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CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL
RNC Special Live Coverage Night 2; COVID And Kenosha: Defining Election Themes; Jacob Blake Shooting Update; Hurricane Laura Stirs Up Anxiety; Second Night of RNC: The President is Not the Man You Know Him to Be. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired August 26, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN's special live coverage of the second night of the Republican National Convention, Chris Cuomo here with Don Lemon.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's 2:00 am!
It's 2:00 am, Chris.
CUOMO: Not on the West Coast.
LEMON: OK.
CUOMO: Speakers on this second night tried to convince Americans that the president is not the man you have all seen in action all these years. It was a distraction from your lying eyes and ears, Don?
LEMON: Yes, well, you know, he has done everything perfectly. Always tells the truth. He is a Boy Scout, he is like Abe Lincoln, I cannot tell a lie. He is an epidemiologist.
CUOMO: Pandemic --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: -- he is a scientist. Everything, yes.
And then there was his economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, in the mix as well, barely touching the economic downturn that was brought on by the coronavirus because of this president's mishandling of the coronavirus.
Right?
And then the first lady was there as well, pretty much she was the only one to acknowledge the pandemic, one that has cost this country more than 178,000 lives.
So you have the president who acts way he acts every single day, tweets, retweets racist things, controversial things. And then says, "Well, I was just retweeting it. It's not what I have to say," and does all kinds of just unnecessary things and unbelievably -- and does things that are beneath the dignity of -- certainly beneath the dignity of the Oval Office.
And then you have the person we have tonight.
Do the two match up in your eyes?
CUOMO: No. Look.
A little bit of that is politics. Right?
That's what conventions are.
LEMON: A lot of it is.
CUOMO: They are trying put it up there as here's the ideal. It's harder for an incumbent because they have a record. But if you are trying to get the base to feel good and to give them permission to vote for you again, I bet you tonight was very effective.
LEMON: Hmm.
Go on, why?
CUOMO: Because the first lady is somewhat of a symbol of the grandeur that Trump can present to certain Americans. And her -- what is she going to do?
[02:05:00]
CUOMO: She is not going to go after her own husband, nobody expects that from anybody that position. But having his kids, even though they are saying things that are demonstrably false, hearing them gives you the permission to believe them.
And we are in a position to have to disabuse people of that notion because a lot is demonstrably false. But in politics, perception is often reality. And feel often beats fact and you got a good feel that he is fighting for you against you, Don Lemon, and me, Chris Cuomo, and everyone on the Left, fighting against all of us to take care of American families.
LEMON: Bad, bad news anchors, bad news anchor, bad. Trump supporter, good. Even when it's not true and it does not live up to reality at all.
I -- quite frankly, you remember the first night of the Democratic convention and I came on and I said, it was boring. People really didn't get it. People at home were really enjoying it.
I'm not so sure about this, maybe people at home really are enjoying this, but I do think tonight was particularly a bit dull until the first lady. I know that Mike Shields said that, oh, he loved the vice president's portion of the thing. I didn't. I found it just kind of boring.
But I did, I thought that the first lady was interesting in that even, not necessarily with substance, although she did mention some things that were not mentioned by other people but didn't necessarily have the -- her facts straight when it comes to those issues as well.
But because of the pageantry of it, she walked in and people were calling it the first lady's runway moment, right, because she walked down the --
CUOMO: The runway.
LEMON: -- the runway --
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: -- and as she got to her spot in the Rose Garden. And so, I enjoyed that element of it.
CUOMO: Right.
LEMON: Because I was saying, well what, what is going on here?
It was a real show. This president is a showman. He is a reality TV star. It's interesting to me how people talk about -- at the convention when they started the night saying, we are not going to have celebrities. It's going to be real people and that Eva Longoria is not a real housewife.
CUOMO: I told you that was a mistake.
LEMON: I know Eva Longoria is a housewife and she is a mother.
CUOMO: Yes, but you gave them a shtick, they're all Hollywood.
LEMON: OK, but who cares?
People that work in Hollywood are a part of America as well. That is a job and a profession. So I think people should stop letting people in Hollywood and certain professions be demonized --
CUOMO: What's the goal of the election?
LEMON: -- that's real work as well. So it's real work.
What's wrong -- tell me what's wrong with Hollywood.
