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Don Lemon Tonight

More Than 80,000 COVID-19 Cases Recorded Today; The Path to 270 for Biden and Trump; Changing Demographics Show the Trump Coalition is Declining; GOP Voter Registration in Key States Surpassing Democrats; President Trump Trashes Harris Mispronouncing her First Name; Will Biden's Comment About Oil Industry Hurt Him. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired October 23, 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: So, it's 11 days until Election Day, and we have some breaking news. The U.S. reporting more than 80,000 new COVID-19 cases today. The single highest day since the outbreak of the pandemic. The surge in pandemic playing a key role on the road to 270. President Trump holding two packed rallies today in Florida, where cases are on the rise. No social distancing. Few people wearing masks. Falsely telling Americans that the virus is going away.

Joe Biden, saying Trump has given up on fighting COVID and calling on Governors to mandate the wearing of masks as one way to get the virus under control. So, I want to get right to the candidates' paths to 270 electoral votes. 270 electoral votes, John King is at the magic wall to lay it all out for us. John, what do you have?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, here we go into the final sprint the debates are behind us. The big question, did that final debate change this map in any way, a map that right now leans overwhelmingly in Joe Biden's favor. The Trump's campaign says it did.

Well, you know, we'll see polling a few days ago with the Trump campaign thinks what the former vice president said about fracking, about phasing out the oil industry. The president thinks that helps him in Pennsylvania. He thinks it helps him in Ohio. He thinks it helps him secure Texas. You heard him, he said so himself during the debate.

He is obsessed with this map and he thinks he got some help there. What if that were the case? We will see in the next few days. But what if that were the case? Ohio came back into the fold, the president wins Pennsylvania. He keeps Texas that certainly would get him back in to play. We get Joe Biden down to 270, because Pennsylvania's twenty are so important.

But it wouldn't be not enough, even that wouldn't be enough for the president. So, let's switch maps to talk about the things we need to look for in the final days. Number one, the campaigns are polling all the time, they have data operations. They are in contact. They are watching social media. They have ways to track voters. So, one thing to watch is this.

Not just where they spend their ad money, but what they say in those ads. Do they switch the rotations to adopt to something that happen in the last debate? The former vice president is spending more than President Trump. I will show in a minute why. But watch where these are all states the president won last time. He is looking to pick up Minnesota, New Hampshire. He couldn't carry those.

President Trump knows that (INAUDIBLE) is favorable this time, he's fishing to try to find some new places. Watch if this changes, more importantly watch what both of them are saying in the ads, do they switch them, because of some tactical change after the debate. The money, cash on hand is a giant Biden advantage heading in to the stretch without a doubt.

His campaign committee, way more money than the president has. When you bring in super PACs and other committees working with him, Democratic committees. Again, giant advantage for the Democrats in the final days. They can try to stretch the map, even in places Biden never travels with television ads, with other investments in the campaign.

And on a travel question, Don, let's watch where they go, this is where they are scheduled to go. Over the weekend, Mr. Biden is in Delaware, then two stops in Pennsylvania. Watch how he deals with the fracking issue there. Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, these the map that the Democrats are trying to build including trying to flip Georgia. African American turnout will be key there.

This is most important because these, guys, the Republicans are on defense. Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, states that were part of the Trump map four years ago. But then New Hampshire is on the president's schedule. See if that sticks. See if that's a small stake that he's trying to find new opportunities because the map is not as good to him this time. Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina -- Minnesota.

So, this is what is on the books, number one. Watch where they go. Watch if they change it and watch what they add. The president is trying to bring the map back to this. Joe Biden believes he comes out of the debate still in command. Don?

LEMON: Mr. John King, thank you so much, I appreciate that sir. Another problem for the Trump campaign, the changing demographics in the U.S. Census data excuse me -- shows that the Trump coalition of white voters without a college degrees, well, it's declining while the Biden coalition of college educated whites and minority voters are on the rise. We are seeing a shift in states that were critical to Trump's 2016 victory.

