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Don Lemon Tonight

Biden And Harris To Be Sworn Into Office In A Few Hours; President Trump Saying He's Decided To Pardon Steve Bannon; Trump Era Comes To An End Tomorrow; Joe Biden's Inauguration Amid Threats; Biden Mourns 400,000 Americans Lost To COVID; McConnell Says Capitol Mob Was Provoked By Trump. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired January 19, 2021 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST (on camera): Trump leaves office at high noon. He will not attend Biden's inauguration.

Let's get to the breaking news. CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins us the very first at the top of this hour to tell us about this Bannon pardon, because if the president wanted to redeem himself at all after the riot at the Capitol and that MAGA mob. Kaitlan, this isn't going to do it?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, and this is significant, because it's such a change of mind from where we are told the president was over the weekend.

But my colleague Pam Brown and I are now told that the president is telling people that he has decided to pardon Steve Bannon until officials have cautions and said, you know, it's not final until his final, and the president has actually put his name on the paperwork for Steve Bannon's pardon.

But he is telling people, this is the decision he's made. It's going to be one of his final acts in office Don, pardoning the former top aide to him who had a massive falling out with, but in the end, they came back together over the president's lies about the election. Because Steve Bannon helped the president pushed this, he talked about that rally, promoted that January 6th rally.

Of course now, that lives in infamy. He's going to be talked about for years to come, given it preceded that riot of the president supporters on Capitol Hill. You noted just a few moments ago, the other charges that Steve Bannon is facing, because he's accused of defrauding people out of money that they donated to a private group to build the president's long promise border wall.

And so, this is just notable and the fact that the president had so many ups and downs with Steve Bannon, but he's had so many ups and downs over what to do in just the last 36 hours alone. You know, this is how the president is spending his last day in office. Talking about whether or not he should pardon Steve Bannon.

And so, it appears at this late night hour that this is a final decision he has made. He has told people that this is what he's going to pursue. And it's just incredibly notable also given the fact that Steve Bannon was someone who was once excommunicated from the White House after of course he was quoted in that book talking about Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, trashing them repeatedly. And let the president put out a statement saying that Steve Bannon had lost his mind.

Well, now he has gained a pardon it appears and we're waiting for this official White House released. But Don, this is what the president is telling people that he has decided to do now.

LEMON: So much for joining the swamp, Kaitlin has got more reporting to you. Kaitlan, we will see you when you get new reporting, thank you very much that I appreciate it.

Laura Coates is here, is our legal expert on CNN, someone we rely upon every single day. Laura, when you think about this as it so much for joining the swamp and you look at -- Steve Bannon's possible -- he's involvement possibly, in inciting or helping with that riot that happened at the Capitol. And then the charges of ripping people off of millions of dollars who donated money to the border wall. And now a pardon at this late hour?

LAURA COATES, CNN INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ANALYST (on camera): It seems that old adage the enemy of my enemy becomes my friend. You have the president with the walls closing around him. The public support in a number of noted Republicans was seeming to lane. And now somebody he who relied on from November until now trying to help his bid to have the election overturned is now getting essentially his just desserts, according to Trump. If it's true.

But remember, this is also somebody who played a very big role in the Mueller probe as well. Somebody who also was subpoenaed to testify against Roger Stone. And so really it's a little bit odd if you think about the track record of the president United States and his treatment towards somebody like Michael Cohen who he believed to be a rat and was persona non grata.

But yet the person who cooperated and was interviewed more than three times by the Mueller probe and although he was not a voluntary witness against Roger Stone has some role in that as well is apparently now being able to come back into the inner circle.

And it's really odd because the last time we saw Donald Trump giving a speech was at a wall, a border wall. Trying to sing its praises and talk about it as a feather in his cap, and yet the person who was in a position to fatally undermine the credibility even more so of the presidents wall involvement, is now getting a pardon.

It's really a surreal moment but I guess for someone like Steve Bannon, it's one that he probably has wished for since he failed to really go full throttle against the president after that book quote, Kaitlin talked about.

