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Don Lemon Tonight

President Trump Refusing To Condemn White Supremacists; President Trump Claiming He Did Well In The Debate; Biden Tells Proud Boys To 'Cease And Desist'; NBA Players Kneel During National Anthem In First Game Of NBA Finals; Coronavirus Cases Are Rising In The U.S.; State Leaders Warn Voter Intimidation Is Illegal After Trump Urged Supporters Watch Polls Very Carefully. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired September 30, 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. Thirty-four days until Election Day and we're following multiple breaking news stories that could impact how you cast your votes. President Trump refusing again today to condemn white supremacists. Trump also using the debate to try to sow doubt about the integrity of the election.

Also tonight, 26 states reporting an uptick in COVID-19 cases. The Midwest now overtaking the south as the region with the highest number of new cases in this country.

Let's get right to it now. CNN's John Harwood is our White House correspondent and CNN political correspondent M.J. Lee, they both join us. Hello to both of you. John, the president claiming victory again tonight for his debate performance, but that's not how his team is describing it. What can you tell us?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, privately, Trump aides understand that he did poorly last night. Publicly, they understand it. Chris Christie was one of his debate advisers and was on television last night saying he was too hot. All the polls show that it was an unsuccessful night for the president.

Whatever he may think in his own head and whatever he may say in his rallies, and it was costly for him because he doesn't have much time in the election. He's substantially behind. His numbers have, if anything, gotten worse in recent days. Nationally and in the key battleground states.

You were talking to Jaime Harrison (ph) a few minutes ago. He had a poll out today that showed him essentially tied with Joe Biden in South Carolina, a state he won quite easily in 2016. So the president's in trouble. Last night made his trouble worse and he has diminishing opportunities to dig his way out.

LEMON: I want to read to you, this is what the debate moderator Chris Wallace said to the L.A. Times, John, about President Trump. He said, what was clear to me was he was given a direct opportunity several times by both me and the vice president to call out the proud boys and white supremacists and he refused to do so. This was a calculated decision?

HARWOOD: Well, I don't know if it was a calculated decision, but it's pretty obvious what the reason is. It's because he did not want to condemn them. He adopted precisely the same attitude toward this group both last night and in the way that he rationalized it today, I don't know them. The same way he handled David Duke in 2016.

This is a president who understands that he's losing. He has a shrinking number of allies. He doesn't have the self-confidence to rebuke his allies. He feels the need to hug closer to the allies that he has. And we saw it tonight. He went right back to race baiting at this Minnesota rally, talking about how Democrats want to turn Minnesota into a refugee camp, targeting Ilhan Omar and trying to get people to boo her and say lock her up.

This is a president who before he left felt that he needed to say something to nominally cover his tracks on white supremacy and say, well, yes, of course I do condemn them, which is something he went a quarter of the way to saying last night. Went a little bit further today, but that's not what's in his heart. And you had that conversation earlier with Anthony Scaramucci who said, no, he doesn't feel it. And that's pretty obvious.

LEMON: Well, M.J., hello. Standing by patiently. So I'm interested because you've been traveling with Biden today. How is he responding to the president's comments about the proud boys?

M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Don, not surprisingly, Joe Biden has really seized on the way that he addressed this issue on the debate stage. He said that this moment should have been a wake-up call for Americans. He said that it actually reinforced the reasons that he, himself, got into the 2020 race.

You will remember, of course, that when he did eventually decide to get in the race, pretty late, to run for president, again, he said that one of the big reasons was seeing what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia in the summer of 2017 and just feeling like watching those things unfold, he felt like things are too serious right now. The country is too divided.

And, you know, you've heard him say over and over again that this election is about a battle for the soul of the country, and he also said that he had his own message for the proud boys, a message that obviously we didn't hear from Donald Trump. He said cease and desist. This is not what this country is about.

You know, Don, I think that when we see Donald Trump behaving in this way and not disavowing white supremacists when it's sort of handed to him on a plate, you know, sometimes it's just as simple as a yes or no, right?

[23:05:10]

It does sort of, for at least for the Biden campaign, help them make the case that this is really the reason, the overarching reason that Joe Biden got into the race, it was to say that he's the person who could unite the country and to sort of heal the divides that are really painful for a lot of people right now.