So, I want you to check out this chart. This is from The New York Times. In Pennsylvania, a state Trump won by less than 45,000 votes in 2016. The Trump coalition is down by 431,000. While the Biden coalition is up by 449,000. And in Wisconsin, where Trump won by less than 23,000 votes. His key voting block is down by 48,000 and Biden is up by 140,000. We are also seeing this this time, the same trend I should say, in

Michigan, a state Trump won by just over 10,000 votes four years ago. So, let's break down all these numbers all right, with Mark McKinnon, the former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain and also the executive producer of the Circus.

[23:05:03]

CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein is here as well. Gentlemen, good evening. We could have dressed better for Mark, Ron, but you know --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, hey, I feel like Rand Stoddard next to John Wayne in liberty valence.

LEMON: He wears it well. He is looking good. Thank you both. I appreciate you joining. Ron, I'm going to start with you. So just to give you an edge on his outfit. With just 11 days to go, what can we see about the impact of these changes in the electorate?

BROWNSTEIN: Look, the core strategy of President Trump from the beginning, when he was really sentencing the Republican Party to, is trying to squeeze bigger margins at a shrinking group that has always been his approach. To double down on whites without a college degree, Evangelical whites and rural whites. Even though all three of them are shrinking as a share of the electorate.

Non-college whites, which has been his best group, decline two to three points as a share of eligible voter s every four years, going back as far as we can go and stretching forward as far as we can go. As you pointed out, what significant about this is that it's not any not surprising that it's happening in Texas, Arizona, and North Carolina. Where you have explosive growth in the young, non-white population.

But it's happening even in Ohio, and Minnesota, and Michigan, and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. And so, it's not to say there isn't a path for the president, because there are still in those Rust Belt states, Don, despite the decline, non-college whites will still pass about half of the votes this year.

LEMON: Right.

BROWNSTEIN: And many of the eligible non-voters, people who did not showed up, a majority in those states, are still non-college whites. But the problem he has got, as we talked about, is that because he has alienated everybody else to such an extent that he is going to lose college educated white where the biggest margin error ever.

And despite maybe some small gains among men, he's going to lose people of color by enormous margins. He has to generate historic advantages among non-college whites every time. And Joe Biden is not Hillary Clinton. And he's picking up a few points among those voters. Especially in the Rust Belt. And it just makes it all so hard to make them add that up. LEMON: OK. So, Mark, having said that on the other hand, right, we're

also learning that new Republican voter registration have outnumbered new Democratic ones in key states like Pennsylvania, like North Carolina, even in Florida. Is that good news for the GOP? Because some people are saying that this is a red flag for the Biden campaign.

MARK MCKINNON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it certainly a point of concern. Republicans have had very successful voter registration. In key places like Florida. Where they have out registered Democrats by 100,000 votes. And again, a close race and we know Florida is always close. So, if that can make a difference around the margins in a way that surrounds the margin at Florida is likely going to be. It's a dead heat right now. So, that can make a difference.

I think that in states where, you know, you see a four or five-point advantage that may not be as big a deal. But it certainly -- the Republicans have shown that they are willing to grab knock on doors during COVID. And some of the Democratic registration happened more during the primary. But Republicans have hustled. And now registered Democrats in some key states. So, yes, that is a warning sign and problematic here. That frankly the polling doesn't capture.

LEMON: OK, so, it doesn't. Right? Say that again. Please.

BROWNSTEIN: That's right.

MCKINNON: Well, the polling looks at historical models. And so, looking at models from what the registration was in the last election, not what the registration numbers off a bit for the future election.

LEMON: Did you want to say something, Ron?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, to say, I mean look. I mean, you know, Trump won last time because he turned out more non-college and nonurban whites than people expected, the polls are expected. And he has a chance to win only because he's doing that again. And you know, you can see everything they do. I mean, why does he go out and hold rallies with no masks and social distancing? And you know, disdain for Dr. Fauci and talks the way he does about race. He is -- everything about him is about drilling drown. He's speaking to a minority of the country. But he's trying to reach more, convince more of those voters to come into the electorate.

LEMON: Fear.

BROWNSTEIN: And that is his one pathway. The challenge he has got, Don is that it's harder to kind of have a turnout surge in your favor when everybody else is voting in elevated rates as well. Look, Harris County in Houston past a million votes today. They had at 1.3 million in 2016. And it's indicative of what you are seeing in this kind of metro recoil from Trump's definition of the Republican Party. He lost. We talked about this before, he lost 87 of the hundred largest counties in America in 2016 by a combined 50 million votes. I'm betting he loses over 90 of them this time, by at least 18 million.

