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Don Lemon Tonight

Trump Won't Concede, Spreading Baseless Claims Of Fraud; Biden Names Ron Klain As His White House Chief Of Staff; More Republicans Need To Stand Up To Trump, For Sake Of Democracy; Trump Campaign Suing Michigan To Stop Certification Of Votes; Trump Supporters Spread Bogus Claim Of Dead People Voting; U.S. Sets Record For New COVID-19 Cases Today; Trump Children Spread Misinformation. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired November 11, 2020 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[22:00:00]

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: They make us able to have this system. We should take it seriously. We should respect it. Freedom, peace, integrity, those are values that we are allowed to have here. They are secure, but not with this president and not now.

Think about it. We honor the men and women who serve us. We should do it by having clear eyes and proud hearts about what we accept and reject in our leaders. Thank you to those who served and their families. Time for D. Lemon, "CNN TONIGHT."

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Amen. Thank you. And you know what, how else we thank them? We respect them by honoring the ballots that they mailed in from wherever they are stationed overseas or wherever they are. We honor them by allowing all of those votes to be counted as well. And we don't say stop the counting when it's not in our favor. Do you disagree with that?

CUOMO: No. The trumpery on it is, oh no, I only want to stop the counting where I'm losing.

LEMON: Yes.

CUOMO: If I'm winning, I'm good.

LEMON: But there are military ballots, many of them.

CUOMO: Yes, only the military that votes for me, they're good. The other one, suspect.

LEMON: Yes.

CUOMO: I mean, it's silly until you see this whole party standing up and smiling along with the jackassery.

LEMON: We, you know, we've been asking this question for, you know, first of all, like, well, what's going on, what's going on with Republicans. And you had, you know, a few people like John Kasich and then, you had, John McCain, and a couple of other people who stood up. And even the ones who ran against him in the beginning, like Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, and on and on. And all of a sudden, they somehow lost their backbone and still haven't found it. Maybe we can, you know, offer them an X-ray and help them get it back.

But we've been saying that from the beginning. Where are the Republicans, the patriots? The people who have said for so long, they've been espousing, oh, duty, honor, country, all of that. Why aren't they standing up with the constitution? Why aren't they standing up for the American people? Why had they just really laid themselves out in front of this president to get him to have his way with him?

Whatever he wants, they allow him to do it. I don't understand it. So I as much -- listen, yes, I do fault Donald Trump, but I fault the people around him, the enabler, the enablers, excuse me, more than I fault him.

CUOMO: Amen.

LEMON: Because his behavior is consistent.

CUOMO: Amen.

LEMON: Over and over, and over. And there's, I mean, for the last couple years, but these are the people before who were talking about family values and values, and duty, honor, country, constitution. That's the right for everyone to live under. And so far, nothing. So I fault them more at this point than him.

CUOMO: Absolutely. And also, look, at least he's fighting for his own survival. I don't justify it, but at least I can recognize it. They are just fighting for their own selective future. McConnell wants these special seats down in those Senate races in Georgia. He needs Trump to get him. He can't say anything.

LEMON: Yes.

CUOMO: These other guys, Cruz, Rubio, Graham, they think they're going to be the next Trump. They will never be Trump. The face will never accept you the way they accept --

LEMON: It's never going to happen. And you said fighting, Chris. He's fighting for his own grip. You cannot get out there and get thousands and thousands of people to come to your rallies, and probably charge them for tickets, and get them to pay off your campaign debts. Continue to give them to give you money and to praise you. You can't do that if you say, OK, if you could pitch and say, OK, fine, I lost.

You have to keep up the grip, right? You got to keep the fakery up in order to get people still believe in you. That's what the con is right now. It's all about the Benjamins, I going to run.

CUOMO: The con and conman stands for confidence. And you'll lose confidence when those around him take it from him.

LEMON: I'm sorry I didn't see you today. It's my bad. It was my mistake. CUOMO: Forgiven. I love you, D. Lemon.

LEMON: I love you too. I'll see you later. This is CNN TONIGHT and I am Don Lemon. And so, we have to begin with some -- we've got some breaking news for you tonight, OK? Are you ready?

The President-elect Joe Biden's first major hire, guess who it is? The man's name is Ron Klain. He's naming him to be his White House Chief of Staff. Klain has accepted the job, a formal announcement set for tomorrow, so make sure you look for that.

