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Don Lemon Tonight

Biden: We Have To Prove Democracy Can Still Prevail; Biden/Putin Meeting Just Over 24 Hours Away; FBI To Lawmakers: QAnon May Turn Violent; Interview With Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL); FAA's Unruly Behavior On Planes This Year; Video Shows A Bicyclist Stabbing Another Bicyclist In The Back In New York City; Interview With New York City Mayoral Candidate Maya Wiley; U.S. Assessing Reported Leak At Chinese Nuclear Power Facility; Critical Race Theory Under Attack From Right-Wing Media. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired June 14, 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 (on camera): President Biden, sending a critical message on the world stage. Democracy can still prevail. He is trying to assure allies, the U.S. is back, while slamming Trump for what Biden calls, phony populism. It comes as the president prepares for his critical one-on-one summit meeting with Vladimir Putin, now just a day away.

Plus, the FBI issuing a chilling warning to lawmakers that QAnon is more emboldened than ever, and get prepared and maybe prepared to get more violent. And the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announcing an investigation to the Justice Department, subpoenas the top two Democrats, journalists, and even Trump's White House counsel.

A lot to discuss. So, let's bring in now CNN senior political analyst, John Avlon, and Max Boot, a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. Good evening one and all. Or, I should say, the both of you. John, I'm going to start with you. When an American president travels abroad, they usually focus on promoting democracy around the world. Today, we saw President Joe Biden tried to assure the world that democracy is alive and we'll, right here, in the U.S. Is it?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): It is under threat. Even our allies recognize.

LEMON: You hesitated!

AVLON: Well, yes, because it's a good question that we shouldn't try to gloss over. Look, you know, Biden believes in democracy, and diplomacy. His core pitch at home, and abroad, is that democracies need to stand up to autocracies that's defining challenge of our time, but we need to be honest about the fact that we are experienced in that challenge, here at home, as well. And the world's noticing that.

Pew research survey just had a study showing that America's reputation has rocketed up again in the world's eyes since Biden became president. But, crucially, the world also has doubts about America's ability to be an exemplary democracy and that is sobering. And we need to take that responsibility seriously, and build it back.

LEMON: About 24 hours away, just about 24 hours away, Max, from Biden's critical meeting with Vladimir Putin, there is so much ground to cover, including election interference, Russia's involvement in cyberattacks on the U.S., jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, the list goes on. The most important message for Joe Biden to deliver, what is that?

MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST (on camera): That there is a new sheriff in town, and that there is no longer a U.S. President who is mysteriously (inaudible) of Vladimir Putin. Biden has called Putin a killer, and that's an accurate assessment.

So he is going in there with no illusions, and I think he will lay down the law, and let them know, hey, we can cooperate with you if there is an overlap of interest. We can certainly cooperate if you stop some of your aggressive behavior, but if you continue going down the road that you are on right now, there will be more, serious, repercussions.

And we will not tolerate attacks on our elections, we will not tolerate cyberattacks on our companies, we will not tolerate attacks on our allies, and we also will not stay silent about your human rights abuses. And I think one of the most important messages that Biden can deliver to Putin, in Geneva, is to say, Mr. Putin, let Alexei Navalny go. And also let -- there are also a dozens and even a hundreds of other dissidents who are locked up in Russia, let them go.

This is something that Trump would have ignored, Biden can't ignore it. I think he has to make it a major part of his meeting with Putin.

LEMON: So then, John, what does a successful meeting look like? Because Putin is laughing off hacking attempts. Won't even guarantee that Alexei Navalny will stay alive in prison. So, what is a successful meeting?

AVLON: A successful meeting looks like the president, as Max said, who stands up to thuggery, as opposed to sucking up to Putin. And you know, never losing an opportunity to kowtow to the Kremlin, as Donald Trump did.

[23:05:07]

What Joe Biden is trying to do, the reason they are not having a press conference is to avoid some of the mano-a-mano stylistic commentaries, to focus on the substance of great power relations. And that requires a degree of self-discipline.

Biden is going to have to lay down a hard line when it comes to expansionist ambitions, cyberattacks, and he's already taken a hard line on corruption, and money laundering. But he is also going to leave the door open to the countries cooperating where they can. But (inaudible) all the national security advisers made it clear,

Russia is not a trusted ally. They cannot be trusted right now, they need to earn back that trust, and Biden is under no illusions, Putin is not going to change. He is who he is.

