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Don Lemon Tonight

DHS Intel Bulletin Warns Russia Amplifying False Claims that Mail-In Voting will Lead to Widespread Fraud; COVID-19 Cases Spiking in Midwestern States; Interview with the Mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mayor Brad Hart (R-CID) About the Increase of Coronavirus Cases in his City; President Trump Denies Atlantic Story Claiming He Didn't Think it was Important to Honor War Dead Buried in France; Is President Trump Trying to Sow Doubt About a Free and Fair Election?; Seven Rochester Police Officers Suspended Over Daniel Prude's Death; Up to 40 Million Americans are Facing Eviction from Homes During Pandemic. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired September 03, 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]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon. It is 11:00 p.m. here on East Coast and we are following multiple big stories.

The breaking news that is just in. The president is now denying a story that the -- in the Atlantic that claims that he didn't think it was important to honor American war dead buried in the France. The president calling the story a lie. The piece alleges multiple shocking comments by the president about the military, veterans and wounded warriors. We are going to have more on that in just a moment, just seconds from now, so stand by.

There's also a bulletin from the Department of the Homeland Security warning that Russia is trying to sew doubt about the integrity of the upcoming election by pushing false claims about mail-in voting. The same claim President Trump is making. A new forecast is in from the CDC and it projects as many as 211,000 deaths in the U.S. from COVID- 19 by the end of this month.

Cases spiking in the Midwest. We're going to speak to a mayor of one Iowa City seeing a surge in crisis. And the mayor of Rochester, New York, suspending seven police officers, seven, over the incident that led to the death of a black man. It was caught on police body cam and we have the disturbing video for you.

And an update to last night's heart breaking story -- Americans being evicted from their homes during the COVID-19 crisis. Up to 40 million Americans facing eviction. We are going to see how people are stepping in to try to help their neighbors. Stay tuned for that.

But I want to get now to our breaking news with CNN's White House correspondent John Hardwood, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, CNN military analyst Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. Gentlemen, so good to have you on. Thank you so much.

So, John, President Trump is tweeting and he's talking to reporters about a report from the Atlantic which claims the president said Americans who die in wars are losers and suckers. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everyone knows it's totally false. General Keith Kellogg was a highly respected man. Couldn't believe when he heard it and he knows everything about all of it.

And to think that I would make statements negative to our military and our fallen heroes when nobody's done what I've done with the budgets, with the military budgets, with getting pay raises for our military.

It is a disgraceful situation by a magazine that's a terrible magazine. I don't read it, but I just heard about it. They made it up and probably it's a couple of people that have been failures in the administration that I got rid of, and I couldn't get rid of them fast enough.

Or it was just made up. But it's unthinkable. As far as John McCain is concerned, I was never a fan, and I will admit that openly. I disagreed with him on the endless wars. I disagreed with him with respect to the vets and the taking care of the V.A.

I wanted to do it a much different way, and I think it's proven to be a much more successful way when you look at the success we have had with the V.A. and with our vets -- with choice and with accountability. All the things I've got. So I disagreed with John McCain, but I still respected him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK, that was a long explanation of protesting a lot. Thou doth protest I don't know a lot or too much, but what is going on here. John?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, first of all, it was an odd protest, because when you hear the president say, I wouldn't have said such a thing because I've gotten so much money for the military. That's not really the point. The point is about his personal values. It's not about a transaction involving the military budget, so that wasn't really responsive.

Secondly, he acknowledges that maybe some people who left the administration said something like this. Third, we have heard from the president's own sister that she considers him a liar with no principles. A majority of the American people the entire time Donald Trump has been president have said he's dishonest. He has shown that by his career before being president and as president. He lacks credibility.

Jeffrey Goldberg is a journalist of high credibility and he's got four sources in this article. The second thing to be said is that the comments ascribed to the president in this article are entirely consistent with what we've heard him say publicly about John McCain. Remember, during the campaign, President Trump said John McCain was a prisoner of war.

He was captured. I like people who weren't captured. That is the same kind of derision that he is quoted as saying in this piece. So, the president was emphatic in his denial, but it's not convincing and the article tracks what we heard him say in public.

[23:05:13]

LEMON: Right on. And we should say the -- Jeffrey Goldberg sources for them are unnamed sources, but you're right, this is when it would be good to have some credibility, and this president simply doesn't because of the history of what he has said about John McCain and just how -- because he's lied so much.

