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Don Lemon Tonight

U.S. Sees Highest Single Day On New Covid-19 Cases With 63,900; President Trump Commutes Roger Stone's Sentence; He Was Convicted Of Seven Felonies; President Trump Say We're Still Doing Very Well As U.S. Cases Top 3.1 Million, 134,000 Deaths; Atlanta's Mayor Rolling Back City's Reopening To Phase One; President Trump Claims He Aced Cognitive Test But Offers No Proof; Coronavirus Cases Spiking In Tulsa After The Presidential Rally, Protests; Tulsa Kicks Off Three Day Fair Despite Spike In Coronavirus Cases; Tucker Carlson's Top Writer Resigns After Secretly Posting Racist and Sexist Remarks in Online Forum; What Will Happen to Schools and Sports Under COVID-19?; Black Lives Matter is Trying Force Los Angeles County's First Black District Attorney from Office. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired July 10, 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]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: And we have more breaking news for you. President Trump commuting the prison sentence of Roger Stone, a long-time associate who was convicted of seven felonies including lying to Congress as part of Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Stone was about to report to federal prison in Georgia next week. Much more on this story just ahead.

We want to begin with the surging coronavirus pandemic. And I want to bring in CNN global affairs analyst, Susan Glasser, staff writer for the New Yorker and Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Program at George Washington University Hospital. Good evening to both of you.

Susan, it's good to see you. I haven't seen you in a while. So, welcome back to the program. Doctor, good to see you. Long time no see, meaning I saw you last night. So, let's start with this. Doctor, President Trump was down in Florida, OK. He had a fundraiser. He had a meeting to talk about drug trafficking. Would you have suggested that he maybe focus on the pandemic that is killing Americans every day while he is visiting Florida, which is an epicenter?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: First, if I was advising the president, I would tell him to stop traveling. Every time he goes somewhere, he puts people at risk. So you have to think about it. The president travels with domestically, you know, there might be 200 people that travel with him. A lot people go in advance. We've already seen what happens to advanced people and secret service agents when they travel to venues during a pandemic.

Look at what happened to his team from Tulsa. Look what happened to the vice president's team in Phoenix. He puts people at risk. And why would he put people at risk? He could have done this meeting today via teleconference, and that's what he should be doing. He should be sitting tight, preserving his people, looking after his people, and managing the crisis from D.C. He should stop traveling. There was no reason for him to go to Florida today.

LEMON: All of those people, advance people who had contracted covid and the secret service people. So you do have a point there, Dr. Reiner. Susan, I want to bring you in. because your latest piece for the New Yorker, you point out -- you point to how the president attempts to flip anything negative into something positive, whether it's losing in the Supreme Court or his handling of the coronavirus.

You point out how it's not working anymore. And it's right on. Susan, I have to tell you, I was watching the president give a speech on some important initiative that he had made, and I just got the thought. I said is anybody really listening to him or taking him seriously at this moment? Talk to me about that.

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, he does increasingly seem to be the president in the bubble, you know, in a way, right. He sort of just doing his own thing. You know, this commutation of Roger Stone's sentence today is actually a good example of that. It's like he has given up trying. You know, you can imagine back in March or April that he would have handled the coronavirus very differently than even Donald Trump, you know, might have just said OK, I'm just going to, you know, let the experts handle this. I don't want to be blamed one way or the other.

And instead he sort of seems you know, be so much more content in his dream world. His niece Mary Trump is out with this new book this week and she used a phrase that I thought was very insightful. She said that Trump has a legacy from his father of toxic positivity. Right, you know, it helps explain like why is he always cheerleading for the coronavirus? We're doing great. We're doing great on every measure, always.

The inability to accept reality as it is, and to project a sort of like crazy positivity. I think that really tells us where we're at right now, Don, you know?