LEMON: Max, you know, he kind of hedged on that, he didn't say he was a killer when I asked the question recently. But Max, listen, Biden took a big shot at Trump, and Republicans, who are still pushing his lies, even after the insurrection. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it is a shock and surprise that what has happened in terms of a consequence of President Trump's phony populism has happened. And it is disappointing that so many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate, who I know no better, have been reluctant to take on, and for example, an investigation because they are worried about being primaried.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Does this show that he is clear eyed about the political reality he is facing?

BOOT: No, I think he certainly understands what is going on, and I think Joe Biden, is as appalled as anybody, by the current state of the Republican Party. I mean, look, I'm somebody, as you know, who is a Republican for much of my life, and I can't recognize this Party. Obviously, Joe Biden has always been a Democrat, but he's also been a fairly centrist, bipartisan Democrat in the Senate who he worked closely with a lot of Republican colleagues.

And I think he understands, that Republican Party is almost entirely gone. I mean, we are going to see now, the negotiation is over an infrastructure bill that has any possibility of any kind of bipartisan agreement. Frankly, it doesn't look good, and I think Biden is realistic enough to understand that, and to know that, you know, he has to push through with Democratic votes, if necessary.

And of course, that's not easy either with Joe Manchin, you know, not necessarily agreeing with everything that the White House would like to see. But, no, I think this is a huge problem for American democracy, and is a huge problem for the world that we now have a Party, whose support for democracy can no longer be counted upon.

LEMON: John, listen, I'm sure you're paying attention to this, what Mitch McConnell is saying, highly unlikely, that he would let Biden confirm a Supreme Court vacancy in 2024, if the GOP wins back the Senate in 2022. There's only one thing he cares about, and that is power, right?

AVLON: Yes. Power and judges. Two on being the same thing. I mean, look, for those of us keeping the score at home, this is obviously a complete flip-flop, for rush in for Amy Coney Barrett, weeks from an election, when early voting had already started. But this is all situational ethics, and it should be a wakeup call the Democrats and the president, and frankly the Supreme Court justice prior about the stakes they are facing heading into 22.

There is an obligation to use your power, while you have got it. If you can forge bipartisan consensus, great, but don't be fooled into thinking you have good faith negotiations on crucial issues like Supreme Court justices, you don't.

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

I want to turn to the FBI, warning lawmakers that QAnon followers may carry out more acts of violence. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, has been reporting extensively on these conspiracy theories and he joins us now. Donie, hello, good to see you. You've been going through this FBI threat assessment. What are you learning about who QAnon supporters may be looking to harm?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER (on camera): Yeah. So QAnon supporters have been sold a Connell, right? For years they were told that everybody was going to get rounded up and arrested. Democrats, even Hillary Clinton would going to get rounded up. Trump was going to be behind it all and they are all going to -- all these Democrats members in the cabal are going to be sent to jail.

Of course, that didn't happen and now the FBI is telling lawmakers essentially that some QAnon supporters may be getting frustrated. This was a report that was given to the Hill that was reported by our colleagues Whitney Wild and Zachary Cohen earlier this evening. And essentially what that report says is that you know, QAnon is very much an online movement but we have already seen how it can inspire, or help inspire acts of real world violence.

And the concern is now that some QAnon supporters may try and take matters into their own hands, not happy that you know, the cabal has not been round up. Rounded up, the imagine cabal that is, and then just go target Democrats and other alleged members themselves.

[23:10:07]

Sorry. We shouldn't laugh. We shouldn't laugh.

LEMON: I'm not laughing -- I just -- I cannot believe that we're discussing this. It's just -- because it is just so ludicrous. Anyway, I just want to play this for you and then we'll continue on.

You talked a lot about QAnon supporters, to QAnon supporters about the 2020 election. One of you conversations, here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: It was a false election. And they took over. And that's what happened. The military took over.

UNKNOWN: That supposedly happened here, possibly. If the military is in control.

UNKNOWN: And I personally think that's what they are working towards.

O'SULLIVAN: Would you think that that's what could happen?

UNKNOWN: It could.

O'SULLIVAN: Would you like to see it happen?

UNKNOWN: Absolutely.

UNKNOWN: I would like to see it happen.

O'SULLIVAN: Oh, really.