LEMON: And so, for states like Texas, you said Harris County, is it hard for the suburbs and for the rural areas to make up those urban, those city numbers, right?

BROWNSTEIN: Especially because the suburbs are now voting more like the urban areas. I mean, if you think about it, Beto O'Rourke won the four metros in Texas in 2018. The first Democrat since Johnson top to take it in all four of the metros.

[23:10:07]

And Biden is going to win it as well. I mean, Richard Murray at the University of Houston projects that he can win the metros in Texas by including the suburbs by a million votes. And so the question is and when you add that to what's happening in the valley, can Trump overcome it with the rural, sure. Maybe he can. Because there are a lot of rural voters in Texas, he's going to win them 3-1.

But you can see the writing on the wall, and this is what Trump has sentenced the Party to. He is exiling the Republican Party, from the fast-growing metros, that are adding populations that are driving economic growth. After this election, Republicans in the House may fewer, may have only have one fifth of all the seats with more college graduates than average.

I mean, Trump is again making the party more and more dependent on places that are shrinking in population and constituencies that are shrinking. Can he make it work again? Maybe. But is a long-term proposition, I don't think any business would say write off the markets that are growing and double down on the ones that are shrinking.

LEMON: Very interesting. Mark, so listen. Let's talk about the enormous number of early votes already banked, 52 million so far. Do any of the models in polling or otherwise help us make sense of this, or is this totally unprecedented?

MCKINNON: Well, I talked to Dave Wasserman who will be on our show Sunday night, he's the guy who does all the House races for the (INAUDIBLE), he is just a data doctor genius. He's a guy who predicted in 2016, in September that Trump could lose the popular vote and win the electoral vote.

And I asked him about the Hillary vote. He said -- first of all he said, don't over interpret it, because Democrats are voting early because they have COVID concerns and they have male concerns, they have all kind of concerns and so they are voting early. So, Democrats will vote early much more so than Republican.

But he put his finger on a very interesting thing that I hadn't heard before which is this. He said, Republicans will predominantly be voting on Election Day and that may be a problem because there will be long lines for Republicans which they're not used to doing, they're not used to waiting in lines. And if COVID is a lot worse by Election Day, it could be the Republicans stay away from voting on Election Day because of COVID.

LEMON: Boy, a lot of unknowns there. Unprecedented times. Gentlemen, I can't wait to watch the show this week, ShowTime on circus -- the circus on ShowTime.

MCKINNON: There's a guy -- there's great voiceover for us.

LEMON: Yes, it's me kick it thank you. Good to see both of you. Be safe, have a great weekend.

BROWNSTEIN: Bye, guys.

LEMON: The president doubling down today on his lies about the coronavirus. Will voters by it?

Plus, our breaking news tonight. This is the highest single day of new cases of the virus since the pandemic began.

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[23:15:00]

LEMON: Here's our breaking news. The U.S. reporting more than 80,000 new COVID-19 cases today. The single highest day since the outbreak of the pandemic and with only 11 days until Election Day. The worsening crisis is the key issue on voters' minds.

President Trump holding two packed rallies today in Florida which recorded more than 5,500 cases yesterday, its highest daily increase in more than two months. There was no social distancing, very few people wore masks and the president repeating his false claim that the virus is going away, even though the fact is, it is getting worse. The science and the numbers show was us that in this moment right now.

Let's discuss with two of our CNN political commentators, Mr. Mike Shields, and Mr. Bakari Sellers. Gentlemen, good evening, good to see both of you. Bakari, I have to ask you about what President Trump said earlier today about Vice President Biden's running mate Senator Kamala Harris. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Biden's running mate, the most liberal member of the United States Senator, and by the way Kamala will not be the first female president. She will not be your first female president. We're not supposed the socialist. Look, we're not going to be a socialist nation. We are not going to have the socialist president, especially a female socialist president. We are not going to have it. We're not going to put up with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Especially a female and mispronouncing her name. What's up with that, Bakari?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, her name is Kama-la. It's very easy to pronounce. It's like comma and then la.

