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CNN Tonight

Polls: Gen X Leaning Towards GOP Heading Into Midterms; Radio Hosts Talk About What Voters Are Telling Them; Lawyers For George Floyd's Daughter Draft Cease-And-Desist Letter To Kanye West; Trump Scheduled To Sit For A Deposition In E, Jean Carroll's Defamation Lawsuit; Study Shows Why A Good Night's Sleep Can Lead To Better Health. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired October 18, 2022 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Three weeks from tonight, they will be counting votes across the country and those votes will determine not only control of Congress but of crucial local and state offices that could, of course, shape the 2020 race. Both sides are out right now trying to fire up the bases.

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: And of course, the president, well, he is taking a different tactic. He's trying to appeal to younger voters today, specifically on abortion rights. There are these new polls that find Democrats may actually be in trouble with another group. Gen X may be leaning away from Democrats. And the question really tonight is, why?

Joining us now, CNN political commentator Paul Begala, CPAC general counsel David Safavian, and CNN political analyst Laura Barron-Lopez. You know, first of all, are we going to say what generation are we in?

CAMEROTA: Oh, yeah, definitely. I am a proud Gen Xer. I am a proud Gen Xer. We should put it up. We should define it, because I think at this table, we might have a baby boomer, two Gen Xers, a millennial, and unknown.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Gen Xer.

CAMEROTA: Gen X. Three Gen Xers. I did not know if you are Gen Z or Gen X.

BEGALA: Thank you. Thank you for the complement.

COATES: I was born in the 1980s, in July, so I'm like Gen X adjacent.

[23:05:00]

CAMEROTA: I think your count -- you are born in 1980?

COATES: (INAUDIBLE) July. (CROSSTALK)

COATES: Months away from what it would -- Okay.

BEGALA: We round up.

COATES: We round up? Never mind. I'm Gen X. No offense.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: So, Paul, what's going on with Gen X? Is this new that they are leaning towards -- basically, they are -- their choice for Congress is significantly more republican than any of those other age demos?

BEGALA: Right. We could say it is (INAUDIBLE) for Democrats. What happens for a lot of people, not everybody, you identify with the party whose president you came of age under. So, I am at the end of the baby boom, but I don't remember Woodstock or really even Vietnam. I don't culturally identify with baby boomers.

So, the first election I voted in was Reagan against Carter. I was at the University of Texas. Reagan carried my campus overwhelmingly, right? I was in the minority. I voted for Carter. So, those folks I grew up with who are Gen X, they are still -- they identify with Reagan, they are still Republicans.

Young people today, they came of age, positive identification with Barack Obama and then the most amazing negative identification ever seeing with Donald Trump. This happened also with Nixon, the baby boomers, right? They hated Nixon, loved JFK. they became democrats, stayed their whole life. So, some of it is that.

You identify either positively or negatively, or in the case of Obama and Trump, both, which is why young people are the most wonderfully, solid group of age demographics for the Democrats.

COATES: Well, and yet, President Biden is trying to make sure that he is trying to entice younger voters by talking about the guarantees he as president and the Democrats, if they retain the House majority and the Senate majority, will do to codify reproductive rights. I wonder if it's persuasive, politically speaking. Is that the coveted demographic and is his approach persuasive?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, after President Obama showed that young voters actually vote, that they turn out and vote, Democrats have been trying to get young voters to continually turn out in big numbers.

I mean, in 2018, we saw them break records for their age groups, millennials. And then also in 2020, again, millennials, Gen Zers with Gen Xers actually turned out in greater numbers than anyone over the age of, I think, 55 to 60. So, young voters vote.

The question a lot of times for millennials and Gen Zers is whether or not they're motivated to vote for Democrats. So, that is why you've seen President Biden -- his numbers when they were so bad, I mean, they are not that great now, but when they really dipped down last year, his approval rating, a lot of that also had to do with the fact that Democrats weren't enthusiastic about President Biden.

They -- and young voters where his numbers have been high with them in 2020, exiting 2020, they went down, and it is because a lot of them are not seeing what they thought he was going to do accomplish.

So, with student debt, with abortion, with Roe being overturned, I think we've seen those numbers start to tick back up and young voters have also been registering in greater numbers in the cycle than they did in 2018.

