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Don Lemon Tonight

Sources: Manhattan Grand Jury Indicts Trump Organization And CFO Allen Weisselberg; Bill Cosby Released From Prison After Conviction Overturned; House Votes To Create Select Committee On January 6 Insurrection; Florida Building Deadly Collapse Updates; Biden Meets With Governors Over Wildfire Threat And Record Heat; NYC Dem Primary Vote Count Updated Without Test Ballots, Still Missing Mail-In Ballots. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired June 30, 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: Here's breaking news tonight. A Manhattan grand jury is indicting the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. That's what sources are telling CNN. The charges expected to be unsealed tomorrow. Much more on this breaking story in just a moment.

Also, Bill Cosby is a free man. Bill Cosby is at home tonight, released from prison, following a stunning decision by Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, overturning his 2018 conviction of sexual assault, ruling prosecutors violated his due process rights. Cosby served three years of a 10-year sentence.

And the bodies of two children found in the rubble of the collapsed building in Florida, bringing the death -- confirmed death toll to 18. One hundred and forty-five people still unaccounted for, one full week after the condo tower came crashing down. A lot to get to.

And this is new tonight. The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, expected to be charged tomorrow with tax crimes. People familiar with the matter tell CNN that. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office is building a case around perks awarded to employees and whether appropriate taxes were paid on them.

Let's discuss now. Former Nixon White House counsel, John Dean, is here. John, good evening. Good to see you. It has been way too long. Let us get into this. The Washington Post reports that the New York grand jury filed the indictments today and that they will be unsealed tomorrow afternoon. Sources tell CNN Allen Weisselberg is expected to turn himself in tomorrow. What does this moment mean?

JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, FORMER NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: I think what it means, Don, is how effective Trump and Weisselberg's lawyers have been in sort of bracing the public for the fact that this was going to happen. I don't think any of us are surprised to hear it. What we don't know and I don't think the lawyers know either is what is going to be in the indictments that are sealed.

LEMON: Mm-hmm. Does that mean that their investigation is over or could there be subsequent charges?

DEAN: There well could be. There could be. In fact, I would expect this is an early phase. I think they are trying to obviously build a case against Weisselberg that will result in him becoming a witness. He probably is the best insider for the kind of financial fraud that appears that their inquiry is focused on, and whether he will flip or not, I don't know, Don.

He doesn't strike me as a Gordon Liddy-type from Watergate that is going to go to jail and stay there and not speak until he can get a book contract.

LEMON: Yeah. Do you think the former president is at risk at all?

DEAN: Oh, I do. I can't imagine from everything we know about Trump's M.O. We've watched him in a rather public way in the presidency, that he is a hands-on guy. Everybody reports that that's the way he ran his business, that nothing slipped by him.

They also say he ran it like a mafia, Don, knowing how to give instructions where he didn't give instructions, but everybody knew exactly what he wanted. That's pretty effective and can make it more difficult to prosecute someone who is clever criminally.

LEMON: Mm-hmm. How do you indict, though, how do you indict the Trump Org, John, without indicting Trump? Explain that.

DEAN: Well, as has been famously noted since Citizens United, a corporation is considered a person, so it has -- it can be indicted like a person. It will be treated somewhat like a person, although you can't incarcerate a corporation in the same way you can a person.

Weisselberg is clearly tied deeply with this corporation and it is not one entity, though. It is multiple. There's something like five or 600 smaller entities that he operates through. So it will be also telling as to what or which corporations are indicted. That will be very interesting. Probably has made it a much more challenging investigation as well.

[23:05:00]

LEMON: John Dean, good to see you. Thank you. I appreciate your expertise on this. Thanks so much.

DEAN: Thank you.

LEMON: Bill Cosby is now out of prison after his sexual assault conviction was overturned. Joining me now, Gloria Allred, who has represented dozens of women who have accused Bill Cosby a sexual assault, and Victoria Valentino, who says that she was raped by Cosby in 1969.

Good evening to both of you. Thank you for joining. Victoria, I'm going to start with you. Cosby's release has got to be devastating. How are you feeling tonight?