LEMON: Yes. And I'm going put up these poll numbers for you, Susan. This is ABC News. Only 33 percent of Americans approve of President Trump's handling of the coronavirus, 67 percent disapprove. I mean, the disinformation and lie, that isn't really helping him.

GLENZER: Well, you know, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor this week, she gave a speech. Her first trip outside of Germany, because Germany is actually getting over the pandemic and managed to flatten their curve. She went to the European parliament. She said a rebuke to populists like Donald Trump. She said lies and disinformation don't work to combat this virus.

And I had to say it was so painful to be in Washington listening to that speech and realizing that she is talking about the president of the United States and a country that has not managed to get this under control.

LEMON: Yes. Dr. Reiner, the mayor of Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms planning to go back to phase one, which means -- it's a stay- at-home order. Do Americans in other parts of country need to prepare themselves to go back to stay at home orders? You warned of it before, when things started opening up, but do you think Americans and other places need to prepare themselves for that?

[23:05:14]

REINER: Well, I think we need more leaders like the mayor of Atlanta. What she is doing is politically very difficult, but is medically and from a public health perspective the right thing to do. So, instead of what we hear from the leadership in the state house in Florida, which is we're opening schools no matter what, we're not closing down, no matter what. We have a leader in Atlanta that says things aren't going well, now. We're shutting down.

There comes a point when the pandemic flares up again that you just can't mask your way out of it. And you actually have to shut down. That's how New York got out of it, by shutting down. Ridership on the New York City subway was (inaudible) dropped 90 percent. So they shut New York City down. That's why New York City has less than a 2 percent positivity rate.

So we need leaders around the country that are willing to do that. And we need -- although I've given up on this -- we need leadership in Washington that tells leaders around the country, shut down when you need to shut down. So I applaud Mayor Lance Bottoms for doing that.

LEMON: So listen, I want to ask you, you guys about what the president said, Dr. Reiner, what the president said about taking a cognitive test recently at Walter Reed. We talked about it last night. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I actually took one when I -- very recently, when I was -- you know, the radical left was saying is he all there, is he all there? And I proved I was all there, because I aced it. I aced the test. And he should take the same exact test. They're very standard tests. I took it at Walter Reed Medical Center. In front of doctors, and they were very surprised. They said that's an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anybody do what you just did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. There is a lot there, doctor. If this indeed happened, shouldn't the White House provide some details about when this took place? And is he referring to his recent trip to Walter Reed or his evaluation in 2018?

REINER: Well, his only recent trip to Walter Reed was unannounced on Saturday afternoon in November. So, if he had neurocognitive testing then, that's very worrisome, because he would have had a symptom that prompted unannounced in a hurry on a Saturday afternoon in November neurocognitive testing, things like a stroke or confusion. He may simply be referring to the test he had two years ago, but he said recent.

So, if he had a recent test, that's what he is referring to. It's important to note that this is not an intelligence test. This is a test for dementia. It's a dementia test. I mean, it asks you to identify a camel and a hippo, and it asks you to subtract 7 from 100 and draw a clock. So this is not an intelligence test. The current guidelines actually don't recommend routine screening of older people like the president with this test. They recommend only screening if there is a symptom that warrants concern.

LEMON: Interesting. And he aced it. Being able to pick out a camel.

REINER: He aced it. The camel.

LEMON: Thank you both. I appreciate it.

Breaking news. The U.S. seeing a record number of new coronavirus cases in a single day today, 63,900. 29 states seeing a spike in new cases and 10 states seeing an increase in covid-related deaths over the past week. More now from CNN's Martin Savidge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Long lines for testing in Florida. It's a clear indication of the painful price the state is paying. In addition to a record single day death toll of 120 on Thursday, including the death of an 11-year-old child, Miami-Dade County reports hospitalizations are up 74 percent in less than two weeks, and 88 percent of ICU beds are currently in use, though the governor today pushed back.

REP. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): You've got a lot of beds available.

SAVIDGE: The county is also seeing a staggering 28 percent positivity rate of tests being taken now, according to the mayor's office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The situation means really concern here (inaudible) very badly.