UNKNOWN: Yes.

UNKNOWN: Do you know why? Because the election was stolen from us.

UNKNOWN: The military is doing their own investigation. And at the right time, they are going to be restoring the republic with Trump as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. Donie, oh, boy, oh, boy, so clearly, none of that is happening. The folks that you've been speaking to this QAnon, are they getting more frustrated?

O'SULLIVAN: Yeah. And this is the point, Don. I guess, you know, if you don't laugh at this, you'll cry. It is ridiculous. But as we have seen, you know, folks really do believe this. You know, there are people who have, because of the media they watch, the former president they listen to, they believe a lot of the stuff.

Look, we talk a lot about QAnon and the cabal, and the pedophilic rings and all these certain stuff. But really this is actually all about the big lie. OK? Because QAnon is now essentially all talk about the big lie that the election was stolen. And so it is all of this that is enabling all this crazy.

And you hear there are people talking about Myanmar, you know, as Americans looking on to say, wow, that would be great if that happens here. You say that sounds ridiculous. Yet then, a few weeks ago we heard Trump's former national security adviser, General Michael Flynn appearing to endorse that before then walking it back. So this is something that really folks are very, very engaged in. And as you say, it's crazy and y, you can laugh at this, but obviously it is deadly serious.

LEMON: Yes, I don't think it's funny. I just think it's laughable and that was more -- this is more out of exasperation and exhaustion.

O'SULLIVAN: Exactly.

LEMON: I don't find it funny at all. Anyway, I want to get your reaction to a rare apology from someone known for pushing QAnon conspiracy theories. You know, I'm talking about, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene making this disgusting comments comparing mask mandates to the holocaust. But after visiting the holocaust museum today, here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): The holocaust is, there is nothing comparable to it. It is -- it happened and you know, over 6 million Jewish people were murdered. The horrors of the holocaust are something that some people don't even believe happened. And some people deny, but there is no comparison to the holocaust. And there are words that I have said, remarks that I have made, that I know are offensive and for that, I want to apologize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, it appears to be a rare moment of contrition. Because she has doubled down on her ignorant on anti-Semitic comments before. So, what is this all about, Donie?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes. It is good to see that about face, given though she has been given this opportunity, right, to clarify her comments. But she has doubled down in the past. So to see this happen was interesting. Of course, but this is from the woman who just a few years ago was talking on the internet about Jewish space lasers being responsible for forest fires in California.

LEMON: Yep. So again, that is the, again, the laughable part. Thank you very much.

O'SULLIVAN: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Joining me now, Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thank you. I appreciate you joining us this evening.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL) (on camera): Thank you.

LEMON: The House judiciary chairman, Jerry Nadler, said that he is going to investigate the Trump Justice Department issuing subpoenas, targeting your colleagues in the House, former White House counsel Don McGahn, the media and others in a statement -- this is part of what he writes, it is also possible that these cases are merely our first glimpse into a coordinated effort by the Trump administration to target President Trump's political opposition. How deep do you think this potential abuse of power goes? Because it is an enormous abuse of power.

QUIGLEY: Sure. I think you've seen the tip of the iceberg. I think the chairman is absolutely right. I mean, we've seen the other abuses within this administration toward a tyrannical regime. Will we imagine within DOJ, this would be his only foray? You know, absolutely not. I think the Attorney General for one needs to have a four-year damage assessment internally, going beyond the inspector general's report, see exactly what took place.

[23:15:09]

Because we know there are still people, still officials there who oversaw this charade. One left today but there are others. I'm concern there are other activities within DOJ but he had a whole government at his disposal. Who is to know, given his tactics, that he wouldn't to the exact same thing or worse within, for example, the intelligence community. So it is a great concern.

LEMON: The Attorney General Merrick Garland is promising the DOJ will, and I quote here, strengthen the department's existing policies and procedures for seeking Congressional records. Do you think that's enough?

QUIGLEY: I think it is enough during his administration. I mean, there's obviously much more to do. But the fact that matter is, if a tyrant like Trump becomes president again, or someone like him, who is to say they don't change those policies back or they don't disregard them? So, you know, it is ongoing. So much this depends on the American public not willing to accept this kind of behavior and the recapture of their democracy.

LEMON: So Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Garland demanding evidence including copies of the actual subpoenas. What questions do you need answered from the A.G.?

