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Don Lemon Tonight
All Eyes On Biden-Putin Summit; FBI Director Wray Grilled By Lawmakers; Documents Released Show Trump White House Pushed DOJ To Challenge And Overturn 2020 Election Results; Democracy On Shaky Status; GOP Insist To Ban Critical Race Theory; Trump Organization CEO Under Hot Water; Senseless Killing Over Mask Wearing. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired June 15, 2021 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST (on camera): Thank you for the opportunity to get after it. It is now time for the big show. "DON LEMON TONIGHT" with its star, D. Lemon.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: So, did you ever hear, I didn't get the last part of the show because did you ever hear back from Chris Stewart or his office?
CUOMO: No. But Daniel Dale was told by his office that he misspoke frank.
LEMON: He what? I thought it was pretty clear but OK. Do they actually think like, maybe they are used to going on platforms where they are not challenged and that people will just sort of buy whatever it is that they are saying and just move on as if it's gospel?
CUOMO: Yes, comma, and he has an advantage.
LEMON: How so?
CUOMO: His side doesn't care if he lies or misspeaks or gets it wrong or fudges because he was just trying to win the fight. And it doesn't matter because I'm worse. And it doesn't matter because he's their guy. And it doesn't matter because he's still in right because he's being victimized.
See. Look, Representative Maloney didn't like when I said this tonight, all due respect to her and the oversight committee putting out the e-mails about what Trump is trying is huge. I say I think they are better than you at this. If they had been the aggrieved on January 6th and in a position the Democrats are in, you and I would have never been able to move on from it. I probably would have been in Washington, D.C. for three weeks covering it because it's all the Republicans would have been doing --
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: -- and saying we must put down the civil war. LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: It's all they would do. Biden wouldn't be able to be nowhere else.
LEMON: Yes. You get no argument from me on that. And imagine as we have said and many have said before if the tables had been turned on January 6th. Just imagine if it was people of a darker hue, what would have happened. Just imagine if it was, you know, supporters of Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton or, I mean, we would still -- that's all we would -- that's all we'd be hearing about from the right and especially from state run media.
CUOMO: I mean, look, it's not even fair to make the color comparison because all the stakes fly up. You know, we'll get your ass beat for vaping. You know what I mean?
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: You don't stop vaping right away --
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: -- and you talk tough to a cop, there's a too good an index of problems.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: So, let's leave color out of this just for now because it's too obvious what happens then.
LEMON: Right.
CUOMO: Politically, I just believe they play to win, Don, and it's like the old raiders.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Just win, baby.
LEMON: You know how I feel about this.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: So, if Chris Stewart lied --
LEMON: I don't disagree with you on that.
CUOMO: Not lie. He misspoke.
LEMON: Let's --
CUOMO: Let's say he didn't lie. Let's say he misspoke. I don't know how you forget the only vote on an issue that you took that just happened that was covered by everybody. But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. LEMON: Yes. How long did the misspoke thing take to, I mean, --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: They never answered us. They answered Daniel Dale today.
LEMON: How easy is that. It's like, wait a minute, I was just on with Chris and I said something wrong, I better have my people call him and explain to him that's not what I meant.
CUOMO: Yes.
LEMON: That would have taken all of what, five minutes.
CUOMO: They don't have to admit --
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: -- any mistakes.
LEMON: Well.
CUOMO: They don't have to admit them because their side doesn't care. All they're saying on the right fringe is, but what about this, what about that? What about these people? What about that? What about the Democrats, why don't you talk about this? You don't have to tell the truth.
LEMON: But we have to hold them accountable.
CUOMO: That's the job.
LEMON: That's what we've got to do. And I got to get on to my job.
CUOMO: Well, look, you got a tie on tonight.
LEMON: I do.
CUOMO: I know what you're going to talk about is very serious, and I'll be watching because I love you, D. Lemon.
LEMON: You know why I have a tie on? Because someone who was there the last time a president was in Helsinki is joining me now. And she's also been advising the current president on his meeting with Vladimir Putin. So, we're going to talk to her.
