Return to Transcripts main page

Don Lemon Tonight

President Trump Wants to Rejuvenate His Mood Through a Rally; Sen. Amy Klobuchar Leaving Joe Biden's V.P. List; Another Defeat for President Trump in the Supreme Court; Juneteenth Made Famous by Trump; Oklahoma has its Largest Single-Day Increase of New COVID-19 Cases Since the Start of the Pandemic; Florida Reports Highest Number of Cases in a Single Day; United States Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 118,000 as New Cases Spike in 23 States. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired June 18, 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]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

It is 11 p.m. here on the East Coast. President Trump is in an attack and deny mode after suffering a series of blows to his administration.

The Supreme Court today handing Trump his second major defeat this week. Blocking the president from revoking protections for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

And the president may say the coronavirus is dying out, but unfortunately that is a flat out lie. Twenty-three states -- 23 -- showing spikes in cases compared to this time last week. The president's new home state of Florida reporting more cases in one day than ever before. Experts are warning that Florida could become the next epicenter.

And President Trump's former national security adviser calling him unfit for office. John Bolton's new book painting a picture of an uninformed president whose decisions are driven almost exclusively by his political interests.

And just moments ago we're learning Bolton asked a federal court to dismiss the Department of Justice case against him over his book.

All of this as the nation is still reeling from the death of George Floyd and again from the death of Rayshard Brooks. The president's actions and words regarding race continue to show he just doesn't get it.

And now, a top State Department official saying enough and enough. Resigning her post due to his response to the protests.

And breaking news tonight -- breaking news. Senator Amy Klobuchar taking herself out of the running for V.P. and giving Joe Biden a suggestion for his choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): After what I've seen in my state, what I've seen across the country, this is a historic moment, and America must seize on this moment. And I truly believe, as I actually told the vice president last night when I called him, that I think this is a moment to put a woman of color on that ticket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Wow. I think we have enough to talk about now with CNN's White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond, political analyst Astead Herndon, and our resident fact checker Daniel Dale. I think you guys have some -- some things that we can talk about in this segment.

Good evening to one and all. Jeremy, I'm going start with you. The Trump administration is in chaos right now. What are you hearing from inside the White House? Are they concerned?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, you just laid it out, right? There's been two major rulings from the Supreme Court handing major defeats to the Trump administration this week. The president is in denial over the coronavirus and now you've got John Bolton with these explosive allegations.

And to top it all off President Trump has been increasingly concerned about his prospects for re-election with one poll after the other showing him losing currently to Joe Biden.

So, all of that combines for a situation both at the White House and with the president himself, where he is up against the wall. And the president and the White House are certainly looking for a win right now.

That's one reason why, Don, I've been told by several sources that they are eager to get the president back out on the campaign trail for this rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday. We know that the president often feeds off the energy from these crowds and that's certainly something that officials are hoping kind of brightens the president's mood.

There's been a number of reports over the last week that the president has been in a pretty sullen mood over his re-election prospects and the fact of what's going on with the coronavirus pandemic and the way it's impacted the economy.

So certainly, White House officials are looking for something that can brighten the president's mood. Again, despite the fact that we're in the middle a pandemic, they are holding this rally in large part so that the president can come out on the other side feeling better.

LEMON: Astead, Jeremy laid down a lot of it as well. I did in the open before you guys. This country is reeling. The unrest over racial injustice, a deadly pandemic that has that has killed over 117,000 people here in the U.S.

And this president is tweeting that the Supreme Court doesn't like him? How much longer can the country go without leadership given the challenges we face right now?

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We have repeatedly seen the president take things in personal terms, so whether it is the Supreme Court, whether it is John Bolton, whether it's congressional leaders who don't do as he pleases. He sees everything as a referendum on him personally. And I think that's what we saw from that tweet today.

[23:05:02]

But as you mentioned, this is multiple crises happening at once. This is the one that kind of calls for out an administration that would lead from the front, lead its party and kind of provide the nation that is in a kind of chaotic state a semblance of unity.

That's not really what this White House has done. That's not what this president has done. And I think as you and Jeremy said, that he's been -- that he has shown the kind of response to the president. In recent poll after poll he has taken a major hit in his political standings.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Let me put -- let me put one of them up. Let me put one of them up.

HERNDON: Yes, go ahead.

