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Don Lemon Tonight

Biden Issues Orders To Battle Climate Crisis; January Deadliest Month On COVID-19; GOP Threatens Filibuster For Mayorkas' Nomination To Be DHS Secretary; Jill Biden To Take Active Role In Immigrant Family Reunification; DHS Bulletin Warns Elected Officials Of Extremist Attacks; Interview With Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) And Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO); House Republicans Are Mostly Silent Over QAnon- Aligned Lawmaker. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired January 27, 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]

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DON LEMON, CNN HOST (on camera): Tonight, the Department of Homeland Security warning about the threat of possible violence by domestic extremists emboldened by the attack on the Capitol. And meanwhile the Biden administration moving to battle the climate crisis vowing to create clean energy jobs and to stimulate economic recovery. And with a few days still to go, January's already the deadliest month for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, nearly 80,000 deaths so far.

Let's discuss, White House correspondent, John Harwood is here. Senior political analyst Kirsten Powers is here as well. Good evening to both of you. Good to see you. John, you first. Today we saw the first coronavirus briefing in months and sweeping plans to combat climate change and create jobs. It seems like science is driving the Biden agenda.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There's no question about it. And, look, the reliance on science and data and evidence and reason is one of the key dividing lines between Democrats and Republicans now. And that was the message that the Biden team was trying to showcase today.

There was some audio glitches. It was a little technical and wonky at times, but they're making the case that the way out of the pandemic -- and getting out of the pandemic is how they'll be judged -- is by science.

That's the argument they're using to try to get a $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan out of the Congress. Climate is the same way. Republicans, President Trump repeatedly called climate change a hoax and resists taking steps. The president today signed executive orders, reordering government policies around the need to battle climate change.

He's rejoined the Paris accords. He's also going after the COVID relief package going to seek a large amount of money for climate related infrastructure. It's a completely new tone from that which was set by the Trump administration. LEMON: Yes. Kirsten, meanwhile Republicans are refusing to hold Trump

accountable for inciting an insurrection, resisting Biden's nominee for homeland security secretary and staying silent on disgusting comments from their colleague Marjory Taylor Greene. What is going on with the GOP right now?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): Well, I think what they're trying to figure out, unfortunately, is not how to govern. They're not trying to figure out how to work with the new president. They're trying to figure out how to get back in power.

So they are -- you know, you have Kevin McCarthy going down to see Donald Trump, you know, sort of treating him as this still sort of tacit leader of the party. This is all about the fact that they don't want to have Donald Trump attacking members of Congress.

And so they have to, you know -- you have to go down and kiss the ring essentially. But like I said this isn't about governing. This about already thinking about how do we get back in power? How do we get our majority back? And meanwhile not having any accountability for what happened by their own account, by even Kevin McCarthy's own account, the attack on the Capitol that was incited by Donald Trump.

LEMON: John, Republicans plans to filibuster Alejandra Mayorkas are coming on the same day the DHS issued a threat (inaudible) about potential violence from domestic extremist, is this just about making things difficult for Biden?

HARWOOD: Yes. The Republican leadership has paid a bit of homage to bipartisan cooperation by giving pretty swift approval and strong approval to some of the national security appointees, the defense secretary, the DNI, Admiral Hanes, the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. But Mayorkas who's going to head the Department of Homeland Security, immigration is implicated in that job.

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That's a flash point for Republican politics, and they feel obliged to make trouble for the nominee even though he's been Senate confirmed three times previously. They're not going to stop him. They're going to filibuster him.

The filibuster will be broken. He will then be confirmed, but they're throwing some thumbtacks in the road of the Biden administration, and we'll see that more on the nominees like Javier Becerra to head the Department of Health and Human Services as well.

LEMON: Kirsten, a source has tell CNN that the first lady Jill Biden will play an active role in reuniting children who were separated from their parents at the border. What does that say about this administration's priorities?