CUOMO: That is very important. I thought you meant me. I was in Helsinki.
LEMON: Yes. Yes. But I meant someone who is important. Thank you.
CUOMO: My mistake.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: I misspoke. LEMON: Well at least you corrected it. I'll see you, brother.
CUOMO: Good night, brother.
LEMON: Good night. OK. So, this is Don Lemon Tonight.
On a big news night. Right? So, what about this? Russia, if you're listening, remember that? Well, Russia is going to hear from a very different United States in just a few hours when that's when President Biden is going to sit down for his summit in Geneva with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And the United States goes from this, the supposed leader of free world failing to stand up for democracy denying Russia's interference and the 2016 election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: My people came to me, Dan Coats came to see and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:05:01]
LEMON (on camera): So, Trump answer was so disastrous, the next day he tried to do damage control but the damage was already done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word would instead of wouldn't. The sentence should have been, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't or why it wouldn't be Russia.
So, just to repeat it. I said the word would instead of wouldn't. And the sentence should have been, I thought it would be maybe a little unclear on the transcript or unclear on the actual video. The sentence should have been I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): OK. Tomorrow we're going from Trump to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have to prove to the world and to our own people that democracy can still prevail against the challenges of our time and deliver for the needs of our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Biden and Putin have met before but this is the first time Biden is sitting across from the Russian leader with the power that he holds as commander in chief of the United States. And that president knows very well, the president knows very well who he is dealing with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I had met with him. He's bright. He's tough. I found that he is a, as they say when you used to play ball, worthy adversary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): But what about here at home where it becomes increasingly clear that our adversaries come from within. Where the calls are coming from inside the House and the House itself is under assault as we saw in the deadly violence at the capitol on January 6th and where voting rights are under attack as the big lie metastasizes from state to state.
You know, the fraudit in Arizona and where today documents were released that show just how hard the Trump White House and the aides and the Rudy Giuliani clown show pushed the DOJ to challenge and overturn the 2020 election results putting forward false, outlandish and flat out ridiculous allegations.
They abuse their power to try to stay in power. And if there is any doubt who is behind this, who was trying to steal the election, the subject line of the e-mails reads, look at your screen, from POTUS.
Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows pushed the conspiracy theory hatched by an ally of Rudy Giuliani alleging that Italy was using military technology and satellites to change votes in favor of Joe Biden. Italian space lasers, I guess. The acting attorney general at that time, Jeffrey Rosen was then asked to meet with Giuliani.
And it is clear that he knew this was all garbage, and also that we might be reading these e-mails someday because he responded in this way. He said I flatly refused. I said I would not be giving any special treatment to Giuliani or any of his witnesses, Rosen putting the word witnesses in quotes. Reaffirming that he wouldn't talk to Giuliani and telling an aide the allegation is "pure insanity." Also in quotes. Pure insanity.
Today, CNN caught up with Meadows and asked him for an explanation. He declined to give one, saying only I'm not going to comment on anything that may or may not have happened. Gaslighting. We have the documents. What is this we may or may not, it may or may not have happened.
And that's not all that we found out today about the attacks on democracy, about the calls from inside the House where at a hearing into the January 6th insurrection, we learned various law enforcement agencies including capitol police and the Washington Metropolitan Police requested help from the D.C. National Guard at least 12 times while the capitol was under violent attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D-NY): After a series of delays, the National Guard did not arrive until 5.20 p.m., more than four hours after the capitol perimeter was breached. This is a shocking failure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Congresswoman Maloney also pressing FBI director Christopher Wray on the bureau's intelligence about threats ahead of January 6, including 50 tips from Parler about the potential for violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALONEY: The system was blinking red. The committee has obtained documents showing that social media company Parler sent the FBI evidence of planned violence in Washington, D.C. on January 6th. Parler referred this content to the FBI for investigation over 50 times.
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, DIRECTOR, U.S. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: I did not recall hearing about this particular e-mail, certainly not before January 6th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): We need to find a lot more about those warnings and why they went unheeded, especially when we learned just yesterday that QAnon's digital soldiers may become more violent. These warnings can't go unheeded.
