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Don Lemon Tonight

Investigators Looking to See if Lawmakers Knowingly or Unknowingly Aided Insurrectionist; Senate GOP Delays COVID Relief Bill with Hours-Long Stunt; Trump Repeats His Big Lie About the Election While the Capitol is on High Alert for Attacks; Some Democrats Push to End the Filibuster. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired March 04, 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]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Tonight, federal investigators looking into whether members of Congress may have helped the pro-Trump mob attack the Capitol on January 6th, either knowingly or unknowingly. They're digging into their communications records. In the Senate tonight a GOP political stunt to slowdown passage of the COVID relief package, forcing clerks to read all 628 pages of the bill out loud and it is taking about 10 hours.

And one of the women accusing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment speaking out in her first TV interview. We'll hear what she is saying.

Joining me now, CNN's senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez and national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. Good evening to both of you. Evan, I'm going to start with you. What are fellow investigators doing right now to determine if lawmakers aided in this attack knowingly or not?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the things that they have, Don, are the devices of some of the alleged rioters that are now facing charges and what they can do is from looking at those devices, they've been able to see that there are some who had some connection, some contacts with members of Congress in the days before and the day of the insurrection.

And in some cases, you have rioters talking amongst each other discussing that they had some kind of association with members of Congress. In addition, we have that, you know, some of these rioters claim that they were acting as security guards for some of these lawmakers that were speaking at events around January 6th.

So again, there's a lot of smoke here, as one official I talked to said, and now the FBI and prosecutors have to dig in to figure out what this is. And we don't know of any indication that members of Congress are actively under investigation, but this is something that they have to examine.

LEMON: Well, do you think officials will be able to get search warrants to see the content of these communications?

PEREZ: Right. They have to be able to get to the probable cause to be able to see exactly what was being said in those communications. Again, at this point we don't know that they've crossed that bridge. But that's where they're trying to figure out that they can get to.

LEMON: Juliette, multiple members of Congress asked the FBI Director Christopher Wray this week about collecting all of this communication. That raised some eyebrows. What do you think that they were so concerned about?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's hard to tell in light of the reporting now, you do wonder whether their interest is in, what kind of communications were happening between those who are indicted and members of Congress. Look, conversations do happen. The content of those conversations will be relevant to determine whether there's any criminal liability for a member of Congress.

They may have been talking on the third, fourth, or fifth because there was a rally. It's hard for me to believe that any member of Congress should or would have been talking to anyone on the afternoon of the 6th. That to me would be where I want to target my focus. By then you knew that the crowd was violent.

But beyond the legal aspects of this and the content of what is in those conversations, this is just consistent with the very nature that there was conversations between members of Congress and members of the Proud Boys, members of white supremacy groups, members of racist groups over the course of January just suggests the extent of the symbiotic relationship between the GOP and the violent insurrection. It is a relationship that, what you know, had been nurtured for years but was clearly part of January 6th.

LEMON: Juliette, Democratic Congressman Jason Crow was on Anderson's show. Here's what he said about Evan's reporting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): I actually wouldn't be surprised if members of Congress were involved and complicit in some of the riots.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You really wouldn't.

CROW: I wouldn't be. I just wouldn't be. Which, you know, is a sad testament to the state of affairs in Congress right now, to be honest with you and the state of affairs in our politics. Some depraved people that serve in that chamber that to this day, incite violence and further conspiracy theories and show zero remorse for what happened on January 6th.

[23:05:00]

This is not normal. This is not the way the United States of Congress and our government should run. None of it. And you know, we can't be OK with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Juliette he's right, this is not normal, but you predict that we're going learn this attack was even worse than we thought.

KAYYEM: I think so. The pieces that we already have are of course that members of Trump's campaign were getting the permits for January 6th. We certainly know as you and I have talked over the course of December and January that Donald Trump was focused on it. We know what the relationship between a small group of members of the GOP and Congress with these white supremacy organizations.

And there is just simply a lot of visuals that show that parts of the mob clearly had coordinated in a way that may show evidence of some form of collusion. Look, I'm just going to follow what FBI Director Wray has done. Is they filed conspiracy charges against a large chunk of the people that they're going after. He said the other day that is because they believe that people helped them who may not have been there on that day.

