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Don Lemon Tonight

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Tests Positive For Coronavirus And Then Tests Negative On Second Tests; President Trump Blames Governors For COVID-19 Response; President Trump Attacked Joe Biden's Christianity; U.S. Death Toll For Coronavirus Passes 160,000 as Model Predicts Nearly 300,000 Could Die By December; President Trump Banning TikTok And WeChat From United States For 45 Day; Student Suspended After Posting Pics Of Crowded School Hallways; Georgia Student Suspended After Posting Photo of Crowded Hallway at Her School on Social Media; Attorney General Sues to Dissolve NRA; President Trump Says Vaccine is Possible by Election Day, Experts Disagree; Isabel Wilkerson Explains America's Caste System. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired August 06, 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]

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: I see a man with wisdom. I'm loving your lesson. I'm loving. I was talking to my parents earlier who say -- and they said, you know, you got break the cycle. Be the person you need, be a person you wanted to have when you needed something. You know, if you're rejected, choose acceptance.

And so you are -- it's like a bookend. That was my morning conversation with my parents. And not that you're my parents but that was the bookend of my evening. So, thank you for that.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Well, that was the smart person's cultivation, the first part. I am the simple man who's made a lot of mistakes, idiot's guide for going toward. All you can do, we spend so much of our lives and in politics criticizing lamenting the past when it's over. It's over.

All we control is what we do next, the next choice, and in life, you want to focus on doing the next right thing. Don't waste the emotional energy of beating yourself up of what you screwed up. You did the wrong for your kid, you did wrong with your spouse, your friend, all of them. All you can control is the next right thing. Kung Fu Panda taught me that, and 50 years of messing up.

COATES: I mean, what didn't you learned from Kung Fu Panda. I'm just saying, that's a hell of a movie. I watched it 20 times with my kids. Thank you for the reminder, yet again, thank you so much.

CUOMO: It is true. You should see me move off center in my grab and my kick. And I'm built like much of a panda and I'm the same colors.

COATES: I wasn't going to say anything.

CUOMO: Yes, you were. You were just looking for an opening. And I gave it to you. COATES: I could have walked right in, but in honor of your birthday.

CUOMO: Thank you.

COATES: You're welcome. That is your gift and thank you so much, Chris.

CUOMO: Thank you very much.

COATES: Have a good night. Good night, go watch the movie. Have fun.

CUOMO: You too.

COATES: This is CNN Tonight. I'm Laura Coates in for Don Lemon. You know, we are breaking news tonight on multiple stories. The coronavirus death toll in this country passing 160,000.

And the governor of Ohio who was scheduled to meet with the president today tested positive for the virus. Then testing negative on his second test. So, two tests in one day, two different results. That tells you a lot about where we are with testing in this country, doesn't it?

There's also news tonight about just how much worse the virus could get in this country. Researchers behind the influential University of Washington Model are now projecting that the U.S. death toll could reach nearly 300,000 by December 1st.

But they say that if 95 percent of Americans consistently wear masks beginning today, we could save about 70,000 lives. And in the face of all this, the president says this today to a notably non-socially distanced crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're workers. We wanted to see you in town. We couldn't because of the coronavirus, which we're working very hard on. We're doing a job. And a lot of good numbers, a lot of good things are happening, including vaccines and therapeutics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: A lot of good numbers? Numbers like more than 160,000 Americans losing their lives? But the president has been re-forced to revise those numbers for months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's looking like its heading to 50,000 or more deaths. Deaths, not cases. 50,000 deaths. So we're talking about maybe 60,000 or so. That's a lot of people, but that's -- 100,000 was the minimum we thought that we could get to, and we will be lower than that number.

We would have had millions of deaths. Instead of it looks like we'll be at about a 60,000 mark, which is 40,000 less than the lowest number thought of. Now with all the death that we've seen at 50,000 or 60,000 people heading toward. Right now it's at 40,000, but 50,000 or 60,000 people. Probably over 54,000. Yeah, we've lost a lot of people, but if you look at what original projections were, 2.2 million, we're probably heading to 60,000, 70,000.

