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Don Lemon Tonight

Atlantic City Bracing Bad Weather; Bits and Pieces from Trump Allies; GOP Bills Reshapes American Education; Media Are Upset of Having Black Woman in the SCOTUS; Trump Allies Participated in His Plan; Unfair Treatment for People of Color. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired January 28, 2022 - 23:00   ET

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

[22:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: And why is the right so angry that President Biden is promising to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, HOST, FOX NEWS: But to exclude certain candidates based solely on race and gender is beyond extremely divisive. It may even be illegal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That's what is divisive? Seriously? We'll talk about it coming up.

But I want to get right to the very latest now on that dangerous storm hitting the East Coast tonight. You see CNN's Brian Todd there. He is in Atlantic City. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam is in the weather center, as well.

Good evening, gentleman. Brian, I'm going to start with you. Already snowing there in Atlantic City. What are you seeing and what do you expect tonight until tomorrow?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, you talked about the term bomb cyclone. This is what it looks like here in Atlantic City this evening. We'll pan down the boardwalk here. It's almost abandoned at this point. People hunkering down for the evening. That's what the mayor wants.

I talked to the mayor, Mr. Short, a short time ago. He has told us that he wants people to stay. And everybody from the mayor to the governor, Phil Murphy, have said do not go out today, do not go out tonight, do not go out tomorrow because it's getting dangerous here.

The blizzard warning started about four hours ago and they're going to continue until 7 p.m. tomorrow night. That's a 24-hour blizzard warning just for Atlantic City, so you've got several different forces converging.

I'm told by our CNN weather team this is going to feel like a hurricane with heavy snow replacing the heavy rain and the reason is you've got snow. You've got the wind gusts that are going to be at least in this area up to 50 miles an hour at certain points, and because Atlantic city is a barrier island, you've got high tides and flood and storm surge that could cause some flooding in streets like this one.

This is South Carolina Avenue here in Atlantic City. They're worried because high tide is going to be in about five and a half hours from now, Don, and when that happens, you've got storm surge that could get to about maybe one to two feet, you've got heavy winds pushing the already high tides into Atlantic City.

Some of the low-lying streets like this one and they say that there could be flooding here and they're really worried about that because that has happened. That even happened earlier this month when they had a 13-inch snowstorm here in Atlantic City.

So, they are really worried about this. The mayor, Marty Small, told me that what he is telling people, he's at -- they've actually sent out flyers. They put flyers on people's cars on certain streets saying, get your cars off the streets.

They will be towed because they have to get those cars out of the way so that first responders, snowplows, other professionals can come out here and do their work on these streets to try to clear the streets while the storm is still going on.

But, you know, Marty Small said that he is really strongly encouraging people just don't go out in this stuff because it is dangerous. The wind is really going to compound things here, Don. That and the storm surge here on this barrier island that Atlantic City exists on making this a very, very dangerous storm so it's not just a blizzard.

We're also told visibility is going to be near zero at certain times. There is going to be wipeout conditions here in Atlantic City. They're worried about that, too. So, they are -- the casinos are not closing so that's I guess good news for the casinos. The mayor told us that they are encouraging people to just look, if you're going to go to a casino, just stay there. Do with your money what you will but do not venture out of the casinos all weekend long at least until maybe Sunday morning when some of these clears.

But Don, this is a very dangerous situation that's developing here and we'll continue probably until at least the afternoon tomorrow. Again, blizzard warnings here until 7 p.m. Saturday night, Don.

LEMON: Brian Todd in the very snowy boardwalk in Atlantic City. I want to go to Derek Van Dam, our meteorologist now. We saw the snow there in Jersey. But storms are expected all throughout the northeast there. Tell us what we should be expecting tonight.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Brian summarized it really nicely. But really the threats just outlined heavy snow, strong winds, coastal flooding, power outages and travel disruption all along the eastern seaboard, focusing right along the coastal areas with the greatest impacts that's what we'll see. Let's get to the brass text. Right, everybody wants to know. Who will

get the most snow? Well, we are focusing our attention on eastern sections of Massachusetts into Rhode Island, as well as eastern Connecticut and into coastal Maine. That is where our computer models are converging on that heavy band of snow that could pick up over two feet in some locations that is teetering on historic nature.

