sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, i imagine he would probably be expelled if he fought this. >> of course. the committee thing is not enough if that's the case. we'll leave it there. matt fuller of "the daily beast," thank you for your reporting. appreciate it. >> thank you. that is "all in" on this thursday night. "the rachel maddow show" starts now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, my friend. much appreciated. thank you for joining us this hour. it is april 1st, which is always a special day here on "the rachel maddow show," because april 1st is the birthday of paul manafort which, for our country, or at least ought to be, perhaps, an annual sort of solemn civic reminder that the immediate former president of our country had to pardon his campaign chairman and he had to pardon his campaign manager, and

he had to pardon his longest standing political advisor, and he had to pardon his national security advisor, and he had to pardon the deputy chair of his inaugural and his deputy campaign chairman went to prison and his personal lawyer went to prison, and his other personal lawyer is under federal criminal investigation, and he himself personally is named by prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in multiple federal felonies, and he himself personally is now today, as a former president, actively under criminal investigation in two different states. we've never been in that kind of a situation before as a country. mazeltov. you might have seen the obituary for g. gordon liddy, the legendary blowhard who went to prison for burglary and illegal wire tapping, among lots of other things. a lot of obituaries of g. gordon

liddy, because of his role in watergate and because of how much time has passed since those crimes, a lot of obituaries about him were little mini history lessons. you could tell the obituary writers were sort of agog of the criminal issues with him, kind of along the lines of the watergate scandal. we ought to take a moment to appreciate, we ought to let her chests swell a little bit knowing our generation, us, we just lived through an administration that was so thoroughly criminal, it makes the nixon watergate scandals look adorable in retrospect. this is why we celebrate paul manafort's birthday every year, at least here on this show, april 1st, april fool's. we made it, america. after his presidential pardon from donald trump in the waning minutes of the trump administration, paul manafort

today is busy trying to see if he can recollect some of his seized assets from the justice department. happy birthday, convicted chairman. congratulations to us for surviving what you brought to the public fore. congratulations for us for surviving it at least thus far. what does happen next in the republican party after that administration that they just brought us? it's very possible that the republican party wants to bring president trump back to run again in 2024. he could theoretically tap all the same campaign staff and senior aadvisors. we could list them by their federal prison i.d. numbers instead of their names. we wouldn't even need new head shots, we would have the bureau mug shots for all of them. honestly, watergate is cute in comparison. one very strange offshoot of the

2016 campaign came back up in the news today on this of all days. you may remember that alongside the scandal of the russian government intervening in 2016 to try to help trump get elected and the questions about what the top people in the trump campaign, like paul manafort, were doing sharing confidential campaign data with one russian intelligence agent while the russian help for the trump campaign was going on. you might remember that alongside that particular streak of treachery, there was also a russian agent who was arrested, tried and convicted for secretly working in the united states in the lead-up to the 2016 election to infiltrate political conservative groups like the nra and make inroads in presidential campaigns like that of president trump. quote, to act in the united states as an agent of a foreign government, specifically the russian federation, quote, to exploit personal connections with u.s. persons having

influence in american politics in an effort to advance the interests of the russian federation and to infiltrate organizations active in u.s. politics in an effort to advance the interests of the russian federation. that was from her indictment. her name was maria butina. she stands out among the many, many trump campaign related mug shots for a number of reasons. for one thing, she's the only one who is not a dude, but while she was locked up in federal custody ahead of trial and after her conviction as well, she did have help in the confrontation with the russian government. she is a russian citizen. ultimately she was deported to the custody of the russian government. she was flown home to moscow after she got out of federal prison in the u.s. upon her arrival in moscow as a convicted foreign agent sent to the u.s. by the kremlin to infiltrate conservative american politics and republican campaigns, when she landed in

moscow, she was greeted like a national hero. they offered her a position in the russian parliament as soon as she got back. ultimately they gave her a tv show on russian state-controlled tv on "russia today." meanwhile, back home, her american boyfriend, a man named paul erickson, a republican political operative who had helped her as a russian government agent get into the upper echelons of the nra and high republican politics, president trump pardoned paul erickson. president trump pardoned maria butina's boyfriend. he was frauding to the tune of $1.2 million. his pardon means he doesn't have to make resolution to the people

he was frauding. given the president by the founding fathers who wrote the constitution. convicted hostile boyfriends of russian agents. i'm sure that's exactly the sort of pardon the founding fathers had in mind to entrust to worthy american presidents. we do, of course, have a new president. as with russia, as with everything, things have been very different for these last couple of months he has been in office, and here's something to keep an eye on. this is not getting much attention here in the u.s. but this week the u.s. european command, which is the u.s. military in europe, this week they went to their highest alert level after what appears to be a russian attack killed ukranian soldiers in ukraine this week. that effectively could mean that the cease-fire after russia invaded ukraine, that cease-fire has started to fail.