QUIGLEY: Yes. I'm not surprised, Senator Durbin's team, they're on the ball like I thought they would be. You know, what are the legal and factual predicates for them to move forward? Who made these decisions? I would ask, what else were you doing along these lines? And I think most important, was the president of the United States involved in any way or anyone else at the White House?

Now, we know he (inaudible) the dogs out of him, because he publicly blamed house Democrats for these leaks. And he publicly blame the press. So, no shock or surprise. That's who was targeted in this venture. So, I think you have to move along those lines.

LEMON: Also, I want to get your take -- I just discussed with my colleague Donie O'Sullivan, the FBI warning that QAnon followers may start targeting lawmakers with actual violence. You lived through the horrors of January 6th. Are you worried that it could happen again?

QUIGLEY: You know, I don't want to give them the satisfaction to think that I'm worried about them. But I'm realistic enough to know that we are in harm's way. I think most of my colleagues recognized that we are targets. But ours to think, we owe to it our country and to our democracy to recognize that and move forward. To do anything else would be to give them a victory. And we just can't let the tyrants win.

LEMON: But Representative Quigley, I also want to get your take on Marjorie Taylor Greene apologizing for her ignorant and offensive comments, comparing mask mandates to the holocaust. Do you accept her apology?

QUIGLEY: You know, any time she wants to apologize, I'll accept it. But she got a long list of things to apologize for. In the final analysis, she has to decide if she wants to serve her constituency and try to get something done in Congress and not just be an extension of what Trump was in this country, in a vocal and extremely destructive way.

LEMON: Thank you, Representative Quigley. I appreciate your time.

QUIGLEY: Glad to be here. Thank you.

LEMON: Hate crimes rising. Shootings are up year over year. More robberies, all right here in New York City. But my next guest is running for mayor, touting her plan\s to cut $1 million from the police budget and get rid of thousands of officers. Maya Wiley, here next.

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[23:20:00]

LEMON: Flights diverted, passengers restrained. The FAA says there are thousands of cases of misbehaving or even violent passengers so far this year. What is going on in the nation's sky? CNN's Dan Simon has the latest on unruly fliers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The struggle and screams coming from the most up likely of passengers. An off-duty delta airlines flight attendant aboard a flight Friday night from Los Angeles to Atlanta. The pilot asking for, quote, all strong males to come to the front of the aircraft to handle a problem passenger.

UNKNOWN: I am very thankful that it did not end badly.

SIMON: Passengers saying the man who police identified as 34-year-old Stefan (inaudible) Duncan of Atlanta made an announcement over the plane's p.a. system telling everyone to take their seats and prepare to put on the oxygen masks.

UNKNOWN: That creating quite a stir amongst (inaudible). It's begin very tense.

SIMON: The plane safely diverting to Oklahoma City. According to the police report, the off-duty attendant making statements about being seated next to a terrorist and stashing his personal items like tennis balls in various places throughout the place.

Ignoring orders from the flight crew, the reports says, he allegedly assaulted a crew member and when another off duty crew member tried to intervene, he pushed her against the wall and put both hands around her neck and began choking her. CNN has reached out to Duncan. It is not clear if he has legal representation.

On Thursday, another Delta flight, this one L.A. to New York was forced to land in Detroit after another passenger became disruptive.

And earlier this month, a third Delta flight from L.A. to Nashville, forced to make another emergency landing with a passenger trying to breach the cockpit. These incidents just the latest in a string of unruly behavior in the nation's skies. The FAA reporting it has received more than 3,000 reports of unruly passengers since the beginning of the year. The majority related to people not wanting to mask up.

UNKNOWN: What we're seeing on board really is an outcome of the stress of this pandemic. People have been stretched to their limits.

[23:25:00]

SIMON: For now the question is whether things could get even uglier with summer travel season picking up and passenger numbers starting to approach pre pandemic levels.

Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Wow. Scary. Dan, thank you very much for that.

Crime is on the rise but she want to get rid of thousands of officers. Will New Yorkers go for that? Mayoral Candidate Maya Wiley, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. So you have to look at this. New tonight, there's shocking video showing a New York City delivery driver being stabbed while riding his bike on the street. I want you to look at this. This is a 53-year-old victim, an Asian man was making a food delivery in Brooklyn yesterday when another cyclist rode up behind him.