[22:10:02]
And yet, another, at yet another hearing today some people who are resistant to having an honest conversation about racism in American history, well, they may have learned a little something about it today.
Amid a climate where Republican state lawmakers are moving to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools, calling it anti-American. Two GOP congressmen criticizing the navy's highest-ranking officer for recommending that sailors voluntarily read the book how to be an anti- racist by Ibram X. Kendi. Chief of naval operation Admiral Michael Gilday pushing back hard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL GILDAY, CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS: This is a bigger issue than Kendi's book. What this is really about is trying to paint the United States military, in this case, the United States Navy as weak, as woke. We're not weak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): And Admiral Gilday not stopping there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GILDAY: I do know this; our strength is in our diversity and our sailors understand that. Race is a very -- racism in the United States is a very complex issue. What we benefit from is an open discussion about those issues that we don't try to ignore it or rewrite it but we actually have a discussion about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Thank you, sir. You may have just taught them something today. Current president of the United States preparing for his summit with Russia's leader. My next guest is Fiona Hill. She was there the last time the United States president held a summit with the Russian leader and it went so badly, she says she considered faking a medical incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIONA HILL, FORMER SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR EUROPE & RUSSIA, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I had exactly the same feeling that Debra Birx had during the infamous press conference while there was the suggestion by President Trump about injecting bleach, you know, to counteract to the coronavirus. It was one of those moments where it was mortifying frankly, and humiliating for the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON (on camera): President Biden getting ready for what's shaping up to be biggest moment of his presidency on the world stage so far. Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a matter of hours. A sit down is the finale of Biden's first trip overseas as president where he has spoken at length about building up democracy and standing up to autocracy.
I want to bring in now Fiona Hill who helped Biden prep for this meeting. She the former national security director for European and Russian affairs. She also testified in Trump's first impeachment inquiry and now work at the Brookings Institution.
And we're so grateful that she is here with us. Thank you for joining us.
HILL: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: You helped the president prep for this face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin and you know Putin well. Does either side have an advantage here heading into this critical meeting, Fiona?
HILL: Well, I think a lot of people are already conceding some kind of advantage to Vladimir Putin just because the meeting is happening. But you know, I think pre-judging this is pretty unfair for our president. The United States president.
I mean, one way or another Biden has to meet with the major leaders of countries that are most consequential to the United States at that moment. That of course includes President Xi of China, and also President Putin of Russia. So, one way or another at some point he's got to meet with him. And I'm sure that the White House is thinking why not now as you're saying at the end of what's otherwise a trip to Europe to visit all of our allies.
Biden has already met with leaders of the G7 other fellow democracies with the representatives of the European Union. He's had meetings in the U.K. with the queen and also with the NATO allies. So, adding Putin to the end of this made a lot of sense in terms of proximity.
I mean, the meeting is happening on neutral territory in Geneva. And it's quite similar pattern of meetings that we've had in the past for both Soviet and Russian leaders. I think the last time that we had a presidential meeting in Geneva was Reagan and Gorbachev which was at the height of the Cold War.
And of course, we're in another confrontational moment again with Russia. But the whole point of this from the perspective of the White House is to try to see if we can take the temperature down on this highly contentious relationship. And you know, Geneva is supposed to make as much sense as anywhere else.
LEMON: Yes. So, Biden has called Putin a killer and a thug. What's your assessment of Putin? How will he behave or is he going to behave, do you think?
HILL: Well, I think actually what will be surprising is if something extraordinary doesn't happen out of this. Putin makes point of pride in being unpredictable and being preemptive, taking preemptive strikes. he's well aware of what Biden thinks of him.
We have to remember that this won't be the first time that they've met. Although it will be the first time that he had met with Biden as the president. Back in 2011, Biden met with Putin and had a very famous quip about looking into his eyes and not seeing his soul and then telling Putin he didn't think he had one and Putin purportedly then saying back, well I think we understand each other.
So, it's not like these guys haven't sparred before. Biden has been around for 50 years in politics. Putin has been president of Russia for about 20 years. So at least both are going to be very experienced people are going to be sitting down here. What we're all hoping for, those of us who watch Russia and not in the business of making a drama out of it, you know, for television is that we just get out of this unscathed.
