Return to Transcripts main page
Don Lemon Tonight
Mike Flynn Wants Trump to Declare Martial Law; Pentagon Nominee Call Trump's Loss a Coup; Biden Offers an Olive Branch to GOP; Dr. Anthony Fauci Remains in His Post; COVID Death Becomes Political; Biden Asked Americans to Use Mask for 100 Days; Black Panther Actress Under Fire Over Tweet; U.S. Expects to See More COVID Cases Ahead. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired December 04, 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]
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- impact your world team. Put all of this together, it's an interactive guide of resources at cnn.com/coronavirus, please help there. There's a list of organizations, resources, ideas where you can donate and hopefully find help for yourself or a loved one.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Sanjay, thank you. As always, it's great to see you again. We hope tonight we have helped with some answers to your questions about the pandemic. We want to give a special thanks to Dr. Anthony Fauci, of course, for joining us answering questions about the vaccine, and also to Susan Frohlich, and he husband Dr. Thomas Frohlich, and Dr. Leana Wen
And thanks to those of you who wrote in with your questions, the videos, and everyone who joined us tonight. If you didn't get your questions answered tonight, the conversation continues at cnn.com/coronavirusanswers. The news continues right now with Don Lemon.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.
You just heard our coronavirus town hall, and the news tonight is stunning. More than 278,000 Americans are dead. Coronavirus is now the number one cause of death in the U.S. this week, and we haven't even seen that post-Thanksgiving peak.
A new model projects almost 500,000 U.S. deaths by April. This country is in a pandemic free fall right now. No other way to describe it. And while the current president doesn't care about anything but his bogus conspiracies and his endless grudge matches. Joe Biden who says that he'll ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days after he takes the oath of office. Saying tonight, he doesn't think that will have to be mandatory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide. I will do everything in my power as the president of the United States to encourage people to do the right thing and when they do it, demonstrate that it matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): I want you to listen what he says about the current president's campaign of deadly misinformation about the virus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: One of the things that bothers me the most is by the wild assertions the administration is making about how this is going to go away, and inject bleach, and all those kinds of things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Who could forget what may have been the lowest low point in this president's response to the virus that's killing us?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Then I see a disinfectant knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Well, you know, historians will decide looking back what role that ridiculous display played in costing Trump his presidency. But his mismanagement and deadly lack of seriousness about this pandemic is still costing American lives. More than 278,000 so far.
That as we are learning tonight the Trump administration blocked Biden's transition team from meeting with its counterpart at the Pentagon's intelligence agencies this week. That's according to a former senior intelligence official.
And just days after his own handpicked attorney general risked this president's wrath by acknowledging what anybody with any grip on reality already knew, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in this election. His director of national intelligence admits that he's the same goal as our adversaries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE HERRIDGE, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: Does the intelligence show that foreign adversaries are amplifying the voter fraud allegations?
JOHN RATCLIFFE, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: There are.
HERRIDGE: Who is doing that?
RATCLIFFE: I can't tell you.
HERRIDGE: But they are. RATCLIFFE: Yes.
HERRIDGE: And what's their objective?
RATCLIFFE: To undermine public confidence in our Democratic processes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Well there you go, and Chris Krebs, a patriot, who was fired for rejecting the president's bogus claims applied for widespread voter fraud saying this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER KREBS, DIRECTOR, DHS CYBERSECURITY & INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: There are things more important than a four-year term. This American experiment in democracy in general is fragile. You've got to care for it, you got to nurture it, and these are constant attacks in undermining confidence are very dangerous. And you know, I don't know what's next, but we've got to make sure that we continue providing support to democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Well, you have to care about -- you have to care and you have to nurture democracy. That's how you make America great. Instead, this president is using the final days of his term to try to burn down the foundation of democracy, our free and fair elections and he is emboldening his supporters to take his crazy train farther than -- farther down the line.
The president's nominee to become a senior Pentagon official, Scott O'Grady, a former fighter pilot on and Trump loyalist, spreading completely debunked conspiracies on Twitter calling his election loss a coup. A coup attempt and sharing tweet suggesting that Trump should declare martial law.
His disgraced first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who was pardoned by this president last week, tweeting a petition calling for Trump to declare martial law, and order a new election.
[22:05:01]
I just -- I want you to listen to me. OK? This is -- this is crazy. And I hate to be blunt, if you believe this, what does that say about you? None of it is true. All of it is being shut down by the courts. It's shut down by reality and facts. It's all not true. Do not be hoodwinked by this. Don't fall for the OK-doke.