after ukranian soldiers were killed in the last week, russia started amassing military equipment on the border with ukraine. today nato expressed concern about russia's recent large-scale military activity ds near ukraine. in the last 48 hours, the biden administration secretary of state, antony blinken, as has ukranian foreign minister and general mark millie. specifically in response to the russian government using a nerve agent to try to assassinate the top opposition leader in russia, a man named alexei navalny.

they then arrested him and sent him to some long term in a russian penal colony, and in several russian towns there have been protests in support of navalny, demanding the russians let him go. that is something that terriies the government and its leader, vladimir putin. angela merkel and macron, the french president, have talked about it. the state department pressures them about it all the time, including today. let navalny out of prison. yesterday after some increasingly worrying recent reports from his lawyers and supporters talking about what

appears to be a deteriorating physical condition of aleksei navalny in prison, he announced he is starting a hunger strike, and he will stop eating until he can see a doctor to treat him for the unexplained condition he has that brings him extreme pain. he says he's losing feeling in his legs entirely and worries that he soon won't be able to walk. he started a hunger strike yesterday saying he would no longer eat until he could see a doctor. that announcement came from aleksei navalny yesterday. today the russian department did send someone to see him in his prison cell. guess who they sent? they sent maria butina and her camera crew from r.t., "russia today" where she has a tv show now. they sent her to aleksei

navalny's prison to harangue him in his cell, telling him how good he has it and put it on tv. did i tell you president trump pardoned her boyfriend? that's how her boyfriend fits into this, the current affairs of russia and what they're doing in that country's politics. like i said, happy paul manafort day. never forget. here at home, things remain unpredictable and a little unnerving in trump land, and therefore, in republican politics. the most vocally pro-trump republican in congress, matt gaetz, is still proclaiming his innocence after multiple news organizations have confirmed he is under federal criminal investigation over child sex trafficking. a criminal investigation that reportedly started in the last

months of the trump administration and was affirmed and approved by attorney general william barr. cnn is reporting tonight that the federal criminal investigation into matt gaetz is examining, among other things, whether gaetz may have used not just money but drugs in his dealing with young women. investigators are examining whether gaetz engaged in a relationship with a woman who she was 17, and whether his involvement with other women broke federal trafficking and prostitution laws. cnn saying -- we haven't confirmed this, but cnn saying investigators are looking into whether he used drugs in addition to cash in his dealings with young women. that is new. as we reported that night the house leader kevin mccarthy has confirmed that if and when

congressman matt gaetz is indicted, they will relieve him of his congressional responsibilities. presumably they'll move to expel him from congress if he's convicted, unless he quits first. but we shall see. that's still happening. congressman gaetz has consistently been among the most prominent proponents of the craziest pro-trump stuff in the republican party, including him aggressively promoting the conspiracy theory that maybe somehow venezuela, or maybe it was cuba or something communist, anyway, got into some of the voting machines somewhere and dead hugo chavez stole the election for biden, or maybe it was china. it's hard to keep straight. you can't even hear these conspiracy theories that often anymore on the fox newschannel what congressman gaetz spent a lot of time espousing them at one point. you can't hear that on fox prime

time since dominican stations started suing fox news for $100 billion for claiming fraud over the election. even if it has to be watered down on the fox newschannel, the inflection there has deeply taken hold. one of the stories we're looking at tonight, for example, is news out of arizona where republicans in the arizona state legislature in their infinite wisdom, has picked a qanon administrator and is believed by some to have run the qanon account. navy s.e.a.l.s in germany or fidel castro or something, they're sure of it. it's hard to keep track of, but there's something there that