LEMON: And then you can finish your thought there. This is a poll, it's from the Associated Press. Fifty-four percent of Americans think President Trump has made things worst during the unrest following George Floyd -- Floyd's death. This is how people view Trump. Go on, continue what you were saying.

HERNDON: Yes. I think that in this moment he gets a opportunity to reset with coronavirus, with the protests, but he has not taken those steps. He has leaned into the kind of base-centric political strategy, which is not good enough for re-election.

We know that in 2016 he was able to get some people who were kind of on the fence but leaned to him. In 2018 the Republicans lost some of those people. He needs to get those folks back before November. And we have not seen any of these actions. The one that polling is suggesting is really resonating with them.

LEMON: OK. Daniel, let's put up another poll. This is a Fox News poll. It shows Biden leading by double digits. Maybe that's why he's making this stuff up about his rival? I mean, this is what we said last night. Watch this.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He's been in the basement for a long time.

He's not running his campaign. People are running his campaign. I see quotes all the time that he said this, he said that about me. And the long beautiful flowing sentences. I said, Joe didn't make that statement. And Joe doesn't even know the statement was made. But they are leaving them there. And at some point, he's going to have to come up for air.

(END VOICE CLIP)

LEMON: Daniel, give us the facts.

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: Joe Biden is not stuck in his basement. There is no doubt that both Biden and President Trump have been operating under a reduced campaign travel schedule because of the pandemic. But since Biden emerge to resume public events in late May he's done a bunch of stuff.

He attended a community meeting at an African-American church. In Delaware he's held a speech and economic round table in Philadelphia. He met with the family of George Floyd in Houston, Texas. The very day -- yesterday the president made these comments on Fox News, Biden went to Pennsylvania and gave a speech and met with business owners.

In fact, as he made these comments to Sean Hannity, Hannity's show was rolling the footage of Biden in Pennsylvania that very day. So no, he's not stuck, yes, he is coming up for air.

LEMON: Whoopsie, as I say. Astead, speaking of opposing ticket. And I mention this. This is the big news tonight is from Senator Amy Klobuchar withdrawing from the V.P. race and saying Biden should choose a woman of color. Is she right?

HERNDON: Well, according to big portions of the party, she's right and this is going increase pressure on Joe Biden. I think it's important to note a couple of things here.

Senator Klobuchar didn't just say, I don't want to be in the race anymore. Using that public reasoning she adds pressure on people like Elizabeth Warren, like Gretchen Whitmer, who are woman -- who are white women who are still in the running and they're going to be now forced to ask -- answer questions saying, why should you be the vice presidential pick if he has a number of women of color who are good options as Senator Klobuchar stated?

But she had taken a hit in her V.P. push in the last month as the senator from Minnesota. She had faced questions on her prosecute -- her prosecutor record. But this is out in the slip and has been an issue that's followed her for the last year.

Her presidential campaign stalled after New Hampshire as we moved towards the diverse states and she could not match the kind of appeal that she had to some of those white moderates. There really isn't a path for Democrats, particularly on the national side and as moderates without voters of color.

LEMON: OK. One more for you, because the Washington Post is reporting that a top State Department official is resigning over the president's handling of the unrest spark by George Floyd's death.

This is a part of -- her name is Mary Elizabeth Taylor. This is part of her resignation letter. She says, moments of upheaval can change you, shift the trajectory of your life and mold your character. The president's comments and actions surrounding racial injustice in black Americans cut sharply against my core values and convictions. I must follow the dictates of my conscience and resign as assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs.

That is in stark contrast to so many enablers who surround President Trump.

HERNDON: I think that letter is someone speaking from their -- from their personal view. That was against the president. And that has shown that a number of times we have seen kind of a. what we call administrative officials, people who are used to working sometimes for Democratic and Republican presidents saying this presidency goes too far outside of the mold, even for their own kind of personal beliefs.

[23:09:58]

And I think that that is something that is going to be a thing that the president has to reckon with. It is his conduct not just not fit for the office but does go against people's personal values in a way that see someone like Joe Biden as a steady figure as we hurl towards the general election.

LEMON: So, Jeremy, let's -- I want to check out -- this is a list of former administration officials who have turned on President Trump. Bolton, Mattis, McMaster, Tillerson, and you can see them up there in your screen. The list goes on. Has this happened to any other president in living memory that you know of?

DIAMOND: No, it hasn't. You know, it would be a news story and it would be extremely rare for one senior official in a president's administration to come forward and make a series of explosive allegations in the way that John Bolton has.