CUOMO: What's the goal of the election?
LEMON: To win.
But why is bringing up someone who has worked her ass off in Hollywood --
CUOMO: Rich, entitled, disconnected, elitist.
LEMON: Oh.
CUOMO: She is part of the Them.
LEMON: So Trump is part of the working class?
Not elitist, not rich, not entitled, didn't get --
CUOMO: He is "their" rich elite guy.
LEMON: Oh, give me a --
CUOMO: Hey, that's why he won. That's why he won.
LEMON: For lying to people?
CUOMO: He connected --
LEMON: For pulling the wool over people's eyes?
CUOMO: He connected with working class people who saw him as an agent of their anger.
LEMON: You're not listening. You're not going to get me to -- I'm not defending Hollywood. But I'm also saying there's nothing wrong with Hollywood and people should stop demonizing people in Hollywood for making money.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: You can make money as well. Part of the American dream is to make money.
CUOMO: I told you that was what would happen when they used those people and I was right. I'm not saying that they are right to do it.
LEMON: But it turns out they were wrong.
CUOMO: How do you know?
LEMON: Because people connected. The Trump -- Trump and his fans, whatever, believe in ratings so much, the ratings for the Democratic convention were higher. More people were tuned in. It's just that what I'm saying to you is that the Republicans and the Trumpsters are complaining about the Hollywood folks and people actually connected to them.
CUOMO: How do you know they connected to them?
LEMON: People watched.
CUOMO: -- they hate Trump and they wanted to see Biden get energy around him.
LEMON: Anyway what is the goal?
To win. CUOMO: To win.
LEMON: They won the ratings.
CUOMO: I don't even look at the ratings right now, I'm trying to sleep during the day.
LEMON: You are trying to sleep right now.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: I'm wishing this was a bad dream, listening to you.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: No, look, I'm just saying that, this is, this is the advantage.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: When you are willing to do whatever it takes to win, you are formidable in politics and this president has no sense of shame. He has no concern of any kind of qualification of any degree of hubris. He will have anybody say anything about him as long as it works. They will actually say --
[02:10:00]
CUOMO: Even Mike Shields. Look, Mike Shields and I got hot in that segment.
LEMON: He can take it, he keeps coming back.
CUOMO: So do I but that's OK -- I'm not having anyone on my watch tell me that this administration is doing everything that they can when it comes to testing. We are nowhere where we need to be on rapid testing and that's why my kids are in a box about going back to school. And that's the only reason.
If we had rapid testing and we could watch our kids in real time, people could work and the kids would be in school and we would be able to control it to a satisfactory degree. Not perfect but satisfactory. And the president's OK with you saying, he has been great on the pandemic.
And he knows he hasn't. And he knows two-thirds of the American people don't believe that BS.
LEMON: So here is what I was saying and I was trying to get to the point.
CUOMO: You take too long, I don't have all night. I guess I do.
LEMON: Here's the thing, you have been doing most of the talking. I was talking about Eva Longoria.
CUOMO: You still on Eva Longoria.
LEMON: Let me finish. Tracee Ellis Ross, Carrie Washington, diversity. And there's real diversity in the Democratic Party, real diversity in Democratic administrations.
CUOMO: Yes.
LEMON: For the Obama administration, the Clinton administration.
CUOMO: Remember the two pictures of the Congress members?
LEMON: Yes, yes, so what I'm saying is that people who work in Hollywood are reflections -- are Americans. And they reflect that and they also reflect the diversity. That's where I'm going with this.
The Republican Party tonight, there was a pretend, a performative diversity. The party is not so diverse. Yes, there are African Americans and people of color in the party. Not to the degree that they are in the Democratic Party.
CUOMO: No, not to that degree.
LEMON: And not to the degree that there are in Democratic administrations. Certainly not in this administration there were more Black people in that opening video than there have been as part of the entire administration. The party is fake diversity. Fake diversity on display at this convention.
CUOMO: And he pardoned a Black guy. That's because he is against racism.
LEMON: Everyone says, oh, see, he is not racist, he pardoned a Black guy.
CUOMO: And Herschel Walker.
LEMON: "Give me a Black guy, give me a this, give me a that, give me some immigrants. Let me do this."
I mean, come on. Give me a break.