SAVIDGE: The nation's infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says the coronavirus surge could be traced back to states opening too soon.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALERGY AND INFECTOUS DISEASES: Certainly Florida, I know, you know, I think jumped over a couple of checkpoints.

SAVIDGE: Governor DeSantis' response?

DESANTIS: There was really no justifications to not move forward.

SAVIDGE: Even as Florida grapples with a deadly surge, Disney world reopens this weekend, bringing thousands of families to the state. President Trump is also in Florida today, not planning to focus on the pandemic, but discussing drug trafficking and attending a fundraiser.

[23:10:09] TRUMP: It's an honor to be with you.

SAVIDGE: But as he campaigns, the virus continues to spread, with the U.S. seeing its highest single day of new covid-19 cases Thursday, with hot spots spreading from coast-to-coast. Today West Virginia becoming the latest state dealing with the surge. The virus there spreading faster than anywhere else.

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV): This is the only bullet that I have right now to do something other than to shut our state back down.

SAVIDGE: The Texas governor with a warning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the numbers are going to look worse as we go into next week. And we need to make sure that there is going to be plenty of hospital beds available in the Houston area.

SAVIDGE: And the contagion goes far beyond just those who are infected. With so many still unemployed, the lines of free food distribution sites, like this one in San Antonio, Texas demonstrate a different misery. Meanwhile, an ominous warning today for the World Health Organization.

DR. MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WHO: In our current situation, it is very unlikely that we can eradicate or eliminate this virus.

SAVIDGE: Martin Savidge, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Martin, thank you so much. I appreciate that.

We have more breaking news tonight. The president commutes the prison sentence of his long-time friend and political dirty trickster, Roger Stone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:15:00]

LEMON: All right. A lot of news tonight breaking. President Trump commuting the prison sentence of Roger Stone, his long-time associate, who was convicted of seven felonies, including lying to Congress as part of Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Let's discuss now. CNN legal analyst Elie Honig is here. Elie is a former federal and state prosecutor. Also with us, our senior political analyst, Mr. John Avlon. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining tonight. Elie, I want to start with you, because the president's end game has been clear for a very long time, clear as day he is going to grant Roger Stone clemency. So, let's look at the bigger picture here which is corruption and abuse of power.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Don, we saw this one coming. Look, this is what corruption looks like. This is just a raw abuse of power. And what makes this pardon I think different from many others or perhaps all others that came before it is let's remember what Roger Stone was convicted for. He was convicted of lying to Congress in order to protect President Donald Trump and then President Trump turns around and commutes Roger Stone's sentence. It's hard to think of a more perfect example of self-dealing than that.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right.

LEMON: John, this president continues to use the levers of power and the Justice Department to protect himself and his cronies, punish the people who speak out or try to rein him in. Isn't this what you see from authoritarian regimes?

AVLON: In a word, yes, but he is using the powers of our presidency and the constitution to get away with it. But no president has abused his pardoning power which is in the constitution like this president. And as late as this afternoon, Roger Stone was saying that he hoped and expected to receive a commutation because he hadn't flipped on the president.

This is somebody we found out from the prosecutors who resigned were feeling pressure inside the Justice Department to go -- be lenient against Roger Stone, because of his relationship with the president. Someone who has seen now unredacted parts of the Mueller report was the campaign's conduit to WikiLeaks. And this is somebody who now is getting off scot-free because the president is protecting one of his own who didn't turn on him. It's corrupt, as Elie said.

LEMON: But this is a case that had to deal -- or to do with the president himself. This isn't just about Roger Stone. This case had to do with the president.

AVLON: Yes. Yes. Self-dealing. This is self-protection. He was afraid that Roger Stone would flip on him. And the fact that he didn't meant that he was in line for pressure from the Justice Department to -- some say inevitable events of today. A commutation during a Friday night news dump. But don't mistake it. Don't get normalize this. This is dangerous abuse of power, again.