LEMON: I did that 101. I remember I did that on the air. SELLERS: I wish, you know, I wish grown men like Senator Perdue and

Donald Trump would simply learn how to pronounce a black person's name right. Funny story, my mom, she is probably watching right now -- Bakari is a funny name to pronounce too. I mean in elementary school she would tell teachers if you can't say Bakari just call him Mr. Sellers. So, I had teacher calling me Mr. Sellers in first and second grade.

(LAUGHTER)

But you know, --

LEMON: Ms. Harris is pretty easy pronounce but go on.

SELLERS: Actually, it is right. But when you see the disrespect and the disdain, I think that the president has these age-old tropes, where he goes out there and he tries to rile up and hit the base and hit the red meat by mispronouncing her name. That is not something that's done by accident. That is something that is done on purpose.

But you know, more importantly, the socialist tags just simply are not sticking anymore. You know, these old, he is bringing out the hits from 2016 and they are just not working any more. And the president doesn't have anything new. What we saw in the debate and what we are seeing on the campaign trail is that this president speaks to 35 percent of the country and he has an inability to expand his base. And because he cannot expand his base, that is why he is down 10 points in a lot of the major polls.

LEMON: Mike, let me bring you in. Because you know, he needs women voters, right. I mean, you know that. Everyone wants as many voters as they can get. What was that?

MIKE SHIELDS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look these rallies are base turn-out rallies. President Obama did a base turnout rally for Joe Biden that was really harsh partisan and really went after the president. Attack him pretty harshly. And that's what you do when you are talking to the base.

[23:20:08]

When you are 10 days out from the election, the idea is to motivate base voters and make sure they show up and vote. And one of the things I'll tell you about the Trump rallies, and you can look this up, they capture data from all the people that shows up in these rallies and they are getting up to 20 percent of the people had never voter before.

And a huge number of them are Democrats that are coming to the rallies. So, they are actually base rallies, but they are motivating people that had not taken part before they show up to these rallies. And so that's the point of the rally. That's what you do in a base rally. You charge up the base. And the president gets up there and sees himself as an entertainer. He is sort of riffing and he is trying get the base motivated just like President Obama did.

LEMON: You rally the base by saying misogynistic things? About not a female?

SHIELDS: Well, look. He comes up with nicknames for all of his opponents. We have talked about this. That is kind of his way of doing things, sleepy Joe, and you know, low energy Jeb. And you know --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: But he pronounces their names right. He pronounces Joe right. He pronounces Jeb correctly. It's not so hard, it's comma, like a period, an exclamation point, comma, just out a la, on it. Comma-la. It's so easy. It's really very, very easy.

SHIELDS: Yes, look. Don, I would posit that mispronouncing Kamala Harris' name is designed to make Democrats get mad at him for mispronouncing it and to the delight of the base, and that's the sort of thing that the politics are in right now. As you say things that make your base angry, then you guys come out and talk about it and they say, look, he is fighting the guys that I want to fight, and to him, that's the way to motivate the base.

LEMON: Does that make it Democrats angry, Bakari?

SELLERS: Well, yes. I mean, part of the reason it does, is because we still have PTSD from 2016 and I have not seen a more anxious group of individuals in the entire world ever at any point in history than Democrats in this election. I think that's why we are voting (INAUDIBLE) --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: He never called Hillary Clinton, Hi-lary or hill-ary.

SELLERS: First of all, I mean, Donald Trump -- but Donald Trump has this history. This isn't anything new. I mean, I just on my podcast talked to Abby Philip. You know whether it's Abby Philip or whether or not it's Yamiche, you know, I'm surprised he didn't blow a gasket last night with Kristen Welker.

But he really has a difficult time dealing with black women who have some level of authority. And I think that, you know, having Kamala Harris on the ticket is just driving him crazy, day in, day out. Now, yes, he does attack men, he attacks white folk. But he really, really, really just goes after black women. He goes after their intellect.

As you see, he can't -- he apparently can't pronounce Kamala's name. He called Abby Philip basically stupid. April Ryan, Yamiche, I mean, it goes on and on and on. And you see this, this is, this is just something and I you know, I, my heart goes out for Mike and the rest of the Republican Party.