By the way, the peak of intense -- intensity of the storm will be from about Saturday morning at 7 a.m. to about 6 p.m. for the northern New England Regions. But you work your way further south, the snow will come to an end through the morning and into the middle of the day for places like Philadelphia to New York City as the storm runs parallel with the coastline.

[23:04:55]

Check out this very informative map from the -- from NOAA, the National Weather Service. It puts a threat index for the entire eastern seaboard. Ad we focus in on Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Look at that shading of purple including the Boston metropolitan and then focus your attention on the legend on the top portion of our screen. That is where they anticipate extreme winter storm impacts from this particular nor'easter and they don't use that word lightly. They talk about snowfall totals per hour ranging from three to four inches per hour.

So, you can imagine how quickly that will stack up. You start factoring in hurricane force, wind gusts and you've got yourself a concerning situation, a recipe for disaster.

This storm is still in it -- in its infancy in many respects. There it is on our water vapor imagery the low pressure just off the coastline of Virginia and North Carolina, but what it's doing is it's taking advantage of the warm gulf stream waters, temperatures are abnormally warm there.

So that means more moisture to pick up with this low deepening low pressure system and that will produce all snow. The cold air is in place. That means this precipitation will stay snow. It's not going to transition to rain snow which we see sometimes with nor'easters. It's going to stay all snow and that's why we think the snowfall totals will tether on historic nature.

So, look at this, 75 million Americans from Alabama to Maine under some sort of winter weather alert being impacted by this monster nor'easter, but focusing in on the blizzard warnings right along that coastal area of Massachusetts, Maine, into Connecticut, Long Island too, by the way. Not including New York City, you're under a winter storm warning, but coastal New Jersey and the Delmarva Peninsula, that's where we could have reduced visibilities, whiteout conditions for three hours or greater with the peak intensity of this storm.

There is the location of the low, look at the snow band starting to over spread New York City, Long Island, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. You can see the i-95 corridor already starting to get into some of the heaviest snow bands. Flakes flying in Boston, this is just the beginning.

The snow will pick up an intensity overnight and start to maximize that strong part of the storm through the middle part of the day tomorrow and again, we're talking about the potential of some historic numbers here, Don.

LEMON: Boy, Derek, thank you, I guess. Thanks, Derek Van Dam. But that 75 million people, that's a lot of folks. All right we'll check back in with Derek as needed.

So, I want to turn now to our other top headlines tonight with CNN's senior political analyst Kirsten Powers and Mark McKinnon, he is the former advisor to George W. Bush and John McCain and the executive producer of The Circus.

Good evening to both of you. Let's see if you can top that 75 million people in the path of a bomb cyclone. I know you guys are the bomb, but that's a big storm.

Good evening, Mark. Let's talk about Republicans signed up to serve as fake electors hit with subpoenas today knowingly or not, they were all part of the Trump team plot to overturn the election. So even if a few cooperate, what could that mean for the select committee's investigation, sir?

MARK MCKINNON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not a lawyer so I don't understand the potential legal ramifications, Don. But just as a guy who, you know, is a shallow media guy, it occurs to me, this seems to be a significant development and a shift because this is an intentional plan to obfuscate and to -- and to forge documents to suggest that somebody was elected to overturn a free and fair election.

That to me, that suggests a much deeper plot to subvert democracy and violate the law, clearly.

LEMON: Yes. Kirsten, we're also learning that the select committee subpoena Trump's deputy press secretary Judd Deere, saying that he has firsthand knowledge of Trump's behavior before and during the deadly insurrection. How valuable do you think his testimony could be?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it would be incredibly valuable because it could shed more light on what Donald Trump was thinking and doing on the day before January 6th because he was repeatedly -- reportedly saying things that were pretty problematic in terms of what are you going to do about the rhinos, they said the Republicans a name only.

