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Don Lemon Tonight
Birtherism Pass on to Senator Harris; Trump Cutting USPS Budget; Tug of War on Reopening Schools; No Bad Event Spared in Politics; Trump Expects Nobel Peace Prize; Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) Was Interviewed About Mail-in Voting. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired August 13, 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]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got these shoes to fill right here.
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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And we spoke today to the Anti-Defamation League and they say that they did not see much merit here to these accusations, they say its's very clear that he made in that Instagram post that he was not sympathizing with the Nazis.
And as far as these two other charges made by his opponent, the Betsy Ross flag and the name of his company, they say there's a risk in assuming that any association with either of these things means that a person is an extremist. Now, Anderson, these two candidates will face off in the next few weeks, their first debate where likely they'll come face-to-face about all this back and forth.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much.
The news continues. I want to hand it over to Don Lemon for CNN Tonight.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.
Thanks for joining us, everyone.
Every single day another lie, another conspiracy theory, another racist dog whistle, every day. It's like the Groundhog's Day for alternative realities. It is clear that this president will stop at nothing to try to win re-election, using everything at his disposal to achieve his goal.
I'm going to walk you through this and tell you everything that he's doing. He is using the podium in the White House briefing room that you pay for to lie to you. And he's starting with birtherism. Can you believe it? Is it 2011 all over again? What is going on?
Birtherism now against Kamala Harris. Joe Biden's vice-presidential nominee who is a black woman. Does that ring a bell to you? At his briefing he was asked about a completely, completely,
discredited op-ped in Newsweek questioning Harris' eligibility to be Joe Biden's running mate and questioning where she was born, and not surprisingly, it was retweeted by a lawyer for the Trump campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I just heard that -- I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements, and by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer. I have no idea if that's right.
I would have thought -- I would have assumed the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president, but that's a very serious -- you're saying that -- they're saying that she doesn't qualify because she wasn't born in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: This man is so full of it, you all. Come on. He knows better than that. He's a President of the United States. Shouldn't he have a modicum of decency and class and just say, look, come on, let's talk about something real. Lots of people have died from the coronavirus. That's serious. Kamala Harris is on the vice-presidential ticket. Move along.
No, he's got to go for these racist dog whistles. Birther -- not even a dog whistle, birtherism. Again, people, I have a debate with myself about this every time one of these dumb, stupid, conspiracy theory QAnon, whatever it is, I have a debate with myself all the time as someone who is responsible for these hours right here on CNN for this platform.
All the time when faced with this ugliness and this disgusting sort of display from the president, do I want to use this time that I am given, gratefully, I'm so grateful for it, to be able to talk to you, to amplify and allow this man and his apologists and minions to spread garbage like this? And the answer that I come up with is no. I don't. I don't.
But then I ask myself, what is the alternative? Is it to let it go, let the ugliness go unchallenged, let more hate and more garbage seep into the seams that are barely holding this country together already? Do -- should I give it light or do I just ignore it because it's so ridiculous and that's exactly what they want is to elevate it so people are talking about it and, therefore, it becomes real. If you say it enough and then it taints and it stains someone in a way that they shouldn't be stained or tainted.
[22:05:01]
It's a struggle, it really is. The struggle is real. I just -- I want you to know I don't repeat what this president said about this lightly. I hate to even read his tweets on the air because they are so ridiculous. I don't even follow him on Twitter anymore because his Twitter feed, what he puts out, is so toxic, it's just ridiculous. A white man questioning a black woman's birthplace in America in 2020.
No other words but disgusting, racist, and purposely so.
So, for the record, everyone, I'm going to say this once, don't know if I'm going to cover it again, but for the record to get this out of the way, Kamala Harris was born in California, 1964 to immigrant parents. That's why he is planting this ugly question in people's minds that she's a daughter of immigrants.
Here's why it's even more disturbing. Same dirty racist tactic he used to try to derail Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I want him to show his birth certificate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?
TRUMP: There's something on that birth certificate --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Why not, I guess.
