matt: you are and east coast person -- an east coast person. matt: i am matt miller.loomberg. ♪ we know how much you count on us... ...and that's why we're here 24/7... ...and on the road maintaining a fast and reliable network. we're always working to ensure the internet meets your needs... ...by making access easier for all... ...with comcast lift zones and our internet essentials program. we're invested in making our apps easy... ...to give you personalized assistance around the clock. and we're committed to keeping our team and customers safe by working from home... ...and using precautions in store. see what we're up to at xfinity.com/commitment mark: i am mark crumpton with bloomberg's first word news. president biden is poised to unveil a plan that would raise taxes on the wealthiest americans to levels not seen in more than four decades. americans earning over 400,000 dollars a year will pay higher marginal income tax rates. those taking in $1 million or more will face a levy of up to 43.4% on their capital gains. the last time rates got close to that, jimmy c

matt: all right.ndia especially the last few days, we have had a lot of stories out of india. really fascinating because they are starting to kick up their vaccination rate. now, is 3.5 million. that does not dent the massive population. maybe within a year, they will have enough vaccinated to get back to herd immunity. michael bell stays with us. we do have a lot to talk about today, even though it's friday and the equity indexes are not moving around that much. remember, we are still at record highs. and we've got, on the one hand, some very bad news coming out of europe when you look at industrial production figures. on the other hand, some very good news coming out of the heart of europe, the economic growth engine here in germany. there may be a drive to actually get some vaccine doses and pick up the pace a little bit in terms of tackling this disease. we will get the latest from here in berlin next. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ matt: welcome back to "bloomberg markets: european open." we are eight mi

this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: this is bloomberg markets. i'm matt miller. to something that caught my eye this morning. russia is said to have built up 150,000 troops at the ukrainian border, the most ever, according to the pentagon. here in germany, the chancellor angela merkel expressed concern, calling it extremely tense and very worrying. we have seen reports that there are medical hospitals being set up along the lines. dow jones says there are fighter jets lined up on runways. joining us for the latest on the excluding situation is jake. this is something that seemed to get very serious without drawing a lot of attention in markets. when i saw this story this morning, that there were more troops amassed on the border than ever before, including in the previous conflicts, it was not among the most read stories. why is it kind of flying under the radar? >> first i want to correct you, the eu revised down the figure two 100,000, which is still unprecedented amount, but slightly less than the 150 you cited. putin rattling his saber is nothing new. i think

this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: this is bloomberg markets. i'm matt miller.ecision on resuming the use of the johnson & johnson vaccine in the u.s. is expected on friday according to dr. anthony fauci. for more, we welcome dr. anna durbin, professor of health at the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. of course, michael bloomberg supports that college. let me get your take on this johnson & johnson vaccine and the astrazeneca vaccine which has had similar issues. such rare clotting issues that although it is serious and tragic if they affect you, you are much more likely to get hurt in a lot of other ways. does the u.s. bring it back as quickly as possible? dr. durbin: i certainly hope so. there's a couple of reasons for the pause. one is to get a better understanding of the incident and also to understand that health care providers are aware of the syndrome and treated appropriately. it's getting out what we know to the providers so if they see a case, they treated appropriately and we get as much information as we can about the incident so we c

this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: this is "bloomberg markets," i am matt miller.e continue to count you down to the fomc decision coming at the top of the hour, and we are going to bring you special coverage of that, president biden's speech as well, later on in the programming. you have the fed coming up at 2:00, and later on, 8:30, our special coverage it a president biden addressing to the joint session of congress. definitely stay tuned to bloomberg all evening long. the stock now about online shopping. shop a fire reported its first quarter earnings today, smashing estimates across the board. that sent stocks soaring. a be more importantly, it gave us an indicator on how sticky online shopping will be as we reopen. joining us now is the shop i president, harley finkelstein, to talk about what they have experienced. appreciate your time. it looks like as brick-and-mortar stores are opening up again, at least customers that use a shop if i -- shopify merchants are still doing online deals, is that the case? harley: let's talk first about shopify and then the ma

