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Don Lemon Tonight

Suspect in Capitol Car Attack Posted He Had Lost His Job, Believed Government Was Targeting Him With "Mind Control"; Top Minneapolis Homicide Detective Testifies in Chauvin Trial: "If Your Knee Is on A Person's Neck, That Can Kill Him"; NYT: Receipts Show Rep. Gaetz And Former Florida Official Sent Money to Women Using Cash Apps. Aired 9-10p ET

Aired April 02, 2021 - 21:00   ET

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

[21:00:00]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: For those who celebrate Easter, please, enjoy this weekend.

"CNN TONIGHT WITH DON LEMON" starts now.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: I am Don Lemon. This is CNN TONIGHT.

Thank you so much for joining. Chris is off. And there's a lot of news going on. So, we are gotten a little bit started - started a little bit early because of the breaking news, in the deadly attack on the United States Capitol that we need to report to you. So again, a lot going on.

Once again, the center of our democracy became a bull's eye, really less than 90 days, after the attempted coup, this time, a car attack by a deranged knife-wielding man.

And once again, a United States Capitol Police officer is dead, after trying to protect the legislative branch of our elected government. William "Billy" Evans was an 18-year veteran of the Force, and we've got all the new details on all of this for you.

We're following major developments also in the Derek Chauvin murder trial for George Floyd's death. Today's testimony from one of Chauvin's former law enforcement colleagues could be devastating to his defense.

And as Congressman Matt Gaetz faces growing questions, about his alleged sexual relationships with young women, including a 17-year- old, and whether campaign funds may have been involved, a key member of his own staff quits.

But I want to start with what's going on, on Capitol Hill. And Jessica Dean is here. She was there when the attack happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States Capitol on high alert, again, as another attack left one Capitol Police Officer dead and another injured.

YOGANANDA PITTMAN, ACTING CHIEF, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: The suspect rammed his car into two of our officers.

DEAN (voice-over): A 25-year-old suspect Noah Green rammed this blue sedan into a barricade, at the Capitol Building, striking two officers, before exiting that vehicle, and charging at the officers with a knife.

PITTMAN: The suspect did start lunging toward U.S. Capitol Police officers, at which time U.S. Capitol Police officers fired upon the suspect.

DEAN (voice-over): A law enforcement official telling CNN, one officer was stabbed.

PITTMAN: It is with a very, very heavy heart that I announce one of our officers has succumbed to his injuries.

DEAN (voice-over): William "Billy" Evans, an 18-year veteran of the Force is the second Capitol Police officer, to die on duty, in just the last three months, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling him a "Martyr for our democracy," and President Biden ordering flags at the White House to be lowered at half-staff.

This afternoon's attack bringing back memories of the January 6th insurrection, just as security measures were ramping down, with fences being removed around the Capitol.

REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): What it shows is that there are people out there that want to hurt us. And so, we got to do more, and we got to do better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: And we just learned that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did speak with Officer Evans' family, earlier tonight, to express her condolences and heartbrokenness over what has happened.

We also know that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has spoken with Officer Evans' family.

And Don, at this point, all of congressional leadership has expressed prayers. Just everyone is simply devastated that this has happened. It is happening just with these wounds still so fresh from January 6th, with this heaviness that still exists here. And there are so many heartbroken people here, on Capitol Hill tonight.

LEMON: "Heartbreaking," good way to describe it.

DEAN: Yes.

LEMON: Jessica, thank you so much. I appreciate your reporting.

I want to bring in now CNN's Senior Justice Correspondent, Evan Perez, and our Correspondent, Pete Muntean, as well. Gentlemen, good evening to you.

Evan, you first, you've been digging into the suspect, and his disturbing social media presence. What are you learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well Don, this is a very disturbing portrait that we're getting from some of the Facebook and Instagram posts that this man Nathan (ph) Green posted, including some postings that were made, just under, two hours, before he carried out this attack, before he was shot and killed there, at the U.S. Capitol.

One of them that he posted, he talks about - he says, "I have suffered multiple home break ins, food poisonings, assaults, unauthorized operations in the hospital," and "mind control."

There's another one. He's posting a meme that where he has a caption that says "The U.S. Government is the number one enemy of Black people." He describes that he became a follower of Minister Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader.

And you can see, in some of the posts, he describes that he believes the FBI and the CIA were behind some of his afflictions, reasons why he said he had to - he lost his job, had been unemployed recently.

