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Don Lemon Tonight

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney Calls Trump's Big Lie Of Election Fraud Poison; Calls For Justice During Andrew Brown Jr.'s Funeral Service; Four Arrested During Protests After Funeral Of Andrew Brown Jr.; Biden Team May Partner With Private Firms To Monitor Extremist Chatter Online. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired May 03, 2021 - 23:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN HOST (on camera): Police in Elizabeth City North Carolina are arresting protesters tonight hours after the funeral of Andrew Brown Jr. who was shot to death by police. Protesters demanding release of the bodycam video.

And the battle against COVID, the daily number of cases and deaths in the U.S. now only 1/5 of what they were during the worst days of the pandemic in January.

Joining me now, CNN's senior political analysts, Ron Brownstein and Kirsten Powers. Also political commentator Scott Jennings, he is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush. Good to see all of you. Welcome one and all.

Scott, I'm going to start with you. So these Liz Cheney comments are so extraordinary. This is what sources tell our Jamie Gangel, she said, she said behind closed doors at the Republican Conference. OK, and I quote, we can't rebuild the party of the conservative movement on a foundation of lies. We can't embrace the notion the election is stolen.

It's a poison in the blood stream of our democracy. We can't be a cult of personality. We can't whitewash what happened on January 6th or perpetuate Trump's big lie. It is a threat to democracy. What he did on January 6 is a line that cannot be crossed.

That is not mincing words. It is wild to think that she is telling the most obvious truths and she could pay a very heavy price for it.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR (on camera): Yes. No question about it. I mean, what the Republican leader Kevin McCarthy hopes that she would say is, you know, I've said all I have to say about it. I haven't changed my views but I'm focus on the future. That's what he wants, but, I know the Cheney's a little bit and they were not put on this earth to kiss rear ends or eat crap. And she's not going to do it.

And it might cost her job if you believe the reporting spreading around out there, but I'll guarantee you, it's not going to cost her a minute's sleep. Because she believes she is right about this. And as a matter of long term politics, she is right. Because the Republicans are going to go back to the American people in '24 and say we want the White House. We need to be entrusted with responsibility for governing the country.

And if the party is re-litigating 2020, while we're making that ask of the American people, my assumption is we will once again lose the national popular vote as we have done every time since 2004. And unless your name is Bush, every time since Ronald Reagan.

So, I don't think they should excommunicate Liz Cheney. I think there has to be room in the Party for different opinion on this, because obviously she's telling the truth and we are going to need everybody if we hope to win elections in the future.

LEMON: Ron, we need more people like Liz Cheney, regardless of what your political affiliation is, right. I mean, she is, what Scott just said, not worried about, she may lose her job, but she can sleep at night. She is welcoming this fight. What do you think her motivation is here?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, AND SENIOR EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC (on camera): I think it's pretty much what Scott said. I mean, she believe and what you quoted. I mean, what happened on January 6th was as Joe Biden said in his speech to Congress, the most dangerous day for American democracy since the civil war. You see in Donald Trump a figure who is willing to subvert any rule or norm in order to maintain power and an astonishing portion of the Republican Party has been willing to go along with it.

I mean, you're still seeing it even in our (inaudible) poll, 70 percent of Republican voters still say despite all the evidence to the contrary, that the election was stolen. And so, you know, she is, I think, drawing the right line. The tough part, the tough question is, she is clearly at this point representing a minority of the party.

And do those voters who find this direction of the Republicans date -- not only misguided but dangerous, what do they do now that the evidence is so clear that they are the minority party and it will become clear if Republicans oust her from her position, you know, starting next week.

LEMON: Kirsten, I think we probably know the answer to this. A little truth speaker here. Kirsten, why do Republicans think sticking with Trump is going to help them win? He lost the Republicans in the House. He lost in the Senate and the White House.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Because they think, well, it really depends on who they are, right. Because if you look at the Senators, they are less beholden to him because they're not -- they're representing states, they're not representing districts the way a lot of the people in the House are. And they're representing districts where they have majorities of people who do support Donald Trump. And that is where a lot of the energy is.

