Return to Transcripts main page

Erin Burnett Outfront

Two Dead, Two Injured In Nevada Shooting; U.S. Strip Searches Indian Diplomat; The Real "Do Nothing" Congress?; Who is Larry Klayman?

Aired December 17, 2013 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Next, an Indian diplomat arrested in New York, and India fights back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we have taken a tough stand. We do protect our foreign service officers and any other Indian that is unfairly treated outside.

LEMON: Plus, who was the man behind the lawsuit that slammed the NSA spying program?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our goal here is to pry open this veneer of secrecy.

LEMON: And the mega millions jackpot passes $600 million.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Winning the mega millions is akin to getting struck by lightning at the same time you're being eaten by a shark.

LEMON: But hey, you never know, right?

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'm Don Lemon in tonight for Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, out of Reno, Nevada. Several people have been injured in a shooting at the Renown Medical Center in Reno. It happened just over an hour ago. Here's what police say. They say a gunman is dead from a self- inflicted gunshot wound.

We want to go now to CNN's Joe Johns has more on the story. Joe, I understand the details are still coming in. What can you tell us at this moment?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Don, that's very true. Authorities say a gunman who walked into Renown Medical Center in Reno, Nevada and started shooting is dead himself at this hour. Authorities said the shooter's injury was self-inflicted. It happened apparently in the Neurology Office on the third floor.

The preliminary reports indicated that three other people had been injured, but there's some confusion surrounding that. So far their conditions are not available. It is an active shooter situation. It sounds like it was apparently over very quickly as these things usually are with the shooter opening fire on the floor. Then turning the gun on himself.

Police have said they did not engage the suspect with gunfire. The question here, of course, is motivation. Whether that gunman was a patient, we just don't know the answers to any of those. A lockdown was ordered on the hospital campus and we're still waiting for word on whether that has been lifted.

LEMON: OK, Joe, you're reporting now, we see it on the bottom of the screen. Two dead, two injured in the shooting. What about the condition of the victims, those who are still alive.

JOHNS: No clue. No clue at all on the conditions of the victims. There was an initial report that there were two dead including the shooter and then police who gave us that initial report actually pulled it back and said there was only one person dead. So still confusion there. Still wanting to know more facts ask waiting for the police to give as you briefing which we believe going to happen at the bottom of the hour.

LEMON: All right, Joe Johns, stand by. We're going to need you if you get more information. Thank you, Joe. Appreciate that. We'll get back to you.

We're also following a developing story that is causing a firestorm both here in the U.S. and in India. The Indian government is calling U.S. barbaric and they're removing security barriers outside the U.S. embassy in New Delhi. It is in response to the treatment of an Indian diplomat who was arrested and strip searched in New York on Thursday.

Prosecutors say the Indian diplomat was charged with visa fraud after submitting false documents to obtain work visa for her housekeeper. CNN's Mallika Kapur in Mumbai and Mallika, angry reaction there, why has this created such an intense response?

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're right. It really has created such an intense response and people here say it is humiliating that an Indian and a diplomat could be treated so poorly in the United States and the reaction has been unprecedented. As you mentioned the government is calling the treatment as barbaric. If you talk to anybody over here who has been following the story they say it is shameful, that it's insulting.

Is India reacting? Yes. India is certainly reacting. We've had top political leaders in New Delhi refuse to meet members of a U.S. delegation that is visiting currently. We've also seen in New Delhi, we've seen the government remove security from outside the U.S. embassy earlier today. We saw them remove the large concrete slabs outside the gates of the U.S. embassy.

And we've also seen the government strip away the diplomatic I.D.s given to U.S. diplomats in India, which really restricts the diplomatic privileges that these diplomats enjoy in India. And still, some parliamentarians say that is not enough they want more. LEMON: Yes. Well, Mallika, I'm sure officials there understand that this diplomat is accused of breaking the law here, accused of a crime and there are certain procedures that happened here in the United States. The officials are here saying that they reviewed protocol. They'll continue to do it, but they're saying it appears that everything for this arrest happened above board. Is there that understanding there in India or no?

KAPUR: To be honest, no, not really. Over here the feeling is that she is a diplomat. She should be treated, you know, with dignity and people really aren't paying attention to whether this was above board or not. People are taking the matter very seriously. When you hear of a diplomat being strip searched, being handcuffed in public, you know, she was dropping her daughter to school. That is not playing out very well here at all.