LEMON: Yes, as I was watching last night -- because you know, you work for a news organization. People are always texting you, what do you think? Oh, my gosh. He's beating up on Biden. And I said he's coming off as a bully and people don't like that. People don't really like bullies. Well, he won in 2016. This is -- this is different. There's a different likability quotient with Joe Biden than there was with Hillary Clinton.

But M.J., as I understand, Biden is on, that's why you're in Pennsylvania now. He's on a tour in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Going after the working-class voters who supported Trump in 2016. Is Trump's base really up for grabs, M.J.?

LEE: Well, you know, we saw Joe Biden really traveling through places where Donald Trump performed very, very well back in 2016 against Hillary Clinton. But looking at just Pennsylvania as an example, yes, Donald Trump won, but, remember, he won it very narrowly.

And it has been a big warning sign for Donald Trump that polls have consistently shown Joe Biden leading in this state, and for the Biden campaign what the strategy is right now is to sort of eat into the margins, right? They know what kind of groups and demographic groups Joe -- Donald Trump performed very well with back in 2016.

And their strategy is, look, we already know that he is falling behind with suburban voters, so let's try to go for some of these white, rural, working-class voters who in 2016 overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in the state. So even if it is just going after a small margin of those supporters, if we are able to do that and we are performing overwhelmingly well with women over Donald Trump then that can make all the difference this time around.

LEMON: Thank you both. I appreciate it.

I got to bring in now John Choi. He is the district attorney for Ramsey County, Minnesota, who recently resigned from President Trump's law enforcement commission. Good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate this.

JOHN CHOI, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA, RESIGNED FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION: Thanks for having me on, Don.

LEMON: I want to get your reaction to this president refusing to condemn white supremacists. Is this a line with -- in line, I should say, with what you saw up close from this administration?

CHOI: Well, I mean, I was part of a working group, and as I was working as a part of that, what became very clear to me is that the work that we were doing around this kind of official commission and putting our time and effort into it that at the end of the day, what it was really all about was a way, I think, to really provide cover for ultimately the president's agenda and, you know, and his campaign for re-election.

It's -- what he's doing right now in America, he's stoking fear and racism into the debate, and that's something that we don't need right now in this country. And what I've felt like the work of this commission, in terms of the working groups, I had, you know, called out to the commission saying that I'm really concerned about some of these issues.

I'm concerned about the makeup of the commission. I'm feeling like we're not getting the information in our working group about other working groups and what they're working on, especially the one that said about respect for law enforcement.

And at the end of the day, what this is going to be, and I think there will be other reports that will come out. Thank God for the freedom of information act.

But at the end of the day, I think this -- this whole report when it becomes public and it becomes released, it will be on the eve of the election to provide political cover, I think, for ultimately what the campaign is doing and trying to rev up, to get people fearful about what's happening across America. And I think what's happening across America is that people are recognizing that things have to change.

LEMON: So you don't think Americans are buying it? You don't think they're buying into this fear?

CHOI: Well, I hope not. But you know what? We have history in our country where when politicians stoke fear and racism, it can work to that candidate's advantage.

LEMON: Yes.

CHOI: I think the Billy Horton ads, as we all remember, is a perfect example of all of that. And so I don't want my reputation, my work on this -- in the working groups to be associated with any of it, and that's one of the reasons why I left.

LEMON: Well, what is -- what is the impact on law and order, you know, that, quote, unquote, law and order in this country from right-wing vigilantes and armed groups like the proud boys and others?

[23:10:03]

CHOI: Right. So, I think in that context, we need to be denouncing all of that, but I think this is really -- in terms of the work of this commission and what this report is going to say, it's going to talk about these failed strategies that we've had for a long time around law enforcement that have led -- that has led to mass incarceration.

It's led to massive racial inequities and disparities in the criminal justice system and we need to have a conversation around how policing happens, and we need to listen to those communities that have been most negatively impacted by policing. We need the report that ultimately will unite this country, not divide it. Not stoking that fear and racism which is happening right now as a part of this presidential campaign.

LEMON: John Choi, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining us.

CHOI: Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you.

Coronavirus cases spiking in 26 states, but that's not stopping the president from holding in-person rallies. That as the proud boys are celebrating his refusal to condemn white supremacists during the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sure.

WALLACE: And to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, as we saw in Kenosha and as we've seen in Portland.