Are those members of Congress? Well, certainly the reporting today shows that there's at least some conversation. So, I'm well beyond the jaw-dropping phase about January 6th, between what the military testified to yesterday to, you know, Trump's involvement. You know, it just -- as I always say about Donald Trump, it only gets worse and only gets worse.

LEMON: And you have been right. So, Evan --

(LAUGHTER)

KAYYEM: It's easy!

LEMON: Evan, you said, listen, there's no indication that any members of Congress are actively being investigated right now, but when you report investigators are looking at, whether lawmakers may have helped rioters unknowingly, what form would that take? How would they unknowingly help?

PEREZ: Wm you know, there have been accusations by some Democratic members that they know that members -- Republican members gave tours, for instance, in the days before and the weeks before the insurrection, as Juliette just pointed out, you know, we have seen some of those videos.

You can see in some of the videos that we've already aired in the last few weeks that there are people in that crowd who knew where things were. And you know, you have been in that building. You know how very (inaudible) -- you know, it's very difficult to get around there. I still get lost there.

And you know, I go there all the time. So the question is, right, where those tours used to sort of get people sort of aware of the surroundings that they then use later on. And did members know that that was going to happen? Again, that could be unwitting participation in this. And again, this is something that the FBI is going to have to figure out. It's going take months to do that. LEMON: Thank you both. I appreciate it.

I want to show you live pictures now. This is Senate clerks reading out all 628 pages of the COVID relief bill. There you go. Reading. This has been going on since this afternoon, all thanks to Republican Senator Ron Johnson's political stunt. So, let's bring in now CNN political commentators Amanda Carpenter and Bakari Sellers. Bakari, it's been a minute. I hope you're doing OK.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is past my bedtime (inaudible). I'm glad to be here with you.

LEMON: Wake up, we need you. And then you can go right back to bed after this. Thank you for joining both of you. It's good to see you. So, Amanda, why are Republican lawmakers -- you know, they're forcing clerks to read this bill out loud and slow down this process. They can't even show up. What is the point of Senator Johnson's stunt?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: To slow it down and resist it. Listen, I'm going to give the Democrats some tough love. I'm a never Trumper Republican that wants to see Joe Biden be successful. So my question is, what is taking the Democrats so dang long to just get the checks out? It's because they junked up this bill with all kinds of other stuff.

I mean, why are we having a minimum wage debate and talking about abolishing the filibuster for COVID relief? This should have been done last month. All they had to do was push the money button that Donald Trump did, get the checks out to people who need it, OK, give small businesses the help they need to stay open until the population is vaccinated, and make sure schools are open in the fall.

But instead, like the Democrats always do, they want to attach all this other stuff and blame the Republicans. I'm sorry, the Democrats needed to do a skinny fast bill. They didn't do it, and this is what happens.

LEMON: Bakari, Democrat, you want to respond to that?

SELLERS: I mean, she's not totally wrong. I do think that minimum wage is a larger issue than you want to give it credit for. I mean, it did outpace both Donald Trump and Joe Biden in Florida and the fact of the matter is we haven't raised the minimum wage in decades. I mean, nobody has to work two jobs in order to get some (inaudible) -- $15 minimum wage is where we need to be.

[23:10:09]

But the Democrats do an awesome job of messaging. And I think that we have a majority, and people didn't come out and vote for Joe Biden in November to pass something that's palatable to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. I mean, that is not the way this work. And unfortunately, those who are (inaudible).

What we're seeing right now though is the Republican Party in (inaudible), and while I want to Democratic Party to be better messengers and go big, no one can argue that the Republican Party is not in shambles. What Ron Johnson is doing tonight at the (inaudible). I mean, you have a party who's out here debating (inaudible) and the merits of Dr. Seuss while we're actually having a robust policy debate on COVID relief.

LEMON: let me talk to Amanda about that. We are going to try to fix your audio. I don't know if you had the right mic on, or if it is close enough, but it sounds like the radio in not quite on the station when we are listening to you, Bakari.

So, I'm going to talk to Amanda. Let's see if they can fix your audio. Amanda, talk to me about this, you know, you mentioned the whole Dr. Seuss thing, Bakari did, this outrage, this fake outrage around, you know, the term Neanderthal. We're in the middle of a pandemic, millions are out of work. This is what they're focusing on? I mean, it's clear that they're trying to go for this -- they are trying to have another basket of deplorables, right?

