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Laura Coates Live

Trump Goes On A.I. Meme Spree Before Midterm Convention; Trump's Push To Rewrite History Turns To Arlington National Cemetery; Clancy Jurors Speak Out; Man Arrested At Campaign Event. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired September 08, 2026 - 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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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are going to end the show with a bit of kindness. A viewer has a question, and it was this: I would love it if Dr. West would wish my husband, Trent, a happy birthday. He is our favorite on "NewsNight."

(LAUGHTER)

CORNELL WEST, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, AUTHOR, DIETRICH BONHOEFFER CHAIRMAN AT UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: I say, Brother Trent, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, happy birthday --

SIDNER: That is a Stevie Wonder version done to try to get MLK Day in place and it worked. Thank you for watching. "Laura Coates Live" right now.

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Tonight, President Trump goes on an A.I. meme spree right before he is set to host his big midterm convention, but many Republicans are quietly signaling he's focusing on the wrong thing. Plus, Trump's push to rewrite history turns to Arlington National Cemetery. The Confederate Memorial poised to go back up and the context about it that has been taken down. And jurors from the Lindsay Clancy trial speak out for the first time and reveal their thoughts about the lone holdout. That's tonight on "Laura Coates Live." My opening statement tonight, when you're in the home stretch and you're trying to win, it's supposed to be crunch time. You got to be laser-focused. I'm talking eye on the prize. So here we are with the midterms less than two months from now and control of the House and the Senate are at stake, and President Trump is about to bring the cavalry to Texas to try to save his majority in Congress.

He is headlining a two-day GOP convention that he says is going to be hot. You think that would mean he'd be focusing on one of the hottest issues Americans say they care most about, the cost of living, but instead, he spent the holiday weekend filling his social media feed with A.I. slop and internet memes, not just a little bit. And this was an avalanche. I'm talking more than a hundred posts.

He went on about wanting to rename New Mexico to New America, not once, not twice, people. I'm talking nine times. And then he turned north, taunting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and posted this image showing the stars and stripes stretched across North America. But the fight with Canada, well, that's not just memes. That trade war, it's escalating. Canada's retaliatory tariffs on American goods took effect today.

Some Republican candidates are warning Trump's tariffs will only make things more expensive in their states.

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SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: I still think imposing new tariffs on Canada is a mistake.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNKNOWN: And we've actually passed out of the House, with much of my participation and leadership, taking away the tariffs on Canada.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: I don't think it's the right thing, to pick a trade war with Canada.

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COATES: And the posts, they got weirder, like this one. The president reminding voters that his administration took a 10 percent stake in Intel, which is interesting considering how often Trump uses the socialism attack line against Democrats and members of his own party have turned to that same word for some of Trump's own policies.

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UNKNOWN: Really, it is heading in the direction of what socialism is, which would be owning all of the means of production.

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SEN. THOM TILLIS (R), NORTH CAROLINA: I don't care if it's a dollar or a billion-dollar stake in an American country. That starts feeling like a semi-state-owned enterprise, a la CCCP.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: At the end of the day --

UNKNOWN: Bingo. CRUZ: -- if we end up with the federal government having equity shares, ownership stakes in the biggest companies of America, that is socialism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Hmm. Now, I'm not going to spend time trying to explain the rest of Trump's bizarre posts, like this A.I. meme showing Trump as the Green Lantern or the dystopian image of the president with a bunch of robots and the line, they will never sleep again. But here's what doesn't need much explaining.

[23:04:58]

Trump has told voters to pretend that he's on the ballot in November. Now, he's holding a GOP midterm convention where he is at the center, which is a huge risk. Some of the biggest headwinds the GOP is facing were created by the president himself. And several Republicans who are actually on the ballot are deciding their time is better spent somewhere else.

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UNKNOWN: I am busy this week.

(LAUGHTER) (END VIDEO CLIP)

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UNKNOWN: Well, unfortunately, I have a family obligation, so I won't be able to be there.

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UNKNOWN: I had stuff already planned in my congressional district or I would be there.

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UNKNOWN: Are you going to attend that convention?

UNKNOWN: I go right back to -- my focus is on the district. I'll be in the district, traveling across the district.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you planning to go to the Republican convention next week?

UNKNOWN: I plan to be in my district.

RAJU: Are you going to the Republican convention next week?

UNKNOWN: I'm thinking about it.

