i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." you can always follow me on twitter and instagram. you can always tweet the show. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, a great day for america. that's from joe biden after announcing fully vaccinated americans no longer need masks. a major milestone. is this really the beginning of the end of covid? plus, a war of words. alexandria cortez firing back at margery greene. and breaking news, colonial pipeline paid a ransom to hackers who shut down the largest fuel pipeline in the united states. let's go "outfront." and good evening.

i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, free. the cdc announces the biggest step towards normalcy that the united states has taken in more than a year. >> today is a great day for america. our long battle with the coronavirus. just a few hours ago, the centers for disease control and prevention, the cdc, announced that they are no longer recommending thas come to be the meme s mask. we went out today, across the country. here is what people told us as they first heard the news. >> i am so happy. i couldn't wait. >> more freedom. i'm tired of ordering things on

line and not going in stores. >> i think it's a step in the right direction. >> it's really exciting. it's exciting for our whole staff and for our whole group. >> the president wasting no time. first lady jill biden no mask as she was arrived in west virginia. she was asked what the guidelines mean. she just nice to know considering the masks have become a decisive thing. senator joe manchin said, we freel free. mitch mcconnell saying free at last. the vice president kamala harris making this comment to joe biden as he walked to the rose garden.

after a year, it will be nice to see people smiling. but today's announcement being met with skepticism. many are asking how does this work, what about kids still forced to wear masks? and plenty of people are not yet ready for the step. >> i will wear the mask all the time. >> the mask has defined life in america for more than a year, since april 3rd, 2020 when the cdc urged americans to wear a mask. it's part of our person at this point, right? you don't even think about, you go out, it's with you. remember at the beginning you would forget your mask all the time? this has been life in america for a year. the president-elect celebrating his election win, everybody on that stage with a mask.

when fans were allowed to return to sporting events in small numbers, there they sat, most masked. singers and celebrities masked when they were singing or walking the red carpet. masks have been the center of a bitter culture war for a year in the united states. >> we've had too much conflict, too much bitterness, too much anger, too much politicization of this issue about wearing masks. let's put it to rest. >> phil mattingly is outside the white house. and phil, this news coming out today, a long-time coming. many said this could have come before. but nonetheless, it was surprising to a lot of people at the white house. what are you learning? >> reporter: yeah, one of the rare pleasant surprises. i think it's interesting. we started this day, and there were no remarks from the president in the rose garden. the briefing from the covid response team wasn't scheduled until 4:00 p.m.

all of that started to shift midday, underscoring that the white house was becoming aware of what was a seismic shift in policy. obviously, yes, on the pure policy grounds, but also symbolically. i think you saw the white house move fully into it. you showed the video of the president walking out with no mask on. the vice president not having a mask on. erin, just about five to ten minutes after the briefing, where the cdc director announced the shift in guidance, an email went out to white house staff saying if they were fully vaccinated, they no longer had to wear a mask on campus. it's a shift the white house is embracing and wants others to embrace, as well. you heard the president, he acknowledged that not everyone is necessarily going to be on board with this right away. but that's okay from the white house perspective. one thing they want to focus on, you heard the president allude to this in his remarks, that perhaps this hey help get more people vaccinated. that wasn't why the guidance was shifted according to the cdc, but the white house hope there is's a tale of that here, as

they push towards the markers laid out, 70% of adults with at least one vaccination by july fourth, that incentives have been such a key part of a shift over the course of the last couple of weeks for the white house to reach out to those who are hesitant, that this, the fact that we don't have to wear a mask insite or outside, will help them in that process. >> thank you very much, phil. free french fries at steak shack in new york, a million bucks in ohio, which one do you pick? dr. francis collins, director of the national institutes of health. doctor, i appreciate your time. this is a huge step in the fight against this virus. a lot of people see it as the end. okay, we're good here. is that the way to see it? >> it is a great day, and let's celebrate it. it's being celebrated across, as your remarks pointed out. yeah, it is an amazing step forward. it says we are on the right path