POWERS: Well, I mean it shows the fact that she would be getting involved in something like that, shows this is something that they're taking very seriously. Obviously not something that was taken seriously by the people who caused the problem in the first place. I mean, let's just stop and think about the fact that they have to do this that they have hundreds and hundreds of families that have been ripped apart because of the actions of the Trump administration.

Children that are not with their parents for no reason, you know, other than that the Trump administration was essentially using these children as pawns to try to discourage people from coming to the United States. So, you know, I think the fact that you have Jill Biden involved in that is, you know, for people who are concerned about that issue, I think that's a very good sign.

LEMON: Kirsten, John, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

POWERS: Thank you.

LEMON: So, I want to bring in now Chris Swecker, he is the former FBI assistant director for the criminal investigative division. Chris, thank you for joining us. Good to see you. Let's talk about this DHS threat bulletin. How likely is future violence? Because these extremists aren't going anywhere.

CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION (on camera): Highly likely, Don. I read that bulletin, and I have to say I was a little bit disappointed. It sort of demonstrates an amazing grasps of the obvious.

What I'm looking for specifics, because this type of bulletin goes out to every police department in the country. We know that the far-right wing extremists have been stirred up. They're back especially the white extremists who were responsible for more than half of the attacks in 2020.

So honestly, I'm looking for more specifics here so that police departments and other law enforcement agencies around the country can be armed with real information that they can use to setup security strategies around high value targets, if you will.

LEMON: Well, let's talk about what it says. It says that -- some of what it says, at least. This is says extremists were emboldened by the insurrection. The DOJ has charged more than 150 people for their role in the attack. So why are they feeling emboldened by this? They look at this as a success?

SWECKER: I'm not sure the logic behind that. I would guess we're not talking about rational people here. The people on the far-right and the far-left, the extremists don't think the way we do. They have cause or they think they have cause. You see these cycles where a Democratic president comes in and the right-wing extremists, it's a full moon for them. A Republican president comes in and the left-wing extremist, it becomes -- it stirs them up.

But we fear those that are on the far-right -- the far-left that are unhinged and the lone wolves, that the people who will take action, those are the ones that I fear the most, particularly the lone wolves. People that you can't predict. They're out there, they're unbalanced and they can cause a lot of damage. LEMON: So, the Justice Department indicted three people, Chris,

associated with the oath keepers, an anti-government extremist group for their alleged role in the insurrection. Apparently they discussed training and they were coordinating for months. Why didn't officials know about this?

SWECKER: Honestly, I think the FBI and other agencies that are responsible for protecting us against this type of terrorist attack have trouble penetrating these organizations. They're pretty closed in groups. We had trouble with that in the '90s when domestic extremism was on the rise and was very active.

It's very hard to get somebody on the inside. And if all your intelligence comes from social media platforms, then you've got a huge intelligence gap. And I think that was part of the issue on January 6th. They just had huge intelligence gaps there and didn't get the word out -- you know, they didn't get the word apparently because there were quite a few conspiracies afoot. We hope to see some charges on those conspiracies soon.

LEMON: Chris, I want you and I want everyone to look at this video, OK? This video is from ProPublica. They synced up the footage of Capitol officer Eugene Goodman, who diverted the mob at the Capitol, so that we can see the view from Goodman's perspective, and the view of the mob. It really shows how harrowing it was for police that day. Are you confident that this can't happen again, Chris?

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SWECKER: Well, with respect to really high value targets like the Capitol, I feel pretty confident that's not going to happen again. I'm not so confident about our state Capitols and other, you know, iconic targets if you will around the country. I still think that our local police departments and state agencies are ill-equipped to deal with this type of threat.

Not enough of them have training in this area. It's a highly very specific area, crowd control. To do that effectively with the right equipment and the right training, there just aren't enough teams out there, and they're trained by a team, not by an individual. There just aren't enough teams out there to deal with it.

