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Don Lemon Tonight
President Trump Contradicts Dr. Fauci's Assessment; No Uniformity Of Statements Over COVID-19; Nurse Coronavirus Survivor Tell People To Take The Virus Seriously; Supreme Court Justice John Roberts Hospitalized; More Beans To Spill From Trump's Own Niece. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired July 07, 2020 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: We're bringing my man, D. Lemon.
We're both observing what's happening in this country, exposing what's wrong, trying to shine light on what's right. In California, this is just wrong.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Yes.
CUOMO: Contra Costa County district attorney's office has charged two residents with three misdemeanor counts including a hate crime, and here's why. You know, they got a permit to paint black lives matter there. They got a permit. They did it legally.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: These people came in and painted over it.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Illegally. And why? Because there is no such thing as racism. It ended with the Emancipation Proclamation.
LEMON: Yes, and they said not in our town. Not -- this will not happen in my town, they said. And you know, I play this last night and the thing that got me, Chris, is they were painting over black lives matter letters --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: With black paint.
LEMON: -- with ink black which you would still be able to see because they were painting over the black letters, so they were actually in a weird way helping with the art there, black lives matter with black paint.
But listen, there are cameras now. People can't get away with these things. They had to know that they were going to get caught or maybe they didn't think the guys wearing a make America great again that he is screaming those sorts of things about, I think it's like make America great again or something of that nature.
And this is where we are in the country right now. People think that they can get away and do this stuff and that it is similar to the conversation that you were having with Angela, I guess, it's related. Our country. Not your country. This is my country, my town, my city. And there are certain people who don't belong or at least what you think that is right. You want to fight for criminal justice. You want black lives matter. You want to be able to have a sign that you put on the street. You can't do that because it's my town.
CUOMO: And look, genius doesn't have morality attached to it. Often it doesn't. And it all fits together. The lies about the pandemic. The lies about, you know, what this president will make happen, the lies of those around him as an echo of support. The lies about what black lives matter is about. It's all about creating division.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: And making, you know, in a country that is well over 70 percent white, if this happens, it is bad for you. They literally say it on state TV. It's coming for you next.
LEMON: Yes. You see the right wing machine kick in. Media machine kick in when you see Trump's poll numbers go south. They kick in with --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: No position on the confederate flag.
LEMON: Yes. Democratic cities are in chaos right now. Is this what you want from Joe Biden. And they are going to take your country away. And they are taking down the statues.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Crime is rising.
LEMON: Crime is rising.
CUOMO: Defund police.
LEMON: My gosh. It's so bad. And they get defunding police, it's like -- and the people who you saw there for the most part -- not Dems specifically, I'm talking about as a whole. Fall for it. They fall for it. That's why they do things like what they did. They want to paint over signs and I think it's our country.
This is the country that we built. Even though a rich diversity of people helped to build this country and many of us, meaning our ancestors, for free. Did not get paid for it. Could not get an education. Could not build wealth. Are not on statues. Confederate or otherwise. Not on Mount Rushmore.
I think, listen, this is going to -- people are going to get and pick this up -- they're going to put someone on Mount Rushmore considering the history of this country. The first black president should be front and center.
CUOMO: Add to Mount Rushmore. Look, I think that's first of all, I think it's a more salable idea than the idea of taking away founding fathers. You know, and again, all of this is fodder for debate and discussion. You have to have the talk. You just can't hate people for having ideas you don't like. You know, that's the only mistake we can make.
And you know, a lot of this, I was talking with my kids about this, and we were talking about slavery, you know, I was saying we did this, we did that. We did this. And I was saying listen, you know, as you're getting context, Cuomos have only been here a couple generations but we have to understand we own the history of this place.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Because now you are charged with what do you do here? What are you about? How do you collaborate in the creation here? Whether it's the pandemic or whether it's the virus of racism. What we do have to do in this country is everybody -- you're doing it beautifully and brilliantly yourself. Of course, I'm bias and I love you.
But you're using your platform you've made a choice. You may not be winning yourself a lot of fans but you're going to say what you think is true from your experience hard minted from many years in this business and in this country.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Everybody has to make a choice about what they're going to do right now. There's a famous song from Rush, even if you choose not to decide you've still made a choice. And that's where this president is with the confederacy.