And that we then move on to the next set of meetings. What it would be good to be back again is to some kind of predictability and sequences of meetings so we don't have to hyper ventilate every time there's an idea of an American president meeting with his Russian counterpart.
But of course, Putin is in the business of subversion. So, I think we can expect that he will try to take some shots at Biden. Some cheap shots. He's been making fun of Biden's age. But you know, Putin has just told us that he is going to be around until 2036, by which time he will be six years older than Biden is now at 84. So, I would suggest he should be careful about that one. But no less,
you know, thinking about this, nonetheless, he is no doubt going to try to think about how he can get one over. And the more that we feed into it with a media frenzy, the more advantage frankly that Putin gets out of this because he just likes to make mischief. As we saw at Helsinki and in other settings as well.
[22:20:01]
LEMON: Yes. I'm glad you mentioned Helsinki. Let's talk about that. It was in 2018. You were there for that infamous Trump-Putin meeting where Trump sided with Russia quite frankly over U.S. intelligence. It was humiliating for the United States. How do you think Putin is looking at Biden compared to Trump?
Because he said Trump is very talented but he hasn't really said the same thing about the current president of the United States.
HILL: No. He's been much more measured about us. As I said, I mean, they have both been around for a very long time. They are trying to make the measure of this new formulation of their relationship with both of them being presidents. I don't think that Putin will expect Biden to be anything other than prepared.
The Russians are making a big point of fact that Putin is not preparing. Well that's just B.S. frankly because Putin is always very well prepared. Every meeting that I've seen he's thought ahead, he's thought one step, two steps, three steps ahead. He's often meetings prepared with note cards.
And you know, I think we've managed to defuse potentially with the United States some of the mischief that Putin could get up to by the fact that we're not having a joint press conference. But Putin will have ample opportunity to have his own press conference and to give his own spin on the meeting.
So, you know, from our perspective and watching all of this right now, I think Putin is just trying to get the measure of everything. How is the United States going to react? How is media going to react? What's Biden going to present to him. How far is Biden going to push very strong messages.
You know, how much does Putin think that he can get away with both in the moment of the meeting and afterwards? But the other important point is Putin wants this meeting.
LEMON: Yes.
HILL: He wants to be seen as an equal of the U.S. president so there may be some limits to how far he would go. Even at Helsinki I think Putin realized that he pushed it too far. There were moments where he was actually trying to help Trump out of the predicament he got himself into.
LEMON: Listen, Biden, he isn't doing a joint press conference with Putin. But I just want to read something that you told the BBC about the Trump-Putin press conference, this is in Helsinki. And you said this.
You said my initial thought was just how can I end this. I literally did have in my mind the idea of faking some kind of medical emergency and throwing myself backwards with a loud blood curling scream into the media.
I mean, of all the disastrous things that you have seen on the world stage, Fiona, where did that moment fall and were you serious -- did you seriously consider that? It was that bad?
HILL: I did seriously think about it. I first of all looked around to see if there was a fire alarm but we were in a rather grand building attached to the presidential palace of the Finish president who had lent it to us on occasion. And I couldn't see anything that resembled a fire alarm.
You know, look, I had exactly the same feeling that Debra Birx had during the infamous press conference where there was the suggestion by President Trump about injecting bleach, you know, to counteract to the coronavirus. It was one of those moments where it was mortifying frankly and humiliating for the country and it was also completely, I have to say, out of step of what had happened in the meeting prior to that.
The meeting itself is quite anodyne. Putin had tried to pull a fast one again. He always likes to stoke outrage. He'd come up with the idea of potentially allowing the United States to interview some operatives from the Russian military intelligence services that we just indicted for their interference in the 2016 elections.
But of course, it was just about to announce to the world as well that we would then like to interview a few Americans, including our foreign ambassador Mike McFaul and a number of State Departments and other officials who he'd also got in his crosshairs.