CARPENTER: Yes, it's silly, which, you know, makes me think the Democrats should be able to roll them all the much easier. OK? But I understand the progressives want to have this big fight over the minimum wage, and this has been on the shelf for quite a long time, but the fact is it just didn't belong in a COVID relief bill.

Joe Biden campaigned on being the guy who would come in and start fixing things fast, and I think there is a concern if he doesn't start doing it -- he's doing a great job getting the vaccines out. His promise to say that we are going get all teachers vaccinated by the end of this month is tremendous. But it's almost looking like the teachers are going get vaccinated before those checks gets -- even get out. Like, it's almost like a self-own at this point.

LEMON: Bakari, I understand we have to live with the audio, so I'm going to ask you -- and for those of you, for young people, there used to be a dial on the radio that you had to tune it. You couldn't just click it.

(LAUGHTER)

On your phone or -- do people have iPods anymore? I don't know. So, listen, I have got to ask you about Governor Abbott blaming undocumented immigrants for spreading COVID while he himself is lifting the mask mandate in Texas, one of the keyways to stop the spread of the disease. And is he deflecting here? What's going on?

SELLERS: I'm going to be trying to be on the right station here. But this is just like real politics. This is what we're seeing. The Republican Party has been reduced to (inaudible) politics and Governor Abbott is blaming a group in putting people against each other, which is the same thing Donald Trump did for four years.

This party has been reduced to grievance politics, nothing more, nothing less. And that's why you're having debates on other cable news stations, that why you are having debate amongst GOP (inaudible) intellectuals. That's why you are having debate on elected officials about Dr. Seuss and everything else, because that's all they have. Which is no longer solid debate about policy. They've given up debates about the deficit. This is debate about white grievance politics.

LEMON: Amanda, the former president is out with a new statement pushing the big lie and the attack that the Wall Street Journal that Governor Brian Kemp and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- that Kemp and McConnell have both come crawling back to, right? Trump recently saying that they'd support him in 2024. I mean -- I'm sorry, they're saying that they support Trump in 2024. When are Republicans going to learn, there is no redemption, he's not going to take them back?

CARPENTER: They're in a vise. I mean, we are so stuck in this tribal form of politics that someone like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will say on one day that Donald Trump is morally and practically responsible for the insurrection, and then turn around the next day and say, if he's the nominee in 2024, I will support him.

This is like the brain rot that I am so frustrated with and that has to change. Because there has to be something more to the Republican Party than Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato head, and Donald Trump. Because those are like the three wise men of the Republican Party right now, and I'm not here for it.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Amanda, thank you.

CARPENTER: Sure.

LEMON: Bakari, thank you as well. I'll see you soon. We'll get your audio fixed. Thank you. You look good, but you don't sound great tonight.

SELLERS: Thank you.

LEMON: Thanks very much.

Are Senate Democrats getting outmaneuvered by the GOP, and should they be asking, what would Mitch McConnell do?

[23:15:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We all know this will nearly delay the inevitable. They will accomplish little more than a few sore throats for the Senate clerks who work very hard day in, day out to help the Senate function.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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LEMON: So, for years Democratic lawmakers have been checkmated by Mitch McConnell's political maneuvering in his ability to keep Republicans in line. And now with a slim majority Democrats want to pass COVID relief, voting reforms and increase the minimum wage. McConnell and Republicans have never had a problem holding Democrats

hostage over a bill or jamming through items on a conservative agenda without bipartisan support. So now some Democrats are calling for an end to the filibuster in the Senate to keep the GOP from slamming on the breaks.

Well, over and over and over again is what they have been doing. Is it time to pull out all the stops?

[23:20:00]

My next guest thinks so. Brian Fallon is his name, and he is the executive director of Demand Justice, the former press secretary for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and a former aide to the current majority leader Chuck Schumer. That's quite a resume. Thank you, sir, for joining. I appreciate it. You're calling Democrats taking aggressive action on a number of their priorities. You say that there's no time to waste. So, Brian, explain the stakes here.

BRIAN FALLON, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, after the 2016 election, Mitch McConnell came out and he said quite simply, in his words, winners make policy, losers go home. And then he proceeded to take his top two priorities, which is confirming Supreme Court justices and passing massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the biggest corporations in this country and doing it on a 51-vote basis, just like the situation in the Senate now for the Democrats.

Mitch McConnell did not have 60 votes in his pockets. He had 51 but changed the rules of the Senate to allow him to confirm three Donald Trump's appointees to the Supreme Court with a 51 vote basis. And then they were able to pass a massive tax cut plan for rich people based on the reconciliation rules of the Democrats are now using for COVID relief.