[23:30:00]

LEMON: The second rider pulls out a large knife, stabs the victim in the back, and then just rides away. Surveillance footage released by police shows just how big the knife used by the attacker was. It is important to note here the victim is okay, thankfully. Now, police say he was treated at a nearby hospital for non-life-threatening wounds.

The attack comes as crime in the city is spiking, including shootings, robberies, hate crimes, making crime a flashpoint in the race for New York City's mayor with early voting already under way and Election Day just a week away.

So joining me now is New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Maya Wiley. Maya, thank you for joining us this evening. I really appreciate it. That video is beyond disturbing. What are you going to do about violent crime like this if you get elected as mayor here?

MAYA WILEY (D), NEW YORK CITY DEMOCRATIC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Yeah, that video is beyond disturbing, it is outrageous, and we have real question about whether that was a hate crime. We know there was something mumbled to the man who was Asian, who was stabbed, and this is something that has been a devastating and unacceptable crisis in the city.

But what we have to really try to do and understand is do things in the way that is smart. That goes after the problem smartly and well. And one is to recognize that we need our New York City Police Department. One is focus on the crimes that are on the rise and deploying our resources with that in mind and doing it smartly.

But that also means a balance with all the things that we know will solve the problem once and for all. And this is the thing about public safety. What we're trying to do is grow it and make it smart.

LEMON: Yeah.

WILEY: Because one of the things that is also true is that we have made a false choice that suggests we have to either choose safety from violence or safety from police violence. That's a false choice. Focus the police on the job and recognize how much of the calls that we are sending to the New York City Police Department are for things like mental health distress.

LEMON: Well, let me -- let me ask about that, Maya. Let me ask you about that, because you are -- you are not using the slogan, defund the police, but you are campaigning on taking away $1 billion from the NYPD budget and using that money for social services, as you just mentioned.

With violent crime on the rise, though, when you look at the numbers, look at what's happening, I live here, it is frightening here and people have good reason to be frightened, is that the right move for what is happening right now in this city?

WILEY: Yeah. You know why it is the right move, Don? Because people are frightened and are frightened because so much of what we are seeing in the rise and violence and crime is a result of things that we can fix.

And this is important because one of the things that's true of the New York City Police Department is it is unaccountable, its budget is a black box, and it has a lot of wasteful spending that is not smart and doesn't keep us safe.

I'll give you one quick example. When I was in Far Rockaway, as we know, a 10-year-old boy, Justin Wallace, was killed, gun violence, in a community that has suffered from it. And one of our most effective tools that prevents the gun from being shot in the first place is violence --

LEMON: Hmm.

WILEY: -- (INAUDIBLE) asking for at the vigil were social workers was trauma-informed care because the truth of what we're experiencing in this city, so much of it, not all of it, that's why we have a role and a job --

LEMON: We are having an issue with Maya's signal. And unfortunately, we don't have it, right? No. Okay. If we have time -- it's back? Maya, we're having -- Maya, we're having trouble with your signal, which is something I probably should be asking about, and that's infrastructure and a better grid when it comes to Wi-Fi.

WILEY: (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: Yeah.

WILEY: Absolutely. Absolutely.

LEMON: Yeah.

WILEY: But look, the bottom line here --

LEMON: Go on. Go on because I want to -- I want to play a sound bite for you from the debate. But finish your thought and then I'll play that sound bite. Sorry. We have connection issues.

WILEY: We keep -- we're spending so much money sending police officers to respond to what we need mental health crisis responders to respond to. That would keep us safer.

It would balance what we need to balance around investments in our communities to keep us safe, as well as making sure that police are keeping us safe in all the ways that we intend them to. And that also includes accountability, because it is Black and brown New Yorkers who suffer when the job is done wrong, and we need to make sure the job is done right.

[23:35:04]

LEMON (on camera): This is what you said -- this is last week's mayoral debate -- when asked about taking guns away from police officers. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILEY: We have the strongest gun control laws in the country. The issue is how they're coming in. So we do want a police department that is focused on keeping them out of the city and off our streets --

UNKNOWN (voice-over): But will you take the guns away from the NYPD?

WILEY: I am not prepared to make that decision in a debate. I am gonna have a civilian commissioner and a civilian commission that is going to hold the police accountable and make sure we're safe from crime but also from police violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): So you have since clarified that saying that you don't want to take guns away from police officers. You also slammed your opponent, Eric Adams, saying that he thinks the solution to every problem is a badge and a gun. He wants people carrying guns into churches and says when he's mayor, he's going to be packing heat.

