CNN's Don Lemon praises Biden after urging him to condemn riots: He put Trump 'on his heels'

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Joe Biden condemns violence, says Trump is causing division

Biden uses campaign event to blame Trump for violence and unrest in America; Peter Doocy reports from Bedford, Pennsylvania.

CNN anchor Don Lemon praised Joe Biden over the Democratic candidate's speech condemning the riots, insisting that he has put President Trump "on his heels."

Lemon made a direct plea to Biden last week to address the issue. Kenosha, Wis., was suffering its third night of violence at the time following the shooting of Jacob Blake.

"He's got to come out to talk about it. He's got to do a speech like Barack Obama did about race," Lemon said. "The rioting has to stop... it's showing up in the polling; it's showing up in focus groups; it is the only thing right now that is sticking."

Biden on Monday condemned the violence that has taken place in cities across the country, which earned plenty of praise from the "CNN Tonight" anchor.

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"You're going to hear a lot of lies from the president this week and moving forward... so I want to kick this show off tonight with the truth. And that is the truth about what Joe Biden says about violence and rioting. Not the lies, but we're going to start with the truth," Lemon began before playing a clip of the Democratic nominee condemning the violence. "So do we really need to hear more lies from the president? No. That is what Americans need to hear, the truth. We need to hear our leaders denouncing the violence in our streets. Denouncing it. We need to hear them tell us the truth that rioting divides instead of unites. But this president can't say that. He cannot denounce the violence. He just cannot. He cannot admit that it divides instead of unites... Election Day is just 63 days away. He's desperate and he desperately needs to change the subject."

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Lemon insisted Trump "can't run on his record" despite what the "propaganda videos and speeches" claimed during last week's Republican National Convention, pointing to the six million coronavirus cases and the over 180,000 deaths from the outbreak.

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He went on to knock the president, who during his press conference slammed Biden for not specifically denouncing Antifa or "the far left."

"Joe Biden put him on his heels today," Lemon gloated.

Lemon accused Trump of wanting to "terrify" Americans into voting for him in November, downplaying the riots as being in "a couple of city blocks," not the "entire city."