RAJU: Are you going to the Republican convention next week?

UNKNOWN: I have to be in the district because I have events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: I've got a great team of political experts to start us off tonight, former Democratic congressman from New York, Joe Crowley, executive editor of the Washington Examiner, Bob Cusack, Washington bureau chief for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Tia Mitchell, and senior commercial reporter for Punchbowl News, Andrew Desiderio. Thank you all so much for being here. Someone is going to be in the district, she says, because she has events, right? So are we. Let's talk about this event. Tia, what do Republicans actually want voters to try to take away from that convention?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: So, I think it's a couple of things. A, I think there are Republicans who are on the ballot who know that people paid a lot of money to go to this convention, and they want to be in the room with the people with the money. So, that's one of the reasons to go. They're also trying to raise money that they can spend on candidates outside of the district. Some of it is just fundraising, right?

But then on messaging, which is what most people at home will be consuming, it's going to be twofold. A, it's going to be painting Democrats and their policies as wrong for America, as headed in the line towards socialism. And, of course, the other part is celebrating Donald Trump. I don't think we can downplay how much we expect Trump and his policies and his agenda to be a focus all day long, Wednesday and Thursday.

COATES: Well, that's interesting, of course, because a lot of the inflicted wounds that Republicans have complained about have come from some of his statements that have gone off message, to say the least. And, Bob, some of the party's veterans, strategists, they're worried, to say the least, about him being front and center, not just criticizing Democrats. Here's the former Bush White House adviser, Karl Rove, who, earlier today, said this.

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KARL ROVE, FORMER GEORGE W. BUSH SENIOR ADVISER: Well, I'm a little bit nervous about it because, look, we're in the final stages of the campaign. I'd be more comfortable if this had been held in June or July and set a thematic that could be pursued for four months or five months rather than for 56 days. The White House is pushing a big bet. It's like we're at the tables, they're pushing all the chips on, saying, if we make this about Donald Trump and if we make it about Donald Trump's record and put him at the center of this, then we've got a shot to pull this thing off. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: You know, what I hear is that I need time after, maybe, the cleanup, if there was an issue about what he said at the convention. I need more time after he actually speaks. I mean, is it the timeline or who's the focus?

BOB CUSACK, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, Trump is going to be the focus. And a lot of these candidates and these members, they want some of that Trump money. And if you show up, maybe you can lobby him, personally, to get some of that $400 million that he has.

COATES: But can they get to him, though? Can you do that?

CUSACK: I mean, some of them can. You know how he takes everyone's phone calls. But overall, this is a problem. And Karl Rove is saying he's a little worried. I mean, he's a lot worried. And these are not the headlines that they want, Iran, tariffs. They want to be talking about the big, beautiful bill.

The other thing the Republicans really haven't laid out because politics are about the future, what would they do? What would be H.R. 1? What would be the first bill in the House and or the Senate if they keep power? They want to talk about the big, beautiful bill. They're not talking about it because Iran is just sucking all the oxygen out. What would they do next year? We don't know. And honestly, we don't know what Democrats would do, for the most part.

COATES: Well, that's part of the issue that voters have, generally, right? They think to themselves, do you want me to show up at the polls to vote against something or for something in particular? And if it is the for something, what do you got for me?

ANDREW DESIDERIO, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Yes. Exactly. So, Democrats right now are using the midterms as an anti- Trump effort, right? They don't want to have the battles that they're about to have in 2028, about the future of their party and what their nominee should embody.

COATES: They're having a fight now, though, too, right?

DESIDERIO: Well, yes. Exactly. They don't want to be is the point, right? You saw the Michigan Senate Democratic primary between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed. You've got this issue now about, well, will Haley Stevens's voters even show up in November or will some of them even vote for Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate? And if it had been on the flip side, you would have had progressives maybe not show up for Haley Stevens. And so that is the risk that Democrats run.

And I do want to emphasize that, you know, with Republicans, talk about, you know, day one issue, what is H.R.1 going to be? The president has made clear he wants it to be the Save America Act.

[23:10:00] He is not stopping talking about that issue, right? And it is dividing the party. They're supposed to be uniting. They're supposed to be talking about, as Bob said, the big, beautiful bill. John Thune goes to the Senate floor almost every single day when they're in session, talks about how great this is, and nobody listens. And he understands why nobody listens, and it's because the president is talking about completely different things, like the things he's doing on the White House grounds and beautifying D.C.