VICTORIA VALENTINO, COSBY ACCUSER: We were absolutely stunned this morning. I couldn't believe it. But then, in some ways, I think there was (INAUDIBLE) for this after watching the hearing, you know, his appeal hearing, and having that one justice saying that she just didn't see a pattern, which was appalling to me, but somehow that gave me pause.

LEMON (on camera): Victoria, this is what Cosby said to ABC tonight. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN (voice-over): Nobody had the sense to say, wait one second, this doesn't match up with the truth, this is not what I was taught in college, this is not what I was taught at home, et cetera, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): He also tweeted that he has always maintained his innocence. What do you think when he you hear him tries to suggest that this ruling shows that he's innocent?

VALENTINO: Well, we know better. He's delusional, he's a sociopath, he has no personal insight, no remorse, and he doesn't see that what he did was wrong.

LEMON: Hmm.

VALENTINO: You know, sociopaths don't. They don't have a moral compass. What's right for them feeds their ego. What's wrong for them doesn't feed their ego.

LEMON: Yeah. Hi, Gloria. Gloria, I want to bring you in because, you know, as Victoria just said, this doesn't change any of the facts about Cosby, that Cosby admitted that he obtained Quaaludes to give to women that he wanted to have sex with. What message, though, does this decision send to women who have lived through sexual assault?

GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY FOR 33 ALLEGED VICTIMS OF BILL COSBY: Well, I wanted to say that I did represent 33 accusers of Bill Cosby, including the majority of the prior bad act witnesses who testified in both trials. And I think they were very brave and they sacrificed quite a bit and they showed a lot of courage. And so I feel for them today.

But the message that it sends is the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided that Mr. Cosby's conviction should be reversed, really on a technicality, but although it's due process and, you know, they feel that his due process rights were violated by what they consider to be the non-prosecution agreement and then he testified, they said, the court said in his decision, to his detriment, he made incriminating statements in the deposition.

His testimony under oath in the civil case that Andrea filed and essentially, they're saying he wouldn't have done that if he thought there was going to be another prosecution. And then his deposition testimony was used in the criminal cases. But, it's a very unusual set of facts.

Mr. Cosby, he can celebrate tonight, but this is going to continue because, Don, even though this criminal case is done, I'm still proceeding with a civil lawsuit against him on behalf of my client, Judith Huth, who alleges in her lawsuit that she was a victim of child sexual abuse by Mr. Cosby when she was at the Playboy mansion a number of years ago.

And our civil lawsuit was stayed. We were awaiting this decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Now, we're going back to the judge in August and he'll set either a date to finish discovery and/or trial date for us.

And now, because of the decision today, Don, Mr. Cosby is going to be compelled to give his deposition and we're going to take that, and he was not going to be able to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in the lawsuit that we filed. So we're looking forward to questioning Mr. Cosby under oath now.

LEMON: Victoria, you know, he is out on a legal procedural issue, a technicality, so to speak, if you want to put it that way. This specific case cannot be re-tried. What does that mean to you?

VALENTINO: Well, it's infuriating, absolutely frustrating.

[23:09:55]

VALENTINO: And I think it makes many of us rage inside with some impotent anger because once again, women have been thrown under the bus and a woman's worth has not been honored. There are over 60 of us who have experienced a lot of damage because of Bill Cosby.

And even though we have him out because a "T" wasn't crossed or an "I" wasn't dotted, he is still going to be a pariah, he is still a rapist, he is still a sociopath, and he is still a predator. And we still have our voices. And we have stood in our truth. We have stood up and been strong in solidarity with each other.

We will continue to speak out. We will continue to inspire and support other women or men who've been raped and hopefully encourage them to continue to speak and find their voices and find transformational healing.

LEMON: Victoria, Gloria, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And I'm sure we'll be talking soon --

ALLRED: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: -- because, again, this is just all happening today and there's much more discussion to be had. Thank you very much.