It's a whole other thing for it to be a litany of officials doing exactly that. And that is indeed what we have seen, some of these officials going further than others.

But all of those officials who you just put up on the screen, you know, they are all people who have criticized the president in one way or another, said that he is not empathetic enough, said that he is unfit to lead, said that he, you know, runs a chaotic White House. And that is one of the patterns here.

The other pattern is what you see from many of those very same officials which is that they view themselves as a the guardrails to that chaos, the guardrails to that impulsive behavior we see so often from the president particularly as it relates to decision-making in the foreign policy space.

And so that's why you've seen folks like Jim Mattis and John Kelly and even John Bolton to a certain extent, and he describes this in his book, you know, remain in office because they're concerned about what would happen if they were not there. Now this goes to your other question, Don, which is the question of

enabling the president, and that is something that many of these officials have wrestled with. And what you have seen is most of the officials who have served with the president, who have served in his White House or in his administration, they believe that it's better for them to stay there, but eventually, all of them it seems, Don, reach some kind of a breaking point whether it's over policy or personality.

LEMON: All right. We're going to have to leave it there. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate it.

The president says, and I quote, "I made Juneteenth very famous." Van Jones, Kamau Bell respond to this brand-new holiday that they just found out about, thanks to the president. Next.

[23:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: President Trump bragging about making Juneteenth the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S., famous, he says. Here's what he said to the Wall Street Journal. I made Juneteenth very famous. It's actually an important event, it's an important time, but nobody had heard of it, very few people have heard of it. Actually, a young African-American Secret Service agent knew what it was. I had political people who had no idea. Did you ever hear of Juneteenth before?

Well, Alyssa Farah, his White House communications director responded, I did from last year when the White House put out a statement. And then Trump replies, really, we put out a statement? The Trump White House put out a statement. Farah responds, yes. Trump adds, OK, good. I don't think it was put up by others, but we made people aware of it, and it's good.

OK. CNN political commentator Van Jones is here, W. Kamau Bell, host of CNN's United Shades of America. Hello.

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST: I don't have a table to put my head down on, Don.

LEMON: OK. Did you know about Juneteenth before President Trump made it famous, Kamau?

BELL: Of course, I did, because I'm related to what's called a black person and I had a black mom, so of course I knew what Juneteenth was. I do feel like he's ruined Juneteenth to say he wrote birth certificates and taco bowls, though. He sort of, trumping all over it and making it harder for the black people and the brown people to deal with it.

LEMON: Van, listen, just a week ago, we were supposed to believe the White House spokesperson when she said Juneteenth was a meaningful day to the president. Now he's telling the Journal he asked around and no one working for him knew about it and he wasn't even aware that his White House had put out a statement about the holiday in the past, but it's important to him.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, listen, I don't have much to say about it except that I tell you, because he said that, a lot more people do know. I think -- I think African-Americans might be surprised how little people know about stuff that's important to us.

LEMON: No.

JONES: This whole new kind of greater - what?

LEMON: No, we wouldn't be surprised.

BELL: This is on brand.

LEMON: Yes. We would.

BELL: This is on brand.

LEMON: Yes.

JONES: Yes. So, look, I -- from my point of view, this is the great awakening. There's millions and millions of white people I'm sure have not heard of Juneteenth and are interested in finding out about it. I actually had people call me, business owners, CEOs saying, you know, what are we supposed to do, should we call it a holiday? So, something is happening around Juneteenth, but I don't think it's being driven by Donald Trump.

LEMON: Yes. And companies were talking about this before President Trump. But, Kamau, what's wrong? Why is your head in your hands?

BELL: I've gotten so many e-mails in my inbox from white folks asking me to go through and find detail what my family's Juneteenth celebration is. When you talk about how much Juneteenth means to me.

And look, I grew up celebrating Kwanza. And we didn't celebrate Juneteenth. So, I think because the white gaze in this country is so powerful and so magnified that it is made white people Juneteenth crazy. I heard white people getting the day off from work tomorrow for Juneteenth.

LEMON: Yes.

BELL: We -- we -- that's not what we want, white people.

[23:20:01]

LEMON: I'm working.

BELL: We want our civil rights, our human rights and good schools, good jobs.

LEMON: I'm working because I am very grateful for my ancestors who would be proud that we are all in this position, so I'm going to celebrate by working in this fantastic job, the opportunity that I have been given because they were slaves and had to face discrimination.