So, he knew that that was going to stoke outrage. But it was the press conference itself and the way that President Trump unfortunately handled himself which was, you know, the worst moment of all. And as I said, I just thought, let's just cut this off, let's try to end it. But of course, I couldn't come up with anything that just wouldn't add to the terrible spectacle.
LEMON: Wow.
HILL: So, I think it's a great idea not to have a joint press conference after that and in fact, in the past we haven't really had these joint conferences or press conferences between adversaries. It's more something you do with your allies.
So, it's not that President Biden deciding to do that as something erupted some past presidents. In fact, he's going back to something that we did in the past which is trying to avoid those kinds of embarrassing moments with adversaries when everybody is going to try to put you on the spot.
LEMON: Well, we're glad that you didn't do that because we're glad that you're here to share your expertise with us and also with the people who are running the country. Thank you, Fiona Hill. I appreciate you joining us.
HILL: Thanks, Don. Thank so you much.
LEMON: Thank you. And as the president defends American democracy abroad, the fallout from Trump's presidency reveals new threats to our democracy right here at home. Stay with us.
[22:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON (on camera): Newly released e-mail showing how former President Trump and his allies pressure top Justice Department officials to investigate his big lie about election fraud. The documents show officials like White House chief of staff Mark Meadows pushing acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen to challenge the 2020 election results.
So, joining me now is CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger. Gloria, good evening to you.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Don.
LEMON: So, more evidence of what we talked about just kind of the sequel of what we talked about last week. Biden is overseas. He's defending democracy while at home we're now learning about new abuses by Trump pressuring his Justice Department. It's easy to become numb to all these assault on democracy but every day we learn just how deep this all goes.
[22:29:50]
BORGER: Yes. And this was, you know, this was -- this was pretty deep. This is constant inundation of e-mails from people inside the White House, people at the behest of the president, an attorney, an outside attorney at the behest of the president, former White House chief of staff to the acting attorney general saying you've got to investigate Michigan. You've got to investigate the Italy tie. There's a conspiracy in Italy that fixed the voting, et cetera, et cetera.
All these kind of conspiracy theories. And when you put this into context and understand what was going on in the country at the time. This started around December 14th. That was the day of the certification of the American election. And yet, Rosen was getting these e-mails about this and eventually he just threw up his hands because he couldn't deal with it anymore.
But imagine what would have occurred if you had somebody more receptive at the Justice Department to this kind of corrupt inquiry that would corrupt the Justice Department and in fact, perhaps, the courts.
LEMON: Yes. Listen, last time we were on discussing this, I think you called it the peeling of an onion, --
BORGER: Yes.
LEMON: -- right, that we would find out more.
BORGER: Yes.
LEMON: And so, what we're learning is that if they could have stolen the election that they would have?
BORGER: I think what we are learning is that they would do anything to win.
LEMON: Yes.
BORGER: And that includes fixing the votes. What we see going on right now in Arizona, for example, don't forget, I don't have to remind you. You've talked about it every single night, which is that you had 60 courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States saying these lawsuits were frivolous. They were unnecessary. That this was a free and fair election across the country.
You had election officials across the country standing up to all of this and many of them have endangered their jobs and their lives, in fact, getting a lot of death threats for doing this. Nothing has changed except that the challenges continue.
LEMON: Yes.
BORGER: And the question is, I think, what will happen in the next election --
LEMON: Yes.
BORGER: -- and how will Americans be able to vote.
LEMON: Yes. Listen, you're right. The threat is still ongoing. Trump is still pushing the big lie.
BORGER: Sure.
LEMON: Republicans are assaulting voting rights. And we don't know how it's all going to end, Gloria. That's the thing.
BORGER: No. We don't. And I think all you can do is be vigilant and as these things play out, our job is to point out what's going on in each state. And I think we've been all over that at CNN. And I think you have to say here, here are the laws that are being passed by legislatures. Here is what they do and here is what they don't do.
And you have to get people to kind of understand what's at stake here and I think the American electorate is understanding that now how important voting is and no matter how you decide to vote, you want to figure out a way to do it and do it and get to the polls so that nobody can stop you from exercising that right of citizenship in this country.