COATES: David, you are general counsel for CPAC. Obviously, you know quite well the conservative base and what it takes to entice and the thoughts around it. What is the strategy in play? Obviously, it's a coveted demographic. Younger voters (INAUDIBLE). Talk about what is the approach in that category. Is that why you are seeing more push towards younger voters and Gen Xers are more conservative? Where is it?

DAVID SAFAVIAN, GENERAL COUNSEL, CPAC: Look, Gen Xers are -- I think Paul has got a fair point that everybody imprints on the first presidential race they participate in, right? But, at the same time, Gen Xers are kind of uniquely positioned because they are approaching retirement age, at least I am, you guys are far younger than I am, but approaching retirement age.

Our 401(k) have taken a nosedive. Home values are dropping, right? So, they're starting to feel great unease about what is coming up. We had $30 trillion in debt. That all impacts social security. All these things come and are undermining kind of confidence in the Gen Xers.

CAMEROTA: Are you saying that, in other words, they have not always been a conservative cohort? They don't get any more conservative?

SAFAVIAN: I think they are getting more conservative. As we see, all these things add together in a weird way. I kind of feel bad for the White House because they can't get a break.

If they try to appeal to the Gen Xers or if they try to appeal to young people with student loans, the student loan buyout, they are going to upset the Gen Xers, all of whom have paid their student loans by now. If they don't appeal to the young people, if they don't do the student loans, the activists go crazy. So, they can't win either way.

BEGALA: The divides are much more -- they're much more pronounced on race, gender, education, region. There are terrible divides all across the country. The good news is that the worst of them has not aged.

[23:09:57]

There really is a terrible divide, particularly on race and on education, particularly among white people. If you are a white person, went to college -- golly, when I was a kid, if your name was on your collar, on your shirt, you are a Democrat. If your initials were engraved on your lapel, you're Republican.

Now it switched. All the college educated white people are in my party. All the high school educated people are in his party. So, those divides actually trouble me a lot more than the generational divides.

COATES: I wonder if a part of it is, when you talk about generations, there's obviously a nostalgia component where people have a very skewed perception of what America is and what it looks like, and kind of have the -- you got to recognize the country still, what I anticipated if I was imprinted in the way you're talking about.

Is part of this conversation a skewed rose-colored glasses nostalgia for older voters, what you hope the country will be, hence the phrase, make America great again, followed by those who say, make America what it ought to be for generations?

BARRON-LOPEZ: I think it definitely plays a role because when you look at all the studies and all the polls of millennials and Gen Zers, you go down the issues and on every issue.

Even though millennials and Gen Zers are more likely to say that they are not affiliated with a certain party or they're more likely to affiliate as an independent, on all the issues, they skew more towards Democrats on climate change, on LGBTQ rights, on abortion, on racial justice, you go down the list, and they tend to vote much more democratic.

I think that is because on a lot of these issues, you pick out climate change, it's something that they feel absolutely strongly about in a way that I think some of the older generations don't.

COATES: How about crime?

SAFAVIAN: So, crime is one of those issues that cuts across generational lines, right? If you don't feel safe, you're going to vote for change. And I think that is the real problem that we have across the board.

We can talk about the drivers of crime, but there is no disputing that crime has spiked in major cities and in rural areas. That is driving people to feel less safe. And if you feel less safe, you're going to go to the polls and make a change in the election. That is what we are seeing up and down.

What I would say is, you know, we see at CPAC, these are the activists, we are seeing a resurgence in young people. I'd never seen so many young people come to a CPAC.

CAMEROTA: Is that right?

SAFAVIAN: They're coming -- they're motivated by (INAUDIBLE). There is a substantial and growing pro-life cohort within Gen Z that were raised on Pope John Paul, raised on pro-life messages from the church, and they are coming out in force. Are these dominant as I think --

CAMEROTA: They're not the majority.

SAFAVIAN: They are not the majority.

CAMEROTA: Right.

SAFAVIAN: But they are a lot more vocal than I expected, and we're seeing that across the board.

CAMEROTA: While we are on this political discussion, I just want to also clarify something that I said earlier. I had the wrong information. In fact, that bill that was proposed by Senator Lindsey Graham about an abortion ban that Senator Marco Rubio, I think. cosponsored, it does allow for exceptions, for rape and incest and the life of the mother. I apologize for that confusion.

Stick around --

COATES: Just to clarify.

CAMEROTA: Yeah. Stick around, everybody. We have a lot more to talk about. Tell us what you think. Tweet us at @alisyncamerota and @thelauracoates. We will read some of your thoughts later this hour.