I have to move on. You said white gaze. G-a-z-e you meant. Not g-a-y- s.

(CROSSTALK)

BELL: Yes.

LEMON: I just want to make sure that everybody knows what you meant. Michael Bender in the Wall Street Journal also asked Trump if there's systemic racism in police departments, and then Trump responding, yes, I'd like to think that there is not, but unfortunately there probably is some. I would also say it's very substantially less than it used to be.

Van, I want to know, why is it so hard for him to acknowledge that this is a problem? We all know it's a problem. Why is it always a few bad apples defense?

JONES: I think that it's very, very difficult and I think these past few weeks have shown, you have to literally show a video of seven minutes -- eight minutes -- eight minutes and 46 seconds completely --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Seven forty-six now according to the new report from Minneapolis. But go on, sorry.

JONES: But, I mean, and completely interrupted with the victim not doing anything at all except just saying, I can't breathe.

LEMON: Right.

JONES: No weapons. Perfect to get America realize we have a problem when we've had dozens and dozens of other videos that they always kept finding an excuse for. I just think it's so difficult for people to accept that there are two countries that officer friendly, that same officer who pulled you over at two o'clock and gave you a pass and gave you a warning and check on your kid and check on your dog, that same officer 15 minutes later brutalized somebody for no reason.

It is very difficult for people to understand that, and so that's why you wind up with bad apples. What happened today shows you, if it were just a few bad apples, for instance, somebody who's going to shoot somebody in the back twice and kick them, which happened in Atlanta, then the good police officers would be cheering when those bad officers were put in handcuffs.

Instead, half the police force is refusing to go to work, because they're so concerned about, you know, the -- not mistreating officers who shoot people in the back twice and kick them. So, there's a much bigger problem here that we don't want to deal with. But this is a very, very odd time, I think in American history to be downplaying this, if that's what he was trying to do.

LEMON: Listen, I know -- sorry, I thought you were done, Van. JONES: I'm sorry. Go ahead.

LEMON: I -- you're a comedian, Kamau. Chris Rock said there are some professions where you can't have bad apples. Right? Policing, one of them. Airline pilots another one. You've got to be on your mark and on your game every single time. And people hold -- there are different standards for certain profession -- for different professions as there are for -- even for the President of the United States, right?

We hold the president to a higher standard. We hold police officers to a higher standard. We hold airline pilots to a higher standard. There are many -- we hold senators to a higher standard. There are many people in our society who we hold to a higher standard and there just cannot be room for bad apples.

Meantime, I want to get to this. You tweeted, just so we're clear, white people firing Aunt Jemima and giving us Juneteenth off are not the front lines for defeating white supremacy and dismantling structural and institutional racism. Better schools, a just criminal justice system, access to healthcare was more what we were thinking. You just -- you alluded to that moments ago. How do we get there though? What can people do?

BELL: I mean, I think, one, white people, stop patting yourself on the back when things happened like "Gone With the Wind" is pulled off of HBO Max or Aunt Jemima is fired. Don't pat yourself at the back for that stuff. That's like the easy stuff to do if you focus on it. The hard stuff is the structural change.

Aunt -- the problem with Aunt Jemima is not what's on the bottle. It's what's in the bottle. I'm not worried about Aunt Jemima. I'm worried about the structures. And people want to pat themselves on the back for these little changes when really making public schools equitable and good for everybody is way more interesting to black people in this country than these little sort of like, culture wars.

LEMON: Well, I think, listen, to both of you. The more you know, we all learned out about -- learned about Juneteenth today, thanks to the president. Today is a good day. Thank you both. Good to see you. Bye, Van. Bye, Kamau.

JONES: Bye.

LEMON: You know, and some big news for me today. OK? My new podcast launched this morning where I'm really taking some -- on some hard conversations about being black in America.

[23:25:05]

Son make sure you tune in. It is called -- this is my podcast -- Silence is Not an Option. You can find it on Apple podcast podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Make sure you tune in.

Oklahoma seeing its largest single day increase of coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and the president is holding a rally there just two days from now. And there will also be large celebration, a large celebration tomorrow for Juneteenth. We're going to go live to Tulsa, next.

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: President Trump holding his rally in Tulsa in two days. But today, the State of Oklahoma recorded its largest single-day increase of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.

