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Don Lemon Tonight

Kanye West's Ties To GOP Nominees Increase Suspicion He's Running To Take Votes From Biden; President Trump Blames China For COVID-19; Trump To Announce SCOTUS Pick Saturday; Trump Falsely Claims Mail-in Ballots Fraud; Romney Backing Of Supreme Court Vote Paves Way For Election Year Confirmation; FDA Considering Authorization Rules That Could Push Coronavirus Vaccine Past Election Day. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired September 22, 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 VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: West's campaign is drawing support from GOP operatives across the country and scorned from critics who say Republicans are taking advantage of the music mogul. West has said he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and doesn't take regular medication for it. His wife has asked the public for compassion and empathy for West, who appears undeterred in his pursuit of the White House.

KANYE WEST, AMERICAN RAPPER: I shall be president at some point in our lifetime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Now, Don, Kanye (inaudible) told CNN that his company always follows the law. And he said they have a zero tolerance policy for any employees who violate their standards. As for the president and his campaign, they said they have nothing to do with Kanye West's presidential bid. Back to you.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: All right. Thank you, Sara. This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. It is 11:00 p.m. here on the East Coast. 42 days, can you believe it until Election Day and we're following multiple breaking news stories that could impact how Americans cast their votes in the 2020 election.

The coronavirus death toll passing 200,000 in the United States, 200,768 Americans. But instead of focusing on the lives lost and the families mourning, President Trump is blaming China and claiming it could have been worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think it's a shame. I think if we didn't do it properly and do it right, you would have 2.5 million deaths. The original numbers were around 200,000 if you do it right. If you did a good job and if the public worked along, and if you didn't do it right, you would be at 2 million, 2.5 million. Those were the numbers. But this should have never happened. This should have never come out of China. They should have never let it happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Six months and 200,768 lives lost. How is that a good job? Plus President Trump saying he will announce his pick to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Saturday at 5:00 p.m. Judge Amy Coney Barrett who sources say is the favorite was at the White House today for the second day in a row. Republican seemed to have a votes to confirm the nominee before Election Day. Is there anything Democrats can do to stop them?

We're going to break down these stories and more in the hour ahead for you. So, action-packed, we've got a lot. But I want to bring in White House correspondent John Harwood. John, thank you so much for joining. Good to see you. More than 200,000 Americans have now died from this virus, but the president is still shifting the blame, praising his response. Does he really think that he can rewrite the last six months.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, I don't know if he thinks he can rewrite it, but I think he has to act like he is rewriting it. I don't think either psychologically or politically he can accept blame for the situation. He needs to blame China, he needs to assert that he's done a good job, and he needs the election to be about some other topic than the coronavirus because he's obviously done a poor job of handling it.

He told Bob Woodward he downplayed it from the beginning. He is still suppressing the best advice of science and not showing Americans the best way to get out of this. He's counting on a vaccine. He's not capable of leading on this issue, so he's trying to talk his way out of it and get to other things.

LEMON: He says he's going to announce his Supreme Court pick on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. He'll do it Saturday, you know, like, the television person that he is. He also explained why he wants a new justice before the election. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We need nine justices. We need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that they're sending, it's a scam, it's a hoax, everybody knows that, and the Democrats know it better than anybody else. So you going to need nine justices up there. I think it's going to be very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Does he view filling this seat as a way to preserve his own power?

HARWOOD: Yes. And first of all, we have to start by saying everything he said about scam and hoax and all that is baloney. The mail-in balloting is a widely recognized feature of the American system. It's been growing in use over the last couple of decades. It's used exclusively in five states and more states have adopted it during the pandemic to try to keep people from getting sick.

But what President Trump shares with the Republican majority in the Senate, which are both barreling forward to get this done, is a sense of fear and dread about their fate politically.