This is crazy. That's exactly the right word for it and I'll add, dangerous to that. It's crazy dangerous. A former national security adviser calling for martial law to overturn the results of our election. Come on, now, really?
A nominee to be a senior Pentagon official calling the election a coup attempt. Just because this candidate lost. The President of the United States repeatedly spreading such ridiculous claims, a Twitter constantly marks his tweets disputed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They know it was a fixed election, it was a rigged election. They know it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): That is a lie and he know it. He is deliberately lying to you. To the American people. To save his wounded pride. I don't know what that says about what he thinks about you. I know there are people -- I've heard from you who believe it. It's nuts, it's not true, I'm sorry to tell, you, none of it is true, he's lying to you.
The president and his number one defender, Rudy Giuliani, they are continuing to push doomed lawsuits. More than 30 of them. Thrown out since election day. The latest is Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada today. Do they enjoy losing the same states over and over and over again for a month straight?
Like I said, this president -- he just cannot accept the reality that he lost. Even he has more and more members of his administration are reading the writing on the wall. The CDC director, Robert Redfield admitting that he is on his way out while praising the coworkers that he'll leave behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: They will continue to guide our nation's response to the pandemic after we are gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Even Kellyanne Conway admitting reality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: If you look at the vote totals in the Electoral College tally, it looks like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): And in the face of all of this, the president taking out his hurt feelings on the Republican governor of Georgia and he's doing it on the eve of his campaign-style rally to support Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue ahead of Georgia's January runoffs.
Expect peak Trump crazy. Sources say the president blasted Governor Brian Kemp a, quote, "a moron and nut job" during a recent phone call. Even one White House adviser says people around the president are, quote, "panicked about the runoffs." Gee, do you suppose this has anything? Has something to do with it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIN WOOD, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: I want you to go to the governor's mansion, I want you to circle it, I want you to blow your horns, until Brian Kemp comes out and orders a special session of the Georgia legislature and then he can resign.
(CROWD CHEERING)
WOOD: And then as far as I'm concerned, lock him up.
CROWD: Lock him up. Lock him up. Lock him up. Lock him up. Lock him up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Wow. What about this?
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
SIDNEY POWELL, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: I think I would encourage all Georgians to make it known that you will not vote at all until your vote is secure.
(END VOICE CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): OK. Encourage people not to vote. That happened to the president, he discouraged them not to vote by mail, look what happens. So, you know, do your thing. Like I said, expect peak Trump crazy. But listen to what the former President Barack Obama has to say about all of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is not just about Georgia. This is about America, this is about the world and it's in your power to in fact, have an impact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Can Joe Biden meet the challenges that lie ahead? The worst of all may be the pandemic and Biden says it's worse for communities of color.
[22:10:04]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So, Dr. Anthony Fauci is confirming that he accepted the offer to work with President-elect Joe Biden on the spot. The Biden team is trying to move forward with transition plans, but we're learning tonight that the Trump administration is still blocking their efforts.
I want to bring in now, CNN senior political analyst, Kirsten Powers, and Mark McKinnon, a former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain. Hello. Also, I think his razor broke this week because he is not shaved. It's good -- it's good to see both of you.
Mark, so the Trump administration blocked Biden's transition team from meeting with their counterparts at Pentagon intelligence agency this week, this is not a game. They are monkeying around with our safety and with national security, am I wrong?
MARK MCKINNON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No question about it, I mean, they are acting as if the preservation of the president's ego is more important than the preservation of democracy. And these have real world consequences.
I mean, this is not, you know, the department of Christmas parties at the White House, this is our national defense, for goodness sake. And so, for them to be slow walking this is literally putting our country's security at risk just for the sake of making one person's ego happy.
[22:15:08]
LEMON: Yes. So, I ask you a question I've been asking you for the past, I think, what, four years now since you've been, or maybe five. I think I know the answer but I will let you. How can the GOP support this and are willing -- are they willing to own it?
MCKINNON: It's not the GOP anymore, Don, it's the Trump party. And I predicted before the election that he was going to run for 2024 and in an effort to maintain power over that coalition, to maintain a power that he has politically, which is substantial within the party, it has become his party.
So it's just clear to me that he is going to do all he can to disrupt the Biden Trump presidency just to continue the myth that this was stolen from him, and then he's going to want to serve the revenge and serve it cold and serve it in person.
LEMON: Well, Kirsten, every time I hear someone say, my gosh we have this evidence of voter fraud and look at this video and look at that. And I just say, OK, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it and then all of a sudden --
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
LEMON: -- a case is thrown out, the thing is debunked. It's like, what are they doing? I mean, even the Trump media they're giving all this false hope to these people who actually believe that January 20th or 21st, Donald Trump will still be the president and that is not going to happen and there is no widespread voter fraud and the election is not going to be overturned. I mean, what? What's going on?
POWERS: Well, but they're going to always think that President Trump really won, so he's not a loser, he's a winner. They're going to always believe that Democrats stole the election, that Joe Biden is not a legitimate president and President Trump has raised, now about $200 million off of this grift?
LEMON: Yes. Yesterday it was $205 million --
POWERS: Right. He has regular people --
LEMON: -- I think yesterday.
POWERS: Yes.
LEMON: A 207 million. Yes.
POWERS: Right. Largely from small donors, people who he is lying to and who are being told this completely false story and are sending money in that he can do pretty much anything that he wants with.
You know, it's really -- it is pretty mind-blowing but I think that there is -- there is a method to the madness and there is one person who benefits from it and that, of course is Donald Trump.
LEMON: But Kirsten --
POWERS: Mark was saying, though -- yes.
LEMON: Kirsten, I'll let you finish but, when do you -- when do you snap out of, you know, of the haze or the dream or whatever it is, the zombie mode after when one case after another keeps getting thrown out?
Yesterday, I heard over and over, well listen, Nevada is in court now, pay attention -- and then Nevada cases thrown out, and then Arizona the case is thrown out, and Georgia is thrown out. So, when do you wake up from your haze?
POWERS: I don't think -- I think I don't know that these people are necessarily in a haze, I think that they're consuming information that they are being fed that's completely false. And so, and the person that they trust is Donald Trump. And Donald Trump is telling them this and they don't trust anybody except Donald Trump or anybody who parrots what he says.
So, they are getting all of these -- they are believing the stories, like the stories that there were suitcases that were being pulled out from underneath the table and --
LEMON: That was debunked today.
POWERS; Right. And they get debunked but they never hear the part where it gets debunked. They only hear the part where that happened.
LEMON: Yes.
POWERS: And so, the people who I think are really responsible for this are the leaders and that's kind of the point of what Mark was saying about, you know, it's a party of Trump. This is such a counter factual and we'll never really know what could've happened, but is it possible that if Republicans and people at Fox News and the establishment had said, we are not going to go along with this, that maybe this wouldn't have happened? You know, that they have some responsibility that it's not just that
there is nothing that they can do because it's Donald Trump and he runs the party, I mean whose fault is that?
LEMON: Yes. Well, right on about that. Well, Mark, let's dig into this a little bit more because Joe Biden is going to -- he's going to need buy in from the other side, right, if he wants to get some things done and the president-elect the would not answer whether he had talked to the majority leader, Mitch McConnell about the coronavirus relief fund. Watch this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Mitch McConnell still hasn't even signed off yet on this compromise bill, what makes you so confident that you will be able to get Republicans to go big once you're in office?
BIDEN: Well, because the country is going to be in dire, dire, dire straits if they don't.
UNKNOWN: Have you reached out to Leader McConnell, have the two of you spoken yet?
BIDEN: We'll be in dire trouble if we don't get cooperation. I believe we will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Why -- why beat around the bush, why not just say yes or no, we haven't spoken or we have spoken? Why?
MCKINNON: Well, I think it's because Mitch McConnell is throwing up a wall. McConnell doesn't want to -- before the Georgia election, or certainly as long as he can slow walk this notion, that Joe Biden is the actual president.
[22:20:04]
So -- I think that Biden doesn't want to create a rift with McConnell but I am absolutely certain that McConnell --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: He doesn't want to play into it.
MCKINNON: Yes.
LEMON: He doesn't want to play into it.
MCKINNON: And listen, they've got a long history, I know Biden is counting on that historical relationship. Once this Georgia thing is passed and they've got Senate figured out, either way it goes, that relationship is going to be important for Biden.
So, you know, I don't think he wants to push it any further than he needs to, I don't think he wants to embarrass McConnell right now, which is, you know, which is a good thing for Biden to be doing. It's practical and it's politically smart.
LEMON: Excuse me. OK, speaking of practical, right, let's just look at the evidence here, Kirsten, and stay on this subject.
POWERS: OK.
LEMON: Because he -- it's a different Senate, I think, than when Joe Biden was there. It's a different Senate than even when he was vice president, OK. And when he was vice president, the Senate, not the same people, but many of the same people, refused to work with him. Right. Said that his boss or the president wasn't even born in this country, they said he was going to make him a one-term president. Right?
They refused to work with Obama. And then the last, over the last four years, still continuing to call, you know, them saying what they did was wrong, that they, you know, spied on them and they tapped him, whatever.
And then now, refusing to say that he is the president-elect of the United States. He beat Trump by more than seven million votes? But people still don't believe it? What makes him think that this his Senate is going to work with him. It would be great. I think it would be great he has to reach out. But is this a reality? Is that ever going to happen?
POWERS: I think that if you're Joe Biden, what other choice do you have? You have -- you know, if you're sitting where he's sitting, his attitude is, I'm going to have to try to make this work.
Up to this point, there haven't been many good faith efforts coming for Mitch McConnell or coming from the Republicans but because I have this long-standing relationship with them, because I've work with them, maybe we could do something different.
I don't know what else he can do. If he tries that and he doesn't get anywhere with it, then he may have to start going, you know, in other directions in which they will attack him for using executive orders and so on. But I do think that -- I understand that if you're Joe Biden, that this is what you do and this is fundamentally who Joe Biden is.
And so, what we have to wait and see, is he, is he really a man for this time, right? Is he the type of person that possibly could bring some type of bipartisanship into the country?
LEMON: Absolutely.
POWERS: And you know, and so I think if anybody can, it's probably him and that he's going to try to do that and as the president of the United States, he has the bully pulpit and a lot -- a lot of the job of the president of the United States is to change the way things operate, to change the way people think about things. And so, he's going to -- I think that's what he's going to try to do.
LEMON: That's what -- that is what he ran on. I don't know that's what seven million people voted for. Because we all remember what happened with Obama and Obama lost support. The core of the party was upset because they said, Mark, they are never going to work with you.
He continuously, in his first term, try to work with the Republicans and they kept stonewalling him and out of that frustration, that's what he had to do all these executive orders because they would not work -- they wouldn't work with him. So, what makes Joe Biden think that things are going to be different, Mark? I've got, quickly if you can.
MCKINNON: Because he's been there for 40 years, he knows a lot of those senators, he knows Republican senators, he's worked with them before, and I think given the stakes that once we get past the inauguration, there is going to be 10 Republican senators that will work with Biden.
LEMON: I hope you're right. I don't see it. I do not see it.
MCKINNON: I'm a prisoner of hope, a historian says that.
LEMON: I think I'm a glass half full person but I don't see it considering what we've been through for the past four years and the lack of reality that we are living in from a big part of this country who --
MCKINNON: Keep the faith, man. Carry on with --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: -- yes, three out of four Trump supporters --
MCKINNON: I'm hibernating meanwhile so I will come back --
LEMON: Good luck. Thank you, guys. We'll be right back.
MCKINNON: OK, Don.
[22:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: President-elect Joe Biden has said that he won't impose national mandates to wear a mask or get a COVID vaccine but he will encourage Americas to do so voluntarily. Do both of them. The question is, will people listen?
Let's talk now with Valerie Jarrett, the former adviser to President Barack Obama. It's good to see you, Valerie. Thank you so much. By the way, she is the author of a book" Finding My Voice." So, everybody, read that book. Thank you for joining us. It's good to see. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
VALERIE JARRETT, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Nice to be with you.
LEMON: So, you know Joe Biden. He's planning and ask the country to wear a mask for the first 100 days, and it won't be mandatory but it is a big test to see what kind of sway that he has with the American people don't you think?
JARRETT: Well, I do. And I only wish that President Trump had done the same thing when this pandemic first began. I think leadership is important, leadership from the top. I think the message that we have to follow the scientists. I was so heartened to hear the president- elect asked Dr. Fauci to stay on, and I think it will make a big impact. We just have to encourage all Americans to listen to the science and that's what he's going to do.
LEMON: Seventy-two percent of Americans, Valerie, say it bothers them when people around them in public do not wear masks. Maybe he's leading with something those people can get behind?
JARRETT: Well it sure bothers me, and I will say in New York, and you know this, Don, most people do wear masks, and perhaps it's because New York was so hard hit at the beginning of this pandemic. But I think pure pressure makes a big difference.
LEMON: Yes.
JARRETT: And I think everyone should encourage everyone they know to wear a mask, social distance, try to follow the science.
[22:30:01]
And so, I am encouraged by the tone and the message coming from President-elect Biden right now.
LEMON: Listen, I have family members who live in red states and they say that works, some people won't even wear masks. And when they call authorities about it, they say they don't even come. So, if you're not going to mandate that how do you -- how do you even change that?
JARRETT: Well, I think the tone does start at the top. Part of the reason why they don't wear masks that they haven't seen their president wearing mask. And so, I think modeling good behavior is important, pure pressure is important. And look, I think that red states, many of them not been touched early on, and now we're seeing it is ubiquitous, it's all across the country.
And people are telling their stories which is also important too. I've heard so many people, as I know have you, Don, who had said look, I didn't think this was serious, I watched the president he wasn't wearing mask, and now I know what it feels like. I've lost a loved one. I've been sick myself.
And what we have to do is to continue to tell those stories, not just from the top, but from every day Americans who did not follow the science and who have suffered the consequences of it. And I'm worried about our hospitals being overtaken by this. We know healthcare workers have been working now for months putting themselves in harm's way. And we just, we have no choice but not to give up. We just have to continue to set that tone and tell the story and encourage people to follow the science. LEMON: So, Valerie, the president-elect is getting pressure to
nominate people of color to top cabinet positions. I want you to watch this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: So, looking at attorney general and the Department of Defense, would you commit to nominating a person of color for those positions?
BIDEN: Look, it's each one of these groups jobs to push their leaders to make sure there's greater diversity. Well, I can promise you, is when all this is said and done, you'll see everyone that I've announced and there's going to be in the next several weeks we've it all out there. You're going to see significant diversity.
I'm not going to tell you know exactly what I'm doing in every department, but I promise you, it'll be the single most diverse cabinet based on race, color, based on gender, that's ever existed in the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): So, he wouldn't commit but what do you think? Should Biden name a person of color to attorney general or secretary of defense?
JARRETT: I think what he should do is just what he committed to do, which is what makes sure that his cabinet reflects a rich diversity of our country. He's already broken all kinds of records now in terms of putting women and people of color into key positions. And I know that he is true to his word.
And so, I think we ought to give him time to fill out that cabinet. I don't blame him for not committing up front to what he's going to do. Given what he's already demonstrated and what he's committed to do by the very end.
And so, I encourage people to continue to push, but please know, I know Joe Biden so well and I am confident that he is going to stay true to his word and his coalition, the rainbow coalition, if you will, of his cabinet will reflect the diversity of our country, and he's gotten off to a really good start.
LEMON: Valerie Jarrett, it's always a pleasure. Have a great weekend. Thank you so much.
JARRETT: You're welcome, Don. Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you. it's always a. So, I really want you to hear my next guest. I want you to hear this interview. I met a man today who said what a lot of people have wanted to say about this pandemic and how it has been handled. He had to say it, he had to in his father's obituary, just think about that. And hear from him next.
[22:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Every night for about 10 months now, I have been reporting on the relentless toll of deaths from the coronavirus. Every night I read numbers, number of cases, number of deaths, number of hospitalizations, number of ICU beds.
And that's why I really want you to pay attention to my next guest. My next guest is a man who never wanted to be on the news, certainly not now and not for this reason. And here's the reason.
The obituary he wrote for his father. Marvin James Farr of Scott City, Kansas, so honest, so direct that it cannot be ignored the way so many people seem to be ignoring all those numbers.
Marvin died on Tuesday at the age of 81 after being in isolation since Thanksgiving. His son Courtney wrote this. He was born into an America recovering from the Great Depression and about to face World War II. Times of loss and sacrifice, difficult for most of us to imagine.
Americans would be asked to ration essential supplies and send their children around the world to fight and die in wars of unfathomable destruction. And he died in a world where many of his fellow Americans refuse to wear a piece of cloth on their face to protect one another.
Joining me now is Marvin's son, Courtney Farr. Courtney, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining us. I'm sorry for your loss. Tell me how you're doing right now?
COURTNEY FARR, FATHER DIED OF COVID: Thank you, Don. I'm happy to be here. You know, I'm doing OK, I think as best as I can. It's been a whirlwind a few days. It's certainly not how I expected to spend the first few days after my father's death. I've been, you know, had absolutely deluge of really positive and kind of wonderful messages but I never expected his obituary to reach so many people.
LEMON: Yes. I want to talk more about that. Let me read it and then more from what you wrote and then we can talk more about the obituary. You said, he was preceded in death by more than 260,000 Americans infected by COVID-19. He died in a room not his own, being cared for by people dressed in confusing and frightening ways. He died with COVID-19 and his final days were harder, scarier and lonelier than necessary. He was not surrounded by friends and family.
So many friends and healthcare workers have talked about the isolation suffered by the victims of the virus. Is knowing that the hardest part for you, Courtney?
[22:40:02]
FARR: It was definitely one of the hardest parts. When my mother passed away, about two years ago, I was able to sit with her and that was the first time I've ever sat with someone as they passed and I was able to hold her hand and press her face. I was able to be present with her, and I was able to spend hours sitting with her at the end. And I was able to comfort her the same way that she had comforted me so many times in my life. And with my father, we couldn't do that because he was in isolation.
LEMON: Yes. And of course, it's hard for him and for any of the patients when they being alone and being ill and then sadly dying by yourself without your loved ones, that's awful.
FARR: Absolutely. You know, I think we always think, with someone, we don't want someone to be alone at the end. And my father wasn't -- there was a staff member there with him, and I can never express enough thanks to know that there was another human present with him when he passed.
But that gets into, I think, these deaths are not just tragic or traumatic for the families or the patients, but it's also for the healthcare workers. We were able to say goodbye to my father the morning before he passed. We did it over a video call and I'm glad I got to see him one last time to tell him how much I love him, how much he mattered to me, but in that moment what you want to be able to do is you want to be able to reach out and hold his hand to touch him, to spend as much time with him as you can.
And with patients in isolation wards, you know, it's not safe, there is no way to do that, and so we make do the best we can. But it doesn't mean it's not tragic --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes. And you want to have some human contact. But listen, I think it's important also to talk about, because you said your father was an older gentleman.
FARR: Yes.
LEMON: You said he had dementia, and people -- you said it upsets you when people say well, he was old and he had dementia, so you know, go on, explain that to me.
FARR: Yes. You know, I think one of the things that I've seen mention so much this year, people who want to dismiss this disease is that, well it's elderly who are dying, you know, they were sick, they were probably going to die anyways, that doesn't mean that these deaths aren't tragic and it doesn't mean that they have to die the way that they are.
My father did have dementia. It was confusing that these nurses he's known for three years are suddenly, you know, in different gear and different face masks, different face shields and different gowns. It's hard for him to track that. And sorry, I just had to take a little moment there.
It's -- so when I see people say that it's OK that he dies, it dismisses so much of the experience of his death. Because it's tragic and it's dramatic for him that he is in this place that he's struggling to understand, it's tragic and traumatic for us the family that we can't be there with him, we can't help ease his transition.
And then it's tragic and traumatic for the healthcare workers who are caring for him. In this case, my father had lived in this nursing home for three years, the staff there knew him. They liked him, they cared about him, they had affection for him and the last thing they want to see is one of their residents suffer in isolation the way he did. They want the families to be present, you know, their job is to aid their residents and their families as much as possible. And they keep that situation.
LEMON: Well, I also think it's also dismissive of his life as well to say, he's going to die anyway, that's dismissive, not only of his life but the people whose lives who care for him. Right? Because you have a connection with him.
FARR: Yes.
LEMON: You get a lot of support, but some people online are accusing you of making his death political, but you say the reality is, that his death was political. Because he died as part of a national crisis, is that why you wrote this?
FARR: Absolutely. I think the reason I wrote that obituary in many ways was for myself, you know, because I couldn't be with him, I had days of worry, you know, where I am, I'm stuck at home because I can't be there. And so, I channel a lot of that fear and sorrow and anger and frustration into writing his obituary and writing an obituary that was, you know, still honoring him, still honoring his experiences of who he was.
[22:44:53]
But his death is political. You know, it is when our local city councils, when our state legislatures, when they are refusing to enact policies that can protect people, they've made political decisions that result in people like my father dying over there.
LEMON: You are -- your father was a veterinarian and you write in his obituary this, and I thought this is very important, you said, the science that guided his professional life has been disparaged and abandoned by so many of the same people who dependent -- depended on his knowledge to care for their animals and to raise their food.
How is it made you feel that so many people are denying basic science when it comes to fighting this virus?
