let's bring in d. lemon.

"don lemon tonight." i owe you 40 seconds but the 40 seconds the audience got with that kid is a griift, brother. it's so rare somebody can reinforce the blessing and curse of this life and fragility of h hu human. >> i didn't know her story. it's agt, right? "america's got talent," i'm not a watcher but you introduced her to them and you also introduced what's happening in this country right now and the fragility of life, how fragile life is and how we have to live our lives but we must do what is right in order to continue to live our lives in the right way, which is relatable as it comes to this pandemic and the delta variant and getting a vaccine. i think it's all related. live your best life and the best

way to do that is follow the science. >> i mean, the idea of watching that kid and her -- i know she's not a kid. i know she's a full grown adult. i know that. i'm just saying i'm old. >> anybody who is under 30 is a kid to us. >> but, you know, to hear her talking about relishing any chance that she has to extend her dreams when so many of us in this country have a chance to protect ourselves and won't. i just -- i got to tell ya, i've been doing this a long time. i don't get hit by people very easily. i was telling jane in the break, night bird, there is only one other person i met in my life that impacted me the way her music and her voice did and it was this kid named maddie who was a child poet that helped et guess through 9/11. some people are different, don.

some people are not the same as you and me. they have something in them that circumstance brings out that is a gift. this kid maddie had it and night bird has it. not everyone can take on that fight the way she's taking it and make it into a beautiful expression of life. >> and help many people in the process and i think that's a good place for us to leave it and move on and discuss other things in the news but thank you for bringing us her story and bringing her to the cnn audience. we appreciate it. i love you, brother. >> i love you. i got to tell you, that was a little act of love for myself. i did that for me. i love you d. lemon. >> hey, look, you're, you know, do what you have to. i'll see you soon. this is don lemon tonight. thanks for joining, everyone. we have news really big news on multiple big stories. the clock is ticking for new york governor andrew cuomo. a majority of new york state assembly members telling cnn they would vote to impeach.

a source says articles of impeachment could be referred as soon as next week. that as at least four district attorneys are now investigating allegations of sexual harassment against the governor. the long list of powerful democratic politicians calling on governor cuomo to step down, a list headed by the president of the united states himself. that list is getting longer tonight. the leader of new york's democratic party a long-time cuomo ally urging him to step down. democratic committee chair jay jacobs saying and i quote here i believe the women, i believe the allegations. he reportedly only went public after trying privately to get cuomo to resign and not being able to convince him to do so. i'm going to talk to jay jacobs in just a few minutes so hang on. you want to hear what jay jacobs has to say. this is happening as cnn

uncovered multiple times the governor speakoke out on sexual harassment for not taking a stand. >> we want equal justice for dr. christine blford and all victim of sexual assault. >> when donald trump's infamous "access hollywood" tape came out. >> and when you're a star, they let you do. it you can do anything. >> whatever you want. >> grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> you can do anything. >> the governor was outraged. >> that's not how you treat women. that's not how you talk about women. it's not okay. it won't be sanctioned. >> in a facebook post in 2018 he slammed the then president for mocking the me too movement and women who spoke out against sexual harassment. he praised new york sexual harassment policy saying actual harassment of women is real and undeniable and this is the moment in history to make the

reform and end it and end it once and for all. and we are learning more tonight about just how close we came to an attempted coup in this country. how far the disgraced twice i'm peeach impeached president was willing to go to steal the election and it happened days before the insurrection at the united states capitol. a former doj official drafted but never sent a resignation letter over what he said were the then president's direct instructions to weaponize the department to push his bogus big lie of election fraud. this is from that unsent letter and i quote here, this evening after acting attorney general jeff rosen over the course of the last week reportedly refused the president's direct instructions to utilize the department of justice law enforcement powers from proper ends. the president removed jeff from the department. rosen actually survived the

meeting so the letter wasn't sent but about half a dozen officials had signalled they'd resign if rosen were fired. a nixon style saturday night massacre all over again. we didn't know how close we came. we really didn't. there are major developments tonight on covid to tell you about. the biden administration working on a plan to mandate vaccinations for nearly every foreign visitor to the u.s. as defense secretary lloyd austin is expected to make vaccines mandatory for active duty troops. the highly contagious delta variant makes up more than 90% of the cases in this country. just look at this time lapse from the cdc. that sea of red is the delta variant spreading over the past month. look at that. with concerns about delta on the rise, former president barack obama has scaled back his plans for a big 60th birthday bash on