And I think one of the reasons why it is playing out so strongly over here is that remember, we are just a couple of months away from national elections here in India. So all the leaders of the political parties are going to take this very seriously and nobody can appear to be soft and nobody can appear to be unpatriotic. And I think that's one of the reasons you are going on see a lot of rhetoric around this story over the next couple of days.

LEMON: So I understand that she was arrested on $250,000 bail. I mean, she was released, I should say, and has pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan courtroom. Has anyone at least there in India heard from her family or from her?

KAPUR: Her father has been speaking out. He is based here in in Mumbai. He is saying that what happened to her, the treatment handled to her was unjustified. That she is not a criminal. She has done nothing wrong. And the way she was treated is absolutely unjust. So her father has been speaking out over here. We have not heard from her directly but her family has been speaking out. And they say what has happened is simply wrong.

LEMON: Mallika Kapur, thank you, in Mumbai. We appreciate you joining us. I want to bring in now Susan Candiotti who is here in the United States to talk to us about what U.S. authorities are telling her. What do you know, Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're getting a much different picture from U.S. authorities here. A lot of things to keep in mind, first of all, the diplomat when she was arrested according to the U.S. Marshal Service and the diplomatic security agents that picked her up. They followed all the procedures they say they normally do and actually went above and beyond the call in some circumstances.

For example there is a complaint that she was strip searched and that she was placed in a cell with drug addicts. Well, the procedures for U.S. Marshal Service when someone is put into custody is that in fact every person that is brought in to a facility is in fact strip searched.

According to authorities for the protection of the people who work there as well as other defendants and other suspects with whom these people are placed. Whether she was placed in a cell with quote/unquote "drug addicts," we got no response. She was placed in a cell with other female defendants.

In terms of how she was arrested, authorities, a law enforcement source tells me in fact she was not arrested in front of her child after she was dropped off at an elementary school. She was picked up near the school after the child was dropped off and was not put in handcuffs as is normally the case. In fact she wasn't placed into handled cuffs until my sources tell me, until she arrived at the courthouse and that's unusual - Don.

LEMON: Susan Candiotti on top of the story, thank you very much. This is still developing, a U.S. diplomat arrested here from India arrested in the United States causing quite an international stir. We'll stay on top of it.

Still to come, it looks like Congress will finally pass a budget so have they shed their do nothing label?

Plus a girl goes to the hospital for routine tonsil surgery. Now she is on life support. What the family is fighting the hospital to do.

And the latest from the Arapahoe High School shooting investigation, the gunman had a phrase written on his arm that tells the entire story here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight, Congress is getting closer to actually passing a budget. Yet this congressional session is still on track to be one of the least productive in history. Our chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, breaks it down for us. So Dana, just how unproductive where our elected official this year?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, when you judge it by the bills that actually became law. Those that went to the president's desk and he signed them into law, it is pretty bad. Look at what the numbers are and you can really see it in a stark way, 57 bills signed into law this year. Now we do have another session. Another year left of the 113th Congress.

But even so if you look at it compared to the past three years, it won't come close to the 284, for example, in the last Congress. So it is very, very low if you judge the productivity by the number. I going to tell you though, Don, as you well know. There are a number of members of Congress, mostly Republicans who would say that they should not be judged by the number of bills passed into law because they believe that it is just as productive to stop bad bills from becoming law. And that has been some of the dynamic and what is marked this congressional session so far.

LEMON: So Dana, you know, Congress on its way to passing a budget, but there are only three working days left in this year. What are the big items left undone?

BASH: Well, there are so many. First and foremost, you know, Don, the main job of Congress is to fund the government and what they are supposed to do is pass 12 individual spending bills in order to do that. Guess how many they've passed that has gone to the president's desk? Zero. None of them has passed. That's number one. They'll have to wrap it into one.

The farm bill which is incredibly important and this has been language wishing for a year. There was a bipartisan deal in the Senate. It is still in negotiations. But this has to do with not only setting foreign policy for agriculture across the country but it has other very important issues in there.

For example, setting milk prices, which affects every single American, that is still out there. Immigration reform, which of course, started this year with the high hopes in the Senate, passed the Senate and it is languishing in the House. And then unemployment benefits, which is a Democratic priority. It is not been done this area, but the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid going to file to take that up the very first thing when they get back in January.

LEMON: Dana Bash, I guess, a very Merry Christmas to everyone. Thank you, Dana. Appreciate it.