Because one of the things we are realizing is that the racism and xenophobia and bigotry of Donald Trump is not a bug, it's a feature. And they won't be able to get rid of this after November 3rd. If Donald Trump loses this election, this is still Donald Trump's Party for the next decade plus. LEMON: Let me ask you this. Listen, I am simply pointing out that he

pronounces everyone's name correctly. Gives them a nickname, but he at least pronounces their name correctly and so there's something to be said about that. That was what I was pointing out. So, listen, Bakari, then Mike, I'm going to bring you in again. The vice president last night getting some flak for calling a transition from the oil industry. Is that going to hurt him?

SELLERS: Well, I'm glad that they came out and cleared it up. I mean, I think that one of the things that Vice President Biden sometimes does, is you know, stumble over his words and when he stumbles over his words. His campaign is then forced to come out and rectify this. I don't think that this is going to have some, as Jason Miller talks about. This is devastating in Pennsylvania, or this is devastating anywhere else. I don't find it that to be the case at all. In fact, I don't think last night's debate is going to move anybody anywhere.

LEMON: OK.

SELLERS: We are in the -- as Mike said, we are in a geo TV stage, we are not wooing voters any longer.

LEMON: Let me bring Mike in. Quickly, Mike, because I want to get your response, what do you think?

SHIELDS: It absolutely is going to hurt him. And that is why you saw members of Congress, like Torres small, in New Mexico, and horn in Oklahoma immediately cut Democrats who were in oil producing areas coming out and saying, oh, my god, I don't agree with Joe Biden on this. Because they know how devastating it is. These are exactly the types of things that Republicans are trying get through as a message to energy workers about what is going to happen to their industry and it really hurts them in western Pennsylvania.

LEMON: Mike, thank you. Bakari, thank you as well. I appreciate it.

This is our breaking news, more than 80,000 coronavirus cases recorded today, the single highest day since the pandemic began. Plus, the FBI arresting a man for rioting during the George Floyd protest in Minneapolis.

[23:25:05]

That man turns out is a self-described supporter of an extremist anti- government group.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: This is our breaking news, the coronavirus pandemic, more than 80,000 new cases reported in the U.S. just today. That is the highest single day total we have seen since the pandemic began. Nearly 224,000 Americans have already died from the virus and Dr. Anthony Fauci warns it is going to get worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND

INFECTIOUS DISEASES: More than 30 states are having upticks in test positivity, which is, is a pretty good predictor that you are going to have a surge in cases which will lead to surge in hospitalizations.

[23:30:00]

FAUCI: The reason I'm particularly concerned as we get deeper into the cooler months of the fall and the colder months of the winter that the activities out of necessity are going to have to be done indoors. And that's going to be a problem.

So that's the reason why I say we really need to double down on the kind of public health measures that we have been talking about so long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Dr. Fauci also coming out in favor of a mask mandate tonight as a new study finds that 100,000 lives could be saved just by wearing a mask.

CNN's Nick Watt has more now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are now in the full surge. Virus spread accelerating.

ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We are in a very serious moment right now. We are seeing increases in cases. And what we are seeing is through the Midwest, upper Midwest and the plains, a lot of cases occurring.

WATT (voice-over): Dozen states are suffering all-time record high average daily case counts.

TRUMP: We are rounding the turn. We are rounding the corner. It's going away.

JONATHAN REINER, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: The truth of the matter is that we are turning the corner into a tsunami.

WATT (voice-over): Nationwide, we are seeing numbers not seen since the peak of the pandemic back in ugly, ugly July.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The curve is going straight up. This time, it is in the middle of the country.

WATT (voice-over): And the number of COVID patients in our hospitals has soared by a third in just three weeks or so.

AZAR: Then we will see results from that.

WATT (voice-over): Results means deaths. Our average daily death toll, already higher than it's been in a month, and another 160,000 plus Americans might die before the first day of February, according to influential modelers. They say if 95 percent of Americans wear masks, 100,000 lives could be saved through the last day of February.

AZAR: This is being driven by individual behaviors at this point.

WATT (voice-over): Like going mask less, family gatherings, public gatherings. Three cases now confirmed at this Los Angeles megachurch, which defies public health orders meets inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will obey god rather than men.