He was saying this in a staff meeting in the White House the day before January 6th. So that certainly would suggest that Donald Trump was in on this and was pretty aware of what was going on and can't really claim to not have known, you know, to not have been pushing people to try to overthrow an election when he's saying things like that on January 5th. So, yes, I think it would be very, very meaningful. LEMON: Yes. Mark, I want to turn now to the current president.

President Biden getting some good news this week. He'll be able to nominate a Supreme Court justice, make good on a campaign promise and COVID numbers are dropping in the country. Will the president be able to seize this moment?

MCKINNON: Listen, this is a significant development, I think, Don. It's the Supreme Court justice nomination opportunity, it provides an opportunity for Biden to change the narrative.

[23:10:00]

I mean, this is a story that is going to be in the news and dominate the news for months to come at the very least. And so, at the same time, you have COVID dropping, economic news very good and emerging and being recognized by

people especially with the COVID surge dropping.

And what strikes me about all that, Don, is that arguably before this week, you would say that Biden was at the lowest point in his presidency, hard to imagine it getting much worse, not that it couldn't but even if bad things happen, his approval rating won't get much lower in the disappointment from sort of a broad sector of the electorate couldn't be much worse.

And yet, at that point, a Politico Morning Consul poll that came out before the Supreme Court nomination suggests that Donald -- that Joe Biden, if the election were 2024 right now, Joe Biden would not only beat Donald Trump, he'd beat Ron DeSantis, he'd beat every other Republican except for generic Republican.

And unfortunately, for Republicans, generic Republicans will not be on the ballot so it's pretty amazing to me. You know, I think -- I think part of it is just, people say well, he's not FDR but the reality is that people elected Joe Biden to not be Donald Trump and that's the bottom line.

LEMON: Yes.

MCKINNON: He's not.

LEMON: Well, doesn't that just say to you, I mean, Donald Trump has to be, you know, stewing over this. Just how much people hate Donald Trump. I've been saying -- look, I've been saying that people sort of like the Trump-ism, the things that go along with it. Right? Maybe the judges and all that but they don't like him. So, this talks about, well, he'll just shoe in for 2024, I'm not so sure about that. Go on.

POWERS: No. His people like him, I think.

LEMON: Yes.

MCKINNON: I don't think that outside of that, that core group of people. But I also think that these numbers with Joe Biden of course, you know, were many, many years out from when he would run for office so that they're not meaningful but also, they're not putting up against another person and it's not just Donald Trump. It's also Ron DeSantis. It's when it's in a head-to-head matchup, that's when it matters.

When it's just, how am I feeling right now, it's really what people are talking about is I'm exhausted from COVID. If I'm a parent, I'm ripping my hair out.

LEMON: Right.

POWERS: I want to go back to normal. I just -- that's really what those numbers are about. And so, it doesn't -- it tells us nothing about where people are going to be in three years.

LEMON: Don't you think, though, that, you know, it's still easy to blame the media but when Trump's numbers were low, it was framed as but he has that core, 38 percent that's just rabid about him and his numbers were, you know, pretty close to what Joe Biden's are, and there's a different narrative in the media about Joe Biden's numbers and I think that you summed it up perfectly there, Kirsten.

There are a lot of different factors that go in into those numbers but we never frame it as Joe Biden has a solid 38 percent of the country, maybe because he -- maybe because he doesn't. I don't know. Mark. I'll give you a quick last word here.

MCKINNON: Well, the quick last word would be that it's clear from the data that the problem for Republicans is they still have Donald Trump on the windshield. They need to put him in the rearview mirror. When they pull against Trump or DeSantis, the problem is that all of them are generally reflecting to Donald Trump or worse they were going to the right of Donald Trump like DeSantis is, criticizing Trump on his vaccines and for being too tough on shutting down the economy during his presidency. So that's the problem for Republicans.