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[23:15:00]

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COATES: With so many polls and so many debates, it is easy to get lost in the details about what is going on ahead of the midterms. Let us get a view from people in the air, the people who are on the air.

Joining me now, our fellow radio hosts Bill Press and Mark Davis. They are here to tell us what voters are telling them. And I'm really excited to hear both of your perspectives because, you know, we talk about what the nation is thinking, you hear about the polls, and then it's not until you really have the conversations on air when you get people to really weigh in and tell you what they are thinking about.

So, gentlemen, tell me -- I'll start with you, Bill, here. You know, when people are fired up about a topic, when they are hearing about a particular debate or aspect of our politics, what are the things that they are really fired up about and calling you about?

BILL PRESS, PODCAST HOST: Well, first of all, I find that people are really excited about these midterms, which I think is great. I mean, look at the turnout so far, right? Over 2.6 million people have voted already. Georgia, they had a record turnout on the first day that they've ever had from first day in the midterms, which I think is great.

I mean, I'm old-fashioned. I think the more people that vote, the better for everybody. So, I think that's very exciting.

The people that I talked to -- surprise, surprise -- are mainly on the left of the political equation. What I find people particularly excited about are a couple of issues. I would call them maybe the sleeper issues in this midterm.

One is abortion, the Roe v. Wade decision. There are more women than men. There are more women who vote than men. I think a lot of women are not telling the posters that they do not like being treated as second class citizens. They don't want cops or the government in their bedroom or their doctor's office. They are going to vote on that issue.

And the other issue is, which I don't think we are talking enough about, democracy. There are two polls out this week that showed 71% of Americans believe that democracy itself is on the line in these midterms.

[23:19:55]

And I think that is going to have an impact, where people are worried about the basic principle of democracy, which is the people decide and the candidates accept the decision and move on.

COATES: Mark, you are nodding along. What are people calling you about?

MARK DAVIS, TALK SHOW HOST: I've got about an 80-20 conservative liberal split. And on the 20% of colors from the left that I get, I can completely corroborate everything Bill just said. Interesting thing about that democracy in peril question, that is a towering number.

I think if you gather 100 people who are concerned about democracy, half of them are concerned because Trump and his supporters exist, and the other half is concerned because they think there is going to be cheating. So, it can be a kind of a different concerns for the reasons that the people are worried about democracy. Abortion rights, absolutely. The left is on fire about it.

The conservative concerns that I hear, though, this is what makes me feel really good about three weeks from tonight, are inflation, the economy, crime, things that everybody is concerned about, whereas abortion and climate, that tend to be more of an exclusively liberal concern. The republican talking points these days seem to be about things that have broader appeal.

COATES: When you think about these issues -- go ahead. I want to hear your take on this, Bill. But I also wonder, you know, the phrase that all politics being local, you know, we talk about -- I often ask the question to people.

Look, if you are early voting, if you are allowed to vote across this nation in any state you want, which of course we know is not the case, but the states they're most interested in, you find there's a bit of a trend because people are looking at these more local races, but they are seeing parallels more broadly, more nationally.

They are seeing either blueprints for what is happening and they want that to be the case in their own state, or they are repulsed by what they are saying and hoping it won't exist there. But when you think about the idea of local politics in the national stage, are your callers and those in radio thinking about a disconnect between really how the national media is getting it?

PRESS: That's such a complicated question, Laura. First, I just want to just point out, I think to a certain extent, Republicans are raising -- they want to talk about crime even though there is no crime wave. They want to talk about inflation even though inflation is kind of leveled off. They want to talk about the economy even though the economy is doing pretty well, thank you, in the middle of a war and getting out of COVID.

They do not want to talk about abortion. They keep trying to change the subject. That is why you see people like Blake Masters, like Herschel Walker backing off of this issue because they know it's such an important issue.

But to your question, look, I think I agree with Tip O'Neill. I think politics, most politics is local. In these midterms where there is no president on the ballot, I think most people will look at their member of Congress or their senator and see what is that person going to do for them and their state?

Having said that, I still think Donald Trump in this midterm, even though he's not on the ballot, is a huge factor because of the people he has endorsed, the rallies he had given, and to a certain extent, it is still a referendum on Donald Trump.

COATES: Mark, I will give you the last word here. What do you think of that?