He is a man with decades of experience in Washington. He served as Chief of Staff for Biden when he was vice president. And Biden now laying the groundwork to build his incoming administration, despite the President's refusing to concede, acting like a sore loser, putting up roadblocks, tweeting, live tweeting nonsense, tweeting misinformation, trying to stand in the way of Biden's successful transition to becoming the 46th president of the United States.

Joe Biden is the 46th president of the United States. Donald Trump is a one term president, is kicked out of office. Americans voted him out but he don't, he doesn't want to leave. He's going to have to leave.

[22:05:04]

We are all about reporting on the Biden transition here as it unfolds, don't get me wrong. But we also believe in facts first here, and Trump's selfish, unpresidential behavior is getting in the way of the nation's choice for his future. Your choice for the future of this nation, his behavior is getting in the way. He is putting up a roadblock to that.

And so, we have no other choice. We have to expose it here for what it is. This is nothing other than a plot to cheat democracy.

Fact number one, OK? Joe Biden has widened his lead over Trump in the popular vote by more than 5 million ballots, in the popular vote. He's way more popular than Trump has ever been or will ever be. Biden has tallied up more than 77 million votes. That's more than any presidential candidate in American history.

Can you imagine how the man who is obsessed with ratings and numbers how that feels, that he's no longer the best. He's not at the top. He doesn't have the biggest numbers. Five million more votes, at the popular votes. In this country, where people don't even vote in the numbers as opposed to, five million more people showed up in a pandemic and voted for Joe Biden, not Donald Trump.

Joe Biden is already projected to be the winner, and more than enough states for an Electoral College victory, and leads in enough states to equal the President's 2016 electoral vote margin, which he has spent the last four years calling a landslide. That's his words. So now his words are coming back.

So if Joe Biden wins by close to the number that Trump won by in '16, according to Donald Trump, it's a landslide. How's that feel? World leaders know that, more and more are reaching out to offer their congratulations to Biden's victory. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson talking in the House of Commons about the incoming president, and notice how he refers to President Trump. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITAIN'S PRIME MINISTER: I had and have a good relationship with the previous president. Why don't they -- I do not resolve from that, is it the duty of all British prime ministers have a good relationship with the White House. But I'm delighted to find the many areas in which the Biden, incoming Biden-Harris administration is able to make common cause with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Curious that three particular world leaders have yet to acknowledge Biden's election versus Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong-un of North Korea. I wonder why, I wonder why. Hmm.

We did finally see President Trump today his first public appearance in six days. We saw at Chris show just moments ago marking Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery. At the same time, the President- elect was attending a ceremony in Philadelphia.

Other than that, Trump's been mostly invisible, remember, hiding in a basement. Remember those, hiding in the basement. Where he's been?

He's been trying to figure out, obviously, how to claim to power. Listen to Kayleigh McEnany, who is now Trump's White House Press Secretary and how she talked about this kind of thing when the tables were turned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: You have people out there calling for recounts that are unsubstantiated, based on no evidence, and this was a legitimate election. And no one should question the fact that Donald Trump is the president-elect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: God. How much we've aged that was on this show. No one should question that. But now, you know, and no one did then. No one did. People didn't like it. There were some people out there saying not my president. But it wasn't Barack Obama who was refusing to concede, Hillary Clinton even conceded.

I shouldn't say Barack Obama conceding but welcoming him into the White House, doing a proper transition. Hillary Clinton even conceded. He had already been to the White House by then, by now, graciously hosted by the Obamas.

One source telling my colleague Gloria Borger what President Trump really cares about besides power. Well, money, right. And it's not the GOP enablers in their future, he's trying to figure out how he can commercialize, monetize. This is a true, monetize this situation.

How can you make money off of the crisis? How can you make money off of the presidency? Well, he's been doing that so, sorry. Sorry about that. That was my mistake.

[22:10:05]

Like I told you last night, money collected by Trump's so called election defense fund, that fund, can also be used to support the new leadership PAC that he's established, to keep his hand on the GOP and prepare for a potential run again in 2024. Caching, that's what this is about. Are you sending your money?

Send it away, caching. Yet back in '16, Trump couldn't resist tweeting attacks on the Green Party and its candidate Jill Stein for trying to raise money for recounts. Look at your screen. Come on. The box is in your face. Trump calling it a scam to raise money, huh? Yes, a scam to raise money. I guess he would know.