Now, Adams is a retired police officer. Why is he not the right person to clean up crime in this city?

WILEY: Because it hasn't worked. Because so much of what we're seeing in Black and brown communities are bad and lazy policing rather than smart policing that is constitutional policing. I think we all saw it over the summer when we were told by a police commissioner not to believe our lying eyes.

And we have a way of doing it smarter because, you know, the same communities today that have the highest rates of gun violence are the same communities that have them in 1993, and they deserve the investments that we know from research, we know from what works, will keep us all safe, which is investments in mental health crisis response.

It is more get making it easier to get a job than a gun and that's what I have in my plans. That's what we're going to do. And there is a role for policing. I just want to be very clear. I've never said nor has anyone in this campaign, has it ever even been a campaign issue, whether we would take guns from on-duty, active duty police officers.

The question is are we going to get the right response for the emergency calls we're getting, up to 40 percent of which is for mental health crisis response, not because there is a violent crime in process. This is about us meeting the needs of our people. That's the job of government and that's what I'll do when I'm mayor.

LEMON: Yeah. Maya Wiley, thank you so much. I wish we have more time and a better signal. But I think you got your point across. I think everyone heard you, got the message. Thank you so much. Best of luck to you.

WILEY: Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you.

WILEY: Thank you. Pleasure to be with you.

LEMON: You as well. We've got a CNN exclusive, a possible nuclear plant leak that could pose an imminent threat. We are live in Shanghai, China. Plus, a professor's DMs (ph) filled with anti-Semitic hate because he wrote about how to teach people about racism. He'll tell us about it straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight, a CNN exclusive. The U.S. government assessing a reported leak at a Chinese nuclear plant. A French company that partially owns and operates the facility warning of an imminent radiological threat.

Let's bring in now CNN correspondent David Culver. He is Shanghai. David, thank you for joining. I appreciate it. This sounds really alarming. How severe is the threat at this nuclear plant?

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. Good to be with you. It does sound frightening. According to one source within the Biden administration, though, this is not at a crisis level.

The company behind this plant, the French company, along with the plant itself, have both come out to say that the situation is essentially under control, that it is a performance issue, that they're working through it and they hope to have a resolution relatively soon.

So how does that square with what you just said as far as it being an imminent radiological threat? Those are not our words. Those words come from the French company that jointly runs this plant in a waiver request to the U.S. Department of Energy.

That was uncovered by our colleagues in Washington, particularly Zachary Cohen. And it suggested furthermore that the Chinese were covering up the amount of radiation that was going into the atmosphere, that they were increasing the acceptable and safe limit, if you will.

And so it is a strong accusation against the Chinese. We've asked for their comments. They have not come back to us. But it suggests one of two things. One is that the geopolitical climate between the U.S. and China is so challenging that we would normally be between two allied countries, somebody picking up a phone and calling for technical support, now has to go through this bureaucratic tape so they had to perhaps even embellish it, according to some experts I've spoken with, so as to get that waiver approved.

Or it suggests that now that it's gone public because of our reporting, the French company is experiencing perhaps some backlash or pressure from the Chinese and wants to back down a bit and suggest that it is more under control. It is a challenging situation either way, Don.

LEMON: Yeah. Well, the current president of the United States, Joe Biden, David, is trying to rally allies to be more confrontational towards China. He did it at the G7 summit. He did it today at NATO. He put out, you know, a communique on the challenges posed by China. We know Beijing doesn't like outside pressure. How is it going to take this?

CULVER: They do not. That's accurate. At the top of the hour, you had discussions over the autocratic governments that President Biden was suggesting not necessarily, as the president put it, China, but suggesting that democracies are in a contest with.

[23:45:06]

CULVER: And this is a more difficult situation than even when the Trump administration was in office because we heard tough words and strong rhetoric from the Trump administration. What's different here is you now have this coalition that is building.

Mounting pressure on Beijing, that is making it more challenging, especially as they are now entering even, for example, the 2022 Olympics next year and there's talk of potential boycotts. So, it is mounting pressure and one that they're not happy with, Don. LEMON: David Culver in Shanghai. David, thank you. I appreciate your reporting. Thanks so much.