LEMON: We're learning tonight, Chris, that a Trump supporter in California was charged with possessing five pipe bombs and the material to make more of them, that's according to a complaint. The text messages indicated his intent to attack Democrats and places associated with Democrats in an effort to ensure Trump remained in office. What's your concern level about lawmakers' safety right now?

SWECKER: Well, I mean, there's the obvious concern that's laid out in the bulletin. I mean, you -- just logic alone you don't even need specific intelligence to tell you that they can be targets. It would behoove them to be on their toes and to exercise good security, be aware. But you know, we don't know where it's going to come from. I'm not seeing good specific intelligence here. As I mentioned with the bulletin, I see very general intelligence. I

hope there's more specific information out there that can be acted on, not just placing in sort of a general security posture.

LEMON: One more quick question for you. For the folks who are saying this and some of them leaders of the party, elected officials, that this was a false flag on the Capitol? What do you say to them?

SWECKER: I'm not sure what they mean by a false flag on the Capitol.

LEMON: That it was perpetrated in order to make Republicans and the president look bad, that these were somehow actors.

SWECKER: Yes, not a chance. I don't think that's -- I mean, the facts just say otherwise. I mean anybody that puts that out there, there's a million conspiracy theories. This is one of them, and I don't put a lot of stake in those kinds of conspiracy theories. It just didn't happen.

LEMON: Chris Swecker, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

So January the worst month yet of the pandemic and the demand for vaccines is surging. Two Governors tell me what they need.

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LEMON: This month is already the deadliest for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Nearly 80,000 lives lost so far in January. That's why the Biden administration is scrambling to get millions more doses of vaccines to the states. One of the most successful vaccination programs is in West Virginia. Is it in jeopardy because of supply shortages?

Let's discuss now with Governor Jim justice. Governor, thank you so much. Congratulations on your program, but there's still a long way to go. I'm sure you will agree to that. Your state continues to lead in vaccine distribution, and you say that you are screaming like crazy for more doses. President Biden announced a plan to increase the supply. Are you getting more vaccine?

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV) (on camera): Well, Don, to tell you the truth we're getting a few more, not very many more. And we could use an awful lot more and everything. But we've got to give our new president time to get his feet on the ground.

I mean, you know, I'm one that is very respectful to the past presidency and this presidency as well. And at the end of the day this is tough stuff. And I'm sure everybody's trying their hardest and everything, but we just thought we need to try a little harder. That's just all there is to it.

LEMON: I know that President Biden's COVID coordinator Jeff Saenz told governors yesterday that COVID vaccines would increase by 16 percent starting next week. How big an increase in vaccine supply do you need to see in your state, Governor?

JUSTICE: Well, Don, you know, and I know everybody's hollering and everybody's trying to get more and more vaccines and everything, but at the end of the day, I mean, the situation that we were in, we were told basically that they were going to reward the states that had really gotten these shots into people's arms. And we've been doing it for weeks.

I mean, you know, just imagine -- I know it's hard to believe but just the day before yesterday on the vaccines that we've received, we have put in arms 106.4 percent of what we'd received because we're getting more doses per vial. And so the (inaudible) of the whole thing is we've been doing it for weeks, we've been getting it in people's arms.

But, Don, to answer your question we need multiples of times of what we're receiving. You know, I really believe that we could vaccinate every single person in our state 65 and older, and we could get it all done by -- by Valentine's Day, you know, February 14th. We could get every person in this state and this state is the third oldest and the most chronic illness, but we got it down pat as far as what to do, but we need multiples of times.

LEMON: Well, listen, people may be watching, officials from other states, maybe even people with the federal government. Because you've had such success, what are you doing right? What are the lessons for the other states?

JUSTICE: Well, we quit being a bureaucracy. We handled it with just practical down-home good sense. I mean, we recruited our pharmacies and our local health clinics and our National Guard, and we absolutely looked at this as age, age, age and only that way. And we ran to the fire. We immediately knew that absolutely having vaccines sitting in a warehouse was chaotic.