And in continuing that discussion, I want to bring in Monique Pressley, the former legal counsel and spokesperson for Bill Cosby. Thank you so much. I appreciate you joining us. You can take us inside of what happened because I think there are very few people who know more than you. So Monique, you were a huge part of the public face of Cosby's defense, 2015, 2016. Are you surprised by this decision?

MONIQUE PRESSLEY, FORMER LEGAL COUNSEL AND SPOKESPERSON FOR BILL COSBY: Only that it was hard for me to conceive that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did what -- let me be the first guest tonight on your show discussing this. Can say they got it right.

They followed the law. They held prosecutors who have an extreme amount of power and discretionary authority. They said to all of us that one member of the United States government in this case representing the commonwealth can't promise a citizen, a future defendant one thing, and then 12 years later, a person in the same office decide, eh, we'll ignore that, we don't have to honor it.

So, though many are saying that that's a technicality, actually, Don, being induced to waive your Fifth Amendment right to remain silent because you have been promised that you will not be prosecuted is not a technicality. It's not just a procedural failing, a hiccup that needed to be corrected.

The prosecutors and what they promised, think about people they get to give them agreement such as in the Trump case that you've talked about once already tonight, what if they just decided they didn't want to keep them? Who would cooperate?

Think about if they took a plea deal for someone and they said you have to be in for 10 years, and when the tenth year comes, they say, eh, that was the other prosecutor, we've decided to do something different, we're going to keep you for another ten because we think you did a whole lot of other bad things and you should be in there anyway.

No. Not a technicality. This is the thrust of what it means to have constitutional protections, and I believe, as people separate out this one person whom they have strong emotional feelings about and feed their own family members, colleagues or themselves in this position, it will get much easier to understand why legally the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did what they were supposed to do.

LEMON: I understand what you're saying. Listen, I said technicality and that it was a procedural issue because that is what the experts have said and I am also quoting others and quoting what the accusers are saying, the fact that they believe he's out on a technicality.

But listen. I think on -- I think that honestly -- that you have a point and I think people have pointed this out. That you may not agree with what happened or you may not like, you know, the accused actions of Bill Cosby or what his accusers are saying.

But if you look -- if you break it down and you look at them separately, as you were saying, most people and attorneys, even if they don't agree with it, they will say that the court did the right thing. They don't agree with the emotional part and the victim part that the courts did the right thing or the court did the right thing. You have been saying the exact same thing about this, when this was happening in real time, that you can't promise someone immunity, so to speak, or that they won't be prosecuted, and then come back and be prosecuted.

[23:15:07]

LEMON: And now, these years later, it seems that what you were saying is correct. And I'm just talking about on this part of it, the quote, which you won't agree with, procedural part of it.

PRESSLEY: Right, and actually, one of the other attorneys texted me and said, looks like they finally heard you. And I just smiled because, yes, December 31st, 2015, I said to anybody who would listen that a prosecutor with that much power can't make a promise and then get you to testify.

And then the same prosecutor, because that's what it is, Don, it's the office, it is not the person, for the sake of political gamesmanship, for the sake of winning election, for the sake of promises kept, do something different.

And I am the first to understand that people who had hopes and dreams of seeing a measure of accountability were looking for it from anywhere. But our system of government just doesn't work like that when it's working right. You get tried for one particular case and one charge or multiple charges in that case and you have to be found guilty of that or you go home.

It can't be because we think you did something else, at least you got put in jail for something. There are prosecutors who have abused their discretion and their authority for centuries, especially where Black and brown people are concerned.

And so, again, what the Supreme Court said is not about one person. What they said is we have to be able to count on our government, when they make a deal with us, that they're bound to it and that they keep it. So it's not that the prosecution messed up in this case necessarily, it's that they insisted upon the case, when they knew that they shouldn't have in the first place.

LEMON: Let me ask you this. Do you -- do you admit or -- well, do you believe that he didn't do anything wrong and that he shouldn't be accountable, because he did admit to the Quaaludes and wanting to have sex with Andrea Constand and with others? Is that a separate matter?