LEMON: And talk about using people and as much as the president has been you know, getting people to donate money to his stop the steal, this false election allegation. Steve Bannon was a Hollywood producer with tons of money. And then, you know, this accusation now even more disturbing with someone like that. And then also you remember right before he was charge, pictures of him on a yacht and all kinds of things.

Laura, I want you to standby, because I want to bring some folks in. Laura, thank you very much. Let's bring in now, John Harwood, Kirsten Powers and Elie Honig. Elie, welcome back. Good evening to the both of you. So Elie, so, you know, we wait to see if Bannon's pardon is official, if it comes to it, right? Who else is looking for a pardon tonight? And we don't have all night, so just give us.

[23:05:00]

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST (on camera): Yes, I think the line is winding down Pennsylvania Avenue, Don, it's a last-minute rush.

LEMON: It's like a COVID testing line.

HONIG: Right. Look, Bannon is a terrible start for how this is going to go. I mean, look, there's already been reporting Donald Trump is not going to cross that line and try to pardon himself or his family members. I think he's very cognizant of the fact that he has a Senate impeachment trial ahead. And if he goes too far, there is going to be some Republican Senators who are right on the fence there and it could push him over.

I hope he does not pardon Rudy Giuliani. I mean, that has been the prior reporting but if he is not pardoning Bannon, I mean, he's going down that road again. But I think what we are going to see here Don, for the most part is wealthy well connected people, working back channels, cashing in that access for one last payoff.

LEMON: Yes. Let's talk about this, John, because there's a reporting that I got on Sunday and I had to put it in the political playbook is that, Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, have been there trying to talk the president out of pardoning the most egregious people, the people with the most egregious offensive -- offenses. It would appear, at least that didn't work when it comes to Steve Bannon or maybe they didn't think what he is accused of that is so egregious.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Look, we will see if he eventually pardons Steve Bannon, but if he is accurately describe what he is going to do to other people, as Kaitlan has just reported. This is a perfect illustration of what we are leaving and what we are getting as president. There is no right or wrong to this pardon. There's no legal justification. There's no person here who committed an offense is remorseful for it, served his time and is deserving of a pardon.

This is somebody who is accused of defrauding Trump's own followers to fulfill build this ridiculous -- fulfill this ridiculous wall promise that Trump has not fulfilled. And the reason that he is giving him a pardon is because Bannon joined him in lying about the election. Lies that resulted in this deadly insurrection. We are about to replace in a little bit more than 12 hours, lies with

honesty. Immorality with decency. Incompetence with competence. And you know, this is a perfect illustration of it. This is not something that Joe Biden would do under any circumstance and in a few hours we are going to have a president who would not do it.

LEMON: Kirsten, it is a perfect book end if you really look at it, right? The lie of the wall, right. Which most of what they say the wall that has been constructed is really replacement fencing, right. And then, you had the lie of the steal at the end.

So, as John just said, he never got the wall, which was his signature promise. And then the signature promise at the end of his presidency was that, we won. And we are going to show them that we won and we are going to win this in court. Lost that too.

So, he is going to pardon someone who lied about the wall and took money and then possibly pardons someone at the end -- people at the end of his presidency who helped him lie and also grift off of people again for raising money to stop the steal. It is an unbelievable book beginning and end to the era and presidency.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): Yes, and yet totally believable. And what are they raising money for anyway because Mexico was supposed to pay for the wall, right? So, I mean, that was really his biggest campaign promise of all of his campaign promises, that he was going to build this wall.

So, you know, I think that Donald Trump, to the extent you can get inside his head, the only thing that you ever need to think about him is that he just does what's good for Donald Trump.

So, this was good for Donald Trump in some way. You know, it could be simple as the fact that he supported his you know, claims about the election bestowing. It could be because he believes he is going to be helpful to him in his post-presidential ambitions. Whatever it is --

LEMON: It's always transactional, Kirsten. Yes.

