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Don Lemon Tonight
President Trump's Press Conference Interrupted; U.S. Isn't In Good Shape; Student Bashed By Social Media; Paulding Nurse Resigns; Celebrities' Voice Versus Leader's Power; Former GOP Governor Supports Joe Biden. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired August 10, 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]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us.
I need to tell you about some tense moment at the White House just tonight just minutes after beginning his briefing in the White House, the press briefing room. Well, the president was escorted out by the Secret Service. You see them there. They're escorting him off stage, telling him you need to come with me. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It looks like they will be topping records hopefully soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we're just going to have to step outside.
TRUMP: Excuse me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to step outside.
TRUMP: Excuse me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: There was a shooting outside the White House. The president was fine. He was whisked out for security reasons in returned to the briefing room about, about 10 minutes later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where were you taken, Mr. President? Were you taken to the bunker?
TRUMP: No, we're taken just out over to the Oval Office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did the Secret Service tell you when you were outside of the room?
TRUMP: Just told me when it came up you pretty much saw it like I did. He said, sir, could you please come with me. So you were surprised I was surprised also. I think it's probably pretty unusual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. And the president was OK. He was still, by the way, they're still downplaying the coronavirus pandemic after they brought him back into the briefing room. There are now more than five million confirmed cases in the United States, more than 163,000 Americans dead.
It was only a few, just a few nights ago that the president falsely claimed that the virus is disappearing in this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You need a magic wand to get manufacturing jobs. And we're getting them even in a pandemic, which is disappearing. It's going to disappear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: COVID-19 not disappearing despite what the president says. Then again it was six months ago today that he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It looks like by April, you know, in theory when it gets a little warmer it miraculously goes away. Hope that's true. But we're doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi and they are working very, very hard and I think it's going to all work out fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: But you know, we have to give the president and his top aides credit, credit, I should say. They have been consistent, consistently wrong about the pandemic since the outbreak began.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have it under control. It's going to be just fine.
We have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment, five, and those people are all recuperating successfully.
By April, you know, in theory when it gets a little warmer it miraculously goes away.
The coronavirus which is very well under control in our country.
We're going down not up. We're going very substantially down not up.
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 have done.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: It's being contained. And do you not think it's not being contained in this country? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not a doctor. I'm a lawyer.
CONWAY: You said -- you said it's not being contained. So, are you a doctor or a lawyer when you say it's not being contained? That's false. You said something that's not true.
LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: So far it looks relatively contained. And we don't think most people -- I mean, the vast majority of Americans are not at risk for this virus.
TRUMP: We're doing a great job with it. And it will go away, just stay calm. It will go away.
Some of the doctors say it will wash through, it will flow through, very accurate. I think you're going to find in a number of weeks.
The FDA also gave emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine. And I say it, what do you have to lose? I'll say it again, what do you have to lose? Take it. It will be wonderful. It will be so beautiful. It will be a gift from heaven. And it works.
I said supposing you brought the light inside the body in which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you're going to test that too? It sounds interesting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll get the right folks who could.
TRUMP: Right. And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That's your president. This president seems to believe that he can snap his fingers and the virus will simply go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I am the chosen one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Or that he doesn't need to rely on the experts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I alone can fix it.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, he did a hell of a job fixing it because this is the truth. Coronavirus is getting worse despite what this president says, despite him ignoring it. It's not going away any time soon. [22:05:02]
But Trump did go around Congress over the weekend signing an executive action on coronavirus relief which is stalled in Congress right now. Remember when Trump used to slam President Obama for signing executive orders?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The country wasn't based on executive orders. Right now, Obama goes around signing executive orders, it's a basic disaster. You can't do it.
We have a president that can't get anything done so he just keeps signing executive orders.
I don't even think he tries anymore. I think he just signs executive actions.
He's got so little respect for the Republican leaders that he just goes along and signs executive orders for everything.