[21:05:00]

And Don, I mean, I think one of the things that comes to mind here, after the January 6th riots, and the insurrection, this is one of the things that worried law enforcement was that when people saw what happened that day, the ability of people to sack the building, that there might be people at home, watching, maybe disturbed, who decide that they want to try something like that.

And again, that's one - so that's one of the things that is being looked at right now.

LEMON: Pete, I want to bring you in, because you're at George Washington University Hospital, where officers from the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police paid their respects, for Officer William Evans with a procession earlier.

There it is on your screen now.

What was that like?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sad and powerful procession for Officer "Billy" Evans done.

Right here, in front of George Washington University Hospital, it was really hard to spot someone, who wasn't a police officer, not only U.S. Capitol Police, but the U.S. Park Police, U.S. Secret Service, the Metropolitan Washington Police Department was here. And it was really hard to spot somebody who did not have a dry eye.

Not only did the hospital staff come out, on the street, from inside the hospital, to pay their respects to Officer Evans, but also, I saw one lone U.S. Capitol Police Officer, standing in a solemn salute, at the top of 23rd Street here, as that procession left.

I also saw the Head of the Metropolitan Washington Police Department, Robert Contee, hugging other police officers here.

And after that procession left, we were able to get a glimpse into the fact that this was also a bit of a crime scene. There was crime scene tape, blocking the front of the Ambulance Bay here, in front of the emergency department.

Beyond that, you could see a U.S. Capitol police cruiser being inspected by homicide detectives from the D.C. Police Department. They were going over that with latex gloves. They were photographing that Cruiser. Still not totally clear how that will play into this investigation here.

What is clear, though, just yet another line-of-duty death for the U.S. Capitol Police Department in only a few short months of 2021.

LEMON: Do we know - perhaps, did they bring the Officer to the hospital, in the police cruiser perhaps, or do we - do we know anything like that, Pete?

MUNTEAN: We still have to wait to see that play out, Don.

LEMON: That maybe the reason that they were going over--

MUNTEAN: We know that ambulances were involved. We also initially--

LEMON: That maybe the reason that they--

MUNTEAN: Right.

LEMON: --were going over--

MUNTEAN: It maybe a reason and it--

LEMON: --the police car there.

MUNTEAN: And if they were driving here, it would have been a harrowing drive.

LEMON: Right.

MUNTEAN: It's a few miles away. But even in D.C. traffic, it's particularly hard to do, especially during the peak of the Cherry Blossom Festival here. There was a lot of traffic here in Washington. So that would be a particularly hard feat to pull off.

LEMON: Right on. Let's say there - another Capitol Police officer injured in this attack, Pete. What are you hearing about his condition?

MUNTEAN: Well, we are hearing maybe a bit of welcome good news on that today. We know that other officer is now in stable and non-life threatening condition. So, may be a glimmer of good news, on an otherwise, pretty dark day, for the U.S. Capitol Police Department. LEMON: Evan, another question to you. Investigators, what are they doing right now to try to determine a motive? Because earlier they had said, "Well, we don't think that it's terrorism in the traditional sense."

PEREZ: Right.

LEMON: But I mean that was pretty early on. What do we know now?

PEREZ: Right. It was a surprising statement to come so early, Don.

And I know that one of the things they're doing is they're trying to talk to family members, friends, people who may have seen him, in the last few days, because frankly, one of the things they are still trying to, to cut to the bottom of, is whether there was any political motivation.

He talks about how the U.S. government is the number one enemy of Black people. So that enters into the picture. Was that the reason why he came here, the seat of the federal government, obviously?

And so, they're still working to determine whether terrorism, or anything else, what else was part of this, or if it's a mix of motivations, including, of course, a clearly disturbed - mentally- disturbed person who, made these postings that we just talked about.

LEMON: Yes. Listen, we've had that before. I've covered stories, where--

PEREZ: Yes.

LEMON: --people have driven their cars into barricades in Washington, at the Capitol, and so on.

But this one, unfortunately, resulted in the death of an officer, and the individual, but also just, a month or so, just a little bit over a month, Evan, after that Capitol insurrection, it just adds insult to injury here.

PEREZ: It really does. It really does. And I think that you can - you can tell from, you know, just from what you can see, whether it is the scene that Pete described, these are officers, who have suffered so much in the last - in the last couple of months among - in their family, obviously.

