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House Intel Tells White House to Hand Over Tapes; Trump: Comey a Liar, a Leaker; Sessions Set for Grilling over Russia Meetings, Comey Firing; Trump Lawyer to File Complaint Against Comey over Leaked Memos; Media Coverage of Comey Testimony; Adam West, the Original Batman, Dies. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired June 10, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00] BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: We should point out he did apologize one day after. He reiterated the apology on the program. I think in his mind, it is over. But I think it's valuable with Ice Cube sitting there with him saying that word is a knife. It can be used as a tool or a weapon. You rarely get blunt conversations on TV like that.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Of course, we'll watch you tomorrow on "Reliable Sources," 11:00 a.m. eastern right here on CNN.

We've got so much more ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, and it all starts right now.

Hello, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

President Trump spending the weekend at his golf club in New Jersey. Despite getting out of Washington, it is facing demands House investigators who have given him two weeks to turn over memos or tapes with former fired FBI Director James Comey. We'll hear more this coming week perhaps. The Senate Judiciary Committee could receive the Comey memos as early as Monday. And on Tuesday Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify before a Senate panel where he will likely be grilled on his own alleged contacts with the Russians and the firing of James Comey.

CNN White House correspondent, Athena Jones, is in New Jersey, joining me live.

Athena, the president coming out yesterday saying he is 100 percent willing to testify under oath. Will that happen?

ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. That's right. It's a remarkable statement for the president to make. Certainly, the biggest headline to come out of that press conference yesterday. The president saying he's 100 percent willing to testify under oath before special counsel, Bob Mueller, denying some of the details that the former FBI director spelled out not only in his testimony of the Senate panel but also in these memos we've been talking so much about.

What's so interesting, Fred, is you have the White House in a position where they're using the same testimony to prove, to say that this is -- this has cleared the president on one level, and then disputing other aspects of it. And what's difficult here for the White House is you have the former FBI Director Comey who has kept these contemporaneous memos. So does the White House have any memos or recordings of their own to disprove what Comey has alleged?

So that's where you get to the question of whether there are tapes or audio recordings. This is a question that was posed to the president yesterday. Listen to how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do tapes exist of your conversations with him?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'll tell you about that sometime maybe in the very near future.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You seem to be hinting that there are recordings of those conversations.

TRUMP: I'm not hinting about anything. I'll tell you about it in a very short period of time, OK?

Do you have a question here?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When will you tell us about --

TRUMP: Over a fairly short period of time.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are there tapes, sir?

TRUMP: Oh, you're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer. Don't worry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So here we still don't have an answer to whether there will not sort of audio recordings. He mentioned tapes, of course, the president did, in that May 12th tweet. That's why the White House has been being posed this question now for nearly a month. We still don't have an answer. But it was an odd thing for the president to suggest on Twitter and it continues to be odd that there's no clarification yet.

One more thing, Fred. He says at the end, he said, you'll be very disappointed when you hear the answer. The question is does that mean there are no tapes or that the tapes --

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: -- or does that mean that the tapes will corroborate what the president has to say and that will somehow be disappointing? It's a big head scratcher and we have to wait until we get some answers.

WHITFIELD: That was confusing. I was hoping you would offer clarity. We'll remain in the dark as to what that means but we'll see what happens.

Athena Jones, thank you so much.

In the wake of fired FBI Director James Comey's bombshell testimony, President Trump is responding by calling Comey a liar, a leaker, and hinting at the possible tape recording of their conversation. So where does the independent investigation into Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with members of the Trump campaign go from here?

Let's bring in CNN crime and justice producer, Shimon Prokupecz.

Shimon, what is next for special counsel, Robert Mueller?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE PRODUCER: It certainly seems, Fred, he has a lot on his plate now, aside from taking over the investigation of the meddling and collusion and the whole investigation into the Trump campaign as to whether or not anyone was colluding with the Russians during the campaign. It now seems the obstruction of justice investigation will probably take lot of focus. Certainly after what Comey said and the evidence that, in his mind, he laid out of possible obstruction of justice, of the firing being related to the Russian, to his investigation of Russia, and his unwillingness to drop it, certainly the question about Flynn, Michael Flynn, and whether or not he would drop that case. You know, Comey was very clear in his testimony that he felt he was fired because of the Russian investigation. So Bob Mueller, who is a special counsel, now probably has to look at this. He will probably formally interview Comey.