[22:05:03]
LEMON: All right. Preach there, Cuomo. Listen, I have to say it's -- you know, many times I do this because I'm not just speaking for myself but I'm speaking for other people. And I think it's important to give people as I've said before we have to cut people a break in this time. People are vulnerable. You know, we got the coronavirus. We're sitting at home.
Some people don't know where their next meal is coming from. They had a tough time with their jobs and on and on. But you can't let people off the hook. So, it's tough for many people's ears to hear. So, you say, well, we have to add, we can't change. We can't take it down. When Native Americans would say well, that didn't happen when it came to us.
CUOMO: True.
LEMON: And so, what's wrong, what's wrong with all of us together thinking or reshaping our country so that more people rethinking our country in the way we think and where our priorities are so that this country is belongs to everyone. It's not just -- (CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Nothing is wrong with it.
LEMON: It's not just my country.
CUOMO: Right.
LEMON: Maybe some of the people -- maybe some of the people, I'm not saying that they should, but maybe some of the people up there on Mount Rushmore, who knows? It wasn't Mount Rushmore, if you, you know, the name shouldn't be Mount Rushmore if you talk to Native Americans.
CUOMO: Right.
LEMON: They say it is stolen land. It was only Mount Rushmore 40 years before they started to carve president's faces in it. And no one got any money for that. And the person who was behind that was one of the founding fathers.
CUOMO: Right.
LEMON: Or was a president.
CUOMO: He was a president.
LEMON: He was a president. And so --
CUOMO: I think that you're totally right. I think the premise is where we are going to have to work towards. Which is if we all decide. It's about consensus and collective consciousness. And if you get to the point --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: The majority of people aren't always on the right side though. I mean, look at the civil rights movement. That's so -- just because --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Right. But you got to that point.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Where you got a majority of the country. Because otherwise you wouldn't have the legislation. You know, you have to get to a point where the country -- look, Plessy v. Ferguson. Separate but equal. A lot of people thought that was Supreme Court law of the land. People thought that was the end of the discussion.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Fine. You got equal right here. We're equal. But we're separate. Which is an extension of Lincoln's philosophy, by the way. Then you had Brown versus the Board of Education. LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: And it was a whole rebirth of cultural awareness. We need collective conscience. The key has to be the we.
LEMON: And we need education. I really do think we need education and I think people need to learn about the founding fathers. As I say they were not perfect.
CUOMO: True.
LEMON: It doesn't mean that they didn't do great things. I don't like to deify anyone, right? But they were not perfect. Lincoln wasn't perfect. Some -- you know, people think that Lincoln just said, hey, listen, we're going to free these people then he was always on the right side.
CUOMO: Right.
LEMON: No. He wasn't.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: There was a lot of pragmatism.
LEMON: There are people who wanted to expatriate black people or Africans and send them to colonize them and send them somewhere else. Right? So --
CUOMO: You are dead right.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: I was blessed with having a father who was a Lincoln scholar.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: And he was piping this stuff into my head since I was a teenager.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: But I'll tell you what. The best thing that ever come out your pile was when you said early on in this, if you have a black friend, talk to them.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: If you don't, find one.
LEMON: Find one.
CUOMO: If you're black person, find -- that is the key.
LEMON: Yes. CUOMO: Because when people start to hear about different people's experiences, things start to change in your own experience in your own perspective. That's where we have to get to. That's all.
LEMON: You got it. Now I got to go.
CUOMO: I'll be watching.
LEMON: You better watch.
CUOMO: Make your witness.
LEMON: Thank you, Chris. No, you're exactly right. We all need to do that. We all need to sit down and have these uncomfortable conversations. You're going to really enjoy my next podcast. We talk all about this. So.
CUOMO: Beautiful.
LEMON: And then talk we'll about it on the show. We'll play some of it and this handover that we do. But I got to get to the show. Thank you, sir. Have a good night. Be safe.
CUOMO: I love you, Don Lemon.
LEMON: I love you as well.
This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.