HARWOOD: Don, one other point -- our colleague Barbara Starr tweeted a while ago that there has been complete silence from the highest ranking generals in the United States military since this article came out. They are not speaking up to defend this president. That tells you something.

LEMON: General Hertling that's right up your alley. What do you think of that?

MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, RETIRED ARMY FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL: Yes, it's tough to speak out right now if you're an active duty serving general officer. They can't do that. I mean, they have to support and defend the president as well as the constitution.

So, by not saying anything, they're saying a lot. There are too many circumstantial past as John just pointed out that have -- we have seen in the past, which just confirm the kinds of things that we're talking about.

You know, he not only talked about John McCain this way, but all the other losers and people -- there's evidence that he didn't want his son to go into the military. He'd disown him and disinherit him if he did that. The Mary Trump book is saying the same kinds of things. There's just too many facts involved.

One other thing, I'd say John -- sorry, Don, having been to Bello wood, I where it is, it is a piece of hallowed ground, if you google on Google maps, it is exactly one hour and four minutes from the center of Paris. If you can't drive that in a presidential motorcade there's something wrong with your driver. So, these are all just things that tend to pile on what we've seen in the past.

And the last thing I'll say, Don, is the military, the veterans I've talked to tonight -- and I've talked to both low ranking and high ranking, retired ones and some active duties, they are furious about this, and they can't understand why people are still supporting this individual who is doing these kind of things.

LEMON: Douglas, we have been here for years discussing this. Remember that, you know, while the president is denying the story tonight, remember -- all these issues we've discussed. Denigrated gold star families, repeatedly attacked and demean Senator John McCain.

He did it even after his death. Before that he said, you know I like heroes who weren't captured. I thought that was going to end this campaign. But little did I know, it didn't. And then, you know, he spoke about Paralympians as tough to watch. Many of the comments in this pieces are not so far off from the things that he has said publicly in the past.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: No, they're completely believable that Donald Trump said this. The Atlantic would not be running this article in its fantastic magazine. And why, why would Donald Trump do this? I think he thinks it's funny.

He makes this kind of crude comments when he attacked John McCain. He was attacking all prisoners of war. When he makes a joke or comments in France, it's mocking anybody who's with the cross or Star of David that's buried from World War II in Europe. His supposed hero is George C. Patton. General Patton died in Europe and is buried in Belgium.

You know, so we have war dead all over. It's sort of a sacred ground and a scared place to go. Former Georgia's Senator Max Cleveland used to run or battle memorials and cemeteries. He had lost three limbs in the Vietnam War. But Donald Trump, he went after John Kerry who had won three purple hearts a bronze star, and a silver star.

So, he mocks veterans and oftentimes, and we can see the coldness and the callous of the COVID-19 response. This is not a president that's been hands on dealing with veterans and prioritize -- homelessness with veterans and drug addiction and other issues.

LEMON: Douglas, why then is he denying it so strongly tonight? Why not just -- that is completely not true. You know my history. Does that sound like something I'd say? We can't really say that, but why do you think he's denying it so strongly?

BRINKLEY: Because he sees that this is not good for him politically, that he's been losing the armed forces and veterans. You know, we're seeing older veteran, Korean War veterans, you know, poll numbers leaving Donald Trump. He had mocked and ridiculed people like General Mattis, who is just a loved figure in the Marine Corps.

So, he's starting most -- people like -- you know, there's a whole list of people that are military heroes that Donald Trump disposes, gets rid of, fires and then mocks them. This issue is not article does not play well for him for his re-election campaign.

[23:10:13]

LEMON: let's hear you John, because in this report it also says that Trump questioned why retired General John Kelly's son gave his life fighting in Afghanistan on a Memorial Day visit to his grave, he reportedly said that. This is shocking. What else did he say?

HARWOOD: Well, in that incident that's recounted in the article, he said to John Kelly, what was in it for them? In other words, he couldn't fathom that people would act selflessly in defense of their country. Remember, this is a president who escaped military service with claims of bone spurs in his heels, which I think a few people believe that that was a real credible claim. But he got off -- escaped military service that way.

This is a president who has made clear that he is concerned with self, not with others. And that it is inconceivable to him that somebody would act in ways that would risk their lives and not benefit them personally. And he was expressing that to John Kelly. It's a shocking sentiment, but it's not shocking if you understand Donald Trump's character and his values.