that people who are fully immunized, that means two weeks after your second dose, if it was moderna or pfizer, two weeks after your j&j dose, that means you can take your mask off indoors, as well as outdoors, as long as federal, state, local, tribeal territories allow that. as far as the cdc is concerned, we have arrived at that point that people who are immunized, which is now a lot of us, say yeah, we should feel good about this. but we're not at the end of this story. there's still a lot of people that haven't gotten the first shot. i hope this will encourage them as a wonderful opportunity to be liberated. i got no mask on. i'm smiling. i'm looking at other people's faces i haven't seen in a while. this is something we all are hoping for and we are here. but we have to get everybody on board. signing up, rolling up your sleeve. if you haven't done that, you will want to do it now. >> phil mattingly said the white

house was not aware that the cdc was going to announce this today, dr. collins. the rose garden address wasn't even on the schedule. does it surprise you they didn't get an advance warning? >> well, apparently, it was the case that the cdc was making this decision and didn't want to hold any big sort of leaking happen. so this is sometimes the way things go. and it's clearly electrified the country, and the white house played a pretty good role in that by changing their schedule and having the president and the vice president come right on out without their masks into the rose garden to indicate in a very photogenic way what's happened. >> so let me ask you, the cdc has been under pressure to ease these mandates. they're still going to require masks on public transportation like planes and trains. how come?

>> well, again, i think in circumstances where people are packed close together and you don't know the status of immunization of everybody, it is still the better part of being cautious to wear masks on those planes and trains and buses. once we get further along with a higher degree of immunization and the infections, which are still 30,000 a day, really continue to drop down, we can relax those, as well. >> let me ask you about this, though. because once you tell people they can drop their mask it is they're vaccinated, plenty of people are going to do it. i know you're hoping it's an incentive to get vaccinated, but that's no way to verify vaccine status. so do you think we're at a point where you're comfortable with that risk, that if that's going to happen and it's okay? >> well, those are people who

are putting themselves at risk. we know the vaccines are effective. the fully vaccinated people, even if they are mixing and mingling with people who haven't done that, are relatively at risk of getting infected. so it's the right thing to do to give them that kind of freedom. but this is part of the responsibility we all have to try to get to where we need to be. and if you're going to be concerned and you don't know how to find a place, just pick up your phone, go 438829 and punch in your zip code and you will get three places that have vaccines ready to go as soon as a minute. >> so speaking of a minute, i pass a mass vaccination site every day, and i can look in it. and for all intents and purposes, no one is ever there. for a while, there was some. but there's never a line. it's set up for thousands. about getting people over the

hurdle, i made a joke about the mayor of new york giving free french fries to sign up. but the ohio governor is going to give a lotto drawing and if he draws your name and you have at least one shot you get a million bucks. so when you heard that, did your jaw hit the floor in a good way? >> oh, i thought it was creative. nih, we fund behavioral research as well as cancer research. it's clear, people pay attention to incentives, even if their chance of winning the lottery is really low, they put in their bucks and if you have a chance to win a million dollars, some people reluctant might say sure. you get a shot and then you get a beer in new jersey. whatever it takes to get the reluctant people to say yes. this is a good thing. >> i think everyone in this country wishes they lived in

ohio. beer, million dollars, we know where we stand. on a serious note, what is happening with the new york yankees. eight members of the yankees have tested positive for covid. they were awfully vaccinated. and according to the team manager, they all had the johnson & johnson vaccine. this could be worrisome to some people. do you have details about this situation that you can share? >> i don't know anything specific about the ball team. we do know, of course, that the vaccines are incredibly effective, but not 100%. so you are going to see people who are fully vaccinated who still get systematic. by the way, if they do get sick, they tend to have rather mild illness, because your immune system is already at work. and this is part of the way in which vaccines work. i don't understand the cluster there. you want to make sure nothing went wrong with the way their vaccines were administered.