LEMON: Yes. DeSantis better look out. It's not going to fun for him if he gets in the way. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

I want to turn now to CNN senior political analyst Mr. Ron Brownstein, also the senior editor at The Atlantic.

Hello, sir.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello.

LEMON: We have been talking a lot about how Republican governors are trying to restrict teaching history, teaching on history, shutting down uncomfortable topics on public schools, they are banning books on the Holocaust and slavery.

And you have this piece in The Atlantic that argues that this is all related to voter suppression and you write in part, I'm going to quote here. "The two-pronged fight captures how aggressively Republicans are moving to entrench their current advantages in red states, even as many areas grow significantly more racially and culturally diverse. Voting laws are intended to reconfigure the composition of today's electorate. The teaching bans aim to shape the attitudes of tomorrows."

So, the goal here is to indoctrinate the next generation to control what they understand about history?

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Look, you know, to the extent that these issues have been debated publicly, the argument usually is well, we don't want anybody to feel uncomfortable or guilty about hearing about the nation's racial history, the history of racial inequity and discrimination, which implicitly and sometimes explicitly is about the feeling of white kids.

What you don't hear is that equally important is what these bans and restrictions which are exploding across red states mean for the increasing number of public-school students who are kids of color.

[23:15:06]

And whether they are going to get as civil rights advocates are increasingly focus on a full understanding of the history to which they have been born and the circumstances in which they are living and the systemic factors that explain many of the inequities that many of them are living through every day.

So, it's not only defending white kids, it's also about changing, I think, the narrative and the understanding of the country of not only because -- and it is happening precisely at the moment. I think we talked about this. I mean, this is all erupting at the moment when we are living through an historic transition in younger generations.

A 2020 census for the first time ever, a majority of the under 18 population are kids of color. Fifty percent of public-school kids nationwide now are kids of color. And the class that enters this fall, September 2022 will be the last ever when a majority of high school graduates are white kids.

So, this is not happening in a vacuum and I think it is happening at a very particular moment for a very particular reason.

LEMON: And that is scary to a lot of people, to people who have had been in the majority and basically shape the country in their image.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Right. And it's the same root -- look, you know, I've said to you that I look at these voter restrictions that are being imposed particularly in states like Florida and Georgia and Texas and Arizona as stacking sandbags against a rising tide of demographic change.

This is, I think many civil rights advocates increasingly are viewing this as the companion piece to that as you quoted. One, you know, the voting restrictions are about changing the composition of the electorate today.

The restrictions on teaching a full and accurate history of America's history of racial inequity and also gender issues, I mean, which are also LGBTQ issues which are now being covered in this is about changing the auto cons for tomorrow. And what's really striking is how much this is intensifying. I mean,

nine states, red states last year passed laws, four more had the state board of education restrict what can be taught. Now the people I talked to at Pan America, the free speech group who follow this say there have been 71 different bills introduced just since the legislative session began and they are broadening.

I mean, you are seeing states like Florida propose to take the Texas abortion scheme and apply it to school districts and basically say parents can sue a school district if they think the lessons are too divisive. And Glenn Youngkin kind of in echo of the loyalty oaths of the '50s, you know, setting up a, quote, "tip line" and encouraging parents to call in and report out teachers who they think are being decisive.

So, this is an escalating offensive. The Biden administration really hasn't said much about it. The only proposals in Congress that deal with it are from Republicans who want to support it. We haven't seen much from Democrats and even civil rights groups for understandable reasons have been more focused on the voting rights restrictions than this.

And really, the question is, is this going to be imposed in roughly half the states before anybody really takes notice?

LEMON: Yes, I think you're right. That's what is going to happen. Ron Brownstein, thank you. We'll keep reporting on it. Thank you, Ron Brownstein. I appreciate that.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: So many moving parts to the plot to overturn the election. The insurrection was the most visible but what about the fake elector's scheme? How high did it go? And will there be criminal charges.