And then the next big question is, do people in the White House start getting questioned? Are there requests sent to the White House counsel office, to Trump's personal attorney to begin the process of this investigation? And also will FBI agents start this investigation? Start interviews, put in requests for documents? That's going to begin in the next few weeks if Bob Mueller says, you know what, I do want to go into this. Can you imagine all the attention that's going to bring to the White House?

Ironically, Trump had the whole thing of where he wanted Comey to say, I'm not under investigation, why don't you tell that to the people. Now Trump could potentially be under investigation for obstruction.

[13:06:17] WHITFIELD: All right. Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.

Let's talk with my panel now. Salena Zito is a CNN contributor and reporter at "The Washington Examiner." Page Pate is a CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney. And Steve Moore is a CNN law enforcement contributor and retired supervisor and special agent for the FBI.

Good to see all of you.

Salena, you first.

The president has said James Comey was not truthful in his testimony. He called him a liar. So why doesn't the president come out with his version of events?

SALENA ZITO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that's a really good question. I don't -- I suspect that he will come out with his own version of events, right? He said he's willing to testify. He said he's willing to testify under oath. While that will be incredibly dramatic if it comes to that, I suspect that either through the White House or through Trump himself or through a statement or through a -- well, probably not a tweet, we'll get to the bottom of what that means. He has an interesting dichotomy of words. He doesn't speak the way most politicians or reporters do, so you're always sort of left, you know, hangs as to, you know, literally what does that mean? It's a completely different authentic with this man.

WHITFIELD: So, Page, if you were the president's counsel, A, I'm sure you would say, no, don't tweet, but that he got up there in the Rose Garden and said, 100 percent I would testify, if you were his attorney, were you cringing at that point or were you saying, yeah, at some point, he should and will be compelled to give his version?

PAGE PATE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Those are two different questions. I would never advise the president in this situation to voluntarily appear and testify under oath. No lawyer would do that. We saw with Bill Clinton, it's not so much the criminal conduct they're initially investigating but the intent to cover it up. Any false statement you make under oath can be perjury and that's a separate federal crime. No, you would advise him not to testify. I don't think he has any plan to do that. I think he said that in response --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: As an attorney, how you do argue against him? If he is subpoenas, if there is a deposition, how do you say, no, he won't? Because he already said in the Rose Garden there, I want to do it. The attorney becomes the bad guys and says, I am advising him against doing that?

PAGE: Absolutely. I think the president wants him to happen. He's made many statements, many promises that he's had to walk back. In a situation like this he could say, look, I really wanted to do it but on the vice of counsel I decide not to.

WHITFIELD: Steve, if the president does testify or does in some way give his account, it's really a "he said" versus "he said." Who's been more credible here, the president or James Comey?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: That's going to depend on what side of the aisle you're sitting on. I can tell you, I had an experience where in a large case it came down to "he said, I said." The judge ruled in my favor and the FBI's favor because I had taken contemporaneous notes of the interview with this person within two or three days after the interview, and this person had nothing to show that what I said was not the truth. And so the judge ruled -- and this became a conviction -- the judge ruled because I had made contemporaneous notes. I was the more trustworthy and more accurate. And so I think Trump is going to have a problem if --

WHITFIELD: But does track record, a person's history, their character, all of that comes into play when measuring credibility.

[13:09:54] MOORE: It does. And Trump is going to say that Comey has been all over the place in the past year, and there's going to be some evidence that President Trump has said some things demonstrably untrue. I think Comey's got the nod if you have to go to the fact that one person has made notes.

WHITFIELD: Page, you are kind of grimacing on all of that?

PAGE: All of that is important, but also it's motive to lie. Who has the motive to make a false statement? Is it Comey, who no longer has his position, no longer has that job, or the president, who's under investigation for obstruction? If you add all those factors together, clearly, Comey is the more credible.

WHITFIELD: All right.