TRUMP: -- that he doesn't like. People have birth certificates. He doesn't have a birth certificate. Now, he may have one, but there's something on that birth -- maybe religion, maybe it says he's a Muslim. I don't know.
If he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility -- I'm not saying it happened, I'm saying it's a real possibility.
A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate. Many people don't think it was authentic. His mother was not in the hospital. There are many other things that came out.
President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So ridiculous and you fell for it. And he always get -- whenever he asks a question, I don't know, or many people say, that is the clue. And as we know, Trump's already using misogynistic words against Harris, calling her nasty and mean and then ramping up his attacks on her this morning in a TV interview. Here it is.
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TRUMP: Now you have a sort of a madwoman, I call her, because she was so angry.
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LEMON: Madwoman. OK. So, here's -- OK. Kamala Harris is a member of the Senate, junior senator from California. Will any of her colleagues have the decency to stand up to Trump's birtherism attack against her? Will any of them?
Surely, lawmakers, upstanding American lawmakers, would have the decency to stand up for her. Right? OK. So, let me tell you this, my producers spent the evening reaching out to all 53 of Senator Kamala Harris' Republican colleagues in the Senate.
Remember, they are co-workers right now. You know how many we heard back from? I'll let you guess at home, one, Senator John Kennedy of my home state of Louisiana. His team was polite, said that they hadn't heard about the story until we reached out, didn't have anything to share. That's it.
Hadn't heard about it even though at the press conference he was asked about it, right? Even if you hadn't heard, wouldn't you have a better answer than that?
The other 52 didn't respond at all. Their silence speaks volumes. Their silence is complicit. But, you know, they are very busy right now not working on a coronavirus relief package, now that the Senate has adjourned and Congress has gone home.
They're so busy because, you know, they couldn't get back to say we're busy working for the American people.
Trump is also no longer hiding his attempts to interfere with the U.S. Postal Service. This is very important, people. Not hiding that he's trying to interfere with the Postal Service to block and derail mail- in voting. Outright admitting, I didn't say allegedly because he admitted it today.
[22:09:59]
Outright admitting what we all know. He is starving funding for the Postal Service because he doesn't want to see it used for mail-in voting this November.
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TRUMP: One of the reasons the post office needs that much money is they have all of these millions of ballots coming in from nowhere and nobody knows from where and where they're going.
They want $3.5 billion just for the ballots, themselves. Why it's so much? I don't know. But that's what the Democrats want. But if the bill isn't going to get done, that would mean the post office isn't going to get funded and that would also mean that the $3.5 billion isn't going to be taken care of, so I don't know how you could possibly use these ballots, these mail-in ballots. They would need a lot more money if they're going to be taking in tens of millions of ballots that just come out of the sky from nowhere.
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LEMON: Tens of millions of ballots out of the sky from nowhere? That was, like, all the people who legal -- as they say, or undocumented immigrants, who voted for Hillary Clinton. That was never proven.
I -- it -- tens of millions of ballots out of the sky from nowhere. It would be ridiculous if it wasn't ghastly and stupid. The coronavirus pandemic has led to a record -- to record levels of mail-in voting because, guess what, millions of Americans are rightly concerned about having to cast a ballot in person but Trump is putting it right out there, right out there for you to see.
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TRUMP: Now, if we don't make a deal, that means they don't get the money. That means they can't have universal mail-in voting. They just can't have it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: It wasn't like, oops, I said the quiet part aloud. He said it. Said it. Joe Biden called out Trump today for his phony theory about voting by mail. Hit the nail right on the head.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump thinks you guys --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump said that he opposes funding for the Postal Service tying it to mail-in voting. What do you think about that?
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Pure Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, guys. Let's go. Let's go. Come on.
BIDEN: He doesn't want an election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Doesn't want an election. And get a load of what President Trump said today about Biden. You have to listen to this. What he said about Biden and a pandemic.