COATES: Well, you know what? In Texas, they want them to listen to you I want to -- this has been fascinating to me, perhaps for all the wrong reasons, and that is the strategy and the tactics that are being used to get people to listen, to try to focus. And there's this fully AI-generated ad. You guys seen this with Talarico, that Paxton did. I mean, he's a Republican Senate candidate down in Texas, and he released this attack ad that recreates, I want to be careful, it recreates several past remarks from James Talarico. Watch.

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REP. JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS: In the beginning, God was non-binary, and he wasn't a Christian. And God said, let there be six genders, and there were. Then God so loved the world that he gave us his only son, who was a radical feminist and never asked people to worship him. Look, I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): James Talarico. Wrong for Texas.

TALARICO: America is not a Christian nation.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Wrong for America, too.

KEN PAXTON, TEXAS SENATORIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): I'm Ken Paxton, and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Also, I had to wait for him to approve the message. OK. But if you squint and like your turn your eye, there was supposed to be a disclaimer, A.I. was supposed to be there. That's not clear. It's very confusing. It's problematic, I think, in terms of voter transparency. But this tactic being used, I mean, if his real-life comments are so horrible, why not just play his comments, give people the context?

JOE CROWLEY, FORMER NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE: Look, there's a reason why this is happening -- this event is happening in Texas. It could have been held anywhere else.

COATES: Sure.

CROWLEY: It's in Texas. They're trying to bring enthusiasm to Paxton's election, to the governor's election as well, because they know they're in trouble in Texas. I mean, it's really hard to believe that they're actually in trouble in Texas, of all states.

And so, when you're using A.I., when you're lying about someone's record, especially in something that's so critically important to one's being in terms of their faith, that's a really low blow. And using A.I. to do that is just another example, I think, of how far this White House and the Republican Party will go to try to destroy someone's integrity.

COATES: I mean, what do you guys think about this in terms of its effect on voters? Because there's always a concern that voters are not going to be tuned in 24-7, looking at every detail of everything. And voters are smart, but some might be turning a blind eye or might not realize the extent of the deception. That's problematic. And it should not be done, but here it is on full display.

DESIDERIO: Well, you know, just a year ago, the NRSC tried to do this with some of my own reporting. When I interviewed Chuck Schumer during the long government shutdown last year, he said, every day gets better for us. It was a famous quote that he said that Republicans pounced on immediately because they said, well, what do you mean every day gets better for us? Every day the shutdown goes on, it gets worse for real Americans, right?

And the NRSC created an A.I. version of Chuck Schumer saying that quote. They actually approached us and asked if we would share the audio and, of course we said no, we're not in the business of helping any political campaign in any of this.

COATES: And they said --

DESIDERIO: And they went --

COATES: -- we don't need you. We'll get here anyway, right?

DESIDERIO: Right. They went forward with it anyway because they could, essentially, right? Because the technology allows them to and our laws allow them to.

COATES: And the risk you were concerned about, go ahead.

CROWLEY: Well, they need these tactics because their candidate is so flawed. He is such a flawed, corrupt candidate. He was impeached by his own legislature. You know, so, maybe that's become more acceptable today, that, you know, someone who was accused of the things that he was doing --

COATES: Well, I mean, obviously, impeached candidates are acceptable to some people. I mean, it worked out for some in the Oval Office, right?

CROWLEY: Especially the highest. Yes. Exactly. But I do think it's reflective of the fact that he is -- the numbers are so close that Talarico was a real threat to the majority for Republicans in the U.S. Senate.

MITCHELL: I will say, I think people at home, when they see these types of ads that are -- they're kind of obviously A.I. You know what I mean? And I think it causes a lot of people to roll their eyes. And I do think it's interesting that the theme of this ad is Talarico's Christianity when Christianity was such a big part of Paxton's rise and now is one of the big ways he gets attacked because people say he's not living up to the own values he stated in some of his controversies.

But I think when people are watching at home, the ad, at the end of the day, doesn't speak to what they want the candidates to be talking about, which is the cost of groceries and the cost of gas at the gas pump.

CROWLEY: And diesel.