The Republican Party knows it's a party of conservative white Christians, they're shrinking as a percentage of the population, they're outnumbered demographically as we're moving forward, and they are determined to get what they can while they have the power in the Senate. That's why Mitch McConnell is forcing this through.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, can see the polls. He knows that he's losing nationally. He knows that he's losing in battleground states. He has a Hail Mary to try to sort of throw the cards up in the air on this election. He's trying to cast doubt over the legitimacy of the election, preparing to challenge it, and if he can get a 6-3 very conservative majority on the court, he is hoping in some way that he can get a post-election case that can invalidate Joe Biden victories.

[23:05:23]

I think that's not likely to happen, and in fact, he has had a very mixed record of success in the challenges that he and the Republican Party have made over the last several weeks.

Joe Biden's got a lead big enough that it is not likely that we're going to have too many states come down to the wire, but that is about all that Donald Trump's got going for him at the moment. He hasn't been able to move the polls. We've got the first debate next week. Hoping he can do something with that, hoping the Supreme Court can do something, but nothing has moved in the trajectory of this race so far.

LEMON: Yes. Listen. The Republicans coming out for Joe Biden, there have been a number of them over the last couple weeks and there is going to be one more Republican endorsement, and that is Cindy McCain. What are you hearing about this, John? The wife of the widow of John McCain.

HARWOOD: No surprise about -- that's right. No surprise about that. She did a video for the Democratic convention, so everybody knew where she was coming from. But I think Arizona is a state that Donald Trump carried in 2016 where Joe Biden has got a healthy lead.

This is the Democratic Senate candidate and also has a healthy lead in up states. Cindy McCain can try to propel that forward, also someone of a signal to those college educated suburban women who have been moving flocking toward Democratic Party away from Donald Trump.

Don't expect any endorsement is going to have a dramatic effect, but Joe Biden has accumulated a very large number of Republican establishment figures to try to send cues to normal Republican voters, hey, it's OK to cross over this time and vote for Joe Biden, and the polls indicate they're having a lot of success with that.

LEMON: John, thank you. See you soon.

HARWOOD: Sure. You bet.

LEMON: Now I want to get to our fact-check of the day, Daniel Dale is here. Daniel, good evening to you. You've been fact checking the president's rally tonight. I want to go quick because I know you have a lot. What stood out to you?

DANIEL DALE, CNN FACT CHECKER: I won't give you like a 15-item list like I've been giving you, but there were a lot. He said again at Mexico is paying for his wall as he had promised. That's just false. That's just a lie. Americans are paying with both congressionally appropriate in money, and money that the Trump administration has basically seize from military coffers.

He said again that Biden will destroy protections for people with preexisting conditions. That is like an up is down reversal of reality. Biden helped get those protections in Obamacare. Trump is now trying to kill Obamacare in its entirety. He again said Kamala Harris called Biden a racist during the primary. She did go after him on some race-related issues but specifically said, I do not think you're a racist.

He took credit. He was in Pennsylvania for a shale plant that shale decided to build under Obama. He again as almost always took credit for the veteran's choice law Obama signed in 2014. He talked about a CNN reporter. It was MSNBC reporter anchor Ali Velshi who that got hit in the knee with a teargas canister and kind of rebel the mist. Ali Velshi got hit a rubber bullet. And I could go on and on. So, you know, a ton of lying and a ton of nonsense.

LEMON: Yes and he's also taking credit for replacement fencing by calling it part of the wall but it's not. It's actually replacement fencing, so not as much of the wall has been built as he says it has. Daniel, listen, the president's campaign keeps dishonestly cutting clips or editing clips of Joe Biden to make him look confuse. Here's what they posted today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My pledge of allegiance to the United States of America, one nation, indivisible, under God for real.

LEMON: What's the fact?

DALE: So the Republican National Committee posted this first on Twitter, the Trump campaign then posted it on Facebook, and they tried to make it seem like this was Biden trying to recite the pledge of allegiance and messing it up, mixing up phrases, getting the words wrong. But that's not what happened. What happen was Biden was in Wisconsin and 22 minutes into a campaign speech, he invoked a few phrases in the pledge to make a point about what kind of president he argues he would be. Listen to the full context. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Think about what he's saying. He's saying if you live in a state like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, states with Democratic Governors you're not his problem. He has no obligation to you. He's not responsible for you as president, your family or your well-being.