I'm not saying that excuses them going along with this. The idea that Liz Cheney is in trouble with the Republican Party for acknowledging that an illegitimate election was legitimate is insane. And so, you know, that just shows you that this is a personality cult, not a party. Because this is something that should, pre-Trump, this would be unthinkable. Truly.

The idea that somebody like Liz Cheney would be on the outs with the Republican Party. Somebody who is a brand name, you know, member of the party and also extremely conservative.

[23:05:00]

LEMON (on camera): Scott, Cheney says that we can't whitewash what happened on January 6th. A D.C. Metro police officer, Michael Fanone who was severely injured defending our Capitol that day used that same language on this show. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FANONE, MPD OFFICER: It's been very difficult seeing elected officials and other individuals kind of whitewash the events of that day, or downplay what happened. I experienced the most brutal, savage hand to hand combat of my entire life. Let alone my policing career which spans almost two decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): How do Republicans hear that Scott and still justify going along with Trump's big lie?

JENNINGS: Truthfully, I don't know. Because the video doesn't lie. I mean, we've all seen the video. We've seen hours and hours of people battering police officers, breaking into the Capitol, rappelling down the sides of the Senate. Many was heinous. I'm still appalled and mortified by what I saw. I still have to talk to my kids about it, you know, because they've seen saw the videos too.

We are going to have to live with that and by the way, as a political matter, we have to live with it in the next election cycle. Because I suspect the Democrats are going to say, you can't trust these people. Look what they are willing to put up with. You want to give them power again. And we are going to have to have an answer for that.

And so, I don't know how to answer your question, Don, but I know this. Videos don't lie. We saw what we saw. What happened, happened. And we have to come to grips with it and understand that that's not who we are as a Republican Party and it is not who we are as Americans, and we ought not to coddle or make excuses for it.

LEMON: Well, Ron, you've seen the polling. You know what the polling says. Only a small part of the Republican Party actually agrees with Cheney. What happens to these voters going forward?

BROWNSTEIN: I think it is an absolutely critical question. I mean, somewhere between a fifth and a quarter of the Republican Party disagrees with basically everything that has happened since the election or horrified by what happened on January 6th. Obviously, Republicans are hoping that they stay in line because they don't like the Democratic agenda but I think it is a really open question, Don.

And I think Scott is suggesting the right frame of reference here, in looking at 2024. It is possible that in 2022 this will not be a huge problem for Republicans. The electorate is smaller. It is more kind of dispersed over local issues in the mid-term. But when you get to 2024 and that big electorate again and Republicans are asking for the grant of power from the country to run the country again and they have not only not renounced it.

But they punished the elected official who have kind of called out the truth and celebrated those like Ron Johnson who are saying that it may have been Antifa or Trump himself saying it was a love fest. That is when I think the challenge really comes to the kind of sharpened point much more than we'll see I think in 2022.

LEMON: Let's talk a little more about that, Kirsten. You heard what Ron said. And then just moments ago, Scott mentioned you know, about the GOP and the problem about the Party officially becoming the Party of the big lie and gas lighting, even if Trump left the Party tomorrow. How can Democrats trust Republicans as a governing party going forward -- as a governing party going forward?

POWERS: Well, I don't think there really is -- can be trust in a situation until there's some accountability and then so there's some repentance and some owning of the things that have happened. And what happened, you know, what happened on January 6th is, you know, a tragic, tragic day in the history of this country. And Liz Cheney is right, you know it is not something that you just --

LEMON: But Kirsten, do you think -- you say the owning of -- do you think the people who are in power now, and the people who have supported the big lie, do you think they are actually going to come out and say, well, I was wrong or I think --

POWERS: No.

LEMON: OK.

POWERS: No. But you're asking me how would you restore trust?

LEMON: Right.

POWERS: You know, and I don't think you can restore trust in any relationship until you own what you have done and until you make amends and you try to change course and go in a different direction. So, I don't envision that happening but I also don't see how anybody can trust people who have repeatedly gone against everything that they claim to have believed.

You know, basically five minutes ago. I mean, you know, I commend Scott for you know, for being consistent. Because it's not something that we're seeing a lot of today.