I used to say 65,000, and now I'm saying 80,000 or 90,000, and it goes up and goes up rapidly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: And here we are tonight with a death toll of more than 160,000. Think of it this way -- as The New York Times reports, if the United States had the same per capita death rate as, say, Australia, about 3,300 Americans would have died. Instead of 160,000. But still, the president sees nothing he would have done differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEW ROAMING CORRESPONDENT: Don't you wish you had done some things differently?

TRUMP: I think that -- first of all, the Governors run their states. You understand that. That's the way it's set up. I mean, that's the way it's supposed to be. And whether you call it federalist or anything else, the Governors run. We have some great Governors. And we have some Governors that didn't do as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:05:00]

COATES: How can there be nothing the president would do differently with this much carnage, with this much loss? I guess it is what it is.

Also today, a trip to Ohio paid for by your tax dollars turned into a campaign event in a chance to lob a baseless attack at Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's going to do things that nobody ever would ever think even possible because he's following the radical left agenda. Take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything. Hurt the bible, hurt God. He's against God. He's against guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: He thinks Joe Biden will hurt God. Joe Biden, who's a practicing Roman Catholic. He's going to hurt God. The former vice president issuing a statement tonight saying in part for President Trump to attack my faith is shameful. It's beneath the office he holds and it's beneath the dignity the American people so rightly expect and deserve from their leaders.

And let's remember who gassed peaceful protesters so he could have a photo-op scowling in front of St. John's Church. And I'll remind you -- clergy there said the president turned holy ground into a battleground.

But I want to get to our breaking news tonight, because the coronavirus death toll in this country passing 160,000. This as an influential model projects that it could go much, much higher. I want to bring in CNN medical analyst Dr. Larry Brilliant who's an epidemiologist.

Dr. Brilliant, I'm glad that you're here to talk about this, but under the circumstances it's painful to keep having these conversations. But you know, nearly 300,000 Americans -- 300,000 Americans are projected to die from the coronavirus by December according to the IHME model and it didn't have to be this way. You said it could be even higher following Labor Day and maybe even with schools re-opening?

LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Laura, thank you for having me. Yes, 300,000 deaths. If you think about it that's almost the population of Iceland. We have states that have fewer than 300,000 population. Even 160,000 deaths is unthinkable. Doubling that is a catastrophe. And it didn't have to be like this. We know that we wasted two months -- the president wasted two months.

We have seen the science that shows if he had acted a month earlier he would have saved probably 50 percent of those lives. And I am worried that if you look back just to recent time, you see the effect of memorial day weekend. Then you see the effect of Fourth of July weekend. Now we're going to Labor Day weekend. Some schools will be open. We're going into the flu season. Then we go into the silly season of campaign rallies.

What is there to stop this virus unless we find a way to gather all the dates and work together -- the Governors come together. In the absence of a federal government that leads us we have to find a way to get everybody together on the same page.

COATES: And you know, speaking of governors, the Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, he just tested negative, negative on his second coronavirus test, but this of course came after testing positive just this morning before greeting the president. So he had a positive test in the morning and a negative test at night. I mean, what does this say about where we are with testing?

BRILLIANT: Well, there's always a tradeoff between speed and accuracy. And from what I gather just from the news reports, the first test was a rapid antigen test. I tried to find out who the manufacturer was, but I couldn't find that. The second test, and it's normal, if you have a positive test it's normal to have a second test.

The second test was a PCR test, which is the gold standard, and that's the test that's taking the longer time because it's usually the test that's kept in these great labs. That you have to mail your specimen in and wait a few days after they've taken it.

But it is common that these rapid antigen test haves false results. And you know, the argument is you can get more of them and do more tests of inaccurate tests, make up for -- or equate to one better test. There's an old expression -- you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I think if you use a test that is inaccurate and have more of them, it's difficult to make up for the gold standard.

[23:10:09]

COATES: Dr. Brilliant, the name is apropos (ph). The testing concerns are still there. Thank you for explaining and giving us some context about what we should be looking at and relying on. I appreciate your time.

BRILLIANT: Thank you. Thanks for having me, Laura.