PRESSLEY: So I'm sitting in here as an analyst. I'm not his lawyer. I'm not an advocate for anyone. I'm calling balls and strikes. But I will correct the record and say that at the point that he said in the testimony that he had Quaaludes, Quaaludes were legal, and he never said that he slipped them to anyone, he said they were offered and everyone chose consensually. He said where Andrea Constand was concerned that it was Benadryl and that he explained that beforehand and she took it.

The Supreme Court went further and said that we have to credit Bruce Castor as a district attorney when he said that Ms. Constand's statements were inconsistent and he did not believe for that and other reasons that he was going to be able to get a guilty verdict.

So it's not about my opinion or my thought process. You know, we've been down this road before and I always tell you, it's not what I think, it's what the facts say and it's what people have to prove because that's the (INAUDIBLE) of the law.

The Supreme Court said today that when one prosecutor makes a decision on what they saw as the evidence at the time, that's binding, and I am glad personally and professionally for all of the criminal defendants and future criminal defendants out there that this type of law is on the books.

LEMON: Monique Pressley, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

PRESSLEY: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Yeah. So joining me now is CNN legal analyst Areva Martin. I want to hear what she has to say about this. Areva, good evening to you. You heard what Monique Pressley had to say, her perspective as Cosby's former attorney. She says the Pennsylvania Supreme Court got it right. What do you say?

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, I have a lot of respect for Monique and, you know, I think she's a fantastic lawyer, but I disagree with her. I couldn't disagree with her more on the points that she made with respect to what the Supreme Court did in this case. I think the Supreme Court got it absolutely wrong.

She made mention to and the Supreme Court makes mention of this so- called agreement. Let's unpack what that agreement is and what it wasn't. There was an alleged agreement between former district attorney, Bruce Castor, the lawyers for Constand, and the lawyers for Cosby.

The trial court who had an opportunity to hear the testimony from those lawyers, Bruce Castor himself and the lawyers for Constand, the judge ruled that Bruce Castor's testimony was inconsistent, and he did not believe that there was actually the kind of agreement that is being referenced. There was nothing in writing. There was no traditional plea bargain that you would expect to see in a case like this.

[23:20:04]

MARTIN: There were no notes in the investigative file. There were no e-mails back and forth. All that was in writing was the press conference from the former -- press release, I'm sorry, from the former district attorney. So, this agreement, you know, was fraught. Alleged agreement was fraught from the beginning.

And also, when we talk about prosecutors having a lot of power, let's think about if this were a different case. Let's think about Ahmaud Arbery's case where the prosecutor, the original prosecutor in that case refused to hold those three while men accountable who killed Mr. Arbery.

We would not want the decision by that prosecutor to be binding on future prosecutors. Otherwise, those three men would -- have never been brought to justice. So this notion that a prosecutor can enter into a side deal, kind of a nod and a wink deal, nothing in writing, nothing before the court, and that that's binding on future prosecutors, I think is very dangerous, Don, and I think the court has set a very dangerous precedent in its ruling today.

LEMON: Areva, I've just got one quick thing for you. His publicist is saying that the decision today was -- I'm paraphrasing here of justice, Bill Cosby is saying that it's in some way -- you know, gave a statement to ABC, saying that, you know, he's vindicated in some way or innocent or proves his innocence. Again, paraphrasing what he said. What do you think of that?

MARTIN: Yeah, this decision doesn't vindicate him in the least bit. Nothing in the decision undermines the credibility of the testimony that was given by Constand. It doesn't undermine the decision that was made by the jury in this case. Those three convictions were made based on the evidence that was presented during that trial.

I think it's a travesty of justice that the Supreme Court determined that Cosby cannot be tried again. The prosecutors offered an alternative remedy. They said, okay, let's exclude the deposition testimony that the court found to be problematic and let's move forward with a prosecution of Bill Cosby without that testimony. And the Supreme Court shut that opportunity down by the prosecutors.

I think this case is troubling for Black women. I think it's troubling for all women who have been the victims of sexual assault and rape. We know that there was a turning point happening in this country where women were feeling encouraged.

They were coming forward. They were telling their story. They were being believed. And I just hope this case, this ruling, does not have a chilling effect on those women and women keep standing up and they keep telling their stories.