I don't see the presidency that way. I don't pledge allegiance to red states of America or blue states of America, I pledge allegiance to the United States of America. One nation, indivisible, under God, for real. I'm running as a proud Democrat, but I'm not going to govern as a Democratic president, I'm going to govern as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Wow.

DALE: So, again, Don, this was not Biden messing up the pledge, and this is a pattern from Trump and his allies. Its disinformation, trying to make Biden seem senile using clips where he is, in fact, coherent.

[23:10:10]

LEMON: It's always surprising, because -- have they ever seen this president tried to give a speech or read a teleprompter? Or, I mean, it's just -- it's unbelievable that they're trying to cast Biden that way. They need to take a look at their own candidate.

DALE: I hear you.

LEMON: Yes, people in glasshouses. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

DALE: Thank you.

LEMON: I want to turn now to the Supreme Court battle. Joining me now is Adam Jentleson. He is the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Senator Harry Reid and he joins us now. Thank you, sir. I read your article. It's fascinating. And I'm talking about The New York Times, your piece in the Times, laying out how Democrats should respond to the GOP pushing through a Supreme Court nominee.

Your suggestions include denying unanimous consent agreements, forcing Republicans to bring 51 Senators to the floor and boycotting hearings. First of all, good evening and what does that accomplish? What is all this accomplish?

ADAM JENTLESON, FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR SEN. HARRY REID: Thanks, Don, it's great to be here. Yes, I think what that accomplishes is exerting maximum pressure on Republicans. If you have to jump through these procedural hoops, they're difficult to do, they take time to do, and that makes your life difficult as the majority leader for -- in Mitch McConnell's case.

The other thing that I outlined in the article is that it shows that Democrats consider this to be an illegitimate process. And I think that was underscored today when Senator Romney was -- came out and gave -- made it clear that Senator McConnell has the votes to confirm this nominee. So you have Republicans coming out and declaring that they're going to confirm this nominee even though this nominee has not been named yet.

And I think what Democrats can do in the Senate, even if they're unable to stop McConnell from ultimately confirming the nominee, is show that they don't consider this to be a legitimate use of the Senate's historic advice and consent role, which it clearly is not.

LEMON: OK. So -- all right, listen, even if Democrats can delay a vote on Trump's nominee until after the election, the Republicans would still have the votes in a lame duck session. How does this change anything?

JENTLESON: Yes, the lame duck gets complicated and a conservative commentator, Amanda Carpenter, was making this argument earlier this week. You never know how an election changes the dynamics. It can change the political landscape in unexpected ways. So, if you're Democrats, you definitely would prefer to have this vote after the election, because you don't know what's going to happen.

The other thing that's different is that there are two special elections for the Senate right now, one in Georgia and one in Arizona. If Democrats win those races, those two Senators can be seated in November while all the other Senators have to wait until January. So you potentially have a situation where Republicans' margin in the Senate is cut by two seats.

And I just think that fundamentally the dynamics of rushing a nominee through after an election where potentially Democrats win in a landslide is not a situation the Republicans want to be looking at, and January 3rd is when the new Senate is sworn in. So the delay at that point would only have to go until January 3rd.

LEMON: Adam, look. I'm sure Mitch McConnell knows that more than anyone, that the landscape can change, so, you know, that's no secret. But he has justified ending the filibuster for the Supreme Court nominees because your former boss, Senator Harry Reid, eliminated the filibuster for federal judges. Is Reid to blame, at least in part, for setting a precedent here?

JENTLESON: No, I think progressives should be very happy that Senator Reid went nuclear in 2013, because that was after five years of unrelenting, unprecedented obstruction against President Obama's nominees. If anything, we should have done it sooner.

Once we went nuclear and got -- and lowered the threshold for confirming nominees, we were finally able to put President Obama on part of his predecessors in terms of the number of judicial nominees who were able to confirm.

If we haven't gone nuclear in 2013, there would be fewer Obama judges serving lifetime appointments right now. When McConnell took over in 2017, he would have gone nuclear himself. I think that the idea that he would have sat back and let Democrats filibuster Republican nominees is -- if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you.