LEMON: You know, it is supposed to be a routine tonsillectomy. Now a 13-year-old girl is brain dead in an Oakland Hospital. Jahi McMath had her tonsils removed on December 9th. Less than 24 hours later, she experienced serious complications that led to cardiac arrest. Tonight, she is being kept alive by a ventilator and her family is fighting to keep her on life support. CNN's Stephanie Elam has the story now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a simple operation that was supposed to improve her quality of life. Instead, Jahi McMath lay brain dead just hours after surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have any tears no more because I'm angry.

ELAM: The 13-year-old was admitted to Oakland's Children's Hospital on December 9th for a tonsillectomy, which doctors prescribed to correct her sleep apnea. Jahi was alert after the surgery her family says, but then went into cardiac arrest after being moved to the intensive care unit. The medical team work to revive her. Blood had filled her lungs and stomach.

NAILAH WINKFIELD, MOTHER OF JAHI MCMATH: Nobody called the doctor until it was too late. That's the problem. My daughter drowned in her own blood.

ELAM: The next day, a CT scan showed that two-thirds of Jahi's brain was swollen. By Friday, further testing by the hospital confirmed Jahi was medically dead. Her death was reported to the Oakland Coroner's Office, which was scheduled to take the girl's body today. But the family, who wants to keep Jahi on life support, handed the hospital a cease and desist order. Jahi's mother, Nailah Winkfield, wants more time for her child to show signs of brain activity.

WINKFIELD: And I went in there and cried to this man and said just check her brain one more time. Do you have children? He said yes. Well then you should know how it feels.

ELAM: As for the hospital, the chief of pediatrics gave CNN this statement. "We can say whenever we see a medical or surgical complication, we are reviewing her case very closely. Our hearts go out to her family, and we want to support them during this extremely difficult time."

WINKFIELD: Just give her some time. It has only been through a week. She's been through a lot. She's had a heart attack and everything. Thank you, children's hospital for ruining my child's life and my life. And I feel like they owe her. They owe her another chance.

ELAM: A chance for a miracle.

WINKFIELD: I feel her. I can feel my daughter. I feel like maybe she is trapped inside her own body, and she wants to scream out and tell me something. That's why every time I go in there, I let her know I will not let them take you to the coroner's office, Jahi. I won't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And as far as the coroner is concerned, time is of the essence, Don. They say the longer it takes for them to recover the body and to see what went wrong inside her body, the body will heal itself while it is on the ventilator, and it will cover up the traces of what may have gone wrong during that surgery, Don.

LEMON: And millions of people go in for this surgery every year and nothing goes wrong. Unbelievable. Stephanie, keep us updated. Thank you very much for that.

Still OUTFRONT tonight, 59 tracks by The Beatles are published for the first time. But why now?

Meanwhile, target says it will not sell Beyonce's album.

And later, why did Bill Bye the Science Guy change his mind about whether you should play the lotto?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight's Money and Power: from Beyonce to The Beatles. Using the Internet to keep fans guessing. A treasure trove of 59 Beatles recordings released on iTunes today, many of which had been boot legged over the years but had never seen an official release. That's just a few days after the surprise release of a visual album from Beyonce, which sold over 800,000 copies in just three days. An iTunes record, by the way. Christopher John Farley is the Speakeasy editor with The Wall Street Journal and the author of the upcoming novel "Game World." I like that. "Game World." I like that Speakeasy editor. I like that title.

So Chris, let's start with The Beatles, shall we? These recordings have been around for 50 years. What is the strategy behind releasing these now?

CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY, SPEAKEASY EDITOR, WALL STREET JOURNAL: They're releasing these recordings for a very different reason than Beyonce had for releasing her album. The European Union has new copyright laws on the books, and you can extend the copyright you have over a recording for 70 years. But the one catch is that recording has to be published. So various music company and entities are rushing out some of the stuff they have in the vault just to get it out there, whether a small release or a big release so they can say yes. Now that work is copy right protected.

So if you want to perform it or sing it or do something with it, you have to pay us. That's the reason why we're suddenly seeing these Beatles recordings suddenly come out. And there's some really interesting stuff on this release. Some stuff by John Lennon that John Lennon wrote that no one has really heard before unless you're some sort of super intense collector with all sorts of - like, contacts.

LEMON: Yes. You know, I want to say Beyonce's album - hesitant to call it album. Can we still say that in this day and age?