This is a family of officers. You have Officer Sicknick, who died just shortly after the insurrection.

You have another officer, the Capitol Police officer, who took his own life. His name is Howard Liebengood. I heard from his family today. They wanted to make sure that people remembered that he suffered also.

And there were so many others who were hurting. One officer turned in her gun because she was afraid she was going to harm herself, Don. There was also another Metropolitan Police officer who took his own life. So clearly, a lot of hurt for the officers, who endured so much, on

that day, hours and hours battling those people, who were trying to harm the Members of Congress that day.

LEMON: Lot of suffering going on in the country right now.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it, Evan and Pete.

[21:10:00]

We've got much more on today's attack on the Capitol. A former Capitol Police officer and FBI Special Agent tell us what investigators should be looking into. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Flags, right now, at the White House, and at the United States Capitol, at half-staff, after another deadly attack on the Capitol, in less than three months.

The Acting Capitol Police Chief, leading a force, still dealing with the grief and trauma, from January 6th, now having to announce another officer's death, while on duty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PITTMAN: Two U.S. Capitol Police officers were transported to two different hospitals. And it is with a very, very heavy heart that I announce one of our officers has succumbed to his injuries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That officer was William "Billy" Evans, a member of the Capitol Police force for 18 years.

[21:15:00]

Joining me now, to discuss, former Capitol Police officer, "Butch" Jones, and former FBI Special Agent, Asha Rangappa.

Good evening to both of you.

Officer Jones?

THEORTIS "BUTCH" JONES, FORMER CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: Good evening.

LEMON: Two deadly attacks in the U.S. Capitol in a matter of months. It's an unthinkable tragedy. But if the officers didn't stop the attack today, this really could have been a whole lot worse.

JONES: Yes, sir, it could have been a lot worse, for the officers stand out, and protect the Capitol, and protect the staff, who was there is tremendous job, and is a terrible loss.

LEMON: As someone who has - talk to me about what they're feeling, someone who knows what happens, when an officer, when one of your fellow officers is lost, in the line of duty, what are the men and women there, dealing with now?

JONES: They're dealing with a very heavy heart. In 1998, when we lost two officers, it was a very sad day. When you lose a brother and a sister, it's hard to cope with. But luckily, they have each other. And that's what make it seem better, if I can say it like that, because everybody feels the same.

LEMON: I want you to take a listen to what we heard. This is from retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who led a review of security at the Capitol, in the wake of January 6th. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. RUSSEL L. HONORE, CAPITOL SECURITY REVIEW TASK FORCE HEAD: Many members challenged the recommendations, some of the recommendations we made, in terms of barriers, the need in hardening of the Capitol, while keeping the Capitol open to the public.

And the challenge was they would tell me, "Hey, we've gone through the SCIF, General. We're not seeing any threats to the Capitol."

We've got to accept the fact that 24x7, the Capitol is a threat to domestic, foreign, and criminals, who might want to attack out the center of our leadership of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Officer Jones, how vulnerable is our Capitol right now?

JONES: The Capitol is very vulnerable. And a sad part about it is no one is being held accountable. Starting with January the 6th, because no one's held accountable, 45 was not dealt with of inciting the riot, the Capitol is very vulnerable. And I look forward to happen again.

LEMON: You think it'll happen again?

JONES: Yes, sir. Unless we take responsibility of what's going on. And we have not taken responsibility. Members of Congress have not taken responsibility. And somebody has to do something besides Capitol Police.

LEMON: What do you mean responsibility for what's going on? Talk to me more about that.

JONES: Well, this is the way I feel. If you are having Members of Congress, Senate and Congressmen, say that the voting was a fraud, with no proof, you had the President say, I mean, former president say, "Come down to the Capitol, and raise hell," and nobody's been dealt with.

They talk about Capitol Police. And they're making Capitol Police seem like yesterday wasn't the path forward, the multitude of people they had.

But I still believe in my heart that it was - it was beyond the paycheck of Capitol Police. And some of this was allowed, and nobody has been held responsible. And until then, I think this can happen again and again.

LEMON: It's we're fortunate to have your insight on this.

Asha, let me bring you in. You know the FBI. What's going on behind- the-scenes right now in this investigation?

ASHA RANGAPPA, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: The FBI right now would be assisting the Metropolitan Police in looking at, I think, primarily uncovering the motive behind this particular attack.

I was a little surprised when officials said that they were, you know, it didn't appear to have any connection to terrorism, which may be true.