This morning he attacks Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican, a staunch Republican. After Schmidt told CNN that he has not seen widespread fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL SCHMIDT, PHILADELPHIA CITY COMMISSIONER: I have not. I have seen the most fantastical things on social media making completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact, at all, and see them spread. One thing I can't comprehend is how hungry people are to consume lies and to consume information that is not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And tonight, more Republicans, more of them, finally are acknowledging the truth, accepting the obvious. Arizona's Attorney General also predicting Biden will win his state with the same vote count Trump complains about elsewhere, has gained him more votes, just not enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK BRNOVICH, ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We need to deal in facts and evidence. I'm in this job to do right by the people of Arizona, and to make sure the laws fall. There was a time not that long ago, we as Republicans talked about, we need to make sure the rule of law means something. We don't want anarchy, we want the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And there's Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, excuse me, Raffensperger, also a Republican by the way, calling for a full recount of votes by hand. Biden has a 14,000 vote lead over Trump, Senate has not yet called race. And Raffensperger saying he has not seen widespread fraud, as is alleged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: We believe that the ballots were counted accurately with the machine count and the rest of the metadata. That was the hand counting, a statewide recount will confirm that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Tonight, one more Republican, one more speaking out. And that is Republican Senator James Lankford, telling radio station KRMG if Joe Biden isn't getting the security briefings he's entitled to by Friday, he's going to step in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): There's nothing wrong with Vice President Biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself and so that he can be ready. There is no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that. And if that's not occurring by Friday, I will step in as well and to be able to push them to say this needs to occur so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You guys remember Karl Rove? The Democrats hear the name Karl Rove, dun-dun-dun, that music goes with it, right? Well, also tonight influential Republican Karl Rove sending a message to Trump and GOP leaders. Here's what he's writing in the Wall Street Journal. The President's efforts are unlikely to move a single state from Mr. Biden's column, and certainly they're not enough to change the final outcome.

Can you just leave that up again? Leave it up. This is Karl Rove, everybody. Karl Rove says the President's efforts are unlikely to move a single state from Mr. Biden's column and certainly they're not enough to change the final outcome. Hmm.

How about Geraldo Rivera? Geraldo Rivera tweeting at the President tonight after a good deal of sucking up. Yes, Geraldo had to say it.

[22:15:00]

Time coming soon to say goodbye with grace and dignity. Time coming soon to say goodbye with grace and dignity.

This President doesn't know much about grace and dignity, but the message to the President is quite clear. And it's now coming from Republicans too, the President has been defeated. He's been defeated in the popular vote, and he has been defeated in the Electoral College by huge margins. Time to go. It is time to go.

It is time for Republicans to stand up. Stand up Republicans for the sake of our democracy. The world is watching you. Your legacy is in jeopardy, if it's not already in the trash heap, try to pull it out. Let's do this. Our White House Correspondent is Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, good evening to you. Good to see you. So, well, rainy night there in DC, in front of the White House. It is pouring.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm here for you, Don.

LEMON: You are here, I see that, so -- and I appreciate it. So President Trump is getting the message that there is no fraud, and in 70 days that he needs to leave the White House. Is he getting it finally?

Collins: He is getting it. And from what we have heard from sources who are meeting with the President constantly and on the phone with him. He understands that he's lost this election and that Joe Biden is going to be the next president. But he is not saying that publicly, and instead he is having his supporters, his aides who work for him come out and push this idea about fraud without any allegation or without any evidence, I should say, behind those allegations that they've been pushing.

And so, the question really is how long is the President going to keep this charade up? And when you talk to people who talk to the President, they basically say they don't know, Don. It could be a few more weeks, some people think it could be a few more days, but no one really has a good idea of how long the President himself wants to keep this up. But it will be up to the President, because he's the one who's continuing to push it.

And so, I think the thing to point out here is that, while we realize the President understands that he's lost, while the people around him understand that, his supporters likely don't. The people who actually do believe what the President says, and when he says there are allegations of fraud, they believe the President.

And so that's the thing here, is that the President is letting this go on knowing what's really going on behind the scenes, but he is misleading thousands, if not millions, potentially of his own supporters about what's really going on.

LEMON: OK. Kaitlan, there's another roadblock, you have another roadblock that the State Department is blocking Biden from assessing messages from foreign leaders. Why are they playing these games? What happening?

COLLINS: Well, you saw the Secretary of State yesterday joke and laugh, and say we're transitioning to another Trump administration, when obviously that is not the case. And he's denying reality, if that's what he really thinks is happening.