So, if we haven't done it, I think what would happen is we would have got fewer Obama judges confirmed. McConnell would have come in under Trump, quickly gone nuclear himself and they would have got the same number of judges.

LEMON: Mitch McConnell said, he's going to make, you know, n the very first day making a one-term president and they were going to be obstruction as where you everything you wanted to accomplish.

JENTLESON: You really zipped it on that.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you Adam.

JENTLESON: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: I appreciate it.

LEMON: Yes. The FDA reportedly considering new rules for authorizing a vaccine, making it unlikely by Election Day.

Plus two more NFL teams and head coaches fined for not wearing face coverings to prevent the spread of the virus. More to come on all of that.

[23:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: 200,768 American have died from the coronavirus and more American lives are being lost from this pandemic every hour. When pressed about the tragic milestone, today the president saying, it could be worse.

Joining me now to discuss, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, he is the director of the Cardiac Catheterization Program at George Washington University Hospital, and also Andy Slavitt, the former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Good to see both of you, gentlemen.

Andy, you're up first. And I'm quoting here. It's a shame. That's the president's response today to the death toll. What would you call it?

ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER ADMINISTRATOR AT THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: I would call it a once in a hundred-year tragedy that could have been avoided. I call it preventable. With even some of the most basic preparation, some of the most basic adjustment, some calls for unity, some mask wearing.

[23:20:06]

So, we've lost a lot of people that we didn't need to, and you know, it's not a day that people who are -- a lot of people who are probably particularly excited to listen to the president justify and explain when what he should be doing is mourning and grieving. LEMON: Dr. Reiner, the estimate of 2 million deaths was based on Trump

doing absolutely nothing. But he said 200,000 deaths is doing it properly. Give me your response.

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I mean, it's nonsense. And if you -- just happen in many ways to compare the U.S. performance to the rest of the world, we can do it in absolute numbers, we can look at a country like Japan that's had about 1,400 deaths. We can look at it in terms of per capita death. The U.S. is very close to the top. Our neighbors up north, the Canadians, they have half the death rate as the United States.

What we've lacked is competence, simple competence. Not brilliance, not, you know, American exceptionalism, just simple competence. And what bothers me about this sort of milestone is that it's not ending. And you know, we're losing about 800 people a day, and we're not learning our lessons. We're not changing our behavior. We're not increasing testing, we're not masking up.

We're not doing the things we need to do to suppress the virus to get us in a position that we can preserve lives while we, you know, hopefully get a vaccine or vaccines on board over the next year to 18 months. So, we're just not learning from our mistakes because we have leadership that thinks that we're turning the corner and were done. And we're not.

LEMON: Dr. Reiner, let's talk about a vaccine and a timeline because we're learning today that the FDA is considering putting together tougher standards in place for a vaccine to get emergency use authorization. What could this mean for the vaccine timeline, and why do you think they're doing this?

REINER: I think they're doing it because they understand that their job is to only approve a vaccine that is both effective and safe. And that I think the train was moving pretty quick. There was a lot of political pressure to approve a vaccine with a EUA, and there was going to be no way to understand the safety of the vaccine.

So, it looks like that they're going to want to look at least two months of safety data, which effectively pushes any approval for a vaccine, probably back to at least December. I think it's a wise move. There is a lot of skepticism in this country about vaccine safety. There always has been, and there's more now that it seems like a vaccine was pushed too quickly. So, I think it was a good move.

LEMON: Andy, the president has been teasing a vaccine announcement as early as next month or before the election. Could this decision by the FDA help restore the public's confidence that the science isn't going to be overruled by competence?

SLAVITT: Well, the public should be confident in vaccines. You know, before we had the measles vaccine, 8 million kids died the year before the measles vaccine. So, we should be excited about the progress, but as Dr. Reiner said, we should accelerate but not rush. If we get a vaccine out sometime during 2021, early in the year, middle of the year, it will be an incredible pace, it will be an incredible credit to the scientists.