And so we absolutely managed what we did, and we did that with the local health and we did that with our National Guard. And we've employed all kinds of different practices. But we're putting these shots in people's arms, and we're putting them in arms very quickly, and its working. It's really working. It's almost a managed chaos, but it's truly working.

LEMON: Well, that's good. Listen, I want to talk to you about President Biden's climate plan. As part of this climate plan he's making a commitment to invest in coal communities. Watch this.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're never going to forget the men and women who dug the coal and built the nation. We're going to do right by them, make sure they have opportunities to keep building the nation in their own communities and getting paid well for it while the whole of government approach is necessary, though, it's not sufficient. We're going to work with mayors and governors and tribal leaders and business leaders who are stepping up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Listen, you're a big-time coal guy. I know you say that we can't do without coal today. Is there any part of the Biden plan that you could sign-on to, I mean, if it is as they say, if it would create more jobs, I see you saying?

JUSTICE: I mean, Don, listen. You know, I'm a person -- I'm a practical thinking guy, and I would tell you just as straight up as I can be, and it's just this. I believe all that the alternatives we need to embrace, you know, but at the same time where I'm from and what I think is just this. I don't think it's practical today to stop coal, stop gas today because I think we'll get our nation in real trouble and in real trouble real fast.

Now down the road as we continue to embrace and evolve we have to have cheap abundant clean energy to make prosperity for people and make civilization progress. I got it, I got that, and we embrace that. So there's many things that we can work together on here, and I'm sure that we can achieve a lot of good stuff as we go forward.

LEMON: Governor Justice, thank you for your time. Good luck down there and be safe.

JUSTICE: All right, Don, thank you for everything. Bye-bye.

LEMON: All right, from one Governor to another I want to bring in now the Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis. Governor, thanks for joining. So, you just heard what West Virginia's Governor is doing there, one of the states leading in vaccine distribution. Your state has administered about 61 percent of the doses that you've received. How is it going in your state, and what are your biggest challenges?

GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): Yes, to be clear, Don, every dose that we get we use the same week we get it. In fact, one of the first things we put in place was a three-day rule. Any provider of hospital or pharmacy we work with, when we get them the vaccine they have three days to use it or we'll reassign it to another provider who will. There's been very few that had to be reassign. There's been (inaudible).

And we remain in the top 10 states in getting it out. But as Governor Justice indicated, it's not coming to our states at a fast enough rate to reach everybody. Sure, we could do it by Valentine's Day. We could do it by the end of you know, February if we had the vaccine. We're a state of 5.7 million people.

We've been receiving about 70,000 to 80,000 doses a week. I understand we're going to get just over 90,000 next week, getting a little bit better. But when you do the math it takes an awfully long time at 90,000 a week to get to 5.7 million.

LEMON: And so that's a big challenge -- those are the big challenges? That was the second part of the question. POLIS: That's the biggest is the vaccine. I mean, it's easy to inject.

It doesn't take a doctor or nurse. It can be a phlebotomist, a pharmacist. We did an executive order letting dentist to do it. Medics can do it, anybody who can administer a flu vaccine. We have pharmacies all over the state ready to go.

We're doing larger scale operations at hospitals and others. We're going into parking lots of black churches in Denver, we are going to some of the lowest incomes in Colorado, the (inaudible) valley, small towns and doing stand up clinics for everybody over age 70 in town. We're focusing on the over 70 to everybody who wants it who is over 70 will be able to get it in the next few weeks and then we'll look forward to expanding that.

LEMON: So, governor, the Hispanic population in your state makes up about 4 percent of the people who have gotten the vaccine according to your state's health department, but they make up about 22 percent of Colorado. Are you worried about those stats when communities of color are getting hit harder by the pandemic?