So, Democrats -- what's good for the goose is ought to be good for the gander. Democrats are right now staring down the possibility of seeing massive voter suppression laws enacted at the state level. And there has been 250 plus bills introduced since the November election in 40 plus states seeking to curtail early voting, eliminate no excuse absentee balloting, particularly pointed at voters of color.

And so Democrats I think need to have the courage of their convictions, about being willing to get rid of the filibuster in the coming months to pass some of these democracy reform measures like HR1, which just passed the House yesterday.

LEMON: You were the spokesman to Senator Schumer. Can you speak to his approach versus Mitch McConnell's approach?

FALLON: Well, I actually am quite optimistic, Don, that the Senate Democrats are headed on a trajectory to get rid of the filibuster. They're not saying that right now, but if you had told me two years ago that this is where we'd be two months into 2021 I would had been shocked. If you think back to the Democratic presidential primary, Elizabeth Warren was out there calling for the elimination of the filibuster, but Bernie Sanders who's arguably the most progressive member of the Senate Democratic caucus was resisting that call.

And -- so you had the most progressive Senator that was sort of not on board at that time. That was just like a year and a half ago. And now at this point not only is Bernie there, but you have moderate Senators like Chris Coons, Tim Kaine. Amy Klobuchar just yesterday putting this on the table.

This is warp speed by Senate standards. So, it's not sort of coming to a head yet, because the bill that's currently on the floor, the COVID relief package is one that they are able to pass with just 51 votes. But when we do get to these bills that Chuck Schumer is going to be bringing up, is going to be pass by Nancy Pelosi in the coming months. And I'm talking about HR1, the election reform bill, the John Lewis voting rights act, the D.C. statehood bill, a court reform bill potentially.

When these bills come out of the House, Chuck Schumer is going to bring them up. The Republicans are going to block them using the filibuster. Chuck Schumer will bring them up again and again and build a narrative that I think will cause Democrats to unite in sensing to need to get rid of the filibuster.

LEMON: OK. So you're arguing about Democrats that they should kill the filibuster, but what about the argument that they're going to regret it later when they find themselves in the minority again?

FALLON: Well, Don, that's the situation that we're already in. I think we're already living in the worse-case scenario. Like I said, Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are already able to pass their biggest priorities on a 51-vote basis. Judges, tax cuts, spending cuts to the social safety net. All of those things are allowed now under the Senate rules to be passed on a 51-vote basis.

It's the things that Democrats are trying to do like increasing the minimum wage, common sense gun safety reform, making it more accessible for people to vote that are all stuck on this, 60 vote margin. And you know what, there's nothing sacrosanct about the filibuster rule. You know, there's been a lot of history that has been completely misreported on this. It's not a defining feature of the Senate.

And people talk about the cooling saucer that was about six-year terms for Senators versus two years in the House. That was about two senators per state as opposed to population based in the House. It was not the filibuster. The filibuster did not exist until 1917 and it was mostly used during in the 50s and 60s by segregationist that were seeking to stop civil rights legislations. So, I think it would actually be quit elegant and poetic if the filibuster was ended in 2021 in order to pass a historic measure like the John Lewis voting rights act.

LEMON: And if they don't get voting rights act and allow access to more people to vote, they may remain permanently in the minority if the Republicans get to it.

[23:25:00] FALLON: Don, this next two-year window will be a colossal failure if

Democrats fail to pass the John Lewis voting rights act. It will confine Democrats to the political wilderness for the next 25 years. And we'll only have ourselves to blame. But like I said, I'm quite optimistic based on the trajectory that we are on, that we'll get there.

What Joe Manchin is saying right now, I do not think it's going to be this positive when push (inaudible). Because Joe Biden is not engaged on this. Chuck Schumer is not yet whipping this vote on getting rid of the filibuster for the John Lewis voting rights act.

Barack Obama, who as you'll recall, you know, spoke at the John Lewis funeral and called on Democrats to get rid of the filibuster, to pass the John Lewis act, he has not started barnstorming the country. That will happen soon, and when it does, and brings this issue to a head and the question ripens, I think Democrats will unite around this.

LEMON: OK. That what I want to ask you. We've been asking you about -- I asked you about Mitch McConnell -- I'm sorry, about Chuck Schumer's approach versus Mitch McConnell's. But I mean, really, this depends on people like -- doesn't depend on people like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema in order to get this done?