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TRUMP: Today, we saw Joe Biden continue to politicize a pandemic and to show his appalling lack of respect for the American people. It's what it is. At every turn, Biden has been wrong about the virus, ignoring the scientific evidence and putting left-wing politics before facts and evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Come on, you all, really? Laughable. Biden is ignoring scientific evidence. Seriously? From the man who turned a blind -- is turning a blind eye to the deadly virus since day one. Remember, it will just go away. Really? As of tonight, this disease has killed more than 167,000 Americans. So, as I like to say, roll it.
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TRUMP: We have it under control. It's going to be just fine.
We think 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, you know, 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've done.
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. 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 if 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.
[22:14:58]
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: How stupid does he think you are? Don't fall for the okey-doke, people. Everything I said there was true, everything. I just put his words on TV, just played them back for you. That's it.
Kaitlan Collins is our White House correspondent, and our resident fact checker is Daniel Dale. They both join me.
Good evening to both of you.
Kaitlan, so, this president attacks voting by mail, but CNN is confirming that President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, requested mail-in ballots? What do you know?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they have, and those ballots have been mailed to Mar-a-Lago, which is of course, their Florida residence since they moved from New York to Florida and this is something that the president has had to wrestle with as he's attacked mail-in voting because he votes by mail and he has ever since he's been in the White House.
Several of his top aides have, his own family members. These very people, and you can see there the information, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, getting their ballots so they can vote by mail in the November election.
And this is what the president has said. He said it today, I think he summed it up really, you know, pretty briefly, saying that he believes absentee voting is good and mail-in voting is very, very bad. Those were the words he used.
And you heard that, you know, secretaries of state have said there's essentially no difference in it. There are some states where you have to request your ballot. We've seen several states now because the pandemic say they are mailing ballots to all registered voters in their states including D.C.
And so, that's something the president has wrestled with, defending the fact that he is voting by mail when all the significance of it is the same, the barcode, the fact that you can crack it. You know, all of the mechanics of it are exactly the same as doing absentee voting.
LEMON: Daniel. I just -- I don't even know what to say. President -- he keeps pointing to examples of voter fraud that aren't really examples of voter fraud. The evidence just isn't there, Daniel.
DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: It's not there, Don. Every expert says all the evidence shows that fraud is exceedingly rare whether it's in- person voting or mail voting. The president this evening, his so- called news conference, set the example of a New York Democratic primary involving Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
There's no evidence of fraud in that race. They did have some issues with things like missing signatures on ballots, late postmarks. But that is not fraud stuff.
This morning he did an interview on Fox Business in which he cited a legal settlement in which California he claimed admitted to a million illegal votes. That was a million dormant voter registration. There is nothing in that settlement about people actually voting illegally.
LEMON: Daniel, Kaitlan, thank you. Get your rest. Got your work cut out for you. I'll see you both soon. Thanks so much.
A new low for the White House briefing. The president attacking mail- in voting after admitting he is blocking funding to the U.S. Postal Service to stop it. Then there are false birther theories about Senator Kamala Harris.
Anthony Scaramucci, April Ryan, weigh in after the break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, after three and a half years do you regret at all the lying you've done to the American people?
TRUMP: All the what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the lying, all the dishonesties.
TRUMP: And who has done?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have done. Tens of thousands --
TRUMP: Yes, go ahead. Please. Please. Go ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: President Trump really indulging in unfounded birther conspiracy theory about Senator Kamala Harris in attempt to question her citizenship. The same racist tactic he used with Barack Obama.
The former White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci is here, also April Ryan. She is a White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks. Good evening to both of you. Let's see.
APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening.
LEMON: Mr. Scaramucci, you know Donald Trump very well. They had a lot of time to prepare to respond to Senator Kamala Harris. They thought that she would probably be the pick. We got birtherism, sexism, and racism? What? What?
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: So, one, it's a one-man show. You know, he's paralyzed the executive branch. That's why you had such a disastrous response to the healthcare crisis. But he's also paralyzed the campaign. You know, so the campaign is in disarray. They're waiting on him on strategy and he's going back to his old playbook that he thinks worked for him last time. And so that's what it is.