But that is really determined by the motivation behind it, in the case of international terrorism, if it was inspired by or associated with a foreign terrorist organization, or domestically, if it is inspired by an ideology, a political ideology, racial, religious.

And the only way, that you really, uncover that, is by, for example, uncovering a person's digital footprint, talking to the people around them.

I also think that the law enforcement, FBI, will want to see whether there was any coordination, or planning, behind this, just because that will give an indication of whether there might be something else coming, or if this was just a lone attack.

LEMON: A similar question as to what I just asked Officer Jones, Asha, for you.

[21:20:00]

Did the January 6th insurrection, make the Capitol a symbolic target or just that - just about anyone with a grievance can come and air their grievance, through violence?

RANGAPPA: I think January 6th - I think the Capitol has always been a symbolic target, just like say the Twin Towers were to foreign terrorists.

But what January 6th did is it really put it in the public eye, day- to-day, because we were covering that story. And so, I do think that it will channel people's grievances, driven by a number of different motivations, just because it'll be in their consciousness.

And I think, especially when those grievances have to do with dissatisfaction or mistrust in the government, conspiracy theories involving the government, it's just a highly visible target, against which to channel your frustrations.

LEMON: Yes.

RANGAPPA: I think the challenge with the Capitol is that precisely because it is a symbol and seat of our democracy, how do we protect it, while at the same time not making it into a fortress? Because the symbolism is important to our country, but we also need to

find ways to understand that, I agree with my co-panelist, that I think that we will see attacks, again, against this target.

LEMON: Officer Jones, I'm just wondering what, you know, because officers there are going to need some help, what they need in the wake of this, and especially, the Capitol insurrection, because that was so monumental.

And then we have a Capitol police officer, a Metropolitan Police officer, dying by suicide, after the January 6th insurrection. And I know several officers are dealing with post-traumatic stress.

How - I know how they're holding up. It's tough. They're just sort of hanging on. But what do they need, right now, in order to be better, and to do better, meaning their jobs, and in their personal lives as well?

JONES: Number one, I think the Members of Congress going to have to be more understanding, to the point where the pandemic, you have shortage of men, they're working long hours. So, you have to provide for Capitol Police.

Capitol Police is there every day. They had not failed Congress. And Congress needs to step up and protect Capitol Police, hire more men, hire the horses, hire the dogs, whatever is necessary. They want to be protected? They got to pay for it.

LEMON: I got to ask you one thing before we leave, because we - listen, we love having Asha here. Asha is a member of the family, so that goes without saying, and her insight and her wisdom are very valuable.

But we don't often hear from you, and people like you. I want to know, since this insurrection, and since what's happened now, is there anything - what do you want America to know? What do you want our leaders to know right now?

JONES: I think our leaders are so vicious, you know? I mean, we are - we are not respectable. We're calling each other names.

I've served under a lot of Members of Congress, "Tip" O'Neill, some of the old guys. And even though there was Republicans and Democrats, they respected one another.

And when you have destruction from the top, it trickles down, all the way down. So, you - Congress have to be challenged that they have to do their job. And they're not doing their job. And they're leaving everybody else vulnerable.

LEMON: Officer "Butch" Jones, thank you.

JONES: Sure.

LEMON: Really appreciate your honesty. Thank you so much.

Asha, thank you as well, and we'll see you - we'll see you soon.

Officer Jones, please come back. We'd love to speak with you more, and hear more of your - how you feel about these things. Thank you.

JONES: Thank you.

LEMON: Minneapolis police taking the stand in the Chauvin trial, today. And you've got to hear what they have to say, about Chauvin, kneeling on George Floyd's neck, for over 9 minutes.

[21:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: More damning testimony in the Derek Chauvin trial today, this time a senior officer, in the Minneapolis Police Department, reacting to Chauvin's use of force against George Floyd.

For five days, 14 jurors heard dramatic opening statements, 19 witness testimonies, many of them heart-wrenching, sitting through an onslaught of deeply disturbing videos, from every single angle, capturing the last minutes of George Floyd's life.

CNN's Omar Jimenez takes us through what we've learned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. RICHARD ZIMMERMAN, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: I do.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The theme of a shortened day five of testimony was training.

MATTHEW FRANK, PROSECUTOR: Have you ever, in all the years you've been working, for the Minneapolis Police Department, been trained to kneel, on the neck of someone, who is handcuffed behind their back, in a prone position?