POLIS: Very concerned. And I think that there's a few things at play here. Number one, what our initial research showed is that there's more vaccine hesitancy in communities of color. And we have -- we have advertising campaigns, we go to opinion leaders. That's why I said the black church leaders work well if it has their blessing to occur, many members of the church will follow.

But, yes, it's been a problem. The second issue is many of them are medically underserved. So especially on our undocumented population. And by the way, insurance documentation, no (inaudible) to get the vaccine. You don't need to be documented, you don't need to be insured. Who your network is doesn't matter. You show up, you get it and it's free. Everywhere in Colorado, it's a case everyone in the country. It's paid for by the federal government.

So, it's really a matter of making sure that we connect with the people that are -- or who don't have a medical home, disproportionately people of color. This is where you can get it, how you get it, you're 70 and up, let's go.

LEMON: So, Governor, the Biden administration is saying that states will see a 16 percent increase in the amount of COVID vaccines starting next week. You say it's a step in the right direction but not nearly enough.

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POLIS: It's a starts, Don. It's a start. I mean he's only been there one week. We're grateful for a 16 percent increase. We could administer today four to five times as much as we're currently getting 200,000 --300,000 -- 400,000 doses a week would not be a problem with our current capacity. I'm glad its going from you know, 74,000 - 90,000. That's great.

More Americans, more Coloradoans (inaudible) will be able to protect themselves. But what we need here is increase in Pfizer and Moderna and hopefully in the near future, Don, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca will come through to test adding additional supply, two additional vaccines to cover everybody, save lives, end the pandemic as quickly as possible.

LEMON: Governor, thank you very much. Be safe and we look forward to an update soon, and hopefully it's a good one the next time we have you on. Thanks so much.

POLIS: Take care, Don.

LEMON: Thank you. More damning evidence of Congresswoman Marjory Taylor Greene's outrages and what is the rest of the GOP saying about it? Well, not much.

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LEMON (on camera): So House Republicans mostly silent tonight after CNN's KFile uncovered Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene repeatedly expressed support on Facebook for executing prominent democrats in 2018 and 2019.

Republicans recently gave Greene a seat on the House Education and Labor Committee. Worth noting that before joining Congress, Greene also tried to make a name for herself, suggesting the Parkland school shooting was a false flag operation.

And in March of 2019, Greene was recorded following shooting survivor David Hogg along the sidewalk in Washington, D.C. peppering him with questions. I want to show you some of that footage.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): David, why are you supporting the red flag laws? If Scot Peterson, the resource officer at Parkland had done his job, then Nikolas Cruz wouldn't have killed anybody in your high school or at least protected them. Why are you supporting red flag gun laws that attack our Second Amendment right? And why are you using kids as a barrier? Do you not know how to defend your stance?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): Hmm. Greene making no apologies in a statement to CNN tonight, saying this. I was going from office to office in the Senate to oppose the radical gun control agenda that David Hogg was pushing. I will always work to protect our gun rights so that Americans can defend themselves and others against bad people intent to harm or kill them.

OK. Let's discuss now. Garrett Graff, he is a contributing editor at Wired, and CNN political commentator -- yeah, Ana. I already see it.

(LAUGHTER) LEMON: Good evening to both of you. I mean, Leader McCarthy is telling CNN tonight that he has plans to have a talk with Greene over her deeply disturbing comments. Steve King stripped of his committee assignments. Remember 2019, we talked about that, 2019 for his racist comments. Should Greene lose hers over these revelations?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. And I mean -- and, you know, the silence is complicity and is cowardice. I was thinking today, I was remembering today when Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota made some comments that people interpreted as anti-Semitic. And the democratic leadership -- a whole came down on her and said you have to apologize, and she unequivocally apologized.

I was remembering when it was his democratic colleagues in the Senate that forced Al Franken to resign for taking some stupid pictures, inappropriate pictures.