TRUMP: Sure, I'm willing to do that --

WALLACE: Are you prepared to specifically?

JOE BIDEN (D), 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Go ahead and do it.

TRUMP: I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing.

WALLACE: What are you saying --

TRUMP: I'm willing to do anything. I want to see peace.

WALLACE: Well, then do it, sir.

BIDEN: Say it. Do it. Say it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[23:15:00]

LEMON: President Trump claiming he doesn't know who the proud boys are after telling the far-right group last night at the debate to stand back and stand by. The proud boys taking advantage of what the president said and posting all sorts of alarming messages online.

Let's discuss now with CNN reporter Donie O'Sullivan. Donie, good to see you. Thanks for joining us. So on this show last night, we were already seeing the proud boys beginning to celebrate what the president said. Now their messages are spreading across social media and some of it is really just downright scary. DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Don. I

mean, they're really see this as an endorsement. They're seeing it as the president essentially calling on them to help him. And I want to show you some of the message that the group began posting pretty much immediately after the president mentioned them in the debate.

One shows the proud boys' logo with the president's words, stand back, stand by, emblazoned across it just like a slogan. And we saw other messages from leaders in the group and other members who are really just giddy and excited that the president was essentially calling on them to help him.

Now, we're seeing these messages circulate on smaller, lesser-known platforms. That's because platforms like Facebook actually banned the proud boys back in 2018. And, you know, Don, we talk obviously a lot about Facebook and they do a lot of stuff wrong.

But, you know, this is obviously an example of where the company tried to step up and tried to do the right thing. Identifying the group as a hate group, taking action against them, but then you have the president of the United States on the biggest stage in the world last night giving these guys a shout-out.

LEMON: Yes, Donie, it's not just the proud boys who are pushing out these hateful messages and extremist ideologies on the internet. There's QAnon. There's bots, Russian trolls. Are we beyond the point of companies being able to control this?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes, I think that's the really scary thing here. And you know, you mentioned QAnon. QAnon is a conspiracy theory -- it's even more than that now. It's a movement. And it started three years ago, but Facebook and Twitter only really started taking action against this, this summer.

You know, after basically has become mainstream in some corners of the Republican Party. And we're here in Norton, Minnesota, just after attending a Trump rally here tonight, and we spoke to some supporters, and actually one vendor outside the rally, a guy who sells merchandise -- Trump merchandise said since July, since over the summer, since the -- really the people have been in the strums of the pandemic, he's seen an uptick, people asking for QAnon merchandise. And here's what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN E., VENDOR AT TRUMP RALLIES: So things like a political election, now people are paying attention. Now people are hearing about QAnon all the social media. It got blasted on social media. People started to wake up. People started to see it. Then it became a movement. Now it's almost turned into some sort of cult-like figure, you know? And that's just what happens in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: And, you know, Don, I mean, this is the point here, you know, these companies are taking action now. A lot of that action is definitely not sufficient, but I think you're right. In many cases the horses bolted here.

They let, you know, these sort of movements fester and grow and, frankly, become mainstream. You know, we're seeing people now who are potentially going to be elected to Congress who believe in a lot of this junk. And so as the platforms try to make moves against this stuff, it may be a little too little too late.

LEMON: Donie, thank you for your reporting. Be safe. We'll see you soon.

Let's bring in now Jemele Hill, staff writer for the Atlantic. Hello, Jemele. Good to see you.

JEMELE HILL, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Good to see you, Don.

LEMON: So I thought about you last night, OK? And also with my interview with Anthony Scaramucci earlier on in the show where he said -- he said because Donald Trump is a white supremacist. So you know why I thought about you, because you tweeted back in 2017 that President Trump was a white supremacist.

You got a lot of backlash for it. It affected your career. The president even demanded your then employer, ESPN, apologize. When you see what has happened in the last 24 hours, what do you -- what is going through your head?

[23:20:14]

HILL: Look, I know that a lot of people think that this would be a time where I would say I told you so, I told you so and be using this as a moment to tell everybody that I was right. I honestly am, frankly, brokenhearted. Because if there was anything that I wish I was ever wrong about, Don, it was this. Because I don't want our president to be a white supremacist. I don't want him to be a racist, but yet here we are.