ZIMMERMAN: No, I haven't. That would be the top tier, the deadly force.

FRANK: Why?

ZIMMERMAN: Because of the fact that, if your knee is on a person's neck, that can kill him.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): 35-year veteran Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman, who says he's served longer than any other officer, in the Minneapolis Police Department, testified to the risks of restraining a suspect, the way George Floyd was held.

FRANK: What is your, you know, your view of that use of force during that time period?

ZIMMERMAN: Totally unnecessary.

Once a person is cuffed, you need to turn them on their side, or have them sit up. You need to get them off their chest.

Your muscles are pulling back when you're hand-cuffed. And if you're laying on your chest, that's constricting your breathing even more.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): It was even something former officer Derek Chauvin was asked about, in the moment, by former officer Thomas Lane.

THOMAS LANE, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Should we roll him on his side?

DEREK CHAUVIN, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Nope, he's staying put where we've got him.

[21:30:00]

JIMENEZ (voice-over): During cross examination, the defense, pointing out the differences between a patrol officer, and Zimmerman's role, as a homicide detective, largely investigative in nature, despite annual defense training.

ERIC NELSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The frequency with which you have to use higher levels of force, as an investigator, doesn't happen all that often, right?

ZIMMERMAN: Correct.

NELSON: And it would not be within your normal role of - or job duties to do such a use-of-force analysis, right?

ZIMMERMAN: That's correct.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Zimmerman's testimony comes on the tail-end of a week, filling in gaps, of what happened, on May 25th, 2020, including what happened when medical personnel arrived.

DEREK SMITH, PARAMEDIC: In lay terms, I thought he was dead.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Painful testimony about what it was like in the moment that day, just steps away from Floyd.

CHARLES MCMILLIAN, WITNESS: I feel helpless.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): An insight to how Derek Chauvin interpreted what had just happened.

CHAUVIN: We've got to control this guy because he's a sizeable guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and I've got - I've got to get in the car and get--

CHAUVIN: It looks like - looks like he's probably on something.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): All of it stemming from an excruciating 9 minutes and 29 seconds of knee to the neck, that according to Friday testimony, should have ended much earlier.

ZIMMERMAN: The ambulance will get there in whatever amount of time. And, in that time period, you need to provide medical assistance, before they arrive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: And Lieutenant Zimmerman was among 14 Minneapolis police officers that signed on to an open letter, condemning Derek Chauvin. At one point, the letter read "Derek Chauvin failed as a human and stripped George Floyd of his dignity and life."

Zimmerman was the last witness to testify this week. Testimony will pick back up, Monday morning.

And while we don't know the exact lineup of witnesses, it is expected, at some point, we will hear from current Minneapolis Police Chief, Medaria Arradondo, along with an emergency medicine physician, and critically, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner.

Don?

LEMON: Omar Jimenez, Omar, thank you so much, appreciate that.

CNN Legal Analyst Laura Coates is here now.

Laura, hello to you. Let's talk about this.

Laura is as a federal prosecutor, by the way, and the Host of "Laura Coates Show," on SiriusXM Radio, where she examines these issues as well. So, I would encourage you to tune into that.

Laura, today's testimony, from Lieutenant Zimmerman, the longest- serving officer, in the Minneapolis Police Department, saying that, Chauvin's use of force, totally unnecessary, pouring cold water on the defense's argument that Chauvin was just following his training, how big of a blow was that testimony for the defense?

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, SIRIUSXM HOST, "THE LAURA COATES SHOW": Oh, it was so crucial. He didn't just pour cold water. He blew it out of the water.

Remember, up till now, you've had the defense strategy, to try to scapegoat the crowd, as if their vocal verbalizations, and imploring of the officers, to render aid, somehow removed the opportunity to perform a duty of care, then the attempted scapegoating, the training. "Hey, I'm just following orders here."

What you saw here was the establishment of Derek Chauvin as the police persona non grata.

Neither, or any of the three officers, who were testifying, wanted to do the what you would expect to happen, which is, "Look, this is one of our own, and he was just trying to do the right thing," and trying to plant those seeds of benefit of the doubt.

You saw the extension of a 10-foot pole, which essentially said, "This is not who we are," and creating a clear line in the sand that said, "Look, officers are able to use force, to subdue a suspect." But it transforms to an assault, once force is no longer necessary,

and you sustain that force, in a deadly nature, even after the person exhibit signs of death. That's what happened today. It was monumental. It was crushing.