And so picking arbitrary dates is very difficult to do. Remember that the critical trial only works if enough people get exposed to the virus for a long enough time. You can't preordain that. The president as much as he would like to can't just order people to have enough exposure.

It will take as long as it takes, the FDA has got to do its job. They're the best in the world at this, and we should all be very focused on making sure that they let them do their job and that Trump -- because, remember, despite what the FDA said, Trump has the authority to overrule them. And don't think that that's not a possibility.

LEMON: All right. Gentlemen, thank you. I appreciate it.

Several NFL teams and coaches getting hit with fines for not wearing masks. Is the league taking the threat of the coronavirus seriously enough? Bob Costas here, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:25:00]

LEMON: Two more NFL teams and head coaches fined for not wearing face coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. That as several professional sports leagues take action to promote social justice issues and voting in the 2020 election. Let's discuss now, CNN contributor, hall of fame broadcaster, Mr. Bob Costas.

Good to see you, sir. You doing OK?

BOB COSTAS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hello, Mr. Lemon. I'm good, how about you?

LEMON: I'm doing very well, thank you for asking. So, two more NFL teams, the New Orleans Saints. I watched the game last night when I wasn't on, or before I came on, Las Vegas Raiders.

COSTAS: That's your team.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I know, I'm watching and I'm going, come on. So, but they're being fined $250,000 each, because their head coaches were not wearing face coverings during the game on Monday. The coaches also getting fined $100,000 each. Fines for three other coaches and teams were announced yesterday. Is this the sort of action that's going to get teams and fans to take COVID seriously, Bob?

COSTAS: Yes, I think that's part of the message. Also part of it is look, if we're going to get through this, there is a zillion needles to thread, especially difficult with football. They can't go into a bubble. The size of the rosters is much larger than in any other team sport that we follow, plus all the auxiliary personnel.

[23:30:00]

There are just so many involved, and the season is long and 32 teams, and all kinds of protocols, so at the very least, the easiest thing to do is for those who aren't playing to wear a mask on the sideline.

I think it sends a message. It is the right message. And part of that message is we are serious. If we are hitting teams up with these kinds of fines, if we're hitting individuals, coaches with six-figure fines, then everybody should take note.

You know, Baseball kind of did the same thing. When a bunch of Marlins tested positive, a bunch of Cardinals tested positive, basically they said this, if we have to lop these teams off and just forge ahead to get through to October, that's what we'll do.

When a couple Cleveland Indians violated protocol, no one tested positive as a result, but the Indians sent them both back to their minor league camp and they traded one of them to San Diego.

I think these are messages that are being sent. The specifics matter less than the general message, which is shaped up here because we are all in this together and what you do affects everybody.

LEMON: Bob, you know, CNN Citizen was today and I spoke to NBA superstar Chris Paul about social justice issues and sports. For him and a lot of players, it is personal. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Guys who play in the NBA are people just like everyone else. They have encounters with people throughout society. Your uncle is a police officer. A lot of these hits really close to home for you.

CHRIS PAUL, BASKETBALL PLAYER: Yeah.

LEMON (on camera): How are these issues discussed within your own family?

PAUL: It's crazy you say that because I've had my own encounters of being pulled over because my windows were tinted or something like that. I had a gun pulled (INAUDIBLE). Even thinking about going to a bubble in, the different names that we will put on the back of the jerseys and stuff, I called my uncle, my uncle, my Uncle Jerome, who I love to death. I almost get emotional because we have real conversations.

Actually, when I was 10 years old, my uncle was in a shooting. My uncle was in a shooting. So, I'm very blessed and fortunate to have my uncle still here with me. But the conversations are very important because at a certain point, you just get tired of seeing the same thing over and over again, to see these shootings on social media, on TV day in and day out.

They're hard to have to talk to your kids about because when you have kids, at some point, you may want to shelter them from things that are going on. When this George Floyd stuff happened, I sat with my kids and I talked to them about it. My son, you're a black man, you have to be careful when you go outside and what you do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Yeah. Bob, it's really important to take a step back and remember that Chris and his teammates are -- they are not just basketball players, they're not just professional athletes, they are people dealing with the same injustices as everyone else.