CNN's Martin Savidge is in Tulsa for us, live. Martin, good evening to you. The largest single-day increase of new since the start of the pandemic, up 450 cases on Wednesday. You have been speaking to folks there who are waiting for this rally. Are they concerned at all?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: No, they're not, of course. Remember, all of them are here to support the president. They have waited three months to have a rally. So, as one man put it to me, he said, do you think I would be first in line to get into the arena if I was worried about getting coronavirus?

In fact, they're actually sick and tired of people coming up and asking them, are you worried about coronavirus? So, they say they don't feel that the threat is any greater for them inside the arena even though they will be packed in there, 20,000 strong, than, they say, they normally would run across being out on the streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Now, the city and county health department sees that completely different. In fact, it was Tulsa County today, also set a new record for single-day increase of coronavirus cases, up from 120 from yesterday, which means that the spike is quickly turning into a hot spot, and it's into here this weekend that the city is preparing for 100,000 people to show up.

And as I already mentioned, there will be 20,000 people that are going to be packed inside the BOK Center. They're going to be elbow-to- elbow, and yes, they'll be handing out masks, they'll be checking temperatures, giving them hand sanitizers, but, I think you have a pretty good idea of how this crowd is going to mirror very much what the president thinks. The president is not a big believer in masks himself. So, it's not expected many people are going to be wearing masks in there.

And it's going to be loud. It's going to be raucous. They are going to be in there for hours and hours and hours, and that's why medical experts believe that that is going to be a perfect breeding ground for coronavirus.

LEMON: So, you know, they're not planning -- the people you're talking to, these folks are not planning on wearing masks, these thousands and thousands of people who are there aren't taking any precautions?

SAVIDGE: No. Another one said -- no, they really don't believe. Many of them say they have never been sick, they don't know anybody who has been sick, and they just don't see that there is really going to be a risk inside. But remember, you're crowded together. You're in there for hours because it is not just for the president's speech. You got to go through all the security clearance.

Screaming, shouting, cheering, mouths wide open. And the thing is people are coming from all over. This isn't just for people who are here in Tulsa. They are coming from Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York. I've spoken to people. They are coming from other hotspots. And some could be bringing coronavirus with them.

No doubt health experts say that when they leave, there will be many other people who will be taking home this kind of deadly souvenir from being at this rally.

LEMON: So this is from the BOK Center earlier, OK? They requested a written safety plan for the rally from the Trump campaign. This is a full statement, OK?

It says, "Given the Tulsa Health Department's recent reports of increases in coronavirus cases in the State of Oklahoma's encouragement for event organizer to follow CDC guidelines, we have requested that the Trump campaign, as the event organizer, provide BOK Center with a written plan detailing the steps the event will institute for health and safety, including those related to social distancing. Once received, we will share the plan with local health officials."

And just two days before the rally, is there any way to socially distance, and what happens now? From what I'm hearing, gathering from you, the people who are there don't appear to care about social distancing or anything else.

SAVIDGE: No. What's interesting about that statement is you basically had almost two weeks to prepare for this event, and it's two days before, suddenly the management company says, wait a minute here, we need to come up with some safety guidelines.

LEMON: Yeah.

SAVIDGE: And they're asking the campaign to come up with it. Now, they are the management company. ASM Global runs that place. You would think they would be the ones that would dictate what goes on inside of their facility which they run for the city of Tulsa. The mayor says he can't tell people what to do inside, even in a medical emergency.

Now, the management company that runs the place says they can't tell people who are using it what to do. And now, apparently, the Trump campaign is going to respond in writing although I am not sure they will be. They already said what they are going to do, take temperatures, hand out masks, and they can make sure that people wear it. They definitely aren't expecting people to stay six feet away from one another.

LEMON: Martin, you be safe down there. Thank you. I appreciate it. Look forward to hearing from you on what happens.

SAVIDGE: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Thanks a lot. I want to bring in now Sherry Gamble-Smith and Vanessa Hall-Harper. They are the chair and co-chair of Tulsa Juneteenth.

[23:35:03]

LEMON: Good evening to you, ladies. Thank you so much for joining. I appreciate it. Sherry, the original annual Juneteenth celebration was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. But now, you're expecting one of the biggest Juneteenth celebrations in Tulsa ever. What changed your plans?

SHERRY GAMBLE-SMITH, CHAIRMAN, TULSA JUNETEENTH, INC.: Our plans changed when some community organizations got together and decided to have some sort of celebration for our community, not expecting it to be as big as it has gotten.