LEMON: Scott is always consistent. That's why he's on the show. He's Republican. He has his views. That's, he's allowed to do that. But Scott tells the truth and I commend him for it. Scott, thank you. Thank you, Ron, thank you, Kirsten. I'll see you soon. By the way, Scott is half the man that he used to be. Look how much weight he's lost. Looking good. Send me your secret, Scott. I need to know. See you later.

(LAUGHTER)

[23:10:02]

I want to turn now to the protest following the deadly police shooting of Andrew Brown Jr., a black man killed by sheriff's deputies who were trying to serve an arrest warrant. CNN's Brian Todd, live for us in Elizabeth City, North Carolina this evening. Brian, good evening to you. Police say that four protesters have been arrested in Elizabeth City tonight. You saw this all happen. What do you know?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Don, it is becoming evident to us that the police are getting less and less tolerant of these protests tonight. They went after the protesters earlier in the evening tonight than they ever have since we've been here. They went after them starting around 6:20, 6:30 Eastern Time. They have never gone after them that early in the evening before they given them plenty of room to protest all night long. To March from street to street and block intersections left and right.

Tonight, they were just having none of that. They went after these protesters. They told them to stop blocking intersections or they would be arrested. We witnessed at least four people being zip tied, taken into custody and arrested. They were charge with impeding traffic.

We talk to one of the protest leaders, Kirk Rivers, who had argued with police. He said he had a permit to be out there. The protests had been going peacefully. He was wondering why he was getting arrested along with three other people. Here's what he had to say shortly after he posted bail and got out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRK RIVERS, COMMUNITY LEADER, ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA: They said try to be peaceful. Try to make sure everything is by the book and yet you still get arrested. You know, what does that send a message out? But we are going to continue to play by the books. Do things the right way, because it's about bringing justice. It's not about the four of us but it is about making sure that we bring justice for Andrew Brown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Brian, as you know, it is a very emotional day for the community, because Andrew Brown Jr. was laid to rest earlier. You were at the funeral. What was it like?

TODD (on camera): It was very, very emotional, Don. Basically on the part of everyone who got up and spoke, there was a lot of music. It was interesting, because the Brown family and this community, they're processing all of this kind of on three fronts.

Of course, they're grieving the loss of Andrew Brown. They are celebrating his life, but also, this is a call for justice and accountability. And all of that was mixed together today at this funeral. Some of the most emotional words came from Andrew Brown's two grown sons, excuse me, Jha'Rod and Khalil Ferebee. Here's what they had to say at the funeral.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JHA'ROD FEREBEE, SON OF ANDREW BROWN JR.: My dad who was my best friend. You know, every time you see him, you see me. You see me, you se him.

KHALIL FEREBEE, SON OF ANDREW BROWN JR.: I just wish he should -- would have, as much as I'm going to wish and wish and wish all day, it's not going to happen. All I've got to do for myself and my family, we just kind of hold him down. Do what he would want us to do in life. I love you, pops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (on camera): So, some real gut-wrenching moments today at this funeral. And we have some news for you, Don. After the funeral we were told by an attorney for the Brown family, Bakari Sellers that the family through their attorneys is going to draft a letter. They're drafting a letter now calling for the local district attorney, Andrew Womble, to recuse himself from the investigation and from any prosecutions in this case.

Because they believe he has worked too closely with deputies at the sheriff's department in the past and in the recent, in recent days. Even, you know, aside from this case. They think he is just too closely intertwined with the sheriff's deputies here to be objective and they're trying to get him off the case. We have reached out to Andrew Womble for comment on that. We've not heard back.

LEMON: Brian Todd covering the story from the very beginning. He will continue. Thank you for your reporting tonight, Brian.

Joining me now, the mayor of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, that's Bettie Parker. Mayor Parker, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining. So, you just heard Brian Todd's report about protesters -- the protesters who were arrested. He's been -- with these same protesters for days and days. They've been peaceful the whole time. So, why are police making arrests now, mayor?

MAYOR BETTIE PARKER, ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA (on camera): Thank you, Don, for having me this evening. And I would like to also send out condolences to the Brown family. I like to always do that first, before (inaudible). It's been a horrific time for them and for our community.

