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Don Lemon Tonight

Trump Amplifies Birther Lie About Senator Kamala Harris; President Trump Opposes Funding The Postal Office; United States Death Toll Tops 167,000 With 5.2 Million Cases; Fauci Says Consequences Could be Devastating if the Country Reopens Without the Virus Under Control; The Latest on the Coronavirus Pandemic; Florida Sheriff Bans Staff and Visitors From Wearing Masks; President Trump Using Sexist and Racist Language Against Kamala Harris. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired August 13, 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]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements and by the way, (INAUDIBLE) wrote that piece, a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer. I have no idea. That's right. 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 --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Just so everyone is clear, Kamala Harris was born in the United States just like Barack Obama. Also, tonight, President Trump admitting he opposes funding the postal service because he doesn't want to expand mail-in voting. He's falsely claiming that mail-in voting leads to fraud. So why did the president and the first lady just request their own mail-in ballots?

Plus, the coronavirus death toll surging in the U.S. More than 167,000 Americans have now died from the virus, and the CDC Director is warning the next few months could be the worst this nation has ever seen. We're going to break down all these stories for you and more in the hour ahead.

I want to start now with the Astead Herndon, national political reporter for The New York Times, Ron Brownstein is here, as well. Senior editor at the Atlantic, I'm so grateful to have both of you on. Gentlemen, thank you so much. Mr. Herndon, I want to play something from the briefing tonight and then make an observation. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, after 3.5 years, do you regret at all, 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 is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have done.

TRUMP: Go ahead. Please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So, Astead, look, he didn't want to answer that question. So he didn't. He knows how to dodge a question. But he jumped right in when he was asked about birtherism, right? He wanted to answer that, and he wanted to answer it just that way.

ASTEAD HERNDON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes. President Trump isn't in the business of regretting much of anything, much less his own actions. I'm not surprised he dodged that question, even though he knows factually this has been a White House that has consistently told dishonesties to the American people.

What we do know is that birtherism is his playbook. It is his origin story, and Republican grassroots politics is how he made his name is what we now call the Trump base. And he has playing that playbook again, and Republicans, some of them are sounding that playbook again. As you mentioned, this is false.

This is something that's based in a racist lie, and Kamala Harris was born in the United States, is eligible to serve as president. And the facts don't bear out.

But this is not what this is about. This is not about kind of a factual basis, it's about discrediting people, about authorizing people and this is a playbook that we have seen play out particularly on the national stage with President Obama.

President Trump and his allies stoking this is another sign, though, of the lack of attacks they really have substantively on Biden/Harris right now. We are seeing them kind of throw everything at the wall, but these are not things that are going to really change en masse ahead of the November elections.

LEMON: It's a sign of the desperation, really. Ron, I see you shaking your head there. And I know you've been looking at poll numbers, shaking your head in agreement with Astead. You've been looking at the poll numbers try to analyze how President Trump's campaign of racial division is working. What are you finding?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look. He has shown us that there is a constituency in America, probably bigger than many people thought, certainly bigger than many people hoped for overt racist and sexist arguments.

I mean, there's a constituency, the fears in the way America is changing. And one thing that is happening is that the president has become even more overt in the last few weeks in kind of appealing to that message. He's consolidating elements of that constituency. The pew poll that

was out today, he was over four-fifths with white evangelicals, back up to near two-thirds of whites without a college degree, three-fifths of rural voters, three-fifths of white Catholics and white mainline Protestants. But that is not a majority of the country and at the same time that these kinds of overt appeals to racial resentment and misogynistic arguments are solidifying that base for him is also solidifying the ceiling that he's facing.

You know, he's looking at enormous deficits among people of color and unprecedented deficits among college educated white voters. And the reality is, that the same things that he is doing to try to bring back some of those culturally conservative voters that may be disillusioned with the way he's handled the coronavirus is also reaffirming all the reasons why the rest of the electorate, the majority of the electorate finds him so unacceptable as president.

So he is kind of sharpening the divide, Don, but one that still leaves him well short of what he needs to ultimately take this again.