We can't just keep signing executive orders all over the place. He just goes out and signs last time executive orders. In theory you're supposed to, you know, the old fashion way gets everybody into a room and get something the people agree on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Get everybody into a room. Man, there's a hypocritical tweet or sound bite. There's tape. It's on tape that you said it. Maybe you get everybody together, maybe he and the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should speak to each other about the coronavirus relief package. Apparently, they haven't spoken since last fall.
One thing the president is focusing on though is his upcoming speech to accept the Republican Party's nomination to run for reelection. He cancelled plans to deliver it in Jacksonville, Florida due to concerns about the COVID-19 that he says will just go away.
The Republican National Convention was originally set to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina but the governor was worried about such a huge gathering there. Well today Trump tweeted that he'll deliver the speech either in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania or at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've been to Gettysburg numerous times. It's a national park. It's a national historic site. It's incredible. You know, it's the history. It's incredible actually to me. It was a very important place and is a very important place in our country. So, we're looking at that. And we're looking at the White House. The White House would be very much easier for Secret Service.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Maybe you should give it as Yosemite. The president has a soft spot for national monuments especially Mount Rushmore. You know, Trump is reporting that White House aides reached out to South Dakota's governor last year about the possibility of adding Trump's face to the monument alongside Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and teddy Roosevelt.
It's good to be back. Let's bring in now Jennifer Jacobs, senior White House reporter for Bloomberg news. Jonathan Wackrow is with us as well, a former Secret Service agent.
Good evening to both of you. Thanks so much for joining us. Jennifer, you were there at the briefing when the president, when the Secret Service removed the president. So, what happened?
JENNIFER JACOBS, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Well, we were about three minutes into the briefing and the president was on a roll. He was telling us about the stock market gains and of course he was trying to take credit for the gains.
The first signs of trouble that I noticed I was sitting in the second row over the briefing room, and there was an agent who is always posted right by the doors that leads back to the West Wing. And that agent usually is very stoic. And then I noticed that agent shuffle his feet a little bit. There was some body language that told us that something was going on. He was clearly getting something some news in his ear piece.
Then this was some action at the double doors leading outside to the driveway. I thought at first it was stray reporter who was mistakenly, you know, trying to get into the briefing room in the middle of a live briefing.
So, I looked over there and I could tell it was a Secret Service agent and he was locking the dead bolt on the door which the reporters who are at the White House regularly know that's a sign of lock down.
So, we looked at the president, the agent step -- the agent inside the briefing room stepped towards him and said sir. And the president clearly was reluctant to leave the podium. He asked a question and the agent said, sir, I'm just going to need you to step outside for a little bit.
And then finally, he kind of looked over at us in the audience and then acquiesce and was led away. And as he was walking out with some of his administration officials, we shouted questions to him saying, what's going on. And the president didn't know and didn't answer. Neither did the agents.
LEMON: Yes. And regarding the content of the briefing itself, I want to play this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If 160,000 people have died on President Obama's watch, do you think you would have called for his resignation? TRUMP: No. I wouldn't have done that. I think -- I think it's been
amazing what we have been able to do. If we didn't close up our country, we would have had one and a half or two million people already dead. We've called it right now. We don't have to close it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:09:57]
LEMON: With a straight face. It's just, it's unbelievable. Well, here's the truth. In 2014, the president suggested that President Obama should resign over Ebola. Beyond that President Trump continues to say that he got the response right. Jennifer?
JACOBS: And yet today when we asked about him about that he said no he would not have called for the president or for President Obama to step down which was not what I expected. It was a kind of catch 22 question for the president. And he said, no, I wouldn't have asked Obama to step down and then he downplayed the way his administration is handling things.
LEMON: Interesting. One more before I get to Jonathan. You tweeted a photo of the lockdown. How often do these lockdowns occur?
JACOBS: Well I remember one happening -- I mean in this administration as I have been a reporter here, there are various things that happened and there are lockdowns, you know, fairly regularly. I do remember one lockdown during a live briefing and that was during the Obama administration when Josh Earnest was press secretary. And that was also live on TV. And the entire press briefing room was evacuated.