[23:14:58] COATES: And, actually, I interviewed two Texas voters who were lifelong Republicans, and they're not voting Republican because of the data centers. They're mad about data centers in Texas, and they were mad also about the idea of child subsidies and what was going on there in child care and beyond. This ad doesn't get to that, but they think it's persuasive. Could it be?

CUSACK: I don't think this ad is very persuasive. I really don't. And I think you look back to 2024, and Democrats were talking about, well, listen, this election is about democracy. It wasn't about democracy. It was about affordability. And we're still talking about affordability. And the candidates who are talking about that, whether that's the Democrats in Iowa, they're doing very well in a red state, or Ohio, and they could pull some upsets. Listen, the Texas governor's race is also fairly close. That is not a definite win for Abbott.

So, this is a real problem, to what Joe said. You know, they're hoping to get some type of bounce. But remember, they're going against the NFL tomorrow and Thursday. A lot of people are going to watch the NFL.

CROWLEY: And 9-11 anniversary this week.

CUSACK: Yes.

COATES: Yes, they are. And also, what was that commercial, the Mike, Mike, Mike? You hear that whole hump-day commercial about the NFL on Wednesday? Sorry, it's not on everyone's mind. I had to watch it. You've got to hear about it.

DESIDERIO: And Texas is the ATM for wealthy Republican donors, as John Cornyn always says. That's another reason why it's important for Republicans to host this in Texas, where they can tap into that ATM. And I guarantee you, John Cornyn is going to be involved, and he's going to be tapping it to his own fundraising network, which is very vast over the 20-some years he has been in the Senate.

COATES: ATM or Texas A&M?

(LAUGHTER)

COATES: No answer. Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much. Still ahead, the administration's mission to recast history, turning its attention to Arlington National Cemetery. Well, tonight, a disclaimer about the confederacy? No longer. Malcolm Nance has a lot to say about this, and he joins me next. And later, the answer to the question so many people wanted to know. What exactly were the Lindsay Clancy jurors thinking before they deadlocked?

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UNKNOWN (voice-over): The stand-alone juror was not the only one that was unwilling to see things from the other side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[23:20:00]

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COATES: Well, the Trump administration is rolling back the clock to the Confederacy with a new memorial it is restoring at Arlington National Cemetery. A memorial to Confederate soldiers that was removed back in 2023? Well, that's going back up.

The Defense Department also took down a plaque that explained why the monument was taken down. It said the memorial -- quote -- offered a -- quote -- "nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery." Now, the memorial was taken down after recommendation by a bipartisan, congressional, mandated naming commission. But now, the memorial is set to return next year to those hallowed burial grounds.

My next guest has a lot to say about that. With me now, retired senior chief petty officer, author, and host of the "Black Man Spy" podcast on Substack, Malcolm Nance. Malcolm, it's good to see you. Why do you think the administration --

MALCOLM NANCE, AUTHOR, PODCAST HOST AT SUBSTACK, RETIRED CHIEF PETTY OFFICER AT U.S. NAVY: Good to see you, Laura.

COATES: -- is so obsessed with bringing back these Confederate monuments and artifacts, especially at military sites?

NANCE: Well, let's just be honest. This administration has a worldview in which some of those views that were embraced by the Confederacy and the post-Confederacy, particularly this monument, which was established in 1914, as they call it Reconciliation, its real name was the Confederacy Monument, and it was to honor the sacrifice of the Confederacy, which was straight-up treason.

The United States soldiers left the U.S. Armed Forces, like Robert E. Lee at West Point, as commandant of West Point, went to their respective states, took up arms against the Constitution of the United States, wrote their own Constitution in order to enshrine slavery.

Now, this administration seems to think that all of history since the Civil War, which was wrong, let's just be honest, needs to be reestablished in order to assuage the feelings of people who come from the South. That's why this monument was built, with all of its horrible images on there, and that's why it was taken down in 2023. But we're restoring the Confederacy again.

COATES: You know, especially the fact this is happening in a military site, given, obviously, the implications of the Civil War. It's mind- blowing to people, particularly there, if not for many of the other reasons you've spoken about. But history is on full display and maybe being sanitized for the reasons you have described.

And the head of the Smithsonian, he is resigning, Malcolm, after, really, there were relentless attacks from the president. Lonnie Bunch told "The New York Times" -- quote -- "I have to be honest, it's been stressful. And at a certain point, I'd like to wake up in the morning and not look at my cellphone." Now, he has tried to protect the Smithsonian from Trump's attacks and rollbacks. I wonder, like many people who frequent the museums, who know about its place in our society and why it's important, what happens to the museum now?