POWERS: It has nothing to do with the merits of the case. It has nothing to do with what is good for the country. You know, this is not what pardons are meant for. They are not meant to be handed out to your cronies, who have broken the law. That is not what they are for. So, you know, but that is what Donald Trump did, because that is who Donald Trump is.

LEMON: Yes. John, I want to get back to you, because you mentioned what is going to happen you said in 12 hours or so. You know, who are going to be elected, Biden's speech tomorrow is expected to focus on unity. Is there anything that he can say that would really make a difference to all of the people who believe this Trump and his apologists and whacko lies?

HARWOOD: No. Probably not to those people. Although Trump -- Joe Biden has the best possible array of personal qualities and experiences to appeal to a broad range of Americans. But there are Republicans who are potentially available to him who do not believe those lies.

[23:10:02]

If you look at the Quinnipiac Polls that came out this week, you've got anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of Republicans who either disapprove of Trump or believe that Biden was legitimately elected or believe that white supremacy was involved in the insurrection at the Capitol or support the impeachment and conviction of President Trump.

There are some Republicans, and it doesn't take all that many to make a president more broadly popular and also put some pressure on Republican members of Congress. Joe Biden starts, of course with control of both the House and Senate.

He needs a unified Democratic Party. But there may be opportunities for him to pick off small numbers of Republicans and move an agenda forward, an agenda, by the way that is very well pitched right now to some of those white working-class voters that Donald Trump had.

That is to say the large amounts of money he wants to spend on COVID relief in a very practical way are things that have the potential to get the conversation to economics and away from values and issues like immigration. Joe Biden has a better chance of expanding his support.

LEMON: Another question for Kirsten here. The vice president, the current Vice President Pence. Not expected to attend Trump's departure ceremony tomorrow. But he will attend Biden's inauguration. Does that speak to just how damaging the last few weeks have been for Trump?

And listen, Pence stood by Donald Trump to the very end. You know, even, you know, meeting with him. You know, it is not like he changed his mind. He is just attending the event. But that is how far that we have come.

POWERS: Yes. It is. But I think that -- you know, it had that not happened would Pence have done anything differently. And so, yes, absolutely that was a horrific day in our nations' history. But the last four years have been completely horrific also.

And so, for people who start to distance themselves now, you know, I do not know if they are doing it because they were just horrified by what happened or if they are doing it because they realized they can't be associated with that for their own good, right? For their own political good.

And so, you know, I think there is certainly a sense on the left. I know a lot of people who will chafe at this idea of unity. Because it is an idea that all of these things happen in the last four years and the Republicans went along with it and now everyone is supposed to just act like none of this happened. Right? It really can't be unity until there's de-accountability and its held people take responsibility for what they have done.

And I don't think Mike Pence just gets to skip the going away of Donald Trump and go to the inauguration and everything is fine. Right? I mean, I think that there has to be some reckoning around what has happened --

LEMON: Someone's accountability.

POWERS: -- and whether Republicans have done. I mean, none of this would have happened. None of this would had happened. You don't have what happened at the Capitol without the enabling of the Republicans, without them going along with this charade that there was a fraud. I mean, you wouldn't -- this just never could have occurred without the Republican Party enabling it.

LEMON: I liken it to, and have, when you know, the plane gets to the gate and people starts taking off their seatbelt before the light goes off. (Inaudible) my gosh, you are so brave. I can't believe that you did it. You took your seatbelt off as we were at the gate. How brave of you. Thank you. Kirsten. Thank you, Jonathan for the politics angle and thank you Elie for the legal aspect. We appreciate that.

I want to bring in now former Democratic Congressman, Cedric Richmond. He is the co-chair of both the presidential inaugural committee and Biden/Harris transition. And tomorrow, he is going to become a White House senior advisor and the director of the office of public engagement.

Congratulations Cedric. Thank you so much. I appreciate you joining us. How are you feeling tonight?

FMR. REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND (D-LA): Well, thank you for having me, Don. Look, I feel good. I mean it has been a long journey. It's been over two years for that very core group that came together after Charlottesville and the Vice President -- President-Elect determined that he had enough. And that he was watching democracy destroyed and he was watching an unfit president ruin the country that he loves so much.