So, it is a huge issue and we all know in the end, Donald Trump will never admit that he lost the election. Ever. So what he will talk about, and I gather he's having another rally or two. What he's going to talk about is the fact that he should be president of the United States. That the election was rigged because he cannot stand losing. And that's what that is about.
LEMON: Well, you know, anyway. I'll move on.
BORGER: Yes.
LEMON: Let's talk about some --Republican Congressman Paul Gosar grilling Christopher Wray --
BORGER: OK.
LEMON: -- about the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt who was trying to jump through a smashed window inside the capitol, Gloria, during the insurrection. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL GOSAR (R-AZ): The capitol police officer that did the shooting, Ashli Babbitt appeared to be hiding, lying and wait. And again, no warning before killing her. Question again, why hasn't that officer that executed Ashli Babbitt been named when police officers around the country are routinely identified after a shooting?
WRAY: On that case, it's not one that we've been directly involved in. So I really can't agree or disagree with your characterization.
GOSAR: Sounds good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Yes. So, Congresswoman Liz Cheney calling out Gosar on Twitter saying this. On January 6, as a violent mob advanced on the House chamber, I was standing near Representative Gosar and helped him open his gas mask. The capitol police led us to safety. It is disgusting and despicable that to see Gosar lie about that day and smear the men and women who defended us.
Gloria, she is still not holding back even after losing her leadership position.
BORGER: No. She isn't. And I might point out that Gosar was also today one of 21 Republicans who voted against giving the congressional police officers the congressional gold medals for their work on January 6th. He was opposed to that.
[22:35:07]
A lot of those members didn't like the word insurrection that was used in that legislation. But in any case, she has a point to make and she makes it really well. She was there. He was there. He knows what was going on.
To say that that woman was executed by a police officer when you don't have the facts is stunning to me. And that's the kind of language that's being used about the Capitol Hill police. I think good for her for calling it out as often as she can. It's not going to get her very far politically in the Republican Party, as you know and we've talked about this.
But she was there standing next to him putting on gas mask. She understood and she knows that he understands exactly what occurred in the capitol. These people --
LEMON: And the dangers.
BORGER: -- were not tourists.
LEMON: Yes. The danger of that day.
BORGER: Yes, absolutely.
LEMON: Before I let you go, I have to ask you about this New York Times reporting, Gloria, that Trump Organization CEO Allen Weisselberg could face charges this summer over criminal tax investigation. The big question is whether he will flip on the former president politically speaking.
BORGER: Sure.
LEMON: I mean, what will the GOP do if Trump gets in legal trouble?
BORGER: Well, we have to see. I'm assuming -- I'm assuming a lot of people who are Trump fans will blame the courts and say that it's a hoax and a witch hunt, et cetera, et cetera.
I think Weisselberg is key. he knows everything about Donald Trump and his taxes and his finales. It's clear they want him to flip. They are putting pressure on him. Whether he will or not, who knows. He's in some legal jeopardy. But I think it's clear that he's not the big fish here. The big fish is Donald Trump.
And I'm not an attorney but, you know, this is -- this is how things work. You kind of put pressure on someone to get to someone up the food chain. And that -- and that is Trump. I think the question of Donald Trump's taxes and how he has handled his fiscal matters is out there. It's been out there for a long time. So, whether it would change any support for Donald Trump, I doubt it.
LEMON: Yes. Gloria, always a pleasure. Thank you so much.
BORGER: Good, Don. Good to see you.
LEMON: You as well.
President Biden sending a message to allies, the soul of America is in fact and sending a message back home that to keep it that way, his agenda needs to get passed. We're going to take a look at can he get it done.
Also, former Senator Al Franken he is going to explain. There he is, next.
[22:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON (on camera): My next guest once wrote a book about himself called "Al Franken: Giant of the Senate." And there are some giant issues at stake there. The Senate of course is where the fate of the Biden agenda on infrastructure, on voting rights, they sit stalled. Hostage to the filibuster and Mitch McConnell.