And he's doubling and tripling down on the racism on Twitter because he's trying to signal to people that low-income housing, guys, is code for African-Americans, OK, and that's obviously what he's trying to say to people. It's offensive to me. I grew up in an area like that.
And as I pointed out many times, those kids in that low-income housing went on to become multimillionaires. OK? So they have every right to live in the suburbs as everybody else. And so, but that's his playbook. And they are about to do it --
(CROSSTALK) LEMON: There aren't poor white people. There aren't low-income white people, Anthony?
SCARAMUCCI: There are. Of course, there are poor white people. But I'm telling you, that's the code signal.
LEMON: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: Remember what --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I know, I'm just -- I'm just --
SCARAMUCCI: -- Michael Cohen said about that and he talks in code.
LEMON: -- being (Inaudible).
SCARAMUCCI: Of course, of course. Of course, many of my buddies. I was in a middle-income area in a middle-class house growing up with the very same people that he's going after and denouncing and by the way, a lot of those people voted for him, Don.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: That was my point last time, Anthony.
SCARAMUCCI: And that's the great irony of it.
LEMON: A lot of those people voted for him.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes, I know.
LEMON: I said, isn't that insulting if you are one of the, quote, unquote, "unheard Americans or the people who have lost their job or the people who can't afford the suburbs with the big lawns?" Isn't that insulting to you that he's telling you that you should not be able to live in one of those neighborhoods and be able to have upward mobility? And he's going to try to keep you down with that. That should be insulting to them. That should be a big red flag. No?
[22:25:01]
SCARAMUCCI: Yes. Before, look, I got the Trump decoder ring. That's why he keeps tweeting at me. He knows I got the ring on. And I'm turning the ring and I'm telling you the guy is melting down.
LEMON: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: The poor guy is having a full-blown meltdown in the White House. He can barely put the sentences together now.
LEMON: Yes. April, you stood by and you've been very patient because I know you like to challenge me and Anthony and everybody else. So, I'm going to give you your time now.
But listen, you say Trump is intimidated by strong black women or by a strong black woman. What is that all about? Why do you say that?
RYAN: Ask Anthony Scaramucci. You know, Anthony is now in line with me understanding what's going on. Anthony and I have had these conversations before.
This president thinks that we are back in the 1800s, where black people, not just women, are supposed to mind their place. I have watched him when other black journalists ask him questions, he's like, who are you? Don't let it be a black woman, a black woman who knows her place, meaning that we have a seat at the table, too. We own the table.
This president is very intimidated. He is so used to people stepping in line. Anthony, am I correct, the loyalty issue, and when he sees a black woman who has a mind of her own, can critically think about things that he does that may be wrong and he wants to make it seem like it's OK, he has a problem with that. Let's start with Susan Rice.
Let's start with Susan Rice. Let's start with Maxine Waters. Let's start with Frederica -- Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Let's start with April Ryan. Let's start with Abby Phillip. Let's just go down the line. This president does not like to be challenged. Black women think for themselves. We've gone through too much to be able to say, OK, it's fine to not call it out.
And he does not like for people to call it out. I'm going to call it out today. Today this president looks like he is in decline not just mentally but physically and he is not equipped to be calling anyone names, to be talking about anyone's lineage especially since his mother was born in Scotland so the question is now, too, on that issue of birtherism --
LEMON: Is he qualified?
RYAN: -- LEMON: were you born in Scotland. Yes, were you born in Scotland?
LEMON: So, yes, he is qualified because he was born here. But if -- imagine if someone asks that of Joe Biden or Kamala Harris and they said, well, you know, I don't know, I just -- I heard about it so maybe I have to look into it.
RYAN: Right.
LEMON: I don't think that that would be -- you forgot Yamiche Alcindor.
RYAN: Yes, Yamiche. Yamiche
LEMON: Yes, Yamiche.
RYAN: Yes.