FALLON: Yeah, but like I said, I think that the narrative -- there's at least three reasons why I think at the end of the day Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are gettable. Number one is, this issue is not ripened yet. Like I said, all these bills that are coming over from the House, Chuck Schumer is going to bring them up, he's going to bring up HR1. He's going to bring up the John Lewis voting rights act, he's going to bring up D.C. Statehood, and we're going to see the Republicans doing what they are doing this week.

Ron Johnson forcing the COVID relief measure to be read in full by the clerks on the floor of the Senate. They're going block this stuff mindlessly, and I think that's going to help bring the issue to a head. Number two, like I said, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden they're not whipping you know, the filibuster on the John Lewis act yet. They're whipping to get the COVID relief bill passed. That is there priority now.

But at some point very soon in the next few months their priority will turn to this democracy reform bills that Nancy Pelosi is passing in the House, and when that happens I really highly doubt that the Democrats will fail to muster the energy to pass this because two of their own people defect in the persons of Sinema and Manchin.

And the last thing, Don, is there's all kinds of ways to get rid of the filibuster. And Joe Manchin is out there saying that he doesn't want to get rid of the filibuster. There's ways of doing things like having a talking filibuster. You know, when people hear the Trump filibuster, they think of Mr. Smith goes to Washington, holding the Senate floors, speaking for hours on end.

But that's not what actually happens right now. What happens right now is Mitch McConnell can just phone in an objection and require the Democrats to have to muster 60 votes to pass anything. I think you could see the Democrats coalesce around the idea of, hey, will let the minority block a bill, for as long they are willing to physically hold the floor and speak.

But as soon as they relent in speaking then we're going to be able to move to a majority vote. And that would be a talking -- that's the so- called talking filibuster proposal. It would allow somebody like Manchin to say, you know what, I'm preserving some ability for the minority to object, but I'm ultimately, I'm going allow an up and down vote on some of these popular proposals.

LEMON: Brian Fallon, just took us ahead in the textbook. So we will see if it becomes a fruition. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

FALLON: Thanks. Belated happy birthday to you, Don.

LEMON: Thank you. I really appreciate it.

One of the women accusing Governor Cuomo of sexual harassment speaking out in her first T.V. interview. That's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Do you believe he was propositioning you?

UNKNOWN: Yes.

UNKNOWN: For what?

UNKNOWN: Sex.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight, one of the women accusing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment is speaking out in her first TV interview. Charlotte Bennett is a 25-year-old former executive assistant and policy -- health policy advisor to Governor Cuomo. She says he asked her deeply personal and uncomfortable questions and says she thought he was trying to sleep with her.

Joining me now is CNN correspondent Brynn Gingras. Brynn, thanks for joining. So, this is the first TV interview from this young woman. Tell us about it.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Don. Well, Charlotte Bennett was very deliberate in her words, she was emotional at times, and she described in great detail one-on-one interactions that she had with the governor when she worked with him during the height of this pandemic. And she says, like you just mentioned, that she believes the governor wanted to sleep with her and that he almost was fixated on the fact that she suffered trauma from a sexual assault experience in the past. I want to you listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHARLOTTE BENNETT, FORMER AIDE OF GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO: He is lonely. He's tired.

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS ANCHOR: You've just finished dictation, and the governor is telling you he's lonely and looking for a relationship.

BENNETT: Yes. He asked if I had trouble enjoying being with someone because of my trauma.

O'DONNELL: This seems highly inappropriate.

BENNETT: Yeah. The governor asked me if I was sensitive to intimacy.

O'DONNELL: In his office?

BENNETT: Yes, during the workday.

O'DONNELL: You have been quoted as saying that he also asked you about if you had ever been with an older man.

BENNETT: Yeah. He asked me if age difference mattered. He also explained that he was fine with anyone over 22.

O'DONNELL: And how old are you?

BENNETT: Twenty-five.

O'DONNELL: What were you thinking as he is asking you these questions?

BENNETT: I thought he's trying to sleep with me. The governor is trying to sleep with me. And I'm deeply uncomfortable. And I have to get out of this room as soon as possible.

[23:35:03]

O'DONNELL: And to be clear, what made you think that he was trying to sleep with you?