LEMON: Was that the one where someone jumped over the fence?
JACOBS: That was a bomb threat. I believe.
LEMON: I think a bomb a threat, yes.
JACOBS: I believe in 2015.
LEMON: All right. Jonathan, I want to bring you in. I see we have trouble with your signal but I'm sure we can hear you. We saw the Secret Service tell the president that he had to step out of the briefing room. There's video of law enforcement scrambling and we later learned a man had been shot and taken to the hospital. What are the protocols? How does all of this unfold?
Now we have lost Jonathan? OK. So, Jennifer, let me ask you here. How soon -- how long were you guys -- you guys stayed in and told the president -- you were locked inside the briefing room. Right?
JACOBS: Right.
LEMON: And then they brought the president back in. So, you didn't get to see the chaos outside.
JACOBS: No. LEMON: Only the folks who were out there.
JACOBS: That's correct. We could see through the windows that there were some Secret Service agents in their black uniforms who were staged out on the north lawn. We got reports quickly that there had been some shots fired. So, we knew that there was something pretty serious happening outside. We were very worried that things were going to escalate.
We just sat in the briefing room and filed our stories and looked out the windows. But the president came back just as abruptly.
LEMON: Yes.
JACOBS: We got word within about seven minutes that he was going to return to the briefing room. And then the first thing he said, one of the first things he said was there was an actual shooting.
LEMON: Yes. Jonathan, again, are you there? Can you hear me?
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, I'm here.
LEMON: OK. Good. So, listen, we saw the Secret Service tell the president that he had to step out of the briefing room, law enforcement scrambling. The president later learned -- we later learned that the man was taken to the hospital.
So, again, I saw, you know, they said that the doors were locked. The dead bolt the one that goes from, I would imagine inside the West Wing or inside the White House to the briefing room was locked. The doors, I guess going outside were locked as well. Jennifer, am I correct, that you guys were locked in?
JACOBS: Correct.
LEMON: OK. And then we had a picture of those doors locked in. Is that -- what's the protocol here? Is that even a bullet proof glass? What is that?
WACKROW: Yes. So, Don, what happened here is you had two separate distinct things going on at the exact same time but working in perfect concert with each other. And when we think about protecting the president, we think about concentric rings of protection out from wherever the president is.
And today what we saw was a threat presented itself to a uniformed division officer outside of the White House grounds. And whatever that threat was, the officer felt it necessary to escalate the response and mitigate that threat.
As that was happening, there's a series of events that happened internal to the White House which is a systemic lock down and movement of the president into a safe area. So, you know, it's reported that the agent that was inside with the president was receiving information about what was going on and to the point where the elevation level the risk level had raised to a point where they had to remove the president during the press conference back to the Oval Office.
So, both of those things happening almost simultaneously but they work perfectly. And the reason why they work perfectly is because the uniform division and the Secret Service agents at the White House train constantly for these types of situations, you know, to ensure that the White House is protected, to ensure that the public is protected and most importantly, to ensure the safety of the president.
LEMON: All right. Jennifer, Jonathan, thank you. I appreciate it.
So, in my open tonight we played the sound bite to the president saying I, alone can fix it, and I am the chosen one. Just to be clear, the president didn't say those things about the coronavirus. He said them about his own confidence and his ability to fix the crisis that have come out of his presidency.
Well the U.S. is over five million coronavirus cases. That's about 25 percent of the world's total cases. Twenty five percent of the world's total cases. The president insists the country will be in good shape and that it will happen soon.
[22:14:57]
But my next guest says the virus will keep spreading unless the U.S. commits to another lock down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Coronavirus cases in the United States now topping five million. More than 163,000 people have died. So why is the president sounding so optimistic?
Michael Osterholm is here. He is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease and Research and Policy, and the author of the "Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs." Doctor, thank you. I appreciate you joining us.