LEMON: So, it's really just unbelievable. Anthony, this president is also admitting out loud saying that he's against funding the Postal Service because he doesn't want to expand mail-in voting, not even trying to hide the corruption.
SCARAMUCCI: Again, but that's sort of a Russian thing, right? They do everything out in the open and you're so alarmed by it that you think it can't be happening, so I get that part of his playbook, too, you know.
Listen, when Michael's book comes out, Michael Cohen, there's -- just remind everybody, there's documentary evidence in that book. The White House is denying what's in the book but he is going to supply documentary evidence, and in that playbook is exactly what he's doing to the post office. And that's the way the guy operates. We have to let the American people know this so that they can make the right decision in November.
LEMON: He, right now, though, Anthony, he's trying to undermine mail- in voting which could lead to voter suppression. Will it stop there? In your view --
SCARAMUCCI: It's corruption.
LEMON: -- is that already cheating?
SCARAMUCCI: Well, of course, it's cheating, but remember, he's trying to send a signal to people, I'm really down big-time in the polls but I'm going suppress a lot of votes so make sure you show up and vote for me if you're still one of my supporters.
We're still in this, because I've got all kinds of chicanery, I'm going to deploy here to keep myself in the game. I mean, the Rasmussen poll in Wisconsin, I mean, they'll probably going to poll out in Wisconsin as well, it's 52 percent-43 percent. They're out of Michigan. They're likely to be out of Wisconsin.
The guy is going to get annihilated and he's going to get humiliated and then the question is going to be what is he going to do in the aftermath? We'll have to see what happens at that point as well.
LEMON: Yes. Hey, thank you, both. And imagine, though, April, he doesn't know how to respond to a woman who is more accomplished than him. Can you imagine a black woman who's more accomplished than him who's got a better resume, smarter?
RYAN: She's got the --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Amazing.
RYAN: She's got the presidential pedigree he never had.
LEMON: Yes.
RYAN: That's the issue.
LEMON: I got to run. Thank you, both. I appreciate it.
RYAN: Thank you.
LEMON: And next, Florida's governor comparing returning to school to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden? That and other things President Trump's allies are pushing about re-opening schools.
[22:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Take this. All the president's men and women are really doing a job today propping up their man, Donald J. Trump. When asked about growing apprehension among parents to send their kids to school, something the president really wants, the Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETSY DEVOS, U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Well, we know that it's a coordinated effort in a campaign to continue to sow fear and, yet, when you look at facts and when you look at the science, we know that the important thing for kids is to be able to get back into school, into their classrooms, back with their peers, back with their teachers and learning in person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: There is no conspiracy theory or a coordinated effort. Though, this administration has embraced quite a few over the years. But there are millions of worried parents out there.
CNN reports that over 2,000 students and teachers have already been quarantined after hundreds of coronavirus cases in schools spanning five states.
[22:35:03]
School hasn't really started everywhere yet and already we have that many cases. Maybe it's the facts that explain why not all parents want to send their kids back to school for the sake of President Trump's re-election hopes.
Meanwhile, Florida's governor and Trump ally, Ron DeSantis, says this about getting children back to learning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Just as the SEALs surmounted obstacles to bring Osama bin Laden to justice so, too, would the Martin County school system find a way to provide parents with a meaningful choice of in-person instruction or continued distance learning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What? SEALs and Osama bin Laden and schools? That's not even apples and oranges. There's -- nothing to -- no comparison between Navy SEALs killing Osama bin Laden and teachers and students going back to school during a pandemic.
And today, the announcement of a peace deal brokered by the U.S. between Israel, the United Arabs -- Arab Emirates, the president's national security adviser is already eyeing a big reward. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT O'BRIEN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It will take some time in this environment, but it wouldn't surprise me if the president is eventually nominated for a Nobel Prize for this -- today's work is an example of why he would be rightly considered and should be a front- runner for the Nobel Peace Prize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: My gosh. You cannot write this stuff. Stuff. Whew. That's exactly what the president wanted to hear. As you may know, he really wants a Nobel Peace Prize.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think I'm going to get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things if they gave it out fairly, which they don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Wonder why he wants a Nobel Prize so badly. I wonder why. You know who has one, right? President Barack Obama. OK, my God. You all, every day, it gets crazier and crazier. And here we are.