but i'm sure somebody is looking at that. >> sit a cluster, to your point. do you have any concerns that they could have a specific variant to that point, that evaded the vaccine? >> that is the other thing to look at. you know, i run the national institutes of health with 30,000 people and we have occasional people that have fully vaccinated and have a breakthrough case and we sequence their genome to see if their virus is anything unusual to explain that. i'm sure in new york, they're thinking about that, too. >> doctor, i appreciate your time. thank you so much. >> great to talk to you, erin. next, margorie taylor greene shouting at alexandria ocasio cortez, shouting at her. there was a reporter who saw the whole thing go down, she's next. cnn learning colonial pipeline paid a ransom to the group behind the crippling cyber

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tonight, republican congresswoman margorie taylor greene hits a new low. the conspiracy theorist denying "washington post" report, and the report is that she shouted at democratic congressman alexandria ocasio-cortez after chasing her through the halls of congress and claiming she supports terrorists. >> i was talking to asc saying you need to debate me about the green new deal. she doesn't need to file against me. adults are able to debate policy. >> only, that is not what two washington post reporters saw with their own eyes. i'm going to speak to one in a moment. tonight, ocasio-cortez is responding saying she won't be intimidating by someone who supports white supremists. greene does have a history of intimidating peers. cori bush reported in june

greene we arberated her in the hallway. and this is greene confronting david hogg, a teenager. >> david, why are you supporting the red flag laws? if there had been -- if scott peterson had done his job, then nikolas cruz wouldn't have killed anybody in your high school. why are you supporting laws that attack our second amendment rights? why are you using kids as a barrier? do you not know how to defend your stance? >> greene is a u.s. congresswoman. she represents about 700,000 americans, and of course, that behavior is not how anyone should behave. never mind if you're an elected official. this has become the culture for many in the republican party, to make a name for yourself by doing something dramatic or

controversial, and it goes viral. and it's worked for greene. she's raised a staggering $3.2 million during the first quarter of the year as her party has done nothing to stop her. not each a comment from kevin mccarthy. so "outfront" now, one of "the washington post" reporters that was there that witnessed the episode between margorie taylor greene and alexandria ocasio-cortez. so jackie, thanks so much. so you're there every day. you see how they interact with each other. you see congress people at their best and worst. so tell me what happened and were you surprised by what you witnessed? >> yeah, erin, thanks for having me tonight. my colleague and i were hanging out outside of the house chamber, waiting for lawmakers to come out and we were shocked by the behavior we saw from margorie taylor greene. so much so that i honestly didn't even have the presence of mind to record the interaction, because i was so taken aback and

surprised by greene's behavior at the moment. but basically, congresswoman ocasio-cortez walked out and greene started chasing her down and shouting at her, hey, alexandria, in order to get her attention in a very aggressive tone. far more aggressive than i think we saw this that video of her accosting david hogg, when ocasio-cortez didn't stop walking, greene picked up her pace, continued to shout and asking her why she supports antifa and black lives matter, which she falsely referred to as terrorist groups. >> so congresswoman greene denies, you know, what you saw. she denies she screamed at alexandria ocasio-cortez. and a reporter asked her about the way she approached alexandria ocasio-cortez. i wanted to play for you and for our viewers, what margorie taylor greene responded. >> by talking to her, talking to her. she said "screaming."

do you know what screaming is? that's what people do when rockets are fired at them like hamas terrorists are firing into israel. that's what people do, they scream when that happens. i was talking to her, saying you need to debate me about the green new deal. >> so, again, jackie, you were there. was she, in fact, screaming? >> that is, in fact, not what happened. she was screaming. and i think it was even more shocking considering the environment that we're working in right now. as you noted, it's the halls of congress. there's a different standard of behavior, but you are also working in an environment where lawmakers and reporters are scared to go to work every day. they're skscared to hold town halls because of the potential threat of violence. this is the kind of behavior that would get you expelled from school, you wouldn't tolerate it from a child, let alone a member of congress. again, i have been in washington almost a decade now.