DAVIS: I think Bill has some really strong points there. I think that -- first of all, as a conservative, I will talk about abortion all day and my gratitude for having Roe v. Wade (INAUDIBLE) properly to the states, and I think a lot of Republicans are going to show up with gratitude for that.

I will throw in with Bill and Tip at the same time about politics being local, which is interesting because these big national issues of inflation and crime and education, there are very national but also very local. The inflation and crime crises, and they are both crises, are not only happening nationally, but they're happening right outside of everybody else's home. I feel good about our chances.

COATES: Well, Bill Press, Mark Davis, Tip O'Neill, thank you to all of you for joining the show today. Wonderful to hear all three of you tonight.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVIS: Thank you.

PRESS: Thanks, Laura.

COATES: Nice to see you. Come back. We like to hear all your perspectives here.

Alisyn, you know, it is so important to think about. I mean, you know, it's one thing to talk about these issues and we hear polls (INAUDIBLE), right?

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

COATES: Then you get down to what are people really talking about in the kitchen table --

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

COATES: -- the water coolers, in their cars. What are they really thinking about? I think radio gives you that moment.

CAMEROTA: Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know it so well because you're on the radio every day and those guys have their fingers on the pulse of what people are really thinking.

COATES: Yeah.

CAMEROTA: I also want to give a shout out to Mark Davis there for being so surest on Twitter. When one person really on earth tried to criticize us, he was like -- he was like put up your dukes. He defended us.

COATES: Because people have this impression, Alisyn, that you can only talk to people who they think are like-minded to who they perceive you to be.

CAMEROTA: And reality jumps (ph) on to you. Who knows? I mean, how do they know what we are thinking?

COATES: You know what? Can we just have a conversation with people? I'm glad everybody is here to talk about these issues. It's important.

CAMEROTA: We have more of that ahead. So, coming up, George Floyd's family wants Kanye West to stop talking about him.

[23:25:02]

We will tell you what they're doing legally.

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CAMEROTA: Just hours from now, former President Donald Trump is scheduled to sit for a deposition. This is in E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit. She is a former magazine columnist who accuses Donald Trump of raping her in a department store in the mid-1990s. Trump has denied those allegations.

Let us bring back Paul Begala, David Safavian, and Laura Barron-Lopez. They are all back with us. So, Laura, this is very interesting because I interviewed E. Jean about this.

[23:30:01] She remembers it vividly. Donald Trump has denied it. And he did more than denying, the rape. He also disparaged her in the process. He also said that he had no idea who she was. She has pictures of herself with him.

And so, it is interesting that a judge is forcing him to sit for this deposition because he had tried to get out of it by saying, I said these comments when I was president, so he had some sort of cover, but I guess he doesn't.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, right, and he also, you know, clearly been trying to delay the potential of this deposition. What is interesting here, though, and E. Jean Carroll could very well amend her statement in this defamation case, is that Trump repeated his denial recently on Truth Social.

So, he just repeated it again while he is not president, saying, I did not do this, you know, attacking her again. And so, the fact that he did that publicly while he does not have this so-called protection, which she says that he had when he was president to say this, now, you know, the legal understanding, as far as I know it, is that she could very well amend her statement and now include this in it and it could potentially weaken his case.

CAMEROTA: What do you think, Laura?

COATES: People often hear this case and say, wait a second, if somebody denies a crime, that they have committed a crime, that's defamation automatically? No. Her statement is actually more nuanced, right?

It's the idea of suggesting that he didn't just deny it, it's that you tried to disparage my reputation in the process. You talked about me in terms and terminology that was supposed to lower my reputation in the community, the standards people have for defamation cases.

What is interesting about this is, remember, defamation and obviously the idea of deposition is about getting information. They want to hear from him, not just get documents from him. And you can imagine the pandora's box. If you are his attorneys thinking, you actually want him to talk and how can I control this, the deposition.

On the other hand, it might be, as you are talking about, the way to get the renewed information of this. It is a way to now open the pandora's box into what else he might say in other instances. He has got so many investigations. I wonder if he will be tightlipped.

BARRON-LOPEZ: He could plead --

BEGALA: That will be a first.

BARRON-LOPEZ: He could end up pleading the Fifth again, correct?

COATES: It's a civil case. In some respect, you don't have that same luxury where you can use it against you in a court of law. You have that bad inference. But still, the point is -- (CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: He is talking on Truth Social, and he has been talking about this. I think he wants to talk about it.