LEMON: Right. Areva Martin, thank you. We appreciate your perspective as well. Thanks so much.

MARTIN: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: The House voting tonight to create a select committee to investigate the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th. All but two Republicans are voting no, siding with the big lie.

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[23:25:00]

LEMON: The House voting 222-190 in favor of a resolution introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to create a new select committee to investigate the deadly January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Only two Republicans, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, are joining Democrats on the vote.

With me now are CNN senior political analyst Kirsten Powers and CNN political commentator Scott Jennings. Good to see both of you. Thanks so much. Kirsten, let's see. I'll start with you. Every Republican except two voting against this committee. They made it clear that they stand on the side of the big lie. Is that so?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. It certainly seems like they are clearly opposed to getting to the bottom of what happened and doing anything to make sure that it doesn't happen again. I think that's one of the most important things.

I mean, obviously, we want to get all the details when something like this happens in the country. Ideally, it would be completely bipartisan. Ideally, it would have been an independent commission. But that didn't happen. And so this is the next choice.

Republicans, except for two, didn't want to go along with it. I think it's because they don't want to have it in the news all the time and have Democrats talking about what happened on that day because in the end, it will be bad for the Republican Party, even if it will be good for the country.

LEMON (on camera): Scott, I want to bring you in. Officer Michael Fanone was in the gallery when the vote happened. This is what he told me last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FANONE, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE OFFICER: I don't know whatever excuses can be made from the Republican Party at this point. They've been given ample opportunities to, you know, to have an exit ramp from the previous administration and they've chose to embrace that administration, and doing so on the backs of hundreds of police officers that responded to the insurrection, which was incited by that president and his supporters on January 6.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): So, you know, as he said as well, the GOP is supposed to be the party that supports military and law enforcement. What is the message to those officers who protected lawmakers that day that only two Republicans voted yes to this committee?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, to be honest with you, Don, I don't have a great answer for it because on the one hand, right now, the Republicans are wanting to use the crime issue against the Democrats and say we're for the cops and the Democrats are for the criminals. But that's complicated because of the video that we all saw, we all watched live on television unfold on January 6th.

So, I don't have a great answer for that question. The political argument, Kirsten started to go down this road and I think she's right, is that Republicans think the Democrats simply want this committee, which is redundant in their eyes, as a political issue, to keep it front and center because they rather talk about that and have Trump at the center of the election than other issues. So, I do think that's the political tactic that's being used.

As it relates to this law enforcement matters, I'm very sympathetic to Officer Fanone. I'm very sympathetic to every single officer who was on duty that day because of the way they were treated by people who supported a president that always espoused back the blue.

[23:30:00]

JENNINGS: And it's contradictory and there's no great answer for your question. So, I am glad, by the way, that the Justice Department, despite all the political wrangling, is moving at light speed to arrest and bring to justice all these people who were involved at the Capitol. I think some Republicans would say these political committees are less important than bringing people to justice who broke the law and broke into the Capitol that day.

LEMON: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Kirsten, still refuses to say that, if he will offer up GOP members to serve on the committee. He says that the committee is, as Scott just says, political. Listen, I'll say it again. Before this, there was a bipartisan agreement on an independent commission, but McCarthy came out against it. Did he bring this on himself?

POWERS: Yeah, they had the opportunity to do an independent commission and they didn't support it. So, you can't really now complain, if you won't go along with the independent commission that would have been, at least in their eyes not as partisan, and then complain about this. They just don't want any investigation into it. That's what they have to admit to.

And I just -- Scott won't defend this. It's indefensible. It is -- that something like this could happen in the country and to not have some sort of commission look into it, and if it's not a commission, it's going to have to be a committee, and then to complain about the committee because you wanted to have the commission, it's more of this crazy making stuff that's carried over from the Trump era.

LEMON: Yeah. Thank you, Kirsten. Thank you, Scott. I appreciate it.

POWERS: Thank you.

LEMON: So, 18 dead, 145 unaccounted for. And now, my next guest is filing a class action lawsuit. The latest on the collapsed condo in Surfside, Florida, next.