LEMON: Yes. Elie, we have seen this story before, OK, the firing of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman on a Friday night. We sat here, did an entire hour on it. He pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio on a Friday. He has fired inspectors general on a Friday. So this move to commute Roger Stone, a self-proclaimed dirty trickster shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. It is a pattern. And from their point of view, why not keep doing it over and over if they can get away with it?

HONIG: Yes, Don, thus far it's been consequence-free. You're definitely right about that Friday night pattern. I mean, I don't think anybody announces something they're super proud of at 9:00 p.m. on a Friday night. I think there's an obvious pattern there. Also, this one is a little different than the others, because we need to be thinking about maybe it's just my mind-set as a prosecutor, but we need to be thinking about the federal statute against bribery.

OK, bribery is an exchange of an official act pardoned by a president obviously is an official act in exchange for a thing of value. And if prosecutors could prove that the thing of value here was shutting Roger Stone up, then you could have a bribery charge. Now there is other evidence out there that the president just thought the case was unjust, but he has been tweeting about wanting to keep Roger Stone quiet. He tweeted praising Roger Stone for staying strong while he was attacking other people who testified. So I think there's a real potential criminal issue here too.

LEMON: Interesting. And so then what happens then, Elie? I mean, come on, you piqued our interest.

HONIG: Well, I don't know if every prosecutor is as aggressive as I was, but look, you can't indict the president -- or DOJ won't, let me say, indict the president while he is in office under their given policy. But he is not going to be in office forever. He could be out in January of 2021. He could be out in January of 2025. But that should still be enough time, statute of limitations to bring a charge. So, I think whoever inherits that Attorney General's office has to take a close look at this.

[23:20:10]

LEMON: Interesting. John, you know, this is what the Biden campaign is saying, OK. Let me read it for you. It says President Trump has once again abused his power, releasing this commutation on a Friday night, hoping yet again to avoid scrutiny as he lays waste to the norms and the values that make our country a shining beacon to the rest of the world. He will not be shamed. He will only be stopped when Americans make their voice heard at the ballot box this fall. Enough.

So, Joe Biden is saying that this won't end until the Trump presidency does, until the Trump presidency is over?

REINER: Yes. And, look, if he is a one-term president, loses the election, you can expect a flurry of pardons right up to the night of January 19th before inauguration day. No president -- pardons are usually used to take care of someone who has been the victim of a great injustice. It's done to advance justice. Not a self-protection racket or a way of rewarding political allies with (inaudible).

And this is the first person for the president campaigns who has gotten this kind of treatment after the pressure from the DOJ. After the additional information came out. And this is something, you know, just as folks saw this train coming down the tracks doesn't mean it shouldn't shock you. This is the worst in some ways of the abuse of the pardon power we've seen today.

LEMON: John, Elie, thank you both. I appreciate it.

HONIG: Thank you.

LEMON: Now we want to turn our focus to something that is very important, and that is the coronavirus. Cases soaring in Oklahoma with a significant increase in Tulsa County. All right, cases in Tulsa continue to rise following the president's rally there on June 20th and protests that took place around the same time. So, joining me now is Karen Keith. Karen is the Tulsa county

commissioner. Karen, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining us this evening. I know it's a very busy time for you. The entire state of Oklahoma, commissioner, is seeing a rise in coronavirus cases. Currently ICU availability and hospitals are below 10 percent in the metro area. In Tulsa, two of four hospitals are already at zero. One is at 7 percent availability, and the counties' hospitals with the largest amount of ICU beds is at 3 percent. I mean, commissioner, this is really alarming.

KAREN KEITH, TULSA COUNTY COMMISSIONER: It is. We do have some additional beds that can be utilized at our OSU Medical Center. The corps put those together for us. But of course, nobody wants to have to utilize those beds. But this spike, we expected it, and now we're seeing it. And I'm just really hoping in the next couple weeks that it will taper off.