This country is getting closer and closer to a terrible milestone. Terrible. Three million known cases of the coronavirus. Another record number of new cases reported just today, 58,146 and rising. Thirty-one states seeing an increase in cases. The south and the west reporting record hospitalizations.
In the face of all that the president is picking a fight with Dr. Fauci of all people. Really? Dr. Fauci? Dr. Fauci who truthfully said that we are still knee deep in the first wave of this. Play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him. You know, Dr. Fauci said don't wear masks and now he says wear them. He said numerous things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: If we went through all the things that he said about this and wasn't didn't get it right, I'd be here until next Tuesday.
[22:10:08]
Even for a president who told you not to believe what you're seeing, that is a stunning statement. This president wants you to believe that we're in a good place. Really a good place? With nearly three million cases of coronavirus and more than 131,000 deaths. With another record of new cases reported today. We're in a good place? We're in a good place. Is that a good place?
There is no universe in which that is a good place. And the president who for months has refused to follow his own CDC's guidelines and publicly wear a mask, he is criticizing Dr. Fauci, of all people on masks?
Remember, there were concerns early on that there wouldn't be enough masks for healthcare workers. But the guidance has been clear for more than three months now. Wear a mask. We all know how to do it. Not that hard. Just put it on. Just put it on. I have -- wear -- I have mine with me all the time. Just put it on.
The president just refuses to set that example. And with his false claims that the United States is at the lowest death rate for the virus in the world he probably isn't going to like this either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death. There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus. Don't get yourself into false complacency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Don't get yourself into false complacency. The fact is among the 20 countries most affected by the virus, at least 14 have lowered death rates than the USA. But here we are, nearly three million cases. The death toll over 131,000. It didn't have to be this way. It didn't.
One hundred thirty-one Americans dead in just five months. We're seeing more and more still every day. More and more cases. More and more deaths every day. And despite everything, it seems like we are back -- doesn't it feel like we are back to square one in many ways? With hospitals, the emergency rooms, the beds, ventilators and all of that. We thought we went through all of that and here we are again. With a president who has down played the toll of this virus from the very beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, we're at 130. We could be -- we could be at way over a million right now. I think it could have been two and a half or three million people.
When you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That's a pretty good job we've done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Videotape does a pretty good job of explaining it. Can we please play that again, Mr. Director, please?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, we're at 130. We could be -- we could be at way over a million right now. I think it could have been two and a half or three million people.
When you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That's a pretty good job we've done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And h's criticizing Dr. Fauci? Come on, you all. Really? He's criticizing Fauci? It's going to be gone. And like a miracle when it gets warm. You can, you know, inject disinfectant. Not a good job. Not at all. Cases skyrocketing in the south, and the west months after president -- the president promised the virus was under control.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
MICHAEL PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There are many southern states have seen a rise in cases as of this morning.
TRUMP: The coronavirus which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Long lines for testing. Companies warning of delays in results. Sacramento closing five testing sites due to supply shortages. The mayor of Phoenix begging for help. Months after the president falsely promised anybody that needs a test gets a test.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[22:14:59]
We are only testing the sickest. This weekend I was out at a testing site where people were waiting eight hours to get a test in a 110- degree weather.
TRUMP: Anybody that needs a test gets a test. They're there. They have the test. And the tests are beautiful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Yes. All we have to do is just roll the video tape. If you -- you know, if you don't believe me, if you think I'm not telling you the truth. Facts first. Video tape tells a story. It wasn't true then, it's not true now.
And then there's the wave of cases in more and more hospitals. Healthcare workers overwhelmed. Hospital setting up tents to take the overflow of patients. There you go. Don't believe me, look the at the picture on your screen.
And even though doctors they know, they know more about how to treat this virus, they still don't have what they need months after so many doctors first raised the alarm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can speak for all the E.R. here in the Rio Grande (Ph) Valley. A lot of us are overwhelmed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are scared too. We're fighting for your lives and we are fighting for our own lives. We're trying to keep our head above water and not drown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Back to square one. Actually, it's worse than square one. Think about all of the sacrifices, millions of people across this country made. You're probably one of them. Right? You're one of them. Stay at home for months. Many of you lost your jobs. Lost your businesses. Kept your kids at home from school. Right? You became a teacher. Not being able to hug friends and family. You missed weddings. You missed the funerals.