So, Salena, the issue of whether these memos were leaked, whether Comey is a whistle blower, and the president used the word he leaked the information, but we're not talking about classified information. It's being argued as to whether James Comey was in the wrong for sharing this information with a friend with the sole purpose of giving it to the media. Comey's version is he wanted this account to get some attention so as to lead to a special prosecutor, a special counsel.

ZITO: Yeah. You know, what's really interesting to me and as I talk to people on both sides of the aisle about how this has all played out and played out on television the other day, these are two polarizing figures, right? Comey is not loved by partisans on either side of the aisle. If you talk to Clinton voters in the Midwest, they don't love him. You talk to Trump voters out in the Midwest, they don't love him. So you have these two men who strike a nerve with different factions of people. And I think it's really interesting to, you know, see how this plays out in the court of public opinion. Yes, what happens, the proceedings really matter, but it's interesting to watch people's reaction to both men.

WHITFIELD: Thanks to all of you, Steve, Page, Salena. We'll have you back after break.

Tomorrow, on "State of the Union," Jake Tapper sitting down with Senator Dianne Feinstein. She discusses her calls for the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate any obstruction of justice over the president's firing of James Comey. That's at 9:00 a.m. eastern, right here on CNN.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:16:38] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. A live look out of Galveston, Texas. A look at saluting Navy men, saluting the flag with former Congresswoman Gabby Gifford. And standing alongside her former presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. Today, Gabby Gifford -- sadly you do not see her now -- but she's being honored as the U.S. Navy commissions the new "USS Gabrielle Giffords," a U.S. ship. Also attending the event, Hillary Clinton and the former Second Lady Jill Biden. Clinton is expected to make remarks for her good friend, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. We'll take you there as that happens. There. Now you can see the big reveal with Gabby Giffords there. All of this in her honor.

In the meantime, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be in the hot seat next week as he testifies about the Justice Department's budget. He's also expected to face a grilling over new reports about his relationship with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sources tell CNN that fired FBI Director James Comey told Senators, behind closed doors, on Thursday, that Sessions may have had a third undisclosed meeting with Sergey Kislyak.

Back with me to discuss this, CNN contributor, Salena Zito; and CNN legal analyst, Page Pate.

Page, let me begin with you.

Reports Sessions may have had another undisclosed meeting, a third meeting. Remember, he had clarified his form that he filled out when he said there were no meetings to speak of and then he clarified that there were. Now apparently, according to Comey's testimony, there may, indeed, have been another. What does that mean?

PATE: Well

# Is that oversight? Is that perjury? What is this laying the groundwork for?

PAGE: Clarified is one of those great Washington words. Basically, he changed his story and changed it completely. Can you change a story one time? Can you forget one meeting? Possibly. Two? Maybe. Three? At some point, we have to say he's got an intent not to disclose this information when it's not just one quick meeting. It's several. So if there is the intent not to disclose, if he's under oath when testifying before Congress, and he is, then he could be charged with perjury if they can prove he had the intent to mislead by withholding that information.

WHITFIELD: Salena, a spokesman for Sessions pushed back on several aspects of Comey's testimony, saying the attorney general recused himself from the Russia investigation because he was a Trump campaign surrogate. For that reason alone, when Sessions testifies on Tuesday, he will need to, you know, clear the air under oath about any of these undisclosed meetings. And the whole issue of meeting, you know, is debatable, too. What is at stake for Sessions here?

ZITO: Well, I mean, at stake is his credibility, right? This is the head of justice. There has to be a measure of trust that he makes with the American -- not only with government and the president but the American public. You have to trust someone that's the top law enforcement person in this country to be someone who is above reproach.

Now, as to your other guest's point, this could be a matter of a pattern of behavior of not disclosing things. This could be, Senators meet -- and every Senator will tell you this -- they meet with an abundance of people. The definition of meeting could be, did the ambassador come in the room and go out of the room into his office, or was this a sit-down meeting? I think those are all the things that are really important to come out in this testimony.

[13:20:39] WHITFIELD: Except, Page, you've got so many reports of meetings with a number of people within the Trump orbit who either forgot to, didn't disclose their meeting with, whether it be with Kislyak or other Russians. I'm talking about, Jared Kushner, special adviser to Michael Trump, Michael Flynn, no longer with NSA, and now Jeff Sessions, too.

PATE: Right.

WHITFIELD: So what is the legal argument when you have all these coincidences involving people who all have common interests or have similar placement within this campaign?

PATE: The common thread is Russia. All these individuals were representatives of the Russian government and now there's an investigation to determine whether Russia and their representatives interfered in our election. To try to determine whether someone is intending to mislead, if someone is committing perjury, you don't just look at what they said. You look at the circumstances under which they said it and for a pattern of misconduct or pattern of behavior that would indicate they should have known. No one knows if he forgot. You can't look inside a man's head and determine whether he's telling the truth or not. You have to look at all the circumstances.

WHITFIELD: Then the issue of the tapes as it relates to James Comey, his testimony, and the president who said right there in the Rose Garden, the truth will come out, he's willing to testify 100 percent. Then when asked about the tapes, he would say, you know, you're going to be very disappointed. So many trying to figure out what that means.

So, Page, if there are tapes, still trying to figure it out what he means by you're going to be very disappointed. If there are tapes, if there aren't, how his team going to go about discovering whether are tapes, what types of tapes, White House tapes, personal tapes of the president, whether they were disposed of or whether it was just a distraction?

PATE: They have to ask, and they have to ask officially. They don't have to just ask the president. If the Oval Office is set up in a way to record conservations, which would not be a surprise, given the importance of what's discussed in that room, others will know about it. The special counsel can issue subpoenas, have interview requests, try to determine if anyone knows anything about a taping system. I find it hard to believe, if there are no tapes, we wouldn't have heard from the White House. Why spend so much time thinking about this, pondering it, making it such a big mystery, unless there were tapes and there are not tapes anymore.

WHITFIELD: Salena, what's your view on this? It was the president who brought it up in the first place with the tweets, you better hope there are no tapes here. Then he continued on with the thread. Then from the Rose Garden, leaving another ominous vision of what is going on with tapes.

ZITO: I find it interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he have tapes in quotation marks when he tweeted it?

WHITFIELD: Just like the wiretapping.

ZITO: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- try to figure that one out.

ZITO: Right. It's difficult to say. Is he saying it sarcastically or air quotes? You know? You just don't know. As you pointed out, he said yesterday, well, you're be disappointed. You can take that a multitude of ways, like you be disappointed because there's nothing to find out, or you're be disappointed because of what's on there. We have no idea, right?

WHITFIELD: Right. We don't. It's no laughing matter because it's all serious stuff. Boy, it's also confusing, isn't it?

All right. Salena Zito, Page Pate, good to see you both. Thanks so much.

PATE: Thank you.

[13:24:28] WHITFIELD: Still ahead, some very sad news out of Hollywood. The original Batman, Adam West, has died. Come up, we speak to Catwoman, Julie Newmar, about his life and legacy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Live pictures coming out of Seattle, Washington, where an anti-Sharia Law march is underway. Demonstrations are happening nationwide today as are anti-Islamophobia marches.

President Donald Trump's blistering response to James Comey's testimony is not over yet. The president's legal team is preparing to file a complaint against the fired FBI director with the department of Justice inspector general and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Two sources tell CNN the complaint will focus on very specific testimony Comey gave about his decision to publicly share contents of his memos, which detailed his conversations with the president. Here is some of that testimony. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: The president tweeted on Friday after I got fired that I'd better hope there's not tapes. I woke up in the middle of night on Monday night, because it didn't dawn on me originally, that there might be corroboration for our conversation, there might be a tape. And my judgement was I needed to get that out into the public square.

[13:30:00] So I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. I didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons, but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel. So I asked a close friend of mine to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, here to discuss, criminal attorney, Richard Herman, and civil rights attorney and law professor, Avery Friedman.

Good to see both of you.

HERMAN: Hi, Fredericka.

FREIDMAN: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Richard, you first.

What kind of complaint would you expect from Trump and his attorneys when they talk about Comey releasing a portion of his memos?

HERMAN: You know, Fred, this is so preposterous for anybody in the legal profession to see what's going on here with this Kasowitz, who is completely a fish out of water. He has no idea what he's doing.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Marc Kasowitz, the attorney representing Donald Trump.

HERMAN: He does not know the law. He does not know the law on whistleblowers. He does not know the law on executive privilege, which was waived. He does not know the law on the fact that Comey, at the time, kept notes, personal memoranda. He disseminated them as a private citizen, not as an employee of the FBI, to a friend, who read experts of those to "The New York Times." There's no privilege here, Fred. This is not a national security issue. There is nothing wrong with what Comey did here. Nothing at all. And this barking by his attorney is just more absurdity coming from the Trump team.

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: It's just outrageous. He needs a real criminal defense attorney, Mr. Trump. He needs one now. Not a general practitioner who's like a barking dog talking meaningless rubbage.

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: That's what it is, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yikes.

Avery, are you in agreement that the because the information was not a classified conversation, meaning the way Comey took the notes, he did not, you know, classify these notes? They were unclassified? He did share them with FBI higher-ups, as well as to his friend to disseminate to the media, and so he did not jeopardize any kind of privilege with the president?

FRIEDMAN: Well, those are the two issues. Number one, were the documents classified? Answer, no. The second question, was the conversation or notes privileged? The answer is no. So the fact it was disseminated doesn't make them -- I guess the president called him a leaker.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

FRIEDMAN: In terms of what that means in terms of classified documents, he was not. The question now becomes, OK, who's telling the truth, what tests of credibility do we use? We look at behavior, reputation, truthfulness. We look at whether someone is erratic rather than careful, the normal tests that judges and juries use. And once you go to those tests, Fredricka, you can easily evaluate who's telling the truth and who isn't.

WHITFIELD: Are you saying this would be a frivolous complaint?

FRIEDMAN: It's not frivolous. It's not going to result in anything. If you want us to give a complaint with the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Justice, OK, but they can't do anything about it. If he wants to file a complaint with the Senate Judiciary, OK, but they can't do anything about it.

(CROSSTALK)

FRIEDMAN: It's essentially a cross-punch.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: It's kind of subjective whether there is some merit. I mean the --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: All right, so --

HERMAN: It's worse than that, than a frivolous complaint. It's worse than that, Fred. It could rise to the level of abuse of process. It could rise to the level of further obstruction. This lawyer could have brought more jeopardy to Trump by issuing that threatening letter.

I'm telling you, Fred. They have no idea what I they're doing. This is not commercial practice in New York City. They're in a real

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: They're in a delusional state to say --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So quickly, before I let you go, if either one of you were representing Donald Trump and he said 100 percent he's willing on testify under oath, Avery, you first, and Richard, if you were his attorney, would you let him to set the record straight, testify?

FRIEDMAN: Heck no. That's insane. He's not going to testify. It's never going to happen.

WHITFIELD: Richard?

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: The president wants to do it.

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: Yeah, he wants to do it. He's delusional, a serial, compulsive liar, and he'll walk into more criminal jeopardy for perjury --

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: He's never going to do it, Fred. Never. They're never going to let him do it.

We'll leave it there. You, two, in agreement.

Avery Friedman, Richard Herman, always good to see you.

And, Avery, congratulations. Cleveland Bar Association honoring Avery because he's amazing.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: I'm happy for you. Congratulations.

FRIEDMAN: Thanks.

[13:35:55] WHITFIELD: Good to see you all. Thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The dramatic testimony surrounding the Russia investigation kicks into high gear again on Tuesday when Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to be grilled at a hearing on Capitol Hill. Until then, the testimony of fired former FBI Director James Comey's

is dominating the headlines. And many of those headlines are drastically different in tone and message. We're also hearing polar opposite views from analyst on the content of Comey's testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: A huge victory for Donald Trump today and a massive defeat for the Democrats and, of course, the propaganda media.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR: Well, this is going to end bad.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Let's see where we are now. A month of shrieking hype, millions of words and hundreds of hours of the shrillest television every produced add up to pretty much nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Today, really was, as it was predicted to be, the worst day of the Trump presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining us now, CNN media analyst, Bill Carter; and Media Matters president, Angelo Carusone.

Good to see both of you.

Bill, first, so much spin on this story and so many points of view, you know, the worst Day of the president's life, vindication, all of that. What do you say to viewers looking for the real takeaways from this hearing?

[13:40:15] BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: I think it's best to steer away from the propaganda channels. You can sit back and say, oh, anybody who criticizes Trump, it's propaganda. But the facts are pretty devastating. There's a guy under oath saying pretty outrageously accusatory things and you have his defenders coming on. Basically, they're speaking to their audience. That's their supporters. They're going to take that point of view no matter what happens, no matter what the facts are. They're basically selling out the truth to give a point of view. And I they're eventually the truth will either vindicate them or convict him of being wrong.

WHITFIELD: And, Angelo, your organization, Media Matters, pointed out in a recent article that right-wing media figures also claimed Comey suggested Trump and his administration did not try to obstruct any probe in any matters. Here's comey's testimony on the question of obstruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMEY: I don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct. I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning, but that's a conclusion I'm sure the special counsel will work towards, to try to understand what the intention was there and whether that's an offense. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. How would you see this?

ANGELO CARUSONE, PRESIDENT, MEDIA MATTERS: I think if I were to characterize the responses, three things. One is spin, the creation of an alternative reality, and then dumpster-diving. All three things are happening at the same time. On the spin front, a lot of there's nothing to see here. On the liberal side, clearly, there's a little bit of trying to get -- jump to the conclusion. The other two are the more interesting parts. In the alternative reality, there's a very large part of the conservative media and I think that's partly what you were getting to with that clip. Even the RNC fell for that and sent out a tweet promoting a claim that was based off a totally mashed together quote from Comey that talked about this hearing but reference previous things he said during other testimony in order to support the idea he had vindicated Trump completely. They're also making the argument that Trump -- Comey himself is somehow on the hook and might end up being prosecuted. So that's the alternative reality. And then the dumpster diving, and there was a large threat yesterday on talk radio that was questioning whether or not Comey is hiding something about his gender because, according to the talk radio show hosts, men don't write the way Comey does. And then the dumpster diving with the Seth Rich stuff.

WHITFIELD: OK, that was way out there. You caught me by surprise on that one.

CARUSONE: Yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Whew.

Let's go back.

Bill, there were some publications. You know, you've got a variation of such. Some are advocating either left or right and some are right down the middle. So when viewers or readers go to any number of those forms of media, they're kind of looking for a way to spin or an opinion. They're almost looking for a way to interpret what took place.

CARTER: Yes. You've got your hand and finger on something. Really, what's happened over the last 10 years or more is people have gone to a place where they can get their views validated rather than find out the facts, and it limbs your knowledge that way because you're just going to get the spin of your side. Presumably, your point of view will be parroted back to you. But you have to ask yourself, let's what - if the other party, if this were Hillary Clinton in office, how would this coverage change? I think "The New York Times," "The Washington Post," CNN, would still be doing the same thing, investigating the president, and FOX News would be out there attacking, attacking, attacking. It's just whose ox is being gored. Clearly, the audience for those channels is the Trump supporters, so they don't -- it's good business for them to air that point of view. WHITFIELD: All right. Bill Carter, Angelo, Carusone, thank you so

much to both of you.

CARUSONE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, the original "Batman," Adam West, has died. Coming up, we speak to his co-star, Catwoman, Julie Newmar, about his life and legacy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:35] WHITFIELD: We're getting some sad news into the NEWSROOM. Actor Adam West, the man known for his role as the original Batman, has died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM WEST, ACTOR: Don't worry, Catwoman. You wouldn't have killed me even though you shot the gun. This anti-bat sonic device in my utility belt would deflect the beam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Adam West originally played a campy version of the caped crusader back in 1966. West struggled for years against being typecast as Batman. Eventually, finding a recurring role on "Family Guy." A family spokesman says West died after a short battle with leukemia.

Joining me now on the phone is West's co-star, Catwoman, Julie Newmar. She played Catwoman in the 1960s TV series alongside Adam West.

