revolution. And every step of progress in this country, every expansion of freedom, every expression of our deepest ideals has been won through efforts that made the status quo uncomfortable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He said get out there, challenge your leaders. Do you believe the protesters have public opinion on their side?

ROBINSON: I think we are building public opinion every single day. I think about just not this potential, the moment we're protesting, but the last seven years of uprisings in this country that have changed the context, changed the story.

You know, white people with their cell phone inside of a Starbucks, you know, filming police interactions and then posting it online. There are companies firing employees for making racist statements and talking about racism in those statements. While, you know, a black CNN reporter was fired -- a black CNN reporter was --

LEMON: Arrested.

ROBINSON: -- arrested before police officers were arrested, you still had been fired, the police officers fired pretty quickly.

[23:35:00]

ROBINSON: As someone who has been on the ground, who's been building movements, who's been working to channel people's energy to fight for both policy change and the culture change that makes things different, you know, I think that we have to recognize the ways in which the movement has changed our conversation, has changed the context. Looking at these protests and being outside, you have to recognize how much more diverse, how many more different people have come out to stand with us.

In just the last several days, the number of big businesses and corporations that are trying to lend their name to this effort and our movement working to ensure that they just don't put hashtag "black lives matter" but they also make sure that Black Lives Matter and their policies and their practices and the ways that they lobby, all of this is about changing the rules and norms of society, not just what is acceptable which is the floor, but also what is possible which is the ceiling.

When we can change that, we can make a whole lot of things possible. And President Obama, who is not just a leader but a symbol, right, of so many people coming together to achieve his election, something that so many people didn't think was even possible, him really sending a message that we have to continue to fight, I think, will be really important for people who may have joined the struggle to recognize that this too should be their fight as well.

LEMON: Rashad Robinson, Mitch Landrieu, I have to -- our time is short because we have so much news to get to, but thank you both and be safe. We'll see you soon.

LANDRIEU: Thank you, Don.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

LEMON: Has anyone in this country changed since -- anything, I should say, in country changed since Rodney King was violently beaten by LAPD officers? I'm going to ask his daughter, Laura King, next.

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[23:40:00]

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LEMON: Protesters out in the streets of Los Angeles tonight with just minutes to go until curfew. CNN's Kyung Lah is there for us. Kyung, what are you seeing?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're seeing the protesters now weaving their way through downtown Los Angeles. And it's very difficult to estimate how many people are in this crowd. Jordan, if you want to give a look up above, it is stretching as far as I can see and it also stretches that far behind me.

This group has been here for hours and just recently started walking back and forth. The police are preventing them from walking through certain streets here in downtown L.A. But it is something that is a shift. For hours, we saw them staging outside of city hall. And now, they are walking. And everyone here knows that curfew is at the top of the hour.

We saw what happened last night, Don. The police have been giving them about two hours to march, to chant, and then at some point, if they are still walking through residential areas or downtown areas, then the police move in, even if they are being peaceful. So, the curfew is in place. It is scheduled to begin at the top of the hour. It is very unlikely that all of these people are going to be leaving and complying with that curfew, Don.

LEMON: Right, you are -- Kyung Lah, we watched last night as this curfew took place and we slowly started seeing people get arrested. But then it did happen and there were a number of folks who were still out there and ended up getting detained.

LAH: They got detained and I actually spoke with a young man who got detained yesterday. And he told me the ticket, the fine, is a thousand dollars. So, after each one of them is picked up and they're cuffed, they are put on a bus, they're taken to some part of Los Angeles, and then they're given this ticket for $1,000.

You know, this is a hard economic time. The young man I spoke with is a law student at UCLA. He said I don't have that money. So, it's going to be interesting to see how the city proceeds on that level. But that's what they are issuing. They're issuing $1,000 tickets. It's a misdemeanor, a fine, for violating curfew.

LEMON: All right. CNN's Kyung Lah, we'll keep an eye, curfew in just about 15 minutes or so getting into place, and we'll see what starts to happen once that curfew is in place in Los Angeles. I want to bring in now CNN's Alex Marquardt. Alex is in Washington, D.C. for us. He has been there reporting for us all afternoon and evening. Alex, what's going on in D.C. right now?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, it's been fascinating to watch the flow, the ebb and flow of this protest in Washington, D.C. over the past few days. We really have to emphasize that this has been something that has been very peaceful.

And then you remember there was that incident on Monday night when police and other forces swept through, pushing those protesters out violently, and yet they have come back time and time again with that energy, with that passion, to protest not just the death of George Floyd but of course the death of many African-Americans at the hands of the police.

It is late here, Don, it is past the curfew, and things are getting tense. I just want to give you a sense of what we're seeing right here. This is the front line. If you look down this line, you can see protesters face to face with these troops.

[23:44:55]

MARQUARDT: Now, these are National Guard troops, some of the 2,000 to 3,000 National Guard troops that have been deployed on to the streets of Washington to backfill in a law enforcement capacity. It is getting tense. It is getting late.

And this is quite remarkable because there is nothing that is separating these troops, these law enforcement officers from the protesters, which is something that we have seen over the course of the past few days, even as these protesters have been pushed farther and farther away from the White House.