FARLEY: I think we can call it an album. She is calling it a visual album. So, I think people are trying to come up with a fancy name to describe what people used to call an album. I mean, it's an album with some videos attached. Michael Jackson did the same thing. It hasn't really changed that much.

LEMON: Yes, because it's not vinyl. An album is really vinyl, but I guess she has reinvented what had an album means on iTunes and all of that. But it broke a ton of records. Target stores say they don't plan to sell it. They said in a statement, here's what they said: "While there are many aspects that contribute to our approach and we have appreciated partnering with Beyonce in the past, we are primary focused on offering CDs that will be available in a physical format at the same time as other formats."

Is this a wise move on their part?

FARLEY: Well, here's the thing. You have a big face-off here between the virtual and the real. Target knows that iTunes is getting all the attention for this Beyonce album, and you can only get it right now on iTunes. It is not available in the physical world. All the people are walking to Target saying where's my Beyonce album, and they can't buy it?

Target obviously cannot let that happen, so they're sending a signal with this announcement that for future artists, if you want to do deals with iTunes, maybe they won't carry your album also. I mean, they're really putting a big target on Beyonce. And when the name of the store is Target, that's obviously a very big signal.

LEMON: Yes, I was going to say every pun intended for that, right? I'm sure you meant to say that.

Listen, both of these new releases were available for purchase. But streaming sites like Spotify, Pandora also becoming hugely popular. Is it too early to tell which will win out or can they co-exist?

FARLEY: Well, Beyonce is such a huge artist. She can get away with releasing an album just on iTunes and not tell people about it beforehand because she has invested years of hype and building her brand. So there's so much hype around Beyonce's very existence, she doesn't need hype really to sell an album.

Other artists might need that. For example, Norah Jones and Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day recently released an album. They released it hype-free; no one talked about beforehand. They let people know they were working on it. They just sort of dropped it out there. But we're not talking about it on CNN -- at least we weren't before I just mentioned it.

The reason is, even though they're well-known artists, they don't have the years have hype that Beyonce has to make an album work without some promotion. So, I think some artists can get away with it. Others can't. We'll to have see how it shakes out in the future to see if others begin to release things like Beyonce. I think only the top-tier, super-hyped artist will get away with what she got away with, dropping her album, Beyonce without a lot of advance promotion.

LEMON: The man with one of the coolest titles I think I've ever heard. The Speakeasy editor for The Wall Street Journal is Christopher John Farley.

Thank youm sir. Happy holidays to you.

FARLEY: Thank you. You too.

LEMON: Merry Christmas. Appreciate it.

Still to come, the NSA leaker is looking for a deal. Which country might give him asylum this time?

Plus, more from Toronto's crack smoking mayor. He is never going to live that title down. He is dancing again. Wait til you see where.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone, to the second half of OUTFRONT. Amanda Knox again stating her innocence in an Italian court. Knox, who is facing a retrial in the stabbing death of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was not in court. Instead the judge read a written statement from Knox. In it, Knox said "I must repeat to you, I'm innocent. I did not raid, I did not steal, I did not kill Meredith." She also says there was no evidence putting her at the crime scene. Knox returned to the United States after her guilty convict was overturned in 2011 and has not returned to Italy since. The White House is sending a message to Russia showing its dislike for the country's anti-gay laws. The delegation that will attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, was announced.

Two of the people chosen are openly gay athletes. Billy Jean King, the retired tennis player, and Kaitlyn, a former Olympic ice hockey player. The delegation does not include the president, first lady, or vice president. It is the first time since 2000 a president, former president, first lady or V.P. has not led a delegation.

We're learning new details about the Arapahoe High School shooting. According to the Arapahoe County sheriff, the 18-year-old student Karl Pierson planned to attack at least five areas of the school. Apparently, Pierson had written, had written the five separate letters and numbers on his arm in marker. Police say those numbers correlate directly with the identification of the school's library and nearby classrooms. They also say he wrote a Latin phrase that translates to "the die has been cast."

An OUTFRONT update for you -- last month, we told you about Newtown police officer Thomas Bean. Bean was one of the first officers to respond to the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He was diagnosed with PTSD and has been unable to return to work. That led the Newtown sheriff has withdrawn to request that Bean be fired. We had learned tonight, the sheriff has withdrawn that request. CNN has not been able to reach Bean for comment.