LEMON: Laura, this week is so - it's been so emotional, right, with the witnesses, really emotional witnesses, there's so much of video, giving such dramatic testimony. The country is really riveted. I mean, what do you - what are you expecting to see next week?

COATES: Well, we're not going to see as much of the emotional, provocative testimony that we'd have from a bystander.

I mean, you're only going to have really once-in-a-cases lifetime, if a prosecutor's lifetime, the idea of a 9-year-old testifying, in the same way, as somebody, who's more than half a century older, tears across the board, from people who have seen this thing, from 911 dispatchers, who were watching, bystanders, and off-duty firefighter, EMTs, et cetera, an MMA fighter.

Imagine a traffic accident. How often could you have it, where everyone witnessing a traffic accident says, "Yes, the light was the same color?" This is an inkblot test. And for the first time, everyone saw the same thing.

So now, you're going to go more into the idea of cause of death, the more technical aspects, the idea of the police training, the idea of toxicology reports, which really is where this case is going to lie, because so far, the defense has not had a leg to stand on, about whether this force was reasonable.

[21:35:00]

What they have left, and the prosecution must prove, is that the kneeling on the neck was a substantial causal factor in his death. Not the sole cause, it need not be the only thing, but under Minnesota law, you've got to prove that it was a substantial causal factor. To go there, it becomes the Battle of the Experts.

LEMON: And you know what, Laura, it's not just the service (ph) things like people saying, "Well, you know, he was high on this, or this happened, and that happened," there's a lot of nuance going on that you have to read into exactly what happened, what, you know, they talked about the drugs, and however much that was a contributing factor, and so on.

COATES: Yes.

LEMON: But really, I haven't seen anything this emotional from a trial, on television. I really cannot remember when. I really can't.

COATES: No one can. And really, think about, actually, you probably can. The last time you had this emotion on television, was when we thought it was an 8 minute and 46 second video.

LEMON: Right on. COATES: Now you know it's 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

LEMON: Right.

COATES: And now you know what it looked like, for all these people.

I mean, I go back to being a mother here, and imagining my young children, going to the store, and coming back, I think they're going to be bringing back snacks. They bring back the memory, of having witnessed, somebody take their last breath, under the knee of who, I tell them, should protect them. I mean, this is the kind of visceral reaction you have.

And frankly, if I were the defense counsel in this, that's the very type of testimony that I would have sought carefully to derail.

I mean, the idea that we had, in many respects here, long periods of monologues, talking about feelings, talking about the emotion that it evoked, and not having, at least, even if they weren't evidentiary, justifiable or hearsay objects that would stand, at least attempting to derail it.

It seemed, at times, that the defense themselves were equally in awe of the testimony, and wondering where to go next.

Now, I give them that these witnesses, particularly those, who I call "Credibly pure" in the sense of, "What's an angle? What's the agenda of a 9-year-old? What's the agenda of the EMT? What's the agenda of a 911 dispatcher?" It's hard to undermine their credibility.

But still, there were opportunities for the defense to try to at least derail them, throw them off the track, in some ways, and they just could not, which is why I say substantial causal factor, that's where they've got to go.

LEMON: Laura, I've been watching you get us through this. And I mean it's just been invaluable. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

For Congressman Matt Gaetz--

COATES: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: --it has been a week. Details of an investigation into possible sex trafficking, and an alleged relationship with an underage girl, they con - all of this stuff continues to surface now. Now, a resignation in his staff.

I'm going to speak with someone, who has known Gaetz for years. That's next.

[21:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: And now to the Matt Gaetz saga that has been unfolding, the Spokesperson for Matt Gaetz, suddenly leaving his job, today, with more allegations emerging against his now former boss. The investigation, centers on Gaetz' friendship, with former Florida tax collector, Joel Greenberg.

Now, "The New York Times" is reporting federal investigators believe Greenberg recruited women for sex, and that he introduced them, the women, who received cash payments, to Gaetz, who allegedly had sex with them.

Complicated story, but we'll go through it for you. "The Times" says that it reviewed Apple Pay and cash app receipts that show that Gaetz made payments to Greenberg, which went to one of the women, and one payment from Greenberg to another woman. Gaetz denies the allegations.

So, joining me now, to discuss, Dave Aronberg. He is a state attorney in Palm Beach County, and who knows Gaetz' father, from the time he's serving in Florida Senate, and also CNN Political Analyst, Kirsten Powers, here as well.

So listen, there's a lot going on. We're glad that both of you are here.

Dave, you have really good knowledge of this, so we're especially grateful that you're here.

So, talk to us about this. Sex with a 17-year-old girl, sex with women recruited and paid for by his friend Joel Greenberg, and according to "The Times," there are receipts of payments from Gaetz to Greenberg, to one of the women.

If these allegations are true, how much trouble is Matt Gaetz in?

DAVE ARONBERG, STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY: Don, it's good to be with you tonight.

Matt Gaetz is in a whole lot of trouble, because if it can be proven that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl, then at minimum, he is guilty of sexual activity with a minor, the crime that people colloquially known as statutory rape. And in Florida, that's a second degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in state prison, and registration as a sex offender.

But if he was involved in paying, for the sex, for a girl, who was underage, and who was transported, or harbored, or recruited, or enticed, to have sex, that would be child sex trafficking, and you can get up to life in prison for that.

Also, there's the possibility that he can be brought into a conspiracy with Joel Greenberg, who is sitting in jail right now, waiting for his own trial, for sex trafficking, and other things like identity theft, and wire fraud.

If it can be proven that Gaetz was part of that conspiracy, they did something in furtherance of the conspiracy, like, go into the office, and deal with all these fake IDs, which apparently there's a video evidence that he was there, then Gaetz could get a much more serious penalty than even Joel Greenberg. LEMON: Wow! I want to - look, I want to talk about that. Let me just ask you one more thing before we discuss that.

He says that he's the victim of an extortion scheme. And his father wore a wire, as part of the investigation. And you have known Gaetz and his father for years. Can you give us your take on that allegation?

ARONBERG: It should be noted that extortion is not a defense to sex trafficking. You can have both things at the same time. You can be a victim of extortion, and at the same time, be the perpetrator in a sex trafficking ring. So this is really a smokescreen.

Matt is really good at political theater. Remember, he's the guy, who led the shutdown of the SCIF. That's that secure room, where the Members of Congress take depositions. That was during impeachment.

[21:45:00]

And he occupied the SCIF with other Republicans. They ordered Pizza. It was to send the message that Republicans needed to be part of the impeachment process. Of course, they were. But it was political theater. He takes his cues from his mentor, Donald Trump, who's really good at smokescreens, at political theater.

But it's not working this time, because the underlying crime is so bad, child sex trafficking. And when he tried to pull a stunt like that, on the Tucker Carlson show, you saw how that ended. After the interview, Carlson pretty much threw Gaetz overboard, in front of his audience.

LEMON: Well, even during the interview, he's like, "I have no idea what you're talking about," right, to a couple of those things, "I really have no memory of that."

Kirsten, just standby.

Just quickly, Joel, I want to ask you something, when you talked about - sorry, Dave, I want to ask you about Joel Greenberg.

You said that Gaetz could end up being in more trouble than Joel Greenberg. Is it possible that Joel Greenberg may be rolling, or giving information, on Matt Gaetz, at this point?

ARONBERG: Yes, and that's what I was referring to, because Joel Greenberg now has every incentive to flip, because he now has a bigger fish in the sea. And that's Matt Gaetz. And for Matt, he's looking around. He can't find anyone bigger, which means the biggest fish is him.

LEMON: It's him, got it.

ARONBERG: And Joel Greenberg has every incentive to play "Let's make a deal" because he violated the terms of his pre-trial release, so he's going to wait in jail until his trial.

LEMON: Yes.

Kirsten, thank you for sitting by. And listen, we both learned a lot. So I'm sure you're fine with it, because Dave is giving us all--

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, COLUMNIST, USA TODAY: Oh, yes, totally.

LEMON: --sorts of information. So, let's talk about politically.

Multiple sources have told CNN that Gaetz showed lawmakers, pictures and videos of nude women that he claimed to have slept with, on the House floor. Aside from the legal aspect, that in itself, politically, that is a very serious allegation.

POWERS: Yes, I mean, it's gross. We'll just start there. But it's just - it's just not the kind of behavior that is acceptable behavior from a Member of Congress, acceptable behavior, on the floor of Congress, at work. And - and it's - it suggests a certain level of immaturity at best.

And the fact that he was so openly bragging about also women being sort of procured for him, also, does not, you know, it does - it's not a good look, to say the least. It's not illegal. But then when you add in these other legal issues, on top of that, then I think you've got a pretty ugly picture.