explains the real truth about how joe biden really isn't president and he lives on a movie set. so republicans have hired a qanon guy to honor the vote officially on behalf of the arizona state legislature, paid for by the taxpayers of the great state of arizona. good luck, arizona. your state just voted for two democratic u.s. senators and for the democratic candidate for president, but arizona republicans, what do they have to offer? arizona republicans, you do you. you just keep keeping on. i'm sure it will work. in texas today, republicans there have some new headwinds as well. this follows on in an interesting way of something we reported on last night's show. last night's show we talked about the fact that two huge corporations and huge employers headquartered in georgia, delta and coca-cola, came out last night in strong terms denouncing

the georgia voting law. those actions, however late they were by delta and coca-cola, seem to have rung a bell by other corporations finding themselves in similar circumstances as they try to attack voting laws all around the country. tonight united airlines and dell computers, both big corporations, both major leaders, both head quartered in texas, both dell and american airlines came out against a copyright voting bill in texas that the legislature has already passed through the texas senate and it looks to be on its way through the texas house, too. it's a really interesting development. republican legislatures in red states trying everywhere around the country to roll back voting rights as far and as fast as they can. in the process, though, they are making outspoken and aggressive enemies of the biggest corporations and the biggest employers in their states. that's probably not good for

them for now or for the long run. and if these corporations have legitimately got religion on the issue of protecting voting rights now, if this is just not lip service and they discovered they are on the side of democracy and being headquartered in a democracy it better, and they've decided this is something that's important to them as corporations and they want to work to defend that, it's going to be fascinating to look at what happens next here. because, as i said, it was a little late when it comes to what we heard from delta and coca-cola. georgia republicans already passed that bill. it's already a law. and georgia republicans are about as likely to repeal their voting law as i am to get a call from paul manafort. but texans are on their way to pass their draconian anti-rights

voting bill as well, because they can. which is going to put these big powerful, influential companies like coca-cola, like delta airlines, it's going to put them in a position to have to decide what they're going to do next. because just speaking out against bad bills and bad laws in republican-controlled states after those bills become law or when they're inevitably on their way to becoming law, that's not actually going to do anything to readdress voting rights except put your staple on the right side of the law in history. if the states keep passing these anti-votes rollbacks, all around the country is senate bill 1, the for the people act, which is a voting -- would set a voting rights floor for the whole country, which no state could go below. as you know, the for the people act passed as hr-1 through the

house. it's now senate bill 1 in the house. it needs help passing through the senate. if they decide they're on the side of cutting voting rights, that could be a big deal. and that's worth watching not in the distant future, but the next few days. since i have been on the air tonight, we just got word that southwest airlines, which also is headquartered in texas, southwest airlines has put out a statement basically telling house republicans to not do what they're trying to do to voting rights. again, it was delta airlines in georgia yesterday, it is american airlines in texas and it's southwest airlines in texas as well. in the past half hour or so, we're also hearing from at&t. a huge corporation also headquartered in texas. they also put out a statement

telling texans to back off what they're trying to do. the statement from at&t is not as blunt as what we got from other corporations today, but still, this is happening quickly now and it's worth watching. and again, in terms of what's going on with the republican party and the republican party post trump, part of what's important here is in these republican-controlled states, this is republicans in the legislature being cleaved from business interests in those states. they would very much like to see themselves on the same side as those big interests, but they can't unless they decide they want to be on the right side of voting rights, and republicans in these states have decided the opposite. this could be consequential in a lot of ways. on the democratic side of the ledger, today president biden held his first cabinet meeting. this, of course, happened one day after he rolled out his big legislative effort, the big $2

trillion infrastructure bill, which would be the biggest bill in infrastructure since world war ii. we hosted alexandra ocasio-cortez on last night saying while she lauds president trump in positive terms, in terms of this bill, she said on the air that as far as she's concerned, as far as she's concerned of how big it could be, it needs to be more. they got a huge help here to make that goal happening, and progressives. they got a huge boot when mitch mcconnell says there would be no

support for biden's infrastructure bill. for democrats, that is a blessing, because it means there is now no reason for democrats to waste time trying to do the ultimately futile thing they might otherwise try, of reaching out to republicans, taking things out of the bill in order to make republicans happy, to chase maybe a republican vote or two, while all the while, making the voting bill turned less. there will be no republican votes no matter what, so don't bother asking. thank you. that means -- at least it should mean that democrats can now move ahead with plans to pass this thing on their own terms with just their own votes. it means that the negotiations over what's going to be in the bill are only going to happen among democrats.