And every day since I said that, and really the days before that. Because I feel like I was late to the party. That all he's done is proven me right every single day, just about. And it's a shame. It's disgraceful. It's disgusting that the president can even as, you know, we black people like to say, Don, he can't even fix his lips to say white supremacy is bad. That should tell you how low of a point that we are in America.

LEMON: Jemele, you say that he -- the president is using hypotheticals and boogiemen to scare white people into voting. If anyone should be scared, I mean, it's black people, don't you think?

HILL: Oh, absolutely. That he has basically put on a bullhorn, put on a rallying cry so that groups like the proud boys and other white supremacist groups, that they feel emboldened by him. He can't deny -- denounce these white militias or these white domestic terrorists that continue to make themselves very seen and present at some of these peaceful protests that are happening across the country.

I don't think the average person really understands what's happening at these protests. That they are being infiltrated by these groups that are trying to make it seem as if there's an extreme level of violence that's being brought on by people who just want to bring attention to some of the racial issues in this country. So if you're black, if you're a marginalized group, you're very scared that these people have now become mainstream.

The moment that the president legitimatizes them, they're becoming mainstream, and we're seeing how this is impacting not just what the president, you know, him giving them glory and legitimatizing them, but the fact that you have other people within the Republican Party among conservatives where this is not just about the president. This is about groups like this and how their rhetoric has been carried out throughout this party.

LEMON: I know exactly -- well, I don't know exactly how you feel, but I know at least the response because it's -- it's, you know, to say the president of the United States is racist, when I said that, and there were people who said, where you been, Don?

It was tough to say those words, and then to say -- to talk about white supremacy or white supremacists or right-wing, you know, these white right-wing groups being the biggest terror threat in the country. And they are led by who? White men.

And getting hell for that by people saying that I am a racist when I am just saying -- quoting what the FBI is saying. And it doesn't give you any pleasure to be right because you don't want the country to be that way. But I have to ask you about this. Because, you know, this is right in your lane here.

Players on both the Lakers and the Heat kneeling in game one of the NBA finals tonight. Wearing vote t-shirts. Is there any way to know how much impact their message is having in terms of getting more people out to the polls? And did you ever think you'd see this?

HILL: Well, I'd like to think it's having a significant impact because you're talking about it, Don and, you know, you have a very popular show, and you're somebody who when you talk, people take notes. So the fact it's reached CNN is already making what their message a success.

That means the people who maybe didn't see game one, they're listening to our conversation right now, and so they understand that this message is being magnified everywhere.

I think the NBA players deserve a lot of credit because there was a lot of concern that when this bubble first started and they decided to play that their message would be lost, that they would stay -- that eventually the message would fade because the games would take over and the results would matter more to a lot of people. They have stayed consistently on message.

And every media session they are bringing up voting, they are bringing up racial issues, social injustice, and so I think it's been very inspiring for people to watch, to see them care about this issue to the point where they don't care if it costs them some viewers or it costs them some fans, they're going to stay on message because this means that much to them.

LEMON: And getting -- and getting the arena owners to use the arenas for polling sites for voting. I mean, that's major. Athletes are also weighing in on what happened in the debate. I mean, Steph Curry tweeting, stand back and stand by. No further questions, your honor. Lebron James urging people to vote. Do you think they'll -- they're going to campaign once this season is over?

[23:25:16]

HILL: Well, we had LeBron James on our show, the show that I have on vice network with Carrie Champion that was on tonight, in fact at 10:00 p.m. And is on every Wednesday. But they -- we had Lebron James on, and I asked him that question, if he planned to lend his support to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. He said he would do whatever they asked him to do.

So he's ready. That's kind of a sentiment that I've gotten from other players, is that they're ready to be -- to be called on. And some of the players that have been attacked by Trump, like Lebron James or Steph Curry or even the Golden State Warriors and Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, a lot of people in the NBA I think would be more than willing to assist in the campaign in whatever way that they could.

LEMON: Jemele, I see that Emmy behind you. I see that.

HILL: Look, Don, I got to stunt where I can, Don.

LEMON: Thank you, Jemele.

HILL: I got to let people know, all right? You'll see me in these Twitter feeds, but I got this Emmy behind me, all right?

LEMON: And congratulations. You worked really hard for it. You deserve it. Thank you, Jemele. See you soon.

HILL: Always a pleasure.

LEMON: Yes.