We were with those protesters down there about a half a block right on the edge of Lafayette Square for the last few nights. And then today when these protesters came here, they have been pushed out. So, this is what we are watching for. This is a flash point, something that could obviously devolve.

One thing we want to make clear, Don, at the top of your show at 10:00, we talked about the possibility of active duty troops being deployed in Washington. What I want to make clear is there are no active duty troops that have been deployed into the streets. It is just troops like these who are National Guards.

But active duty troops have been sent to Washington from both Fort Drum in New York and Fort Bragg in North Carolina. They are in Washington. They are ready to be deployed.

And that has created a bit of friction between the president and his secretary of defense. The president has said that he wants to see military putting down some of these protests while the secretary of defense has said he is not comfortable with the idea of active duty troops being used in the streets. But they have been sent to Washington, but they have not been deployed. So, Don, you can see here, tense. I'm going to ask Jay McMichael to pan to the left. You can see that the crowds have been thinning out. This entire intersection was packed all day long. As we said, it's late. But protesters remain. They are energized. They are frustrated. And they don't seem to be going anywhere despite this curfew.

But the reason that the curfew has been pushed back to 11:00 p.m., Don, is because for the last few nights, the protesters have been peaceful and we hope that it remains that way. Don?

LEMON: All right. Alex Marquardt is out in Washington, D.C. Again, the curfew is 11:00 p.m. It is well past that, almost the midnight hour, and protesters are still out. Alex, we'll check back. He will continue to cover.

You know, we're seeing big crowds of people closely packed together protesting in cities all across the country as you see in the pictures with Alex Marquardt and as you're looking at these pictures now as well of Los Angeles. But all the while, there's the threat of coronavirus. It is still very real, very real. A new report shows tear gas could make a person more susceptible to a respiratory illness like coronavirus. We'll talk about that next.

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LEMON: So, large crowds like you see there -- look, this is Portland, Oregon -- marching in the streets all across America today, protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.

But with the coronavirus death toll in this country passing 107,000, the pandemic is still threatening, and the protests are raising fears about a new spike in cases. If you look at those pictures, it's hard to social distance when you're out there protesting.

Let's discuss now with CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He is the director of the Cardiac Catheterization Program at George Washington University. Thank you, Dr. Reiner. I have to say, we have been focused on the events in Minneapolis, rightfully so, and what's happening around the country.

JONATHAN REINER, DIRECTOR OF CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION PROGRAM, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Yes.

LEMON: I got a text from a friend last night, a high school friend, saying keep your thoughts and prayers with our other high school friend. He and his wife, both have COVID, and they're in the hospital. This thing is still going on. And when we see these protests, people are all close together, they're yelling, they're chanting, sometimes without masks, is there a risk that hundreds of thousands of people could be getting infected?

REINER: Yeah, absolutely. So, during all of the traumas of the last 10 days, the virus has -- hasn't gone away. There are about 20,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the United States every day and about 1,100 deaths. There are about 17 states where the number of cases is still rising, about 21 states where the number of cases flattened, decreasing in about 15 states.

So the virus is very much here. And everything that we've learned to this point still pertains. So, distance, masks, good hand hygiene. And when you look at the crowds, there's very little social distancing in the crowds. A lot of the crowds -- in a lot of the crowds, many of the protesters are wearing masks.

I'm worried about the very close proximity and the ability to transmit even through masks through very close distances. When I look at the police and particularly the troops, very few of them are wearing masks, and that's a big concern to me.

LEMON: Yeah. I was noticing that when I was watching Alex Marquardt in Washington, D.C.

REINER: Yeah.

LEMON: I'm like, look at these guys, they're out there, these men and women in National Guard uniform, the National guardsmen, and they're not wearing protective, you know, masks or anything like that.

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LEMON: You know, Dr. Reiner, we've seen police using teargas on protesters around the country. The New York Times is reporting that a number of studies are showing evidence that teargas can make a person more susceptible to a respiratory illness like coronavirus. It's an added danger for protesters. Can you talk to me about that?

REINER: Yeah. So there are probably two risks. One is an acute risk. What is teargas or any of these pepper sprays make you do? They make you gasp. They make your eyes tear. They make you want to rub your eyes and we tell people during the pandemic try not to touch your eyes. That's a route of virus into your body. So they make you grab your eyes and rub your eyes. They cause you to gasp and to choke and to cough.

So if you already have the virus, then you're going to spread it via cough. If somebody else has it and you're coughing or taking deep breaths, you can imagine, you know, there's a lot of virus aerosolized.

The later effect is what these respiratory irritants do to the lungs. And there is some suggestion that people who have been exposed to teargas or these other chemical irritants are more prone to respiratory disease like bronchitis going forward. So there is some concern that being exposed to teargas or one of other similar agents could cause higher susceptibility to COVID-19.

LEMON: All right. I got to run. Thank you, Dr. Reiner. I appreciate your time.

REINER: My pleasure, Don.

LEMON: Protests continuing for the ninth night over the death of George Floyd. Stay with us. We're going to bring you those protests live.

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