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICIES: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: So, a quarter of the world's coronavirus cases right here in the United States. The president is saying this today. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I do want to say that, I think at the end of a fairly short period of time you're going to be in very, very good shape all over the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. So over five million cases here. Are we going to be in good shape soon?
OSTERHOLM: No. In fact, what we proposed in our op-ed piece that you've mentioned earlier about what might happen, it was in the New York Times on Friday, is that we're just really beginning to get to the really large part of the problem.
[22:19:59]
Right now, we are going to probably average 45 to 55,000 cases through the end of this month per day. And when schools starts both at the high school level and in college and universities, we think we're going to see an explosion of cases in September that will far surpass what we saw after Memorial Day. This is just going to continue increase and getting higher and higher in terms of numbers.
LEMON: It's just so frustrating. And that this -- that this administration especially. And people just still don't believe that this is going to get worse. Still trying to send kids to school and still not social distancing properly, still don't believe in wearing masks and so on.
Six months ago, doctor, the president falsely said the virus would go away with warm weather. That did not happen. What are you expecting really within the just -- within just the next few months? Because especially in the country that is also be dealing with flu season at the same time.
OSTERHOLM: Right. Well, again, just coming back to context. You know, you and I have been chronicling this for several months and so far, everything we've been talking about continues to happen. And what we're going to talk about now and what's going to happen is we're going to watch this 8 to 10 percent of the U.S. population that's been infected already gradually increased to 15, 20, 25 percent.
Just think about all the pain and suffering and death we've had. All the economic disruption just to get to 8 to 10 percent. And long before we're going to have a vaccine, we could easily see those numbers double, quadruple. And if we don't get serious about this, you know, even if we don't care, the virus will continue to what it's going to do.
And so, we have to help Americans understand this is not about ideology, this is not about partisan politics. This is about public health and taking on a virus. And right now, we're not doing a really very good job of getting most Americans to understand that.
LEMON: I just want to read a little more here from your op-ed where you say, we can continue to allow the coronavirus to spread rapidly throughout the country or we can commit to a more restrictive lock downs state by state for up to six weeks to crush the spread of the virus to less than one new case per 100,000 people per day. So, explain your thinking to me.
OSTERHOLM: Well, think about the countries that have done this well. And what I mean by that is the countries that were on fire in March. It wasn't like they started out differently than we did, whether they're in Asia, whether they're in Europe.
And what they did is they locked down to get this big, huge coronavirus forest fire to a containment level and then they could just put it out. What happened is we didn't. We contained it about 80, 70 to 80 percent and said we're done. And then it just started right back up again.
And so, the countries that are now enjoying more open society, many, many fewer cases in order of magnitude lower cases than we are, actually are all countries that got it down to that low level that you just mentioned less than one case per 100,000 per day, which is right now about 18 times lower than what we are actually accomplishing.
But if we do that, and we have to look here in New York and realize in this country we also have accomplished that in the state of New York they've had days without any deaths in the recent weeks. They now are at that level where they can even consider opening schools safely.
So, I think that it's a situation we have a choice. It's not about the fact that we have all of our choices taken away. We have them. If we decide to use them, we can do what these other countries around the world are also doing.
LEMON: Doctor, thank you. I appreciate your time.
OSTERHOLM: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: So, she called it good and necessary trouble right here on the show. And now she's saying she's being threatened. The Georgia high school student who posted this picture of the crowded halls at her school updates me. And that's next.
Plus, a school nurse from that same district who resigned over the administration's handling of the coronavirus.
[22:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So, I'm sure you've heard the story about the Georgia high school that came under scrutiny last week after a student shared a photo, that photo right there of a crowded hall way while it's switching to online learning for at least today and tomorrow after reporting nine cases of coronavirus.
Paulding County school district alerting families over the weekend saying the school is being cleaned and following health department recommendations.