The president keeps making false claims about mail-in voting, claims that are easily proven wrong because the thing is some states have been doing it successfully for years, including Washington State.
The governor, there he is, the governor right here, right after this.
[22:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: President Trump blatantly admitting he opposes Postal Service funding because of mail-in voting. The president also fueling his false claims of widespread voter fraud or vote fraud, yet providing no evidence to prove it.
Joining me now, Washington Governor Jay Inslee. His entire state has followed vote-by-mail for 15 years now. I think it's important to say that. Hello, governor. Thank you so much.
GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): Hey.
LEMON: I appreciate you joining us. So, your own secretary of state who's a Republican has pushed back against President Trump's claims of fraud. We asked you to look into something for us. In those 15 years, I want you to know -- I want you to tell us how many cases of voter fraud Washington had. INSLEE: Well, there is assertion something like 140 out of like 3.5
million votes actually just in the last couple years. And you know, it's not just our state, Utah, Oregon, Washington, we all have Republican secretaries of state. And you know, all these states recognize it has been supremely effective.
Look, there is more fraud in five minutes of any Donald Trump press conference than there is in all of the ballots ever cast in mail-in voting in United States history. And I think that is clear. And this is not an effort to increase the integrity of the system. It is a clear unadulterated and conscious effort to simply decrease voting.
You know, the best evidence of that is Trump said that this morning or yesterday. He literally convicted himself by saying that's the reason he wants to cut or not allow additional resources for the Postal Service. There's no mystery about this. He admitted it.
LEMON: Yes.
INSLEE: So, this won't stand.
LEMON: Yes. Eight states plus Washington, D.C. are mailing everyone a ballot. Voters in 34 states can request a mail-in ballot. Estimates say that more than, I think 75 percent of the population is eligible to vote by mail. Have other states been asking you the best way to handle this?
INSLEE: Well, more the secretary of state in my office, but our evidence is so clear and ambiguous, that's why mail -in ballot voting is increasing dramatically in the state of -- or the United States because we know it has been effective.
So, it's happening big time. I spoke to Governor Whitmer this evening about this. It's increased in Michigan. People love this. Hay they sign up in droves. And you know, it has a little bit irony. I heard today that Trump had a request for a mail-in ballot today.
Look, this is not about integrity. This is a distraction and it's hurting our democracy. You know, the Postal Service is integral to our country. You know that old quote, neither snow nor rain, nor heat nor gloom of night shall detract the Postal Service, but they never figured they'd have to meet Donald Trump.
[22:44:56]
So, we need both parties to stand up against this outrage. There is potential relief in the courts that potentially could assist. But by any means necessary, we have to stop him from this continued assault on democracy which is driven, and it's pretty obvious he wants to set up an excuse for his looming loss. That's what this is about. We want to vote. He wants an excuse. I hope our voting will win.
LEMON: Yes. Listen, and I'm glad you brought that part up about him requesting because this is what the facts show.
INSLEE: Right. LEMON: The experience and the ballot exactly the same. The only difference is requesting a ballot versus one automatically being mailed. So, there you go.
INSLEE: Yes.
LEMON: Governor, I'm out of time. Thank you so much.
INSLEE: You bet.
LEMON: I appreciate it. Thank you.
INSLEE: Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you very much.
The president making an accusation against Joe Biden accusing Biden of something he has been doing for months, playing politics with the pandemic. One of the doctors briefing Biden and Senator Kamala Harris tells me what their briefings have been like. That's next.
[22:50:00]
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LEMON: President trump is claiming that unlike Joe Biden, his approach to the coronavirus pandemic is guided by science. What is he talking about? If he's guided by science, why don't we have a federal mask mandate? That's what Joe Biden is calling for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Every governor should mandate. Every governor should mandate mandatory mask wearing. The estimates by the experts are, it will save over 40,000 lives in the next three months, 40,000 lives.