[23:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: CNN learning exclusive -- exclusively tonight that the House January 6th committee has subpoenaed the former White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere. The committee says Deere help formulate the White House response as the insurrection was raging. It comes as they are also subpoenaing 14 individuals involved in the fake elector scheme.

So, joining me now is CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. Andrew, thank you for joining us. Let discuss this now.

The committee saying that they want to speak to Deere about January 5th. There was a meeting in the Oval Office where according to them, Trump repeatedly asked and I quote here, "what are your ideas for getting the rhinos to do the right thing tomorrow? How do we convince Congress?" What do you think the committee wants to ask him? ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Deere is the

proverbial fly on the wall. Deere was in the room, he's maybe a participant in these conversations but if not, at least a witness to what was said, what the president said, what his advisors responded with.

You know, Don, when you're investigating an organized crime group and they conduct their business in, let's say a social club in Brooklyn, you don't absolutely need a member of the organized crime group. It's OK to have the bartender or the coat check person, whoever is in the room, sees and hears what's going on can be very good witnesses, and that's Judd Deere here.

LEMON: Then we have the new subpoenas to the key players in the fake elector's scheme. This one is just unbelievable to me.

MCCABE: Yes.

LEMON: At first, this looked like a bizarre side show with the, you know, a sweaty press conference and stunts. But this is looking a lot more serious now.

MCCABE: I thought the same thing, Don. You know, it looked like this kind of crack pot theory but now when you look deeper, there are so many layers of people involved. You've got Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis who really seem to be driving this thing. You have the electors in each of the seven states. You have other Trump administration affiliated people in mouth pieces who are out there on television promoting it. You have lawyers writing memos to the president about it.

[23:25:00]

So, it's multi layered, many people involved in what appears to be a conspiracy to overthrow the election in the form of this nonsensical fake elector's thing. It's really fascinating.

LEMON: Yes. We got all the players like Rudy Giuliani you mentioned, right, but could they be trying to tie this to Trump?

MCCABE: Absolutely. Absolutely. These people aren't doing all of this stuff just for their own benefit, right? They're at some point the theory would be that it has to come back to the president himself. Now, whether or not they'll ever be able to prove that is a very big question and that remains to be seen but that seems to be the direction that the committee is pushing.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Andrew McCabe. I appreciate that.

MCCABE: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Outrage from the right over President Biden's plan to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court and the smear campaigns have already begun.

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The White House confirming tonight that South Carolina U.S. district court judge J. Michelle Childs is one of multiple individuals under consideration for the Supreme Court nomination.

Congressman Jim Clyburn has been pushing for Childs since President Biden announced he'll select a Black woman. But that promise is outraging many on the right. Here is what they've been saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, HOST, FOX NEWS: But to exclude certain candidates based solely on race and gender is beyond extremely divisive. It may even be illegal.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Biden didn't mention the Supreme Court nominee's legal qualifications or judicial philosophy or ability to perform one of the most important jobs in the country. He didn't even tell us she's a nice person. All he said was she's going to be black and she's going to be female because to him, that's all that matters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, none of that is true. He said a highly qualified person and character and all of that -- and all of that and they forget as we reported here on this program last night, there were other Republican presidents who said that they were going to choose women, as well, and an Italian American partly based on his ethnicity.

So, joining me now Kali Holloway, she is a columnist for The Daily Beast and The Nation and has been writing about this very important topic. Kali, thank you for joining us.

I mean, we see this indignation, this is headline from your column, your piece in the Daily Beast. It says white men can't wait to get mad about a Black woman Supreme Court justice. Why are these guys so outraged?

KALI HOLLOWAY, COLUMNIST, THE DAILY BEAST & THE NATION: I don't -- I mean, they're suddenly this sudden interest that they have in making sure there is no gender or racial bias, right, and we didn't ever hear that expressed before despite the fact we had a Supreme Court that for 232 years did not have a Black woman on it.