BENNETT: Without explicitly saying it, he implied to me that I was old enough for him and he was lonely.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

GINGRAS: And Bennett went on to talk about the shame she felt when she was actually answering those questions from the governor knowing that he was her boss and that she knew that she just felt like she needs to get out of there but she couldn't.

And, of course, Don, she is going to be part of this New York attorney general investigation that's going to move forward. And they're hoping more people will come forward.

It is important to note, CBS says they reached out to the governor for response, and they directed CBS to the interview or rather the time he went in front of all the cameras yesterday saying that he was embarrassed by all these allegations, he didn't know that he was making people feel uncomfortable. Bennett, of course, says that that just doesn't go far enough. Don?

LEMON: Brynn, thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Now, I want to bring in CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. Dana, hello to you. You know, she said a lot there.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.

LEMON: What is your reaction to this new information?

BASH: It was hard to watch. And, you know, hard to watch for so many reasons. And obviously, I'm sure for so many people, first and foremost, the fact that she is just 25 years old. So, you know, to come forward with these allegations can't be easy on any level at all, right, Don?

But the fact that she gave such detail about him asking her to turn the recorder off when he was giving dictation, and clearly the fact that all of the signals that she got based on what he said was that he wanted to be intimate with her, he wanted to sleep with her, in her words, and also the layer on top of that, the detail about her saying that he was asking about whether or not she felt comfortable being intimate given the fact that she is a rape victim, it's a lot.

And this is not information that would be hard for -- I mean, yes, apparently it was just the two of them in the room, but she had the contemporaneous text messages right afterwards with her friend, and then apparently she went to the governor's chief of staff, so all these obviously will be part of the attorney general's investigation.

LEMON: I'm glad you bring that up because there is an investigation happening. We have seen other stories like this, Dana, like what happened with Al Franken --

BASH: Yeah.

LEMON: -- and that -- that was handled totally differently than this one.

BASH: He was -- he was begging for an investigation when the members of his caucus in the United States Senate were pushing him out pretty aggressively, led by the New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. She was, of course, one of the firsts, if not the first, to say that Al Franken must resign.

And this is about some photos and some other allegations, but some photos that were taken when he was still a comedian, before he was a member of the U.S. Senate. It just shows the arc of where we are right now with the "Me Too" movement. That was in the height of it. And Democrats were intensely critical of Republicans, and they felt that they needed to be on a level playing field, and Al Franken -- that happened right at the same time.

Now, we're in a place where you have, you know, kind of -- not a different perspective, but you have kind of the Trump era, frankly, where you have seen politicians just kind of ride out storms.

It's not the same in any way, shape, or form, but in terms of potential lesson that every politician has learned is maybe don't jump to resign even though you feel shame or you feel -- or perhaps in this case you got -- you have an allegation that may turn out to be true. We'll see.

LEMON: I wanted to ask you because you mentioned -- you said the arc of these things, it just shows you, because, you know, he had -- he apologized. He said he's not resigning. We're waiting on this investigation. But I am wondering if we're approaching --

BASH: Right, that's important to say.

LEMON: -- these things now in a post-Trump era.

BASH: Mm-hmm.

LEMON: Yeah.

BASH: It is. It's quite different in terms of the post-Trump era and also the fact that we are in a situation where even frankly Democrats and Republicans and, you know, just even separate from politics, the -- I don't want to call it knee jerk, but the intense desire in the heat of when everything was crumbling for the Harvey Weinsteins and others like him, that has kind of cooled a little bit.

[23:40:04]

BASH: Having said that, the fact that these allegations are coming after the "Me Too" era, Don --

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

BASH: -- at a time when, you know, if true, the governor certainly should have known better. Everybody in the workplace --

LEMON: It wasn't even a year ago.

BASH: -- knows better now.

LEMON: Yeah.

BASH: It wasn't even a year ago.

LEMON: Yeah.

BASH: It was last summer. That is very telling and it should be a very real dynamic in detail in the overall picture here.

LEMON: Yeah, Dana. I'm glad we have you here to discuss this, Dana. Thank you very much. We will see where this goes.

BASH: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: You're right, it was certainly -- that was difficult to watch. It really was. Thank you very much.

BASH: Yeah.

LEMON: I appreciate it.