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LEMON: Joining me now is Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He is the director of the Cardiac Catherization Program at George Washington University Hospital. Also, Nicole Lurie, she is the former Health and Human Services assistant secretary under President Barack Obama. And one of the doctors who briefed Biden and Harris on coronavirus -- excuse me, hang on one second.
Little water, little tickle in my throat there.
Thank you so much for joining.
Dr. Reiner, I'm going to start with you. What are you thinking when you see the Biden/Harris COVID briefing versus President Trump's briefing that barely focused on badly needed coronavirus information? Very different?
JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes, very different. And a bit frustrating, because everything that Vice President Biden and Senator Harris said today could have been said six months ago. If it had been said six months ago, universal mask wearing, coordinated testing program, I like the national plan for public 100,000 public healthcare workers could do public tracing.
If all of these things were done six months ago we would have tens of thousands fewer deaths, people would be looking forward to college football season. Baseball stadiums would be -- would have some attendees now. We would have more of a regular life.
Nothing that they said today is so exotic. It's standard and it stands in stark contrast to sort of the magical thinking that we've heard on a daily basis from the White House.
LEMON: Dr. Lurie, you were one of the doctors briefing Biden and Harris. What kind of questions did the vice president and the senator ask? What are they most concerned about now?
NICOLE LURIE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Well, the first thing I'd say is they were really focused on data and on the science and on the public health science. And they were really focused on the operational issues. How are we going to get schools open effectively? How are we going to distribute a vaccine, efficiently, effectively and fairly? How can we get uptick in mask wearing?
They recognize that it's going to take a whole suite of things to do this. And they were mostly focused on what is it going to take the turn the corner on this pandemic and getting us back to a semblance of normal life.
LEMON: Dr. Reiner, we need to point out that there was no Dr. Birx or no Fauci at the president's coronavirus briefing. I mean, that is telling when you -- when it's just him, and then he is questioning someone else's commitment to the science.
REINER: Right. It's really disturbing. We haven't seen them at a single one of these press briefings since the president resumed them a few weeks ago. But yet they've been speaking in sort of these back channels and other venues.
And the reason we haven't seen them is they tell the truth, and the truth runs counter to the president's narrative that things are so much better, cases are going away, we're getting back to normal, we can't close down. Wear mask it is you can. If not, it's OK.
So, you know, Doctors Fauci and Birx and now Redfield have had a pretty consistent message. They're concerned about what's coming next if we don't do the right things. We won't hear from them because they tell the truth. This is why the president is bringing in experts that he feels will tell him what he wants to hear.
LEMON: Dr. Lurie, I want to get your reaction from something that we heard from Dr. Fauci today speaking to National Geographic. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND
INFECTIOUS DISEASES: When you look at other parts of the country, this is the thing that's disturbing to me. We're starting to see the inkling of the upticks in the percent of the tests that are positive, which we know now from sad past experience that that's a predictor that you are going to have more surges.
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LEMON: He goes on to say that coronavirus numbers will keep going up and down if some states are doing one thing. Other states are doing another thing. We need a national strategy, correct?
LURIE: We definitely need a national strategy and we need the national strategy for the last six months, the last eight months.
[22:55:05]
LEMON: Thank you very much. I appreciate both of you joining us. Thank you so much.
LURIE: Sure.
Constant attacks on mail-in voting and a trump appointee heading the Postal Service. Will the votes be cast and counted fairly in November? Much more on that story, that's next.
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LEMON: This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon. It's 11 p.m. here on the East Coast, following multiple breaking stories for you tonight.
The president fueling birther conspiracy theories, another one, that Senator Kamala Harris, the same one, the racist tactic that he used on President Obama.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you definitively say whether or not Kamala Harris is eligible. Makes the legal requirements to run as vice president.
TRUMP: So, I just heard that. I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements.
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And by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented.
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