And so, how this is ending up is that we're told there's a stack of messages at the State Department waiting on Joe Biden, from other world leaders that he cannot have access to yet because they haven't started this transition process, where typically there's office space at the State Department, right now, waiting on Joe Biden's transition officials that they don't have access to. They don't have access to emails at the State Department. They don't have access to these funds, because they have not been given the formal grant by the Trump administration by a Trump appointee to do that. So instead, you know, you've seen Biden on the phone with world leaders, the Canadian Prime Minister, the German Chancellor, Boris Johnson, of course, that he had also spoken with him, that's going through the Biden's team. He's having to coordinate that on his own instead of having a State Department supported staff like you would typically have, like President Trump enjoyed when he won the presidency.

And so, you're just seeing how, you know, on a day-to-day level, how -- what the President is saying and how he's letting this charade go on, is affecting Joe Biden actually being able to get his feet under him and start this position as if he is going to become president in January, which he is.

LEMON: Kaitlan, get out of the rain. Thank you. I appreciate you. Seriously, be safe. We'll see you soon.

Karl Rove, Senator Lankford is the GOP wall starting to break on Trump, not the border wall, the one that Mexico never paid for and it's not hardly being built. The wall that Americans voted for. This is starting to crumble.

Lots to discuss, Jay Carney's here a veteran of the Obama White House, Joe Lockhart, a veteran of the Clinton administration. They are both, next.

[22:19:50]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Joe Biden making his first hire as president-elect, tapping Ron Klain as his White House Chief White House Chief of Staff. The Biden transition pushing ahead, even though the current President still refuses to concede.

Joining me now is Jay Carney. He is Obama's former White House Press Secretary and former Communications Director for Vice President Biden. Also Joe Lockhart is a former White House Press Secretary under President Clinton. Look, there's a -- you got the resumes are huge here. So there you go. Good evening, gentlemen. Good to see both of you.

Jay, I'm going to start with you. A lot of Republicans are enabling, as you know, just said the opening, they're enabling this president as he is making a mockcracy about democracy. But Karl Rove just came out with this Wall Street Journal op-ed, and the headline is a selection result won't be overturned.

And then he says this, he says, to win, Mr. Trump must prove systemic fraud with illegal votes in the tens of thousands. There is no evidence of that so far. Once his days in court or over the president should do his part to unite the country by leading a peaceful transition and letting grievances go. What do you think of the message and the messenger? He also said his day in court, so there was a preface there, but go on.

JAY CARNEY, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Right. Well, Don, thanks for having me. A couple of things. One, I think it's important that someone like Karl Rove writes that. He certainly is a campaign veteran participated and ran a lot of campaigns himself, including for President. And, you know, that's straight talk, at least as far as the assessment of whether or not President Trump's challenges could lead to any kind of change in the outcome of this election.

They can't. And Karl Rove points that out very clearly just looking at the size of Vice President Biden's victories in all the key states.

On the other hand, in much the same way that so many Republicans are treating this situation, he backs into it by spending, you know, the first third of his op-ed, you know, going after the pollsters and how their polls predicted an overwhelming victory for Biden. That wasn't quite as overwhelming, although it was a 5 million plus vote margin over President Trump.

So I think he's still like, my guess is, his strategy in doing that was to sort of, you know, back up President Trump and back up Republicans by noting how close or how much closer it was than the pollsters predicted. But it's still important that the core message there is this needs, you know, the President needs to move on, as we have done every time we've had an election in our past. And let the president-elect get about the business of preparing to govern the country.

LEMON: Amen. Hey, Joe, good to see you. So Senator James Lankford, he's saying tonight that he's going to step in if the President-elect Biden still doesn't have access to presidential daily briefings by Friday. How long can this standoff go on? And are you happy he's saying something like this? Is it soon enough that he's jumping in?

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, I think it's heavily caveated. He's still not willing to admit that this race is over and that Joe Biden won it. So I think any, you know, sort of concession on, you know, intelligence briefings, is not all that meaningful.

I mean, the real problem with Republicans, and the reason I don't think this wall is going to break, is because they live in mortal fear of the Trump voters, by enabling him over the last four years. They now have 72 million Trump voters out there that they need the next time they face the voters. And there's just not enough courage right now. Among the rank and file elected, especially in the leadership.