I was remembering the outrage of Republicans when Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez wore some very expensive outfit for a cover shoot of a magazine or wore a very nice skirt to "The View."

There is more outrage for Liz Cheney (INAUDIBLE) her conscience than there is for the fact that this woman is a conspiracy theorist, she is dangerous, and she is threatening -- I mean, how do you put -- how do you put a grown ass adult woman who is stalking a teenage boy who recently survived a school shooting? How do you put somebody like that in the education committee?

I mean, I just don't get it. I don't understand how every Republican is not standing up in Congress and saying, this woman should resign, she doesn't belong here, she has no room in the republican tent because she is doing the entire brand harm, and she is doing the country harm.

It is shameful, shameful. Even for the party that has gone through the height of shamefulness, this takes it.

LEMON: Garrett, just three weeks ago, we all saw what incendiary rhetoric can lead to. Congresswoman Greene has supported a range of conspiracies, including QAnon. Does having her in Congress elevate these extreme beliefs?

GARRETT GRAFF, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR FOR THE WIRED: It does, but at the same time, I think, you know, one of the things we have to be realistic about is that Marjorie Taylor Greene is closer to the center of the Republican party right now than Rob Portman.

You know, when we saw Senator Portman announced that he was retiring this week, you know, that was a statement in some ways that the future of this party is not with him, and that, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene is a symptom of a disease just as Donald Trump was the symptom of a disease.

LEMON: Garrett, let me -- let me stop you right there and ask you because I think you bring up a very good point.

[23:35:01]

LEMON: But there are many who will argue, well, this isn't who the Republican Party is, we're not that, this is a fringe in the party. From what you're saying, you don't believe this is a fringe, you believe that this is -- this is the party now.

The Republican Party today is the smallest it has been in modern times and it continues to get smaller. You know, you look -- Jared Polis, you just had on the show, Colorado, four million Republicans there, four million registered voters there, 5,000 people left the Republican Party and changed their voter affiliations just in the week after the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol.

This is a party that is purifying itself and radicalizing itself against democracy and against the traditions of American history.

LEMON: Yeah.

GRAFF: And the people who are left in this party are the ones who agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump.

LEMON: Yeah. Hey, let me apologize. Our time is short. I want to thank both of you. I'll see both of you very soon. Thanks so much.

Fox News is taking a big lurch to the right to hold onto a shrinking audience. The network is venturing further and further away from being fair and balanced.

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LEMON (on camera): In the new post-Trump era, Fox News is losing its audience big time, and so the network, long a mouthpiece for team Trump, is taking a hard turn to the right.

Here is CNN's chief media correspondent and anchor of Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Vote the wrong way and you are a Jihadi.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Tucker Carlson show, the post insurrection calls for a crackdown on domestic terrorists are being treated like a threat to his audience.

CARLSON: They're talking about you.

STELTER (voice-over): Carlson warning of a new war on terror, reacting to Congressman Adam Schiff.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Just as we did after 9/11 to the threat from international terrorism, we need to give the same priority and urgency to domestic terrorism.

STELTER (voice-over): Carlson responding.

CARLSON: Keep in mind as you listen to people talk like this, Adam Schiff is far from the only one. Keep in mind they're talking about American citizens here.

STELTER (voice-over): Fox News is changing in the Biden era. But it's not becoming fair or balanced.

CARLSON: The real threat is a forbidden idea. It's something called QAnon.

STELTER (voice-over): Fox's biggest shows are whitewashing false conspiracy theories, stoking confusion about COVID-19, and misinforming millions of people.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm actually beginning to have doubts.

STELTER (voice-over): Sean Hannity sowing doubts about the vaccines while trashing Dr. Anthony Fauci. Why? Because Fauci was candid about the Trump administration's weaknesses.

HANNITY: I've been telling my friends I'm going to get the vaccine. Half of them agree and the other half think I'm absolutely nuts. They wouldn't take it in a million years. I don't know who to listen to.