which means there will be some difficult negotiations. democrats do have different interests and different sort of tolerances for spending and different -- the philosophies about what sort of gun involvement there should be that are named in the infrastructure bill, sure. but that means there will initially. it will be eadsier to negotiate with them than congressional democrats who want to make the bill more ambitious. what mcconnell did today means, and it should mean, that not all of us should vote necessarily, and this should really be a bipartisan billy. shouldn't retch cans be more included in theeds kinds of conversations. but the republican leader said

at the outset, the day biden rolls out the bill, there will be no republican votes no matter what's in it. okay, done. then this bill isn't for you guys and you can go back to the stuff of what you really care about, like who is cute? and something, something dr. seuss. who are you going to run for president in the republican primary by a guy who is probably still in prison, but he's still going to run. happy paul manafort's birthday, republicans. quiet, now. the adults are working on something that could be a really big deal. i've got more on that, next. big deal i've got more on that, next. and winning. but now, the for the people act stands on the brink of becoming law. ensuring accurate elections. iron-clad ethics rules to crack down on political self-dealing. a ban on dark money.

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this was the front page of

the cincinnati enquirer today. a headline about a local bridge and how the biden administration could maybe fund it. state and federal officials' plea -- plans aligned this week to bring the greater cincinnati region closer, maybe, to funding its biggest single public work project. here's the indianapolis star. it says, yes, please, in all caps. yes, please. amtrak proposal with new indianapolis roots has people talking. it's kind of cool to see local papers excited about the prospect of really big, really overdue potential investments in their area and things that will benefit everybody, right?

new train lines, tearing down blighted old infrastructure that messed up your town, building new bridges in places where you really need new bridges because the old ones are falling down. this is the stuff that has tons of local support and you can see the palpable excitement around the country as people start to realize if this infrastructure bill passes, what it might mean for their town, their city, their state. the plan has broad support among voters. a couple weeks ago there was an invest in america poll where a strong infrastructure plan for voters nationwide was largely 50%. still today, the republican leader in the senate said no matter what's in the bill, zero republicans will vote for it, which means democrats won't have to expend energy talking to republican senators about how they want to whittle this thing down. democrats instead can focus on

negotiating among themselves, which, if anything, this $2 trillion package might get even bigger. and also means this plan from president biden is popular with democrats in congress, with democratic voters, with republican voters and just not with republicans in congress. so republicans in congress represent no one on this. but what the president is trying to do has broad-based support from a strong group of support erds wondering if they're still. here's a part that will seem counter-intuitive on this. more jet fuel for biden. he is proposing to pay for this investment by raising the corporate tax rates, many of whom frame using paid no federal

taxes at all. it turns out that only makes the bill more popular. literally the bill is more popular when you tell people it's going to be paid for by new corporate taxes than it is if you just don't tell them anything about how it's going to be paid for. i like it. it's going to be paid for by new corporate taxes. oh, i like it a lot. voters by a 2 to 1 margin support the plan by raising taxes for the higher earners. this bodes well for democrats to pass this plan the way biden wants to pass it, or potentially a bigger version of it. i think it would be remiss about a whole other set of politics. they are not even convincing their own voters anymore. so does that mean now that something new is possible that wasn't possible before we got to this point? joining us now is heather

mcgee. she's chair of the board of directors at colors of change, and she is also author of that is probably the most important book right now called "the sum of us: what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together." the politics we used to think applied to government action on things like infrastructure or health care or anything the government might do maybe don't apply anymore, that the idea of austerity and government's inability to do anything right, that those arguments don't even resonate among republican voters anymore. do you think that premise is right? >> i think the premise is largely true because americans are sick of worrying about what part of this country is going to fall apart next. we know that our infrastructure, which used to be the envy of the world, now gets a c or d grade

from the american society of civil engineers. we know that too many families are worried about what's coming out of their tap. this bill meets america's needs. and the only thing that republicans have going for them in terms of a strategy is white identity politics. they've been able to pull together and maintain a majority of white voters to keep putting them back in office, even if they're revealing identity topics. . that's really what's been happening over the last 50 years. that's why there are so many unmet needs. it's hard to invest in an america, and i do believe that's changing now. >> as you talk about in the