COATES: Thank you. Nice to see you, Dr. Brilliant. You know, Dr. Deborah Birx is warning of an uptick in test positivity rates in nine major cities, including Kansas City. And joining me now to discuss, Dr. Rex Archer Kansas City's Director of Health. Dr. Archer, thank you for being here today. I look forward to speaking with you as well, because as you know, Dr. Birx pointed to Kansas City today as one of the places that she's very concerned about. So, I mean, talk to me about what you're seeing. I see this graph in front of us. What are we seeing here?

REX ARCHER, KANSAS CITY'S DIRECTOR OF HEALTH: So we were fortunate back in March. The mayor agreed to start our stay-at-home order and really close things down. Six days before we had any positive tests, because it was pretty clear as we looked across the country that you needed to act before you even knew you had the virus there, that it was already circulating in the community.

Our first wave peaked the second week of April and then came down because of our measures. So we had 16 deaths in our first wave, which was much lower than many other parts of the Midwest. But in the second wave, we've already had three and a half times that many deaths. We're up to 74 now. We're in a really triple threat -- you could call it the perfect storm that the cases are going up, our hospitalizations are going up, and our deaths are going up.

And I'm afraid that the death projections are way under. And what I mean by that is as we get more people tested we are finding that people that died -- we read an obituary and we find out that, oh, they tested positive. We actually know that they had the virus, but it's not claimed as part of their death and it's not being reported.

So, I think the death toll is actually even higher than that across the country right now. There are three things we need to do, we need a federal mandate on mask.

COATES: Well, hold on, Dr. Archer. If I could -- before you talk about that, I want to be clear. Why do you think it's not being reported that way as COVID related deaths in the obituaries or tracking data?

ARCHER: Well, as an example, the first death we had in the Kansas City metro area, which is about 2.2 million folks. Kansas City Missouri has half a million in four counties. But we are a part of a metro by state region.

The first death was all across the state line, and that was somebody that came from a nursing home, died at the hospital, and the doctor, after they were dead, thought, well, this didn't quite add up, and tested for COVID and found that after they were dead. If they had died at the nursing home, it wouldn't have been even recorded as COVID.

COATES: So this is something that could be happening in other places as well.

ARCHER: Yeah, and we're hearing that in some places in Europe and other places. They have a little bit of an underestimation because people are dying at home and they're not being tested, so we don't even know that they're positive.

COATES: And of course --

ARCHER: But the bottom line is whether -- with all this testing controversy and how positive is it and how successful is it, what Americans need to do is just assume now that you have the disease. Assume you are a carrier of COVID. And your goal is to not spread it to other people.

So -- because so many people have it without too many symptoms. They then spread it to the high risk folks that end up in the hospital and die. So we wear the facial coverings, even though I don't like it, but I wear it to protect other folks because that's part of what we should be as fellow Americans.

The other problem we have in this country is -- and I wrote an article with a colleague of mine here in health security two years ago showing that 159 other countries mandate sick leave. We have people in this country that go to work because they don't want to be evicted -- which wouldn't help us stop the outbreak, but they're going to work because they don't get paid sick leave.

And we need a national paid sick leave and quarantine leave program, and we wouldn't have the problems. We would prevent a whole lot of these deaths with just those two things. Everybody wearing masks and having paid sick leave.

COATES: Dr. Archer, thank you so much for your insight and your wisdom and for giving us some clarity tonight.

ARCHER: Thank you, Laura, for covering this.

[23:15:00]

COATES: Thank you. You know, more breaking news tonight -- President Trump issuing an executive order that is now banning TikTok and also WeChat from operating in the U.S. in 45 days if they're not sold by their Chinese parent companies.

I want to go right now to CNN's Kristen Holmes with her story on this. Kristen, you know, the president issues this executive order and now incredibly one of the reasons he cites is that TikTok is spreading disinformation about the coronavirus. Is that right?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is right, Laura. And of course, just to be very clear, he talks about the origin of coronavirus, which is something President Trump has talked about on numerous occasions saying essentially that the Chinese should be punished for the virus itself. And shifting blame from everything that he has seen.