Now, Don, I'm going to be candid with you. I have been in a meeting since 5:30 this afternoon. And I'm not aware of, you know, the arrests or what really happened this evening, because I didn't get out of my second meeting until about 10:00 a.m. So, I'm not sure about what happened. But I will say this. Is that basically, our citizens have had peaceful protests. And they have been rather cooperative with the police. [23:15:00]

And we have had some bad actors which actually caused us to have a curfew Tuesday, actually beginning Tuesday night. But things have improved. But there are intersections that they are not to block. When they say that they're going to protest, they fill out information where they want to be and they get an understanding between the chief and the organizer of the protesters, as to where they are to be, and please don't block certain intersections.

So, it sounds like to me from your reporter that is what happened this evening. But I cannot, you know, swear to it because like I said, I'm just getting out, I had two meetings today.

LEMON: OK. Understandable. I'm not saying this happened but if they were arrested unnecessarily, there will be accountability. Correct?

PARKER: Sure. Because that's what we're pushing. We are pushing transparency and accountability.

LEMON: OK.

PARKER: And I think you already know that my police department, the Elizabeth City Police Department was not involved in the execution of the warrants to Andrew Brown. It's the County, Pasquotank County. We're two different law enforcement entities. But we have to, you know, kind of, we were thrust into this so we have to make sure we keep the peace and that the protesters, you know, do as they say they're going to do.

LEMON: Mayor, you were at Andrew Brown Jr.'s funeral today. There were calls for the release of body camera footage throughout the service. Why has it still not been released, mayor?

PARKER: You know what? I would like to know the answer to that question as well. We, the Elizabeth City, City Council, we requisitioned for the bodycam to be released, the footage of the bodycam to be release along with media. But of course, the judge ruled that he was not going to have it released to the media or anyone else. We felt that is was going to be a long shot anyway, but we just felt like we should do it.

Now, the family, the son is supposed to see the next couple of days or so, see all of the bodycam footage, including the dashboard. But I'm not sure. Because the County officials are not talking to the city officials because they did not even invite us to be in on executing the warrant.

It might have turned out differently, because my police officers are always out in the community forming relationships with the people in that community, and we know them. But it happened in our city. He is a resident of our city. So now we have to deal with the aftermath.

LEMON: Mayor Parker, thank you for your time. Please come back.

PARKER: Yes, sir. And thank you for inviting me. LEMON: Thank you very much. The Biden administration may partner with

private firm to track extremist chatter by Americans online. As we learn more about the intelligence failures that led up to the Capitol insurrection.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:20:00]

LEMON: The Biden administration is considering using outside firm to help track extremist chatter by Americans online as we continue to learn the intelligence failures that led up to the Capitol insurrection. Department of Homeland Security is limited in how it can monitor citizens online and is banned from assuming fake identity to gain access to private messaging apps used by extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

Multiple sources telling CNN, the plan being discussed, what in effect allow the department to get around all of those limits, but in a statement, DHS saying this, it is not partnering with private firm to surveil suspected domestic terrorists online.

And that it is blatantly false to suggest that the department is using outside firms to circumvent it's legal limits, adding this, all of our work to address the threat of domestic terrorism is done consistent with the constitution and other applicable law.

So, joining me now to discuss, CNN's senior legal -- excuse me, law enforcement analyst and former FBI Deputy Director, Mr. Andrew McCabe. Andrew, this is a big story. A little bit complicated, but you're here to help us get through it. So, do our intelligence agencies need this kind of help?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, FORMER ACTING FBI DIRECTOR (on camera): Well, it's a great question. And there's a lot of possible answers to that. But in the broadest sense, Don, it is really interesting to see that DHS may be reaching out to private sector entities, private contractors to help them collect intelligence on this domestic extremist threat.

The question becomes whether or not that effort stretches beyond what DHS's own legal authorities might allow them to do. Now obviously in a statement they've released they're saying pretty clearly, that they're not going to partner with private sector entities to exceed their own authority which is great thing to hear because that would be inconsistent with the law.

But it still raises I think very reasonable questions about what sort of intelligence collection is DHS going to aim at domestic groups that might pose significant privacy and civil liberties issues. So this is something that I think the agency needs to be pretty transparent about what the fact are they exactly doing.