All that we did so we could get ahead of this virus. Right? So, we could buy time to get the testing we need. So, hospitals will have everything they need to save lives. All of those sacrifices. For nothing. For someone to lie to your face every day. Because they want to be reelected.
Let's be real. Lies, lies and more lies. Lies on top of lies. That's all that is. It didn't have to be this way. But this president still after all this time after all this sickness and death he still doesn't have a clear message a clear plan to save American lives.
Instead he's falsely telling us that we are in a good place. And expecting us to believe that. Do you believe that? We can all see that it is not true. Instead he is leaving the World Health Organization at what could be the worst possible time with cases rising here and across the Americas. Brazil has more than 45,000 new cases today alone. Their total number of cases, second only to the United States of America.
One of those new cases is the man sometimes known as a Trump of Brazil. The president of that country. President Bolsonaro. So, he is -- he has followed the president's footsteps in the president's footsteps. Look what it got him.
And then there is this piece of news that President Trump is probably not going to like. New revelations from Mary Trump's very damming profile of her uncle in the upcoming book. "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man."
The title alone is guaranteed to get on the president's bad side. But among the other revelations there's this. Mary Trump writes that young Donald Trump tried to cheat his way into college. She claims that he paid someone to take his SATs. The White House says that is false. But the accusation is not going to sit well with the man who calls himself a very stable genius. And loves to brag about how smart he is.
One who, let's remember, had this to say about the object of his obsession. The former President Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: He had lousy marks in school and he got into Harvard on a scholarship. Explain that one. By the way, I have friends that have kids that have all A's that have the highest aptitude test they can't get into Harvard. They can't get into Wharton either, by the way which I'm very proud to tell you. But they can't get into Harvard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:20:04]
LEMON: You all know what I'm thinking. You all know what I'm thinking. Really? Projection. Every time he calls someone out for something, I'm telling you whatever he calls someone else it is true about him. OK?
The obsession runs so deep that Donald Trump demanded that President Obama release his college transcripts. Remember that? And he won't release his tax returns but he wants somebody else to release their college transcript. And remember the birth certificate as well.
Boy. Even claimed that he'd give Obama a $5 million check to the charity of his choice. Didn't work. I have said it before, Barack Obama lives rent free in this president's head. And I've often wonder out loud on this very program what is it about the former president that gets under his skin.
So, is it any wonder that he accuses his predecessor of doing something that he himself is accuse of doing? Projection.
I need to tell you at this moment we have some breaking news now. We have another record number of new coronavirus cases reported today, 58,699.
Next, I'm going to ask one of the top doctors what it will take for us to get this virus under control. That as a pandemic madness is spreading.
We're learning today that a California woman who allegedly coughed on a baby in San Jose has lost her job with the local school district. The incident caught on camera on June 12 when the woman appears to intentionally coughs on the baby, allegedly because the mother was not maintaining proper social distancing.
[22:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Here's our breaking news. The U.S. is seeing a record number of coronavirus cases today. More than 58,000. It is the highest count of in a single day since the pandemic broke out.
I want to bring in now Dr. Richard Besser, he is a former acting director of the CDC. I'm so happy to have you here, Dr. Besser. Thank you so much for joining us. let's get right to it.
This country is nearing three million cases.
RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: Yes.
LEMON: We just set another record of new cases today, 58,699. A key model is predicting more than 208,000 deaths, that's by November. Why can't this country get the virus under control?
BESSER: I think, Don, one of the biggest challenges we face is that there's a tale of two viruses. There's the story the tale that's being told by everyone in public health. That it's early days in the pandemic, that this is a very serious disease, that what we do really matters. And what we do can get this under control.
And then we're hearing on a political narrative about this virus that is all over the board. You see some governors both parties who were saying follow public health. Do the right thing. Wear a mask. Social distance. Wash your hands. Stay home if you're sick. Support those people in communities so that everyone can protect themselves.
And then you have other political leaders who say there's nothing to worry about, this is under control. Get back to work. Get back to our social lives. And when that happens, if everyone isn't playing by the same play book, if it isn't the American way to look out for each other, I wear a mask because I care about you. You wear a mask because you care about me. If that's not the American way, we all lose.