And it's also particularly raising eyebrows given what happened just this week, which was that the Trump campaign got temporarily banned or blocked on Twitter after posting misinformation about coronavirus, saying essentially that children were immune. It was the president who said it in a video, and they put that out there. So, that itself raising eyebrows.

But essentially in this ban, this is the latest escalation in this back and forth between China and the U.S. The president doing this under the international emergency economic powers act and citing national security concerns. And we should be clear that critics of TikTok have said that it is possible that the U.S. user data, which is in the millions, could end up in the hands of the Chinese government.

Now, TikTok of course has pushed back on that. They have said that their user data in the U.S. is kept in a different location, that they're protective of it. That some of their best donors and highest donors are in the U.S. and they want to make sure that that is a sacred relationship.

But, of course, we see President Trump here still acting on this. And as you said it's not just TikTok it's also the other Chinese owned app WeChat. But one thing that is not in here is something that President Trump mentioned earlier this week. So this effective 45-day ban happens if TikTok does not sell itself to the U.S., if it doesn't actually sell from the parent company the Chinese-owned parent company.

And President Trump said on Monday, that if that happen, he believes the U.S. taxpayers should get a cut of that U.S. sale. Now that is not mentioned anywhere in this executive order. So, something really watching very carefully to see if President Trump ever brings that back up again. Of course, one of the things we know is that Microsoft has been in talks. This is reports we have heard -- to purchase TikTok.

All of this we're told was put on hold when President Trump talked about banning the app on Friday. But right now, it's still an unfolding situation. As we know, President Trump puts this stuff out and then he says something completely different. So something we'll be watching very closely.

COATES: Looks like a yo-yo. Flip-flop there and comes back. I know you'll follow this story for us, thank you, Kristen, so much.

I want to you check out this picture. It's inside a Georgia High School. You see those crowds? And no, not everyone's wearing a mask. And as for the 15-year-old student who took the picture, well, now she's been suspended after sharing it. She joins me next.

Plus, the president politicizing the search for a vaccine. And what is he saying about having a vaccine come Election Day? And what will that mean for his chances of winning? We'll talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:20:00]

COATES: The debate over re-opening schools amid the coronavirus is now in full swing and some that have already re-opened are really a preview of the challenges ahead. A 15-year-old student in Georgia says that she has been suspended from her school.

Why? After posting a photo of a crowded hallway between classes. Hannah Watters put up the image you're seeing right now on Twitter. It shows kids who are jam-packed in the halls of North Paulding High School, and she says many were not wearing any masks.

The Paulding County Superintendent sent a letter to the community saying the photo is really out of context, writing this -- class changes at the high school level are a challenge when maintaining a specific schedule. It is an area we are continuing to work on in this new environment to find practicable ways to further limit students from congregating.

Students are in this hallway for just a brief period as they moved to their next class. He went on to say, there's no question that the photo does not look good and that wearing a mask is a personal choice and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them.

The student that took that picture, Hannah Watters, joins me now. Hannah, thank you for being here, and thank you for taking that photograph that we're able to see, because people don't have a real clear image of what's really happening in these schools right now.

And so, Hannah, you know, you went to school. You of course you saw the crowds in the halls. You saw there weren't a lot of masks. You took the picture. Hannah, why did you choose or why did you want to post this image?

HANNAH WATTERS, NORTH PAULDING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I took the photo initially after seeing the first day of school photo taken by someone else go online as well and got picked up by some media coverage. And I took it out of mostly concern and nervousness after seeing the first days of school.

COATES: So, what were you so concerned and nervous about?

WATTERS: I was concerned for the safety of everyone in that building and everyone in the County, because precautions that the CDC insight guidelines at the CDC has been telling us for months now weren't being followed.

COATES: And Hannah, what is shocking to a lot of people is that here you are, you're a sophomore now, right? And you have been suspended? And why? The school told you, you have violated the code of conduct for using your phone and posting the social media. But you say you didn't violate the rules. Why not?

[23:25:14]

WATTERS: I violated three of the code of conduct policies, one of them saying that I used my phone during instruction time and that I used it in the hallway during class change, but it also says that students nine through 12 have permission to use it.