LEMON: So what are you going to do? I mean, you mentioned beds, and you said that you're hoping, but what -- I mean, what is Tulsa going to do if this continues to increase?

KEITH: Well, I think that one of the things we have to do is everybody wearing their masks. And our small businesses, as you know were hurt terribly when everything shut down. And it's the one simple thing that all of us can do is to wear a mask and try to stop the spread. It's not asking a lot. And it shouldn't be a political issue. This is about, you know, keeping our restaurants and our retails and our hotels standing.

And one thing -- you know, and if we all feel powerless to stop this, we can wear a mask. And I've seen it in other communities. And it works. People get used to it. It becomes normalized. So that's where I'm hoping we're heading. The head of our health department, he said that his staff is just -- they are stretched. They are exhausted, and they can't continue to see over 100 new cases every day. So it's just tough.

LEMON: Commissioner, today kicks off a three-day art and shopping fair at expo square in Tulsa, an indoor event that usually attracts thousands of people. Even with the spike in Tulsa, masks aren't required there. You were just talking about the importance of mask. You wanted the make masks mandatory for that fair. What happened?

KEITH: Well, I am one of three individuals and five on a trust, but anyway, I will tell you this. The women who are running that event are giving masks to everybody along with hand sanitizer. And they were very serious about this. All their vendors are wearing masks. So they are doing the best that they can possibly do. And this is an event that had been planned for a long time and wouldn't probably be in this position had we not had the rally and all the protests and so on that made a spike.

[23:25:05]

You know, I don't know that they'd be getting as much attention, but they are doing a good job. I was checking in today, and word is that over 75 percent of people are wearing their masks in there as well as all the vendors are required to wear masks. But it's not ideal, you're right.

LEMON: Tulsa County currently undergoing a spike in cases that many have linked to Trump's rally on June 20th as well as a protest at the same time. I mean even Dr. Dart pointed it out in his presser this week. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIR. BRUCE DART, TULSA HEALTH DEPARTMENT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The past few days we've had almost 500 cases, and we knew we had several large events over a little over two weeks ago, which is about right. So I guess we just connect the dots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So you were outside the Trump rally. What did you see as far as masks and distancing?

KEITH: No masks, no social distancing. Now I did see a few -- the staff were wearing masks outside. A few of them were. But the crowd itself, no. No. It was -- and people were from everywhere. I mean, we -- I talked to people from Boston, from Florida, from Michigan. I mean, every state you can imagine, Texas. A lot of folks from Texas. But all around. And then of course I'm sure we had a lot of Oklahomans there as well. And that's part of why we're seeing a spike. Not just in Tulsa, but in the whole state.

LEMON: Well, commissioner, thank you. We wish you the best of luck. By the way, Amarillo is one of my favorite names for a city. So, and it's a great place.

KEITH: Oh, nice.

LEMON: Thank you.

KEITH: Thanks. All right.

LEMON: Thank you. A top writer on Fox News host Tucker Carlson show resigning after CNN uncovered his racist and sexist comments on a message board. CNN's Oliver Dorsey tells us what he found. That's next.

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: The top writer for Fox News host Tucker Carlson has resigned from the network after a CNN investigation uncovered his racist and sexist comments on an online message board. CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy broke the story. He joins me now. Good evening, sir. Thank you so much. So tell us what you have learned about this ex-Tucker Carlson lead writer.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Hey, Don. Yes, Tucker Carlson's top writer, we found, had been posting on a message board, under a pseudo name, racist comments, sexist comments. Frankly, comments that are too horrific to read on air to you largely. They used very vulgar language and it's just shocking to read. I think if viewers go and check it out on cnn.com, they'll be pretty stunned.