BEGALA: He did take Fifth in the New York State civil lawsuit the attorney general filed against him. They were 140 times. The guy who said, only mafia guys take the Fifth -- he took -- several years before that, 2007, he sued the journalist Tim O'Brien. O'Brien wrote a book in which he claimed that Trump was not worth anything like the amount of money he claims. That's the core of Donald Trump, right?

So, he sues O'Brien. O'Brien opposes him. As O'Brien has written, he claims that Trump admitted under oath to 30 different specific lies. Because he's under oath, he got to say, well, I was lying about that, lying about that. So, O'Brien has written that up. O'Brien, by the way, won the lawsuit and Trump lost.

So, he's got a terrible history in depositions. Seriously, as a lawyer, not a real one like Laura, but went to the greatest law school in America, University of Texas, he needs to be really, really careful and really tightlipped. It's just not his nature. He is never careful and he is never tightlipped.

COATES: And yet, if he doesn't, then what? That's part of the emboldening. You mentioned 2007. I'm not saying he is without consequence. But to date --

CAMEROTA: That's a good point, though. What will happen if he talks about this and the deposition?

SAFAVIAN: Well, let's take a step back here because there is a real fundamental problem that I think no one has touched on. That is, as we talk about in an earlier block, this campaign is going to be all about two things if you are the Democrats. They want to make it about abortion. They want to make it about Trump.

Lo and behold, a judge two weeks or three weeks right before the election, plops in a development where they are going to force the president to testify.

CAMEROTA: This has been going on for a couple of years.

SAFAVIAN: That is exactly my point, Alisyn. That is exactly my point. It has been going on a couple years. Three weeks more to get us passed the election wouldn't have hurt --

BEGALA: He's not on the ballot and he's not President Trump, he is Donald, ex-president rejected by the American people out of office. He is not above the law. He held accountable for his conduct.

SAFAVIAN: I'm not saying that anybody gets a pass. Everybody gets their day in court.

BEGALA: He could have agreed --

SAFAVIAN: This is a timing issue, especially when --

BEGALA: It's Trump's fault.

SAFAVIAN: -- because every single campaign wants to try to tie Republican ex Donald Trump.

BEGALA: But that is very easy. They could disavow him.

SAFAVIAN: You know better than that.

BEGALA: Right. So, let him pay the political --

COATES: I think David's point is that perception is king. And if there are already ongoing talking points about how it appears for those who are susceptible to that logic, that this is just another way to try to get at him and try to hold him accountable, and the timing is bad.

[23:35:01]

Is that your point?

SAFAVIAN: Look, as I said, everybody deserves a day in court. I am not taking that away from Jean Carroll. What I am saying, though, is that this all of the sudden out of the blue deposition comes in at a point in time that there is hope, I doubt that it will be effective, but there is hope that tying every Republican candidate to Donald Trump is going to hurt every Republican candidate. And so, it's more than a coincidence.

COATES: But it's not really out of the blue is the point here, David, right?

SAFAVIAN: Well, did anybody expect it? Let's be candid. We just got the news story tonight and decided to talk about it. This was a surprise in terms of its time.

BEGALA: She filed a lawsuit some time ago. You interviewed her months ago. I think years ago.

SAFAVIAN: Timing of the deposition is --

BEGALA: Five minutes after -- okay, 20 days from midterms, okay? So, he's immune because he's not even on the ballot. Give me a break. But five minutes after the midterm, he's going to announce for president. Why? Because he doesn't want to be held accountable in a court of law. So, we can't touch him. Baloney. He needs to be held accountable. And if he is innocent, which he may be, testify, open up, show your evidence and testify honestly.

COATES: You don't see it that way?

SAFAVIAN: I see that -- I think where Paul is trying to go is justice delayed is justice denied, and I understand that argument. But I also understand that 22 days from now does not change the justice denied aspect of things. What it does do is it keeps politics or keeps this from poisoning the --

CAMEROTA: Okay. Let's quickly talk about Kanye West because apparently, we can't go tonight without doing this. Kanye -- so, George Floyd's daughter, we all remember her on the shoulder of her uncle and saying, you know, in her grief, talking about her father --

COATES: Change the world.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, my father is going to change the world, which was (INAUDIBLE). So, the mother of that child is now suing Kanye West because Kanye West went on a podcast and said that George Floyd died of an opioid overdose. But we all watched with our own eyes about how he was killed. And so, they want him to stop talking, and they are going to file a cease-and-desist about this. What do you think, Laura?