So, joining me now the former Democratic Senator, Al Franken, the self-professed giant of the Senate. Thank you, Senator Franken. I appreciate you joining us here this evening. So, let's get down do business.
FMR. SEN. AL FRANKEN (D-MN): Ironic, huh.
LEMON: Yes.
FRANKEN: Yes. Thanks for having me, Don.
LEMON: I'm glad you have a sense of humor. Much needed in this time.
So, President Biden talks a lot about restoring the soul of our country. He is telling allies that America is back and reassuring them that our democracy is alive and well. Are you confident he's right?
FRANKEN: Well, I'm not entirely confident because we've seen 70 percent of the Republican Party of the base of the Republican Party say that the election was stolen. That's an existential threat to our democracy. You see what's going on around the country.
These laws being passed, state legislatures not only about suppressing votes of certain people but also giving elected officials in the state the power to overturn elections. It's very, very frightening. So, I'm not terribly confident right now. No.
LEMON: The power to overturn elections, I mean, that is the -- that's probably the biggest issue I think to -- look, all of it is big but that's probably the most frightening that someone giving state legislatures the power to overturn the will of the people. That's huge.
FRANKEN: Yes. It's enormous and it's basically trying to do legislatively what Trump was trying to do, you know, in Georgia, you know, and by asking the secretary of state to find 11,780 votes or wining and dining the state legislatures from Michigan or that going to the Supreme Court with virtually, well at least a large majority of Republicans in the House supporting that and states attorneys general.
I mean, they were trying the steal it. Trump would have stolen it if he could have. And so, I don't -- this is, yes, it's very disturbing allowing state legislatures to do what he couldn't do this time.
LEMON: Yes. So back at home, let's talk about what's going on here while the president is overseas. It appears that his agenda is getting stalled, at least for the moment. We'll see. While Republicans are blocking everything from voting rights, the police reform, infrastructure. Biden says the answer is showing Americans that government can work. But how can you do that, how can he do that without ditching the GOP?
[22:45:08]
FRANKEN: Well, this of course gets us down to what are they going to be able to do with reconciliation. So, I believe they could do infrastructure with reconciliation. They could do that with 50 votes on, you know, on the For the People Act. That I don't know. And then that gets you to the filibuster.
I've had a plan to modify the filibuster with Norman Ornstein now going on 12 years. Joe Manchin has said that he would not vote to get rid of the filibuster but he's open to modification. What Norman and I are saying is that it takes one person to go I object to create a filibuster. then 60 votes, you need 60 votes to cloture, the end the filibuster.
What we're seeing is that the burden should be on the minority is trying to filibuster. They should have to show up, get to the floor, go to floor, cast 41 votes to sustain the filibuster and then stay there and do a talking filibuster. They should have to debate what they're, you know, what they're trying to kill. So, I would like to see a debate --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And how would that change --
FRANKEN: -- on For the People Act.
LEMON: How would that change things?
FRANKEN: Well, they have to stay there. And I know my colleagues, they won't want to stay there. I'm talking about 41 Republicans in this case would have to be on the floor at all times for 24 hours, for 48 hours. You know, Chuck Grassley is going to go, you know, I'm 87 years old. I'm not going to -- you know.
And McConnell will say, OK, Chuck only has to be here instead of 19 hours a day, we'll let him be here only 10. And that, you know, you junior senators will have to be here 21 or something. I mean, it will wear thin quickly.
LEMON: Yes. And also, they'll have to --
(CROSSTALK)
FRANKEN: So, in other words, they will really have to care about what they're filibustering instead of just automatically saying I object and we can't get to 60.
LEMON: Yes. So, you have this new piece in Rolling Stone. It's titled tax the rich. Also, the very affluent but mainly the rich.
FRANKEN: Yes.
LEMON: Why do you think this is the only way to go, only way to get things done is by taxing the rich, and the affluent but mainly the rich.
FRANKEN: Well, it's because they haven't been paying their fair share. We just had an article in ProPublica that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk paid no federal income taxes last year. We -- they had tax cuts during the Trump administration and there's stuff that Biden has laid out that's very popular, including infrastructure, child care, early childhood education that not only should we do but we kind of have to do it. We can't afford not to. We need to do it.