Let's discuss now. Hannah Watters, the student who posted the viral hallway photo and was briefed -- and was briefly, I should say, suspended. She joins us. Also, with me, Amy Westmoreland, the school nurse from the district who resigned over the concerns about how the district was handling reopening.
Good evening to both of you. Thank you so much.
AMY WESTMORELAND, NURSE, PAULDING SCHOOL DISTRICT: Thank you.
LEMON: You're both very brave and I really appreciate what you're doing and I appreciate you coming on. Hannah, you first. You said that you have shared the photos because
you were concerned about the safety of your community and fellow students. And sure enough, students are getting infected. But instead, you know, of a thank you, you've gotten backlash. What are you hearing?
HANNAH WATTERS, STUDENT, NORTH PAULDING HIGH SCHOOL: I have heard various amount of things but it's not being directly said to me. It's mostly people screenshotting it in the senior group chat at North Paulding and sending it to family members and we hear about it through them.
But it's things like we're going to jump every girl named Hannah in tenth grade. And Hannah is going to have a rough day at school on Monday. Or even a kid who lives in my neighborhood he texted in the group chat that he knows where I live.
LEMON: Why are they so mad at you?
WATTERS: I think most of the seniors are mad because they think I want to close the school down. They think I want to like, end their senior year which I don't want to happen. I don't -- I've never wanted that to happen. I've just wanted it to be safer for in person.
[22:30:06]
Because if we don't stay safe, then it's going to shut down. So, a lot of these seniors and some of the other students think that I want to like, take away prom, I want to take away a homecoming but I just want schools to operate safely.
LEMON: Yes, of course, you do. Cases, Amy, are still high in Georgia, the state reporting more than 2,400 new cases today. Is what's happening in this high school exactly what you were worried about when you resigned?
WESTMORELAND: It is, Don. I find it very heartbreaking and it was obviously validation. But it was, you know, obviously, some sort of validation but it was not the validation that I necessarily wanted to see. And so, seeing these crowded hallways, seeing the students packed in a classroom together was just very troublesome.
LEMON: Well, as you know, Amy, school nurses are on the front line of this reopening. Was there a plan in place to help keep students and faculty safe coming back to school?
WESTMORELAND: They did have a plan. I don't know that their plan was quite safe and, you know, quite frankly, I don't know if you've seen the videos of our members of our board who have been in these board meetings saying that the CDC has, quote, unquote, "crap."
Another board member suggesting that students basically play musical chairs every 14 minutes so that they can be in compliance with the staying close to another person and that close proximity for less than 15 minutes. You know, there's no mask mandate. And in terms of nursing, they want us to split the clinic into a well side and a sick side, which is, you know, we've got small clinic, so it's just was not safe whatsoever.
LEMON: Are these people educators? I mean, what?
WESTMORELAND: Yes. These people are -- you know, some of these people are educators. These people are county members. And if I may say so, it is a, you know, very Republican conservative area. And people criticize about politicizing this. But it really and truly is a political issue.
When you have the President of the United States, our local governor who just talked today and said that everything was going well with the exception of some viral photo, I mean, I just -- it blows my mind that these people are, you know, they're advocating wearing masks and social distancing for everybody else but, yes, let's send the -- let's send the kids to school in an unsafe way too soon.
LEMON: So, if you don't take pictures of it then it's not happening, I guess that's what they're -- I don't understand the rational.
Hannah, I see you shaking your head. Because Dr. Fauci saying that this tonight. Well before we talk about Dr. Fauci, Hannah, I mean, what do you think, I asked -- I asked Amy earlier are these people educators or what? Because it doesn't sound like they're very smart with what they're doing when it comes to the school and with health and safety.
WATTERS: So, these people they work for the school board. And either they have been in the classroom previously but they don't know what it looks like now. Especially during the coronavirus, they don't know what it looks like. They don't know what it looks like from the inside. So, they kind of just plan with each other and none of them know what the teachers see what the students see, what principals see.