WATT (voice-over): Big Ten football kicks off tonight, very few fans. Still, we are expecting some potential new obstacles as a result of the upcoming football season, says the mayor of East Lansing, home to Michigan State. We are in the full surge. We know what we need to do.

REINER: Mask up and we can turn this around.

WATT (voice-over): Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Nick, thank you very much.

A man arrested for rioting during the George Floyd protest in Minneapolis. But the thing is he probably wasn't there to protest Floyd's death, because he is suspected of being part of an extremist group, some of whom identify with white supremacy.

Plus, do you have a plan to vote yet? Do you? Kal Penn wants to make sure you do. He will tell me all about it, next.

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[23:35:00]

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LEMON: Very interesting story coming out of Minneapolis, a major development tonight in the connection with the outbreak of violence in Minneapolis, following the death of George Floyd. This is back in May. A 26-year-old Texas man named Ivan Harrison Hunter has been arrested and charged with rioting.

Federal investigators say Hunter claims to be a member of the "Boogaloo Bois," which is an extremist and sometimes violent anti- government movement. Investigators say Hunter was present the night that rioters burned down the Minneapolis Police Department's third precinct.

The FBI says it has video that shows Hunter firing 13 rounds of an AK- 47-style semi-automatic rifle into the building as looters were causing destruction inside. He is also -- he was also around those -- around those who set fire to that building. You may recall I was on the air that night as the third precinct was burning, and my colleague Sara Sidner was reporting from the scene. Here is part of what she witnessed that night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you look here, the fire is getting bigger and stronger. It has now really gone deeply into that first foyer of the Minneapolis Police Department Precinct Three. You are seeing people more and more getting closer and closer. It is a really volatile dangerous situation, Don.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So here's the thing, President Trump has repeatedly blamed the unrest in Minneapolis and other cities this summer on Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and what he calls the radical left-wing, making it a big part of his law and order reelection campaign.

But it is important to point out that the "Boogaloo Bois" are an emerging extremist movement, some members apparently identify as anarchists, while others espouse white supremacy.

A lot to discuss now with CNN's security correspondent Josh Campbell, who is also reporting from the scene of the third precinct fire that night, as well.

Josh, thank you so much. This is a fascinating story. We are learning more about similar incidences. So, tell me what you know about this self -described "Boogaloo Bois" member and how authorities located him.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Don, you know, it's been nearly five months since that incident. We were standing there outside that third precinct. And what we continue to see is that the feds are investigating, and they continue to arrest people that were engaged in alleged violence to include this self-described "Boogaloo Bois" adherence.

[23:40:05]

CAMPBELL: This Texas man was arrested. He was charged with inciting a riot, being part of a riot there on that evening when that police station was burned.

According to the court documents, behind where Sara and I were standing there, this man apparently opened fire into that police station with an AK-47-style rifle. There you see him on video, according to the feds, high-fiving people afterwards. I can tell you, as we stood there, we can hear explosions and there were fireworks and there was all this commotion.

But now, we are getting a sense from the federal government, their investigators, about what exactly was taking place.

It is also worth noting, I talked to two -- an official who was familiar with the FBI's investigation today, who said that it was actually the social media platform Facebook that came to the FBI and provided them with some information, that they saw some threatening information on their platform, that assisting with this investigation into this suspected "Boogaloo Bois".

But just again, this -- this movement continues to grow, and the feds continue to try to identify those who are inciting violence.

LEMON: That has been five months. My goodness. Time flies. According to court documents, Josh, this individual travelled from Texas to Minneapolis with the intent to participate in a riot. Does that mean that they went there to set things off?

CAMPBELL: Yes. You know, when you read through these court records, it is quite chilling when you see what they were plotting, what they were planning.

It's important to note that we are not talking about a lone wolf here. As you look through these records, this suspect, who was arrested, was talking to other "Boogaloo Bois" that were involved in other actions, as well, to include one suspect in California, who was arrested and charged with killing two law enforcement officers. Those people were in contact.

This suspect that was arrested this week was also in contact with two other "Boogaloo Bois" members that have been arrested by the FBI and charged with material support to terrorism, a foreign terrorist organization.