So, tomorrow is the ending of it at 12:00. We will see a changing of the guard. And I think for a lot of people in the country, it's good riddance. And for the rest of the people in the country, they can get a good night sleep without worrying about whether we are going to go to war, based on Twitter. Whether people are going to be bullied.

And so, tomorrow we start the hard work of trying to get our arms around this pandemic, create jobs, fight systemic racism. Fight climate change. Environmental justice. Do something about immigration and DACA. And you know, so we have our hands full. So, we are excited about tomorrow, but then we have to go to work.

LEMON: Well, let's talk a little bit more about that. I had the pleasure of speaking with Jen Psaki on Sunday and she talked to me about what is ahead, how tight the president's -- he will be president by tomorrow, President Biden's schedule will be tomorrow.

[23:15: 12]

That there's going to be a press briefings as soon as he inaugurated. And then, you know, press briefings that come five days a week. Weekdays after that. But the Biden team has just released a daily schedule first day in office. Executive orders, 5:15 swearing in, 5:45 p.m. press briefings, 7:00 p.m. hitting the ground running. What else can we expect week one? Tell us about tomorrow.

RICHMOND: Well, tomorrow, is still executive orders. You know, getting rid of the Muslim ban, rejoining the World Health Organization, Paris Climate Accord, doing something on systemic racism. So, all of those things that he articulated as pillars to his platform and reasons for why his running. He's doing some action on them tomorrow. And he will keep doing it as the week progresses, but we are going to have a busy week.

And look, we have to make sure that we get these vaccinations in the arms of Americans, so that we can protect America. Look, we can't open up the economy fully.

We can't recover. We can't do anything to fight all of these economic pain that our families are going through until we get our arms around the pandemic. And so that is our day one job and we want to get 100,000 -- 100 million vaccinations in the arms of Americans. So, that is in the first 100 days.

LEMON: What is the incoming president's -- incoming President Biden's mindset tonight. He is very emotional earlier. He must be feeling the weighed of these challenges ahead of him. It is not like the White House is new to him. But now he is the one at the top of the ticket and it really all rest in his hands.

RICHMOND: Well, look, I can't speak for him on that. I can just give you my thought process. You are talking about a man who won, it is never about him, and it's always about other people. It's the same way with the Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.

It's not about them, it's not about their egos. This is about the American people. It's about moving lives forward. But if we just fast forward to Joe Biden, you are talking about a man who run for president three times and he lost twice. And this time he wasn't intended on running but decided he had to run.

And as we look back on it, he was the only candidate that could beat Donald Trump. He is the right man for the right time to heal this country. And I believe he is the only one that could do it. I think that this team with Biden/Harris is the only team that can right this shift and direct this country in the right ways.

So, I just think that, you know, we are kind of wrapping our arms around the idea that wow. We did it. But we saved the democracy. We saved the United States of America. And so that is an awesome responsibility. And now going to face a pandemic that took the lives of over 400,000 Americans is a serious job.

LEMON: You know, this is going to be an inauguration like no other. You had been playing a key role and planning tomorrow's event. And you know, we have spoken on the air about what is the inauguration going to look like? What is should be like? So, take us forward. What can we expect? RICHMOND: Look, I think that you have a beautiful backdraft. But more

importantly I think you are going to see a lot of substance. You are not going to see a president up there blowing his own horn. You are not going to see a president tomorrow arguing about crowd size. You are not going to see a president tomorrow --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: As a matter of fact, Jen Psaki -- you can confirm this. Jen Psaki said, they very proud that we're going to have the smallest crowd size, because we don't want people to come to Washington to put their health in jeopardy, because it's the middle of a pandemic.

So there will be no bragging about crowd size. This isn't about whose crowds is bigger, maybe it's about whose crowd is smaller, because it's important that the crowd be small. Sorry to interrupt.