[23:05:02]

LEMON: Astead, I think this one -- this is probably the most important story right now for me. This president admitting that he opposes funding the postal service because of mail-in voting. CNN asked about that in today's briefing. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all these millions and millions of ballots, and you said that would be fraudulent. So, it sounded like you said your (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: No, I said it will end up being fraudulent. Because if you look at what's happened over the last few weeks. Just look at the few instances where this has happened. It's turned out to be fraudulent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Well, if you look at New York, it was fraudulent. We have to have an honest election. And if it's not going to be an honest election, I guess people have to sit down and think really long and hard about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, he gave all these examples of what he called voter fraud and none of them turned out to be voter fraud. And also remember, he established his voter fraud commission, remember?

It had to be disbanded because he didn't find any widespread, any significant evidence of voter fraud. How -- Astead, how far is he willing to go to undermine the voting process?

HERNDON: That is the kind of central question here. I mean, what the president is talking about here are the guard rails of democracy, are the kind of basis of our electoral system. And if he is willing particularly in this era of the coronavirus pandemic to not fund the postal service, not only that is kind of (INAUDIBLE) one of the foundational aspects of American society, but coming to November, it will be a central question in the fairness of this election.

This is as you say a major story. It kind of changes the scope of what we can expect come November. All the polling, all the punditry, all the prognostications rely on the kind of ground rules of democracy being adhered to.

And if the president is trying to change that and if he is trying shift those rules then that calls into question what we can even expect over these next couple of months.

And so I think that you're going to see, Democrats are going to see even some independents come out and try to push on this issue. But what you need is for Congressional Republicans to push on this issue.

You need congressional Republicans to push back against the president to kind a see the investment in the postal service that we would need to (INAUDIBLE) to kind of have mail-in voting adhered to, that the state's desire. And if that does not happen, then that is going to be the foremost concern heading into November.

LEMON: Amen. Ron, I want you to take a listen from what we heard from Hillary Clinton earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I don't want to scare people, but I want you to be prepared. I have every reason to believe that Trump is not going to go, you know, silently into the night if he loses. He's going to try to confuse us. He's going to try to bring all kinds of lawsuits. He's got his crony Attorney General Barr ready to do whatever is necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So this is a fear that some people really have, Ron.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, look, the key issue really as (INAUDIBLE) is what do Republicans do? You know, Don, Joe Biden wins the most votes in November, Democrat would have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections.

No party has ever done that in American history since the formation of the modern party system in 1828, and Republicans in Congress are behaving like a party that believes they do not have a majority of the country with them and need to kind of use any means necessary to try to hold on to power.

Nonetheless, there's been astonishing little pushback on the post office, which is about tilting political power in this immediate election. There's been equally little pushback on Trump's efforts to manipulate the census, which is about distributing political power over the next decade. And ultimately, you know, the question is, do Democrats have enough leverage to force a change in this without massive public outcry?

I think ultimately it does require some Republicans saying this is unacceptable, that you are costing the livelihood of rural communities is affected by the slowdown of the post office. The future political and economic status of Sun Belt states with a lot of Republican Senators is affected by the way. He's manipulating the census.

All of it at this point, almost all of them are saying the partisan interest matters more, and they are willing to accept the collateral damage on their constituency - constituents. We'll see if that's sustainable all the way through November.

LEMON: Pay attention. Pay attention to this post office story. It is extremely, extremely important and urgent. Gentlemen, thank you. I'll have you back. I'll see you soon.

Despite railing against voting by mail, President Trump and his wife Melania, well, they requested mail-in ballots for Florida's primary election on Tuesday. Palm Beach Post reporter Hannah Morse was the first to break the story, she joins me now.

Hi, Hannah. Thank you for coming on and doing this. I really appreciate it.

HANNAH MORSE, PALM BEACH POST REPORTER: Hi, Don. Thanks for having me.

[23:10:00]

LEMON: So President Trump blasting vote by mail as he requested a mail-in ballot for Florida's primary election. We have the records. He's going to vote by mail down there.

MORSE: Right, he requested and the first lady requested mail-in ballots yesterday. It was a deadline on Saturday to request them to be sent by mail, so normally that would have gone to Mar-a-Lago.

But voters can request vote by mail ballots up until Election Day, but they have to request or they could pick it up in person or designate someone to pick it up for them which is what the president and the first lady did.