martha's vineyard this weekend and as delta spreads, misinformation is spreading too and we need to tell you about that, misinformation holding america back. some anti-vaxxers in new jersey got an ear full from governor phil murphy just today. >> these folks back there have lost their minds. you are the ultimate knuckle heads and because of what you are saying and standing for, people are losing their life. >> wow. do more people need a talking to like that? or do you continue to coddle or try to coax people? i don't know. you decide. then there are the latest antics from the florida governor ron desantis putting politics ahead of health with this rant about a so-called bio medical security state. >> we can either have a free society or we can have a bio

medical security state and i can tell you florida, we're a free state. people are going to be free to choose to make their own decisions about themselves, about their families and kids' education and putting food on the table and joe biden suggests that if you don't do lockdown policies then you should quote get out of the way. let me tell you this, if you're coming after the rights of parents in florida, i'm standing in your way. >> sometimes you just can't push people when they're stuck on stupid. in boston, the acting mayor jki janie compares proof of vaccination to slavery papers and birtherism. >> there is a long history in this country of people needing to show their papers. during slavery, post slavery, as recent as, you know, what immigrant population has to go through here.

we heard trump with the birth certificate nonsense. here we want to make sure that we are not doing anything that would further create a barrier for residents. >> i'm not sure what she's talking about. doesn't sound like she was, either. there is already a lot of vaccine hesitancy in communities of color. the last thing we need is rhetoric that could turn people away from vaccines. federal judge in d.c. ruled today a couple who stormed the capitol on january 6th carrying anti vaccination signs will be sentenced to home confinement. they're sentenced to quarantine. [ laughter ] okay. that brings us to the man who said this before the rioters stormed the capitol. >> today is the day american patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.

>> oh my gosh. who are these people listening to and why? where are they getting their information? are they even getting information? is it just political rhetoric or are they just that dull? now congressman mo brooks is fighting a lawsuit by eric swalwell that accused brooks as well as the then president and several others of inciting the insurrection and mo brooks is defending himself in the most mo brooks way possible. representing himself. what could possibly go wrong? also writing about himself in a third person rarely a good sign and offering what he calls verified brooks facts and his

reply to the la swsuit saying hs 67, never smoked, drank alcohol or taken illegal drugs with has nothing to do with anything. oh, but there is more. verified brooks facts number seven. he's always been faithful to his wife, all of his children are married, none of them are divorced, none have been arrested. they have college degrees and jobs and he has ten grandchildren with another on the way. verified brooks facts. all of which may be true but, you know, whatever. i'm not judging. that may be true. god bless him. none of that has anything to do with what happened on january 6th. nothing at all. you know what happened on january 6th? not black lives matter or antifa

trump supporters stormed the capitol hunting lawmakers in the hallways forcing them to run for it. that's when these blood thirsty trump supporters when they beat police officers defending the capitol to within an inch of their lives. those are not the brooks facts, those are the verified facts. verified facts, the insurrection deniers are still trying to sweep under the rug. don't fall for the okie doke. i said we have a lot of news, big news tonight on multiple stories. new york's governor facing the possibility of impeachment in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment. >> this is classic gaslighting. the victim misunderstood. they didn't misunderstand. they knew exactly what he was doing. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operating rooms stay clean now helps the places you go too. look for the ecolab science certified seal.

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back with the big story, the pressure is mounting on new york governor andrew cuomo to step down. one of the closest allies jay jacobs is now joining the long list of people calling for his resignation saying the governor has lost his ability to govern practically and morally. new york democratic committee

chair jay jacobs joins me now. thank you for joining us, chairman. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> so let's talk about this. you personally called on governor cuomo today to step down. you've personally called him today i should say. did you ask him to resign? what did he say? >> i did. i spoke to him at length and i laid out for him that i thought that, you know, he had a great legacy here in new york and his legacy would be damaged if we went through the process of impeachment, which looked like an inevidencvideninevidencebili point that was no way for him to end his career in politics and i pointed out in american politics, there is always room for redemption. we've seen it so many times before and people do come back in some fashion but it all depends on how you go out. and i said there just was no turning around at this point. i didn't see any path to him being able to overcome this.

the tooth paste was out of the tube with so many members coming out unanimously looking for him to resign or be impeached so i didn't see how he would have a path to salvation. >> all right. that's what you said. what did he say? did he say he'll never step down? did he say i think about it or i'm going to? howrespond? >> he didn't characterize his views on resignation and more directed how he would defend himself. i think he feels that he wants his moment to tell the public his side of the story to have his lawyers review the evidence from their perspective and he feels that that will be a more favorable presentable favorable picture of the matter. i just told him that no matter what, the preponderance of the evidence, the numbers of cases, the last one we hadn't heard

before the state trooper on his protective detail coming out, all of these things made it way too difficult to overcome at this point. >> yeah. so you said look, you were one of his closest allies. that was the thing that changed, right, for you, was that? >> well, i mean, i thought that, you know, i read the 168-page report. i went through it and of course, listened to the press conference and it was, you know, staggering in parts. so, you know, you look for that possible opening where maybe there is some confusion or not exactly the story being told but the attorney general's report made it very clear that, you know, what the allegations were were valid as he said, she believed those women and when you read the report, i do, too. i feel badly for the governor because i don't see him as a bad person at all. he's done so much good but this is an unfortunate set of circumstances and now we are

where we are. >> you said in your phone call with him he was focused on and correct me if i'm wrong, his defense, right, in all of this and so i'm -- yes? so i'm wondering, i just want to get your take then because this was his defense yesterday that videotape response. here it is. >> i do it with everyone, black and white, young and old, straight and lgbtq, powerful people, friends, strangers, people who i meet on the street. i do kiss people on the forehead. i do kiss people on the cheek. i do kiss people on the hand. i do embrace people. i do hug people. men and women. i do on occasion say cho bella.

on occasion, i do slip and say sweet heart or darling or honey. >> what do you think of that response? >> well, i mean, i think he was referencing one portion of the complaint. the women who talked about being kissed on the cheek in a public event or something along those lines and i don't -- look, that's not what i think is the most serious element here and i don't think that's what constitutes the biggest complaints made against him. if that was all there was, i don't think we would be where we are today. the problem comes in from the other women who alleged that either they were touched, there was one that said that in particular, one said kissed or just felt just made uncomfortable in the workplace and i think that's where, you know, the difficulty arises for him and i don't think he addressed that sufficiently in that taped interview and i don't think the taped interview

actually, you know, went over the way i suspect head was hoping it would. >> is there any truth to his assertion that this is politically motivated? >> well, look, the facts are the facts and that is separate and can be exclusive of the fact that there are political motivations among numbers of people. new york is a very complex state and there is a lot going on and the governors are a very powerful strong governor that made a lot of enemies over the years and a lot of people would like to see him go for political policy reasons and the promotion of their own agendas but that has nothing to do with the attorney general's report and that has nothing to do with the conclusions that were drawn unfortunately. those are separate and distinct issues and while i agree on one hand there is certainly some of that, the facts still remain the facts and we just have to live with those facts. >> i got a quick question before i let you go. he said he was focused on his defense and didn't characterize

if he would step down or anything like that. if he doesn't step down, where do you see this going, impeachment, removal from office, conviction? what do you see? >> i do. i think the troubles begin to mount and the assembly will be moving at a much faster pace than we ever thought before. i think there is a consensus in the assembly that he should be impeached that could happen within a matter of weeks if not sooner and then he goes to the senate i don't see any possible way he avoids conviction and i think that would be a terrible end to a great career. i think it would be a stain on a legacy that certainly deserves, you know, admiration for so many parts of it and i'm just hopeful that he listens to the advice that he's been getting, advice perhaps i gave him and others are giving him i'm sure -- >> the president of the united states has given him. >> that's right, the best course of action right now would be to just step aside and let's get us

moving forward. >> chairman jacobs, thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. how long can the governor hold on to his office? i'm going to ask someone that's been covering new york politics for years. that's next. (announcer) carvana's had a lot of firsts. 100% online car buying. car vending machines. and now, putting you in control of your financing. at carvana, get personalized terms, browse for cars that fit your budget, then customize your down payment and monthly payment. and these aren't made-up numbers. it's what you'll really pay, right down to the penny. whether you're shopping or just looking. it only takes a few seconds, and it won't affect your credit score. finally! a totally different way to finance your ride. only from carvana. the new way to buy a car.

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of state assembly members tell cnn they would vote to impeach cuomo on allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women. lieutenant governor kathy is preparing in case she needs to step in as governor. she is cleared her schedule and been in back to back meetings with legislatures and advocacy groups today. joining me, someone that knows all about new york politics, cnn commentator a arel lewis. president biden and close allies say he must go. you've covered new york politics for awhile. how long can he hang on? >> i would say longer than you might imagine. you know, if he wants to run with the support and cooperation of his partners in government, then sure, he'd have to leave probably before the weekend is over.

but if he wants to just tough it out and just turn into something of a political science experiment, how long can he hold on? ask donald trump about that who was impeached twice and had all kinds of acquisitions against him and said all of these women are lying said donald trump and i'll sue all of them and turned out they weren't lying and he didn't sue any of them and he had a lot of problems in his presidency but he made that problem go away and acted like it didn't exist. are we just coming through five months, don, where the governor acted as if these accusations and this on going investigation didn't exist. he cut ribbons and met with people including officials that would call for him to step down. he smiled and laughed and gave awards and five months later, just devastating report comes out. i wouldn't be surprised if he tried to do the same thing for the sun comes up tomorrow, he'll

be the glovovernor of new york. it could go much longer than you'd ever imagine. >> do you think he can tough it out until the end? >> well, you know, it depends what the end is. the reality is for months now new york voters -- >> this term, this term. there is something else you ask in the trump comparison but go on. >> look, there is a primary for his job, you know. there is a reelect coming up and the democratic primary will be in june next year. that's not far off. can he tough it out until then? it could be incredibly dysfunctional and a huge embarrassment. it would give late night comedians endless material but could happen and that would not be good for anybody. a lot of pressing issues to are not getting dealt with several lawmakers are telling me because everybody is absorbed by this on going drama. >> if they start the impeachment

process, he has to go away until they decide whether to convict or not, right, and then kathy will become the governor in the interim, correct? >> can he hang on until the end? the end could come in a couple months. if the assembly i'm pempeaches, have to step aside and the governor has 30 days and then there would be a trial. he would very likely as jay jacobs said, the chair of the state party, he would very likely be voted out of office and that would be the end and all of that could happen before the end of this year. >> quick then, can he say -- can the legislature or the assembly say it's too close to the election, why not let the voters decide. is that a possibility? >> yes, but it's highly, highly unlikely. >> all right. i get it. i get it. because i want to ask you another question. >> nobody is thinking along those lines on the democratic side. >> you compared it to trump but

with trump, he didn't have -- he had the majority of the people who could save him, right? the democrats didn't have the votes. with the governor, aren't the calls coming from inside the house saying hey, brother, you got to go? >> that's right. >> hanging on like sort of a trump like fashion is that even possible? >> but you know what? here is another scenario, this is not trump-like but andrew cuomo, the governor generally think the state legislature are not very competent. he doesn't have a lot of regard for them. he has respect for some of them but generally, he realizes that they can screw things up easily especially since we haven't had an impeachment since 1913. nobody living knows how this is supposed to go and so if they make a misstep along the way, andrew cuomo who is a former attorney general and, you know, a pretty good lawyer himself will pounce on that and the

whole thing could end up in court. and the state's highest court conveniently enough has seven members, each of whom appointed by andrew cuomo. this could go into some very strange places. [ laughter ] >> oh my gosh. oh my gosh. what was the other thing that i wanted to ask you one more thing and i can't remember since you brought up that scenario. oh, depending on public support, he could run again if, you know, if one of these plays out the way you say it, he could run again and possibly win, maybe, i don't know. who knows? >> yeah, i mean, the polls are all suggesting most voters, even before this report came out did not want him to run for a fourth term. >> all right. >> keep in mind, he's the dean of u.s. governors. there is no governor in america that's been in office as long as he has. you're coming up on 12 years and the argument he should have 16, another four years on top of it, there is such a thing of staying too long and that was a

political problem he was going to face before this report came out. >> we're in strange times so look, you never know. you never know. >> never know. >> thank you, sir. appreciate it. see you soon. new details just how far the former president went to try to stay in office and my next guest warns the gop is paving the way for another attempted coup.

so two shocking developments under the former president showing how he pressured the doj to back up his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. cnn learning a former top official in the department drafted a resignation letter because of trump's direct instructions to use a doj to support his false election fraud claims and another draft letter

obtained by abc, abc news show as trump loyalest within the doj wanting to urge top georgia officials to investigate trump's baseless fraud claims. i want to bring in cnn's senior justice correspondent evan perez. here we go. >> here we go. >> always one even more shocking than the last. so let's start with this resignation letter that was on the brink of being sent out. the official who wrote it was deeply concerned about what trump was doing to weaponize the doj, right? >> that's patrick and he was the chief of staff to the then acting attorney general jeffrey rosen and happened around new year's weekend and on that sunday, january 3rd, rosen was going to the white house and he -- they, he and other official expected that president trump was going to fire him and replace him with this other official jeffrey clark who was

an acting head of the civil division and that everything was going to change. as you know, the justice department found there was not enough fraud. there was not enough evidence to support the president's claim that the election was stolen. and here is a letter that was written, a draft that he was prepared to send and it says in part the acting attorney general jeffrey rosen over the course of the last week repeatedly refused the president's direct instructions to utilize the justice department's law enforcement powers for improper ends. in the end, rosen was not fired by the president and he testified or provided an interview yesterday, we have another couple officials expected to come in over the next couple days trying to get to the bottom of what exactly went down in those key days, don. >> listen, the draft letter by the trump loyalists at the doj

that shows forces within the department trying to carry out trump's will and the lies they were pushing in order to do it, talk to us about that. >> so jeffrey clark is the official i just talked about. he's the one that trump was talking about replacing jeffrey rosen with and here is part of what he was doing. he wanted to -- he drafted a letter for rosen to send to georgia officials telling them that there was concerns about fraud and that they should bring back the legislature as the president was trying to do. and they were resisting it and here is part of when he suggest this letter, rich donohue, the deputy attorney general at the time acting says there is no chance i would sign this letter or anything remotely like this from where i stand, this is not even within the realm of possibility. rosen responds also to the claim from clark he says it confirmed, i confirmed again today i'm not prepared to sign such a letter

and don, going back to his letter, january 3rd is the day president trump decides he'll bring clark and rosen to the white house again, a sunday evening and they spend the next few hours in some kind of bizarre reality tv show like script where the two men are essentially vying for the job of attorney general whoever wins is going to be able to decide frankly, you know, the course of history here and at the end, trump was persuaded by his advisors it was not smart to do this, he and multiple officials were ready to resign. it would be something like nixon, right? so we now know what happened three days later. people who were inspired by the president's fraud claims charged up the capitol and we know what happened. >> it sounds like some reality show competition. thank you very much. i appreciate that evan perez. i want to bring the senior

fellow at the counsel on foreign relations and "the washington post" columnists and michael bender, white house reporter for the "wall street journal" also the author frankly we did win this election, the inside story how trump lost. good evening, gentlemen to both of you. max, i'll start with you. the pressure of trump and allies putting on the doj were unprecedented and both developments show the top officials were seriously worried what could have happened if trump got his way. it's clear he was trying to set the stage for some kind of coup attempt. >> that's exactly right, don. this is an event that is unprecedented in american history. never had a president before that refused to recognize the outcome of an election and tried to overturn the election and, you know, now you're hearing a lot of excuse making for what trump did. there is a lot of people on the right saying this is all over blown and a normal tourist visit on january 6th. there was nothing to worry about. even people who admit it was

more than a normal tourist visit will say the stability of the republic was never in question. this is all over blown and over hyped by the media and democrats. no, it is not being over hyped. this is a genuine threat to the republic and the only reason trump was not able to carry out his plot was because republican office holders refused to do his bidding. for example, the georgia secretary of state or in this case the acting attorney general jeff rosen, those people stood up to trump and refused to carry out his coup attempt but we may not be that lucky next time around because right now republicans are purging anybody from the party that will put loyalty to the constitution above loyalty to donald trump. they're saying the stage for another coup attempt in 2024. >> michael, you read about the chaos in the final days of the trump presidency and how even white house officials were worried trump was a danger. when you see this new reporting,

what does it say about the president's desperation just to remain in power? >> yeah, that's right, don. it is well beyond chaos in these last couple of months, the people around him were worried about what lengths he was willing to go to to hold on to power. i mean, i have a story in the book here about early november, don, was when trump started talking about getting rid of bill barr when he offered the job to other people and offered it to richard donohue, rosen's number two but donohue wanted to follow the chain of command and insisted it be rosen and trump gave the acting job to rosen which shows how really close we came there. rosen is someone who sees his allegiance to the constitution not the office of the president and max mentions the chaos in georgia. i have that story in this book.

by the beginning of january, lawyers were showing up in georgia saying the white house sent us, we're with the white house and that sounded very odd to the people down in georgia who had been there for several months who are actually from the white house. the first team that pat sent with the campaign, they are now mitchell and rudy giuliani 's team was coming at the end adding to the pandemonium down there. >> should the doj now be investigating the former president and what he tried to do, how he tried to co-opt his doj? we'll talk about that right after the break. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat.

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we're back now with max boot and michael bender here with me. max, so many republicans are embracing the big lie. your column in "the washington post" today says that by denying trump's coup attempt, the right is laying the ground for another one. is the threat growing? what will it take it stop it? >> i think the threat is growing, don, because you see republicans putting everything in place. everything they're doing, purging dissenters from the ranks, people like liz cheney who put loyalty to the constitution above loyalty to trump. the party is making clear you have to be willing to go along with the big lie and the big steal to be a republican in good standing. all these republican state legislators around the country are passing laws to restrict the franchise, to restrict the vote. they're passing gerrymandering

s statutes, all making it more likely that republicans will take back control of the house next year and possibly the senate as well. the big thing that prevented trump from stealing the election in 2020 was the fact that republicans only controlled one chamber of congress. imagine what happens in 2024 if republicans control both the house and the senate and the election is relatively close. once again, there will be pressure from the right to not recognize electors in swing states that voted for biden. there will be pressure to assign those electors to the republican candidate, who could very well be donald trump again. are we really confident that republicans will resist that pressure in 2024? i'm not confident at all. i think the odds of a successful coup are actually growing. >> michael, that said, do you think the current department of justice, i asked this question before the break, should the current department of justice be investigating the former president's conduct?

>> i think there are a lot of questions that still have to be answered about the run-up to january 6, on january 6, and there's a lot of -- going to be a lot of back and forth over executive privilege, who is allowed to testify, who is not. one thing i'm watching here is that next layer, the people around trump who are not protected by executive privilege, who trump is in regular contact with at the campaign, at the republican national committee, and, you know, friends of his and outside advisers. >> thank you, gentlemen. i appreciate it. i'll see you soon. >> thank you. the u.s. averaging more than 90,000 coronavirus cases a day right now. but instead of making public health a priority, the country's republican governors are using the pandemic to score political points. e talk to my manager." next, carvana's 100% online shopping experience. oh, man. carvana lets people buy a car-- get this-- from their couch.

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tonight the pressure is building on new york's embattled governor andrew cuomo to resign. the head of the state's democratic party says cuomo has to go. and the state assembly has enough votes to impeach him after new york's attorney general released a report on allegations cuomo sexually harassed multiple women. also tonight, the defense secretary expected to require all active duty u.s. troops to get the covid vaccine. it could happen as soon as this week. cases nationwide spiking. now more than 90,000 new cases each day. and florida's governor ron desantis sniping at joe biden after the president called on him and other gop governors to help fight the spread of covid or get out of the way. joining me now, cnn political commentator charlie dent and cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein. charlie, you're up first. the day after president biden was urging republican governors to help or get out of the way, florida governor ron desantis is firing back. en