So, this is a network that is now the feds are trying to track. They went there, as you read through some of these transcripts, of their online messages with the intent to harm law enforcement and at least some of them succeeded in that goal.

LEMON: Josh, the president and the attorney general, Bill Barr, have been focusing on left-wing extremism and blaming violence on Antifa. But in both this case and the case of the so-called "umbrella man," who also helped incite riots in Minneapolis, it turned out to be instigators from the right.

CAMPBELL: Yes, that's right. When you go back and all of us, back to that place in time after this civil unrest kicked off in several cities, you had Attorney General William Barr, you had President Trump coming out very vocally, blasting Antifa, and saying that these leftist groups were behind all of these movements.

Now, what is interesting is that the Associated Press recently came out. They look at 300 arrests that took place around the country after these incidents. Don, only one of those incidents did federal officials actually reference Anfifa in their prosecution.

So there have been folks on the left. There have been folks on the right. We continue to see that groups like the "Boogaloo Bois" are now on the radar of federal officials.

It is worth noting also that this violent movement is also part of the group that was allegedly involve in trying to kidnap the governor of Michigan recently.

So, a very dangerous threat, and although officials like the president and attorney general may not talk that much about right-wing violence, the record continues to show that they remain very dangerous.

LEMON: Josh Campbell, I appreciate it. Thank you, sir. We will be right back.

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[23:45:00]

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LEMON: With just 11 days to go until Election Day, you've got to plan your vote. And actor and activist Kal Penn, who worked in the Obama White House, has a message for young Americans: Get out there and vote.

He has a new comedy talk series called "Kal Penn Approves This Message," addressing issues that matter to young voters like health care, climate change, and civil rights. Here is a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAL PENN, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: When we think about important legal cases, we usually feel like they happened lifetimes ago. Segregation, for example, is a defining issue in the civil rights struggle of the 20th century. Even though these photos are black and white, this stuff wasn't actually that long ago.

The girl depicted in this famous Norman Rockwell painting is a real person. Her name is Ruby Bridges. She was one of the first students to desegregate an all-white school in Louisiana. She is only 66 years old today. That means she is younger than Jeff Goldblum. School desegregation happened less than one Goldblum ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Kal Penn joins me now. Hey, Kal, I know Ruby Bridges. I used to be on Ruby Bridges's board when I had a lot more time in my life. She is a fantastic woman.

PENN: (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: And she is young and vibrant -- you're right. It has not been that long ago. Thank you for joining us.

PENN: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

LEMON: Listen. I love your set, too, by the way. This is a close-up version, but I saw the wide shot in the clip. Every election, right, people talk about the youth vote. There is so much potential there. But then -- PENN: Right.

LEMON: -- then, you know, they don't always show up on Election Day. Why is that? And how do you -- how do you motivate them to get to the polls, Kal?

PENN: Look, I think the interesting thing is that we always compare youth vote over long stretches of time without kind of realizing they are totally different humans.

[23:49:59]

PENN: So, it's different than talking about the Irish American vote or the Indian-American, African American vote, whatever. They are just -- you can't really track them.

But that said you're talking about first time voters in general, right, people who just turned 18. If 2018 is any indication, when we saw an uptick in 2018 that you haven't seen in decades in terms of youth vote, so all signs point to them being incredibly involved, so, you know, fingers crossed that they are getting involved in their civic duties.

LEMON: Yes, I hope so because, listen, their -- what they want, their agenda, and what they want in their vote, all really, really important.

I have to tell people, in case they don't remember, that you worked for President Obama in the White House office of public engagement. He was on the campaign trail just this week, telling people they need to vote. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The fact that we don't get 100 percent of what we want right away is not a good reason not to vote. It means we've got to vote and then get some change and then vote some more and then get some more change and then keep on voting until we get it right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I know exactly what he is saying because -- listen, I wonder, do you think that message is especially important for young people because they -- young people are, quite frankly, often idealistic. They want to fall in love. But that is not what -- really, that's not how it works.

PENN: Yes, I agree. Look, I think you're never going to have an ideal candidate. We talked about this in our climate change episode that aired this week. You're never going to have your ideal climate-change candidate or at least your ideal viable climate change candidate necessarily.