STELTER (voice-over): It's as if Fox is slamming on the gas pedal, speeding recklessly in response to this threat to the bottom line. Fox's ratings have shrivelled up since the election. CNN is ahead in all the major categories. On the far-right, Newsmax and other channels are eating into Fox's share. So at Fox, the Murdochs are trying to win viewers back by reducing news coverage and adding even more opinion.

CARLSON: Tucker Carlson. Tonight, you are watching the free speech channel.

STELTER (voice-over): For much of the day, the show's recycled clips from Carlson the previous night.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS TV HOST: And good evening, everyone. Welcome to "Fox News Primetime."

STELTER (voice-over): And this 7:00 p.m. timeslot has taken a hard turn to the right and to the ignorant.

BARTIROMO: I had -- right around the election, I had one million followers on Twitter. Now, I have under 900,000.

STELTER (voice-over): Maria Bartiromo acting puzzled. But Twitter has been public about its efforts to curb conspiracy chatter by banning and removing QAnon accounts and election lies.

MICHAEL LINDELL, CEO, MY PILLOW: Actual machine, new machine election fraud, I retweeted it, and they took my Twitter down.

STELTER (voice-over): See, on Fox, the scandal is that Twitter is finally trying to clean up some of the disinformation on its platform.

CARLSON: When you support freedom of speech, you're no longer allowed to speak. That's the new rule.

STELTER (voice-over): Cries of censorship are everywhere on Fox, with Senator Josh Hawley showing up three times in the past 16 days to complain that he has been muzzled, and on and on it goes.

This radical rhetoric is leaving conservative commentator David Frum to see a business strategy at work. In the short term, he says, Fox News will get more extreme to excite a shrinking audience to watch longer and more loyally. He doubts that it will long term. But right now, the Murdochs are worried about today, trying to convince Trump fans to come back and help Fox restore its ratings.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEMON (on camera): Wow. Brian Stelter joins me now. Brian, I have no idea how many Twitter followers I have. It's so amazing that Maria Bartiromo is, like, I have a million and now I have -- I mean, really? But tonight, I understand that Carlson is downplaying the terror attack at the Capitol?

STELTER (on camera): Yes, that's the way I interpreted it. But, hey, watch for yourself, Don. Here's what Tucker said about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Sad news tonight, Chewbacca guy is no longer available for your kid's seventh birthday party. He's in prison tonight. We'll tell you when they move him to Gitmo or some undisclosed black site.

[23:45:02]

CARLSON: And when they do, Sandy Cortez will breed easier. Back during the great terrorist siege of January 6, Sandy Cortez found herself in the same city as Chewbacca guy. Literally in the same city, trapped and abandoned like -- just like those lonely valiant troops in Corregidor (ph) so many years ago. She really thought she was going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER (on camera): Do you see what's going on there?

LEMON: Yeah.

STELTER: He is mocking AOC's concern about her safety. He is downplaying the criminality of the rioters. He's making it sound like the attack on the Capitol was no big deal. And he's claiming that all of the efforts to stamp out extremism and go after the terrorists who invaded the Capitol, he claims that's all about going after conservatives, his audience. He is conflating actual terrorists with his audience.

LEMON: Yeah. Really jumping on the same grift train as the president now but just using his platform --

STELTER: Right.

LEMON: -- in the same way. Thank you very much, Brian.

STELTER: Yeah.

LEMON: I appreciate you joining us. Thanks so much.

Former President Trump's last-minute pardon is facing new scrutiny, including a man convicted of being the ringleader of a drug smuggling operation who is still facing a separate accusation of violence and threats.

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[23:50:00]

LEMON (on camera): Former President Trump issued controversial 11th- hour pardons and commutations as he left office. In one case, he commuted the sentence of Jonathan Braun, who was convicted of running a drug smuggling ring. But it turns out Brawn is also facing additional accusations and investigations.