laura: thanks, matt.opean union has failed to find a united response to links between astrazeneca's covid vaccine and a rare type of blood clot. italy has followed germany and france by recommending it only for people, paradoxically, over the age of 60. eu health ministers say they will continue talks on the issue. the u.k., meanwhile, says it remains on course to reach its vaccination targets, despite issuing new guidance effectively ruling out offering astrazeneca jabs to people under 30. the centers for disease control and prevention has confirmed the u.k.'s covid-19 variant is now the most common strain in the u.s., over taking the original form of the virus. despite rising cases across the country, new york announced it will reopen beaches in time for the memorial day weekend, and public pools will open the following month. meanwhile, speaking in an exclusive interview, indonesian president told bloomberg equal access to the vaccine is essential to end the pandemic. >> i am asking world leaders to pr

matt? matt: thanks very much. laura wright with your first were news.ry today, china's major lenders in focus after the pboc is said to have asked the big banks to curtail loan growth for the rest of the year. let's get more with the juliette saly in singapore. this comes amid fears of bubble risks. juliette: that's what we are hearing. sources familiar telling us that it has gone from worrying about the pandemic, the pboc, to being worried about bubble risk as we saw new lending jump from 16% in the first two months of this year. we are hearing the pboc wants to keep 2021 levels the same as. last year that would be something like 1.6 5 trillion per month in new yuan loans. this is draining some valuation from some of the big-name stocks in session, matt. matt: all right, juliette, thanks very much. we will continue to cover that story for you as well. the s&p 500 at an all-time high on monday. european stocks set to play catch-up. ♪ ♪ matt: welcome back to bloomberg markets, this is the european open. 30 minutes from the start of cash equity trading wi

matt: what changed since then?tending the international travel ban and saying it could go beyond may 17? >> i think that is partly to blame. they're also blaming the slow rollout and the new lockdowns that are coming up. they are all playing into the various reasons for them not being as bullish as they were a week or two ago. matt: you're in london, talk to me about what the international travel ban really means. all of my friends who live in london have no problem flying to paris or going to florida to get a vaccine, people are leaving the u.k., are they cheating? siddharth: according to the rules, you can leave the country for a variety of reasons including business, education, and a whole bunch of reasons. the government has made it tougher for some people to leave. they banned travel from the u.k. at the beginning of january and now they have followed that up with penalties as well. it does not seem to be stopping a lot of people from traveling, at the same time, a lot of people are looking to travel around an

amanda: no names, matt. matt: don't tell my wife.back to what's going on in the western world. that affect sub-saharan africa and asia. it will carryover. we are all connected. in america, president biden will have several chances to push through parts of his economic agenda without republican support. but the issue he is facing now is keeping his own party on board with his plans. we are joined by gill rogers, rutgers professor of public policy. he's a former u.s. labor department chief economist. thanks very much for your time. budget reconciliation is one way to push through legislation if you have got a 50/50 split and the vice president. it's a little more difficult if joe manchin doesn't want to play ball. bill: most definitely. that will help to keep some of the items that people call christmas tree items to a minimum. i think in the end senator manchin will come along. it is good economics that is behind both the $1.9 trillion package and now this infrastructure package. it's all about the three r's, relief, recovery, and re-

matt: absolutely.ehemoth like microsoft takes over, they will be able to do a lot without marketing budget. that's the stock of the hour. as vaccines roll out, what is the outlook for returning employees to the office? we will discuss with the ceo of jll, next. this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: this is "bloomberg markets." in the u.s., 180 7 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine has been administered and 90% of the adult u.s. population will be eligible for the shop by next week. what does this mean for companies trying to bring employees back to the office? joining us to discuss is the ceo of one of the largest players in commercial real estate, christian ulbrich joins us. he runs jll out of frankfurt. you are in germany. we will get to that. but the u.s. is well on its way to a recovery. do not think that is overstating it. what are you hearing from clients in terms of bringing workers back? christian: i think everybody is looking forward to bringing their people back to the office. and the vaccinations are