LEMON: Not enough attention was given to the chatter online leading up to the 6th. Do Intel agencies now have a better sense of how at least how they are communicating? MCCABE: Well, that's really hard to tell. I think, one of the problems

here is we still months after the attack on our Capitol, we have still not seen a thorough all-encompassing full scope investigations of exactly what the intelligence agencies knew prior to the attack on the Capitol, and what they did with the information they had prior to the attack.

[23:25:6]

And so I think it is really premature to start talking about solutions and fixes that they should be putting in place before we even know how significantly or insignificantly they may have failed in the lead up to the Capitol attack.

You know, we still don't have a very good scope of what they knew, what kind of intelligence they were collecting, and what sort of assessments or decisions they made with that intelligence prior to the attack.

LEMON: I had to keep checking my notes, because my goodness, that's an awful lot of people, but many members of law enforcement, people connected to the military, among the more than 400 people charged in the riot. And they're still looking for other people, Andrew.

MCCABE: That's right.

LEMON: How is this threat being handled, the military and law enforcement?

MCCABE: Well, I think it has been a pre resounding wake-up call to the FBI, to DHS and to the rest of the administration that this is a huge problem that we need to get our hands around. The second thing I would say, is that January 6th is going to be the watershed moment for our domestic extremist population. They will see that as a massive success. It will help them in recruiting others to the cause.

It will be the sort of thing that amplifies this extremist movement going forward. So now is the time to get in front of this, it is the problem that is not going to go away. So, we really need to know more about what the administration is going to do going forward.

How are they going to make this a priority? How is the FBI going to change the way that their position against this threat? How are they going to reposition resources and prioritize this in a way to make sure that we don't get victimized again?

LEMON: This is what a source is telling CNN, that DHS -- the DHS wants a better sense of the narrative spreading among extremist like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and by the time they appear on Facebook, it is usually too late. Without violating anyone's freedoms, how do we get ahead of the next threat as its bubbling up online, before it gets to this?

MCCABE: Well, there's no question that they need that. They need that sort of insight. The problem is right now members of the government can only look in the same places that members of the public can look. So, they can look at open accounts, public accounts, things of that nature. But the real plotting, the real conspiracy kind of activity takes place in private chat groups, and private groups on apps like Telegram and other (inaudible) in places like that.

In order to get into those groups, really the only agency that can do that is the FBI. They can only do that once they have an investigation already open and fully predicated, and then they can use the lawful techniques like undercover techniques and things like that.

The problem is it takes a fair amount of information before you can get to that stage. So there's this very sensitive and careful balancing that goes on. You don't want to take too many steps before you know there is a crime being committed. But if you wait too long, you might miss it. So that's the tough position that law enforcement is in right now.

LEMON: Thank you, Mr. McCabe. Sir, I appreciate it. I'll see you soon.

MCCABE: Thanks, Don, have a good night.

LEMON: Coronavirus cases are a fifth of what they were back in January here in the U.S. But experts are warning the country might not reach herd immunity. Plus this, CNN's on the ground in India. You got to see this story. Where they are suffering through the world's worst outbreak.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight, there is some encouraging news in the battle against coronavirus. The average daily number of new cases and deaths is now one-fifth of what they were during the worst days of the pandemic, which is back in January. In Los Angeles, Los Angeles County is now recording two straight days in a row without a single COVID death.

I want to bring in now CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. Doctor, thank you so much. I appreciate it. So, let's talk about --

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, DIRECTOR OF CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION PROGRAM AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Hi, Don.

LEMON: -- New York, New Jersey, Connecticut planning to remove a lot of COVID restrictions in the next two weeks. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended all COVID emergency orders today. Is now the right time?

REINER: Well, it depends where you are. Let's look at New Jersey, for example. New Jersey has a test positivity rate of .7 percent. I think they had about 1,200 new cases in the state today. So it makes a lot of sense in a place like New Jersey.

How about Florida? Florida has a test positivity rate of about 8.4 percent and they had 3,300 cases today, so maybe less sense in a place like Florida.