book, and i think in a way that you've argued, has a racial multicolored background with all sorts of stripes sort of decided that, actually, it would be nice to have swimming pools again, and it would be nice to have things in common that we all benefit from, and the idea that we shouldn't have -- the idea that we shouldn't have anything if we can't have it only for ourselves, only for our subgroup. it's an idea that's just curdled for a big enough issue that could rise again. >> you see what the right wing strategy is, right? the original covid bill is something republicans felt

pretty confident that they could refuse to support, even though it had supermajority support in the country. why? dr. seuss. the threat that democrats are cancelling what they support and know, because they think opening schools instead of opening borders. that's the hand they have to play, and yet this bill will meet so many unmet needs. this is going to be our once in a generation shot. it needs new addresses, on it, because we ochl -- there is a chance to say why people waited until november, because of things that could transform our communities. >> and if you can't do it with

super majority control, when are you going to be able to do it? >> heather mcgee. it's just wicked smart. thank you for your time tonight. it's great to have you here. >> thank you. >> much more to get to tonight. stay with us. to get to tonight stay with us for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill,

once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you.

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the major covid storyline right now is even though the vaccines are going great guns, 2.9 million shots on average now daily, two-thirds of the population has gotten at least one vaccine dose. while that is happening, which is good, we now have rising case numbers in a majority of states. johns hopkins says more than 30 states have a rise in case numbers right now.

that's kind of a pushme-pullyou about the rise in cases. michigan is the state where cases seem to be rising more alarmingly. cases in michigan rising since february, but that current upward slope on the far right side of the screen, that's getting steeper by the day now. that's bad. hospitalizations also going up in michigan. if you look at the red line there -- the red line there -- that's the number of inpatient adults in the hospital in michigan. you see how it's going up on the right side? that's now. that's the most recent surge. that number surging in a way we've seen happen time and time again. following a rise in cases, we get a rise in hospitalizations. what do we get after hospitalizations? deaths. deaths in the state of michigan also on the rise. that same pattern as all the other surges. cases up, then hospitalizations up, then deaths up. well, here's something interesting. this week the governor of

michigan, gretchen whitmer, asked the white house to help with the surge of cases in her state for a new surge of vaccines in her state. this raises an interesting question. can we flood those zones with more vaccines than they might otherwise get? i mean, it makes sense, at least in layman's terms, in trying to get around the epidemic on the other side of it. for two reasons, right? the risk of having tons of virus floating around, tons of copious transmission anywhere in the country is the same as the risk we had even before we had vaccines, right? copious transmission means people are getting sick and people are dying. with vaccines, that may be mitigated by the fact that older people may have advanced immunity now, but rise in cases, rise in hospitalizations, rise

in deaths, it's still happening. also, though, now more so than before, there is the additional risk of copious transmission anywhere in the country. with all the variants that are out there now, the more trance -- transmissible variants that are out there, right now with the variants circulating, copious virus anywhere in the country with the therapies and vaccines that are currently working against them. more transmission means more mutation of the virus means more transmission of the bad variants. so if you can vaccinate more because of the uptick in cases, that makes sense, right? vaccinated people don't get infected, mostly, which means they help stop the exponential

spread. they also don't help the virus get more potentially viral mutations, they don't go to the hospital and they don't die. the vaccine rollout is going great. the vaccine rollout is exceeding expectations in considerable ways. is it a reasonable case that michigan is making, that places that have tons of transmission, that places that have worrying surges of transmission ought to be prioritized for additional surges in vaccines? i mean, again, i'm not a doctor, so this is just the way it seems to me as a layman on this. white house covid-19 coordinator jeff zients told the the

governor that they will be getting more doses next week, but it seems all the states will be getting more doses. we reached out to the white house to find out if michigan's alottment is because of her request. they said it's not, but they are working closely with the governor and her team as michigan faces this challenge. scientifically, what about -- t? why not lessen virus development? why not go door to door? dr. peter hotez works at the texas children's hospital. good evening, doctor. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to give you a chance to set me straight. i'm telling how i'm sort of

feeling about this as an issue and what seems like maybe something to consider. is there something i'm not understanding or have i gone about this the wrong way around? >> rachel, it turns out you've learned a lot of epidemiology over the last 14 months, so that's a pretty good assessment, actually. a couple things to think about. the overwhelming variant is the b. 117 variant from the united kingdom. yes, we have other variants, the brazilian and the california variant, but the one that's really excelling right now and the one keeping us all up is the b. 117 variant. this variant is more trance miss da -- transmissible, it has higher translation and higher hospitalization rates. the b. 117 in michigan is also