LEMON: General Hertling, let me bring you back in. Because according to this piece, Trump asked his staff not to include wounded veterans at a military parade because he thought spectators would feel uncomfortable in the presence of amputees. The quote, is, "nobody wants to see that." He said -- wow.

HERTLING: That's vile and disgusting, Don. Having spent many days and many hours with amputees -- I was brought back -- when I heard that as part of the article -- you know, I have a box that I've shown one of our colleagues Allison out of camera, at every Memorial Day. It's behind me.

It has the cards and the pictures of 253 soldiers that I lost under my command in combat. I look at that box every day and look at those pictures and try and think about where they might be today if they were still alive.

But the one thing that I hold dear to my heart was a time in (inaudible) hospital in Germany where there was a young soldier who was transferred back from Afghanistan. His wife came in from Italy. I met her there.

We knew he was going to die. He was 80 percent burned. He had three amputated limbs. And what we wanted his wife to do was first of all say good-bye to them and then make the decision to harvest his organs for other people.

I had a conversation with that wife. Those are the kind of people I want to be around. Those are the people who serve the country, not those who wrap themselves in a flag and become the sunshine patriots. I'm looking for the people who serve the country, who actually dedicate themselves to the constitution. And I'm sorry I'm going on like, but it's just infuriating to hear someone say that.

LEMON: Do not apologize. I think, everyone is with you, General. And you talk about people who wrap themselves in the flag. I see a lot of people who are flying the American flag on, you know, on boats, on motorcycles, on cars, in front of their homes and not all of them, but many of them not acting like Americans, with that flag really means. So, thank you so much. I appreciate you, all of you and I'll see you soon. Be safe.

Brian Stelter is here. He's CNN's chief media correspondent. Brian, wow. White House fiercely denying. You heard the president. Denying this. But they didn't deny things that turned out to be true -- they don't deny things that turned out to be true all the time. Excuse me, they do deny things that turn out to be true all the time. What do you think of this?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: They do, yes, yes. That's the thing about this -- normally the denials from the president and his aides would carry some weight, but for three and a half years the White House has squandered its credibility to the point where its words are essentially worthless, and the denials mean very little.

Jeffrey Goldberg is the top editor of the Atlantic. One of the most respected journalists in Washington. He has sources at high levels who have confided in him for years. So this has to be taken seriously as your panel just said, and other outlets are starting to match this. I think, Don, we have to keep, you know, the White House's credibility in mind when we cover this.

But it is also incumbent on the sources, on the people that are talking to Goldberg, on the people that are talking to other outlets -- the president's denying it explicitly, so it's put up or shut up time. It is September 3rd. The election is in two months. What are these figures doing where they are insisting on anonymity when we know so many people have already left the government?

[23:15:05]

There are so many former Trump officials who are no longer in government. Why aren't those people coming forward and putting their names to these quotes? I think that's a big question for the morning, Don. Where are these sources? Who are these sources and will any of them go on the record now?

LEMON: And the reaction, because this is what you do, the reaction, especially from state TV or conservative media will be to attack, attack, attack and destroy and try to impugn people's reputation or say it's not credible or this is someone who was upset because they left the White House. You know the game.

STELTER: They ignore until they have to deflect. They deflect until they have to distract. They distract until they have to deny. And right now, it's still the ignore phase, right. Right-wing media will ignore the story in the Atlantic until they have to react to it.

And yes, eventually they'll deny it. They'll attack the messengers. That is why it's so important for figures who have been in the inner circle of the Trump world to speak on the record, as Miles Taylor did last week.

And by the way, if others want to speak in support of the presidents that a good thing, too. People should attach their names to these comments because we are in the final innings of the most important game of many, many years.

LEMON: Brian, thank you. But listen, to what I'm about to say to you, very you and everyone. Thank you, Brian. Joe Biden has just released a statement about this story and the

presidential denial and Biden says this, he says, if the revelations in today's Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the president of the United States. Duty, honor, country -- those are the values that drive our service members.

Those are the values that had formed the core of America's defense for centuries. And if I have to honor of serving as the next commander in chief, I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honor their sacrifice always. What a difference.