NANCE: Well, like many other institutions in the United States government, it's being sort of literally whitewashed. Look, history is not a matter of color. It's a question of respecting the facts as they occurred, as we interpret them using the best knowledge and intellect that we have.

[23:25:00] That is not what's happening here. We are removing knowledge and intellect away from, you know, our institutions in an effort to pursue an agenda.

The Trump administration claims that liberalism, you know, wokeism was pursuing an agenda. Well, history is naturally liberal, it's naturally woke, and it's progressive because that's what moving forward really is. He just hates those words without understanding the meaning of those words.

Arlington Cemetery was Robert E. Lee's house. When he committed treason by leaving West Point, taking southern cadets with him, taking up arms against the union, against the Constitution of the United States, he forfeited his property. Now, it is a cemetery. It started as a Union Cemetery in the Civil War.

But to go back and honor people who killed the men in that cemetery for their own treason, for what they think of as the southern lost cause, the great lost cause, which was to make money off of enslaved people, they even enshrined those images on the monument.

And let me tell you one thing about that monument. I've seen that monument. I used to live in D.C., would go to Arlington often. The depiction of the Black woman with the child for the Confederate soldier, Confederate officer, kissing the baby with another child holding its legs, here's what history is. The probability that those children are mixed-race children is exceptionally high. For every white child that they had, they had at least three mixed-race children.

The same thing with the gun bearer following behind the officer. The Confederates did not take Black gun bearers for one reason. They didn't want them to defect and go to the north. My great-great- grandfather and his brother did just that. They ran away from slavery, joined the 111th U.S. colored troops, and fought for the Constitution of the United States. They didn't join the traitors.

COATES: Imagine that, honoring those who fought for the Constitution as opposed to reconstructing ones who did not. Malcolm Nance, thank you so much.

NANCE: Yes. It is my pleasure.

COATES: Still ahead, the former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, he is leading a push to try and pressure the current mayor, Zohran Mamdani, into not attending the city's 9-11 ceremony. This as President Trump shares a very specific 9-11 story that had the fact- checkers working overtime today. And later, the Lindsay Clancy juror is speaking out about the deliberations we were all wondering about and shedding some new light about the lone holdout at the center of the mistrial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): You morally and legally cannot convict somebody for that. And that was, therefore, a violation of her constitutional rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[23:30:00]

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COATES: Just days from now, New York City will mark 25 years, 25 years since 9-11, with the annual remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero. And today, a group of politicians and family members of victims gathered to send this message to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, don't come.

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VICKIE PALADINO, COUNCIL MEMBER, NEW YORK CITY: I am demanding that he not show his face at that sacred ground. He does not belong there when you associate yourself with the likes of Hassan Piker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES WOLF, WIFE KILLED IN SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS: Even though there's going to be other politicians there, these are the politicians that helped us push beneficial laws through and literally held our hand during that time. Mayor Mamdani has not shown any of that. None of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: We should point out, much of the backlash Mamdani is receiving has been slammed as Islamophobic. He also took heat for signing a 9-11 proclamation and passing a pen to his chief legal counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who once represented a member of Al-Qaeda. But the mayor of New York City traditionally does attend the Ground Zero memorial every single year. It has always been a non-partisan event honoring the victims, honoring the first responders. And Mamdani says he has every intention of being there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: I'm proud to be the mayor of this city. I love this city. I love this country. And what I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th and a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Former Congressman Joe Crowley, he is back with me. He represented New York City in Congress during 9-11, and he introduced the 9-11 Heroes Medal of Valor Act. You know, his first cousin was a first responder who lost his life that day, FDNY Battalion Chief John Moran.

Congressman, thank you for being here. I'm sorry to learn that about your experience and your family's loss. Twenty-five years has gone by and it feels for so many of us so much more recent and raw. Do you think that the backlash that the mayor is facing, is it -- is it fair?

[23:34:58]

CROWLEY: I think that the emotions that people feel on this anniversary are very complex in many respects. And I want to be respectful of everyone in terms of their emotions. You know, this event, it didn't just affect those immediate families. It affected them the most, maybe in terms of their loss, but it affected every New Yorker, every American. It was a worldwide event of terror.