COATES: I mean, it's curious in one respect because we did see those multiple minutes of seeing -- we had officers who are convicted and serving time for having done so and having it unequivocally proven to the jurors of Minnesota.

CAMEROTA: And medical examiner confirmed how he died.

COATES: It was the knee to the neck in a prone position by an officer who said they were just (INAUDIBLE) but did not. But the other is, we do have -- normally, in defamation cases, it is the action of the living. It is an action of those who are presently alive who were able to say listen, your statements are defamatory. I will be curious to see how this is written in such a way to make it viable in this instance.

But it is really atrocious to think about the way in which there is a constant chatter, you know, chatter by this particular artist, Kanye West, diving into areas where the facts are otherwise, antisemitism on the one hand, now the death of George Floyd.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Yeah, where he has no expertise or hasn't -- even though he clearly has at his disposal the ability to educate himself has not. Yes, he said that it was a fentanyl overdose.

The medical examiner explicitly ruled this a homicide and said that it was, you know, while fentanyl may have played somewhat of a contributing role, it was not the determining factor in George Floyd's death. It was a homicide and it was done because of the knee to the neck and the restriction of oxygen there.

So, yes, I mean, it is pretty frustrating, especially as reporters, when we have to constantly respond to celebrities or elected officials as well who spew lies on a consistent basis and spew hate and bigotry.

CAMEROTA: The family does not need to be re-victimized. You know, that is his daughter.

BEGALA: That is a shame. Shame on anybody who brings even a microgram of more pain to that family. I have to say double shame on the right wingers who are using Kanye and using these statements to advance themselves or promote some kind of political agenda. And by the way, ignoring antisemitism, not calling out antisemitism, to me, they're even worse.

Kanye has talked about his struggles with mental illness. I have a very wide strike zone on that. But mental illness does not make you antisemitic and it does not make you mean and cruel to a family that has suffered a murder.

But I guess I hold politicians more accountable because I'm a politician. I think that the people who are using him to advance a right-wing agenda are even more shameful perhaps than Mr. Ye, Ye himself. I'd say boo, not Ye.

SAFAVIAN: There's a third level of shame here, too. There are actually two lawsuits that are being threatened, one representing George Floyd's daughter and one representing his brother. We've got two lawyers who are cruising in two different Bentleys trying to chase an ambulance here.

[23:40:02]

CAMEROTA: Come on, do you think that he -- should cease-and-desist saying wrongs and hurtful things about George Floyd?

SAFAVIAN: I don't know when we got into the point of time when saying something wrong or stupid becomes a lawsuit. I don't get it. We see this all the time, whether it is on social media, everybody jumping on folks.

I'm not defending Kanye West's comments here. What I am saying is that there is a hair trigger on folks to file a suit over the slightest thing. And you can't tell me that in eight-year-old daughter was listening to an obscure podcast and heard this.

COATES: Let me just say this. I mean, as a lawyer, I do not think it is fair to denigrate the lawyers for the family of George Floyd or his daughter as ambulance chasers. I think they have done a great deal to promote the fact that we should have accountability when an officer is involved in the death of a human being.

I also think, though, back to the point you've raised earlier, that people have this perception time and again that there is somehow an incentive to bring cases against police departments, individual police officers because it is somehow so lucrative that it will outweigh the public service and public need. I think that it is a public service to be able to hold officers to account and I do not think --

BARRON-LOPEZ: And the data shows otherwise that it's lucrative, which is that a lot of these cases end up going nowhere when it's filed against officers, a lot of the civil cases, and that officers often don't actually have to pay the payments or cover -- almost never pay.

CAMEROTA: We have to leave it there. But Kanye can probably afford it. I'm just guessing.

BEGALA: We need shame. There is a good point about using the legal system when we have free speech rights. We used to have a social system that shamed people. His friends are not shaming him. CAMEROTA: Everybody, stay with us if you would. Up next, you need to hear this. A new study on the importance of a good night's sleep --

COATES: Oh, my God.

CAMEROTA: -- and napping. I know a lot about this. Evidence shows we are not getting enough sleep, so what is the solution? We are going to talk about it when we get back.