So we decided to join in to help make this celebration safe and healthy for our community. And so community organizations and leaders have gotten together and that's what we want to do, just make sure they are safe and --

LEMON: OK. Let's talk about this, because you saw the report before, right? The Trump folks and supporters are -- they are getting a lot of criticism because they are packing so many people together inside an arena or just gathering that many people.

The question is, how many people are you expecting and are you worried about them getting infected? It is because Oklahoma had its largest single-day increase of new cases since the start of the pandemic. That was on Wednesday. What do you say to that, Sherry?

GAMBLE-SMITH: Well, I am. I'm very concerned. We definitely have over 1,000 masks that we're requiring people to wear, asking them to wear, have hand washing stations everywhere, big LED screens that will be all evening and flashing, please social distance as much as possible. Our concern is for the people. So I'm really concerned, just praying that everybody is safe and healthy.

LEMON: So, let me ask you then, before -- Vanessa, I'm going to get to you. So then, considering what's happening, I have to ask you, so then why do it?

GAMBLE-SMITH: Why do it? Well, you know, we have been having so much pain, black people. We are going through so much now in this nation. So Juneteenth is a time to celebrate. It is a celebration. It's a time when black people can pause and breathe. It is one day.

And I think that we definitely need it. We have so much going on. I'm a mother. I have three sons out there and a husband that's black. And so I'm praying for them, thinking about them all the time. We just want to take one day and celebrate and just take a breath and breathe.

LEMON: Mm-hmm. OK, yeah, wow, that's a tough one because of the safety concerns, and I understand what you're saying. It's been a tough time for African-Americans. I get it. But man, the coronavirus is serious. It's taking a lot of African-American lives proportionally than anyone else. Vanessa, President Trump had originally planned to have his rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth after facing backlash. He eventually moved it to the next day. How did you feel about the president's plan to rally on that day?

VANESSA HALL-HARPER, CO-CHAIRMAN, TULSA JUNETEENTH, INC.: On the 19th?

LEMON: Yes.

HALL-HARPER: I was shocked. I was hurt. I was insulted. It was a slap in the face. I do want to say this. The reason why we are doing this is pretty much because we were forced to. We had so many people saying, we have to do something, we have to do something. As we said before, as Sherry indicated, we cancelled Juneteenth because of COVID, because we are concerned about the health and well-being of our community.

And so it was something or nothing. So we were trying to get engaged and say, OK, let's do -- if we're going to do something, let's do it right. Let's make sure we put precautions in place. Let's make sure we are following the CDC guidelines. That's what we are trying to do. Did I lose you?

LEMON: Your event, this is going to be outside?

HALL-HARPER: Yeah, sorry, my camera -- yes, it is an outside event. Historically, Juneteenth is celebrated outside. It is a festival outside. We are going to take all the precautions that we can, but the community was just -- I mean -- but the community nationwide was like, something has to be done to capture the rally, that Trump chose to come to this community to do his rally, a red state, a red community.

[23:40:00]

HALL-HARPER: Who are you rallying, right? This is the great state and it always has been. So, why do you have to choose here? They're telling us that they chose Tulsa because they did such a good job with COVID. You know what? That will go to hell because of everyone who is coming here in this community and the aftermath is going to be devastating.

LEMON: I got to run but I have to say, you know, you guys know every night I sit here and I talk about these cases and the surges and what have you. And I know how it affects African-Americans, I know that people want to gather, and I understand that. But I'm torn, you know, because I want people to be safe.

HALL-HARPER: I am, too.

LEMON: Yeah. All right. You understand --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Thank you both. Good luck. Happy Juneteenth. Please, please, please be safe. Please, please, please. We'll be right back.

HALL-HARPER: Thank you.

GAMBLE-SMITH: Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Florida has all the markings of being the next large epicenter. The state today is reporting the highest new number of cases yet. Joining me now is Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber. Mayor, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining.

You say that you are concerned about cases rising there. Governor DeSantis has said Florida will not roll back. Will you start re- opening if things continue to get worse?

MAYOR DAN GELBER, MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: Well, I don't think our community down here in Miami Dade County in South Florida is going to move to the next phase, certainly. None of the metrics are going in the right direction. It's not the positives that are going up. It's the percentages going up. Hospitalizations are going up. And we're seeing a lot of spread. So we're very concerned.