matt: thanks very much.having a little bit of an off-line conversation with amanda who says pizza was invented in italy, which is true. but they don't make it the way we make it in chicago. they don't make it the way we make it in new york. it's kind of a different food. it just has the same name. this is bloomberg. ♪ want to save hundreds on your wireless bill? with xfinity mobile, you can. how about saving hundreds on the new samsung galaxy s21 ultra 5g? you can do that too. all on the most reliable network? sure thing! and with fast, nationwide 5g included - at no extra cost? we've got you covered. so join the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfaction... ...and learn how much you can save at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings. it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? ...delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without b

this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: this is bloomberg markets. i am matt miller.rns remain for most investors as the global economy recovers. recent data shows that u.s. consumer inflation expectations surged in april to the highest level in nine years. gary shilling has been cleat -- has been keeping a close eye on the inflation situation as well as the coming economic room. -- economic boom. gary, you say it will be a mirage. why? gary: what we're seeing so far is that all this stimulus money that's being pumped out is largely being saved. if you look at march a year ago, and this is federal reserve data, people spent 20 -- 27% of what they got and saved the rest, used it to pay down debt. in december, it was 26%, and in march, 25%. people are rebuilding assets, paying down debt. people realize that they have very little cushion going into this. federal reserve data shows that the average millennial, 16%, do not have $400 for emergencies, so i think that pandemic was a wake-up call. i think you will see people largely saved this money, pay down debt, and a lot o

matt gaetz says he has never paid for sex, right? but it doesn't get you out of legal jeopardy if your buddy pays for sex and then you pay your buddy the same a. i'm not saying that's what happened here, there seems to be a case if your reporting is true it did. but from a legal exposure standpoint, if someone pays for sex and you pay them, you're not off the hook, correct? >> that's right. that's part of a conspiracy. now, what we have here, and it is worth going through the detail. we got hold of venmo payments. as anybody who uses venmo knows, when you pay anyone anything, you have to explain what that thing is for. we have to ask, why would a sitting congressman be making two payments, one of which says to hit up, it says "hit up" and it mentions are girls name, a name that hours later receives money from that same person who got that money. and so that's what we got here. we got venmo transactions that definitively tie him to them. we have more coming because we don't just have these financial transactions. >> well, what do you

matt: what has the pandemic been like?ook over the last five years, the stock has come down, but revenue has soared. what is going to change now? david: for our business, it has been interesting. there has been a bifurcation. our digital business is growing rapidly, that includes podcasting come our radio network business was also up. what remains rough is the local business. radio does an extraordinary job in the united states. we do an extraordinary job getting people to get up and do things. the get up and do things business is challenged by a pandemic. whether it is going to a gym, movie theater, you name it, all these businesses are sidelined. we found in the summer, 42 percent of local advertisers were sidelined. that has put a damper on local sales. as we look forward, we see that business recovering nicely. we are having great conversations with customers who are looking forward to getting back on the air. ringing back their customers. at the same time, we see this rapidly emerging area in our transformation of our

have to keep an eye ont matt: matt: closely for now.ow important is the resumption in flights, a pickup in manufacturing, the higher prices and shipping? a lot of these big institutional players hedge and purchase out months in advance. they still must impact the supply demand equation. >> absolutely. manufacturing is probably a bigger factor than jet fuel at this point. what we did see during the worst of the pandemic was that refineries shifted to produce less jet fuel per barrel of oil they were processing and they said more into petrochemical manufacturing. in the u.s., our petrochemical manufacturing has gone up to about 30%, where it was previously about 25%. they have shifted to this. if we suddenly see a big jump in jet fuel demand, we could see an imbalance in the market because refineries have shifted to producing less jet fuel because of the drop in demand. matt: we will watch those prices. in terms of the plain-vanilla nymex contract, where do expect prices to go in the next few months? >> we are definitely looking towards p

matt: i am matt miller with amanda lang. i cut you off for a moment, were you about to recommend better assets on which to spend if you were a higher earner? amanda: i was going to point out that the germans may not be the best example of what people are doing the pandemic. in north america, but sales have gone through the roof. it was not a super important point, though. matt: but germans are savers. if you spend the majority on asset, or condos in toronto, those prices are going up so maybe inflation is hitting the rich in ways we did not measure. let's talk a little about what is going on with jay powell. he has been speaking over the last hour and saying, frankly, a lot of things he said in the minutes. he has been dovish and wants to continue to communicate that message to the markets. >> we've got a taste of what progress will look like with march employment reports. close to one million jobs, especially if you add january. we want to see a string of months like that so we can see progress in our goals. the recovery re

matt: great to get some -- mike: i'm sorry. matt: please, go on. mike: when you have these turnovers in administration, it takes a while for the new leaders -- gary literally just got put in front of his desk yesterday. it takes a while for the senior people to kind of get their hands around everything, but there is a lot of people in the working ranks of treasury, sec, occ, that know a lot about the crypto economy, about blockchain, and about all these issues. matt: great to get some time with you, michael. fascinating space. michael nova gretz is the ceo of galaxy digital -- michael nova gretz -- mike novogratz is the ceo of galaxy digital. the day banks to coinbase, you bring this interview with michael, so we really appreciate your recording, sonali basak. coming up, we will ask if regional banks are just as optimistic about the economy is wall street. this is bloomberg. ♪ amanda: this is bloomberg markets. i am amanda lang with matt miller fulton we are taking -- keeping our eyes on citizens financial today as it beat analyst estimates for we

matt: this is bloomberg markets. artist and entrepreneur will.i.am is teaming up with honeywell to debut a smart mask, super mask is what it is called. here to discuss it is will lange from honeywell and will.i.am himself. great to have you on the program. i initially knew of you from your music, but then i started covering stem conferences for kids and you were a big part of supporting them. i saw you do holograms a couple times, which i thought was cool, noticed that you are into tech investing. now you are doing more hardware pieces and a super mask is the latest. i think marc andreessen saw you. will.i.am: 2020, i came up with the idea to make a mask that not only had awesome filters, but fans for air circulation, noise cancellation earphones, because i travel a lot and when you are traveling and working on the phone, the mask is blocking your voice and you have to scream into your phone or sometimes take your mask off, and that is not safe. i wanted to make a mask that lets you have peace of mind and productivit

matt: very interesting.an't believe they shut down f-150 production at all because it's a high-margin vehicle and i hope they keep pumping them out in dearborn. coming up, president biden takes aim at wall street and we will discuss the potential impact of his economic proposals with former tv ameritrade mogul. this is bloomberg ♪ >> we are going to get rid of the loopholes and allow -- that allow americans to make more than one million dollars per year and a lower tax rate on their capital gains on americans who receive a paycheck. we will only affect 3/10 of 1% and the irs will crackdown on millionaires and billionaires who cheat on their taxes. matt: that was president biden taking aim at wall street and america's wealthiest tearing his address to congress last night stop for more, we welcome joe moglia, former td ameritrade ceo. he is a bloomberg/wall street correspondent. we have a full house here but joe, let me start by asking you what you take from president biden's statements there? we have been get

and he knows a lot about matt gaetz. according to sources we talked to, the two were involved in a number of instances where fwreenberg helped arranged for women to travel to have sex with congressman gaetz. so the idea that greenberg, according to his lawyer, is working on making a plea agreement with the government and perhaps, perhaps -- we don't know for sure but perhaps might be able to tell the government more about what he knows, that raises a lot of questions. here is greenberg's lawyer addressing that. >> i think that mr. greenberg accepts a plea or plea agreement that it will show a sense of remorse, which he does have, a sense of acceptance of responsibility. number two, i think he's uniquely situated. i'm sure matt gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today. >> and i think that's an understatement, wolf, with that development as you heard. look, i think it's very common when you make a plea agreement that the government expect you to provide some cooperation in exchange for agreeing -- for supporting perhaps

greenberg is a close associate of matt gaetz, his wingman in fact.the investigation into gaetz for potential sex trafficking was launched out of the investigation into greenberg, who among other charges has been indicted on a count of sex trafficking an underage girl. investigators are also looking into whether gaetz and greenberg used the internet to search for women they could pay for sex. greenberg has until may 15th to enter a plea, but it raises the prospect that he could cooperate as a witness against gaetz. here's greenberg's lawyer outside the courthouse today. >> does matt gaetz have anything to worry about? >> does matt gaetz -- that is such a broad -- >> when it comes to what happened today in court? >> i'm sure matt gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today. >> listen to old mattie boy. there are no friends in politics. meanwhile gaetz who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, released a statement today entitled, breaking, the women of u.s. congressman matt gaetz's office speak out in defense of representative gaetz. quote, on every occ

matt gaetz has never been on any such websites whatsoever. matt gaetz cherishes the relationships in his past and looks forward to marrying the love of his life. for the latest on the gaetz story, i want to bring in jose pal area ree, political investigations reporter at the daily beast who has amazing reporting on the text messages that pointed the feds towards matt gaetz. jose, thanks for coming on the show. what are these texts you got that connect the feds to joel greenberg to matt gaetz? >> well, these text messages are pretty astounding. there are two sets of text messages that we were able to get ahold of, and what they say essentially is that a politician that most of the country otherwise would never have heard of joel gaetz, tax collector in florida, that this local politician had a relationship with matt gaetz and by all accounts was bringing him into the office late at night on a weekend to look at i.d.s that now -- i.d.s that were being fabricated, and in another instance was actually calling in a favor trying to get matt gaetz a

is there exposure for matt gaetz. here is greenberg's attorney after court today. >> does matt gaetz have anything to worry about? >> i'm sure matt gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today. >> there are people who see that as an ominous sign for gaetz. we're not yet reporting anything that confirms some kind of cooperation here. now, if greenberg does cooperate, if he does have evidence of interest to the feds, he could, like anyone else, get a more lenient sentence. he's looking at 12 years in business. all this comes as a new report is breaking first from cbs news and nbc news confirmed that the feds are probing a trip to the bahamas in late 2018 or early 2019. it is relevant to the probe because it involves, quote, women paid to travel for sex, which could violate federal law and whether gaetz or greenberg who was in court today used the internet to search for women they could pay for sex. in addition, the reporting says, quote, gaetz was on that trip with a marijuana entrepreneur. again, gaetz denying all of th

to matt gaetz with fair election claims.esidency for a pardon for himself. >> let's start with the obvious observation, lawrence. you don't ask for a presidential pardon unless you've committed crimes, unless you need a presidential pardon. but it's nice to actually have some supreme court precedent to look to to put this into context. more than 100 years ago, 1915, there was a case called the united states against george burdick, and president woodrow wilson issued george burdick a pardon. george said, i don't want one because i don't believe i committed a crime. the supreme court said, a pardon carries with it an imputation of guilt, and if you accept a pardon, that is virtually a confession of guilt. so if we extend the supreme court rationale to matt gaetz, what does it mean when you request a pardon, when you speak out a pardon? it obviously, if you apply the same rationale, has an amputation of guilt and could be viewed as a confession of guilt. >> the "times" is reporting that matt gaetz was asking not just for himsel

that is pretty bad news for matt gaetz. the way we are told from sources and the way joel greenberg's lawyer describes it, joel greenberg has potentially pivotal information that could help investigators in the matt gaetz investigation. as i mentioned they both allegedly shared this same girl for sex which would be illegal. we understand from talking to people in this world and other officials that investigators are exploring allegations joel greenberg was the guy that procured women for gaetz. greenberg has credibility issues. one of the things that first got him on the radar was fabricating evidence against another politician. he is not the person you want as a cooperator or witness because jurors, if it came to that, would not very likely believe him. but he could point investigators in the areas they may be didn't think they go or evidence they didn't know existed. his cooperation certainly ups the ante for gaetz but we will see if he pleads guilty, he is still just a negotiations, b, how much he cooperates and c, how h