And so, I'm very empathetic towards those people who have lost their loved ones. And I pray that in some way, they find solace in this 25th anniversary as well. And again, I can maybe understand some, where they're coming from. I don't agree with everything the mayor stands for. I didn't support him. I would not have supported him had I been a voting -- member of the voting public in New York last year.

COATES: But now, he is the mayor.

CROWLEY: But he's the elected mayor of New York City. And I think that I would say that, you know, he's the duly elected mayor. And I think it's rightful that he should be there. I think if he did not go, that would be the controversy. On the other end, he ignored this commemoration. So, I think it's right that he should be there.

COATES: You know, President Trump, he spoke at an event today, and it was honoring 9-11 first responders. And he shared this story. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: United States Steel Building was creaking, really creaking. And we thought it was going to fall down. I'll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys, and I'm not the smallest guy in the world, they grabbed me under the arms and said, got to get out of here, and they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I'm big. They lifted me up, and they started running with me. I said, fellas, I can run myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: You know, our fact-checker, Daniel Dale, he says there's no evidence that Trump was in the U.S. Steel Building, that's also known as One Liberty Plaza, when people fear that it might actually collapse. And the videos show him in the neighborhood of Ground Zero, not the actual site. Have you ever heard this story from the president before?

CROWLEY: Never. I've never heard that story at all. I know that he owned a building in Lower Manhattan at the time.

COATES: Yes.

CROWLEY: I think he was concerned about that. And I don't want to become over too harshly political. I mean, people, I think, know where I stand when it comes to this president. And I'm very forgiving in terms of people's recollection. But I have never heard that he was actually physically there and removed by anyone. Next thing we might be hearing, he was on the Titanic, for all I know.

To me, it's just his need to be present at all events of significance in some way or another. And it can't just be enough that I may have watched it from my television in my office. Again, I don't know if it's true. I just never heard that story whatsoever.

COATES: Well, you know, Trump actually had a post tonight on Truth Social. He was attacking people, saying he wasn't there. "The failing New York Magazine wrote a story that I wasn't down at the World Trade Center after the tragedy of September 11th, because nobody saw me there. Well, I don't think I would be the first thing on anyone's mind but, I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of construction workers. I discussed it today during my remarks on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., for Tunnel to Towers. Everything I said was exactly accurate, and to prove the point" You can see the rest on his own Truth Social.

I mean, obviously, as you mentioned, not wanting to make it political. He is a controversial president, to say the least. People are going to scrutinize everything he says, and largely a result of the fact that he centers himself in a number of areas.

But the center issue to me today, in part, was the revelation of just how long the government in New York knew about the air quality in Manhattan. I mean, Mayor Mamdani, he released over 170,000 pages today, 130,000 pages, and it showed that city officials misled the public about air quality around Ground Zero. They show that the city officials knew the air was unsafe to breathe after 9-11 despite saying that that was not the case, congressman. I mean, why did it take 25 years for this transparency? What did you take away from knowing that they knew?

CROWLEY: Well, I think also we have to go back and understand that the EPA also said that. The former governor of New Jersey, Whitman, had said that the air was clean to breathe. So, there were multiple levels of letdown here, so to speak.

But I also think it's interesting. This actually was information that was held over a number of mayoral periods. Both Democratic and Republican mayors who held this back --

COATES: Why?

CROWLEY: Because -- I mean, people died not just on 9-11, but diagnosed with 9-11-related illnesses.

CROWLEY: Yes. I think there was a real push back in that day to get things up and going again and bring some normalcy back, if that can even be put, those -- that word and 9-11 together.

[23:40:04]

But I do think that injustice was done here, that people were exposed. My nephew, who just was elected to the New York State Assembly, Patrick Martinez, he was a freshman at Stuyvesant High School. They went back to school at some point in that area, when it was not fully free of contamination. And so, I look at that and say that there's some negligence here.

COATES: Congressman, thank you for being here.