And so, we need to it and we need to -- we need to raise the upper tax bracket, to 39 -- back to 39.6 percent. We need to raise the corporate rate. You know, when they did the Trump tax cut and they reduced the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, all the CEOs said we're going the use that money to create jobs. No. They bought their stock back and gave themselves bonuses.
We -- we need to do this stuff. We need to fund K through 12 education so kids' education doesn't depend on his community's tax base.
LEMON: Right. Yes.
FRANKEN: These are things that we really have to do. We're 13th in world in infrastructure. That's not -- that's dangerous. That's bad for everyone. You know, when a bridge collapses, a Mercedes falls as fast as a Hyundai. It's ridiculous that we're 13th in the world.
LEMON: Yes.
FRANKEN: Americans don't want that. That's why overwhelmingly Americans want these things. They want child care. Every other country in the world has child care. Why do people want child care? So, they can know that they are leaving their child with someone who is going to take care of their kid and safe so they can go to work.
[22:49:55]
LEMON: Right. I don't think it's too much to ask too. I mean, listen, people want child care. You're right. We need to figure it out. And especially we need to figure out infrastructure and that includes, quite frankly, more than just roads and bridges.
Al Franken, thank you so much, sir. I appreciate it.
FRANKEN: Absolutely.
LEMON: Thank you.
FRANKEN: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: A grocery store worker dead, another injured, all because a customer was asked to pull up his mask. That story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON (on camera): A grocery store employee shot and killed over a mask dispute. That's right, a request to pull up a mask it turned deadly.
CNN's Martin Savage has more on this horrific story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Murder over a mask.
MELODY MADDOX, SHERIFF, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: The subject pulled out a weapon and shot the cashier.
[22:54:58]
SAVIDGE: A customer in a Decatur, Georgia supermarket shot and killed a cashier Monday after getting into an argument with her about his face mask.
RAY KIM, OWNER, BIG BEAR SUPERMARKET: He had a mask. She just is a very cautious person, so she had asked him to pull up his mask. He refused and walked out, came back in and did that.
SAVIDGE: According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the suspect, 30-year-old Victor Lee Tucker Jr. was checking out of the Big Bear Supermarket when he got into an argument with the cashier about putting on his mask. Tucker left without paying, then came back to the store and pulled out a handgun, shooting and killing 41-year-old Laquitta Willis.
Tucker then exchanged fire with a sheriff's deputy who is working with security. Both were wounded and transported at the hospitals, both are expected to survive. A second cashier grazed by a bullet was treated on the scene. Two responding officers arrested Tucker as he was attempting to crawl out of the store. Witnesses were terrified.
UNKNOWN: My life flashed before my eyes.
SAVIDGE: The GBI says Tucker faces charges of murder and aggravated assault. It's not clear if Tucker has an attorney. This shooting coming as the number of deaths and injuries from gun violence in this country has increased 23.5 percent since this time last year, according to the gun violence archive.
And just as health restrictions put in place in the pandemic are easing. But not all cities and states have relinquished their mask mandates. Decatur, Georgia is one of them. Last month the city extended its mask ordinance until June 31st, saying masks must be worn when entering any public building or business, except for religious establishments.
MADDOX: We're still following, you know, some of the CDC guidelines, so it would be up to the store to decide, you know, if it is meant to make it mandatory or not mandatory. But we do not know of the policy at this time with the store.
SAVIDGE: Only 21 percent of Dekalb County residents have been vaccinated according to the CDC. That number less than the national vaccination rate of 44 percent. And according to the Georgia Department of Public health only 36 percent of Georgia residents are fully vaccinated. Medical experts encouraged mask wearing to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. They were meant to be lifesaving, but for some they've become a reason to kill.
Martin Savage, CNN, Decatur, Georgia.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LEMON (on camera): Senseless. Senseless. Thank you, Martin. I appreciate it.
The FBI director on the Hill today answering questions about the security failures of the attack on the capitol. Also testifying, Michael Flynn's brother. Stay with us.
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