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[23:35:00]

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LEMON (on camera): Tonight, the death toll from the catastrophic building collapse in Florida rising to 18. Two children, ages 4 and 10, are confirmed dead today. Local officials say 145 people are still unaccounted for. I want to bring in now Adam Schwartzbaum, a lawyer who is filing a class action lawsuit against the Champlain Tower South Condo Association. His grandparents lived in that building for 30 years before moving out a decade ago.

Adam, good evening. Thank you for joining. Let's talk about this. You have given CNN audio of one of your clients, 59-year-old Reyza Rodriguez (ph), who was actually recording a voice mail as the building was beginning to fall. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Anybody over there? Hello? Who's there? Oh (bleep).

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Be careful now.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Oh! My God! What the hell! Oh! My God! Yadi! The whole entire building is gone.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Let's leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): Wow! So, what does this demonstrate in addition to the sheer terror that you hear there, Adam?

ADAM SCHWARTZBAUM, LAWYER: It's just another vivid demonstration, Don, of what these victims went through, those who were lucky enough to survive the chaos, the confusion, and also the care that they had for one another.

You actually hear Reyza (ph) calling out to her neighbor. They were about to scramble down and then they remembered, actually, if you continue to listen to the recording, that there was an 80-year-old woman with a walker who lived right below them. They actually went, retrieved her, and then all of them were able to make their way down to the second floor, all the way from the ninth and the eighth, and to a balcony where fire and rescue were able to save them.

So it's really an extraordinary story and it's really beginning of a heroic story for our client, who really put her own life at risk to work with her neighbors, to bring them to safety.

LEMON: I'm glad -- thank you for getting us that audio. I want to also talk about the letter that you have seen now, sent to residents just a few months ago. The president of the condo association is warning that the damage in the building had gotten significantly worse since the 2018 inspection. Were these warnings not taken seriously enough? How do you see it?

SCHWARTZBAUM: Unfortunately, it seems that they weren't. What we've actually seen is it's almost like watching a train crash in slow motion, spread out over years, because in 2018, the condo association received a report telling them that the deterioration of the concrete was going to increase at an exponential rate. And by the way, Don, around that same time period, our client, Reyza (ph), actually took video of water intrusion that she saw in the garage and she sent it to the condo association. So the condo association was getting all sorts of alarms going off, not just red flags, really sirens going off, saying this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Instead, they shopped around for a better price. By the time that 2021 letter was sent just a few months ago, the cost of those repairs had ballooned from $9 million to an estimated $15 million. This is the result of that delay, unfortunately the disaster we're seeing unfolding now.

LEMON: Adam, if you have any more information, if you have any more pictures or video or audio, please, get it to us. We thank you for coming on and sharing the story of these people and hearing the terror. It is just unbelievable, what has happened there.

[23:40:00]

LEMON: We appreciate it. Thanks so much.

SCHWARTZBAUM: Thanks for having us, Don.

LEMON: Thank you. President Biden says it is climate change. He's talking about the dangerous record-setting heat across this country. I'm going to speak with a governor who met with him about that today. It is right after this.

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LEMON (on camera): The Pacific Northwest seeing dangerous record- setting heat this week, killing dozens and sending hundreds more to emergency rooms. Now, concerns are growing the high temperatures could cause more devastating wildfires. This is what the president, Joe Biden, had to say today.

[23:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right now, we have to act and act fast. We're late in the game here. We're remembering the horrific scenes from last year, orange skies that look like end of days. Climate change is driving the dangerous confluence of extreme heat and prolonged drought. We're seeing wildfires of greater intensity that move with more speed, you know, and, last well beyond traditional months, traditional months and the fire season.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): Let's discuss now. Colorado Governor Jared Polis is here. He was part of that meeting today. Governor, thank you. I appreciate you joining us. So, talk to me about what the western part of the United States is seeing now and what frightens you about where we are headed with the climate. GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): First of all, it was amazing that, you know, President Biden and Vice President Harris, he also assembled four or five members of his cabinet, spent two hours with us western governors, Republican and Democratic, today talking about what is going on in the ground and how they can help.