CROWLEY: Thank you, Laura.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): That person -- the majority of the room was trying to kind of sway that person from the very beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: That was a voice from one of the jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial, breaking their silence about the lone holdout who, they say, led them to a mistrial. So, what was it like inside the room? And what does this mean for a decision to try to retry the case? Judge Mathis joins me live to weigh in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COATES: Tonight, for the very first time, you know, we're hearing directly from jurors in the Lindsay Clancy case, with new insight into what ultimately led to the mistrial that was declared. Here's what the jury foreperson said about the one juror who was said to be the holdout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JURY FOREPERSON, CLANCY TRIAL: He had reasonable doubt. He admitted he had reasonable doubt. After we watched that video of the interview, I think that's what it was. He admitted he had reasonable doubt. And I started filling out the forms. I was so excited. I actually -- there were three forms I had to fill out, and I started filling them out. I wrote my signature on each one. And then he said, but I'm still not going to say that she's not guilty by reason of insanity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: And you'll recall that during deliberations, the defense argued that one juror was refusing to listen to the law and the instructions when it came to reasonable doubt, and demanded that jury be removed. The judge interviewed that juror, apparently, and then denied that request.

Joining me now, Emmy-winning host of the courtroom show, Judge Mathis. He currently hosts "Mathis Court with Judge Mathis." He is here himself. Welcome, Judge Mathis, to the program. I'm eager to hear your take. This defense, they wanted the lone juror taken off the jury. The judge refused, but gave them the option to appeal. Was that the right way to handle this?

JUDGE GREG MATHIS, FORMER DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: Well, I don't know because it ended up in a mistrial. I suspect that had he replaced the juror, that it would be a different outcome. He wouldn't necessarily have to have declared a mistrial.

COATES: There were alternates. You are right. He decided not to do so. I mean, as a judge, what kinds of questions would you have asked to determine whether that juror was really following your instructions about reasonable doubt?

MATHIS: I would ask, what have you known about this case prior to the beginning of the trial? I would have asked if do they know of anyone who has suffered postpartum and had they been a victim of the anger. Some folks may have been a victim of mistreatment by someone who had gone through that process. I would hope they had asked that during the jury selection, but perhaps not. I would make sure I would ask as the judge who went on board, as a result of the one hung juror.

COATES: There is another huge trial happening, this time on the West Coast. It was in the federal court. No cameras. But closing arguments wrap today in the murder for hire trial of rapper Lil Durk. And prosecutors alleged that he plotted to kill a rival in a revenge killing, but that the shooting killed a different person instead. Now, throughout the trial, prosecutors tried to use his own rap lyrics as evidence against him. You take issue with that having been admitted as evidence, they say, to show his state of mind after his friend, King Von, was killed.

MATHIS: Absolutely. I take issue with it. Indeed, if half of the things that rap artists rapped about were true or something they were intending to do, I don't think we'd have the highest selling genre of music available today, and that is rap music. So, no.

You have such things as what they call studio gangsters, where they get in there and rap about things they've never even been a part of. I'm not saying that about Banks because she's not quite that. But things you rap about and the art that you display and illustrate is not necessarily something you would carry out on your own. In fact, as we saw what he showed on the video, if you're referring to that, where he walked up on the young man and hit and shot him directly, is much different than what the so-called conspiracy was.

COATES: Yes, the conspiracy that they alleged was a shooting into a car at a crowded intersection. The video that was never actually, I think, actually that made it to air, they did still show that video. It was called Red Men, if I'm not mistaken.

But Judge Mathis, much of the prosecution's case relied on testimony from people who were initially charged as co-defendants. They later pleaded guilty. The defense is saying they're cooperators. They have every reason to lie. They're trying to save themselves. They're not credible. You have obviously seen trials when jurors are seen cooperating witnesses. How do you as a judge instruct a jury to evaluate and assess their credibility?

MATHIS: Well, I would do just that, almost the exact language, and that is you have to analyze each and every one of the individual discussions that they've had with the prosecutor, for example, and the arresting officers, and then come to your own conclusions as to how you want to accept their testimony and their credibility thereof.

COATES: Go ahead, judge. Excuse me.

MATHIS: Yes. So, I would do the same for both, for the cooperating witnesses.

[23:49:58]

But let me say, with regard to them, they also contradicted their testimony from what I've observed between the time one spoke with the investigator and the other time when they were doing the proffer. Another one of the young men showed that his motive -- some of the motive was the same as the Tupac murder perpetrator, person who killed Tupac, and that is to be famous and rich. It is my time, I'm going to get a movie deal, I'm going to get all of these. So, there's a lot of moving parts in there with regard to the credibility of those who are so-called corroborating.