Here's CNN's Jason Carroll

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JONATHAN BRAUN, DRUG SMUGGLER: I care about money more than you. You're (beep) liar, a cheater, and a thief.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This video captured how Jonathan Braun treated people who allegedly owed money.

BRAUN: You're going to prison. You're (beep) and loser and (INAUDIBLE).

CARROLL (voice-over): In the end, it was Braun who ended up in prison, after he pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges. A judge sentenced him in 2019 to 10 years for being the ring leader of a drug smuggling operation. The video was not part of any case against him.

Last week, Braun was released from prison after his sentence was commuted by former President Donald Trump, one of many commutations and pardons announced in his final hours as president.

MARC FERNICH, JONATHAN BRAUN'S ATTORNEY: Needless to say, his family was ecstatic and very graceful about it.

CARROLL (voice-over): But the allegations against Braun go beyond drug smuggling. According to a suit filed against Braun and others by the New York State attorney general last June, while out on bail, Braun helped run a short-term lending operation, charging small business owners interest rates of up to 400 percent and allegedly threatening violence when they didn't pay. The FTC filed a similar suit. DANIEL ZELENKO, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It's clear that a lot of these pardons were 11th hour, last minute, but this one appears to be quite egregious.

CARROLL (voice-over): Lawyers claiming in court documents that Braun threatened to beat a synagogue president who had borrowed money, alleging Braun said, I am going to make you bleed, also alleging he told another borrower, be thankful you're not in New York because your family would find you floating in the Hudson.

New York's attorney general is saying Jonathan Braun has threatened small business owners with violence, death, and even kidnapping. A federal commutation will not protect Mr. Braun from being held accountable. The New York AG is saying she is seeking upwards of $77 million in damages from Braun and others as part of a lawsuit.

The lawyer representing Braun in the civil cases did not return our requests for comment, but Braun has denied the allegations in court filings.

Marc Fernich, the attorney who defended Braun in the drug-related case, questions those who say Braun used threats of violence, telling CNN, foul language may be impolite and unpleasant, but it's not illegal.

FERNICH: These allegations were made by disgruntled borrowers. I'm confident in Jon's intellect and his character and his ability to follow the law and be a productive, law-abiding citizen, father, and husband.

CARROLL (voice-over): Fernich says the sentence should have been commuted because it was excessive. There is no mention of the outstanding cases in the White House's statement regarding executive grants of clemency.

The section related to Braun reads, in part, Mr. Braun has served five years of a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to import marijuana and to commit money laundering.

But Braun served only one year of his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution at Otisville, New York, ranked by Forbes magazine in 2009 as one of America's 10 cushiest prisons.

ZELENKO: This is exactly the kind of thing that happens when the Justice Department vetting process is completely ignored. You have somebody who is pardoned for one crime but remains under investigation for another.

CARROLL (voice-over): Historians predicting Braun's name will be added to a long list of questionable last-minute pardons and commutations Trump granted during his final hours as president.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: It's not that his predecessors didn't have the odd, controversial or bad pardon. It's that, for them, it was the exception. However, for Donald Trump, it was the rule. CARROLL (on camera): So when it comes to these controversial pardons and commutations, scholars say that there is something that, you know, the American people can do to prevent them in the future. You can change the Constitution. You can do it so that there are no last- minute pardons. You can do it, for example, to prevent any last-minute pardons after Election Day.

[23:55:00]

CARROLL (on camera): That way, a president would know that there are consequences for their actions. But as you know, Don, there seems to be very little appetite on the hill to change the Constitution to make something like that happen.

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LEMON (on camera): Right on. Jason Carroll, thank you so much. I appreciate that.

So, before we go, I want you to take a look at your screen because you're going to -- trust me, it's a snowy owl, so cute, making a surprise appearance here in New York's Central Park. One expert is saying a snowy owl hasn't been seen there since 1890. Isn't that nice?

Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues.

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