LEMON: Yeah, because Miami Beach was one of the last cities in Florida to re-open and people are wondering, you know, why not take the same precautions now considering that the number of cases is going up? You can certainly understand that, right?

GELBER: Absolutely. And it's not even the amount in our small city because we are only 92,000 people. In fact, typically 10 million to 15 million people come to our city and the county and regionally and beyond every year. So we're a place where everybody comes to dine or to go to the beach or go on a promenade.

So, we really see it not just as our own residents but as the community to stop the spread. We are concerned. We have to get people to be more compliant. The amount of spread that's happening is very unsettling.

LEMON: It is interesting. I must tell you, mayor, I have friends who live in my neighborhood, own a business in my neighborhood, moved to Miami, started another business, came back to check on their business, said they haven't been here since the pandemic.

They were surprised to see people actually social distancing and wearing masks in New York. They were surprised that they couldn't hug people or shake their hands or talk to them.

They said they didn't even own a mask. And people have been at beaches in your city, not wearing masks. You told CNN earlier this week that you may require people to wear them all the time. So, I'm wondering, do you think that there has been enough information and pressure applied to people there to understand how serious this is? Have you decided whether you're going to require people to wear masks?

GELBER: Well, I think my commission and the county mayor and city of Miami mayor are all looking at exactly that issue. The problem is that -- we were the first city, I think, in the United States to actually require masks indoors. We did it the day the CDC reversed course. So we are pretty serious about it.

The problem is we're seeing a spread enormously among young people who feel like they are immune from this and are reading (ph) why they're not going to get sick. So, of course, they're getting the virus and spreading it to older people. It's as if they don't have parents and grandparents who don't know anybody over the age of 60. That's the problem.

Look, we're not going to allow our health care system to be overrun and we are not going to wait until we've reached a tipping point where there's nothing we can do. So we have to look at these metrics carefully and take action now.

I suspect we're going to start to do more than just urge people. We are going to probably start going to businesses. I'm meeting with hundreds of businesses tomorrow to tell them that if they're not willing to really take this seriously, we're going to have to start taking action --

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

GELBER: -- because the self-policing doesn't seem to be working. Inside is the problem more than outside.

LEMON: Thank you, mayor. I appreciate it. Good luck. Keep us updated. Please come back.

GELBER: Thank you very much.

LEMON: Thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Twenty-three states are showing spikes in coronavirus cases. Here's CNN's Nick Watt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Face masks are now mandatory for most of California's 40 million people, anywhere deemed risky, on a bus, for example, even waiting for that bus. "We are seeing too many people with faces uncovered," says the governor, "putting at risk the real progress we have made in fighting the disease. In California and in nearly half our states, average new case counts are now climbing."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now, I don't see any option, other than to start re-implementing significant levels of social distancing once again.

WATT (voice-over): But in Texas, the governor won't give mayors the power to make masks mandatory for all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down in those parts of the country, you don't see mask wearing because they just haven't experienced the same level of death and disease from COVID as parts of the northeast.

WATT (voice-over): Florida once made incoming New Yorkers quarantine on arrival.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Fast forward a hundred days. Now, we're afraid they're bringing the virus to our state.

WATT (voice-over): New York now mulling its own quarantine order for anyone incoming. Good news, New Yorkers can very soon dine out again, on the sidewalk.

[23:55:00]

WATT (voice-over): Bad news, White House task force (INAUDIBLE) Dr. Anthony Fauci now thinks football may not happen this year. "Make no mistake, this is no easy task," replied the NFL. "We will make adjustments as necessary to meet the public health environment as we prepare to play the 2020 season as scheduled." Meanwhile, the man tapped to lead the White House vaccine effort, now bullish about that ambitious end-of-year goal.

GUSTAVE PERNA, TRUMP NOMINEE TO LEAD COVID VACCINE EFFORT: What I thought was an aspirational goal, 30 days ago, when I was announced by the president, I've recently come to the conclusion that it is more and more likely to occur.

WATT (voice-over): And the president himself thinks it's pretty much all over.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you look, the numbers are very minuscule compared to what it was. It's dying out.

WATT (voice-over): That is a lie.

JEANNE MARRAZZO, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMNGHAM: It's not true. It's hard to see how one could arrive at that conclusion, when you look at the data that we have been talking about.

WATT (voice-over): This past week, all of these states have hit record highs for new cases in a single day: Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona, California, and Florida.

Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: Our thanks to Nick Watt. And thank you for watching. Our coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)