Because you can't have half of the country doing the right thing and half of the country saying there's nothing to worry about.
LEMON: Yes. It's in, I think it was Governor Cuomo who said if you play politics with a virus you're going to lose.
BESSER: Yes.
LEMON: We're seeing huge delays, doctor, in testing turnaround time in many areas as these cases spike. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee was asked why it took 10 days to get a coronavirus test result back. Watch this and then we'll talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): The labs have been floored. Why? It's because governors in southern states listen to Donald Trump. And they reopen their businesses way too fast and they let thousands of people rush into bars. And as a result, they've got massive surges of pandemic in Texas and Florida and other states. And as a result, they put pressure on the analytical labs to get all this testing done. So, we wish that was not the case. And we wish them well in the southern states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, the governor also blamed inadequate test kits. Is he right, did the president's pressure to reopen quickly in southern states listening make the situation worse?
BESSER: Well, the challenge is that if you can't drive the total number of cases down, if you're seeing thousands of cases in the state every single day, you can't switch to the public health approach. Which is test, track, isolate and quarantine. And that's what you want to get to.
It's worked across the European Union. It's worked across so many Asian countries. If you can drive the numbers down and we were getting there. We were getting there by having everyone stay at home. We saw that the impact of that in New Jersey, in New York, and in so many states where they could switch over to a testing, tracking, isolate, and quarantine.
In the states where it's in the thousands, and it's overwhelming testing capacity, there's no way you are going to have the public health work force to be able to very quickly identify cases, get people tracked and get people into isolation quarantine.
[22:30:07]
And this is all happening at a time when the federal supports so that everyone can be safe are going away. This supplemental unemployment insurance. The protection from eviction or mortgage foreclosure. All of those policies all that support is going away at a time when we need it most.
LEMON: Doctor, the ICUs in 43 Florida hospitals are now full. Arizona reported a record, number of deaths today. Texas reported a record 10,000 cases in one day. And coronavirus hospitalizations in California at an all-time high.
The president thinks that we're in a good place and disagrees with Dr. Anthony Fauci's assessment that the country is still knee deep in the first wave. When you hear the president say that we're in a good place honestly, and I know that you're not a political person. But when you hear that as a doctor, what do you think? What are you thinking?
BESSER: One of the statistics I think that is confusing people is that when they hear that one percent of people are going to die from this. That they think that means there's nothing to worry about.
In addition to people dying from this, 15 to 20 percent of people are going to end up in the hospital, 20 percent of those people are going to end up in the ICU on ventilators and the long-term consequences of this infection for so many people are quite severe.
So, this is something we have to really pay attention to. And tracking deaths -- I've heard people say well the number of people dying isn't going up so fast. You know, the number of people dying is one of those indicators that doesn't tell you very much about what's going on now. It's delayed. As your cases go up it takes a long time especially if the cases are in young people, eventually those young people are going to spread it to old people.
They are going to spread to people who are at risk of having severe outcome. And then those people are the people who are going to end up in the hospital and at risk of death. And that takes quite a while. We're seeing right now the future because we're seeing such rises in the case numbers.
LEMON: Yes. And I think the doctors because this has gone on for so long. They have become better or more depth at treating the patients.
BESSER: Exactly.
LEMON: Right.
BESSER: Exactly.
LEMON: And what to give them and try to keep them off of ventilators. Right?
BESSER: That's right.
LEMON: So that their lungs can stay strong. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
BESSER: Yes.
LEMON: Doctor, we'll see you soon. You be safe.
BESSER: You, too.
LEMON: As Dr. Besser just noted many Americans infected with coronavirus dealing with symptoms for months including a Texas nurse who fought off double pneumonia and repeated bouts of high fever. The story of her three-month battle with the virus and what she is seeing now that she is back at work. You don't want to miss it. That's next.
[22:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The coronavirus outbreak surging in Texas. The state reporting more than 10,000 new cases today, the highest single day total in Texas since this pandemic began.
I want to bring in now Angela Aston, she is a nurse in Texas who treats COVID-19 patients. But she herself battled the disease for three months. Thank you for joining us, Angela. Are you doing OK?