So, you know, I'm always a little surprised or almost amused when I see this sudden concern when someone is mentioned as a potential candidate and they happen to be non-white or in other cases, potentially not male. You know, there's these questions about their talent and their qualifications that we don't see expressed at any other point. It only comes up when we start talking about folks who don't look like the people who proceeded them for centuries.

LEMON: I want you to watch this. This is Senator Josh Hawley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I sure uphold the Constitution and I'm going to ask whomever Joe Biden sends up to the committee, I'm going to see if they're a pro-Constitution judge, actually believe in the Constitution and willing to follow it. That ought to be the litmus test. Not race, not religion, not gender, not anything else but are you willing to follow the Constitution of the United States?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. Whatever. Why would a Black woman with experience and extraordinary qualifications not follow the Constitution?

HOLLOWAY: Right. I think what -- you know, these people are sort of telling on themselves, right? What would make you assume that a Black woman wouldn't be the most qualified candidate to begin with? I mean, we know that a Black woman who is at the point in her career which is being considered for a SCOTUS seat she is obviously going to be talented. She will have navigated essentially kind of a mine field of racism and sexism and getting to the position that she's in.

So, I don't understand these questions. I think that what we're really seeing is people who are just they're uncomfortable with the idea of a Black woman being placed on the court. They're uncomfortable with change. We've seen this kind of push back before and it's just disguised racism and misogyny.

LEMON: When, kali, when people argues Supreme Court nominees used to be judged solely based on qualifications or character, as you point out. They're ignoring what used to be the top of the checklist, and that was being a white male.

HOLLOWAY: Right, it's historical mythologizing. Right? It's this re- writing of history where we had this colorblind selection process when really the first hurdle, so to speak, that you had to cross was to be white and male.

There was a period when for roughly 180 years until Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the court, you -- it would have been unthinkable for a non-white person or a woman of any race to be appointed to the court.

So, this idea that in the past we judge people on their merits and that race wasn't part of it, now suddenly there are identity politics that dictate what positions people are in. We've always had identity politics in this country.

That's actually been a really important center piece of how a lot of politics have worked. It's just in the past, those identities that we were OK with were white and male and that shift is what so many people are uncomfortable with.

[23:35:05]

LEMON: What they're saying when they say that is that the qualifications are to be white and male. Those are the most -- (CROSSTALK)

HOLLOWAY: And that those are the only --

LEMON: Right.

HOLLOWAY: -- those are the most important qualifications --

LEMON: Yes.

HOLLOWAY: -- and that's the only way to ensure that you will have competency.

LEMON: Yes.

HOLLOWAY: We see someone like (Inaudible) Shapiro writing that we were basically guaranteed to get a lesser Black woman as a candidate. And what that tells me is he does not think there is a Black woman candidate out there who is capable of doing the job.

So, it's about -- it is for all that these people are complaining about, identity politics for race and gender and it being the center piece, they are the ones who are most concerned about the race and gender of the candidate.

LEMON: Yes. Well, Republicans have ended that term identity politics because they practice it, and especially Trumpism it is the biggest form of identity politics.

Thank you, Kali. I appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much.

HOLLOWAY: Thank you so much for having me.

LEMON: Virginia's governor under fire for pushing a teacher snitch line where parents can report behavior, they find divisive. Now his critics are pointing out his own children attend private schools that promote anti-racism.

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The new Republican governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin facing backlash from parents and lawmakers after he created a tip line to report mask mandates or divisive subjects in the classroom.

CNN's Eva McKend has the latest on Virginia's parental rights fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GLENN YOUNGKIN (R-VA): We will remove politics from the classroom and refocus on essentials.

(APPLAUSE)

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER (voice over): Virginia's Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin starting the job focusing on a key promise.

YOUNGKIN: We're going to embrace our parents, not ignore them.