Sigh. Rob Ford, Toronto's crack-smoking, hard-partying mayor it again. Last night, we showed you this video of Ford awkwardly dancing with the church choir. Well, today, he traded the choir members for Toronto City council members. Some brilliant person decided to kick off the meeting with some upbeat holiday music.

There he is, guys. And Rob Ford being Rob Ford, he could not help himself. I have to admit, though, given that it the holiday season -- one of the first things when I saw this video was, bowls full of jelly. He's got the spirit there. You have to give it to him. Hallelujah.

Edward Snowden tries to make a deal. The NSA leaker is offering to help Brazil investigate U.S. surveillance of Brazilian citizens. In exchange, he wants asylum.

Brazil's president canceled a planned trip to the U.S. in October over revelations based on documents obtained by Snowden that the U.S. had spied on Brazil. This comes one day after a big victory for the anti- spying contingent. A federal judge ruled that the NSA's domestic phone surveillance program is likely unconstitutional.

Now, the ruling only applies to this single suit and it is somewhat controversial suit brought in part by a pretty controversial figure, Larry Klayman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over): This isn't Larry Klayman's first legal crusade.

LARRY KLAYMAN, NSA PLAINTIFF: Our goal here is to pry open this veneer of secrecy.

LEMON: And it isn't even close to the first time he sued the U.S. government.

KLAYMAN: We are now "ruled", quote/unquote, by a president who bows down to Allah.

LEMON: Last year, he filed a lawsuit arguing that Barack Obama couldn't be president because, quote, "Neither Mr. Obama, nor the Democratic Party of Florida, nor any other group has confirmed that Mr. Obama is a natural born citizen."

Back in the '90s, Klayman filed at least 18 suits against the Clinton administration.

He's also taken on former Vice President Dick Cheney, Facebook, OPEC, even his own mother.

Brad Blakeman is a professor of Georgetown University and a former member of President George Bush's senior staff. He too has been sued by Klayman.

BRADLEY BLAKEMAN, FORMER SENIOR STAFFER FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I think Larry is a professional litigant. He's a thorn in everybody's side. He pretends he's fighting for the little guy when he is really fighting for himself and his own, in my opinion, delusions of grandeur.

LEMON: Klayman has been at it for years. He founded the conservative government watchdog group, Judicial Watch, a group -- you guessed it -- Klayman later sued. Yesterday's NSA ruling was a huge victory for Klayman. A victory applauded by leaker Edward Snowden who said, quote, "Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans' rights. It is the first of many."

But Klayman's critics are quick to point out this battle isn't over.

BLAKEMAN: He may have won a battle. He certainly has not won the war. There is a lot more to the NSA case to come in the appellate courts. This court could also reach the Supreme Court.

I don't think Larry has the ability either intellectually or legally to take this case to where it needs to go beyond the district court, my opinion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: I want to bring in Larry Klayman now, as well as CNN's senior legal analyst, Mr. Jeffrey Toobin.

Larry, to you first. You just heard one of your former adversaries.

KLAYMAN: Don, well --

LEMON: He said you won the battle, not the war. He doesn't think you have the legal or the legal ability to take this fight to the finish.

Your response.

KLAYMAN: Well, I would say to be one is to know one. Brad Blakeman, I had to sue him because he used the Freedom Watch as trademark. I asked him to stop. I brought a lawsuit. His associated with Sheldon Adelson, whom I'm sure you don't like, who run the Venetian empire in Las Vegas and he has an axe to grind, Don.

I think it's important to note that you're a big supporter of Obama, that you have favored him in every respect. You have to try to do a hit piece to diminish a very important decision.

LEMON: Are you talking about me personally?

KLAYMAN: I'm talking about you personally.

LEMON: You can continue on, but none of that is true. But go on.

KLAYMAN: Well, it is true, Don. I've watched you for many years. You're an ultra leftist and you're a big supporter of Obama.

And the reality is, let's talk about the NSA. Let's not talk about Larry Klayman. This victory is for the American people. It wasn't for me.

And you, somebody from the left. And I've gotten more compliments from the left in the last few days than even from the right, should appreciate that you don't have a police state in this country that's going to be able to intimidate Americans, to chill their free speech rights, their associational rights. The NSA has data on all of us, metadata, which deals with our personal lives. It's clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

But rather than talking about that you have to try to take out somebody who is challenged President Obama. And I'll stand by everything I've said and everything I've done.