LEMON: Listen, you know he's, you know, Trump, as close to Trump as they get, at least politically. He's--

POWERS: Oh, yes.

LEMON: --that's big an apologist as you can get here. But he has no support from fellow Republicans. Can he keep his seat if these accusations are true, any of them?

POWERS: Well, one of his problems is that he is so disliked. So it's a, you know, even without this, what ends up happening is it's reminiscent of Anthony Weiner. People remember that. He was so monumentally disliked, and then he had these accusations.

And so, even if somebody was inclined to say, "Let's give you the benefit of the doubt," if you're as unpopular as he is, it's going to be harder and harder to hang on. And so, we have to wait and see how much people are willing to put their neck out for somebody that they don't like.

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

POWERS: Thank you.

LEMON: Major League Baseball pulling the All-Star Game out of Georgia over the state's controversial voting bill, stay with us.

[21:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: New tonight, Major League Baseball, taking a stand, pulling its All-Star Game from Atlanta, over Georgia's new restrictive voting law.

The Commissioner saying, and I quote here, "Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box."

The host city's team, the Atlanta Braves, say that they are deeply disappointed.

Governor Brian Kemp signed the law. He argues the League "Caved to fear, political opportunism, and liberal lies."

So, let's get a fact-check on exactly what these new Georgia voting laws really do. CNN's Daniel Dale joins me now.

Daniel, thank you. Good to see you. You say that both President Biden and Governor Kemp have been misleading, when describing parts of the Georgia elections law.

Let's start with President Biden. Here's what he said about early voting hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Or you're going to close the polling place at 5 o'clock when working people just get off? This is all about keeping working folks and ordinary folks that I grew up with from being able to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You say it's misleading for two reasons. Tell me why.

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: So, first of all, the law does not touch Georgia's Election Day hours, which are still 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.

Second of all, in early voting, it does not require any county to end voting at 5 P.M. It says there's a minimum of 9 A.M. to 5 P.M., but that counties can go as long as 7 A.M. to 7 P.M., if they want to. Now, some people come back and say "Well, it says that they can stop it, at 5 P.M., so Republican counties are going to do that."

The thing is, though, Don, the previous law already let them end at 5 P.M., if they wanted to. It said they had to offer early voting during normal business hours.

All this new law does, in this respect, is clarify that normal hours means 9 to 5, so you can't say "Well, our normal hours are 10 to 4." So, it's a clarification here. Not a restriction. And 9 to 5 is a minimum, not a maximum.

LEMON: Governor Kemp is insisting that this law actually expands access to voting.

Here's what he is saying. He says is actually - "It actually, contrary to what the national media, and those that are profiting off of this whole exercise of not being truthful with people, expands voting access, especially on the weekends."

Now Governor Kemp even said it, again, in a tweet, this afternoon, that this bill actually expands access to the ballot box. The truth here?

[21:55:00]

DALE: There are parts of this law that expand voting access. One of the ones that Kemp and others point to is the fact that it adds a second mandatory Saturday of early voting. There are now two rather than one.

However, this is a large "However," there are many other provisions of the law that limit voting access rather than increase it. On the whole, this law is much more about restriction than expansion.

For example, the law greatly shortens the absentee voting period. It eliminates the majority of early voting, in runoffs, and it cuts the majority of runoff campaigns, overall.

It forces a significant reduction in the number of drop boxes, big Urban Counties can use. For example, Atlanta's Fulton County has to go from 38 in 2020, to they say, a maximum of eight, under this law. It makes it harder for people to get their votes counted, if they show up in the right county, but the wrong precinct. I could go on and on and on.

And Don, all of this is aside from the big behind-the-scene changes like one that gives the state election board, which is controlled by Republicans, the power to decide to remove the elections officials in counties, so in say, big Democratic counties, and take their power temporarily, and impose further changes that way.

So, on the whole, yes, this bill does contain some expansionary provisions, but to call it generally an expansionary bill, I think, is very misleading.

LEMON: Yes, the Governor has also been misleading on drop boxes, and also on giving people food and water in line as well. And we'll--

DALE: Yes.

LEMON: --we'll discuss that as we go on. Thank you, Daniel Dale. I appreciate it.

DALE: Thank you.

LEMON: One officer dead, and yet another attack on Capitol Hill today. We are live on the Hill, after this.

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