CUOMO: And he naturalized all those people, pro immigration. Just saw it on TV.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Were any from shithole countries?
CUOMO: They're from Norway.
LEMON: Oh. Hmm.
CUOMO: I don't know that any were from Norway but that's where they are supposed to come from.
(LAUGHTER) CUOMO: I think the biggest irony and not just hypocrisy is his wife, to me, the most positively impressive part of the speech was her own success story. That always gets me, about people fighting to get to the country and making it once they got here. She was able to bring her parents over.
Her own husband wants to stop the ability of people to do what she did.
LEMON: Exactly what her family did.
CUOMO: And that there's no trace of irony in her saying it. She knows her husband is trying to stop it.
LEMON: It's OK, it's OK for her because she is -- because she is part of his family. It's OK for nepotism in the Trump family but it cannot happen in the Biden family. even though with Biden, it was not nepotism. He never hired people in his own company. The whole Burisma thing was not Joe Biden's company. It wasn't Joe Biden's administration.
This is another company that hired Joe Biden's son.
Yes, did it look bad?
Even Hunter Biden said it looked bad, he should not have done it. But Trump has hired had his own kids in his own company and in his administration. That is the definition of nepotism. So the Biden thing was not even nepotism.
CUOMO: Got his son figuring out Middle East peace.
LEMON: Oh, well, there's peace in the Middle East right now, the fixer of everything has fixed everything.
CUOMO: Secretary of state is in Jerusalem.
LEMON: Oh, that's right.
CUOMO: Anything to win, baby, as the Raiders say. Just win, baby, just win and everything winds up being justified. That's where we are. We are literally in "A Tale of Two Cities."
LEMON: How are we going back to doing our regular shows next week?
CUOMO: Getting a lot more sleep.
LEMON: They don't even write -- they said after the first night, don't write anything for those two, just let them talk. We are like, oh, boy, we are going to get in trouble.
CUOMO: Look, we think about good trouble, though. May he rest in peace, Brother Lewis. Good trouble.
LEMON: Amen. CUOMO: You have to -- if you stay with the status quo, if you go with
the group and talk about, you know, all the typical things, we are not in a typical time. We are in the middle of a pandemic right now. Right?
You and I are going to put masks on when we go home. This is really messed up.
LEMON: You know what, Chris, the first lady is the greatest imprimatur for the president of the United States, she did a wonderful job in the Rose Garden tonight, what do you think?
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CUOMO: I think I was sitting with my kid in the water today and she was lamenting that she is not sure if she is going to be able to go to college.
LEMON: Yes, I know.
CUOMO: And her last year of high school and how weird it will be that she will not see anybody in her class for months.
And what am I going to say?
"Well, you never know."
No, I'm not saying anything like that. I don't know what will happen?
I don't know if it will start a new strain. I can't even test.
LEMON: Remember, we just reported yesterday on that --
CUOMO: The guy in Hong Kong.
LEMON: He was reinfected.
CUOMO: We don't know what's going on with it. And I'm hearing about the symptoms. Don, if one more woman, not a joke. One more woman sends me a picture of a plate or a table or a bowl filled with hair, people who have had COVID are losing clumps of hair. It's coming back for most of them, thank God.
LEMON: Obviously, when people see me, they say, how is your buddy doing and I say he's fine. And then they say, you know what my son had or friend had, perfect health but at weird times they are out of breath. They have shortness of breath. Out of nowhere, for no reason. Runs marathons, blah, blah, blah, and can be exercising and running and then all of a sudden in the middle of the night or in the middle of lunch, you are out of breath. These weird things happen.
CUOMO: People are getting hypertension, all types of these derivative illnesses. We don't know.
LEMON: None of that addressed in the Republican convention.
CUOMO: They say, it will be OK.
LEMON: Thank you for inviting me over to your house to swim tonight.
But what was my answer?
I'm at work already.
CUOMO: No, it was funnier than that. You said, they are yelling at us to go to break again. This is the story of our lives. We are the only people that you guys like seeing on TV that are constantly being told to stop talking.
I said, Don, I'm going to the house, come take a swim.
He said, where my house?
I'm in the city.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: And I was laughing, I said, maybe we will go there and see if he left the door open, he has good snacks.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: I love you Don Lemon, I cannot spend enough time with you, but apparently we have spent too much right now. We have to go to break. And after commercial, we will talk about where the Trump campaign believes itself to be and where they think they can win because now we know. And we will discuss it next.
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[02:20:00]
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LEMON: We are halfway through the Republican National Convention with the conclusion of night two. Let's discuss now with Toluse Olorunnipa, the White House reporter for "The Washington Post"; Ron Brownstein, senior editor at "The Atlantic"; and Republican strategist and Harvard Institute, excuse me, Harvard Institute of Politics fellow, Alice Stewart.
I am sorry, I have to say that right. Harvard.
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You got it just right. Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Is that right?
Harvard.
Hi, welcome one and all. Toluse, I will start with you, there's the president Trump that we
have seen over the last three-plus years that's willing to gas peaceful protesters for a photo op, push dangerous coronavirus claims and the whitewashing that we saw tonight about his record.
How do you see the two?
How do you square that circle?
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's very clear that the president wants to tout parts of his record and shade other parts of his record to cover up for the things he has done that is not popular with the American people.
We look at the naturalization ceremony that happened in the White House, celebrating legal immigration, even though he has tried to cut legal immigration.
They tried to parse his record to make him more palatable to those turned off by his presidency.
In 2016, moderate voters said they would give him a chance. By 2018, they soured on him with the kids in cages and said, I'm not signing up for it anymore.
Now we are getting a new version of the president in this pre-- packaged convention, in which they are trying to present a softer image to try to convince voters to give him a second chance.
They are trying to win over the suburban women and moderate voters. Obviously, they are looking to shade the president's record from the first 3.5 years in office to make it look like he has done a lot of different things from what he has actually done in office.
LEMON: Ron, is it obvious as it seems that what we see, the points that were made, are direct indications of where they think this president is in trouble?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think that is exactly right. It was striking, first of all, I don't think that anything that happened tonight is particularly significant. I thought it was generic in terms of checking the boxes and the constituencies they want to go after.
If you look at the two nights in totality, they have a sword and shield strategy. The shield is to say he is not a racist, he is not xenophobic, he is someone that you can vote for without being ashamed of it. That's the shield.
And as Toluse said, that requires you to kind of put the eraser on big parts of the blackboard of his record.
And then the sword is basically saying, that, if you vote for the Democrats, they are going unleash this kind of socialist hellhole and, in particular, let the mob come and get you, as that St. Louis couple said yesterday. That is pretty much of a high wire act for Don. On the one hand, you
are saying he is not a racist but on the other hand you are drawing on racial fears of inner city mobs coming to get you. But I think that's the strategy.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Aren't you pointing out what is happening on your own watch?
BROWNSTEIN: What's that?
LEMON: Aren't you pointing out what is happening on your own watch?
[02:25:00]
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, right, I mean, that is the core problem here and the bigger problem of course, is what was not said.
I mean the fact that he has gone for two nights basically, Melania Trump acknowledging that front line workers are working hard and basically saying, Larry Kudlow talking about the coronavirus in the past tense is probably the piece of this that Democrats are going to seize on.
It continues this pattern of the president basically, you know, behaving as a marketer, not a CEO, which is how he sold himself to the country in 2016. And basically thinking he can wish it away.
I don't see how it helps him. I don't see where the political value is, in denying what the Americans are experiencing in their daily lives. It's not like he is reporting what is going on in Afghanistan.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Go ahead, Alice.
STEWART: If I can weigh in on the racial issue that is being brought up. It's important. So much of that is being addressed to the president but Joe Biden has questions of that to answer himself, some of the comments he has made.
And tonight, what we saw was the Kentucky attorney general, an African American, who flipped the script really on Vice President Biden in some of the comments he made by the attorney general, saying, look, I'm a Black man. I'm not in chains. I make up my own mind. I'm a Republican.
He really used Joe Biden's own words against him. That was an important part of tonight.
LEMON: He didn't mention Breonna Taylor or the arrest of police officers or any legal action as it comes to the police officers involved in that case in Kentucky. And he has been asked about it over and over but used this occasion to talk about everything but.
STEWART: Well, certainly, and that's what you do. Each person that speaks has their own issue that they are focusing on. And I think, overall from tonight, there were three main objectives. I think they checked each box.
They threw red meat to the base, which is what they did when had they talked about the horrible description of abortion, which is what pro- life advocates that support the president, really ignites them and gets them energized.
And the voice for the forgotten American. We heard a lot of stories from small businesses across the heartland. And also throwing out permission to those that are swing voters and undecided. A lot of people on the fence are that way because they don't like the president's tone and tenor.
And with the first lady coming out with a calm demeanor and compassion, it smoothed the rough waters that people are having. She did a lot to soften his image and have people think, he may be rough around the edges but he has a softer side. And her showing compassion with COVID-19 and the --
LEMON: So let me ask you something, you mention that people -- smoothing over the president's tone and tenor. And in the same breath, you say that Joe Biden, it was great he was hit for the things he said about, you know, about I'm not in chains or whatever.
Is that not hypocritical?
Because it's OK for Trump to say certain things, smooth it over. I understand why you vote for him but then if Joe Biden says is things and makes a gaffe or does whatever, it's not OK because it's Joe Biden?
I mean -- I don't understand. I don't understand.
STEWART: It's pretty simple. People that like Joe Biden and support Joe Biden like him and support him because of his policies. And I'll be the first to say, he is a man of genuine compassion and empathy and someone that people can really embrace as a genuine person.
On the other hand --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Hang on, hang on. That Joe Biden thing that you talked about, in chains, that was eight years ago, that was 2012. And --
STEWART: Exactly.
LEMON: And this president says something every single day. And I'm just, I'm really trying to understand that --
STEWART: I hear you, I hear you. If I can --
LEMON: You are saying it's not OK for one person and it's OK for the other person. STEWART: I'm not, if I can finish my argument, President Trump has
supporters, myself included, that don't like the way he does things and the tone and tenor. But I support his policies.
But there's a lot of people that are swing voters and undecided that say, I don't like his policies or his tone. He is out of the question. But if we can at least smooth the waters and put a softer tone on this president, there's a lot of people that will give him another shot and give him a look.
And that is an important component of what we are going see in this convention. Some people are all about ideology and others are all about feelings. And the key is to thread that needle and get directly to the swing voters and independents, who have not made up their minds.
LEMON: OK. Ron, I got to tease but if you want to -- because I know you're like raring to get in. Quickly, please, can you give me ten seconds.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I would just say they wouldn't spend so much time trying to convince he's not racist, sexist and xenophobic if it was not a big hurdle that he's facing among voters.
Including some of those who, as Alice says, support some of his policies.
It's pretty clear from what they're focusing on, what they see as a big vulnerability for the president.
LEMON: Tolu, final words, please. I'll give you the same thing that I gave -- I'm counting, my watch -- I'm looking at it now.
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think Thursday will be the key moment for us to see whether or not the campaign and the president are actually focused on the strategy.
Does the president come out and give a barn burner of a red meat speech to the base or does he try to show that he is a president of all Americans. And is trying to govern in a way that --
LEMON: You know what it's going to be. It's going to be a barn burner of a red -- all hands up. Barn burner, red meat. Right.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
OLORUNNIPA: Likely, yes.
STEWART: Yes.
LEMON: That's what it's going to be, Tolu.
STEWART: American carnage.
LEMON: Thank you very -- American carnage. Thank you so much. I'll see you guys later. The RNC so far is all about President Trump's base but the Wizard of Odds is breaking it all down. And he knows just how much support Trump has in the bag.
So will this convention change anything for him at the polls?
Harry Entin, next.
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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: The Republican Convention is focusing on issues important to President Trump's base. That's not unusual.
But the virtue and it is that we will now be able to take a look at what they believe Trump's path to victory to be.
[02:35:00]
So let's do some analysis. With the Wizard of Odds himself. Harry Enten, CNN's senior political writer and analyst.
Question one. Harry, how are you doing?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER & ANALYST: I have two little toy poodles off to the side, one that's red, one that's black. But it's 2:35 in the morning.
CUOMO: Are they awake?
ENTEN: We're all here together for the sleepover.
CUOMO: Are they awake?
ENTEN: I'm always wide awake for you.
CUOMO: Not you. Are the dogs awake?
ENTEN: They're sleeping. Although they're getting awake right now as I start talking. But they (inaudible) during it and maybe they'll appear on screen. They'll be better looking than either one of us.
CUOMO: That's an easy bar. So let me ask you this. What are you able to glean as what the Trump campaign believes is of most importance to its base?
ENTEN: It's fairly simple, right? You watch that convention, coronavirus is barely ever mentioned.
You're hearing a ton about the economy, you're not hearing very much about race relations and you're hearing a ton about crime and safety.
And, not surprisingly, in our last CNN poll, that basically lines up with what the Republican base says is extremely important to their 2020 vote.
This convention, although certainly the first lady's speech was a little bit different, has been largely lined up with what they think is most important for the base.
CUOMO: Turnout, turnout, turnout. How true is that looking at it by party?
ENTEN: Yes. This to me is most interesting, right? This whole idea that Democrats benefit from larger turnouts. Not actually true, right?
If let's say we take a look at the 2020 choice for president and you got 2018 turnout, what would you get? You'd get Biden ahead by 10 points.
But, in fact, what this basic convention is about is making sure that those voters who turned out in 2016 for the president turn out again.
Because if you get the 2016 turnout, according to the Pew Research Center, in fact Biden would only be ahead by 5 points at this point.
So turnout's actually important for the president and larger turnout isn't necessarily bad. Despite, I think, this idea that high turnout would be bad for the president. The polling doesn't actually necessarily indicate that.
CUOMO: Where is he vis-a-vis 2016 right now, the president?
ENTEN: Yes. I think this is also quite important, right.
Look, at his best point during 2016, the summer of 2016, he was actually ahead, he was actually ahead by Hillary Clinton. And in the average it was significantly closer than it is right now.
And the best for Trump this summer has only been that Biden was ahead by six points.
So right now, what we're seeing is a convention that isn't necessarily playing to that. They do need to reach out to the center and they're not doing that.
But to be perfectly honest, I'm not necessarily sure even if they do that like in the first lady's speech that it would necessarily benefit them. Because I'm not sure the ceiling is all that high, to be honest with you.
CUOMO: COVID is a loser for this president no matter how they try to distort it. Because everybody's too comfortable with the reality which is why you have basically two-thirds of the American people not happy with the situation.
Where I see the movement is on what I'm calling Kenosha, because it's alliterative and it's the most recent case.
COVID and Kenosha. Kenosha obviously being a window into the Black Lives Matter movement. And you gave me some good data early this morning about how we've got to watch this issue.
Because peoples attitudes on scenes like what we're seeing in Wisconsin are shifting. In June, we saw about 10 percent more Americans thought coming out of what happened in Minnesota that the demonstrations were an indication of a righteous cause.
That number is slipping and crime is becoming more important. And there's another poll that says Trump beats Biden on crime. What's your analysis?
ENTEN: That's exactly right. This is a fast-moving situation. You see the poll on the screen right now.
Look, most people -- at least in the Marist poll, still believe it's mostly legitimate. The protests.
But the number who say that people are acting unlawfully is up double digits.
And I'll also tell you that in some separate polling on the Black Lives Matter movement in particular, you do see that support for that has sort of leveled off, falling down a little bit. The opposition is rising, especially among white voters.
And if you go to a place like Wisconsin where Kenosha is, that is where you have chock full (ph) a lot of white voters particularly white voters without a college degree who are Trump's base who might be motivated to come out and vote.
And this is the type of issue that the president will almost certainly seize upon come Thursday night's speech.
And it could be the type of issue that I think Joe Biden may need to address more forcefully than he already has. Not just saying he believes in peaceful protest not riots but perhaps even putting ads on the air to that degree.
CUOMO: You have to be right. Because state TV is banging the drum every minute. They can't show enough burning cars and say here it is, and they're coming to where you live next.
Wiz, you're the man. Especially at 2:39 and 43 seconds. Thank you very much, brother. Be well, get some sleep.
ENTEN: You as well, my friend.
[02:40:00]
CUOMO: All right. Jacob Blake's family, all right. Now that is the man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that we were just talking about in terms of the statistical impact.
But what about his family's impact? They say it's going to take a miracle for him to ever walk again after being shot by police multiple times in the back.
They are demanding the arrest of the officer who shot him. But they're demanding something else of the people who are in the streets as well. We're live in Wisconsin, next.