You know, I think Joe Biden's taking the exact right approach, though. He doesn't need a confrontation with President Trump right now. He needs to make the President irrelevant. And by appointing Ron Klain, by taking these calls from foreign leaders, it is beginning to get that message out that we do have a president-elect. He's the future and Donald Trump is the past.

LEMON: I mean, Jay, just from watching, you know, my scan of the news networks today and even conservative news networks, it feels like Joe Biden is a president because we don't see the current president. We only see the president-elect out, you know, doing COVID briefings, doing press conferences, out and about. And we saw the President, the current president today at Arlington for a short time, but we have not seen him. It feels like Joe Biden is the president. Am I wrong?

CARNEY: No, I think you're right. And it certainly feels like he is going about the business of the transition, as if there weren't all this, you know, unprecedented background noise going on. And I think as Joe said, that's exactly the right strategy.

He -- and by pursuing a strategy by not engaging in a fight and taking the bait, and focusing on the refusal by the President and other elected Republicans to acknowledge his victory, he's taking these sort of draining of energy. And by doing the things that president-elects do, which is focus on all the challenges the country face, faces and focusing on making key selections for his administration.

He's demonstrating leadership. And it's a reassuring message that he's putting out every day by doing this. And I think that helps him build momentum for what is going to be an incredibly challenging first few months of his presidency.

LEMON: Joe, I want to know what you think of the Joe Biden's first big hire, and that's Ron Klain as his chief of staff. I mean, you're friends with Ron Klain, who had the response to the ebola crisis in 2014 under President Barack Obama. Seems like a good enough experience. It seems like a good choice, no?

LOCKHART: Yes, absolutely. You were talking about resumes. I don't think anyone has a resume that can match Ron's. You know, Ron is the perfect chief of staff needs these qualities. They need to understand the policy. They need to understand the politics of Washington. And it's very rare that you get someone like Ron Klain who understands both of them equally.

He has adapted to this.

[22:30:00]

He's experienced. And then he's got the third thing, which sometimes is the most important, which is a trusted relationship with the president.

He has been with Joe Biden since the 1980s in various capacities, and Joe Biden trusts him. I think it's the perfect choice and it sends a strong message to everybody in Washington and around the country, that the era of chaos is over. The era of Chief of Staff that get run over by the President. There's going to be steady experienced leadership coming from the president, but sort of traffic copped by a great chief of staff.

LEMON: All right. Gentlemen, thank you. I'll see you soon, be well. Take care.

The Trump campaign suing Michigan trying to block state officials from certifying the election, even though Biden's ahead by nearly 150,000 votes. Michigan Secretary of State responds, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:35:02]

LEMON: Joe Biden won the election. He is president-elect right now, that much should be clear. And yet, the Trump campaign is still submitting election challenges that have no merit, filing a new lawsuit with the federal court in Michigan, a state where Biden decidedly beat the President. The Trump campaign alleging irregularities in the Detroit absentee ballot counting process and raising concerns over a software glitch in Northern Michigan County.

It also includes more than 230 pages of affidavits from poll watchers, some containing claims that state officials have already debunked. The bottom line, the Trump campaign team has been trying to stop the state from canvassing, and certifying its ballots. And named in the lawsuit, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and she joins me now.

Madam Secretary, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining us I know it's a very busy time for you. How seriously you taking this new lawsuit from the Trump campaign?

JOCELYN BENSON, MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I mean, it's important to recognize this is a PR strategy, a political strategy more than a legal strategy. And in my view, we have to call it out for what it is. It's false information designed to erode the public's confidence in what was actually a very well run election.

And I'm confident that, you know, any increase proceed either in Michigan or other states, the American public will continue to just see the truth, which was that this election was extraordinarily well run under very challenging circumstances. And the results are an accurate reflection of the will of the people.

LEMON: Yes. It may end up and probably will end up doing exactly the opposite of what they wanted, or it should give people confidence in the election.

BENSON: I hope so because, I mean, look, this was, you know, one of the highest turnout elections in modern history, if not the highest. In Michigan, we had more people voting than ever before. And we had clerks stepping up to ensure the process was indeed transparent, secure, and who are now stepping up to counter this misinformation, and are going to continue to do it in the days ahead.

And I think we're hoping the public will join us, frankly, in the same way we asked people to counter misinformation during the election. Now that the election is over, we still have to that back the false rhetoric that's really, you know, designed as more of a way to erode falsely public confidence in the process instead of helping us see this for what it was, which was, again, a very successful election.