LEMON: Is his absentee ballot, Hannah any different than a mail-in ballot would be?

MORSE: So in Florida, you don't have to have an excuse to request a vote by mail or absentee ballot as they call it. It's been that way for the past two decades, and the Florida legislature in 2016 changed the verbiage from absentee to vote my mail to kind of clear that confusion. And so there's no difference between absentee and vote by mail in Florida. You just have to request to that ballot.

LEMON: No difference, right?

MORSE: Right. LEMON: No difference. OK. Will they have time to mail it back?

MORSE: That is up to whatever method he chooses to mail it back. The supervisor of elections office has also offered different ways for people who are concerned with it getting back in time to drop off their mail ballots, either at the supervise elections office, at early voting locations up until Sunday. So there's different ways for people to get it into the hands of the supervisor of elections office by 7:00 p.m. Tuesday.

LEMON: Yes. And it's one of those ways the post office?

MORSE: Yes. That is one way.

LEMON: Yes, there you go. Hanna Morse, good reporting, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

MORSE: Thank you.

LEMON: The daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is calling out the president's actions. She says quote, voter suppression, voter suppression, voter suppression. Bernice King joins me next.

Plus, the deadliest day since May, 1,499 people lost to coronavirus in one day. As the CDC Director admits the country was unprepared.

[23:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: President Trump encouraging a false birther conspiracy theory against Kamala Harris, that as he once again attacks voting by mail and says that he's opposing funding the postal service because he doesn't want to see mail-in voting in November.

Let's bring in now Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., and the CEO of the King Center. It's always a pleasure. I hope you're doing well.

BERNICE KING, DAUGHTER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., CEO OF THE KING CENTER: I'm doing well, Don, thank you.

LEMON: Thank you. So let's talk about this. Listen, we knew the racist attacks were inevitable. But did you think that we would see this birtherism thing on day two, Bernice?

KING: Well, maybe not on day two. But certainly, it's kind of ironic that it always comes up when race is involved. I mean, we don't see this theory when we have a white POTUS or white vice-presidential candidate. So, I find it very interesting to say the least.

LEMON: Yes, that's a good way of putting it. How would you like to see people respond to this? Because it's always for me, as I say, it's always -- I struggle with should I give it oxygen, but if I don't, you know, you need to bring things to light so that people can understand them. How do you think people need to respond to this? What do they need to understand about a black woman being portrayed this way?

KING: Well, you know, I kind of opt to the side of not giving it too much oxygen. I think, you all in the media you and I have a responsibility to bring certain things to light, certainly.

But I think those of us who are part of a citizenry, you know, have to use our intelligence and recognize that this is another ploy and frankly, ignore it. Because the more you feed it, it grows. And so I'm not interested in giving it any more growth.

LEMON: Yes. Listen, I struggle with that, as well. Because I'm wondering by saying it, am I alerting or bringing attention to it, more attention to it than it's worth.

But listen, President Trump is saying, and this is really disturbing, he is saying that he opposes funding the United States postal service because of mail-in voting. He admits it outright. Listen to this, and then we'll talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They want $25 billion, billion, for the Post Office. Now, they need that money in order to have the Post Office work so it can take all these millions and millions of ballots.

Now, in the meantime, they aren't getting there. By the way, those are just two items. But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they're not equipped to have it. 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Did he say -- that wasn't even a quiet part out loud, he just said it.

KING: Yes. He said it. Voter suppression as I said today, voter suppression, voter suppression. This reek of voter suppression, and it's a conflict if you ask me, that he's even involving himself at this level. In a pandemic like this, that has been beyond all of our control, we have to make provisions for safe voting, free voting and accessible voting.

There are many people, as we all know, that have co-morbidity issues and going to the post to vote, especially in the heightened election because we know that the polls, if we didn't have the pandemic, the polls are going to be flooded or would have been flooded.

[23:20:14]

And so, because of that, now with the pandemic, we need to do what's in the safe interest of all Americans, and not suppress the vote. I mean, this is clearly voter suppression, and if I have anything to say, instead of voter suppression in this hour, we need ego suppression. So that we can have safe, humane, and just decisions made. And so that's what I have to say about it. Ego suppression is what we need right now.