Look, this is a hotter, drier weather. Colorado had the three largest fires in the history of our state last year. Sadly, we weren't alone. We saw enormous fires in California. There are already fires raging in Oregon.

One of the aspects of western state that we have in common is -- my state is about 40 percent federal land, Colorado. Some states nearby are even more. So it's really key area of joint responsibility and cooperation. Everything we heard from President Biden, he really wanted to activate that cooperation with the federal government to protect against wildfires.

LEMON: Beyond cooperation, what messages did you and other governors want to get across to the president and the rest of the country about the dangers ahead?

POLIS: Well, first of all, the urgency of taking the mitigation steps to reduce fire risk like creating fire safety quarters, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and then the ability to have more of a national pool of people and equipment to surge quickly to areas that are in need, to prevent wildfires from getting out of control. So more earlier, more mitigation work, and more support on the federal part of the lands.

They were really all ears. And both President Biden and the cabinet, FEMA was there, Department of Energy, Secretary Granholm really listened to what the six or seven governors on the call had to say. We're really excited about the federal government stepping up to help us because we know we need the help.

LEMON: Colorado saw its three largest wildfires in state history in 2020. Conditions are even more worrying this year. The president announcing new initiatives designed to make it easier to train and deploy more firefighting personnel this year and make sure that they get at least $15 an hour. Is this administration going far enough to help, you think?

POLIS: You know, these fires really are an interstate issue. Last year, one of our fires came down from Wyoming. I was amazed, you know, firefighters should be making a lot more than $15 for the work they do an hour. I mean putting their lives at risk, taking sometimes weeks and months away from their families. This is hard work. That alone isn't the answer. We need the firefighters. We also need the high-tech side, the equipment, the surveillance.

I think the federal government is finally waking up now. This is an administration unlike the last one that acknowledges that climate change is a threat and realizes there's a new reality for fires in the west, longer fire seasons, more risks, and I think this administration is willing to take the steps to help prevent loss of life and property.

LEMON: Let's talk more about what the administration is trying to do, specifically the president, because in the president's infrastructure bill, he is trying to sell. It does include some climate change measures like money to purchase electric vehicles, buses and charging stations. They are funding projects to cap abandoned oil and gas wells.

Are you frustrated that some people don't see climate-related legislation as an investment in that infrastructure and making sure that we can all continue to survive and thrive?

POLIS: Yeah, not only do we have to address today, the fires, but we have to build a better future. And if we don't take action on climate, we're looking at not just what we've experienced this year and last year being the new normal, but we're looking at a new normal that's even worse every year.

So I'm glad the United States of America is back at the leadership table on climate. Colorado has a goal of 100 percent renewable energy for electricity by 2040. We're going to be at 80 percent just nine years in 2030. We are really excited to have a partner in the federal government, working to do what we can to reduce the devastating impact of climate change.

LEMON: Governor Polis, thank you very much. Stay cool!

(LAUGHTER)

POLIS: Will do. Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Thank you so much. Human error. That's what New York City's board of elections is saying after making a huge mistake in counting votes for the mayoral primary. Stay with us.

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[23:50:00]

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LEMON: Take this. We maybe have an idea, maybe, of who leads New York City democratic mayoral primary. Maybe. The New York City Board of Elections pushing an updated set of rank-choice voting results after -- publishing, I should say -- after retracting numbers posted last night, that included about 135,000 erroneous test ballots and no absentee ballots.

The updated results show Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams, narrowly leading former sanitation commissioner, Kathryn Garcia.

[23:55:00]

LEMON: But I want you to keep in mind, what they have posted tonight online is still unofficial. It says it right there on the website. More than 100,000 mail-in ballots need to be tabulated with all their rank choices worked into those results. So, we will keep waiting and watching, and we're going to let you know when there is an official winner. Stay tuned.

Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A very busy night. Every House Republican but two voting against a select committee to investigate the January 6th attack. Criminal charges expected tomorrow against Donald Trump's company and one of his top corporate soldiers, longtime Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg.