tonight, a real-life >> it's handled. >> not exactly. an affair. and the boss who tried to cover it up. >> he said ben, i need you to can you come to my office? >> a late night in michigan. a mysterious phone call.man. the face of christian family values, representative todd

steamy affair with a married colleague. his outlandish plan, laid out on a hiddenrding, is to smear himself. >> so, when people find out that it came from you, they're todd, what the hell are you thinking? >> making up something so outrageous, no one would believe it when the truth>> are you a hypocrite? >> we're right there with them, as they speak about the scandal. >> sex, lives, coverups. >> cheating on their spouses. >> and a laughing stock. >> that's the've ever heard, and i'm including

pull-out method, and the plot ofent trap." >> threatening texts. >> oh, my god. >> a secret affair. >> wow. >> all leading to disorder in the >> you have power, politics, sex. >> the circus needs to go. >> a >> i'm elizabeth vargas. >> and i'm david muir. >> if you're stuck home tonight, settle in for a mystery would believe. a politician that created a scandal to protect himself. >> the recordings, now the two at the center of the

about why there was such an er it up. here's gio benitez, with a capital offense. >> reporter: lansing, michigan, its modest skyline nestled around the noble dome of the ly the humdrum hub of state government. >> typical midwest town with typical midwest politics. >> reporter: but that all changed last january when two ambitious newcomers come to town.atives cindy gamrat -- >> i ran for office because i believe in freedom. >> reporter: and todd courser. >> we were going there on a mission. >> reporter: the two oned-down, plainspoken pols hail from opposite sides of the so you've got, what, 30 acres here? >> there's 30, yeah. it's great for the children, finn >> reporter: courser, a lawyer by trade, is from rural, religious lapeer in the east. it's a very faith-based community.amrat, a homemaker and former nurse, from the modestly titled town of

>> it's a wonderful place to live. >> reporter: their districts may be far apart but their politics can't be any closer. both staunch tea party, rvatives and both married parents, firm believers in faith and family interesting, considering w >> he seemed to share the same values and the same principles as i had. >> reporter: what was part of your message? christian and family values? >> send me to lansing to be a for liberty and our conservative values. >> mixed in with again, the government overreach. i believe our federal government is out of control.rgy, not scared of anybody and just very principled. >> reporter: enter two key players, keith allard, who signs on as gamrat's number two and ld friend, who becomes courser's top aide. >> he's a very dynamic person.

he knows that. >> i'm against this, thank you. >> reporter: last january, the g like a cannonball determined to push their ultra-conservative agenda, even if it means fighting their own party. >> come hell or high water, we weren't going to cut a deal withther ourselves politically. >> reporter: but the disruptive duo's sharp elbows approach alienate just about any potential ally they'd need to . >> todd actually kind of declared public warfare on his colleagues. >> they were just very y was looking to stab them in the back. >> reporter: in fact the only relationship courser and gamrat seem to be cultivating is their own.close. they go on tv together and even combine their two staffs, running operations out of the same office. >> very unusual. they got here, people were talking about it. >> reporter: there are also frequent late night sessions that have the two overnighting

they're having a relationship. but we also just couldn't believe that these two would do something like that. >> reporter: yes, it is hard to believe. todd courser is married to his college sweetheart fon. they have four kids together, pick apples in their spare time. one, buddy. >> reporter: and cindy gamrat is raising three kids of her own with her long-time husband joe. the kind of house mom you see smiling out of facebook photos, he produce aisle. >> don't forget the oreos.he rumors mill keeps churning. and now somebody in this quiet capitol is doing more than talking. it looks like they're stalking. take a look at this. an uncredited photo of courser ub in broad daylight while parked at a lansing strip mall. the photo is posted online after a nameless paparazzo delivers itical blogger brandon hall. >> it was just like, wow, i

doing right now in lansing?"ey're in their office, they're voting. here they are in a parking lot, giving each other foot rubs. following you guys. >> yeah. >> reporter: and taking these pictures of you. >> i know. >> reporter: together in this car.ng happening in the car. >> reporter: okay, maybe not in the car, but there is quite a bit happening elsewhere, specifically, that radisson. it turns out that courser and than political bedfellows. >> it's your typical secret double life. they are putting themselves out ing christians, but they are fornicating behind the scenes. >> reporter: given your positions on family values, real risk that this affair was going on? >> in the beginning it doesn't happen that way. as you walked forward and all of a sudden before you know it, you're in a relationship with

photos, courser does acknowledgee to fon was as cold and dead as an upper peninsula winter. >> it was a burden, tremendous burden. >> reporter: was there any ought to yourself, todd, what the hell are you thinking? >> well, i mean, there was a bitterness and a hardness of heart. and at that point you don't even recognize yourself. you a hypocrite? >> you know, it's tough because i think there is a component of that. everybody would hear that i'm a believer in christ, they wouldn't hear the part that i'm failed and flawed, you know, like everybody else. butter: and what's representative gamrat's position on this issue? can you tell us what was going through your mind at the time? >> no. not going to get into that. >> reporter: did you violate traditional family values? >> sure. yeah. i did. covenant between a husband and a wife. >> reporter: the affair continues throughout the spring. so do the rumors and so do the denials. >> one of our staff said to them you need to consider the optics hey laughed it off. they just, it was a joke to

laughing matter when the whiff of blackmail starts swirling around the couple.gamrat and courser start receiving a series of text messages threatening to expose their affair from an "burner phone." just look at some that courser saved. "cindy sounds like she's great "silence in this case can be very detrimental. it could be disastrous, really." the texter says he'll let "everybody off the hook on one condition only. you resign, todd." he made the same demand of gamrat. to the threat, the texter is referencing their private phone calls and inside details of their trips. it's as if they knew your every move. move. they knew my e-mails out of my outbox even after i changed my password. they knew texts from my phone.r is someone close. someone with the means and the will to destroy him. it's enough to put anyone on edge. >> there was just a lot of stress.iously, this was

>> i would say that you couldn't have been in a lower spot. >> todd is usually very chipper and, and sarcastic and fun, but re he would take things out on us with a great deal of anger. it was tough. it was very tough.about to get a lot tougher as representative courser concocts a truly twisted plan to make his problems go away., i need you to destroy me." and i paused for a second and i said, "todd, what do you mean?" >> reporter: stay with us. introducing a hot new deal at mcdonald' s that starts with you. now, get 2 delicious tastes for just $2 dollars. the mcpick 2 menu.h new melty mozzarella sticks with a juicy mcdouble. or golden fries with a classic mcchicken. only $2 bucks for any two. your faves for just $2 dollars. it'

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"20/20"tal offense. >> reporter: it is may in michigan, and embattled state representative todd courser is alone in his law office in the small town of lapeer, terrified tery texter is on the verge of exposing his affair with colleague cindy gamrat. now, he makes the fateful decision to pick up the phone and call his right hand man, ben graham.ry, the most serious tone i've ever heard from him, he said, "i need you to destroy me. can you come to my office?" >> reporter: "destroy me?" fearing not only for his job butty, graham immediately notifies his counterpart on cindy gamrat's staff, keith allard. >> this is a guy who has been showing increasingly unstable signs in terms of his anger issues. there's a 20% chantly towards

loaded gun in that office. so i advised ben, "record the conversation." >> what's going on? you're freaking me out.his all-hearing phone recording everything, graham sits down across from courser's desk and gets the shock of a lifetime.ants graham to send an anonymous e-mail to fellow republicans. and it ain't about tax reform. >> it's already written. i didn't print it.t god will do, buddy. todd courser caught on tape behind lansing nightclub. in truth, courser secretly removed from caucus several e on male paid for sex. he is a bisexual porn-addicted sexual deviant. >> reporter: your ears aren't deceiving you.an e-mail to shovel dirt on himself for scandalous behavior. and check out the potty-mouth on this devout christian. >> and then you just get nasty over lansing since the election. gun-toting, bible-thumping, [ bleep ] freak. he doesn't work in lansing.

illicit sex.elling me literally blew me away. i did not expect that that would happen, that he would say those things. >> reporter: and it just gets r insists that none of these scandalous claims are true. in fact, they're absurd.nt. >> i'm not a homosexual. i don't do alcohol, i don't do drugs, right. >> that's what i mean. that's why it's not believable.now that. people are so disturbed. they won't print it. but anything after that is going to be suspect. it'll be looking, looking like a complete smear campaign. after that?" courser is clearly anticipating that the mystery texter will be exposing his love affair with cindy gamrat any day now. to come out, implicate myself and cindy gamrat. >> reporter: courser's hope is that the phony smear will tion scheme of the mysterious texter by diverting attention from the affair.

that i'm having sex with gay ansing and that's going to make the affair with cindy seem like nothing. and nothing's going to stick to the wall because it's so slimy. >> people will see it and [ bleep ]! what is that?" >> you know, i even hear my voice. i don't even recognize who i am.eople find out that it came from you and it's about you, they're going to ask, are you crazy? >> yeah, it's inside of that at that moment, at that situation in the darkness of where i was at, this personally. >> reporter: why did you decide to go with the storyline of a gay prostitute? i mean, did you think -- ridiculous. it was really over the top. i know it was offensive to the homosexuals.culous, and i didn't mean it. >> reporter: but what about gamrat's role in the scheme? on the recording, courser says she is down with the plan. >> hey, we agree. >> who? >> cindy and i.

>> yeah. >> reporter: right there, he says you both agreed on this. is he lying? >> well, when i heard that t ran through my mind is, why did he say this? >> reporter: so this e-mail, for you, came out of left field. >> yes.that was a lie? >> yeah, oh, absolutely. >> reporter: back in that law office, courser's demented plan has little appeal for his aide ben graham. remember, courser wants graham im. instead, the trusted aide says he walks out of the meeting shaken and alarmed. >> i couldn't believe he was asking me, and i, i couldn't do it. i texted him back and said, "todd, i can't help you do this. it up." >> i think loyalty went out the taffers. >> reporter: undeterred, courser sends out the self-incriminating e-mail himself under a fake name

scandal has crossed into olivia pope's turf.career is >> reporter: and yet, despite hitting his self-destruct button, courser does not self-destruct. notice. the sleaze bomb is a dud. >> i sort of dismissed it, because i thought, well, i hear a lot of weird stuff in politics and a lot of slanderous th of people. >> reporter: better still, the tormenting texter never follows through with the threats. did you think, "i'm going to get away with this?" >> i don't think it was really to get away with it. chapters in your life you say, "it was a crazy time." >> reporter: but then, courser and gamrat give themselves more it. that summer, for reasons now in litigation, they decide to cut off their own right hands, llard, citing poor performance. >> they came into work late. they wouldn't show up when they

>> they do. >> reporter: was it the smart idea to fire them? >> there's no way d that they should be there. >> reporter: maybe so, but hell hath no fury like a staffer scorned. >> i felt that it was important for people to know the truth d what they were doing. >> reporter: coming up, those double-cross the boss. and todd courser finally hits the national political stage, but not in the way he hoped. >> it's true. he sent an anonymous e-mail accusing himself of an affair. "oh, my god. >> reporter: how will the be >> what was going through your mind when he first told you what was going on? >> reporter: and the fight for

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"20/20" continues with a capital offense. >> reporter: it's a pleasant ws bureau in lansing, michigan. suddenly reporter chad livengood receives a call that makes his year.from a source who indicated the ben graham and keith allard would like to meet me. >> reporter: graham and allard have been fired by their bosses, controversial state ves todd courser and cindy gamrat. now it's time for some payback with the playback.ilies needed to know, it needed to come out, so they could deal with it. >> sat down with these two men and they started to play this tape for me. courser caught on tape. >> yep. that recording.

unbelievable.see how this was going to be a powerful story. >> reporter: on august 7th, nates on the front page, setting off a media frenzy. >> the >> sex and coverup scandal. >> reporter: for reporter jim kiertzner of abc detroit affiliate wxyz the story is ser's supporters go into bunker mode. >> you're a reporter out for his blood! >> no one in michigan has seen anything like this in the last three decades. the adultery with lies. >> juicy element after juicy element after juicy element.ys on the outside of his little law office.

some accountability questions, sir? why are you high ding. >> reporter: for weeks, you're dodging reporters. >> a few weeks. >> reporter: through it all, mrs. courser stands by her man. >> what was going through your mind when he first told you what was going on? >> i was pretty ca now it was subsequent days after that i didn't handle it so well. you can't really point a finger at somebody when they do something and when they fall, because we all fall. we all make mistakes. >> reporter: meanwhile, 150 miles away in plainwell, n or well at the gamrat residence. so cindy, what was that next morning like when the news broke?r that day to go to the zoo and of course the media came, they were outside.kay let's, you know, let's make a beeline for the, for the truck.

scandal goes national. >> intentionally news story about hiring a male prostitute. >> reporter: and it's irresistible to tv comics. >> it's ever heard, and i'm including trickle-down economics, the pull-out nd the plot of the parent trap. >> reporter: here you are on national tv, those comedy talk shows, you're the butt of jokes. >> yeah.at like? >> i'm pretty tough, my blood pressure doesn't go up a whole lot, uh, but this was tough. >> reporter: one week later -- >> just want to thank my family. >> reporter: gamrat takes her place in the pantheon of ho issue public apologies with stoic spouses by their side. >> my husband joe --eporter: joe gamrat looks

family-photo smile. what about your husband? has he since forgiven you? >> he says he has, and i believe he has. >> i'm not here to resign today, i'm here to say i'm sorry.r: but sometimes sorry doesn't cut it. >> they need to resign ately. >> todd, say it's over. just step down. >> reporter: with all the christian values here, it must have rocked this community. >> it did. i mean, i really rocked our small town.r: did they start saying you're not a real christian? >> oh, absolutely. unforgiving people are people who profess christ.e bet you taken some hard questions from them. relish watching somebody burn. just love it. and it's sick and it's evil and it's demonic. >> reporter: and remember -- gamrat and courser already have plenty of enemies within their own party.knives are out. >> their scandal was dragging everybody down. they were embarrassing the leaders.

party. s an investigation which finds numerous instances of deceptive, deceitful, and outright dishonest conduct by both representatives, and says they abused their offices in >> it's not always the scandal. it's the coverup. >> reporter: claims that, to this day, both courser and gamrat strongly deny.t now. >> are you humiliated by this? they're recommending that you be expelled. is that appropriate, sir? the stage for a dark and dramatic night under the capitol dome last september. there's no death penalty in michigan execution. >> by then the republicans and ody had said we got to toss out the trash. >> stand against deception, disdain and disrespect. >> reporter: while m and others lobby for expulsion, courser is not about to go gentle into that good night. >> i had no intentions of

i was, i'm a gladiator, i'm a warrior. i would ask that you note no on expelling me. >> reporter: but as the clock strikes 12:00 it becomes clear. the gladiator is being fed to the lions. >> unfit to serve. >> very dramatic. pleading to stay. leave until they got an >> today is the day to end this. the circus needs to go. >> and you know, i just felt like it was done and i walked up you know, i'm going to resign. red-coated security guards, courser makes his exit. were you devastated?d blankets that they put on you at the dentist, it was like 20 of those came off me as i walked out the door.

away. miles and i just pulled into a parking lot, and i just turned the truck move for 12 hours. you've let down so many people and, god, if i could go back and undo it, you know, lord knows i would.he house chamber, it's 4:00 in the morning and it's cindy's turn to ascend the scaffold. she saysmply throwing in the towel. >> the other representative had resigned, and i panicked a little bit. >> reporter: but in that sea of hostility, cindy finds a rock of support.r old son joey. >> in my mind, resigning is giving up the fight before you >> he said, stay and fight. he said, okay mom, take a deep breath and hold your head high. >> you're going to walk in, you're going to act like you own

the past. the only thing i can do is try to go forward and do it better. and i still believe that my actions warrant censure, but not expulsion. >> reporter: gamrat pleads her case a final time but the house has heard enough. vote 91-12 to expel her. she is escorted out with her head held high, making michigan history as the first woman to be had worked for. >> i know. one night. gone. >> this isn't how i pictured it. pressure. sorry. out of office.

>> a strange end to an even stranger scandal. >> it was the ultimate final curtain for both of them. >> reporter: but sometimes fal. >> get this! >> just the latest twist. >> reporter: it's gamrat and courser, the sequel!ive up the spotlight yet and they want to shine it on whoever was sending those mystery texts that led to their downfall. stay with us. n you help?he millions of used cars for sale at the new carfax.com! show me cars with no accidents. show me no accidents and one owner. ent, one owner cars with service records. that's awesome. ower of carfax . find the cars you want, avoid plus you get a free carfax report with every listing! start your used car search at

"20/20" with a capital offense. >> reporter: they're sorry. they're ashamed. but todd courser and

sex scandal and expulsion from office dash their ambitions. >> todd courser now will run for re-election after gi ago. >> reporter: yep, brazen as it may seem, todd and cindy have ended their affair, but now they want to continue their political careers. >> they're almostthey didn't look at themselves the way everybody else in michigan did. >> reporter: why are you running again? >> one of the things that concerned me the most was that my voters didn't have a voice in the matter at all. >> reporter: plenty of other or the seats too, but gamrat and courser have something the competition lacks. >> i have the highest name id, i think, of anybody that's ever run for state house. i think what has happened has , you know, in some way to mythical status. >> reporter: a lot of people sagnition?" that's the reason you wouldn't

i certainly have the best name recognition.he right >> it's negative at this point. the people should have an opportunity to make their choice. >> reporter: but back in lansing, their former colleagues aren't exactly eager to welcome them back. of the bizarre behavior. i think it showed contempt for it showed their contempt for the voters. it's about the people. >> reporter: courser and gamrat say they are still the most conservative candidates running. >> now, theable to make their own decision. >> reporter: and now they just want to make laws, not love.tion day, judgment day, and "20/20" is there. much in order. >> what's going through your mind today? >> obviously it's a huge day and you got all the emotions of all

>> reporter: courser spends the ng up reporters and voters, while gamrat makes some last-minute calls to constituents.ust calling to encourage you to vote today. >> reporter: courser stays loose, toying with his dog, coco. >> do you want the pizza or do you want the ball? >> reporter: but as the results kle in -- >> todd courser and cindy gamrat will not be going back to lansing.r that the electorate's love affair with the two tea partiers is kaput. cindy gets just 9% of the vote. >> what was going through your mind as you were getting the results? >> i was disappointed. we worked really hard. we've given it our best. i'm exhausted. >> reporter: as for courser, he gets a backwoods whupping,

there's mine, 299. and he ended up with 2,263. >> reporter: the bad news, he good news, his wife, fon, is still there, faithfully, with open arms. >> it's okay. it's politics. it will take me a while to kind of heal from that and take some stepost-election, courser retreats back to his law office in lapeer to lick his wounds. but there's some unfinished business fevering his brain. those mysterious text messages that hit his iphone last may. remember, a hidden extortionist threatened to reveal the affair mrat resigned, maintains, sent him over the edge. do you believe at that point that you were being blackmailed? texter is requiring me to resign. it felt like there was a bigger power at work here. until he gets some answers. and that investigation will s unlikely conclusion at this unexpected location, with an even more surprising suspect.

again?-mail. why wouldn't you send those texts? the twists and turns lead to the mystery texter. >> i remember reading the reportand not wanting to believe what i was reading. "20/20" returns. song: "that's life" fe" song: "that'splife" that's life. et. you exercise. and if you still need help lowering your blood sugar... ...this is jardiance. along with diet and exercise, jardiance works around the clock ts with type 2 diabetes. it works by helping your body to get rid of some of the sugar it doesn't need through urination. this can help you lower blood sugar and a1c.not

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"20/20" continues,offense. >> reporter: for months, it's

who was the shadowy figure who sent those blackmail texts to todd courser and cindy gamrat, threatening to expose their affair unless they resigned?ed put the whole tragic farce in motion. >> there was this guessing game about who sent the texts.g game in town. >> reporter: remember, the mystery texter somehow knew private details of todd and -mails and even their schedule. >> not many people had the was >> reporter: leading courser to believe the texter was someone close, you know, someone like a trusted aide. someone like ben graham or keith allard, possibly spilling enemies. >> i would say that somehow the texters are connected to the staff in some way to be able to get the information they had. >> i mean, i 100% assure you right now that it was not us.

laughable because if the texter asked him to resign, i don't have a job anymore.r had warned courser that his "phone was a burner," a disposable phone, so "don't bother trying" to trace it.kthrough, when a private investigator hired by cindy's attorney is able to trace the name on the phone's account. get ready for this, it was a certain "c livingood," the name porter who broke the story, chad livengood. >> my initial reaction was that's not surprising that somehow they're going to try to pin this on me.oing to work, because i had nothing to do with it. >> reporter: and check out that spelling. most print reporters know how to write their own name.n e-n and this said i-n-g-o-o-d. >> reporter: then, another startling twist. the blog mlive.com hires its own p.i. to look into the burner different

none other than todd courser. >> courser had a crazy scheme in mind.eople were wondering, are these texts were real or are these texts part of courser playing the victim againhat e-mail. why wouldn't you send those texts? >> obviously my credibility was already shot. >> reporter: courser is sos name and catch the real culprits, he walks into the state police headquarters in lansing, demanding the cops launch a criminal investigation. >> i was hoping they would take it seriously and look through it.t. the officer there said, "we know you did it. you just need to confess and you shouldn't make false police police do launch an investigation and are able to track gps locations from the burner phone to the town of port huron, michigan. specifically to here, the domtar paper plant.rs make a shocking discovery. there's a traveling chemical salesman working at that plant.

far not, her own husband, joe. >> i was devastated to see the police report. i remember reading the report and not wanting to believe what i was reading. >> reporter: according to the report, an accomplice at the plant bought the phone "with y joe gamrat" and gamrat "would tell him what to text." also assigning the misleading names the scent. gamrat has denied the allegations and although he was named as a suspect the prosecutors. vindicated? >> oh, sure. >> reporter: you felt like, see, i told you so, i wasn't the texter.obviously. >> reporter: the records also show that gamrat exchanged dozens of texts and calls with graham and allard. the aides say that was nothing unusual. joe gamrat would call at at cindy's whereabouts. what was unusual was what gamrat

for instance, last february, joe gamrat followed his wife to son hotel in downtown lansing and called allard to tell him what he discovered. he said cindy's husband joe actually saw cindy leaving one of these hotel rooms, todd courser's hotel room, early in the morning. car, called her and she picked up and said, why are you calling me, i've been sleeping for hours. and he said, really?i've been asleep, like why are you waking me up? >> reporter: this was just the tip of the iceberg. the police report revealed that even as joe gamrat was standing c, in private, he'd become obsessed with tracking her. spying on cindy for months and plantingr bag and car. remember those photos of courser giving cindy a foot rub in a lansing parking lot?

iphone. >> the level of the spying he was doing on his own wife was i did not expect that. >> when that is happening to you, it's really traumatizing and there's a fear component, ing of not feeling safe and secure. >> reporter: and what does joe gamrat have to say about all of this?eaching joe gamrat, we've texted him, we've called him, no response yet. so now were going to go to his house, see him in person to see if he has anything to say about this. gamrat did come out to speak with us, but he wouldn't go on camera.nted to put this whole thing behind him. >> joe gamrat is still the mystery man. if there's a cliffhanger in this story, it's joe gamrat.n we return, their political careers are over, and now maybe their marriages are too.

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continues. with a capitol offense. >> reporter: it is a bracing friday as cindy gamrat drives her suv to a plainwell, michigan, parking lot. >> it's hard because it's cold out. says, is where she spends her nights when her husband joe comes home from his business trips on short notice. >> but i'll tell you, when it's you wake up, start the car and let it warm up. and i have a sleeping bag and blankets and that, so it stays ter: today, cindy is preparing for a divorce.

says it's joe who went too far. with his alleged stalking and extortion.longer feels safe to be in the house with him, despite the kids they are raising. as for her future, well, she's ebsite to help others who have been put under surveillance by their spouses. >> i just hope something good can come outll been bad. it's all been so bad. >> reporter: but while the gamrats' marriage is over, rward. he says the scandal made him and fon take a hard look at why their marriage was so troubled. they have now entered counseling in order to form a more perfect union. marriage, and we want to stick together. and -- >> reporter: and that's what i you forgive him? >> i forgive him. you know, saying you want to forgive someone is so much easier than actually doing it, and it's a work in progress. >> reporter: it may be true thatitself cannot stand.

again set foot in the state house, for now, this house will . >> if i take my sweater off, i st through me. it was a chau just keep taking looking forward to what god has in the future. and each day is a new adventure. >> so, todd courser and hisng to make it work. the question tonight, would you do the same? >> let us know onuse #abc2020. i'm elizabeth vargas. >> and i'm david muir. stay warm if you're in the storm