MCKEND: Youngkin made what he called parent's rights, a corner stone of his bid for governor. Issuing several executive orders his first day in office. Including one banning critical race theory from being part of the public-school curriculum despite not being included in Virginia's standards of learning.

YOUNGKIN: I will ban critical race theory.

MCKEND: The 74th governor announced a tip line this week for parents to e-mail reports of so-called divisive concepts if they are taught in the classroom.

YOUNGKIN: It gives us a great insight into what's happening at the school level and that gives us further, further ability to make sure that we're rooting it out.

MCKEND: Democratic delegate Marcus Simon slamming Youngkin's policy.

MARCUS SIMON (D), VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES: It does sound like the kind of thing that authoritarian regimes around the world do. It's ironic that the party of freedom is really trying to restrict the kind of ideas that can be taught in Virginia's classrooms.

MCKEND: Critics have pointed to the fact that he sent his children to private schools in Washington D.C., St. Albans and National Cathedral where anti-racism education was adopted as part of the strategic plan. According to Cathedral's web site Youngkin served on the governing board from 2016 to 2019.

Youngkin's spokeswomen, McCaulay Porter telling CNN, Youngkin stepped off the board after 2019 and that both schools changed a lot over the years. St. Albans, for instance text books like critical race theory and the introduction on their diversity, equity and inclusion resource page.

And Ibram X. Kendi's how to be an anti-racist as part of a training session for teachers. Suparna Dutta who appeared for Youngkin in this campaign video supports the tip line and pulled her son out of Fairfax schools last year in objection to how the impact of racism was being discussed.

SUPARNA DUTTA, FAIRFAX COUNTY MOTHER: Immigrants value education a lot and parents, you know, spend money to feed, cloth, and educate their children and if they don't get the services they want or they need, they should be able to complain and air their grievances.

MCKEND: What was your reaction when you heard about this tip line?

DOMINIQUE CHATTERS, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY MOTHER: Immediately, my first thought was it's divisive.

MCKEND: Dominique Chatters has four children in Chesterfield County public schools. She fears this reporting mechanism will lead to teachers watering down lessons about slavery out of fear.

CHATTERS: It's an intimidation tactic absolutely. I think that it will give them pause. Especially our newer teachers just starting out, not knowing how to navigate the classroom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: This tip e-mail address is drawing considerable attention around the country, with people decrying it is essentially a tell-on a teacher tip line, the governor's office views this as a standard way to get feedback.

The tip e-mail is getting clogged with spam and memes. There is also concern this all could lead educators who are already drained from the pandemic heading for the exits. Don?

LEMON: Eva, thank you so much. I appreciate that.

You see it in videos across the country. Black drivers enduring racism on the road during routine traffic stop. CNN's investigation into just how dangerous those stops can be, next.

[23:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Philando Castile, Daunte Wright, Walter Scott. Just some of the names of men, men now know all across the country killed during traffic stops. And they're not alone. Black drivers are twice as likely as white drivers to be pulled over and they are four times as likely as white drivers to be searched. That's according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study.

Now CNN's Sara Sidner has been investigating these traffic stops and how dangerous they can be. Here is some of her reporting. This is the case of Stephanie Bottom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE BOTTOM, ATLANTA RESIDENT: The two of them grabbed my hair and threw me on the ground.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: By your hair?

BOTTOM: Both my arms and my hair.

SIDNER: At this point, the officers are trying to get Bottoms' wrists handcuffed together.

[23:49:58]

BOTTOM: They were twisting and twisting and twisting. And then, pop.

SIDNER: She would learn later that her rotator cuff was torn, and her shoulder dislocated.

BOTTOM: Terrible, terrible pain.

UNKNOWN: Ma'am, you are under arrest.

BOTTOM: Why, what'd I do wrong?

SIDNER: What Bottom had done wrong was drive about 10 miles over the speed limit and failed to stop for the blue lights. For that, she was injured.