And that's the smart way to open states up. On a state by state, region by region basis, looking at what the activity of the virus is. A little early to open Florida up widely. Probably the time to do it in the northeast.

LEMON: Yeah. I want to ask you because there's -- there's a lot of confusion surrounding the recent CDC guidance on wearing masks or not wearing masks. We see the president getting off Marine One in a mask. That was today. But he was vaccinated months ago. So what's the message?

Listen. Maybe -- maybe people on the plane. Who knows? Maybe they're not fully vaccinated. I don't know, you know, the circumstances for the president. But I know that just walking around my community or, you know, going to the gym or what have you, outdoors, there was some confusion. Some people look at me crazy when I didn't have a mask and we weren't in crowded areas because the CDC is saying we don't have to.

[23:35:04]

LEMON: There are mixed messages going on. I'm fully vaccinated, by the way.

REINER: Right. So, if you're fully vaccinated, you are immune to this virus. The latest data from the CDC has counted a grand total of about 9,000 symptomatic cases in 95 million vaccinated people. So, if you've been vaccinated, you are 99.991 percent not going to get infect -- infected with this virus. So, yeah, you can walk around outside without a mask.

The problem is that masks have been politicized. You know, during much of this pandemic, people who didn't wear masks were mask deniers. So now if you don't wear a mask, people think that somehow you're, you know, a pandemic -- a pandemic refusenik.

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

REINER: The truth of the matter is you are well protected if you've been vaccinated and these kinds of restrictions should be loosened for folks who are vaccinated. So you are safe to walk around outside without a mask.

LEMON: If I'm walking around, it's not in a crowd of people. If I'm in a crowded people, I always have my mask with me or if I have to go into a store or something like that, then I abide by the rules. But if -- what I understand, if you're in an area and it's not a lot of people, you're fully vaccinated, you're outdoors, you don't -- you don't have to wear a mask. I'm not wrong, right?

REINER: No. Look, I wore a mask for 10 consecutive hours in the hospital today. I walked out of the hospital, I took my mask off.

LEMON: Yeah. Doctor, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

REINER: My pleasure, Don.

LEMON: Next, CNN is on the ground in India, inside a hospital where the health care system is on the brink of collapse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON (on camera): I really want you to watch this next story. My colleague, Clarissa Ward, did such a great job on it. She's talking about the COVID crisis in India, worsening by the day as the country's health care system teeters on the brink of collapse. For the 12th straight day, India has recorded more than 300,000 cases. The most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, is also one of the hardest hit.

CNN is there. I have to warn our viewers that this material is disturbing. But the families we spoke with wanted people to see the reality of the tragedy the country is confronting. As I said, here's our chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNKNOWN: (INAUDIBLE).

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A man wails in anguish, but no one is listening. His cry is just one of many at this hospital in Uttar Pradesh state. Oh, my child, he says. Oh, my God, my baby.

Inside the entrance, his son, Deepak (ph), is fighting for his life, gasping for air, his body convulsing. There are no doctors attending to him. The handful of medical staff working in this ward is stretched thin to breaking point.

(On camera): This hospital is completely overwhelmed. The doctors say that they have about 55 beds and currently, they're treating more than a hundred patients. And you can see people are literally just lying on the floor, desperately hoping to get some medical attention.

(Voice-over): Thirty-two-year-old Kavita (ph) says she has been here for four days, begging for oxygen that has not come. I'm getting anxious, she says. No one is listening to me here.

Are you struggling to breathe?

I'm unable to breathe freely, she tells us. No one is taking care of me.

In the next room, more than 20 patients are packed in tightly. This is what now passes for the intensive care unit. Family members have taken on the role of primary carers where medical staff is simply unavailable.

This man complains no one will change his wife's soiled bedding. Suddenly, there is a commotion. Will someone please call the doctor, this man shouts. His mother, 55-year-old Rash Bala (ph) appears to be slipping away. Her sons work furiously to revive her. A doctor comes in and tells them to stop crowding her. The family is inconsolable.

We've been here six days and only today we got the ventilator for my mother, he tells us. The oxygen is out. We had to bring an oxygen cylinder.

It is a story we hear again and again. One man approaches us, pleading. His wife can't get a bed. No one is listening to me. I've tried everything, he says. Please help me or she will die.