Because they just go off what they see. And they see a classroom full of kids. Maybe they'll wear a mask, maybe they won't. But they just rely on what they see which they can't rely on that. Because it's the safety of others and they have no idea what goes on inside that school.
LEMON: Yes. And I'm not sure if you saw what Dr. Fauci said about your photo. He saw it. But let's play it for everybody.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: There should be universal wearing of masks. There should be the extent possible social distancing, avoiding crowds. Outdoors is always better than indoors.
And being in a situation where you have continually have the capability of washing your hands and cleaning up with sanitizers, when I see sights like that, it is disturbing to me. I feel that universal wearing of mask is one of five or six things that are very important in preventing the up surge of infection and in turning around the infections that we are seeing surging.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What do you think of that, Amy? Are you glad to hear him say that?
WESTMORELAND: I am glad to hear him say that.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I'm sorry. That was for Hannah. Sorry. Pardon me. Hannah, what do you think?
WESTMORELAND: Sorry.
[22:34:57]
WATTERS: I -- yes, I'm with Amy. I'm glad to hear that. Because maybe if someone who is a doctor who is a very decorated doctor, if someone like him says something like that, maybe people will start to listen. Because they haven't listened to people like him in months and maybe if he starts calling out certain places like Paulding County maybe they'll start to listen, maybe they'll get scared that the whole country is looking at them doing a bad job with their children.
LEMON: Amy, really quickly, I have to ask you, do you think the so- called educators, smart people will listen to Dr. Fauci?
WESTMORELAND: Honestly, I hope that they do but I don't think that they will. Right now, they are listening to Donald Trump and they are listening to Governor Kemp which is a complete and total detriment. He even said today that he is giving superintendents his trust and leaving it up to them. And the state is not going to get involved at this time.
LEMON: Good luck to both of you. Be safe. Do your mask wearing and social distancing, please. And Hannah, keep up the great work. Thank -- good luck to you. Thanks a lot.
WATTERS: Thank you.
WESTMORELAND: Go Hannah.
LEMON: Go Hannah. Right. Thanks.
And next, the surgeon general is calling on celebrities to promote wearing masks. He thinks celebrities can get kids on board with wearing them. But I want you -- it might take this. He said this standing right next to the Georgia's governor who won't make masks mandatory in school. You got to see it.
[22:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Take this. Surgeon General Jerome Adams say that he is not against mask mandates to stop the spread of a coronavirus. Great. So, let's mandate masks all across the country. Shall we? Yet, speaking from Atlanta the surgeon general is not calling on elected officials to mandate masks. Instead, he's calling on celebrities to promote wearing them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If we're all in a phase where we're really trying to throw all possible solutions at the wall to see what sticks, why not throw a mandate in there?
JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Well, here's the thing. Everyone is focused on a mandate as the end all be all. I've got a 16 and a 14- year-old. Mandates and enforcement work best when combined with education and with engagement. And I want people to focus on education and engagement.
I want people here in Atlanta, I want Tyler Perry, I want Ludacris, I want T.I., I want those folks who my kids care about and listen to, to promote mask wearing and to make it cool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. Getting movie and music starring to endorse mask wearing. It would be a helpful idea to get young people on board with masks. And look, Tyler Perry already promoting mask wearing. He tweeted this, this was a month ago. Ludacris set an example by wearing a mask while protesting for racial justice.
That was back in June. They got the message. The one experts have been saying for months now that mask wearing is one of our most powerful tools for (AUDIO GAP) e spread of it. So why is it up to celebrities and not our elected leaders? The people we vote into office to lead us and to guide us. Why is it up to celebrities?
Maybe this is why. Because despite wearing a mask on rare occasions, the president has made it clear he's not into them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute desk, the great Resolute desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens. I don't know. Somehow, I don't see it for myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Dictators. OK. Surgeon General Adams was at a press event today with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. There was an opportunity there to mandate masks in a state where cases have plateaued. We just did an interview with two people there who are part of it seeing it firsthand.