LEMON: I want to talk to you, you know, John Lewis was all about voting rights. Right? The key part of the --

KING: Yes, he was.

LEMON: President Obama's eulogy for the Congressman was pressing for voting rights and he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We may no longer have to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar in order to cast a ballot.

But even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive I.D. laws, and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service in the run-up to an election. It's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots to people don't get sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What the former president was saying, I see you. He sees what Trump is doing. Are you worried, Bernice, that the vote -- it was successfully suppressed for a long time and many protections have been rolled back?

KING: Yes, it is. Yes, yes. I'm very concerned. And, you know, what I encourage people to do as soon as you can, and it's available to go ahead and request your absentee ballot and as soon as you get it, send it right back in, because there is a concerted effort to take us back to the 50s and 60s through a vehicle, through a means that, you know, wow, how did this become political? The mail? The United States postal service has become politicized. That's amazing to me.

LEMON: Bernice King, thank you much. You be safe. I hear that thunder in the background down there.

KING: Thank you. I appreciate you.

LEMON: The CDC Director says the country was underprepared. Dr. Fauci says he's quote, not pleased with how things are going. We're going to bring you the latest on the pandemic.

And ahead, a Florida sheriff banning his deputies from wearing masks with cases surging in that state.

[23:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Dr. Anthony Fauci issuing a dire warning tonight about the

consequences for the country if America doesn't get control of the coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALERGY AND INFECTOUS DISEASES: To think that you could ignore the biologic and get the economy back, it's not going to happen. It's just not going to happen.

You've got to do both. You've got to get control of the biologic, as you carefully open the country. It goes beyond the economics. And let me tell you why. Because if you shut down, even if there was no economic issue, what happens is that psychologically, it could be devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was Dr. Anthony Fauci. We have two more doctors to join us now, one is Dr. William Schaffner. He is a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University.

The other doctor is Dr. William Haseltine, former professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of the new book of COVID back-to-school guide. Good evening doctors. Thank you so much. Dr. Schaffner, what do you think of Dr. Fauci's warning? Are we anywhere close to having this virus under control?

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Don, it's more of the same, I'm afraid. The virus continues to spread, largely unchecked throughout most of the country. The country is still not serious about wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding large groups.

And when that is the case, when we continue to have community spread, as Dr. Haseltine is about to tell us, it's very difficult to open schools at very low risk. There are things we can do. But this virus is still out there spreading. It's not going to disappear, Don.

LEMON: Dr. Haseltine, has he called on you? Talk about the schools for me, please.

WILLIAM HASELTINE, CHAIR AND PRESIDENT ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: Well, he's exactly right. We're now in a stage of community spread. It's very dangerous state to be in for any gathering. Let alone schools in which you're in generally in small spaces for a long time.

There are three or four things that I advise parents to do. The first is to know their environment. There are some parts of the country that are relatively safe, but those are few and far between.

You have to know whether you or your child is at risk, high risk, for contracting the virus and for falling ill. And then you have to know what that school is doing. Some private schools can afford to be very careful. But most public schools are cash strapped. [23:30:00]

HASELTINE: Many of their plans are inadequate and substandard. And they simply don't have the training to deal with this. I think in many parts of the country, not all, but many parts of the country, you're sending your kids into danger.

And there is a myth that kids can't get infected. This is a cold. It's a cold that can kill, but it's a cold, and we know kids get colds. There's another myth that kids can't transmit it to you. We know that kids can transmit colds and do, and so do they do with this.

We don't have every little aspect nailed down, there's still more research to do, but the fundamentals of how this virus is transmitted, who gets it, how they transmit it are clear, and if you think of it as a cold, you'll have it pretty much right.

LEMON: Dr. Schaffner, this administration's testing czar, Admiral Brett Giroir, getting defensive when asked if there is a national strategy to address testing supply shortages. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT GIROIR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (voice-over): I'm going to start being personally insulted by these kinds of questions, because we have had a national strategy for months. It came out in the blueprint.

There was an 83-page national strategy that we delivered to Congress. Every single week, we tell governors exactly what need to be done within their counties. There is a national strategy, the national strategy is working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, if that is true, then why can't people get tested when they want to get results back in a timely way?