ANGELA ASTON, NURSE WHO HAD CORONAVIRUS FOR THREE MONTHS: Doing OK today. Thank you for having me on.
LEMON: Yes, absolutely. We'll talk about what you are seeing on the front lines in a minute. But you battled the coronavirus for three months. Talk to me about how you got it, what you went through.
ASTON: You know, I'm a nurse and I just taking care of every day patients that come into the hospital. I work in the trauma unit. It was before we started seeing patients come in as you remember in early March. Late March.
And a patient just came in and had a cough. And that was right before all this mandatory testing happened and I was exposed and I got sick pretty promptly within two days, I had a fever, a cough, a really bad sore throat, and that was like April 1. And I tested positive. I was lucky to get a test early on. And so, I quarantined and the patient ended up, you know, testing
positive. So, we knew that I had been exposed. So, at that time, I thought OK, I'm going to have it a mild infection. I'm young. I'm healthy. I'll be fine.
And day after day kept passing and then it was 14 days locked in your bedroom and starting to go a little crazy. And you have fevers and you just feel sick. And then I got double pneumonia. And everybody is thinking well, she's going to snap out of this, you know. And it just wouldn't go away.
So, I ended up in the hospital at the end of the month. So, month -- for five weeks in I was in the hospital. And just getting care as a person who is a nurse and who understands how the system works was even difficult for me. Because the fear of corona the fear -- the lack of understanding of how to take care of it, literally the fear of exposure.
So, going to the emergency room was very difficult. I had to call ahead and find an emergency room that would see me while I'm stress --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes. I've got -- I've got to ask you, Angela. I didn't ask you any -- you know, I just ask you that one question to let you talk because I find your story so fascinating. But really, what I want to know from you and I think people want to know you are better now. You said you are. But you were back at work again and these cases are surging.
Texas reported 10,000 plus cases today. What are you seeing? How is your hospital dealing with this?
ASTON: Well, you know, our hospital I work for a hospital in Austin. We're very well prepared. We have been prepared from the front end. And units are morphing and changing as the corona cases have grown. I think we're at over 80 cases today. And I work in a different department that's not a medical department. So, I'm getting patients in a trauma unit that are asymptomatic which means they don't have symptoms but they test positive.
[22:39:57]
And so, a lot of this population is younger and the concern is that they don't know they have it and they were spreading it before they came in. That's very worrisome.
LEMON: And you want people to take this seriously, and you hear people -- you hear people saying well, the death, you know, the number of deaths aren't going up. It needs to be taken seriously. And what do you say to that?
ASTON: The number of deaths are coming. OK? But for me, I missed months of work. I was very sick. It's not over for me. I had cardiac testing last week. I can have long term complications in my lungs from the type of pneumonia that you get from corona. And there's a difference between mortality which is death and then
morbidity which is the complications of illness. And so, like for me, I'm healthy. I knew how to get care. But people that are, you know, of different social classes or they don't have health insurance. They get sick, they are waiting until much later to end up in the emergency room.
And if they live, they might have pulmonary scarring or it can give you, you know, heart defects. There are so many potential problems down the road and we haven't even seen those yet because we're so early on.
LEMON: Yes. Well, Angela, thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. You stay safe. And we hope to have you back soon with better news. Right? That the cases are actually going down. Thank you. Be well.
ASTON: Yes. Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Thank you.
ASTON: My pleasure.
LEMON: We've got some breaking news to tell you about right now. We are learning the Chief Justice John Roberts has been hospitalized. He's hospitalized last month for a head injury that he suffered in fall. We're going to tell you what happened just after this break.
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LEMON: So, I mention the breaking news before the break. Well, tonight we are learning that the Chief Justice John Roberts is hospitalized last month for a head injury from a fall.
Joining me now by phone CNN's Supreme Court Reporter, Ariane de Vogue.
Ariane, thank you for joining us in this breaking news. Tell us a spokeswoman for the court putting out a statement tonight. What are they saying?
ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN U.S. SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Right, Don. We're learning about this more than two weeks after it occurred. The spokesperson put out the statement saying the chief justice was treated at a local hospital on June 21 for an injury to his forehead sustained in a fall while walking for exercise near his home. The injury required sutures and out of an abundance of cautious -- caution he stayed in the hospital over night and was discharged the next morning.