At least 26 states are reporting a spike in coronavirus cases, including one where the president's planning on holding a massive rally. We've got the latest on the pandemic.

Plus, state leaders condemning this from the president and vowing to safeguard their elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The U.S. is once again losing ground in its fight against the coronavirus. At least 26 states are now seeing increases in new cases, including many Midwestern states, and more than 206,000 Americans are dead in the virus -- in the wake of this virus.

CNN's Erica Hill has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. TONY EVERS (D-WI): We have got to put the brakes on this pandemic.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wisconsin just reported its highest daily number of coronavirus- related hospitalizations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brown County, we're in deep trouble.

HILL (voice-over): The White House Task Force recommending the state increase social distancing to the maximal degree possible and boost testing at universities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's safe to assume that the virus is everywhere, so everyone needs to be -- to change their behavior.

HILL (voice-over): It's one of 26 states reporting an increase in new cases over the past week, nearly the entire northern half of the country.

ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Those trends indicate increased activity, increased transmission of the disease, and places where we really need to test and trace and lock down and make sure that we get it in check.

HILL (voice-over): New York City focussing on several neighborhoods where cases are surging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The numbers can change rapidly in the right direction. So, we're going to keep working daily, hourly to make that change.

HILL (voice-over): Hundreds of police officers and city employees dispatched to those areas, offering free masks and reminders about how to stop the spread. Meantime, restaurants can now open for indoor dining at 25 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need more to survive. But this is a step in the right direction.

HILL (voice-over): New numbers from the CDC show infections in 18- to 22-year-olds increased 55 percent in August and early September as many returned to campus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Colleges have been, frankly, a real challenge point for transmission.

HILL (voice-over): An outbreak among Notre Dame's football team spread like wildfire after a pregame team meal, according to head coach Brian Kelly. At least 39 players are now in isolation or quarantined.

Ohio's largest public school district plans to start in-person learning October 19th. Miami-Dade staggered re-entry begins October 5th.

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We should always try to get the children back to school. The risk of going back is really dependent on where you are.

HILL (voice-over): Researchers say phase one data from Moderna's vaccine trial shows an immune response in older adults. As seven former FDA commissioners warned, the Trump administration is undermining the agency's credibility and public confidence. Political intrusion, they write, only prolongs the pandemic and erodes our public health institutions.

Erica Hill, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. Erica, thank you very much. I want to bring in now Andy Slavitt. He is a former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Andy, it is good to see you again. Thank you so much.

So, let's look at this map. So, as we look at this map and the increases in these cases, is the long feared second wave here?

ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: Unfortunately, Don, I think this is still what I would consider to be the first wave.

LEMON: Wow.

SLAVITT: What -- because we have only about 10 percent of the country that's been infected so far. Remember it started in the northeast. It went to the south. The virus goes where it hasn't been before. There's no mystery to it. And if we think that we've beaten it because it hasn't been there yet and we let our guard down, this is what happens.

I know it requires a lot of patience. I know we're tired of this. I know we're tired of hearing this. But what you are seeing in these communities is exactly how viruses behave if we let our guard down.

LEMON: We saw in a story that Erica Hill just did the alarming number of cases on college campuses. How many of these new states' surges are beginning at universities and in university towns?

SLAVITT: Well, according to something put out by the CDC, when young people get infected, it usually takes one to two weeks before people over 60 get infected. So you remember when we had this infection rising in Florida, the governor said it's only young people, they're not getting hospitalized.

[23:35:02]

SLAVITT: Two weeks later, it was older people. Two weeks later, people were being hospitalized. He said, see, nobody's dying. Two weeks later, Florida was leading in deaths. It's happened over and over and over again.

So, what will happen now is older people will get infected. What has happened now is hospitals will start to fill up in the north as they did in the south. People are indoors more up in the north during the colder season like they were during the south in the warmer season.

That will continue until we understand that this habit we have to break or this will continue to happen to us. And we have no leadership. We have no leadership telling us what's about to happen. We have leadership only telling us that it could have been worse if it wasn't for them.

LEMON: Yeah. Well, let's talk about the White House, right? Because the Coronavirus Task Force labelled Wisconsin a red zone this week. They are recommending increased social distancing to the maximal degree possible. And despite this, the president plans to hold two rallies in the state this weekend. How concerned are you about these events?