RICHMOND: Well, we are going to have the safest crowd. But look, Don, you all made fun of us during the campaign and I'm not picking with you, but it is true. Everybody made fun of us because we scaled down our rallies, we had peoples in cars and we didn't let a lot of people in because Joe Biden -- it wasn't about him feeding his ego.

LEMON: I never made fun, I don't recall anyone on CNN making fun of you. I'm sure there are others and conservative media that did that, yeah.

RICHMOND: Well, maybe he didn't do it on air, maybe you just text me and made fun of us.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, but there were people who made fun of us for how we are doing, it, but again I think it just shows who Joe Biden is. A person who cares about other people safety, more than himself. And so that's why tomorrow is going to be, tomorrow is going to be a day to really put this in focus and let the American people know that we care about them, more than we care about just being a new administration.

[23:10:00]

And we want to do the hard work of improving their lives and so that's what it's about. So, I think tomorrow, you are going to see that refreshing feel of, you know what? I'm important again, the government cares about me. And so, that's the goal of it.

And I think that Joe Biden will deliver that message tomorrow. And I think when you see Kamala Harris and all of her activities tomorrow, she's going to do an outstanding job. Look, it is a dynamic duo, a dream team, and I just can't wait till we start governing.

LEMON: (BEEP) (BEEP). That's me honking my horn.

(LAUGHTER)

Did you get it? If you got it, you got it right?

RICHMOND: Yes. You know what.

LEMON: I'm happy that people are honking horns. We're going to miss the horn honking. You should probably bring it back tomorrow. Have some people honk their horns at the Capitol. Thank you, Cedric, in all seriousness thank you very much. I appreciate it. Good luck, and I'll see you soon, be well ok?

RICHMOND: Thank you Don.

LEMON: Thank you. The nation's capital under an unprecedented lockdown with Joe Biden's inauguration just hours away. What we are learning about the investigation, in the effort to secure the peaceful transfer of power.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:25:00]

LEMON: Washington D.C. the Nation's Capital on lockdown on the eve of Joe Biden's inauguration. New fencing up, roads and bridges are shutdown, 25,000 National Guardsmen are swarming the Capitol, but 12 army National Guard members have been removed from inauguration duty in Washington D.C. as part of the security vetting process. All this as prosecutors have filed the first significant conspiracy charge in the Capitol attack.

Let's discuss now, CNN's senior justice correspondent is Evan Perez. He joins us and CNN's crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz here with me as well. Gentlemen, good evening to you. I hope that you are being safe there. Shimon, you first, the latest on the security situation where you are.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER (on camera): So, we are on K street here, actually Don. Let me show you behind me here. This is going to be one of the screening areas where people will be able to come in through the day tomorrow. Behind here is actually where Joe Biden is staying, some blocks from here is Blair House and then behind that is the White House and then to the left of us here, you are going to see more fencing.

This is normally an open street, Don. There is fencing all along this streets here and military presence. You see some of it behind me, but there's even more military presence here along this road here. This is all around downtown here in Washington D.C.

Obviously, the concern is that you have concerns over insider threats, you have other concerns here that perhaps some of the people who were here during the insurrection are going to try and come back here to try and do something else. So, security remains extremely tight. And we are going to see even tighter security come tomorrow, Don.

LEMON: Evan Perez, to you now, prosecutors are filing their first significant conspiracy charge in the Capitol attack. New details are emerging about the level of coordination in the invasion of the Capitol. Just a little under two weeks ago. What do you know?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That is right, Don. And we heard a couple of weeks ago from Mike Sherwin, the U.S. Attorney here in D.C. That one of the things they were looking at is to try to bring sedition charges. And so and one of the things that you see emerging in these court documents is that they are taking steps towards that goal.

And we see these first conspiracy charges against three people who are members of these group called the oath keepers that say, an anti- government right-wing paramilitary group. They were big presence inside the Capitol that the names of those people charge today jointly Thomas Caldwell, Donovan Crowl and Jessica Watkins.