COATES: We'll see how the jury sees it. Judge Mathis, thank you so much. Up next, a scary scene on the campaign trail. An armed man is arrested after police say that he tried to confront the Democrat running for governor in Ohio. Tonight, she's my guest, Dr. Amy Acton, here, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:55:00]

COATES: I got to tell you about another terrifying incident on the campaign trail during a contentious race. This one happened in Ohio where police say an armed man pushed his way through a campaign event for Democratic nominee for governor, Dr. Amy Acton. She was speaking at a local fair when Acton's spokesperson says Patrick Havas lunged at her and knocked down two older adults. Havas appeared in court today and pleaded not guilty to charges of assault, inducing panic, and disorderly conduct.

A spokesperson for the opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, called the incident -- quote -- "completely unacceptable," and he added, "Candidates should be able to meet with voters without having to worry about threats or violence."

The Democratic nominee for Ohio governor, Dr. Amy Acton, joins me now. Dr. Acton, first, I just have to ask you about this terrifying incident over the weekend. How are you doing?

AMY ACTON, OHIO GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Laura. Thank you for having us. And I am doing well, as is my team. It was a bit harrowing for us. We were in the middle of a typical stump speech at the fair where I grew up, actually, Canfield Fair in Youngstown, Ohio. And I was actually speaking to the topic of Ohioans longing for us to bring down the temperature. They're exhausted by the hate and chaos and vitriol in my state. And I can tell you, this doesn't know party and people are ready for change.

And I am grateful that everyone that was a part of this, the injured folks, are doing well. And I am very grateful to the state highway patrol, the first responders that were there on the scene. They did a fantastic job. But it is a reminder that the words our leaders use matter.

COATES: Well, let's move on to what has been a very serious race in the polls right now, suggesting that you are in a dead heat with Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy. You're running for governor in a state, as you know, that has voted for Trump in the last three presidential elections. So, how do you plan to convince those voters that they should choose you?

ACTON: Well, first of all, I'm a doctor. I am not a politician, but I am a lifelong public servant. I'm 60 years old, and I've been working to help Ohioans my entire life, including in one way or another with five different governors. I will work with anyone of any party if they actually want to solve problems instead of make them.

I've been on the road for two and a half years going everywhere in my state. Quite frankly, I go places Dems haven't been in a while. We've been listening deeply. Ohioans are feeling the effects of there being no more breathing room. The cost of everyday living from rent and housing to child care to energy bills and property taxes, it is all too much. They're working harder than they ever have, and it just doesn't add up.

COATES: I want to talk about child care, doctor. You know, I'm a mother. I remember full well the bills that it takes to try to care for children, especially if you want to be a working person. You've got to pay child care and both parties want to make it more affordable. And today, "The New York Times" reports that the Trump administration is proposing this new policy to allow married couples with a stay-at-home spouse to collect child care subsidies. That's being pushed by the former Ohio senator, now Vice President J.D. Vance. Is that the right move?

ACTON: You know, I absolutely think, in Ohio, we have got to address the issue of child care. My state subsidizes 49th out of 50th in this country. Fifty-five percent of Ohioans do not have access to high quality, affordable child care. I was in Steubenville, Ohio and people are going to West Virginia to get child care, and then crossing back over into Ohio.

COATES: So, what would you do?

ACTON: I will absolutely be working on child care and all of the other issues to bring down the cost of everyday life in Ohio. My opponent has known for saying Medicaid and Medicare are mistakes. He wants to completely dismantle them, and he's put a nod to Social Security, too, in Part D. So, I'm up against a self-funding billionaire who has been putting lies and rhetoric out, $60 million worth of lies and rhetoric.

COATES: I do want -- I want to talk about that. This is very interesting to me, in particular, because you have said that you wouldn't debate your opponent, Ramaswamy, because your campaign says that he has spread -- quote -- "baseless lies" about you and your family.

[00:00:02]

ACTON: Yes.

COATES: Why not use the debate stage to set the record straight, then?

ACTON: I want to be very clear, Laura. I will absolutely not normalize the behavior of a man who has said I'm a victim of child abuse and neglect in my childhood, sexual abuse, and he has said I'm just complaining about something done to me in my childhood, but I will not normalize or platform a serial liar and a conman who is using rhetoric to incite violence.

COATES: Dr. Amy Acton, thank you for joining.

ACTON: Thank you so much, Laura.

COATES: Thank you all for watching. "The Story Is with Elex Michaelson" is next.