And you just heard from the former school nurse, right, and the student from a district where the coronavirus cases are skyrocketing. But Governor Kemp punted mask wearing in schools to local governments. Listen, early on in the pandemic there was a lot of confusing guidance
about mask wearing, OK? Even the Surgeon General, Adams, offered guidance that doesn't line up with what we know now. He told people to stop buying them.
Now we know so much more. And in his position the surgeon general should persuade elected officials across this country to mandate masks. Might not have the situation you have in the school in Georgia if that were the case. Right.
So, Tyler Perry or any other celebrity can help promote mask wearing. But it is clear that the public might not take masks seriously until our leaders take them seriously too. We know it works. Just wear a mask.
A former Republican governor and Republican presidential candidate is speaking at the convention. Coming up, the Democratic National Convention that is. John Kasich tells me why, next.
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LEMON: An unexpected phase to take part in the Democratic National Convention and it will certainly anger some on the right. Former Ohio governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate John Kasich to speak in support of Joe Biden possibly on the same night as Bernie Sanders and Michelle Obama.
Governor Kasich is a CNN senior commentator and he joins me now. Governor, good evening to you. Thank you so much.
JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: You've been critical of President Trump since the very beginning. And you've even supported his impeachment. But going with a Democratic candidate for president is a whole different ball game. How did you get to this point?
KASICH: Conscience, Don. You know, you and I have done a lot of shows together. And you know at the end I hope you know this, that I try to follow my conscience in terms of what seems right to me. And you know, I didn't support Trump the last time because I was on the debate stage with him, I watched him. And I was afraid he was going to be a divider not a unifier. Somebody that would go out of his way to be critical of people and the other party or didn't think the way he did.
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And unfortunately, it turned out to be right. So, I look around and I say now what? We can't continue to go down this path. It's -- I mean, people are now speaking to each other if they disagree with them with through clenched teeth. There's almost hatred going on.
This has to stop because the great things that happened in our country whatever they are, women suffered, civil rights, they happen when we come together not when we're divided.
So I felt that Joe Biden would be a unifier and he would stop this division and we could get back to, you know, sort of a civil conversation, it could be arguments, it could be strong but at the end of the day, I think that he will include people, not exclude them and stop the name calling.
LEMON: OK. So, listen, I just got back from vacation. I only have so much bandwidth. But just, 2016, I know that you did not support Trump. Did you support -- did you vote or support -- you don't have to tell me voted for because I think that's your personal thing.
KASICH: No, I voted for -- I wrote in John --
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LEMON: OK.
KASICH: I wrote in John McCain.
LEMON: So that's why I was -- I didn't -- I couldn't recall exactly how you played it.
KASICH: Yes.
LEMON: So, this time you think it's -- it is just more of a pro-Biden or an anti-Trump vote or what? What are you saying?
KASICH: No, it's not. It's time for a switch. And I think it's fine for -- look, I'm a Republican. I'm not going to change my party. I've been a conservative Republican. But I've had enough of this. I've had enough of the division and everything else, and not getting anything done.
So, to just sit it out again and say well I'm not going to be for Trump and not lend my support to somebody, I -- it doesn't make sense for me this time around. And I actually believe, I've known Joe. I've known him for 30 years. I know the kind of guy he is.
Now I'm not going to agree with him on everything, Don. And probably he gets to be president I'll be on here with you and I'll be talking about the things that I don't agree with him on. But I think as a leader as a person that can bring us together at a time when this dysfunction, I mean, your whole show tonight is all about the dysfunction of what we're getting from the executive branch. It has to stop.
And our best days are when we work together, not when we fight and divide each other. That's where we need to go. You know, remember, a book team of rivals about Abraham Lincoln about how he invited people in his cabinet that he had fought with and didn't agree with, that's the American way, not this way. If you don't agree with me, you're out the door or I'll call you a name or whatever, that's crazy.