The second one that they said I broke was using my phone during school hours for social media, but I posted the photo on to Twitter after school during dismissal at the end of dismissal. And then the fourth one, I did break. It was the one about filming students and posting it on social media platforms.

COATES: Do you regret doing any of this?

WATTERS: I'd like to say that this is some good and necessary trouble, so I don't regret posting this, because it's -- it needed to be said.

COATES: Good trouble is a good thing they say. CNN has also reached out to your school, by the way, Hannah, but we haven't heard back. But the superintendent did send out that message to families. And they say that the photo is just out of context and that students are only in the hallway for a really brief amount of time.

Does that line up with what you've seen? Is it really that brief of amount of time that this kids are passing that your classmates and student body are passing each other like that?

WATTERS: We have about five minutes to go through class change. Some of us go from all the way in the front of the building to the second floor, to the office side of the campus. So those five minutes we spend like speed walking all the way to class, and we pass so many people in the hallway. We pass people who are seniors, we pass freshman. We pass teachers, we pass staff, we pass everyone in that building.

COATES: So, have you seen a lot of cases of teens like yourself who are contracting or spreading the virus? I mean, what's your biggest fear if you got infected?

WATTERS: I've seen a few of my friend or fellow classmates that had told me or said online that they're being tested or that their family member had tested positive.

So, and obviously these types of things you really -- it takes a while to figure out if you've gotten it, so my biggest concern is not only about me being safe. It's about everyone being safe, because behind every teacher, student, and staff member, there's a family, there is friends, and I would just want to keep everyone safe.

COATES: Sounds like you know precisely what good trouble is. Hannah Watters, thank you so much. Thank you for illuminating this and showing us what you were seeing, because we need to hear from you. Thank you.

WATTERS: Thank you as well. COATES: Be safe, thank you.

You know, I want to bring in Arne Duncan now, former Secretary of Education in the Obama administration. Arne, I'm glad that you're here. Good evening to you. How are you?

ARNE DUNCAN, FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY: Good evening. She's amazing. I don't (inaudible) want to follow her. I was up in the add.

COATES: I was trying to give you a little bit of a pause by asking how you are doing. Because who wants to follow that. I know, (inaudible)

(CROSSTALK)

DUNCAN: She's remarkable. Just remarkable, so proud of her.

COATES: What's also remarkable is that you know, you heard from Hannah about what she's seeing there, but when you hear that the Paulding County superintendent, that there's no way to enforce wearing a masks in schools by the way enforce a lot of things. I mean, she just read for you the things that she has been accuse of violating and what you're supposed to do. I mean, is that a reasonable argument, they can't regulate masks?

DUNCAN: No -- I tweeted about this morning. Everything about this is wrong. You know, first of all, schools have all kinds of rules and regulations -- how you behave, how you act, what you can wear. To say that somehow you can't enforce this.

This is ludicrous to penalize her, suspend her for simply documenting very, very unsafe, unhealthy practices that clearly have not been thought through by adults in charge there. They're putting everybody at risk. Because she said, this isn't just about her. She's worried about her teachers, about parents, about grandparents.

So, nothing about this is adults leading with courage, you know, with honesty, with integrity. And thinking somehow you can silence young people today, that's beyond silly. Beyond silly. You cannot silence young people. You ought to listen to them, you have to pay attention to them and when they're right and we as adults are wrong you better step up and correct it very, very quickly. I'm stunned they suspended her. Stunned.

COATES: I mean, out of the mouths of bay was an out of the lens of a camera, truth. Right? I mean, you spoke at a Congressional hearing about schools, and you say the federal government is making the problem worse. How?

[23:30:00]

DUNCAN: Well, it is heartbreaking to me that here we are in August and we are debating, you know, can we go back to schools safely. We all want children to return to physical schools.

But across the country, many, many kids, the majority won't be able to do that because as a nation, we haven't done in March, in April, in May, in June, July what it took to beat down the virus in our communities that would enable us to open physical schools.