LEMON: Listen. Hang on, Jeffrey. Before you jump in -- listen, I'm not here to get into an argument with you. Nothing you have said has been correct about me or the reason we're doing this story. So, you can continue to attack -- listen, will you let me finish, please?

You can continue to attack me or attack CNN or whatever you want to do, but let me just say this -- the only person who decides my political leanings, whether I'm left or right are me. The only people who know that for sure, is me.

(CROSSTALK)

KLAYMAN: You know, Don, I'm not attacking CNN. I'm not attacking CNN.

LEMON: I want you to -- let me finish. Let me finish or I'm going on cut your mic and we'll finish the conversation.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: That is for me to decide. Thank you very much.

Jeff, how far will this case go?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Let me read from this opinion. Page 39, Mr. Klayman responded, why is he bringing this suit? I think they, the NSA, are messing with me. And then went on to explain that he and his clients had received inexplicable text messages and e-mails not to mention a disk containing a spyware program. In other words, this case is based on Larry Klayman's tin foil hat paranoia about the NSA being after him.

He had some fantasy that the NSA was after him. This case is not about Larry Klayman. It is about the metadata program that affects everybody. But the idea that Larry Klayman is the representative is simply outrageous, because he is a professional litigant and lunatic who should not be a representative of the very important issues of this case.

LEMON: Go ahead, Larry.

KLAYMAN: I'm surprised to hear you say that. Because that is not what the case was structured on. Why don't you read the opinion and see what the judge said rather than spending your time with me.

You and I had differences during the Clinton administration.

TOOBIN: We certainly did.

KLAYMAN: Like Don is a big advocate of Obama. You were a big advocate of Sydney Blumenthal, who did everything he could to destroy conservatives in the White House.

LEMON: Jeffrey, it's funny. Let's let him go.

KLAYMAN: Real funny, Jeffrey. It's not about me, Jeffrey. And the fact that you want to try to do a hit on me shows me that you're not a serious person. And frankly, should not be doing legal commentary for CNN.

TOOBIN: I think there are very serious issues here. The idea that you are the representative is really very unfortunate, because there are important issues and they are not obvious in their resolution. But your paranoia and fantasies about the NSA being after you are unworthy of this important case.

KLAYMAN: I think you should read the complaint. Rather than shooting your mouth off.

TOOBIN: We're just reading the opinion.

KLAYMAN: Obviously, the judge didn't agree with you, Jeffrey. Read what he said. And you can find it at FreedomWatchUSA.org. This is a disgrace. Both of your conduct are a disgrace.

LEMON: Oh, my gosh. You are -- are you OK?

KLAYMAN: No. Are you OK?

LEMON: Yes, this is not about me. Come on. You made this about you. It is not about you.

KLAYMAN: You invited me here, Don.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: It's not about you. It's not about the complaint. I'm not good to go argue with you. Thank you.

Can we get him off, please? Can we please remove him from the screen? Please remove him from the screen.

KLAYMAN: Right. You're a charter member of the ACLU. You believe in free speech, right?

LEMON: Can we please remove him from the screen, producers?

Jeffrey, Jeffrey, are you there? Continue on. What do you make of this?

TOOBIN: I think this case is, it is certainly going to be appealed to the D.C. circuit. It probably will be appealed to the United States Supreme Court and it's a hard case. I disagree with the judge in this case, Richard Leon.

But it is clearly a very respectable position that he holds. A lot of people agree with him. A lot of people are very troubled by it. It reflects technology that's very different from the previous Supreme Court rulings on the subject.

I don't know how this is ultimately going to come out. It is certainly a feather in the cap of Edward Snowden and of Glenn Greenwald who brought this case forward, who exposed the documents. I don't agree with them either. But fair is fair. This is a huge win for them.

And I think these issues are going to be debated at a very high level for quite some time.

LEMON: All right. To show you we're going to be the bigger person, bigger people here, we'll give you the last word, sir. Go ahead.

KLAYMAN: Last word is you're not the bigger people. Don't kid anybody. Let anybody watch this and see that CNN removes you from the screen when it doesn't like what you think.

And you know what? You're not CNN, Don.

And, Toobin, you're not CNN.

CNN is a reputable organization but you have not acted in a respectful way, and, in fact, disgraceful. You're more like Martin Bashir.

LEMON: Yes, appreciate it. Thank you. Merry Christmas to you.