And according to prosecutors they moved, lead a group of about 10 people, they moved in an organized and practiced fashion. Clearly showing off some of the military training and tactics that they apparently had practice. In the case of Watkins, she was a leader of a group in Ohio and according to prosecutors she had printed out instructions on how to make explosives out of bleach.

Here is some of the communications that they were using when they were inside the Capitol as they were trying to figure out where they were going. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: We are in the main dome right now. We are rocking it. They are throwing grenades. They are freaking shooting people with paintballs but we are in here.

UNKNOWN: Be safe. God Bless and Godspeed and keep going.

UNKNOWN: Get it, Jess. Do your f--king thing. This is what -- up for. Everything we -- trained for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): God. These idiots, but go on. Sorry.

PEREZ: You can hear them Don, talking about how this is what we trained for. Yes, exactly I mean, the FBI has been able to retrieve some of these communications, obviously some of these people were very happy and boastful about what they did. They post it on Facebook. And now, this is making this way its way into these court documents, over 100 people have been charged.

LEMON: Whenever I just hear from these people, this is my brother Daryl and my other brother Daryl. Thank you both, I appreciate it.

President Trump about to leave the White House after years of racist rhetoric. What a Biden administration means for people of color in this country, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Twelve years ago, I was waiting at the train station in Wilmington for a black man to pick me up on our way to Washington, where we were sworn in as president and vice president of the United States of America.

And here we are today, my family and I, about to return to Washington to meet a Black woman of South Asian descent to be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: As I told Beau on that station waiting for Barack and Hunter and Ashley, I said, don't tell me things can't change, they can and they do. That's America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): That's America. Joe Biden is reflecting on the idea of change as he left Delaware this afternoon for Washington, where his new administration will usher in major historic change in America when he becomes the 46th president of the United States.

Just before noon, Kamala Harris raises her right hand and becomes the first woman to occupy the office of vice president. She is the first woman of color, the first Black American, the first American of South Asian descent to be VP.

So I want to bring in CNN political commentators Bakari Sellers and Ana Navarro, two of my favorites. Hey y'all. What's up? How are y'all doing?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What's up?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: What's up? What's up?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: How are you?

LEMON: Umm --

NAVARRO: How are you, best-selling author?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Stop it.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Come on. Stop it.

NAVARRO: Both of you.

LEMON: Stop it. Yeah, best-selling author -- umm -- roll it back. I want to make sure I get Bakari's book right.

[23:35:00]

LEMON: It is called -- it's a memoir. "My Vanishing Country." There it is right now, by Bakari Sellers.

SELLERS: Congratulations to you, too, Don. I'm excited about your book.

LEMON: Thank you.

SELLERS: Congratulations, brother.

LEMON: Thank you very much. I can't wait to have conversations and talk to with you, guys.

NAVARRO: You guys are going to force me to find a book on you.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: You have to, Ana.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: But Bakari, let me start with you. Umm, it has been -- listen, we've -- we have commiserated about this on air and off. For people of color, the Trump era has been so intense. I'm not sure if people realized how tough it has been for us, especially for people working in our profession to, you know, sit here and have to cover it every single day. How are you feeling tonight, as this is ending?

SELLERS: Well, I mean, I am -- I'm hopeful. I think Joe Biden encapsulated that correctly. I think that what we saw over the last four years, I think a lot of my friends on the left abused the notion of racism sometimes when they think that Donald Trump invented it. He did not.

But what Donald Trump did do was, when you think about Charlottesville, when you think about the insurrection on January 6th, the most unique thing about those incidents was that they didn't wear hoods, they didn't wear masks.

And so I remember -- I'm old enough to remember when it wasn't cool to be racist. But now they are emboldened. Now, they don't have the hoods. They have Brooks Brothers' suits. They're in loan offices. They have their own TV shows. That is Donald Trump's America. And so tomorrow, we get to turn the page on that.

But I'm also very sober, literally and figuratively, because of the fact that we realized that even tomorrow, when the clock strikes 12, people of color in this country still have so many issues. I mean, we have kids in South Carolina without broadband. We have kids who at 13 years old have never seen a dentist. They have to, you know, take free and reduced lunch from their schools back home to feed their little brothers and sisters.