i've never seen a political candidate, an elected official or lawmaker behave in this manner. i think cumulatively, when we look at the series of events that happened on capitol hill this week, it's the latest series of data points of a disturbing trend that i think we're seeing, which is in some political circles, there's been an emotion of political and civil norms. this is a pat earn of behavior with margorie taylor greene enabled by leadership. leader mccarthy claimed he hadn't seen the reports that have been on "the washington post" for almost 24 hours now. but mtg has continuously lied about her behavior, even though we's had previous lawmakers claim they have been threatened by this. and it was almost like she was bringing alive the hatred we witnessed at trump rallies to the halls of congress. i think that the rhetoric and

that kind of behavior really varies from, you know, the january 6 riots in which five people died. to, again, the heated rhetoric that the former president really endo you remembered from his supporters. >> thank you very much, jackie, telling us exactly what she saw and the significance there. thank you. i want to go straight now to michael smerconish. you have covered politics for a long time. you hear jackie's reporting and what she saw, screaming, chasing someone down the hall. have you ever seen a congress person behave like that, and to do this, scream at someone like that in the halls of congress? >> no. and it's obviously reprehensible. the question is, how did we get here? because i would argue that in a by gone era, you would not even know her name. even though she accuseds in an incendiary way, she just arrived in washington. it used to be, you would get elected, attain seniority, and

here comes the key part, and get something done. and then maybe america would know who you are. but today, it's a much quicker path. you say something incendiary, and people may find your behavior reprehensible, but others will reward you. i bet the person who most wishes there was film of this incident is margorie taylor greene. because then she could tweet it out and raise a boat load of money from her supporters. >> amazing. it's amazing you say that, because you're totally right. i think it's so important. i want to just tell you something else that just happened, michael. congresswoman liz cheney just had an interview with fox news. it was contentious. it was with brett bair. i want to play some of what she said. >> fox news especially, especially fox news, has a particular obligation to make sure people know the election wasn't stolen. every single one of us, everybody who works at fox,

everybody who is elected to office, all of us have to love our country more. >> pretty interesting, michael, and amazing that she would -- look, i know we now know she has plenty of boldness and courage. but it's a crucial message, and she said it to the horse's mouth. >> well, she bearded the lion in his den. and not necessarily brett, because i think he plays it much straighter than the others over there. but no one can argue otherwise then those hosts have been enablers for this entire narrative. i doubt that january 6 would have occurred but for not only then president trump's comments but also all of the media mouthpieces that were egging this process on. and, you know, you can't have it both ways, which is the way kevin mccarthy is trying to have it, saying i'm here with the president of the united states, so of course we recognize he was

properly elected. liz cheney was fired from that gig yesterday, and across the country, you have republican controlled legislatures instilling these changes in voting, as if something went wrong in the election. >> as if. thank you very much, michael smerconish, as always. i thank you. >> thanks. next, breaking news. we are learning a ransom was paid to the hackers who shut down a pipeline that provides half of the fuel to the east coast of the united states. it caused fuel shortages, panics, and they paid a ransom? and high gas prices, bad jobs numbers and inflation. joe biden facing major head winds as he tries to sell his infrastructure plan to republicans for another $4 trillion in spending. are people going to buy what he's selling? this is our block. our place. our people. our block, it's just like yours. full of the people who shaped you.

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or visit and xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. breaking news. cnn learning that colonial pipeline paid a ransom to the hackers that forced the company to shut down operations, triggering fuel shortages, long

lines at gas stations across the east coast. one pipeline, hackers shut it down. and now we have found that the group demanded nearly $5 million. it's not clear how much the company paid. but we've learned evan perez learned that they paid something. and evan, this is pretty incredible on so many levels. so tell me what you have learned about the ransom payment. >> reporter: this group goes by the name dark side, erin, demanded nearly $5 million in crypto currency, bitcoin. and we're now learning from sources that the company did pay some ransom, we don't know how much. bloomberg reported this story earlier today, and we've been able to confirm they did pay a ransom, which unlocked some of the description tools that would be able to get access to some of the information that was stolen by the hackers. now, we also know, according to our reporting, that the company

worked with private cybersecurity experts as well as the government to try to intercept some of the information, some of the data being stolen, and they were able to get back to their -- to their systems. they were able to restart their systems, even without some of that description tools. so the question is, what came first, we're not sure. we do know that the company said they restarted the pipeline, and one of the things that i think is important to remember is that the -- what we're told is that the shutdown of the pipeline happened because the company was concerned that it could not bill customers for the fuel that they were receiving. that was part of the reason they shut down the pipeline. so the company obviously now that the fact that they have paid this ransom, this is something the government often discourages, and as we talked to government officials, they told us that they were in the dark about exactly what happened. >> that's incredible.