LEMON: Let's talk more about false information because your office, has said to debunk claims of voter fraud, for example, that allegations that deceased voters were casting ballots. Can you fact check this and some other, and those other claims that are out there, please?

BENSON: Yes. I mean, certainly, we've actually set up a website michigan.gov/sosfactcheck, because the false rhetoric is coming hourly, if not daily, and we have to continually just push back with the truth. So as many outlets have reported dead people have voted in Michigan's elections and other, you know, issues with regards to transparency have also been debunked. Our absentee counting boards across the state, we're open to challengers. Many people had eyes on the process.

And in many ways, this election was one of the most scrutinized elections, again, in recent times, because you had so many people observing the process on Election Day and beyond. So, again, we have to see this for what it is. It's more of an effort to mislead the American public than actual any, you know, real legal claims. And I'm confident the courts will recognize that too, because the facts and the truth are really on our side here.

LEMON: So Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel mentioned the lawsuits focused on Detroit. She said it further pushes the Trump campaigns narrative that black people are corrupt, black people are incompetent, and black people cannot be trusted when the Trump campaign cites voter irregularities. Are they referring to black voters in Detroit? What do you think here because they're talking about Detroit, talking about Atlanta, they're talking about Philadelphia, cities with large black populations.

BENSON: Yes. I think it's important to call it out for exactly what it is. We're not seeing, you know, people show up out of in other communities throughout Michigan or even other communities being targeted by this false rhetoric or these claims that the elections were not run well, when indeed, they were actually run very well.

And so, you know, certainly we recognize that this is also attack to black and brown voters, and their faith in the process and all of our faith in the fact that, you know, every vote, every valid vote did actually count in every community throughout the state of Michigan. So I'm grateful for the AG for, you know, saying it like it is. And I know more people will do that in the days ahead as the truth behind these allegations becomes more apparent.

LEMON: Secretary Benson, thank you.

BENSON: Always a pleasure. Thank you, Don.

LEMON: There is so much misinformation out there, so how about some facts, OK? Trump supporters are circulating a list of social media, on social media that purports to be a huge number of dead people in Michigan who are voting, right? This is fraud people, scream, OK, that's what it says, all right.

[22:40:07]

So CNN started investigating this list. And is in --and in none of the cases we looked at, the first 25 on the list and another 25 selected, just at random, did these names check out as dead people who voted, none of them. Thirty-seven were dead people who had not voted. I can't believe I have to say this, because they're dead, five people out of the 50 had voted, that's because they are still alive. That's according to public records. The remaining eight are also alive but they didn't vote.

Facts, just some facts for you as you say many of them. I want your facts,, not feelings. Those are facts.

This is also a fact, OK. Record numbers of cases cropping up, record numbers of hospitalizations, and the CDC has a new warning ahead of Thanksgiving. I'm going to speak with a member of Biden's Coronavirus Advisory Board next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:45:20]

LEMON: Coronavirus cases surging across the country at levels that we have never seen before. More than 140,000 new cases just today, 140,000. That is a single day record in the ninth consecutive day of more than 100,000 cases of COVID-19 in the US.

Now, take a look at this map. It's our trend map. COVID cases are climbing in 45 states, only five states are improving or holding steady. Our test positivity rate over 10% right now, and we currently have more people hospitalized with COVID-19 than ever before, breaking a record we set only yesterday.

But I want you to take a look at this, OK? Look at the way the seven day average of new cases has been surging in the week since President Trump himself tested positive for the virus. It's happening in a complete absence of leadership as the Trump administration seems to have abandoned their responsibility to keep Americans safe.

Joining me now is Michael Osterholm. He is a member of the President- elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board and the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Thank you, sir, I appreciate you joining.

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, BIDEN CORONAVIRUS ADVISER: Thank you.

LEMON: And I know you will do well in your new role, so congratulations.

OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

LEMON: And please help us out which I know you will do. Are we seeing the result of President Trump basically just giving up on leading our country during this crisis?

OSTERHOLM: Well, it's a combination of factors. Clearly, we haven't had the direction of what could happen, and therefore why we need to take certain actions. And as you and I have talked in previous shows, it's the combination of pandemic fatigue, people just after eight to nine months feeling like, you know, they don't want to distance from others. They're ready to go back to restaurants, bars, churches, you know, any number of different locations in that group, which we call pandemic anger. The group that do not believe that this pandemic is real, and they're not going to follow public health recommendations.