KLAYMAN: That's reality. Live with it. Merry Christmas to you.

LEMON: Thank you.

Still to come here tonight on CNN, more than a half billion dollars is up for grabs in tonight's mega millions. Why your odds of winning just went down.

And a pay-per-view event will feature a man fighting a woman for the first time. Should it be allowed? Champion boxer Mikaela Meyer joins us with her take.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Christmas may come early this year for a lucky winner. More than a half billion dollars in price money, up for grabs in tonight's mega millions drawing. But some say the jackpot now standing at $636 million may soar to $1 billion if no winner surface. One problem? It is getting even harder to win.

Bill Nye the Science Guy has all the odds.

Thanks, Bill. Good to see you. Like the jacket, by the way.

Listen, the lottery changed its rules in October and increased the pool of number you have to choose from. Before October, you had one in 176 million chance of winning. How much harder is it now to win?

BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY: If you're going on lose either way, whether it is 176 million or 259 million. I'm not trying -- look, here's the problem with the lottery. I used to think it was OK.

But a lottery is a tax on people who don't understand math. And in general, the reason they don't understand math is because we as educators have not made it clear what it means to have one in 259 million chance.

Imagine, Don, imagine a gun. A revolver with 258,999,999 bullets in it. There's only one chamber that's empty.

LEMON: Right.

NYE: Would you hold that weapon to your head for a buck? No. You will almost certainly lose.

LEMON: But lottery is not life or death for a lot of people. I mean, I guess it is if you don't make that much money.

NYE: Well, not just that. It's -- what happens, the kind of people that play the lottery are the kind of people in general, and don't want to get too far afield here, in general who can't afford it.

And this is affecting, I know it is popular. And everybody holds on to this dream of winning.

But in general, you will lose. There's much better chance that you'll become president of the United States. A much better chance you'll be hit by lightning twice in the same day. A much better chance you'll have quintuplets multiple times in your life.

No, the odds against you are extraordinary. You'll almost certainly lose.

LEMON: Bill Nye --

NYE: Whether it's 176 or 259, carry on, Don.

LEMON: I'm going on start calling you Bill Nye the downer guy. I'm going to call you Debbie Downer.

NYE: Well, just think of all the money I haven't lost on the lottery.

LEMON: Basically, you're telling people, don't play the lottery. You don't believe in it.

NYE: I mean, if you're somebody who is into it and you really want to challenge, take on other people, you can play blackjack, you can play poker and have extraordinary much -- how to say, much, much, much, much, much better odds than playing the lottery but there's an appeal. Hey, maybe I'll win a couple bucks. You will meet people who can ill afford it spending hundreds of dollars on the lottery. It is an unfortunate situation.

As I say, I used to think it was a benign situation. I have come to look at it differently.

LEMON: You're such a killjoy. I'm crying in my tea. You're such a killjoy.

Hey, merry Christmas to you. Thank you, Bill Nye.

NYE: No, but it's joyful to know you can hold on to your money and spend on it gifts for your loved ones and enrich your holiday experience.

LEMON: Being a billionaire would be a lot more joyful, Bill Nye. Thank you.

Now, let's check in with CNN's Anderson Cooper with a look at what's coming up tonight on "AC360."

Hey, Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Don. Yes. We have a lot more out of Reno, Nevada, ahead on "360."

Gunfire at a hospital complex. As you've been reporting, two people dead including the shooter, the police now begin the process of trying to figure out exactly what happened and why. Also, a deadly day in Afghanistan. A Black Hawk helicopter down. Six U.S. members of the NATO-led international security assistance force are dead. Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon.

And a remarkable survivor story, also from Afghanistan, also involving a chopper crash. Marcus Luttrell, the lone SEAL to make it out alive. His story and report that first aired on "60 Minutes" about a mission that went horribly wrong. Remarkable stories of bravery tonight on "360" -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Anderson, we'll be watching. Thank you very much.

A true battle for the sexists. For the first time this week, a male professional mixed martial arts fighter is set to take on a female fighter in Brazil. But is it a fair fight?

When you compare the two, Emerson Falcao is about an inch taller than Juliana Velasquez. But they both come in at about 134 pounds. So, should these two have at it?

Olympic style boxer for USA Boxing, Mikaela Mayer joins us now.

Mikaela, welcome. You've trained with guys.

We're looking at a clip now on you in a Dr. Pepper commercial where you can be seen sparring with a guy. I love this commercial, by the way, it's one of my favorites. Is this a good idea?