Next, the coronavirus pandemic -- one of the hottest coronavirus hot spots in the country is Iowa. We're going to ask the mayor of the city of grand Rapid -- Cedar Rapids, excuse me -- what's behind the surge. Plus, this election will be like nothing we have ever seen before. No one wants chaos, so how do we avoid it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:20:00]

LEMON: So, coronavirus cases are spiking in Midwestern states. Why is that? And what can be done to stem the tide now? I want to bring in now Mayor Brad Hart of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Mayor, thank you. I appreciate you joining us.

MAYOR BRAD HART (R-CID): Thanks for having me on.

LEMON: So, your state is seeing a dramatic spike in cases. Yesterday it had the highest rate of coronavirus cases in this country and your city is one of those red zones. So, do you know what's behind the surge? Can you fill us in?

HART: Well, I think my city is actually not quite in the red zone yet, the yellow zone. The surge I think primarily has been college students going back to school. So the surge has been in Ames and Iowa City and in Cedar Falls and then Des Moines.

Our numbers have gone up not as dramatically as the (inaudible) communities, but I really think ours has gone up because for a different matter. Because of the derecho that we had on August 10th that really damaged probably 6,000 properties in Cedar Rapids. It's estimated that we lost 65 percent of our tree canopy.

And so trying to help the community recover from that is pretty difficult with COVID-19. Because we're dealing with shelters and food distribution and tree debris removal and repairing roofs and homes and buildings. And so we're having this really difficult time of trying to help our citizens recover from the storm and yet fight the spread of COVID-19. So. It's been difficult for people to social distance and get all those other things done because of the storm.

LEMON: I see you're wearing a mask there, right.

HART: Yes, I have it. LEMON: Yes. You made masks mandatory in your city yesterday. But for

months the science has been clear masks save lives, so why now?

HART: Well, our Governor and our Attorney General believe that only the Governor has that authority, so we're trying to abide by her wishes. And I just -- but she has to govern the entire state -- east, west, north, south, urban and rural. And at this point I'm really just concern about people, the 135,000 people in Cedar Rapids.

And this was the right thing to do based on all of the scientific information and the recommendations from our medical community, including that recent report from the White House coronavirus task force. That everyone is saying you need to wear masks. People need to wear masks in public. And so I joined five or six other cities in Iowa and instituted a local mask mandate for Cedar Rapids.

LEMON: Thank you, mayor. Be safe. Best of luck to you.

HART: Thank you.

LEMON: More of our breaking news next. The president denying that Atlantic story that we report claiming that he didn't think it was important to honor war dead buried in France.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:25:00]

LEMON: So here's our breaking news tonight. The president denying a story in the Atlantic that claimed that he didn't think it was important to honor American war dead buried in France. The president calling the story a lie. The piece alleges multiple shocking comments by the president about the military veterans and wounded warriors.

Let's discuss now with CNN's senior political commentator Jennifer Granholm, the former Democratic governor of Michigan and Bill Kristol, the director of Defending Democracy Together. Good evening to both of you.

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good evening.

LEMON: What a story that has just dropped by Jeffrey Goldberg. Bill, I'm going to bring you in first, because we -- remember discussing these issues during the 2016 campaign and when he said, you know, I prefer heroes that weren't captured?

And everyone was wondering if this was going to be the end of his campaign, but the Atlantic is now reporting that this president said that Americans who died in wars are losers and suckers. This president is denying this report. What's your response?

BILL KRISTOL, DIRECTOR, DEFENDING DEMOCRACY TOGETHER: You know, his tweets are denying it. He says, I never called John McCain a loser. He is on videotape in 2015, calling John McCain a loser. He, in fact, retweeted, you know, a clip of that tape in the middle of -- in 2015. So he's lying. I assume that if you're lying, if you lied about part of what you said so shamelessly, there's no reason to give you any benefit of the doubt about the rest of it.

It's very noticeable that no general, no serving four-star general, no retired general, General Mattis, General Kelly, General Dunford, none of them has come to Donald Trump's defense. No senior person from the White House at that time has come to Donald Trump's defense.

So, I believe "The Atlantic" sorry is true. It is consistent with everything we know about Donald Trump. He doesn't understand the notion of military service and sacrifice. He has contempt for people who put country ahead of their own personal physical wellbeing.

LEMON: Governor, I'm not sure if you heard the statement from Joe Biden that I read earlier, but in it, he says, he is going to have our troops back, right? He said I am going to have the back of our American heroes. What do you make of President Trump's denial tonight?

GRANHOLM: Yeah, I mean, how many times do we have to see this play out again, Don? I mean, how many outrageous things does this president have to say? How many times does he deny it even though it's on tape?