across new york, new jersey, and here in texas and florida and georgia in a big way. so they're thinking what's happening in michigan now is a harborer of what's to come in the rest of the country very soon. that's one issue. the other is the united states are underperforming in terms of testing, so some of that variants may reflect a level of testing. for instance, in kansas, the level of testing is reported to be quite low so it might be far worse than we actually realize. then there's the question of band width. even if we supplied more vaccine to michigan, would they have the capacity to manage it and be able to vaccinate it. it may be the case. so there may be some wiggle room in terms of supplying extra vaccine, but the bottom line is the b.117 variant is just about everywhere now. we've got to vaccinate the country as much as possible. by the way, this was all

predicted and predictable. the biden administration did respond. if you remember, rachel, back in january after the inauguration, they gave 100 million vaccinations in 100 days, and it was looking reasonable, but then we saw the rapid rise of the b. 117 variant, and the community said, hold on, this isn't going to work anymore, because with the b. 117 variant, we have to vaccinate by the end of spring. they responded and put together a plan. they are clearly well responsive in terms of what's happening. in terms of the specifics for michigan, it may make sense to supply some additional vaccine, but this is going to start going up in every state now until we can get to more than half the country vaccinated. by the way, we're going to get there pretty soon. i think in four to five weeks, we're going to be in much better shape. it's a matter of how we navigate now the next four or five weeks. >> yeah. and whether or not anything can be done for places that can't get vaccinated fast enough to

keep all those people out of the hospital, keep people from dying, whether the mitigation measures we can recommit to them even for just a small number of weeks until the vaccine is on the other side of the detroit tigers still had opening day, today. admittedly, with a reduced number of people in the stands, but they still had opening day, with 8,000 people. there are still businesses. so there's still some wiggle room, too, in terms of nonpharmaceutical interventions that could be moved around a bit. >> dr. peter hotez, co-director of the center for vaccine development at texas children's and dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor. sir, as always, thank you for your time tonight. clarifying, as always, thank you. >> thanks so much. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. stay with us claritin-d improves nasal airflow two times more than the leading allergy spray at hour one. [ deep inhale ] claritin-d. get more airflow.

breaking news, tonight, from "the new york times." for the last couple nights, we ever been focusing on this

remarkable and stomach-churning story about an active-criminal investigation into pro-trump republican congressman, matt gaetz. well, "the new york times" has just significantly advanced the story. i haven't had time to digest this. i am reading it for the first time now. justice department inquire kri into matt gaetz focusing on multiple women who were recruited online for sex, and received cash payments. according to people close to the investigation, text messages and payment receipts reviewed by "the times." the former tax collector in seminole county, florida, joel greenberg, initially met the women through websites that connect people who go on dates in exchange for gifts, fine dining, travel, and allowances. mr. greenberg introduced the women to congressman gaetz, who also had sex with them, according to three people with knowledge of the encounters. whether gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl and whether she

received anything of material value, according to four people familiar with the investigation, the sex-trafficking count against joel greenberg involved the same girl. "the times" has reviewed receipts from cash app and apple play that show payments from mr. greenberg and mr. gaetz to one of the women. the woman told the friend the payments were for sex with the two men. greenberg, the guy from seminole county. and the congressman. an encounter starting in 2019 and 2020, mr. gaetz and mr. greenberg instructed the women to meet at certain times and places often around hotels in florida and would tell them the amount of money they were willing to pay according to the messages and interviews. also, allegation of drug use. there is clarification from "the times" that is a violation of child sex trafficking law to provide anything of value in exchange for sex, which can include meals, alcohol, drugs,

cigarettes. there is a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence for that crime. mr. gaetz denies having any underaged relationships. but this story is considerably advanced by "the times" tonight. we'll be right back. stay with us. be right back. stay with us

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i told you one story that we were covering tonight was fast developing. we had dell computers and american airlines coming out and criticizing texas republicans' anti-voting legislation. by the time we got on the air. since we have been on the air, at&t, and southwest, also headquartered in texas. they have also come out against it. now, just in the last few minutes, microsoft have come out as well and blasted