so they discourage it and the company just did what it was going to do. >> reporter: right. >> thank you very much. i want to go to the former fbi deputy director, andrew mccabe. so deputy director, let me just ask you what evan said, that law enforcement officials say don't pay ransoms like this, for obvious reasons. and they did it. and they didn't even tell the government. they kept them in the dark and did it any way. so what is your reaction to that, and how bad of a message does this send basically to other hackers? >> you know, erin, it's a really unfortunate message, but it's not a unique one. the best assessments that we have indicate that a little over half of the victims of ransom ware attacks actually pay their extortionists to get their data back or to get their data unlocked. so it's not surprising that colonial did that in this case. i think it re-emphasizes for

your viewers the significance of the fact that these are private sector sbientities. they can be advised by the fbi not to do this because it leads to more attacks on people. but at the end of the day, they make their decisions based on the bottom line and keeping their businesses going and trying to get their hands back on the information they need to continue their work. >> so to that point, evan was reporting that there was some information that they weren't able to unlock, right? and these part of why they paid the ransom. there was some that they could. but i raised this question because if they weren't able to solve the problem themselves, that they -- the hackers really had them. they really had them. that also is pretty terrifying. again, this is one pipeline that provides half the fuel for the east coast of the united states. this could cause tremendous damage to the country, doesn't it? >> that is absolutely right. there's a couple things happened here that are significant.

on saturday, working with their private cybersecurity consultants, they were able to shut down a server in new york, and that sounds like it was probably the most beneficial thing it did. that enabled them to get some of their data back right away. the description tool they got by allegedly paying the ransom, they ultimately discovered didn't work fast enough. so the combination of all these efforts has enabled them to get some of their business back up online. but the fact, is our critical infrastructure is vulnerable and will continue to be vulnerable to these sorts of attacks into the future until we get very serious about cybersecurity. >> that's pretty terrifying. literally it could end civilization as we know it very quickly. joe biden said today that he will not rule out -- base icall he stressed moscow wasn't to blame. here's what he said. >> we do not believe the russian

government was involved in this attack. but we do have strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in russia. >> so deputy director, our matthew chance, reporter for cnn, lives in moscow, lived there a long time, told the media the other day, there's little doubt in his mind that putin knew about the existence of this operation because it was based in russia. do you agree based on what you know about this group? >> yeah, here's what i'll say. i think the president is being very careful, and appropriately so. i think his choice of words, what i'm hearing is, the use of the intelligence community doesn't yet have solid intelligence that puts the kremlin's fingerprints on this particular attack. however, they know these attackers are in russia. they know these attackers only go after targets in non-russian speaking countries. ie, they don't turn their focus on russian entities.

so the russians know who they are, they're giving them comfort, aid, and support, and they are -- they are culpable to some degree here. >> deputy director, thank you. >> thanks. and next, something not -- we just don't hear any more in washington, republicans and democrats are in a room hoping to strike a deal on biden's $4 trillion infrastructure plan. is it wishful thinking or more? and the feds tightening their grip on matt gaetz. his close associate has a deal to cooperate with prosecutors. oy for what you need. oh um, doug can we talk about something other than work, it's the weekend. yeah, yeah. [ squawk ] hot dog or... chicken? [ squawk ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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tonight, joe biden striking a hopeful note at the start of his meeting with six senate republicans. they met to try to start to find compromise on his $2.3 trillion first installment infrastructure plan. >> this is in good faith. it's a genuine effort. i think we'll get there. [ inaudible question ] >> thank you, guys. >> i'm ready to compromise. >> republicans walked out of that room without comments, as well. saying "we have real negotiations under way." but biden is trying to sell this plan with the stock market volatile, gas prices are up,