The gaslighting that he continues to play out is -- you know, it's exhausting, really. If I am part of a military family and I hear this, I just -- it's so utterly horrifying that the commander in chief so denigrates the people who give their lives in service. He can't even understand -- what did they get out of it? Well, hello, they get the honor of serving our nation.

So, I don't know how many times we have to hear this. I don't know how many times scandal after scandal, denial after denial. I thought when he said that about John McCain when he was running that it was over. We all thought that.

Oh, now, he's really jumped the shark. How many times does he have to jump the shark? I wish the shark would just finish him off soon. And if he doesn't, then the rest of us should in November because it's just too much. It's too much for us to handle.

LEMON: Yeah. A metaphor, by the way, that you're --

GRANHOLM: A metaphor, of course, of course.

LEMON: Yeah. Listen --

GRANHOLM: Thank you for clarifying.

LEMON: You both were a part of an exercise recently gaming out what we could see on Election Day, and some of those scenarios got pretty dark, violence, court battles. I mean, that was really scary stuff that no one wants to see. So considering, you know, governor, what we are seeing today, this denials are only going to get worse, how do we avoid this?

GRANHOLM: Yeah. This is a great question. So it was called the Transition Integrity Project. It was a war game gaming out four scenarios. One where it was a close election where Joe Biden, one where it's a close to election where Donald Trump wins the Electoral College, one where Biden wins big, and one where it's just completely ambiguous about what is going to happen.

In each of these scenarios, there were a hundred people totally bipartisan trying to figure out what's the worst case scenario. And here is what we learned -- and there was a great column today in The Washington Post by one of the people who is running this exercise, Rosa Brooks.

The bottom line is he has -- he, Donald Trump, the president, has enormous tools at his disposal, as we know. But what he can do which is very -- is one, if it's a contested election, he can wink and nod exhort to violence and cause, for example, what happened in Portland, Bill Barr, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security to send in people who will continue to provoke.

What does that do? That gives him justification then to go in potentially -- again, this is worst case scenario, potentially seizing ballot boxes, potentially calling Bill Barr to be able to investigate Joe Biden, certainly laying the ground work for saying that this election is rigged.

We have seen him do this time and time and time again. We know he's going to challenge it. The question is, what can local officials do right now? They need to game this out. They need to be talking with their law enforcement about how to deescalate. They need to understand what their laws are and anticipate the worst so that they're prepared. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

LEMON: And we -- that's the question, though. How do we prepare people?

[23:35:00]

LEMON: What do people need to do to prepare for this?

KRISTOL: This wouldn't be a problem if we had a normal president. If I can say, I served in administration which lost and there was any never any issue of turning over power peacefully or trying to delegitimize the election or misusing even the authorities of the federal government.

It is very much (inaudible), right? A president who will lie shamelessly, a president who will instruct his attorney general to do all kinds of things that are probably illegal, send DHS to Portland and so forth, cut off intelligence briefings.

I mean, you're talking about a president who is willing to do things that previous presidents really haven't been willing to do, and that creates real nightmare scenarios.

Look, there's a Congress, there are governors, there are mayors, there are election officials, there's the media, there are the courts, there are a lot of other institutions, thank god in this country, and they all need to be alert from now on, not just on November 3rd, about all the accesses (ph) --

GRANHOLM: Yes.

KRISTOL: -- that this president is going to do and try to call them out and make them ineffective.

LEMON: Thank you, both. I appreciate it. I want you to --

GRANHOLM: Don --

LEMON: I've got to go, but I just want to you listen to this.

GRANHOLM: Yup.

LEMON: You saw what the president stated. Do we have the president's statement that we can put up about denying what he said about John McCain? OK, it was a tweet. That's what I mean, in a tweet. Do we have the tweet or no? Any way, he denies that he's ever called John McCain a loser, and we want you to listen to this. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I supported him. He lost. He let us down. But, you know, he lost. So I never liked him as much after that, because I don't like losers. But frankly -- let me get to it. He hit me. He's not a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He is a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Five and a half years.

TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK, I hate to tell you. He's a war hero because he was captured, OK? You can have -- and I believe, perhaps he's a war hero, but right now, he has said some very bad things about a lot of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Hmmm. So, there you go. Seven officers suspended without pay in Rochester, New York tonight after a black man died in police custody. That man's father joins me next.