SLAVITT: I'm concerned about the signal that the president continues to send that this stuff doesn't matter. And, look, the number one opportunity we have to defeat this virus, and I hate to say this, but I'm gonna say it, is to get the man out of office, because what he is doing will just continue to perpetuate this virus.

And I know he's telling his side to stand by and stand back, but the rest of us ought not to be standing by, we ought to be stepping forward, because this has become the -- essentially the decision we're making now is who is going to manage our way out of this crisis.

LEMON: During last night's debate, the president again waffled on the benefits of wearing a mask, while mocking Joe Biden for wearing a mask in public. But his own task force is urging people to wear masks, even in states that don't require them. Why is this still happening? What is going on?

SLAVITT: You know, it's one of the strangest things because if he were to wear a mask and really not just say it's OK or I don't mind masks, I don't have a problem with masks, but if he were really to wear a mask and encourage his supporters to wear a mask, we would dramatically reduce the death toll.

He knows this. He's been told this. Deborah Birx has told him this. What he has done is he has gone into opinion trap (ph) and brought in Scott Atlas, who tells him that he can have it any way he wants to. I think he prefers to think he knows better.

LEMON: Andy Slavitt, always appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

SLAVITT: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: The president seems to be campaigning, not only against Joe Biden, but against the election himself. His strategy to attack the power of your vote, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now only 34 days until the election, and today a group of 11 Democratic governors banding together, vowing to preserve the integrity of the vote and denouncing attempts to intimidate or harass voters. It is a direct response to President Trump's repeated attacks on the election process.

CNN's Pamela Brown has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump seemingly outlining at the debate a three-pronged strategy to win re-election. Disinformation.

TRUMP: It's a disaster.

BROWN (voice-over): Intimidation.

TRUMP: Watch very carefully.

BROWN (voice-over): And relying on realigned courts.

TRUMP: I think I'm counting on them to look at the ballots, definitely.

BROWN (voice-over): Trump calling on supporters to watch people at the polls not always in an official capacity, which Democrats fear could intimidate voters, something the Nevada attorney general said will not be allowed in his state, warning in a tweet, "You will be prosecuted".

Trump also is magnifying minor mail-in ballot issues, wrongly calling them --

TRUMP: Fraud like you've never seen.

BROWN (voice-over): Pointing to his allies being denied entering at an early voting site in Pennsylvania, which state rules don't allow, and railing against mail-in voting with more misinformation.

TRUMP: Take a look at West Virginia, mailmen selling the ballots. They're being sold. They're being dumped in rivers.

BROWN (voice-over): A false claim prompting West Virginia's Republican secretary of state to clarify in a statement, "a postal carrier altered absentee ballot applications, not ballots." TRUMP: This is a horrible thing for our country.

BIDEN: There is no --

TRUMP: This is not --

BIDEN: There is no evidence of that.

TRUMP: This is not going to end well.

(APPLAUSE)

HILL (voice-over): Trump also made clear his hope that pushing through his Supreme Court justice nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, will tip the scales at the high court in his favor.

TRUMP: I hope we don't need them in terms of the election itself. But for the ballots, I think so.

HILL (on camera): And Amy Coney Barrett was back on Capitol Hill, meeting with GOP senators, and she has avoided saying that she would recuse herself over election matters.

Meantime, we have learned that more than 1.2 million Americans have already cast their ballots in this year's election, showing the high interest in early voting. Don?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Pamela, thank you very much. You just heard Pamela's report. Nevada's attorney general is sending a warning about voter intimidation in his state. He reacts to the president's call for supporters to watch the polls right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:45:00]

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LEMON: President Trump using the platform of the first presidential debate to try to cast doubt on the integrity of the election, but critics sees it as an attempt at voter intimidation, including repeating his false claim that mail-in voting is ripe for fraud.

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TRUMP: I'm urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully, because that's what has to happen. I am urging them to do it. I hope it's going to be a fair election. If it's a fair election, I am 100 percent on board. But if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can't go along with that.

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[23:50:05]

LEMON: Aaron Ford is Nevada's attorney general, who is vowing to prosecute anyone who attempts to intimidate voters in his state. He joins me now. Good to see you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you joining us this evening.

AARON FORD, ATTORNEY GENERAL, NEVADA: Thanks, Don, for having me. Good evening.