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[23:45:00]

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COATES: My mom is about to be totally validated because she is right all these years, as she often is. Getting a good night sleep is so important to our health, especially as some people age.

A new study shows that people aged 15 older -- I am just getting, I was not (INAUDIBLE) in particular, but a new study --

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: -- if you sleep five hours or less a night, get this, they face a 30% higher risk of developing chronic diseases as they do get older compared to people in the same age group who sleeps at least seven hours a night.

Back here with us, Paul Begala, David Safavian, and Laura Barron- Lopez. First of all, Alisyn, can I start with you because --

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

COATES: -- you, I mean --

CAMEROTA: I am a world-class sleeper. It's my superpower. Everybody will be jealous of me. I can sleep on a bed of nails. I have fallen asleep standing up. However --

COATES: She is asleep right now.

CAMEROTA: I'm not sleeping right now. But I am having an issue, and I do needs peoples help. When are we supposed to sleep on the shift?

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: This shift is throwing off a little bit of my superpower because -- I don't know if you guys know this but we're on until midnight. I don't know if anyone told you that when you agreed to do this.

COATES: Don Lemon is somewhere. He is laughing.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, he is like --

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: So, I can fall asleep when I get home, but then that is not enough sleep for when I wake up in the morning. When am I supposed to nap? I am just a little bit confused. Have you crack the code on this?

COATES: I actually wake up in the morning thinking at what point can I nap again.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

COATES: I am ready to function on that. But also, I know it's restorative, right? There must be a time where you walk the same way where you're like, I got to try to buckle down. But the news about napping too long, it can ---

CAMEROTA: How much sleep do you get, Paul Begala?

BEGALA: I probably sleeps six, seven hours a night, but I try many days, if I can, 20-minute nap, early in the afternoon. The study that you reported on, early afternoon before 3:00 p.m., 20 minutes.

CAMEROTA: I am doing it tomorrow.

BEGALA: I am telling you, it works, it's great, it's restorative.

CAMEROTA: Are you believer?

BARRON-LOPEZ: I am a believer in naps, especially as I've gotten older. I am the youngest. I'm pretty positive. I am the only millennial.

CAMEROTA: Okay, moving on. David, what's your thoughts?

BARRON-LOPEZ: Yes, I nap, not every day, but especially on days when I get six hours or less. Around 2:00 p.m. or 1:30 p.m., it really starts hitting me, and I have to do at least 30 minutes of napping. If I nap for an hour or more, then that messes me up. It takes a long time to recover.

BEGALA: You can't fall asleep? Golf channel. I don't know who watches golf. It's the most boring thing I have ever seen in my life.

COATES: David, I watch it.

SAFAVIAN: The older I get, the less sleep I get. I sleep five hours a night now. I did not think I was in the nap category. The older I get, the more prone up I am. All the millennials that work for me, they better be there working 18 hours.

(LAUGHTER)

[23:49:56]

And now that I had heard Begala is taking this 20-minute naps, I will go back and watch that "Seinfeld" where George sleeps under his desk.

COATES: Oh, yes.

SAFAVIAN: I'm (INAUDIBLE) the desk as soon as I'm back to sleep.

CAMEROTA: You all have given us a lot of good advice here. Thank you very much. It's time for you to sound off. We will read your tweets, next.

COATES: Let's sleep.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: All right, time for you all to sound off. Let's see what the viewers are saying tonight. The first one is about James Corden. He made a mistake. I'm not condoning his behavior. However, we are all flawed. Speak for yourself.

COATES: The next one comes in. She is not flawed, apparently.

[23:54:53]

The next one comes in and says, as a professional, my curly nappy hair is part of the package. Except me as I am. Old rule taught by my grandma and I won't compromise who I am for any amount of money.

CAMEROTA: All right, next, this is Laura. We are --

COATES: Oh, it's to me.

CAMEROTA: Oh, it's to you.

COATES: Here we go.

CAMEROTA: Laura, we are considered Xennials.

COATES: I like that.

CAMEROTA: You take it?

COATES: I'll take it.

CAMEROTA: You like that better than Gen X.

COATES: In my mind, it is like I am Gen X adjacent.

CAMEROTA: I like that.

COATES: Yeah, all right, sure. You know where to find us, everyone, @thelauracoates and @alisyncamerota. Everyone is like, no, Laura, you are Gen X, it is fine. I'm accepting it. Thank you for watching, everyone. We appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: Our coverage continues. See you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening.