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CNN NEWSROOM

Top Republicans Refute Trump's Unproven "Spy" Claim; McCabe Seeks Immunity Deal Ahead of Congressional Testimony on Clinton E-mail Probe; Bill Clinton Tries to Clean Up Comments on Lewinsky; Samantha Bee to Speak Out on Vulgar Comments about Ivanka Trump; Tributes Pour in for Fashion Icon Kate Spade. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 6, 2018 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Gowdy said the FBI did exactly what it was supposed to do. He got a lot of criticism from people like Rudy Giuliani, on down. Others on the right criticizing Trey Gowdy. But only a handful of members in Congress have seen the classified intelligence about this confidential FBI source.

One of those members was Paul Ryan. When I asked him today about whether or not he agrees with Trey Gowdy, he said he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Right before the recess, you sat in a briefing with Trey Gowdy who came out afterwards and said he's more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do. Do you agree with Trey Gowdy?

REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Normally, I don't like to comment on classified briefings. Let me say it this way. I think chairman Gowdy's initial assessment is accurate. But we have some more digging to do. We're waiting for some more document requests, more documents to review, we still have some unanswered questions. It would have been helpful if we got this information earlier. As Chairman Nunes said the other day, if we got all the other information we're looking for, we could wrap this up faster. I've seen no evidence to the contrary of the initial assessment that chairman Gowdy has made and get the final answers to these questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: There were five Republicans in those two briefings last month. Four of the five have poured cold water in that this is a massive conspiracy, Spygate as President Trump claim. The only that has not done that is Devin Nunes, who would refuse to comment, and he has criticized the media and asked for more records. He's the only members of Congress who has seen this intelligence who has not said that there's really no evidence to back up the president's claim -- Brooke?

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: What about quickly, Manu, on the Senator side and Senator Burr? He's backing Gowdy, right? RAJU: He's backing Gowdy in a very significant way. Because he declined to comment about this earlier this week, Brooke, but today, saying he also backs Trey Gowdy. There are four out of the five Republicans backing Trey Gowdy on this.

BALDWIN: Got it.

Manu, thank you.

Meantime, fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe heads to Capitol Hill next week to testify on the Clinton e-mail probe. But there's one potential roadblock. He won't do it if he cannot receive immunity. The demand, as outlined in this letter obtained by CNN and sent by McCabe's attorney to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. Grassley wants to discuss the long-awaited internal Justice Department report and the details on how officials handed that whole investigation. Sources say the report will detail a series of missteps.

Laura Jarret is all over this for us today. She's our CNN justice reporter who broke this story.

Why is McCabe asking for this immunity, Laura?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Unlike many of the other former officials that Senator Grassley is hoping will testify in the coming weeks, McCabe is in a tough spot here. He was fired after it was found he lied to internal investigators about a separate inspector general's report. Since that time, he's been under investigation by the U.S. attorney's office here in D.C. He maintains he did absolutely nothing wrong. The concern here is that whatever he says in this congressional hearing could be used against him in his criminal case. He also says that he would like to turn over some documents that he believes would exonerate him, but he can't do it because he's under a nondisclosure agreement. So as a result of all of this, his lawyer is asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to give him a limited immunity deal -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: So if he's denied that, though, in this letter, it's indicated that he will invoke the Fifth. Would that spell legal trouble for him?

JARRETT: This could escalate quickly. If for whatever reason he doesn't get this immunity deal, but Senator Grassley and others insist he still come, then we could see a real confrontation. They could serve him with a subpoena, and if he doesn't answer questions and does invoke the Fifth Amendment, then Senators could escalate this even further and try to pursue contempt charges in court.

BALDWIN: Laura Jarrett, thank you.

JARRETT: Thank you.

[14:34:19] BALDWIN: A quick programming note. Ahead this evening on CNN, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, both join Chris Cuomo, airs at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

Coming up, Comedian's mea culpa. Samantha Bee is set to kick off her show tonight by talking about the vulgar comment she made about Ivanka Trump last week. What will she say? We'll get a preview.

And an icon remembered. The niece of Kate Spade speaks out about the legendary designer and how she would have wanted to be remembered.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Two words, "tone deaf." That is how late-night host, Stephen Colbert, labeled former President Bill Clinton's recent comments on Monica Lewinsky and the "Me Too" movement. Colbert question Clinton about his widely criticized statements to NBC that he, quote, "Did the right thing," during that scandal and that, quote, "This was litigated 20 years ago."

Last night, the former president took a much different tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They had to distill it. And it looked like I was saying I didn't apologize and I had no intention to. And I was mad at me. It wasn't my finest hour. The important thing is that was a very painful thing that happened 20 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Just as a reminder, this is exactly what Clinton said to NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I felt terrible then and I came to grips with it.

CRAIG MELVIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Did you ever apologize to her?

CLINTON: Yes.

Nobody believes that I got out of that free. I left the White House $16 million in debt. But you typically have ignored gaping facts in describing this. And I bet you don't even know them. This was litigated 20 years ago. Two-thirds of the American people sided with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:40:21] BALDWIN: Hadas Gold, CNN politics, media and business reporter is with us. As is Heather McDonald. She is back, comedian and former writer of "Chelsea Lately."

Ladies.

Hadas, let me start with you.

Bill Clinton responded "no" when asked if he owed Monica Lewinsky an apology. And how is his clean-up being received?

HADAS GOLD, CNN POLITICS, MEDIA & BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT; You can tell Bill Clinton is thinking of the context of 20 years ago or so. I was thinking about this earlier today when I was younger and hearing about the Monica Lewinsky scandal, I remember thinking in my head this is somehow her fault. Now I think we see this from a different context. Stephen Colbert laid it out pretty well on his show and he confronted Bill Clinton. He said you are the perfect example of a man in a powerful position, using your position in a sexually inappropriate way. I mean, the top of the example. And I think it's really stunning that in this era it's sort of these late-night hosts are stepping forward and being these people to push on these subjects. It was pretty clear that if Bill Clinton realized if he didn't address this and change his tone, his entire book tour, which is the reason he's going on all these shows, would be overshadowed by this. The way he's talking about this, we're just in a totally different era now in how we treat these different situations. Look at how most people look at Monica Lewinsky now versus how she was perceived decades ago.

BALDWIN: Same exact sentiment. Being a much younger woman, Monica Lewinsky. And secondly, props to Stephen Colbert. He asked all the right questions that he needed to.

Heather, you watched. How do you think Bill Clinton did with this do- over interview?

HEATHER MCDONALD, COMEDIAN & FORMER WRITER OF "CHELSEA LATELY": I don't think it was good. Oh, boo-hoo, your $60 million in debt. It was really unfortunate. Monica Lewinsky came at the wrong time. She didn't have the "Me Too" movement behind her. Also if this happened in the Obama administration and she might have had an affair with a president maybe five years ago, even then she would have had the Kardashian effect behind her in that she could have made a career out of some of this fame. But at that time she was completely shamed. She did not have anywhere to go really. She had a little couple stints here in the entertainment world but nothing like today where she would be probably be doing TED talks about her experience. But at that time, it was really sad. And I think that her life has not been great and been very difficult throughout these decades.

BALDWIN: I can't begin to put myself in the skin of Monica Lewinsky. From what I can tell, I think she's doing all right. She's giving impressive talks and writing for "Vanity Fair." But I agree with you --

(CROSSTALK)

MCDONALD: Now she is --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Now she is. But back in the day

(CROSSTALK)

MCDONALD: -- or even 10 years ago. BALDWIN: Totally, totally agree. Different era, different time, and

didn't have the support.

Moving on to Samantha Bee.

And, Heather, you and I were talking about this last week.

But, Hadas, she said something entirely vulgar and offensive. She's coming on tonight, she tapes her show, it will air this evening. What are you hearing? How is she going to handle this?

GOLD: From what we understand is that Samantha Bee will be addressing this at the very top of her show. Our colleague, Brian Stelter, has done some reporting on this. They've been working on this for over a week. I think what we're going to see was previewed at an awards ceremony last week that was not necessarily open to the press. She accepted an award and admitted she sometimes needs to have a filter and she did not use that filter properly. She said she plans to continue doing what her show does, which is pointing out injustices and pointing out things that are wrong, and that the entire world spent too much time focusing on one word when they should have been focusing on children at the border. Tonight, she will probably admit she should not have used that word. But then she's going to try to fix the focus and say we're really need to be focusing on what's happening around us. Yes, I probably could have used my words better. But I don't think she's going to be laying down on this at all.

BALDWIN: Heather, put yourself in her shoes. You're a comedian. You've written for the often-salacious Chelsea Handler. What should she say?

[14:45:09] MCDONALD: I think she should say the good news is, is that 20 years ago, middle-school kids were asking, what is oral sex with Bill Clinton, but now they're looking up the word feckless and using it in an essay and move away from the other word that followed that. And I'd say I'm going to keep bringing out great descriptive vocabulary word that everybody can use and maybe educate you in another word. And I apologize for using another word. That is not as worthy as feckless.

BALDWIN: We'll be watching. We'll talk about it tomorrow.

Ladies, thank you so much, Hadas and Heather.

Coming up, tributes pouring in for a titan in the fashion industry. How Kate Spade is being remembered by her family a day after her shocking death at the age of 55.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:29] BALDWIN: Emotional tributes have been pouring in for iconic designer, Kate Spade, found dead in her apartment at the age of 55. Her death an apparent suicide, drawing strong reactions from Hollywood, friends and fans.

Actress Mindy Kaling tweeting, "I am heartbroken about the news of Kate Spade. I have worn her clothes many, many times. They were colorful, bold, cheerful and encouraging us to find the twinkly person inside them. You couldn't walk into her boutique and not smile."

And this from comedian, David Spade, the late designer's brother-in- law, "She could make me laugh so hard. I still can't believe it. It's a rough world out there, people. Try to hang on."

Brynn Gingras is outside of Kate Spade's New York apartment there.

Brynn, are you learning any more as to the question why?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brooke, we actually just saw three NYPD police officers walk into her Park Avenue building here. So it's clear that they're still asking questions as well to get those answers. It's not very clear as to why the circumstances led, but we know she did commit suicide and that there was a note left that addressed both her daughter and her husband of 24 years. But it's not clear as to why. That's what makes this so difficult to process. We're also waiting for the medical examiner's report to come out and that should give us at least the manner and cause of death and then possibly a toxicology report to follow that. As everyone sort of grapples with understanding the why, as you mentioned, there are tributes pouring in. I want to show you a few of the family ones coming in, one specifically from her niece, Rachel Brosnahan (ph) on an Amazon prime series, she posted this picture of her and her husband dancing together to a mariachi band and she posted a lovely sentiment about her aunt and her broken, David Spade.

In an interview in 2002, she said how she would like to be remembered. She said, quote, "I hope that people remember me not just as a good business woman but as a great friend and a heck of a lot of fun."

That's what we're hearing, Brooke, is that she was a lot of fun, that she was nice and that she was a generous, kind person -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Looking at the video of her dancing with her husband. I keep thinking about their 13-year-old daughter.

Brynn Gingras, thank you very much.

As these tributes are pouring in, a lot of people, including myself, are including this number. I want to pass this along on live TV, the National Suicide Prevention hotline, 1-800-273-8255.

Coming up, a White House contractor wanted for attempted murder gets arrested by the Secret Service as he shows up for work. We're going to get you a live report on that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:58:01] BALDWIN: This next story is absolutely crazy and exciting. Imagine beating traffic by flying above it in your car. That may soon be the case.

CNN's Rachel Crane got an exclusive first look at a new vehicle that's bringing the Jetsons to real life. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): OK, so this was definitely one of the crazier experiences of my career. But what is this thing and why am I flying it?

I'm at a secret facility in Lake Las Vegas, the training center for company, Kitty Hawk.

SABASTIAN THRUN, CEO, KITTY HAWK: The mission of Kitty Hawk is to get everybody to fly every day and eventually get rid of traffic.

CRANE: That's Kitty Hawk's CEO Sebastian Thrun. And he's suggesting making the Jetson's flying cars a reality.

(SINGING)

THRUN: It's a long step to the final. This is a recreational vehicle. But in the far distant future, I can see maybe we take something similar like this and fly into New York and Manhattan.

CRANE: Flyer is Kitty Hawk's first commercial vehicle. Todd Reichardt is the company's lead engineer.

TODD REICHARDT, LEAD ENGINEER, KITTY HAWK: You basically have 12 moving parts.

CRANE (on camera): OK. What are those moving parts?

REICHARDT: Ten motors.

CRANE: Right.

REICHARDT: And two control sticks. That's it.

CRANE (voice-over): While operating it may be simple, incorporating vehicles like this in our everyday commutes will be a whole lot more complicated.

For now, Kitty Hawk is playing it safe. Their engineers wouldn't let me fly over land or faster than six miles per hour. And trust me, I wanted to. Kitty Hawk says the vehicle is capable of going much faster.

(SHOUTING)

THRUN: Physically, I think it's very conceivable that a vehicle like this at some point 50, 60, maybe even 100 miles per hour.

CRANE: Even with the conservative safety restrictions, I still had a blast. They made it pretty idiot proof. To fly this, you don't need a pilot's license. If you take your hands off the control, it just hovers in place.

REICHARDT: This is transformational in terms of how accessible we can make flights. [15:00:02] CRANE: But in order for it to be truly transformational, people have to be willing to fly them.

(on camera): When most people think about flying cars, actually, they're pretty scared and also very intrigued.

THRUN: The number-one most important thing other than safety for us is the --