COSTAS: Yeah, and as I discussed with the commissioner, Adam Silver, earlier today, this is a unique set of circumstances, especially for the NBA, but also for the NFL, for baseball, even hockey got involved to a certain extent. These are unique circumstances. No fans in the stands, the confluence of COVID-19 with social unrest.

If these statements are going to be made as up front as they're being made now, now is the time. Commissioner Silver conceded that eventually, when things returned to -- quote -- "normal," we're not going to stop the social justice initiatives, the tangible things, making arenas available as polling places, exhorting people to vote.

LEMON: Hey, Bob --

COSTAS: It is worth noting that much --

LEMON: I want to play some of that interview.

COSTAS: Yeah.

LEMON: Let me play some of it and then get you to respond --

COSTAS: OK.

LEMON: -- because you're saying some of what he said. Let is listen to -- this is Commissioner Adam Silver.

COSTAS: OK.

LEMON: Let's play it.

COSTAS: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM SILVER, COMMISSIONER OF THE NBA: I've been at the league for roughly 30 years now. It stems back to Bill Russell and before his time and to other NBA greats, Spencer Haywood, Elgin Baylor, Kareem and others, who have been focused particularly on issues around racial justice.

So while -- I'm not naive, I understand that people see this as politics. To me, there's a long sort of true line of social justice that's been part of this league since its earliest days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Yeah. Listen, he talked about having to deal with the two issues, right, and saying that you won't see an NBA season until next year because we are is facing the pandemic and also the issue of racial reckoning in the country right now.

COSTAS: Yeah. And I don't think you're going to see these players or the NBA especially, but other leagues, pulling back from tangible initiatives or initiatives at least designed to achieve tangible results.

But I don't think you will see the outward demonstrations -- players may kneel because that will be an individual thing -- but I don't think you're going to see Black Lives Matter on the court or social justice messages on the jerseys going forward because this is, after all, a business, and what affects the business affects not just those who own the teams, it affects the players.

[23:35:03]

COSTAS: And so that's a difficult balance. And by saying that, I'm not saying that I disagree with these messages. I think a lot of people who are in basic sympathy might say, you know what, I don't want to be confronted with this every time I turn on a game.

Pre-game, post-game, Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley are talking about it. Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, all these players taking to different platforms, writing articles, being on with you, all good.

But during the game itself, I think Adam Silver feels the same way, what I'm trying to express to you, it could reach a point of diminishing returns. It's been effective even if there's been a price to pay with some fans being alienated. It's been effective in this unique moment in time. Going forward, they may have to calibrate what's the best way to achieve the desired result.

LEMON: So you think the league succeeded in at least doing it this season, and they may not have to do it next season, or they may have to, as you say, recalibrate?

COSTAS: Yeah. They won't forget the issues, but I think the approach will change over times. Again, I'll repeat myself, this seems like a unique moment in time and they were willing to pay whatever price they paid in terms of television ratings and fans claiming to be alienated because they thought the social justice issues were more important.

LEMON: Yeah. I've been watching, and I think they're playing some really good basketball. So, I've really been really enjoying it.

COSTAS: It's great.

LEMON: Yeah, except for that, you know.

COSTAS: Did you see Anthony Davis's shot to beat Denver the other night?

LEMON: Yes, and I also saw --

COSTAS: Some of these games have been incredible.

LEMON: Yeah. I think that they've been better athletes because they've all been in this bubble and they're really, you know, concentrating on the sport. But getting back to the NFL, I watched the Saints lose last night and that was not -- I was not happy about it and it wasn't pretty. So, there you go.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTAS: They were happy in Las Vegas, though.

LEMON: Thank you, Bob.

COSTAS: Especially if they got their bets down on the Raiders.

LEMON: I'll see you soon. We'll be right back.

COSTAS: Hey, one last --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The battle over the Supreme Court is just the latest bitter fight over the future of our country. All the partisan battles have people discouraged and fearing their rights, precarious right now.

But we can get some guidance from the legacy of the late congressman, Elijah Cummings. He left a book and it's today. It is titled "We Are Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of our Democracy."

Joining me now to discuss is Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the congressman's widow. It is so good to see you. How are you doing?

MAYA ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS, WIDOW OF ELIJAH CUMMINGS: I'm doing OK. Thanks, Don, for asking. Thank you for having me on.

LEMON: I love having you on and I love seeing you. It's great to see you smile. You know, I had to ask you, the president, who said that Baltimore was infested, I'm quoting him, and African countries were S- holes, tonight in Pennsylvania, he is going after one of his favorite targets and that is Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: How about Omar of Minnesota?

(BOOING)

TRUMP: We are going to win the state of Minnesota because of her, they say.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: She is telling us how to run our country. How did you do where you came from? How is your country doing? They're going to tell, she's going to tell us, she's told us how to run our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: This president, you know, he odorizes people. He tried to odorize your husband in Baltimore. Unable to grasp that this congresswoman is an American citizen and elected official. Why does he go there, do you think?

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: Well, as we all know by now or many of us should know, this president actually traffics in racism. It's a part of his tool box. Racism and sexism, certainly, you know, all of the isms, seems to be a part of his effort to divide the American people.

Elijah, of course, considered him very indecent. He was very concerned that not only was he using this hate rhetoric, he was using hate rhetoric that was dehumanizing people. And we all know from the course of history how dehumanizing language actually allows leaders that are autocratic, like Donald Trump, to actually undermine the well-being and the livelihood of people who are persecuted.

So we are in a very dangerous moment. Elijah knew this before he died almost a year ago. And he spent basically the last year of his life writing this book, in part, to warn the American people that Donald Trump absolutely should not get a second term in office.

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: That if he gets a second term in office, we can basically kiss our democracy goodbye. He knew back then that Trump was deadly for our health, certainly dangerous for our democracy, and now we know also bad for our wealth.

LEMON: I've heard you say that you believe that this president, the way this president spoke about your husband and about Baltimore and others, he was concerned about it, do you think he actually contributed to your husband's demise?

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: I think that he hastened it. So, you know, obviously, Elijah had been dealing with cancer for a very long time. But I do think that the stress of, you know, feeling like we were being persecuted, which we were, you know, when Donald Trump turns his ire on you, it's not just Donald Trump saying things.

[23:45:00]

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: He is directing a whole legion of followers and trolls who send all kinds of hate messages, make all kinds of threats --

LEMON: Don't I know.

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: -- and certainly cause all kinds of, you know, challenges and complications for your life. And that is something that he simply didn't need on top of what he was already dealing with.

LEMON: Yeah. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I said, don't I know. I mean, we all deal --

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: Yeah.

LEMON: -- with that when the president tweets about you, speaks about you, that whole army or legion of followers, as you say, go on the attack.

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: Absolutely.

LEMON: Your husband and Congressman John Lewis, both leaders that people looked to for wisdom and guidance, both gone. Where do we turn now?

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: Elijah wanted the American people to be the superheroes of this election season. He absolutely believed that it is up to the American people to do what's right, to understand that Donald Trump's indecency cannot be tolerated.

You don't reward someone who has failed with another term in office so that they can fail even worse. You don't reward someone who has shown a streak of evil in a way that they can come back and create even more chaos and evil.

LEMON: Right.

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: Donald Trump actually needs to have consequences, and the consequence is for him to lose this election so broadly and so badly, that he can't even fix his mouth to say that he's going to try to contest the election results.

LEMON: Well, we appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much. Again, the book is "We Are Better Than This." Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, I appreciate you joining us. You be well. Thank you so much.

ROCKEYMOORE CUMMINGS: Thank you for having me on. Take care.

LEMON: Absolutely. We'll be right back.

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[23:50:00]

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LEMON: A Georgia Republican who supports QAnon conspiracy theorists is on track to become a member of Congress. Here's CNN's Senior Investigative Correspondent, Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marjorie Taylor Greene.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This staunch, conservative Republican will be the first woman to represent Georgia's 14th congressional district. But there is another first Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn't want to talk about. GRIFFIN: Miss Greene, do you not speak to the press at all?