MIKAELA MAYER, OLYMPIC STYLE BOXER FOR USA BOXING: I'd have to disagree completely. What you see in my commercial is me sparring with a male, which I do very often, and a lot of women athlete whose are in sports like boxing and MMA.

We do spar with men, but sparring is controlled fighting, and it's in a controlled environment. You're in the gym. You got to work on things.

Going into a fight, whether you're sparring a male or a female, going into a fight is a completely different story. So, actually competing against a male with the intent to, you know, knock the other person out, you know, I don't agree with that, no.

LEMON: You know, Juliana told MMA.com says, "I'm used to training with a man every day. I'm a professional judoka and I know the adrenaline of a competition, I know how to handle this."

But you don't agree with that. Why?

MAYER: Well, I'm not saying that she could not potentially win. She could very well going to this fight and beat this individual. But this is one circumstance, you know, if you were to make this an illegal across the board. You -- the reason you have things like weight classes and divisions, you know, you may have to have a certain amount of fights to be in certain division, these rules are there for a reason. They're there to create an equal playing field and, you know, prevent mismatches -- same thing with putting women against women and men against men. Men are built differently, and the hormone levels are completely different in men and women, when it comes to testosterone and such, and so much to ignore.

So, that takes away from making -- trying to keep that equal level of playing field. And, you know, there's going to be a lot of people who are going to be hurt. Maybe not her individually, but there will be along the -- you know, in the future.

LEMON: Let's assume, assuming that there are no special rules, right? None will be in place. What does a guy gain from this? Is this something he would want to brag about really?

MAYER: You know, honestly, I don't know how many guys would be willing to go into a professional mixed martial arts fight with a female. Sometimes I have men turn me down just for sparring because they don't feel comfortable hitting a girl, or -- you know, they don't -- I'm like no big deal, it's a sport. Some men don't feel comfortable with it.

I don't know how many guys would be willing to go in there with the intent to knock another female out, you know, it's different from sparring. So, I -- I really don't see how many could get to do that, but I don't know.

LEMON: You don't know. What's next for you? What are you doing next? I love you in the commercial, and it sort of separates and talks about number ones and it's actually, listen, I don't follow your particular sport, and that was the first time I heard of you. There are big things ahead for you.

MAYER: Thank you, thanks. Yes, it was a great opportunity for me to do that commercial, not just for me but my sport. I don't know how popular is Olympic-style boxing, it's not as mainstream as mixed martial arts right now or professional boxing. So I think it was good for the sport in general. Right now, I'm just in camp, in camp in Michigan right now and I'm training for U.S. nationals in January.

LEMON: Mikaela, thank you, good luck to you. We appreciate you joining us here on CNN.

MAYER: Thank you so much.

LEMON: Next, George Zimmerman is about to be $100,000 richer because of what he's selling on eBay.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Do you have $100,000 to spend on artwork?

Well, I might have the piece for you. This 18 x 24 inch painting of an American flag currently available on eBay, despite being painted with just household latex paint on a regular canvas, it has already received 98 bids. The current high is at $100,000. Now, you might wonder what makes it so special. Well, it's the artist behind it that has everyone so interested. The painter is George Zimmerman.

Shortly after being found not guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin, Zimmerman took up painting and it's a decision because of his celebrity or infamy is proving to be quite profitable, because even though there are all manner of strange paintings available on eBay, the Virgin Mary, grilled cheese, the cornflake shaped like Illinois, even a girl's virginity, it's usually the ones with a celebrity connection that do the best.

That's the reason why Justin Timberlake's half eaten French toast sold for $3,000. David Ortiz's beer trimmings went for $10,000 and William Shatner's kidney stone went for $25,000. People want a piece of celebrity, sometimes literally.

Even as our friends at Mediaite pointed out, the painting looks remarkably like this stock photo available through shutter stock at a lot less than $100,000. But we want to hear from you. I wonder fit was a painting by numbers.

What's the strangest thing you've ever purchased online, and would you buy a painting by George Zimmerman? Let us know on Twitter @donlemon or @OutFrontCNN.

Thanks for joining me so much.

Be sure you join me tonight at 11:00 on "THE 11TH HOUR", where we'll be discussing words that get people into a lot of trouble like the "N" word. Should you be allowed to say it? What exactly is free speech?

"AC360" starts right now.