We have real work to do. So I am very sober about what is ahead. But I am hopeful, because now the White House looks like what the country should be.

LEMON: I do have to say that yes, the people at the capital and Charlottesville, that's the obvious in this. None of it surprised me because, you know, I grew up in Louisiana (INAUDIBLE) would pass out, you know, literature on weekends in front of my high school. So this is like I have seen that before a lot, so it is not a surprise to me.

But it is not just -- those are the people that you expect. But there are people who are supposedly our allies, even liberals, right, who allowed some of this, who didn't see it, who didn't believe us, who judge us when we talk about it. We were too sensitive or we couldn't do our jobs as journalists of color because we, you know -- quote, unquote -- "weren't being objective" when we actually saw -- no, this is just plain old racism.

Ana, what do you think the impact has been and how long will it last? Because this genie of racism and white supremacy has been led (ph) right back out of the bottle, and not that we thought it had gone away, but at least, as Bakari said, it was sort of undercover, right? It wasn't cool to be outwardly racist.

NAVARRO: You know, Don, I've been surprised by myself today. I have been a mush ball. I have been an emotional mess. And I think seeing Joe Biden, hearing Joe Biden, the empathy in his voice, the humanity, the ability to cry, the ability to feel grief, to embrace America in its moment of being wounded, and after four years of having a pugilistic relationship with a president who has attacked us personally, attacked the media --

SELLERS: Right.

NAVARRO: -- but, you know, honestly, think about -- think about how we have felt for the last four years and then think about the (INAUDIBLE) kids who don't know if and when they were going to get deported, whose lives have been hanging by a thread. Think about all those black and brown children who get bullied at school and who have seen, you know, the racism and having to explain it to little children.

So what we feel is nothing, I think, in comparison, because we've got platforms. We -- I've got citizenship. I've got a voice. And I've been surprised by how emotional today has made me.

When I heard Joe Biden talk about his son, Beau, you lost a sister, Don. I lost a brother. We know what it's like for a parent to bury a child. His ability to talk about that, I think, is something that touched all of us so deeply.

And then in that ceremony today at the mall, the first thing he did when he landed in Washington was go mark and commemorate the deaths of the people who died of COVID, who have been over proportionately black and brown. And the cabinet -- look, I remember the last time the three of us were together on this show. You guys were being very tough, and I said let's wait until the end to make our judgment.

LEMON: Well, let me -- Ana --

NAVARRO: That cabinet, beautiful (INAUDIBLE).

[23:40:00]

LEMON: I've got to get this in because I think this is really important and it is outrageous. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent out a tweet today saying, multiculturalism is un-American, wide identity politics to the very end.

I guess he doesn't think that, you know, Italians with last names like Pompeo, were welcomed here and brought their --

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: -- brought their culture, Bakari. I mean, it -- what -- WT -- you know what. What the hell?

SELLERS: Why are we so -- I mean, this is rhetorical, but why are we surprised by Mike Pompeo? I mean, we are a day after we celebrated --

LEMON: I agree, but we can his behind out.

SELLERS: Oh, we are. I mean, it's racist. And, you know, for a lot of people, that is a blind spot. But for him, it's using racism as political currency. People are trying to fill that lane.

The best thing this country has is its diversity. You know, we talk about that. We don't give it enough credit because people like Mike Pompeo like to bastardize it. I even saw people like Nikki Haley bastardized it.

You know, we have to begin to celebrate the diversity of this country because if we don't, then we will never realize the true promise of this country.

LEMON: Right on.

SELLERS: And that's what tomorrow is. You know, tomorrow --

LEMON: I've got to run, Bakari.

SELLERS: -- I am going to shed a tear. I know. I'm going to shed a tear simply because I know that Kamala's sister and her mother, particularly, are going to be there looking down at her.

LEMON: Yeah, that's true. But also, you're just a big softie.