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR GEORGIA'S 14TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: You can arrange an interview. Talk to my staff.

GRIFFIN: So the staff has told me that you're not willing to talk to us. I'm just wondering at this event if you could --

TAYLOR GREENE: Well, you guys aren't very good at telling the truth, and so I don't think I'm in for an interview today.

GRIFFIN: I think I've never met you.

She will not answer our questions about her past involvement, perpetuating the dangerous conspiracy theory called QAnon.

Are you still a Q candidate? Are you still --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I said, any questions --

GRIFFIN: Though recently claiming she is not a QAnon candidate, Greene has left a trail of her own videos, tweets, and social media posts that establish her as a bigoted, anti-Islamic conspiracy theorist who recently also believed in the QAnon conspiracies which are labelled by the FBI as a potential source of domestic terrorism.

TAYLOR GREENE: All right, so, Q is a patriot, we know that for sure.

GRIFFIN: In 2017, Greene posted a half-hour video explaining her interpretation of secret signs from the anonymous insider called Q, whose followers believe is close to Donald Trump in fighting a deep state government run by Democrats, Republicans and Hollywood elites, all part of a satanic pedophile ring.

TAYLOR GREENE: I don't have any proof of this, but we're talking about who is Q, so I'm going to tell you what he says. According to him, many in our government are actively worshipping Satan. Q is anonymous but he seems to be completely for the good. He is -- seems to be totally on Trump's side and he seems to be very high up and connected.

Now, there's a once in a lifetime opportunity to take this global cable of Satan worshipping pedophiles out. And I think we have the president to do it. And so I'm very excited about that.

GRIFFIN: This is the woman about to enter Congress. Oren Segal with the Anti-Defamation League is one of many who are more than concerned.

OREN SEGAL, VP CENTER ON EXTREMISM, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Once conspiracies become the normal way of communicating, then what you have is an entry point for even more extreme ideas. So, our concern is, you know, if QAnon and it supporters are going to be able to build a movement and get support, what comes next?

GRIFFIN: And QAnon is not the only conspiracy theory Greene has believed in. She once supported a conspiracy theory about 9/11.

TAYLOR GREENE: The so-called plane that crashed into the Pentagon. It's odd. There's never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon.

GRIFFIN: She said she believes Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett are Muslim and the election of Ilhan Omar are warning.

TAYLOR GREEENE: There is an Islamic invasion into our government offices.

GRIFFIN: And she said this about Black and Hispanic men.

TAYLOR GREENE: Being in gangs and dealing drugs is what holds them down. The lack of education is what holds them down. That's not a white person thing.

GRIFFIN: But it is her previous support of QAnon and its potential threat of domestic terrorism that raises the most concern. In a recent Fox News digital interview, she said she's not a QAnon candidate, but she did not retract her earlier support for Q's theories.

TAYLOR GREENE: I think that's been the media's characterization of me.

[23:55:00]

TAYLOR GREENE: Never once during my campaign did I ever speak about QAnon or Q.

GRIFFIN: The only evidence she may no longer believe in Q is a quote from Fox News that said Greene started finding misinformation.

TAYLOR GREENE: But really what made me change my mind is, as a person that's worked hard all my life, I decided -- I chose a different path. And that's where I came to the place where I decided to run for Congress.

GRIFFIN: At a pro-gun rally this weekend, she stuck to Trump-like talking points, surrounded herself with armed men in military dress, and refused to clarify any of her positions, including on Q. So, I asked her husband.

Does your wife still believe in Q?

PERRY GREENE, HUSBAND OF MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Have you watched the Fox News interview?

GRIFFIN: Yeah, she says she is not campaigning on Q, but she doesn't say she doesn't believe in it.

P. GREENE: Ridiculous.

GRIFFIN: No, that's what she said.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Don, we have given Marjorie Taylor Greene and her campaign every opportunity to clarify exactly what she does or doesn't believe about this Q conspiracy. It's a question that she and her campaign simply refuse to answer. Don?

LEMON: Drew, thank you. Thank you for watching, everyone. Our coverage continues.

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