LEMON: You say that you're still a Republican. You just said that. But, you know, if -- KASICH: Yes.
LEMON: But if the GOP is fundamentally changed under Donald Trump and you're now voting for Biden, do you consider yourself, I don't know, are you a man without a party?
KASICH: No, I'm a leader who is willing to walk a lonely road and try to resuscitate my party, actually. Don, you know, the thing we never talked about, when I ran for reelection as governor of Ohio, I won 86 out of 88 counties. It was one of the most sweeping victories ever and got support across the board from all types in the state of Ohio.
I believe that the Republican Party has to become for things, not against things. It should be addition, not subtraction. And I think -- I think they've lost their way. And the party that I look at today does not resemble the party that I grew up in and the efforts of the president belies the principles that Lincoln founded the Republican Party on.
But I'm not ready to give up. I'm willing to work and to see if I can join with others to kind of restore what it means to be a Republican and a conservative, which is opportunity for all. That's what it really gets down to. What are you doing to make sure that everybody has a chance to do better?
LEMON: OK. On that note, then. So, you say that you're a leader, you're not a man without a party. But it's -- not that it seems, no one in the Republican Party, well, leaders, at least people in positions of power challenge this president.
KASICH: I know.
LEMON: The folks in Congress, the Senate certainly doesn't, so then who in the Republican Party can you work with at this point. Because they seem to be on the Republican Party of Trump party and you seem to be on the traditional old school, I don't mean that as a derogative term --
KASICH: Yes.
LEMON: -- Republican (Inaudible) Republican Party. So, who can you work with, John?
KASICH: Don, yes. Well, I mean, there is a lot of people out there I can work with. Brian Sandoval, the former governor of Nevada, Bill Crystal, one of the intellectual voices. There is lots of people out there that are looking to try to right this party. Can it be done? I don't know.
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LEMON: But they're not in positions or in power right now, John.
KASICH: Yes. But there are people who are in power that I talk to who understand that we're not in the right place and going in the wrong direction. See, the problem with the Republican Party now, is to some degree it's stuck in the old. And in order to be successful in anything you with a ball team or business, whatever you have to move forward and there are big issues that are millennials that are gen-X's care about.
And they are now a majority of the population whether it's the environment, whether it's the issue of race, whether it is the issue of what we're going to do about the wealth gap, what we're going to ado about education.
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These are issues that have to be tackled -- have to be attacked going forward, not thinking about what we were doing in 1980, and the party is stuck in 1980, but really, now they are stuck in the era of Trump and it's not appealing. It's not appealing to many people and it's too divisive and it's not healthy for our country.
LEMON: Listen, John, you know --
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KASICH: Hey, Don, it's nation -- it's nation over party for me.
LEMON: OK.
KASICH: The party is my vehicle has never been my master.
LEMON: All right, let me ask you this. I'm glad you said that because but -- and I am over time. And I don't mean this, you know, in an insulting way, do you think that you will help or hurt Joe Biden?
KASICH: Well, I think -- they ask me to speak. I didn't go forward and beg them to do this. They said would you do it? And I think people should watch what I have to say. I think it's going to be maybe Monday.
I don't know what the logistics are. But see what my message is and I want to make it safe for Republicans who doubt Trump to cross the road to be able to not have to be partisan and to look at the good of the country for themselves and their children.
LEMON: OK.
KASICH: That's what this is all about, nothing more.
LEMON: John Kasich, thank you. I appreciate your time. Thanks --
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KASICH: Good to be with you again, Don.
LEMON: Thank you very much.
KASICH: Thank you.
LEMON: Get ready for political convention (ph) -- conventions like no other. First up are the Democrats. Joe Biden. That starts Monday night. Then Republicans and Donald Trump take the spotlight starting Monday, August 24th. Watch all the action right here.
CNN will have special live coverage every night of the convention starting at 8 Eastern Time. And we will be right back.
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