His doctors ruled out a seizure. They believe the fall was likely to lightheadedness caused by dehydration.
A separate source said that the fall occurred at a country club he belongs to in Maryland, Chevy Chase Club. But it's interesting that we are getting this news just now nearly two weeks after it occurred. LEMON: Yes. It occurred on June 21. Why are we learning about it now?
DE VOGUE: Well, that's interesting. And you know, the justices vary on how they tell us about their health concerns. For instance, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg she's always been very forthcoming. Releasing very detailed statements to the press.
But here, a court spokesman tonight said that she was responding to an inquiry that was first reported by the Washington Post. And so that no explanation. Because as you know, we're at the end of the term here. We have been getting opinions. But the justices because of COVID-19 aren't on the bench. So, we're not hearing from them. We're not seeing them and we're just getting these opinions when they pop up on the web site on the required day.
LEMON: All right. Ariane de Vogue is our Supreme Court reporter. Chief Justice John Roberts hospitalized just last month for a head injury from a fall, it happened on June 21. We're just learning about it now. We'll continue to follow. We'll be right back.
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LEMON: The president's niece, Mary Trump, has a new tell-all book called "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man." Mary Trump writes, quote, "by the time this book is published, hundreds of thousands of American lives will have been sacrificed on the altar of Donald's hubris and willful ignorance. If he is afforded a second term, it would be the end of American democracy."
Wow. Joining me now Tony Schwartz, co-wrote the book "Art of the Deal" with Donald Trump, and Michael D'Antonio, he is the author of "The Truth About Trump."
Well, I just have to say, good evening to both of you. That you co- wrote it. You co-wrote it? Did you write the whole thing?
TONY SCHWARTZ, AUTHOR, THE ART OF THE DEAL: I wrote it.
LEMON: Yes.
SCHWARTZ: He may have read it. Yes.
LEMON: Yes, Yes. Thank you, gentleman. Michael, I want to start with you. Because you say that Mary Trump is the president's nightmare, an eyewitness who knows the truth. Talk to me about that.
MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, every family that's very troubled will eventually produce a truth teller. You know, you are the person that's hurt the most, in her case she was pretty much abused by the extended Trump family when it came to her rightful inheritance, and she witnessed all sorts of depraved things going on within this family. And lo and behold, 20 years later, she gathers herself up and she
produced this book. But not only does she know the truth. She's got a masters in literature, so she knows how to tell a story and she has a Ph.D. in psychology so she can see what we all see but she can also describe it in a way that has real authority. So, she is his real nightmare, a psychologist inside the family. I can't imagine what he's feeling tonight.
LEMON: Yes. And I got a couple of people who have read it and they text me and they are saying, this book, you have to read this book. It's unlike any of the other ones that have been written about the president.
Tony, in the book Trump's niece claims that he paid someone to take the SATs for him. And she writes in part, "he enlisted Joe Shapiro, a smart kid with a reputation for being a good test taker to take his SATs for him. Donald, who never lacked for funds paid his buddy well."
And this is why the president who always brags about how smart he is, then went to an Ivy League school -- this from him?
SCHWARTZ: Yes. I mean, we know that Trump, wherever he feels inadequate, leaps to saying how wonderful he is. There's something bizarre about his calling himself either stable or a genius.
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So, it's no surprise. Trump had to have someone take his SATs if he was to get into a four-year college because he's incapable of focusing his attention for more than a shortage period of time.
And so, he accumulated no knowledge in the course of his, you know, elementary school and high school. So, what was he going to do to get into a college except his father's money and getting Joe, who's probably the most wanted man in America now. Everybody wants to hear from Joe -- take the test for him.
LEMON: Yes. Joe, call me. Joe, we have breaking news, so we had a short time. I'm sorry. You heard about the chief justice. So, pardon me for that. We'll have you back. Thank you, sirs. Sirs, both of you.
D'ANTONIO: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: The U.S. seeing more than 58,000 new coronavirus cases today, the highest on record while the president says, nothing to see here. All the breaking news just ahead.
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LEMON: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.