And just the devastating lack of leadership from the current administration, not taking this seriously, same issue -- fighting against people wearing masks, not listening to scientists, acting like this thing would just magically disappear -- just the tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, the millions of people sick, the tens of millions of kids who will not be able to go back to physical school this fall, it's just absolutely heartbreaking to me.

COATES: You are worried as we all are, and we all should be about the students, about the teachers. I mean, you talked about how the teachers -- they're not in a bubble. And so whatever they are exposed to in the schools, they'll be taking back out in the community. Tell me about your feelings on that.

DUNCAN: Well, you know, schools aren't islands. We need to keep your children safe, we need to keep our teachers safe, our bus drivers, our custodians, our principals, our lunchroom attendants, and then our children don't live in a bubble either. They go home to parents, to grandparents.

And so the only way to keep our schools safe or make them safe, one would be to have a massive investment from the federal government, which has not happened. I still hope it happens but is way, way late.

The biggest thing to make schools safe has nothing to do with the physical schools themselves. It has to do with reducing this virus, beating it down in the communities where we all live and where our children go to school. Our refusal to do that as a nation is absolutely devastating.

COATES: Arne, thank you so much for your perspective and keeping us honest about how the refusal really is impactful and it really has a reverberation throughout the entire community and the world. Thank you so much for being here tonight.

DUNCAN: Thank you.

COATES: The president says he's optimistic that there will be a vaccine by Election Day. But that's not in line with what the experts are saying. My next guest is among a number of medical professionals who are worried about politicizing a vaccine, of all things.

And later, I'll make my case about the NRA, as the New York attorney general sues the group, arguing they used millions of dollars for personal use.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: Lavish trips for themselves and their families, private jets, expensive meals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: Many of you were probably shocked to learn today that the National Rifle Association is considered a charitable organization. A charity is defined as an organization that is set up to provide help and raise money for those in need.

The NRA is a charity. I'm sure whatever you think of the NRA, that phrase isn't it. New York's Attorney General Letitia James certainly isn't buying it.

She's filed a lawsuit against the NRA, seeking to dissolve it entirely for illegally profiting from a non-profit organization, false reporting of annual funds of the IRS and New York's Charities Bureau, improperly documenting expenses, improper wage and income tax reporting among other offenses, and all entirely antithetical to its stated mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAMS: My office filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association to dissolve the organization in its entirety for years of self-dealing and illegal conduct that violate New York's charities law and undermine its own mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: And what exactly is that mission? According to the NRA's own website, their mission is "to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially the right of Americans to acquire, possess, carry and enjoy the right to use arms."

Now, one of those named in the lawsuit is the NRA's longtime chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, who says in a statement tonight, "The New Yorks AG's actions are an affront to democracy and freedom. This is an unconstitutional, premeditated attack aiming to dismantle and destroy the NRA, the fiercest defender of America's freedom at the ballot box for decades. The NRA is well governed, financially solvent, and committed to good governance. We're ready for the fight. Bring it on."

Bring it on, huh? Well, let's bring on the mission. You say the NRA's mission emphasizes the difference it makes in the lives of the people it serves by ensuring that their rights are not only respected but also enforced.

Well, I got to give it to you, NRA. You certainly do make a difference in people's lives, the lives of people in Las Vegas, in Orlando, at Virginia Tech, Sutherland Springs, El Paso, Parkland, Santa Fe, Dayton, Virginia Beach, Thousand Oaks, Aurora, at the Tree of Life Synagogue, at Sandy Hook Elementary.

The NRA didn't pull the trigger, of course. But whenever families of victims have asked for common sense gun control laws to prevent the list I've read from growing, the NRA gives no quarter.

[23:40:02]

COATES: Attorney General James names four defendants, but what she didn't name or perhaps couldn't name are the victims of gun violence who have begged you, NRA, for your help, your advocacy, your power, and your enormous influence to control, if not end, gun violence in this country.