Ahead, 40 million people across the country facing eviction. CNN's Kyung Lah is following some of their stories, stories that you need to hear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight, seven police officers in Rochester, New York suspended over an incident that led to the death of Daniel Prude. Prude is a 41-year-old black man, happened in March, but has now come to the light with the release of police body cam video. That video shows Prude pinned to the crowd with a covering placed over his head.

His daughter says that he was treated like an animal. I have to warn you, the video you're about to see is difficult to watch. Here's CNN's Polo Sandoval.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Prude says he called Rochester, New York police to help his brother, and they killed him.

JOE PRUDE, BROTHER OF DANIEL PRUDE: He cried for help. It went unanswered.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): March 23rd, he called 911 to say his brother Daniel Prude was experiencing a mental health episode hours after being released from the hospital and may be on drugs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): He's sick and not wearing clothes.

PRUDE (voice-over): That's my brother.

SANDOVAL: Police body camera video that shows different angles was provided to CNN by the family's attorneys. Prude is naked and on the street when police arrived.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Get on the ground, man.

DANIEL PRUDE, DIED AFTER RESTRAINED BY POLICE (voice-over): No (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Get on the ground. Put your hands behind your back, behind your back.

D. PRUDE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Don't move.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): He complies and is handcuffed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Are you Daniel?

D. PRUDE: Yes, sir.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): But moments later, visibly agitated Prude yells at officers and moves around on the pavement.

D. PRUDE: Jesus Christ, I'm afraid. Let me go. Give me the handcuffs (ph).

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Then three minutes after the initial encounter, a hood, often referred to among law enforcement as a spit sock is placed over Prude's head. Police say he was spitting and said he had coronavirus. The hood, which can prevent transmission of some diseases, appears to distress Prude further. The officers demand he lie still.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Give me the gun. Give me the gun. Give me the handcuff.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): When he does not comply and tries to stand, three officers physically retrained him and hold him to the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): No, I got him. I got him.

D. PRUDE: You're trying to kill me.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): One officer has his knee on Prude's back and the others hold his head to the pavement. During the struggle, the officers realized Prude is spitting and appears to have vomited. Soon after, the paramedics start treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): It's freezing out here. He's been out naked for 30 minutes.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): When officers roll him over, there is no pulse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): (Inaudible).

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Prude was pronounced brain dead at the hospital and died a week later. The autopsy ruled the death a homicide caused by complications of asphyxia in the setting of a physical restraint, and further cites excited delirium and acute intoxication of phencyclidine or PCP as cause of death.

Since the video became public, protests and demands that police officers involved should be fired and charged with murder.

MAYOR LOVELY WARREN, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: Mr. Daniel Prude was failed by our police department, our mental health care system, our society, and he was failed by me.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Today, the mayor of Rochester suspended seven officers, inviting the police unit to sue her if they disagreed. The union previously said that while it's still in the process of gathering information, it has concerns about the incident.

[23:45:02]

LEMON: CNN is reaching out to the suspended officers and the union for additional comment.

J. PRUDE: It hurts me because they took something away from me. A part of my family tree is gone.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Polo Sandoval, CNN, Rochester, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: I want to bring in now Joe Lewis Cole, Daniel Prude's father, and Don Thompson, a lawyer representing the Prude family. Thank you both for appearing. I really appreciate it. Joe --

DON THOMPSON, LAWYER REPRESENTING THE PRUDE FAMILY: Thank you.

LEMON: Joe, it goes without saying --

JOE LEWIS COLE, FATHER OF DANIEL PRUDE: You're welcome.

LEMON: -- but I will say it, that I am sorry about your son and I know this is a very difficult time for you. The mayor of Rochester, Lovely Warren, announced that she is officially suspending all seven officers with pay involved in Daniel's death. What will justice look like for your family?

COLE: For me, justice looks like my family, is going to be hard because it's a part of me gone. It's something gone that I'll never regain, I'll never see again, maybe in the afterlife. I'll never see Daniel's face again. What made it so bad, that was my birthday present. Daniel was born on my birthday, and I miss him dearly.

For him to leave like that there for no reason, just because he needed help, it was uncalled for. That was. I wouldn't treat my -- I got a pup. I got a little Chihuahua here. I wouldn't treat her like that there, you know? They treated him like he was an animal, a caged animal, a dog. To try to express yourself on that there is very hard. I'm trying to hold my emotions.