(On camera): I'm not a doctor. I'm so sorry. I can't help you.

[23:45:00]

WARD (Voice-over): Another man tells us his wife is struggling to breathe outside. They won't let her in. We spot the hospital administrator and asked him what's going on.

GYANENDRA KUMAR, ADMINISTRATOR, LLRM MEDICAL COLLEGE: Yeah.

WARD (on camera): This man says his wife is dying outside and needs oxygen.

KUMAR: No, there's a central line of oxygen.

WARD (voice-over): He insists that oxygen isn't the problem, but says they are desperately short of staff. Those who do work here risk becoming patients themselves. These men tell us they move a dozen bodies a day.

Have you ever seen anything like this before? Are you not worried to be working here and you're not wearing protective gear?

We should be wearing proper PPE, they say. But even the doctors don't have it, so how can we?

We hear screams coming from the ICU. Rash Bala (ph) has flat-lined again. Her son desperately pumped her chest. A doctor comes in. He takes her pulse. But it's too late. This time, there is no point in trying to resuscitate her.

The agony of her sons is shared by so many in this country, failed by a health care system on the brink of collapse and a government accused of mismanaging this crisis.

Just a few hundred yards away, the same hospital complex, it is a very different picture. Orderly lines of people patiently wait to be vaccinated, following the prime minister's announcement that anyone over 18 can be inoculated. A state lawmaker is among 600 people getting their vaccine. The hospital administrator and local journalists eagerly stand by to capture the moment.

(On camera): We were just in the hospital over there.

UNKNOWN: Yeah.

WARD (on camera): It was shocking to see. It was shocking.

UNKNOWN: Why?

WARD (on camera): Because the conditions are so bad here. Why do you think India has been hit so badly? The hospital administrator interrupts and warns him that we have been asking too many questions.

Sir, you don't need to coach him what to say. He's telling him what to say.

UNKNOWN: Ma'am, we are trying the best and some problems are here. But we are trying. Now condition is better.

WARD (voice-over): Do you accept that the government has failed its people --

UNKNOWN: No, no, no.

WARD (voice-over): -- in the handling of this crisis?

(On camera): Because I've been talking to a lot of people and I have to tell you, people are angry. People feel that this didn't need to be so ugly.

The situation is not only bad here. We're trying to find solutions, he says. We're increasing the number of beds and we're working tirelessly around the clock.

(Voice-over): But back in the COVID ward, the impact of those efforts is not yet being felt. Rash Bala's (ph) body is left for nearly an hour before it is finally moved.

India's leaders may promise that everything is being done to end this crisis. But for now, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

(On camera): And you saw it there, Don, shortages of everything from beds to medicines, and most acutely, in that hospital, a real shortage of medical staff. Just five doctors and nurses for those more than 100 patients that we saw.

India's government has come out today and said they're now drafting in medical students in their final year of medical school to try to help deal with this crisis and fill the void with so many doctors out sick. But a lot of people saying, you know what? This is going to be an uphill battle, Don. And still, we haven't even hit the peak of this second wave.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEMON (on camera): Clarissa, thank you. For ways you can help combat India's COVID crisis, go to cnn.com/impact. We'll be right back.

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[23:50:00]

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LEMON: Before we go, I want to make sure you know about my new special coming up. Fifty years after Marvin Gaye's groundbreaking album "What's Going On" was released, why has it become an anthem for a new generation? A CNN special, "What's Going On: Marvin Gaye's Anthem for the Ages," premieres Sunday at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Obie Benson of the Four Tops sees a riot, basically, of police brutality attack in the bay area when he is on tour with the Four Tops.

[23:55:00]

UNKNOWN: And he writes some lyrics down about what's going on in the world. He comes back to Detroit.

UNKNOWN: He said, I'm going to go drop my stuff off and I'm going to go by Marvin's house. He said I got this kind of song in my head. It sounds like Marvin could sing it. So, they start clinking around with it. And he and Marvin were at the piano.

UNKNOWN: So, Marvin said, well, let me change some of the lyrics. Marvin had real unique way of transferring his everyday experiences into songs.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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