Let's zoom back. What we're looking at here is the person that was helping to write the monologues of Tucker Carlson which are seen by millions of people each night. He has a top rated show on cable news. The top rated show actually a cable history in the last quarter. The person writing the monologues, helping Tucker Carlson shape those monologues, has been posting for years vulgar, racist, horrific comments on a secret message board.

You know what? We don't know for sure if this writer had actually written the monologues that the president has shared. But, you know, Trump does share a lot of Tucker Carlson's monologues. According to this writer, he had recently told his alumni magazine that he writes everything that is in Tucker Carlson's teleprompter.

LEMON: Yes, he said. I think whatever comes out of his mouth, he has written the first draft of it. Is that correct?

DARCY: Right.

LEMON: Something like that.

DARCY: That's correct, yes.

LEMON: So, I want to read one of the comments, you said some of them are too horrific, but one of the comments you uncovered in your investigation on a post from this past June. He wrote, "Black doods staying inside playing call of duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down." That is bad enough and then it got worse, correct?

DARCY: It got a lot worse, Don. I mean, frankly, that's a disgusting comment. But if you go and look at the story, you'll see things again that we just can't repeat on air. You know, this was a behavior that was occurring over the past few years, but also as recently as this week. I think the first example in our story that we cite was from this week.

And so, you know, taking together, it paints a picture of this person again who is one of the top writers at Fox News. He writes the scripts for the top show on the channel, has been engaged in some pretty disturbing behavior on his spare time under the pseudo name that we uncovered to be him.

LEMON: Oliver, talk to me about what Fox and Neff are saying about your investigation because it's not as if they haven't been under fire already for the kinds of things Tucker says on his broadcasts.

DARCY: Yes. Actually -- so Fox News only said that this person had resigned. They didn't talk any further about it. They didn't release any other statement. That was all they said. A spokesperson for the network told me earlier today that Tucker Carlson could not be reached for comments.

[23:35:00]

DARCY: Tucker himself did not directly address this on his program tonight, but he did do a segment about cancel culture and seemed to allude to the story, saying that CNN, in particular, apparently is a force of cancel culture that is, you know, I guess apparently in his eyes is not good for society.

And like you said, Don, Tucker has been in trouble. I mean, he has gotten into hot water over the past few years for some comments. I think we actually have some of these comments where he has called white supremacy a hoax, among other things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: This may be a lot of things, this moment we're living through. But it is definitely not about black lives. And remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will.

If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns of problems this country faces, where would white supremacy be on the list? It's right up there with Russia, probably. It's actually not a real problem in America. White Supremacy, that's the problem. This is a hoax. Just like the Russia hoax. It's a conspiracy theory.

In the year 2000, Hazelton's population was two percent Hispanic. Just 16 years later, Hazelton is majority Hispanic. That's a lot of changes. How would you feel if that happened in your neighborhood?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARCY: You know, there are too many comments, Don, like that that if you wanted to actually play that, you'd have to play hours of the comments where Tucker Carlson has ignited controversy for his discussions on race.

But those comments look a little different maybe two years tonight when they know that the person who wrote the first draft perhaps of some of them was openly posting racist comments, sexist comments on this online message board.

LEMON: It's interesting that cancel culture, if that's indeed what he was referencing, because CNN did not --

DARCY: Mm-hmm.

LEMON: -- fire him or cause him to resign. That was Fox. So if anybody is cancelling that right, it would be Fox News.

DARCY: It's a bit shocking. It's a bit shocking, Don, that Fox News didn't come out with a stronger statement. This is, again, one of their top writers, and they didn't have anything more to say other than he's resigned. It's shocking, you know, that Tucker Carlson is top writer outed as someone posting racist comments and he, you know, rails against cancel culture. You know, this is really strange behavior at the very least from Tucker and the network there. It says a lot.