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LEMON: So we're following protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin after the police were involved -- police involved shooting a 29 year old, Jacob Blake.
Let's get to CNN's Omar Jimenez. He is on the ground for us and he joins us now.
So, Omar, we're getting some reports of violence this evening. Can you talk to us about that? What do you know?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, at least just over the course of the past hour, we are seeing some reports on social media of gunfire. And we did hear what seemed to be like gunfire from where we were sitting in our car.
So we're trying to confirm exactly what's happened there with Kenosha police at this hour.
But, of course, that comes on the opposite end of what has been a third night in a row of demonstrations, and in some cases violent confrontations with police, mainly centered here outside the Kenosha County courthouse.
You see these barricades up behind me. That is new and has been part of a renewed effort from officials here to prevent some of the destruction that we saw in the previous two nights from spilling over into a third night.
And we saw that play out. Because tonight was maybe the most forceful law enforcement had been in trying to clear out this area of protesters and demonstrators once we hit that overnight curfew.
And we kind of got the sense that they were going to try and make a statement tonight, even beforehand.
Wisconsin governor Tony Evers saying that they had double the amount of National Guard that they authorized to respond to this. A hundred other officers from other jurisdictions came to help respond as well.
[02:45:00]
And, of course, they imposed that overnight curfew. And this was also the first night where they literally marched into the crowd to push them out and keep them out.
And you're now seeing the aftermath of that. The calm after the storm, so to speak.
LEMON: So also, let's talk about what happened with the shooting, the initial shooting, right? What sparked all of this. There's new video emerging giving a new angle of the shooting. What
can you tell us about that, Omar?
JIMENEZ: Yes. So this this new video, of course, comes with that initial video that we saw that seemed to be from across the street, and elevated.
This new video picks up really in the moments before we see Jacob Blake walk around the vehicle to the driver's side. It seems to show a bit of a struggle.
And I want to show you that video that's emerged right now. Though I do want to warn some of this video may be considered graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: (Screams)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom, get back. Mom, mom. Mom. You have to get back.
(Shots)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: So you hear, really, the yelling of bystanders and at one point telling a mother to get back.
But you also see Jacob Blake, again, beginning to walk around the vehicle after what seemed like some sort of a struggle on the ground.
Then, of course, you look at the first video that's come out to see -- as we all know how this played out, ending with seven shots to the back.
This now offers new context into what we had already seen, Don.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Omar, thank you. If you get new information on the reports that you're hearing tonight, please get back to us. We'll get it on the air as soon as possible.
Omar Jimenez, reporting live from Kenosha, Wisconsin.
I'm going to bring in now CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson, a criminal defense attorney. Joey, thank you so much.
So here we go again, talking about one of these cases. We have seen this new video. What do you think this tells us?
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think it tells us what we know. That this was a shooting that didn't have to happen. And it's most unfortunate, to put it mildly, that it actually did.
And so I get and understand that -- no rush to judgment, I get all that. But we see what we see, Don.
And one of the concerns I do have. We know that this jurisdiction the state investigates, but after that state investigation, it's taken to the local district attorney's office for prosecution.
And that's a major problem. Putting that in context. If you're a local district attorney, working with police all the time, it's very hard to prosecute police.
Why do I jump and go there? Because to your question, I see a crime. And the crime is not committed by the person who's been shot.
The tactics, seemingly, very off. The strategy of the police seemingly very off.
And if you want to talk about context, it provides context, yes, it does. But that context does nothing to indicate that he was a threat and deserved to be shot and deserves to be paralyzed as we're here talking right now.
LEMON: Blake's shooting also making waves in the sports world, Joey.
I want to play comments. This is from Los Angeles Clippers coach, Doc Rivers. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOC RIVERS, NBA COACH: What stands out to me is just watching the Republican Convention and they're spewing this fear, right? All you hear from Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear.
We're the ones getting killed, we're the ones getting shot. We're the ones that were denied to live in certain communities. We've been hung, we've been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear.
This -- it's amazing.
Why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back. And it's just -- it's really so sad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What's your reaction, Joey?
JACKSON: My reaction is he's right on point. If you look at the convention, it's about oh my goodness, look at the rioting, the looting, everything has to stop. The cars are burning, the neighborhoods are not safe because of them.