LEMON: So, the president's words clearly hit a nerve with you. You responded about an hour after the debate and you tweeted this. You say, "But he wasn't talking about poll watching. He was talking about voter intimidation. FYI -- voter intimidation is illegal in Nevada. Believe me when I say it: You do it, and you will be prosecuted."

So, Mr. Attorney General, what do you think the president is actually saying? Are you concerned that there will be trouble at the -- at the polls?

FORD: Well, again, Don, thanks for having me on. The message matters. And to be sure, you have opportunities for people to be legitimate poll watchers or poll observers, as we call them in our state here.

But not only does the message matter, so does the messenger and the context of the message. And the messenger, in this case, Donald Trump, is prone to convince folks to do things that are illegal. And voter intimidation is illegal here, just like voting twice is illegal, even if you do it at the behest of the president.

And so the context of this, when you look at it, him talking about not accepting the results of an election peacefully, him not telling his folks to be calm as the results are being tallied, I saw right through this, it's a dog whistle.

I am always going to call out dog whistles when I see them. If people are intimidated and folks at the polls in this state, they will be prosecuted.

LEMON: So how are you going to protect -- how are you going to do it? How are you going to protect the voters from that kind of intimidation or even worse?

FORD: Well, first off, let me back up and remind people that you do have the ability to be a lawful poll worker, poll watcher. So if that's what you want to do, go through the process. But if you intend to come to the polls and intimidate folks, we will be there to address these issues.

One of the things that I would have folks do is to ensure that they talk to the legitimate poll workers who are there and let them know that they are experiencing intimidation. There will be some live communications going back and forth with what we call our Election Integrity Task Force.

That is a task force that the secretary of state, then Ross Miller, our Democratic secretary of state, established that our current secretary of state, Republican Barbara Cegavske, has continued. And we will be engaging in real-time discussions about ways to resolve these types of issues.

LEMON: So, the president has been attacking mail-in voting, calling it a fraud. We know that's not true. But I want you to take us through how it works in Nevada and how you're going to keep it safe.

FORD: Well, one of the good things about this interview and the timing of it is the fact that our secretary of state has engaged a company called Ballot Tracks, and that's an organization or company with which the secretary of state has partnered for the general election to allow voters to receive text messages, e-mails, telephone calls, alerts about the status of their ballots.

The system is going to track the ballot from when it's first mailed to the voter by the county, when it's received by the county through the mail, and when it's counted at the local election offices. And so, you know, voter can register for the system really simply. I said, yes, that they do that.

But in addition to that, we have some of the exact same safeguards that have always existed in our laws related to signature verification and things of that sort. So, you know, our system is robust, and I am entirely confident in the integrity of our system.

LEMON: Nevada lawmakers approved a plan to send absentee ballots to all active voters this year because of the coronavirus. Trump campaign sued but that was dismissed by a federal judge. Do you anticipate more pressure from Trump, because in the latest Fox poll, all right, you got to look at this, Biden is at 52 percent, Trump is at 41 percent. So, what do you think?

FORD: Yeah, we're prepared for anything. We're not scared of Mr. Trump. He's come to our state before and tried to threaten us and tried to intimidate us. He filed his lawsuit, days later. My office filed a motion to dismiss his lawsuit. He didn't respond. He filed a new complaint. We moved to dismiss that.

At the end of the day, he had no leg to stand on. We knew it then. We will continue to vigorously enforce the ability for folks to exercise the constitutional right to vote in this state and our legislature (INAUDIBLE) people to be able to do so safely, so they have given them this option to do it via mail, as well.

LEMON: You alluded to it a little bit earlier, but I want you to dig in a little bit more because you said voting twice, even if the president tells you to, because you know he is telling his supporters if they vote by mail and show up in person and try to vote, he says to make sure that their vote was counted. What is your message to anyone who tries that?

FORD: The same message I told them when he first said it. You do it and I'm going to prosecute you. You know, this is nothing new to us, relative to what this president attempts to do out there.

[23:55:02]

FORD: He's running scared, he knows he's losing, and he is trying to undermine the legitimacy of this election. In our state, this attorney general will not allow that to happen.

LEMON: Mr. Attorney General, thank you for your time. Best of luck.

FORD: Thank you so much.

LEMON: Thank you. And thank you for watching, everyone. Whew, finally, get some sleep now. Our coverage continues.

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