LEMON: OK. Oliver, thank you very much. So, I want to make sure because we talk about this sort of issues on my new podcast. I want to make sure that you're aware of it. It is called "Silence is Not an Option" and we're taking on hard conversations about race, racism, being black in America. You can find it on Apple podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

President Trump is pushing for schools to fully reopen despite warnings from health experts. I'm going to ask the superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District. Will there be Friday night lights in Texas this fall?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As the coronavirus continues to worsen across the country, parents all over are wondering what the school year is going to look like. When will it start? Will it be in person? What about school sports?

Let's discuss now. Michael Hinojosa is the superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District. Michael joins us now. Thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it. Texas is facing a big challenge right now. New cases are surging. The school year is scheduled to begin a little over a month from now. Will it start on time and what will it look like?

MICHAEL HINOJOSA, SUPERINTENDENT, DALLAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: Well, we're not certain, Don. Thanks for having me this evening. You know, we're scheduled to go on the 17th, but with the changing data that is happening almost on a daily basis, almost on an hourly basis, we have to dust off our backup plan.

And maybe I'm going to be presenting to my school board in a couple of weeks an alternative option. We may have to delay the actual start of school so we can do it in a safe environment and have the appropriate learning that needs to take place.

LEMON: OK. So, I had a little bit trouble hearing. You said that you may have to do it later? Is that what you said?

HINOJOSA: Yes, that's one of the options that we're going to present to the school board about starting maybe after Labor Day. That would buy us three weeks to see if these numbers can get under control and we can have a lowering of the cases in our county and our city. If that happens, then we have a much better chance for success.

But that's not a decision that I can make. So I'll have to be presenting options to the school board about what are the pluses and minuses of us trying to delay a few weeks in order to get better control of our situation here.

LEMON: It's good. At least you have are having a discussion about it and there is a backup plan. The question that everyone wants to know as well, know the answer to, will there be Friday night lights in Texas this fall, superintendent?

HINOJOSA: Well, let me tell you this. One of our teams is in the state basketball championship in March, and there were only 1,300 cases in the whole month of March in Dallas County, and the tournament, the state basketball tournament was stopped abruptly.

Our team won the semi-finals and there was no championship. And we have not had a single sporting event since then. Let me just tell you this. Today, there are almost 1,300 cases a day in Dallas County now. So the situation has gotten much worse.

[23:45:00]

HINOJOSA: And yet football is a much more violent and contact sport than basketball is. Of course, it's outdoors, but there are a lot of other parameters. I've been a superintendent for 26 years, I've been an administrator for almost 40 years, and I've never seen anything like this.

And so just by watching the numbers and looking at everything that is going on, it's very difficult for me to think that we could have Friday night football like we normally would have it.

LEMON: Oh, wow! Well, that's news. What are you hearing from parents and students about having football this fall?

HINOJOSA: We love our football in Texas. In fact, there is a little joke that says there are two sports in Texas, football and spring football, which is not true. We have a lot of great sports. In fact, one of our district goals is to have all students involved in some extracurricular activity.

So people are in denial right now about the truth, but several medical experts have come out and said -- and even the big 10 has cancelled their nonconference games. Even these very powerful large conferences that have a lot of revenue have had to make some pivot.

So, school districts are going have to consider other options. I don't have the authority to do that. It's done by the state of Texas, the University Interscholastic League.

But I think the data is emerging. There have been some local polls. I've been surprised at how many parents (INAUDIBLE). Let's just punt this to later. Let's make sure we're safe before we go back out to Friday night football.

LEMON: Superintendent, best of luck to you. Thank you very much. Be safe.

INOJOSA: Thanks for having me, Don.

LEMON: We'll be right back.

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[23:50:00]

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LEMON: Jackie Lacey is Los Angeles County's first African American and first woman to hold the office of district attorney. But one of the most vocal groups trying to force her out of office is Black Lives Matter. CNN's Stephanie Elam explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George Floyd!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the nation grapples with changing how law enforcement treats black people, more protests are honing in on elected leadership and who's policing the police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jackie Lacey must go!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jackie Lacey must go!