The fact is we need to be talking about how we can make African American men and women feel safe in this country.
How we can move police to an area an issue where they're policing communities that they are comfortable in.
Why is it that they're historically just really -- I don't know what is, so scared of African American people?
And so the point is it's off narrative.
The fact is that people have to feel safe. African Americans have to feel safe. They should be with the police as it relates to being police, and they should be in a situation where they're not placed in fear.
[02:50:00]
And so it's very troubling, we live in sad and troubling times.
Don't get me wrong, police are out there serving us and serving us with distinction. But when a police officer missteps, as here, they need to be held accountable.
And I have a concern that -- whether that accountability will be here based upon the nature of how the prosecution works and as the local DA prosecutes.
That has to stop. There needs to be independence in investigations, independence in prosecutions and accountability. And that's what we need here.
LEMON: Joey Jackson. I appreciate your time and your perspective. Thank you so much, sir.
JACKSON: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Hurricane Laura intensifying tonight into a category two storm as it heads towards the Gulf of Mexico. And it is expected to hit the U.S. as a category three storm. Latest forecast next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: Got to watch the weather. Hurricane Laura is rapidly intensifying. It's making its way towards the Gulf Coast.
Now a tropical storm, upgraded to a category two hurricane tonight. Predicted to become a cat three storm by landfall Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.
All right. Let's get some perspective now. Pedram Javaheri, CNN meteorologist and weather anchor.
What's the latest? What's your concern?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Chris. A very concerning storm system.
As you noted here, it is a category two system. And you'll notice with 105 mile per hour winds. That is just six miles per hour shy of what would be a major hurricane, a category three.
And we think it'll get there within the next 12 to 18 hours, and landfall just shy of 24 hours from right now. So here's what we're looking at. Sits about 400 or so miles south
east of Galveston, Texas. And all the ingredients firmly in place here to support rapid intensification of the storm system.
Water temperatures upper 80s, lower 90s across this region and very little wind shear to try to break the system apart.
And you've got to look at history and look at storms in the same general area in recent memory.
We've had Katrina, we've had Hurricane Michael two summers and then Hurricane Rita back in 2005.
All of these storms in the same general area have rapidly intensified in a 24-hour period from about 45 to 70 miles per hour.
Which takes you, essentially, one to two categories above where it's currently sitting across this region.
And notice, Laura's track takes it almost identical to where Rita ended up back in 2005, among the costliest storms there across the Gulf of Mexico.
And here we go, Chris. We think landfall, again, some time late Wednesday evening into early Thursday morning. Intensification up to a category three -- possibly a strong category three, Chris, with the system as it approaches land.
And we think the vast majority of its strengthening is going to happen right before landfall.
And, of course, concerns with these sort of storms. National Hurricane Center categorizes this as a devastating impact when you talk about wind speeds over 111 miles per hour.
But the immediate coastal community. Storm surges up to 13 feet there in southwestern Louisiana, southeastern Texas.
And, again, kind of giving you a sense of perspective here.
When you talk about just normal sea level bring two-feet storm surges, typically you erode the beaches here. When you get to four feet, typically water kind of pushes in and encroaches into homes. And then when you're talking nine, ten, eleven feet, even above that, that often decimates the properties kind of pushes them off of their foundation.
And waters, of course, can push into the second levels of homes as well, if they do survive.
So this is a big story across this part of Texas and Louisiana.
CUOMO: I was there for Katrina and Rita, and, of course, the story is always that that coastline is saturated. So it just can't absorb the water and the communities are therefore uniquely vulnerable.
Is there any chance right now that it goes away? Yes, no.
JAVAHERI: No, absolutely not.
CUOMO: None.
JAVAHERI: There's even the chance it shifts a little to the bus and then puts Galveston and Houston at risk --
CUOMO: But it's still a problem.
JAVAHERI: it looks -- it's still a problem. Yes.
CUOMO: Right. All right. We'll keep watching it. Pedram, thank you very much. And thank you for watching us.
Our live coverage of the Republican National Convention. Chris Cuomo, D. Lemon. Again, tomorrow night. Hell, yes. Let's get after it.
LEMON: You ready?
CUOMO: Always.
LEMON: Good night, everybody.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