LEMON: Joe?

COLE: Yes?

LEMON: What do you -- sir, what do you know about what was going on with him that night?

COLE: That night, to be frank and everything, that night, Daniel (INAUDIBLE). Me and my sister got (inaudible) for him to go up there. And when he got there, he called and talked to me and everything. He said, yeah, pops, I made it. I said, yeah, that's good.

Then for his brother, for Joe to call me and tell me that his brother ran out in the street, you know, naked and everything. So again, we tell his brother, Joe, call the police, to get him some help right then and there. To my understanding, that's what -- that's what for them to help us, right? They didn't do -- none of that.

LEMON: Let me bring the attorney in. Don, you know, this unfolded -- the way this unfolded, Daniel Prude's brother reached out to law enforcement for help because his brother was having a mental health episode. What was the outcome here? His brother died. It's horrible for any family. What question does that raise to you about how these officers respond to mental health crises?

THOMPSON: Well, I mean, if you watch the video and if you review the circumstances, obviously, they're not trained to respond to mental health crises. They responded in 180 degrees exactly the wrong way. They exacerbated the problem rather than deescalating the problem.

They were not capable of dealing with someone and really caring for someone that was in the throes of a mental health incident. And that is a serious defect here in Rochester and many other places because Joe Prude didn't have anyone else to call, to seek help for his brother. He had nowhere else to go other than to call 911 and to have the police officers involved.

LEMON: Yeah. Well, I want you two to please keep us updated on this story. I mean, the video is just -- it's really difficult to watch. And I can't even imagine, Joe, what your family is dealing with, but again, we thank you and we are thinking about you. Don, thank you, as well. We appreciate it.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

COLE: Thanks.

LEMON: We'll be right back.

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[23:50:00]

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LEMON: Up to 40 million Americans are facing evictions due to job losses brought on by the coronavirus. In Houston, Texas this week, Harris County constables evicted tenants behind on rent. CNN's Kyung Lah spoke with some of them. This is Israel Rodriguez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISRAEL RODRIGUEZ, EVICTED FROM HOME (voice-over): We got nowhere to go.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rodriguez admits he hasn't been paying rent, behind thousands of dollars.

RODRIGUEZ: It's my fault on the eviction. It was a lot going on. When it hit, I lost my job. So, it took me like a month to get another job.

LAH (voice-over): Their stroller now carries their possessions.

RODRIGUEZ: It's mainly the kids' clothes because me and her just wear the same clothes almost every day. We don't have nobody that can come, you know, and help us out right now, nobody.

[23:55:01]

RODRIGUEZ: We got ourselves, me and the kids and her. We -- that's it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Kyung Lah joins me now. Kyung, I was watching your story last night. It wasn't even, as you know, slated to be in the show, and I said, we've got to run this because it's a reflection of what's happening in America right now.

So, I am grateful that you did this story and that you came on to talk about this. So, thank you so much. We just heard a bit from one of the people you spoke to. His name is Israel Rodriguez. That was Tuesday. So give us an update on the people in your piece and the reaction from the public.

LAH: Well, as far as what Israel is going through tonight, he's in a pay-by-day motel. He's still wearing those same clothes. You heard him say he basically wears those same clothes every day. The kids are in the same clothes. He has $400 in his pocket. He needs $800 in order to rent a studio apartment. So he says that he's taken a job mowing lawns. He is really hoping to raise that money as quickly as possible.

Since this story aired, it has been tweeted by politicians like AOC, like Pete Buttigieg, powerful lawmakers in Texas, and there has been outrage shared across social media.

We actually got contacted by NFL player Deshaun Watson. He says he wants to pay for Israel's rent. That he wants to get those kids housed and fed. So, it has been an incredible outpouring, Don. When I talked to Israel about all of this, he said that all of this is a little shocking and scary because he's never had anyone actually care about him before.

LEMON: The quarterback for --

LAH: Don?

LEMON: -- the Houston Texans. Yes. But, Kyung, thank you. And listen, that is -- this is happening in people's backyards. You profiled Houston but similar situations are happening all across the country. Again, I am grateful for you for bringing light to this. And let's hope more people get behind this and help folks out. So, Kyung, thank you. We'll continue to follow up. You be safe, and we'll see you soon. Thank you.

And thank you for watching, everyone. Please, let's stop fighting and help people who need help. That's what's important. I'll see you.

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