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Well, I'm afraid the national strategy is that you're on your own. You've got to do the best locally as best you can. Find out the testing materials, see if the laboratories will work, try to get that turn around with the test results as quickly as possible.

I really don't see a national testing strategy. We haven't had a national strategy for the control of this virus from the beginning. That's, of course, a great failure.

On the other hand, I think if we do work locally, governors getting together trying to buy tests and implementing them on a regional level, that's at least a start. That's American initiative, trying to work it up from the ground level if we're not getting leadership at the national level.

LEMON: Doctors, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

SCHAFFNER: Thank you.

LEMON: Tonight, the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. rising to more than 167,000 Americans.

CNN's Athena Jones has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAUCI: Bottom line is I'm not pleased with how things are going.

ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, Dr. Anthony Fauci raising concerns about disturbing trends in parts of the country.

FAUCI: This is the thing that's disturbing to me, is that 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're going to have more surges.

JONES (voice-over): This warning comes as the U.S. confronts the deadliest day of the summer, 1,499 people lost to COVID-19 Wednesday, and as CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield makes this blunt admission.

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: This is the greatest public health crisis to hit this nation in a century. We were underprepared. We need to owe it to our children and grandchildren that this nation is never underprepared again for public health crisis.

JONES (voice-over): Redfield warning that if at least 95 percent of Americans don't follow basic public health recommendations like mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing --

REDFIELD: This could be the worst fall from a public health perspective we've ever had. We're not asking some of America to do it. We all got to do it.

JONES (voice-over): While new cases are steady or falling in 43 states, deaths have averaged more than a thousand a day for 17 days now. And COVID test positivity rates are on the rise in 35 states, with Texas leading the nation at nearly 24 percent, even as the number of tests being conducted nationwide continues to decline.

Meanwhile, in Martin County, Florida, north of Palm Beach, an entire elementary school classroom and one bus route were placed under quarantine one day after the district reopened for in-person instruction and a student began exhibiting symptoms.

Nationally, more than 2,000 students, teachers, and staff members across five states are under quarantine due to COVID concerns.

PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR AND DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: There is just no way right now where this epidemic is raging across the south, in Florida, in Georgia, in Alabama, in Mississippi, Louisiana, and much of Texas that you can open up schools safely. JONES (voice-over): Still, it is game on in Utah tonight, a state with a positivity rate of almost nine percent. Two high schools facing off in the first football match of the season.

CARLOS DEL RIO, PROFESSOR, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: I feel like the titanic. We have hit the iceberg and we are trying to make decisions of what time should we have the band play. Not having fall sports this year and controlling this virus to me would be the number one priority.

[23:35:02]

JONES (voice-over): Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Athena, thank you so much.

In Florida, one of the country's biggest hot spots, a county sheriff has issued a mask mandate, but it's not what you would think. He's mandating that they do not wear masks. I'll ask a local official about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

LEMON: Coronavirus cases surging in Florida. Health officials are reporting more than 6,000 new cases just today. So why is a county sheriff in that state ordering his deputies and staff not to wear masks? You heard that right. He told over 900 people working in his department that masks will not be worn.

Joining me now is Matthew Wardell. He is a city councilman in Ocala, Florida and sponsored the area's ordinance to require masks in public places. I am so glad you're joining us. This is mind-boggling here.

I just want to read something, an e-mail that the sheriff wrote to his department. He says, "My order will stand as is when you are on-duty/ working as my employee and representing my office. Masks will not be worn. This is no longer a debate nor up for discussion. Please keep in mind this entire pandemic is fluid and constantly changing the way things are done. However, my orders will be followed, or my actions will be swift to address."

OK, so this virus is spreading in your county. There was record number of deaths there on Tuesday. Is there any rationale for this?

MATTHEW WARDELL, CITY COUNCILMAN OF OCALA, FLORIDA: You know, Don, not that I can see. I can certainly understand in certain situations where the deputy and maybe they're with a citizen and there is communication that needs to be clear.

You know, these masks take half a second to take off in situations like that if needed. But to not allow employees, even the folks that are behind, you know, working in HR or the folks that you and I would go and see to file a police report and get a police report, there's just not a lot of rationale there.