consumer goods prices have surged, and jobs numbers came in unbelievably weaker than had been anticipated last month. "outfront" now, the chair of the congressional chair of the progressive caucus. i appreciate your time. i know that progressive democrats believe that the infrastructure plan needs to be even bolder, that you can do more things and to define infrastructure in broad ways. joe biden is indicating he's prepared to compromise to attract republican votes which would imply scaling it back. any scenario that you would support that? >> no. i think what the president has said to us and what others, the speaker and others have said is that, you know, there is some potential of doing a bipartisan bill on infrastructure, but then also doing the rest of the package as a reconciliation bill. my big concern with that, erin, number one, this is urgent.

we can't wait for republicans to deliver. and forgive me if i'm skeptical that mitch mcconnell, who said 100% of the republican focus in the senate is to stop the president's agenda from moving forward, i'm not sure that there's really going to be a deal. but even if there were, for us, for many in our caucus, i think what we would want to know is that the reconciliation bill is moving at the same time as any other bill. it's going to be unlikely that we would vote for a smaller package if we don't know that the reconciliation bill is already agreed to and moving at the sa same time. you know how hard it is to pass bills. we believe the best solution is still go with one bill and get everything done. the american people support this. republicans in congress should, as well. everything the president has outlined is extremely popular with the american people. democrats, independents, and

republicans. >> so on this front, though, the republicans, of course, they talk about spending. they want some infrastructure, they say, although your point about mitch mcconnell is fair. but they say you want to spend way too much money. they say that democrat spending in the covid relief bill has already been hurting hiring, just as one example of what they say. ohio, arizona, georgia are just the latest of 16 states, they all have republican governors, but they want to get rid of the federal unemployment benefits early for the pandemic. they say they can't get people to work. they don't want your money, even though it's being given to them, so they're going to send it back. what does that say to you? >> well, they're not exactly saying that. many are going back to their districts and touting everything that we passed in the american rescue plan for small businesses, to a whole bunch of other things that were in there, the child tax credit even. so i think what they're saying about unemployment is just ridiculous. if you look at the numbers, it's just very, very clear that

hiring in those lowest wage sectors actually went up. that was the place where you might have seen, you know, people were staying home because of the unemployment assistance. that's where you might have seen that going down. that's not what we see. what we see is women in the -- not going back -- i mean, there's no employment for women. that number dropped. >> right, 64,000 dropped there. but people not going back, we're seeing it across the country. yes, it's anecdotal, but it's in democratic and republican states. we've all seen the signs. here is just a few people we have spoken to, business owners in three democratic states, new york, california, and new mexico. >> we're basically making too much on unemployment. it's easy to get a check and not do anything. >> we're supposed to go hire people to retain them, but at the same time, you're paying

unemployment, it's a conflict of interest, so to speak. >> amount of money you are making on unemployment is more than what we were paying before. >> do you feel like you're competing with unemployment? >> no question. >> those are just regular people trying to hire. is it possible that they're right? >> i don't think so, erin. because, again, if you look at the numbers, what you see is that people for the most part -- now, in some states, probably not those states, but there might be some states where kansas, for example, where, you know, you have a minimum wage of $7.25, hasn't been raised in ten years. we can't blame people if they don't want to go back. but that is a tiny anecdotal piece that may be there. the vast majority of what we see is that people aren't going back to work for a lot of other considerations. women aren't going back to work because they don't have child care, and they can't afford to go back to work when their kids aren't fully back in school yet. the economy is still building as

a result of a year of really inattention and lack of ability from the government to support many of the things that needed to be done. the president's american jobs plan and american families plan will help us to get back there. but it really is, if you dig into the unemployment numbers, you just do not see any of the signs that would be there if it was an issue of unemployment being a problem. >> all right, congresswoman, thank you very much. i appreciate your time. >> thank you, erin. next, matt gaetz's close ally, accused of sex trafficking of a minor, looks like he's about to turn on the republican congressman. how much trouble could matt gaetz really be in? a tiger seen wandering through a neighborhood in houston four days ago is still missing. where is it?