So he wrote an article about critical race theory. In return, he got a lot of anti-Semitic hate messages thrown at him. My next guest will explain the connection.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The political right for months has been using cancel culture as a catch-all to bash its opponents and to rile up the base. Now, Republicans are increasingly latching in to critical race theory often without properly explaining what it is.

Yale University professor Jason Stanley wrote a recent article in The Economist, detailing why critical race theory is necessary to understand the connection between American institutions and racial injustice. Since it was published, he has been getting all kinds of anti-Semitic hate messages, some of the worst he has ever received.

And Jason Stanley joins me now. By the way, he is the author of "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them." Jason, thank you so much. We are going to talk about your article. I just want to know, tell me about the types of comments you're getting after writing your article on race theory.

JASON STANLEY, PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, YALE UNIVERSITY: Well, they're not as bad as what Black journalists, like yourself and others, get. People say, look, obviously, it's Jews. No surprise. It's a Jew who wrote this article. So, it -- what it does is it confirmed, for me, what I'd long suspected, that this attack is part of a playbook that we are seeing internationally, the elite have taken over your institutions: the communists, the Marxists, the Jews.

They are to give -- they are trying to make you feel guilty about your culture. They have control of your children. These are conspiracy theories that have long had anti-Semitic links.

So, when people talk about Marxist Jews trying to instigate Black people to overthrow whiteness, that's an old conspiracy theory in the United States. And this kind of moral panic we are seeing taps into that.

LEMON: Yeah. I want to quote now from your article. And here's what you write about -- you write that politicians use critical race theory as cudgels in a propaganda campaign to advance their cherished political goals, with little regard for the actual philosophies at issue.

So, I think, critical race theory sounds, maybe, kind of scary or something, you know, to their audience or what have you. So, you know, the conservative networks use it and the right use it. But they don't even really understand what it is. I haven't really heard a good explanation from the right. What is their aim here?

STANLEY: So, their aim is to make us forget about the racist history of our institutions so they can -- they can then do things like reinstitute Jim Crow and have election laws that have this racist past and make it so that we're not allowed to recognize that this is an echo of a racist past.

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

STANLEY: So critical race theory looks at -- looks at the large racial inequities that persist after the civil rights movement like the huge racial wealth gap between Black-Americans and white Americans, the segregation, the massive school segregation that persists.

And they say, well, we are supposed to all equal and free after the civil rights movement. What happened? And they say, well, it's because these institutions, banking, education, criminal justice, they were initially -- they're originally racist. They had this racist past.

And since they -- and the practices remain. The practice -- there might not be as many explicit racists or few explicit racists. People aren't individually racist, but the practices remain, and you have to change the practices.

LEMON: Yeah. Let's talk -- oh, sorry.

STANLEY: Hopefully, to address this -- to bring in election practices that have a racist past, and so they want to erase from our memory this racist past.

LEMON: Yeah. Sorry, we just -- your signal broke up a little bit. I thought you were finishing your thought, but you weren't coming through. Again, so let me quote again from here. You said the Republican attack on critical race theory's aims is thus a broadside against truth and history in education.

Listen. I believe, all along, that, you know, we need to be taught the truth about this country early on, right, as young as grade school, as early as grade school. Why do they fear the truth of history being taught more widely?

STANLEY: We need it because we can't -- we can't do policy.

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STANLEY: If we want to really address the problems in this country with our massive prison system, the policing problems you discussed early in the show, the fact that we put such massive effort into policing and into militarized police and less into jobs and mental health, then we need massive -- then, we need to address the fact that these institutions, that are these large gaps between whites and blacks because of a racist history.

If you erase that racist history from our schools, then we can't address these problems. We can't actually do policy. You say to people, look, we have to change these practices because the practice of sending lots of police officers into neighborhoods rather than improving schools and giving them jobs, comes from a kind of racist reaction in the past. If you erase that history, people won't know that. And I think we need to talk about the election laws --

LEMON: Yeah.

STANLEY: -- because that's what's really happening. They want us to forget that restrictions on voting have a long, racist past in the United States.

LEMON: Well, this conversation is fascinating and you should read in The Economist Jason Stanley's article, "Race in America, Jason Stanley on critical race theory and why it matters." Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time.

STANLEY: Thank you so much.

LEMON: And thank you for watching, everyone. Our coverage continues.

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