So, what are you going to do? What are the calculations that we make? I think the president's point in that clip is -- it resonates with me in a way that ties into Ruby Bridges, right? I was born, obviously, after segregation had ended. But Ruby Bridges is not that old.

And so for somebody like me to go, wait a second, she is only 66 and she is younger than my parents?

LEMON: Yes.

PENN: And she is alive right now? I mean, that means it really wasn't that long ago. I talked to friends of mine, you know, who take things like the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell or marriage equality for granted, and then we looked at the current administration cutting the opportunity for trans folks (ph) to serve in our military. And they go, isn't that crazy?

You kind of think, yes, it is crazy. It is awful and it is unpatriotic. But it is not surprising. Just because it is not surprising doesn't mean it is not incredibly disappointing. But that is where the opportunity to vote and change that comes into play. So, I hope it repeal (ph).

LEMON: All the more reason for young people to vote. I hate it when people say, especially at this point, when they say, I haven't really made up my mind because, you know, this. And it's like, wait, what?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: There's got to be one candidate that you like.

PENN: I also -- look, I get it in terms of, like, if you are looking at it and saying, OK, they're both old guys in their 70s, fine. Demographically, they might share something in common. But otherwise, they're from two totally different worlds. They're standing for two totally different things.

But more importantly, all the down-ticket races, the Senate races, the local community races --

LEMON: Right.

PENN: -- school board, city council, not to mention, you know, all of this incredible energy around police reform and social justice in so many places around the country, you're voting on judges.

LEMON: Right.

PENN: I mean, that's --

LEMON: You're voting on the Supreme Court. Yes. Yes. OK. I want to take a look at -- this is a Harvard youth poll. It is out this week, Kal. It found that 63 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 said that they will definitely be voting in this election. That could make a huge difference.

PENN: It could make a huge difference. It's a difference that you -- even when we talk about these local races, it can come down to five votes in some precincts, right? So, 63 percent uptick in youth vote and certainly you talk about expanding the electorate, people who just had never voted before, President Trump did a great job of turning these folks out in key states in 2016. And I think there is a lot of energy across the board for people who have not voted before.

And when it comes to young people, they generally don't think of themselves as Democrats or Republicans. But they believe in climate change and science. They know that it is real. Like you said, they believe in human rights, they believe that the richest country in the world should, maybe provide access to health care in a real, substantive way.

So, I do think that's a big number. I do think they're going to come out.

LEMON: Kal Penn, it is a pleasure. Keep doing what you're doing, encouraging people to vote.

PENN: Thanks, Don. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

LEMON: Thank you. We'll be right back.

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[23:55:00]

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LEMON: California is struggling with its worst wildfire season on record. For the thousands of people who have lost their homes, 2019 CNN hero Woody Faircloth is working to provide them with RVs as shelter until they can get back on their feet.

He, first, got started back in 2018 when he and his then 7-year-old daughter, Luna, responded to the campfire that wiped out the town of Paradise. Now, he and Luna are back at it again, helping a community just down the road.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOODY FAIRCLOTH, CNN HERO: Unfortunately, this fire has really affected a lot of first responders. Six of the seven volunteer firefighters in Berry Creek, California lost their homes, including the chief. And so Luna and I did what we do. We sourced a couple RVs and we headed out to California. We delivered one to Chief Reed Rankin.

REED RANKIN, BERRY CREEK VOLUNTEER FIRE CHIEF: I just can't say thank you enough to what they do. I deeply appreciate because (INAUDIBLE) another month and a half, at least we got somewhere to be.

FAIRCLOTH: He loves his community.

RANKIN: It's huge. I mean, I just don't have much words. But it's huge. FAIRCLOTH: Couple thousand of his neighbors are left homeless. Fifteen people were killed in the fire. They've been through a lot. But the chief is still up there, every day, on the line, fighting the fire.

RANKIN: I like to start over, somehow. I just got to get everything done up here, get the fire completely out, get people back (INAUDIBLE), then I can start kind of figuring what I am going to do. But I am definitely staying in Berry Creek. I am definitely going to somehow rebuild. Hopefully, FEMA will help us out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: For Woody's full story, go to cnnheroes.com right now.

Thank you for watching, everyone. Our coverage continues.