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gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. green bayberg, who is facing 33 federal counts, ranging from identity theft to sex trafficking of a minor will also plead guilty as part of the plea deal. obviously this carries with it -- it could be essentially a lifetime in prison, up to that. up front now, dave aaron erinberg, former democratic state senator. you know so much about this and the players here. and you know the system. so we don't know the specific terms of the plea deal for greenberg. it's under wraps. investigators are keeping it that way. but we know that there's a deal and that is a big deal. what does it tell you about the validity of what greenberg has shared so far with investigators because they've been looking at this and talking to him now for quite some time. >> good evening, erin. you don't enter into a plea deal with an alleged child sex trafficking without believing

that that person can provide substantial assistance to prosecute a bigger fish, in this case, the big fish is matt gaetz. we'll know more on monday because that's when we'll know if greenberg is given the opportunity to plead to something substantially less than he is facing. if that plea agreement uses the term substantial assistance, that's a key tell to know that he is going to be used to flip on someone bigger. even if it doesn't use the term substantia"substantial assistan what they're doing here. they're not going to enter into this plea deal with a guy like greenburg who has such low credibility unless he has corroboration for his claims because he's a walking criminal enterprise and his word means nothing without backup. >> so that's what's crucial, right? 33 federal counts, decades in prison is what he was potentially facing, right? so to your point, nobody's going to believe him. so if they're going to do a deal, it's because they've been able to verify some of the things he's saying matt gaetz

did, they've been able to find other ways other than not mr. greenberg said, it's he said and here's evidence, right? i mean, am i summarizing it accurately? >> you're correct. we'll know more on monday depending on what he is pleading guilty to because he gets a good deal from the feds and it's clear they're going to use him to flip on matt gaetz. he's got to have the venmo receipts, emails, text messages. maybe they also have other people like matt gaetz's ex-girlfriend, because she also apparently, according to reports, was recruited from one of these sugar daddy websites. she knows a lot about these alleged -- electricians into child sex trafficking. she knows a 17-year-old involved in this matter. so that's a crucial witness because a key to matt gaetz's defense will be to attack joel greenberg, put him on trial. it's harder, though, to attack his own ex-girlfriend who has no

ax to grind and currently, according to reports, is working for the florida state government. >> right. so there's other witnesses. but also, you know, i can shoot is messenger but if there's receipts, it doesn't matter who handed them to the investigators. they're there, right? >> right. it's hard to contradict paper. that's why receipts are so important. you can go after joel greenberg because he has 33 counts against him. he's facing up to life in prison, but a receipt is what it is. what greenberg's key is to be able to walk a grand jury and trial jury through the receipts, to put them into context that they're not just pieces of paper in some vacuum. you want him to be able to be the storyteller to a jury. that's why he's so important. and the fact that he's getting a deal means to me that the child sex trafficking charge, which is the big whammy, is definitely still in play. if he was not given a deal, you would think of other things like campaign finance violations and identity theft where they may not need greenberg.

but they need him for child sex trafficking. that's why matt gaetz is going to have a very, very bad weekend. >> dave, thank you very much. i appreciate it. ? thanks, erin. next, where's the tiger? that tiger that was seen roaming by the purple dumpster in houston four days ago? where is it? re doing all you can to manage type 2 diabetes and heart disease but could your medication do more to lower your heart risk? jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. so, it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and jardiance lowers a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare but life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis or an allergic reaction,

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victor hugo cuevas. he denies through his lawyer that he's the tiger's owner. you can imagine the shock and alarm if you look out your window and see a tiger wearing a collar. tigers should never be in domestic homes. people calling 911 as a vehicle driven by cuevas sped away just as police got there. >> no. get the [ bleep ] inside. i don't know who the [ bleep ]. >> he was charged with felony fleeing. the tiger is still missing. thank you for joining us. ac "360" starts now. good evening. tonight is one of those moments in history you may remember for the rest of your lives because more than 15 months after the cdc first recommended wearing masks, a recommendation that was unnecessarily politicized but nevertheless became a symbol of the pandemic and restric