More states lifting their mask mandates, and Dr. Fauci is concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: There are so many reasons why you don't want to pull back just now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Today, Alabama joining Texas, Mississippi, and a handful of other states deciding to lift mask mandates or coronavirus restrictions on businesses. When you look at this map, you can see new cases are holding steady or getting worse in five out of these seven states. The reaction from the scientific and medical community? Unanimous. This is a bad idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: Now is not the time to pull back.

UNKNOWN: I really just truly see this as sabotage.

PETER HOTEZ, DEAN FOR THE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: This is not the time to do it, not with the U.K. variant starting to accelerate, which we know is so much more transmissible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Joining me now is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. Good evening, doctor. It is good to see you. Some of the states where restrictions are being lifted are in a really bad spot. Texas is adding about 7,000 new cases a day. What is the impact of this decision going to be?

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, potentially more cases, and it's coming at a really bad time because things are going really well in the United States.

You know, compared to last week, cases are down five percent, hospitalization is down 15 percent, and deaths are down at 10 percent. So things are really moving in the right way. So why would you do this?

You know, I get the economic imperative to try and get businesses open. You know, I understand that. But what's the imperative to drop masking? We're doing really well now, in large part to the fact that -- due to the fact that I think never before have more Americans been wearing masks. So why would you drop it?

So, let's look at some of the states that are dropping universal masking. Texas, as you said, they have -- about 10 percent of all of the cases in the United States came out of Texas.

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

REINER: They have a test positivity rate of 12 percent.

LEMON: Let's put up this map while you're talking about it because there are 15 states that have no mask mandate and the number will jump to 17 when Texas and Alabama are lifted in the coming days. Let's talk about the spread. I wanted to put it up to give people a visual. Look at that.

REINER: Right. So, Alabama has a test positivity rate of 15 percent. Mississippi has a test positivity rate of almost 19 percent. So, you know, compare that to a state like West Virginia, where the Republican governor is in no hurry to release the mask mandate. West Virginia has a test positivity rate of three percent, less than the national average.

Those other states have many multiples of the national average of positive COVID testing. So, why is the rush in those other states? It's purely political, and frankly it's selfish.

LEMON: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

REINER: You know -- yeah.

LEMON: Yeah. Listen, you mentioned West Virginia. The governor, Jim Justice, said this earlier about states deciding to re-open. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV): I'm not going to let this become a political football. I mean, I really -- I don't want to be critical, but so many people want to just move because it's the most politically correct thing that they can do. You know, it becomes almost a macho thing and everything.

We have been cautious and everything. I'm not going throw a mud at either side and everything, and I'm not going to dance around like a politician because I'm not that. But at the end of the day, we're going to do the smart thing in West Virginia. We're not going to do the thing that's politically correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I have had Governor Justice on. He's been incredibly level- headed throughout this entire process. And as you said, he has got some of the lowest rates. They have been doing it right in West Virginia. Do you think he's right? Are these governors bowing to political pressure with these decisions? Is that any way to lead, doctor?

REINER: No.

(LAUGHTER)

REINER: It's no way to lead. And when we had all of this confusion and ambiguity about masks in the spring, we had, you know, the massive surge in the summer, and now that we finally got the pandemic under control and we're really on the verge of breaking its back, we see this nonsense. It's really nonsense. We have to wear masks for the next few months because the variants are more contagious.

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

[23:49:56]

REINER: And until we can get the population of the United States to a level that approaches herd immunity, we're at risk of the pandemic reigniting. So let's wear masks for the next few months. We'll put this away and we'll have a fabulous summer.

LEMON: Ah, thank you, sir. We have had our house call tonight, nightly house call with Dr. Reiner, because he has the best bedside manner.

REINER: That's my job.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. We'll see you soon.

I want you to take a look at this, as well. This is the Senate floor where clerks are still reading out Biden's coronavirus relief bill. They started at 3:30 p.m. and they're still going. More on the GOP stunt, next.

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[23:55:00]

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LEMON: So, it is just before midnight Eastern, and Senate Republicans are using a big political stunt to stall passage of President Biden's COVID relief bill.

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin forcing Senate clerks to read the entire bill out loud, all 628 pages. It started this afternoon around 3:30 Eastern. The full reading is expected to take about 10-hours total. They still have a ways to go. Tomorrow, Florida day begins. Other Republicans are expected to do whatever they can to slow down the process.

But Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vows the Senate will stay in session until a final vote is taken. Democrats are trying to pass a relief package before pandemic unemployment benefits run out for millions of Americans this month. Stay tuned.

Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues.

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