ELAM (voice-over): In Los Angeles, Black Lives Matter has been demonstrating for two and a half years. Their target? A black woman, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

MELINA ABDULLAH, CO-FOUNDER, BLACK LIVES MATTER L.A.: As a black woman, I would rather be celebrating other black women, and I do. It's not a matter of emotion. It's a matter of struggling for justice for our people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Jackie 2020!

ELAM (voice-over): Protesters re-casting the November's DA's race, calling out frontrunner, incumbent Lacey, for what they see as an unwillingness to prosecute police officers for deadly shootings.

ELAM (on camera): How does it feel to hear Black Lives Matter target you?

JACKIE LACEY, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's surreal, right? I look and I think, oh, they're treating me like I'm the man. But, if they only knew that I'm the girl from the neighborhood. I'm the first African American woman to hold this job in 150 years. And, here, I get in here, and the most vocal group who wants to take me out is a group known as Black Lives Matter.

ELAM (voice-over): Now in her second term, Lacey is up for re-election in November, a seat she nearly won outright in the primary, gaining just shy of 50 percent of the vote. But that vote was before George Floyd's death, before the nation, even amid the pandemic, turned its attention to the checkered relationship between the law and people of color.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Good morning.

ELAM (voice-over): In June, Congressman Adam Schiff, pulling his support, saying in a tweet, that he feels his endorsement a year ago of the district attorney no longer has the same meaning.

LACEY: I don't know a lot about why he pulled his support. But I do know and I have heard from elected that they're being threatened via e-mails.

ELAM (voice-over): With a list of what they call Jackie Lacey's seven deadly sins, BLM Los Angeles argues Lacey cares more about her law enforcement ties and the old-guard establishment than she does about people of color.

Lacey counters that she is led by the law and says only a fraction of police shooting cases brought to her since she took office involved unarmed individuals.

LACEY: You may look at a shooting by an officer and say, oh, they could have shot him in the leg. That's not the test under California law. The test is, was somebody's life in danger?

ELAM (voice-over): The division between Lacey and Black Lives Matter reaching a boiling point in March.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's invite her out to the community meeting that she committed to.

ELAM (voice-over): When protesters showed up at Lacey's home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get off of my porch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to shoot me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will shoot you. Get off of my porch.

ELAM (voice-over): That's Lacey's husband, pointing a gun at protesters on the front porch of their house. The district attorney did apologize for her husband's actions. But that wasn't enough for Black Lives Matter.

ABDULLAH: I think it also speaks volumes that David Lacey was not charged in that act.

LACEY: I, especially, don't agree that you ought to be able to come on their property. I think that crosses a line.

ELAM (on camera): For your husband, was that crossing a line for him?

LACEY: I think so. It was just the two of us in there. And, you know, it was a scary -- it was a scary event.

[23:54:57]

ELAM (voice-over): Ironically, Lacey's opponent is former LAPD Officer George Gascon, who more recently was San Francisco's DA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jackie Lacey must go.

ELAM (voice-over): Black Lives Matter doesn't make endorsements but promises to take whoever wins to task.

ABDULLAH: No matter who occupies the office, there's going to be a problem with the office itself. And so we're going to have to hold accountable whoever occupies the office.

ELAM (on camera): If you were to win your third term, does it look differently than where you are now?

LACEY: My next term will be my last term. I want to continue to use the bully pulpit of the district attorney's office to push for change. I don't want it to end like this, right? That I was the first African American to hold this job and protesters ran around. That doesn't seem like a just ending.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: Now, besides Schiff, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has also seemed to walk back his support of Lacey, telling a criminal justice reform website, it might be time for a change, though he endorsed Lacey last year.

Also, it is interesting to note, too, though, that San Francisco Mayor London Breed is supporting Lacey and not Gascon, who was the district attorney in her city. Don?

LEMON: Stephanie Elam, thank you very much. And thank you for watching, everyone. Our coverage continues.

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