And then, you mix that all up with indoor air now with the fall winter season upon us, where transmission is so much higher. And so, you know, this is exactly what many of us expected would happen after Labor Day. And unfortunately, what we expect is it's going to go much higher than it is now.

LEMON: OK. Let me ask you, because as I was preparing for the show tonight, I was listening to, I think it was New Jersey's governor, because I we had so many people on talking about what to do. And they were saying, don't have people over to your house that you don't normally have at your house for Thanksgiving. You know, should be going out and doing all the things that you normally do during the holidays.

I mean, it was tough to hear but you got to do it. I mean, especially if you don't want a complete shutdown.

OSTERHOLM: Well, you know, Don, right now, we're in a situation which I call our COVID year. You know, it's not like last year, and hopefully it's not going to be like next year when we have vaccines and we can really protect ourselves with those. And the last thing you want to do is take the virus home to mom or dad or to your aunts or uncles or grandpa and grandma. And then, actually have an outbreak at home. And as a result, one or more of them die. And I've personally been involved with too many of those various circumstances.

And so, if this is your year of love, you know, we all want to be together. But if you really love your family, the last thing you want to do is unintentionally introduces virus into that home setting. And that's what's happening right now in a very real way.

LEMON: It is. It is happening in a real way. And it said that it is but, you know, I think maybe hopefully people will start to take it more seriously and they'll start to mask up if the leadership does that as well. It seems to president-elect is, let's see with the outgoing President is going to do in the 70 or so odd days that he's still in office.

So the hospitalization numbers higher than ever before. And we know that they are -- that's a lagging indicator for deaths. But if people would just wear masks, thousands of lives could be saved, especially with the new guidance that they help both, you know, the person who was wearing the mask and the people around them.

OSTERHOLM: Right. You know, and this is really an important message that we can do multiple things to protect ourselves. You know, first and foremost is just distancing. Don't be in crowds. Don't be in large gatherings, whether you wear a mask or not. Because masks are very helpful, they can surely reduce the risk but the bottom line messages you want to distance yourself.

Then, just as you said, you know, wear a mask. Also make note that if you are sick, don't go into the public. If you have symptoms that are similar to what might be COVID, be sure and get tested, and then isolate yourself and quarantine away so that you don't transmit the virus to others.

[22:50:09]

LEMON: Real quickly. You said if you have symptoms that are COVID get tested anyway, even if you think that you have it, and you just want to isolate or quarantine, you still get tested. Why?

OSTERHOLM: Well, if you think you have it, you really want to know if you do. And, you know, the telltale signs are losing their sense of smell or taste, or feeling like you have a 60 pound rock on your chest. But I've seen far too many people who think they have COVID, only to be tested and don't. And then, there are those who say, well, I don't have COVID, and they get tested and they do.

So we do want to distinguish. And as we get into the influenza season, we're already beginning to see cases of influenza here in the United States. You want to distinguish between do you have flue or do you have COVID. And this is going to be important in terms of just how infectious you are others with COVID. But also it's important for your health care provider to know if you do become more severely ill, which of the illnesses are you really experiencing.

LEMON: Got you. Thank you. I appreciate it, doctor. Be well.

OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you.

OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

LEMON: The Trump family is going all in on their false claims of fraud, disputing the election results except, take this, when those results are in Trump's favor.

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[22:55:00]

LEMON: So take this, OK? Listen, President Trump's adult children spreading election misinformation and making bizarre claims of victory despite President-elect Joe Biden's projected win. Donald Trump Jr. flooding his Twitter feed with unhinged and unfounded claims about election fraud. Many of his retweets flagged by Twitter as disputed claims.

Eric Trump was caught sharing a fake video claiming to show Trump ballots being burned. City of Virginia Beach officials having to come out and say that the ballots in the alleged incident, not real. The account that originally tweeted the video now suspended.

And this from Ivanka Trump, a tweet highlighting a projection from the Associated Press that her father will win Alaska, OK. CNN also projects that Trump will win Alaska, Biden has secured more than 270 electoral votes without Alaska. He won. So, here's -- think about this, Ivanka. If you believe the Alaska projection enough to cheer about it on Twitter, based on a projection by the media, then maybe it should be just as confident in your father's loss and Joe Biden's win. They are projections as well.

Despite the Trump family's false claims, Joe Biden's moving ahead with his transition anyway, what we know so far next.

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