when you look at joel greenberg, what's going on here, yes. om, can you corroborate it? all those things can be helpful and potentially moving the case forward. >> tom winter, thank you so much for joining us with this breaking news. >> we'll be back for a short break. don't go anywhere. break. don't go anywhere. in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. okay, we're not gonna ask for discounts on floor models, demos or displays. shopping malls can be a big trigger for young homeowners turning into their parents. you ever think about the storage operation a place like this must rely on? -no. they just sell candle

so that's what's in it for joel greenberg.12-year mandatory and get his sentence potentially reduced. on the other hand, it takes time, you might say well, gee, two months of talking, what else is there to say. >> right. >> he makes statements to the government but then the government has to verify them. it has to look at records. it has to potentially talk to witnesses, maybe it has to bring them back into the grand jury. so it's not a matter of simply taking him at his word, that's not uncommon in these cases, where people cooperate and then the government checks it out. they raise new questions, they come back. so both he and the government are asking the judge here for a 90-day extension so basically to let him continue collaborating for three more months. >> if both of those parties in typical cases, pete, make that request to the judge, is the judge typically, do we know is there a pattern on what judges typically do in situations when the defendant and the prosecution are making the case? >> well for sentencing delays,

first, more nbc news reporting on joel greenberg's request to delay his sentencing for, among other crimesntext trafficking and bribery. greenberg's attorney added that greenberg is expected to participate in additional sessions with prosecutors and notes that his cooperation could impact his ultimate sentence. it's unclear what delay would mean for the investigation into gaetz who has not been charged with any crime and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. so, joyce, what do you make, first, of the request and what might it mean for matt gaetz? >> this is a standard request that you'll see from the government and a defendant jointly when cooperation is ongoing and it can mean one of two things, chris, it can mean that the cooperation is productive and that they're making cases on other suspects but they need a little bit more time. on other occasions, though, it can mean that while there's a good faith effort to cooperate being made by someone in greenberg's shoes that it hasn't yet been productive. the government is giving the defendant a little bit more time to see if he can do somethi

so we talked yesterday about what prosecutors and investigators could need more time with joel greenbergnk the fact that prosecutors in fact agreed with greenberg's own attorneys' assertions that this should be postponed, i mean i think if prosecutors had stepped in and said, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, we'll continue with the sentencing in august instead of november, i think that would have signalled they were going to put the pressure on him to either start talking a little bit more quickly or a little bit more truthfully. the fact that prosecutors did not oppose this at all and the judge essentially was left to approve something that both sides agreed on i think does actually firm up the points we were talking about yesterday, that this does appear at the moment at least to be a cooperation that is going well for joel greenberg in his effort both to reduce his sentence as our colleague pete williams, we were chatting earlier today. pete was looking into this idea of getting in this idea of minimum sentences. some of things greenberg pleaded guilty to here are quite serious. if he

joel greenberg just asked his sentencing to be delayed.ean that he's asking for his sentence to be delayed. does that mean he's trying to come up more deals, how much trouble could this mean for congressman gaetz? >> i think it means that mr. greenberg seems to be an excellent wing man for a certain kind of date, at least, court date. if i am matt gaetz at this point, i am feeling worried. this guy written a confession and now he wants more time to tell a story. this is the way the investigation begins. they start with a lower level person and flip to a higher level person. it was the same thing we were talking about the ivanka and all the other people. it is the same strategy used in many different law enforcement investigations. this time is working out and looks like against gaetz and others in the trump organization as well. this is the way criminal investigations begin and end. >> this is the way. neil katyal, thank you so much. not only giving us the background but telling us where it could go. you can find more of neil on "opening a

investigation into congressman gaetz, they're relying on a lot of other witnesses and documents, not just joel greenberged the judge will agree and give this extra time before he gets his sentence. what's interesting is we know since the investigation of the congressman, that's active and ongoing. they are still bringing witnesses before the grand jury. we also know that investigators have done another round of outreach to some of the women involved in this alleged sex trafficking, alleged prostitution. this investigation is ongoing and it really looks like from our reporting that investigators are trying to cross their t's and dot their i's before they make this really critical decision about whether they can really charge the congressman or anyone else involved in this. >> based on your reporting, paula, are these other women cooperating with the investigators? >> it does appear they have gotten most of the cooperation they expected. not across the board. not everyone is as honest or cooperative as they had hoped, but it does appear many of these women have lawyers, most of them i spoke with. they are

nbc news reports that gates so she it, joel greenberg is asking the judge overseeing this case to delay his sentencing. greenberg's lawyer says his client continues to cooperate with federal prosecutors in that sex trafficking case, and argues that cooperation will not be complete before his schedule sentencing on august 19th. also tonight, the growing concerns about the covid-19 delta variant, which the cdc now says makes up more than half of all cases in the u.s.. earlier today, president biden outlined a new efforts to try to boost vaccinations including door to door outreach. and he had a warning for anyone who has not received a shot. >> if you're vaccinated, your protected. but if you're unvaccinated, you're not. you are putting yourself, more important from your perspective, your family, your friends at risk. >> there is also breaking news about the ranks to lead new york city. tonight the associated press has declared eric adams the winner of the democratic primary. putting him on track to become the second black mayor in the history of the nation's largest city. finally, we con

>> it tells me prosecutors are satisfied with joel greenberg's cooperation as it's gone so far. this is a standard move any time you have a cooperator. you want to push off his sentencing as late as possible, really until after all the other cases have been made, any trials have been held because you need to hold that over the cooperator's head. if you get him sentenced now, he's not going to have incentive to continue to cooperate. i used to do this all the time, when a cooperator was giving new information that i believed would lead to new charges and arrests. there were times i pushed off sentences for years even. >> understood. okay. topic, big topic. you've written a new book on the legacy of former attorney general bill barr. you write that barr brought to the attorney general's job a dangerously distorted conception of his own power to impose that social order on what he saw as the needy, dim-witted masses. explain that point of view as you see it and what effect it had on the doj's work? >> jim, going into writing this book and i knew and it was clear to a lot of people