A charity is supposed to help people in need. These people and countless others were in need. A non-profit isn't intended to profit at all, let alone profit from misery. But, if these allegations are true, the money your charitable organization was supposed to raise to help people in need actually padded already full pockets for needless spending.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAMS: They used millions upon millions of dollars from the NRA for personal use, including for lavish trips for themselves and their families, private jets, expensive meals, and other private travel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Lavish vacations while coffins were lowered into the ground. But in practice, NRA, your mission really is quite specific. It's only that the Second Amendment rights are protected.

Well, what about Philando Castile? You remember him, NRA, right? He is the man in the car who told a Minnesota police officer that he was a lawfully carrying gun owner before he was gunned down in front of a child.

NRA, I don't recall you saying anything at all to advocate for him or ensure his rights were -- what did you say your mission statement -- ah, yes, ensure that his rights not only be respected but enforced.

You called his death a terrible tragedy, but not until a year later, and only after the officer who shot and killed Mr. Castile was found not guilty of manslaughter.

It was difficult to reconcile your mission statement with reality before these allegations. Today, these allegations, if proven, might make that impossible. Might make that impossible, well, I guess, now, I'm the one being charitable.

Up next, the president says a vaccine could come by Election Day without providing any evidence. And now, health experts are speaking up. We'll tell you what they're warning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COATES: The president contradicting his own experts, saying he's optimistic that we could see a coronavirus vaccine by November 3rd, which, yes, just happens to be Election Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): You said a vaccine could be ready around November 3rd. Are you optimistic that that will happen? And will that give you a boost in the election?

TRUMP: On the vaccine?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Yes.

TRUMP: I am. I'm optimistic that it will be probably around that date. I believe we'll have the vaccine before the end of the year certainly, but around that date, yes, I think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Joining me now to discuss is John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College. I am glad to see you here, professor. Good evening.

JOHN MOORE, PROFESSOR OF MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY, WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE: Good evening, Laura. Thanks for having me.

COATES: The president is tying the production of a vaccine to the election. Is that a mistake? I mean, does it undermine confidence that when a vaccine is produced, that of course it will be safe and effective?

MOORE: Yeah, the real concern (INAUDIBLE). We all want a vaccine as soon as possible. We all have family and friends. We all want to get our lives back to normal.

A vaccine that (INAUDIBLE) tested. If a vaccine is not widely trusted, (INAUDIBLE). And if it's not widely trusted, it is not going to be widely used. If it's not widely used, it's not going to be effective to the pandemic.

So this is a complicated (ph) situation. The basis of confidence in vaccine safety, the approval process that's been tried and trusted over the years by the FDA and the American public or most of the American public has come to trust that process.

If we short circuit it for political advantage or for non-scientific reasons, then we really couldn't be in a situation where the vaccine is just not widely used.

There is survey a week ago from Politico that showed that over 60 percent of American voters believe that a vaccine should be fully tested, even if that delays its rollout, and that's really weighing on many of us in the scientific and public health communities.

COATES: You know, I think you're so right to point out the idea of not short circuiting. Even though we definitely need to have the vaccine, we need to have the confidence. It needs to be widely used. That is actually the goal here, as well.

Thank you, professor, for your time. I appreciate it so much and hearing your insight tonight.

[23:50:04]

COATES: Next, is racism just one part of injustice in America toward Black people? Well, that's what a Pulitzer Prize winning author is arguing. We'll hear from her after this.

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COATES: I want to make sure you know a new episode of Don Lemon's podcast, "Silence is Not an Option," is out right now.

[23:55:00]

COATES: And this week, he is speaking with Pulitzer Prize Isabel Wilkerson about how race is only one part of a larger system that determines who is valued and who is dispensable in this country. You can find it on Apple podcast or your favorite podcast app. But here is a sneak peak.

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DON LEMON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Isabel says that race is a social construct, not biological. It's an arbitrary category.

ISABEL WILKERSON, AMERICAN JOURNALIST, FIRST WOMAN OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE TO WIN THE PULITZER PRIZE IN JOURNALISM (voice-over): Color is a fact, but race is a social construct, so these are constructed identities. And so caste is essentially the bones, and race is the skin.

Caste is the underlying hierarchy or infrastructure, the framework, and race is the tool that indicates to all of us where one fits in the hierarchy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Another great episode for you. Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues.

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