LEMON: There were a couple of exceptions, like if you're in a school or if you're in a hospital, you know --

WARDELL: Sure.

LEMON: -- but in certain situations. But listen, we reached out to the sheriff. He isn't commenting. We also reached out to the health department and they gave us a statement on this.

They said, "Our department was not consulted on the directive from the sheriff's office. The state surgeon general issued an updated public health advisory in July in relation to the state seeing an increase in positive COVID-19 cases. As noted in the advisory, the wearing of face masks/cloth face coverings when unable to practice social distancing is an important part of preventing the spread of COVID-19. We recommend people follow the guidance provided in the state surgeon general's health advisory."

Is this sheriff undermining public safety by ignoring the surgeon general's guidance?

WARDELL: You know, it's tough to say. You know, I know Billy Woods. He's a friend of mine. I have known him for a long time. We're actually in a local leadership class together. I know he's a great heart and actually a really great sheriff. This situation in particular seems tough to me. We're completely on opposite ends when it comes to face covering and masks.

We had a city council meeting three weeks ago when we first introduced a city ordinance to require face coverings, a really gentle ordinance, to be honest, when you compared to other folks around us. You know, that meeting kind of got the rhetoric that there's zero evidence that face masks work, the death numbers are inflated, the numbers aren't right. I just don't think any of that is helpful. I mean, if there's a public health issue, that's where it is.

It is that misinformation that is going out to people, because let's face it, I mean, people look up to our elected officials. You know, we talk about the president and the governor and those figures often, but really it's your local officials that you shop at the grocery store with, that you see at the post office, that you look up to when it comes to these issues.

I would love to see some better leadership when it comes to this in our area.

LEMON: So maybe I'm missing something that -- you said that the misinformation is -- are you allowing the sheriff leeway because you said there was misinformation about masks and whether they're effective?

WARDELL: No, no, I'm not at all. I think he's put thing information out. I like the sheriff, but in this issue, you know, we're just not on the same page, you know. I mean, masks help. There's -- the evidence for that is growing every single day. When we started looking at it in Ocala, you know, we're the county seat for Marion County, but when we started looking at it, we looked at the 19 other counties in Florida that have mask mandates. We looked at their percent positives. They've trailed down. Usually two or three weeks after those mandates go in effect, you start to see a real trend down in their percent positives.

We've seen the opposite. At the beginning of June, we had a percent positive around 0.7 percent as a seven-day average. At the -- just three weeks ago, we were somewhere around 19, 20 percent positive. We have since come down a little bit. We're somewhere around 15 today. But we've got a lot of work to do.

[23:44:57]

WARDELL: If there's anything that I would, you know, talk about the most when it comes to the sheriff, I just want him to get the right information when it comes to masks because they do work, and I hope you would get that out to these folks.

LEMON: Councilman Wardell, thank you so much. Be safe. We appreciate you joining us.

WARDELL: Thank you. Thank you, Don. I appreciate it.

LEMON: The president is not only refusing to deny false birther theories about Kamala Harris, he is tossing sexist dog whistles and calling her names.

W. Kamau Bell, well, he never speaks his mind. Maybe he will after the break. We will see.

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[23:50:00]

LEMON: President Trump using sexist and racist language against Kamala Harris, even questioning her eligibility, excuse me, to run as Joe Biden's VP.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Extraordinarily nasty. The meanest, the most horrible, angry, mad --

(Voice-over): Mad woman, I call her.

So I just heard that -- I heard it today, that she doesn't meet the requirements.

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LEMON: W. Kamau Bell, the host of CNN's "United Shades of America." I hope I can get my words out this segment. I mean, come on.

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST: I mean, we have a president who is more committed to racism than he is to science. That just says it right there. Americans are dying every day from the coronavirus and he is more committed to racism and sexism than he is to science.

LEMON: Oh, boy. I mean, you expect this stuff, but it was what, 48 hours or less, you know, into it and he brings out the birther thing? It's just crazy.

BELL: I mean, you know, it's -- here's the funny thing. It's his fault but it's also not totally his fault because the media is making space for this. You know, there is an article and opinion piece in in the Newsweek magazine that said (INAUDIBLE).