Ms. Newmar, thanks so much for being with us.

Give us your best memories and thoughts of the late Adam West.

JULIE NEWMAR, ACTRESS (voice-over): Well, thank you for acknowledging him in this way. I think he was and will be and always will be the finest Batman ever.

WHITFIELD: I agree with you on that one. I grew up watching that "Batman," Adam West. And also, you know, enjoying that kind of humor that you and he exhibited with your opposing roles.

Given that people look at him and say he was the iconic Batman, why do you supposed he struggled with being typecast.

[13:50:14] NEWMAR: I think that's a little too heavy to hang on him. He reflected the qualities -- this is interesting. A friend called me up this morning and said to me, with tears in his voice, he said that Adam West was the father that we wanted. I think that's most interesting to personify those qualities. I don't think he struggles with that so much as he was -- he had all those qualities. People adored him. There were long lines of people who stood to get his autograph. He was always charming and open and available to them. That was my experience with him. WHITFIELD: Wow. Great.

Well, you know he had it all, right, encapsulating everything to make him the most effective Batman. He was humorous and handsome and just that strong voice.

What do you suppose he brought to the character of Batman that could not have been scripted?

NEWMAR: You described him perfectly, handsome, adorable. He was very present. He was with you. He had that extra intelligence called wit, which allows us to live in this world above things and laugh at it, or at least release our negative feelings about this. The humor on top of the character and the -- think of it this way, he did not have to have his shoulders built out. He wasn't a fake Batman or an over- costumed Batman. I think he was the real thing.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

Was there something about Adam West as Batman that made you a better Catwoman?

NEWMAR: Just being who and what he was, and what he brought to the character. Of course, you have to consider that it was a brilliantly produced show in those years, from 1966 to '68. This is the 51st almost years of the show. It still goes on. Many more productions and people who play Catwoman and Batman and Robin. So I think we have a winning streak.

WHITFIELD: You, Julie Newmar, an amazing Catwoman, so admired, and what a beautiful friends and fellow co-star of the late Adam West as Batman.

Thank you very much for your memories, Ms. Newmar.

NEWMAR: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

NEWMAR: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We've got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

But first, a new segment on CNN called "Future Tense." Today, we take you to a warehouse in New Jersey that's transformed into an automated fulfillment center. Usually, that would mean job cuts for humans, but not this time.

CNN's Maggie Lake goes inside the warehouse to see how it works.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When most working -lass people think of automation, there is a fear that technology is taking their jobs away. In some cases, they are. But when online wholesale retailer Box decided to automate their fulfillment center in Union, New Jersey, the company wanted to be clear that people would still be a necessary part of the equation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we are saying we are going to move and the new center will be automated, it is kind of like the air was completely let out of the room. You able to then say, actually, no one is going to lose their job. And you're are going to go from, right now, what you can argue is an unskilled position to a skilled position.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am not sure of what to expect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All those worries are kind of going away little by little.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And everybody is seeing how we do here.

LAKE: But the threat of robots taking work away from humans is not entirely imagined. A recent study by PriceWaterhouseCooper showed that 38 percent of Americans could lose their jobs to automation with the highest risks in fields like transportations, manufacturing, storage, retail and wholesale.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The definition of work in a field that we need as workers needs to change. But if you change and are willing to put in that time, then there is a good chance that you will evolve just like our world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[13:55:51] WHITFIELD: That was fascinating. That was CNN's Maggie Lake reporting.

For more "Future Tense," check out a special section of our website, CNN.com/tech.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Two weeks, that's how long the House Intelligence Committee has given President Trump to produce any memos or recordings of his conversations with fired FBI Director James Comey. This as President Trump says he is willing to testify under oath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So he said those things under oath. Would you be willing to speak under oath to give your version of --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 100 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So we'll learn more this week. The Senate Judiciary Committee could receive the Comey memos as early as Monday.

And on Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify before a Senate panel where he will likely be grilled on his own alleged contacts with the Russians and the firing of James Comey.

CNN White House correspondent, Athena Jones, is in New Jersey where the president is spending this weekend. She's joining me --