UNKNOWN: I will stand you up. OK? Sit over there.

BOTTOM: It hurts.

SIDNER: Searched.

UNKNOWN: Lean up against your car.

SIDNER: And nearly arrested. But she did not go to jail. She went to the hospital, instead, after paramedics arrived and determined she had a dislocated shoulder.

SCOTT HOLMES, SUPERVISING ATTORNEY, NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY CIVIL LITIGATION CLINIC: If you were sentenced for a failure to heed blue lights, the punishment is a fine, not getting yanked out of the car by your hair and thrown to the ground and having your shoulder dislocated.

SIDNER: Scott Holmes is the supervising attorney of North Carolina's Central University's Civil Litigation Clinic and one of Bottoms' attorneys. He later discovered Bottom was charged in the incident.

HOLMES: She was charged with speeding 10 over and failure to heed blue lights and resisting an officer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Wow, Sara, that was really hard to watch. Is Stephanie Bottom demanding anything from police after this?

SIDNER: You have heard this before. Justice is the word that she used. And she is now suing the police. She is suing the police department there in North Carolina and the sheriff's department who had a deputy involved in that.

And we did reach out to the police. We reached out to the officers. Their attorneys did not have any comment. The police department didn't want to comment because there is pending litigation but the sheriff's department, while it didn't say much, it said it did stand by the actions of its deputy.

But in this case, you know, we should mention that Stephanie Bottom loved going on road trips by herself. She's that grandma. She is a person who really enjoyed it, and what she says happened is that she had her music on really loud as she was bopping to the music, she wasn't paying attention and didn't hear the sirens and see the lights until when she did, she thought that's not for me. And so, the way that this goes down, is disturbing to watch. However,

the police side of this is she was speeding, she didn't heed the sirens, she didn't heed the blue heights and oftentimes, when officers see that kind of reaction, they think that they are up to something, that there's something nefarious going on, that there is something potentially dangerous going on.

And so, you saw this heightened response from them. But Stephanie Bottom says once they discovered who she was, and what -- didn't ever ask her what she was doing. She just felt like she got yanked out of the car. She didn't understand. She was confused. She says the treatment of herself and -- and many other folks, she believes, had something to do with her skin color, not just some of the things that she did wrong, Don.

LEMON: Well, let's talk about that because, look, I mean, still, you should treat people with dignity or, you know, at least as human beings when you are pulling them over but what do the numbers tell us about whether racial profiling is prevalent where she was pulled over?

SIDNER: They tell us that what you see in that area of North Carolina, and across the state is that, generally speaking, Black drivers are pulled over twice as often as white drivers. But here is the number that I think really surprised me, and that is that they are searched about four times as often as white drivers. And why is that?

Because when the researchers looked at this from UNC Chapel Hill. When they looked at 20 million traffic stops in North Carolina, what they found was that when those searches occurred and they looked at the searches of black and white drivers because they have the data from the state and the police departments themselves. It is required by law in North Carolina since 2000.

They said, the numbers actually show that when they search black folks who are, by the way, searched almost four times as much as white, they got less contraband. They were getting more from white folks and only about a quarter of the people who were searched did they come up with contraband. Which means three-quarters of the people they searched did not.

And so, you can see how that relationship -- when it is overwhelming number of black folks being searched -- you see how that relationship between Black drivers and police can go south real fast because people have gotten used to and feel like they are being profiled.

So, there are a lot of things going on here that create this really tense relationship between those two groups.

[23:55:02]

And for the police side, they are always very concerned -- and for good reason -- about the proliferation of guns and the number of guns in the streets and we have seen some of that play out in the last week or so. Don.

LEMON: Sara, it's fascinating. Thank you, Sara Sidner. I appreciate that. For more on Sara's investigation, make sure you tune in, it's on Sunday night 9 o'clock. Tune in for her special report, CNN special report traffic stop, dangerous encounters.

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

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