FARR: It's very strange to me, because I feel like the time and place I grew up, our medical professionals were held in such deep respect. The doctors and nurses and veterinarians in my home town where people who were universally thought to be some of the most important members of our community.
And now I see a community where the same people who are putting their own lives at risk to try and protect and save members of my town. I see where they are attacked on social media. And it's unfathomable to me. It violates everything I feel like I learned growing up about decency and care for others. Those are lessons that I learned from my father. LEMON: Well, I want to, when I said it was dismissive us of his life
and is dismissive of your life and the people who love him, I want to put up this picture right now. It's a picture of you sleeping on your father's chest when you were just a baby, and you wrote it on Facebook that you and your father didn't always see eye to eye, and that you are going to miss arguing with him, but the love is always going to be there. Right?
FARR: Right.
LEMON: Listen, I've lost family members and family members don't get along, that's what families do. Right?
FARR: Yes.
LEMON: But it doesn't mean that you don't love them and you won't miss them. So, but the love is going to be there and the memories forever.
(CROSSTALK)
FARR: Absolutely. That's one of my favorite pictures of my father. Period. It's such a beautiful picture and it's both he and I at peace which is often, you know, it's one of the best things that we can hope for.
LEMON: Well, Courtney, you are a very brave man to come on and to write what you wrote and I thank you so much. I'm so sorry for your loss, you be strong and take care, and keep standing up doing the right thing.
FARR: Thank you, sir. I appreciate that.
LEMON: Thank you.
FARR: Thank you.
LEMON: We'll be right back.
[22:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON (on camera): Take this. With coronavirus vaccinations on the brink of getting underway, Black Panther star Letitia Wright is under fire for sharing an anti-vax video. She tweeted a link to a now deleted video on YouTube featuring a host with no medical background, making all kinds of bogus claims about the safety of coronavirus vaccines.
Well, among his completely unscientific comments saying that people who take vaccines will have to hope it doesn't make extra limbs grow. Wright deleted her tweet after the backlash. First saying if you don't conform to popular opinions you get canceled. And later, that her only intention was to raise concerns about what we're putting in our bodies. So, with all due respect to Wright, this is not about being canceled.
This is about education. It's about clearing up concerns that people may genuinely have. We've seen our president attempt to use his office to try to fast-track a vaccine for his own reelection purposes.
People of color know all too well about America's history of racism in medical research like the Tuskegee experiment where black men were left to die to study the progress of syphilis. But we need to cut through those fears and get to the current facts. Facts like just how deadly this virus is for black and brown people which Joe Biden made clear today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Blocks and Latinos are three times as likely to die if they get COVID-19, and so the communities of color -- it's a mass casualty event. And so, we got to figure out how we make sure we get the vaccine to those communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): And while we got these vaccines in record time under a president who only seem to care about how they affected his political fortunes, the data shows that they are safe and effective. Take it from the taken nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci who said this tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Was it too fast? No, because we had technological advances that allowed us to do things in weeks to months that would've normally taken several years. That didn't compromise any safety, it didn't compromise any scientific integrity.
The decision of whether or not a vaccine is safe and effective, the public has to know, it's not made by the administration, it's not made by the company, it's made by an independent data safety monitoring board.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): So, the truth is, how quickly we can get past this pandemic depends on how many of us get vaccinated. It's why presidents -- former Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton are volunteering to get their vaccines publicly to prove it is safe.
Help can't come soon enough. Today marks the fourth day of record numbers of hospitalizations and more than 2,200 deaths have been reported today alone. Stay with us.
[22:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON (on camera): The coronavirus pandemic spiraling out of control in this country, it is the number one cause of death this week. And experts warn that we haven't even seen the post-Thanksgiving spike yet. More than 203,000 cases reported just today. And President-elect Joe Biden warning the country will be in dire straits if Congress fails to pass a new relief bill soon.
Joining me now is CNN's White House correspondent John Harwood, staff writer for the new Yorker, Susan Glasser, and CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein. Good evening one and all.
John, you first. The U.S. setting a new record -- setting new records for the number of people hospitalized with coronavirus almost daily we're doing this. More than 222 Americans have already been reported dead today.
Our president-elect is warning that this crisis is going to get worse. President Trump is planning a mass rally though, what is going on?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I got to say, Don, I think President Trump and many of his followers come by their disbelief in science, honestly, that is to say they actually don't believe in the science.
[23:00:04]
Yes, there is some degree of political act going on.