NAVARRO: Wait, Don, (INAUDIBLE).

SELLERS: I am a softie.

LEMON: I don't have time.

SELLERS: Don't judge me for that.

LEMON: I know. I'm not. I don't have time. I'm sorry, Ana. I got to run.

NAVARRO: And listen --

LEMON: Thank you.

NAVARRO: -- Sonio Sotomayor is showing the old swearing her in on --

LEMON: We will be right back. Thank you all. Thank you both. I'll see you.

NAVARRO: Halleluiah.

(LAUGHTER)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The pandemic will be one of the many challenges facing Joe Biden as he starts out his term. So joining me now is a former campaign manager for President Barack Obama, Jim Messina.

Jim, it is good to see you. Here we are at the end. You worked with President Obama on the transition, entering office after a Republican president. What is it like and how will he jump start things quickly since he needs -- since he still needs some cabinet approvals?

JIM MESSINA, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, it feels like 2008 again, right? I remember that after we won, we had the first economic briefing because people told us the economy was falling apart. We were in the biggest crisis the country had been in 40 years. We looked at each other and said should we get a recount for the election? Are you sure we wanted to win? And I remember Biden saying we can figure this out.

And now he is back 12 years later and has to do it all again. He really has three challenges. The first is to attempt to bring the country together and to start to heal us. I think that all of the steps he has taken so carefully in the transition to start to bring the country together had been incredibly important. And that is what tomorrow is about.

And then job one has to be the virus, has to be getting the 100 million doses out in the first 100 days as we begin to go through the economic recovery and pass another stimulus package for an economy with 11 million workers out of a job tonight.

Those are the things he has to get done in the first 100 days in the middle of yet another crisis.

LEMON: But I think one of the big things and people overlook is that they are going to have to bring credibility back to the podium in the briefing room because so many lies have come out of it. People don't know what to believe. So they're going to have to do that, as well.

And there is going to be an impeachment trial for President Trump and continued aftermath from the violent insurrection.

How does a president-elect balance uniting the country while at the same time holding people to account?

MESSINA: It is his biggest challenge. President Obama has been honest that, you know, the one thing he wishes he could have done is bring people together a little bit more. It is the hardest challenge. We really are split. We really are divided as a country.

And first, Joe Biden has to just take the temperature out of the room a little bit. You know, less partisan talk which he has already done, telling his party that we have to work together, understanding that our new majorities aren't that big, and we have very tight window in the first 100 days to get some big things done.

And to your point, he has got to start being very factual and have daily press briefings, start communicating with people and explaining why it is important to take the virus shot, why it is important to pass a stimulus bill, and to just be really factual.

LEMON: Right.

MESSINA: I think those are the things he has got to do and he has got to do it in his typical kind of Uncle Joe way of explaining to the country the difficult choices that are ahead.

LEMON: Jim Messina, always a pleasure. I will see you later. Thank you so much.

MESSINA: Thank you.

LEMON: Prominent Republican senators taking public shots tonight, split on how they -- how to solve the problem like Donald Trump's impeachment trial. A new update right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON (on camera): Take this. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell making it clear who he thinks is responsible for the American carnage MAGA riot at the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government, which they did not like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): Provoked, fed lies. The soon to be minority leader, a chief Trump enabler, saying it right out loud. McConnell has not said whether he will vote to convict the president after his impeachment trial, but he believes that the president committed impeachable offenses. But tonight, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says McConnell should fight back.

[23:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I'm asking Republican leaders in the Senate to lead. I like Mitch McConnell. He did more than confirmed judges. He really helped President Trump with everything that he did. He is a street fighter legislatively. He is a smart guy.

But what we need right now is for Senator McConnell to unequivocally say that the second impeachment of Donald Trump after he leaves office is not only unconstitutional, it is bad for the country, and stand up and fight back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): Lindsey. Maybe he should think about where all that fight back rhetoric got you and your party the last time in the country.

Minutes away from inauguration day in America. We are going to be right back with our special coverage.

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