She is a -- I don't know. Let's ask this question. It is (INAUDIBLE) legal question that creates more space for him to do these things.

LEMON: Yes. Well, that was -- I don't know if you saw the top of the earlier show since you're California time with your 7:00 --

BELL: I got three kids, Don. I can't watch the show the whole time.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: You got three kids and Don Lemon ain't in your life. Well, I said that. I mean, I struggle with that. Whether or not to give it oxygen, right? I do struggle with that. But then, if you ignore it, you know, sometimes these things bubble up and people believe them, like all the conspiracy theories online.

BELL: I don't need -- we have to talk about it because the president is saying it. I mean the kind of oxygen that encourages it. I think that the media -- I think a lot of -- you know, when Donald Trump ran on birtherism his whole campaign to become president, started on birtherism before he ran, I think the media was just like this seems silly, a lot of the media, not all the media.

But I think, now, it's really important that people like you, who are in these seats, call it out right away because, otherwise, that's what gives them more oxygen. I think you have to call out outlets that aren't calling it out. I think that is important, too. It is a safe thing to do when he talks about not wearing masks or when he encourages cities to go back to school. We got to call all of it out.

LEMON: Yes. Let's talk about "United Shades of America." In this week's episode, you discuss the topic of reparations and what that could look like. You even talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and the creator of The New York Times' 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah- Jones. Take a listen.

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NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING REPORTER: This is the thing. Like, racism makes you illogical.

BELL (on camera): Yes.

HANNAH-JONES: So like, all of a sudden, all these concepts of law and morality that we understand, everywhere else, when it comes to black folks, no, I don't get it.

BELL (on camera): Doesn't make sense.

HANNAH-JONES: What would money do?

BELL (on camera): Yes.

HANNAY-JONES: I have to pay you for -- I never own slaves. You didn't have to.

BELL (on camera): Yes.

HANNAH-JONES: To me, if the government -- you know, if you can inherit wealth, which we all understand, you also inherit debt.

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LEMON: Hmm, fascinating conversation, controversial. What did you learn?

BELL: I mean, I think the thing I learned more than anything because I certainly am pro-reparations is that Black people and even those of us who believe in reparations have different ideas on what it looks like. Once again, black people are not a monolith. Everybody is not saying reparations come the same way. Although, generally, everybody says one part of reparation should be cashed. As she says later in the interview, if it doesn't include cash, then, that's racist.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: I'm just doing what I do, Don. I am just starting conversation.

LEMON: People are so -- I'm just wondering what kind of feedback you are going to get on that, especially on the topic of reparations, because people are so touchy now when it comes to the subject of race. It is even more so, I think, after the events of the summer, than before. We'll have more time to talk. By the way, I am going to have you on my podcast, and we're going to talk about --

BELL: Finally. Finally.

LEMON: Bye.

BELL: Finally. Bye.

LEMON: See you, W. Thank you. Be sure to tune in, all new episode, "United Shades of America" this Sunday at 10:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

I want to make sure you know about my new podcast. As I just mentioned, we will have W. Kamau Bell on "Silence is Not an Option." We are talking hard conversations about race in America, being black in America. This week's episode, I am going to speak with sports journalist Bill Rhoden on the intersection of race and sports. You can find the podcast on Apple podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Sneak peek, right here.

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LEMON (voice-over): So, listen, we've got the seasons that have been either postponed or cancelled. The Olympics delayed.

[23:55:00]

LEMON (voice-over): Besides the financial and emotional losses, what is the harm in losing sports?

BILL RHODEN, SPORTS JOURNALIST (voice-over): Actually, Don, I would argue that I hated to see sports come back. We were so focused as a nation of all these real issues. And we didn't have diversions. You know where at first they had to fill broadcasting time with real issues and have people like me on talking about.

Now they, you know, now they can have our balls and strikes, back to balls and strikes. Thank God. You know so, obviously, I mean I work for ESPN, The Undefeated, so on a business sense, it's good to have sports back. But in terms of salvaging the moral, our souls as a nation, I'm not sure if having sports back is a step in the right direction.

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LEMON: You really want to download and listen to this podcast. It's everything.

Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues.

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