and matt gaetz ble

matt gaetz was saying on fox president trump should pardon everyone. he was just saying, you know, he should pardon himself. donald trump should pardon himself he was saying. by the way, he was saying it on november 24th, which is odd. it is the type of thing that you say when you know that the trump presidency is all over, and at the same time fox was covering the ongoing trump re-election campaign which was supposed to change the outcome of the electoral college and all sorts of other things. >> he was the loudest person of them all, trumpeting that trump was going to have a second term and definitely be re-elected and the purported election results were rigged. it was weird at the time that he was like and i need a pardon right now. if you think your man is going to get a second term, no rush if you haven't done anything wrong. so, there was something wrong and self-defeating about the timing of it then and now maybe we know. we know. >> matt gaetz in a statement promised us yesterday that there would be more leaks coming. and he is right i am sure

and trump loyalist, matt gaetz himself. he spoke publicly for the first time since the reports surfaced of an ongoing justice department investigation into sex trafficking, involving a minor and allegations of payments for sex and possible public corruption involving a state senate campaign. gaetz took to the stage at a save america summit hosted by women for america first at the trump doral hotel. >> i am built for the battle and i am not going anywhere. distortions of my personal life and wild, and i mean wild conspiracy theories. i won't be intimidated by a lying media and d.o.j. officials and the crooks he is working with. when you see the leaks, lies, falsehoods, anonymous sources and insiders forecasting my demise. know this, they are not really coming for me. they are coming for you. >> earlier today the house ethics committee announced their own investigation into gaetz for sexual misconduct and his office responded with this statement. once again the office will reiterate, these allegations are blatantly false and

to destroy matt gaetz, with a lot of help from matt gaetz. >> i think back to nancy pelosi and the wayf the house of representatives. no investigation, no hearing. took about ten days. there were a couple of things that happened on twitter with anthony weiner, the photographs, and she brought him in and said, anthony, go home. because this party, this house of representatives, this nancy pelosi, i am not going to suffer another story with my name in an article with anthony weiner again. you are gone. the republican party and kevin mccarthy don't seem to have the same fear of association. >> or they fear -- or -- or they fear their association with matt gaetz. it has also been reported -- first of all, the republicans always have a lower standard of behavior for their members of congress than the democrats never do. that's -- that is a very old story. but i do wonder, it has been reported that gaetz was showing photos of perhaps underaged women on the house floor to his colleagues. and if they throw matt gaetz out he could -- he has the potential to do a lot of damage if he has, in fact

before you go, i want to talk about matt gaetz.epublican sp are for matt gaetz has been practically non-existent. republican adam kinzinger calling for him to resign. read the tea leaves here. how long can he hang on? >> i mean, i think the republicans -- we had a president that, what was it, 26 or 27 women had valid allegations of sexual harassment or sexual abuse against the president and he got nominate and he almost won a second term? i think the only way it keeps going -- the only way it stops and matt gaetz ultimately resigns or is removed from the house is if the criminal prosecution of matt gaetz proceeds. he is not going to resign because of how the republican party has supported people that are basically neanderthals throughout this whole thing. it's going to take a criminal prosecution in order to get matt gaetz to be removed from the house, in my view. >> math yeah dowd, thank you, sir. always a pleasure. >> thanks, don. >>> the feds now investigating whether women were paid to travel to the bahamas for sex with congres

matt: it's definitely a question.he comments we have gotten from people like marty schenker as well as the former treasury secretary larry summers on this basically amount to, this is a completely new era. we have not seen anything like this in the u.s. since the beginning of the reagan presidency. yesterday, steve ratner compared joe biden's new plan to fdr's new deal, saying in absolute terms, even in today's dollars, this is a much bigger spend any more comprehensive program. it's very interesting and all of those comments may have been on david westin's show so watch at 6:30 p.m. tonight. coming up, more on joe biden's tax plan as well as his spending plan with the cdo of -- with the ceo of pgm this is bloomberg. . >> >> i don't believe every tax cut is good. >> a lot of us were surprised to much of they were cut. >> we are coming off of a time when taxes were cut for corporations and individual tax increases were not responsible for corporate earnings. it looks like the economy is heading off to the races here. >

matt gaetz is a jerk.e has done nothing since he has been in washington except make a name for himself as a big mouth and a rabble-rouser. he calls himself a firebrand. you had him on your book tv a few weeks ago trying to push his book and he sounded so sweet and nice and was totally different from anything he appears when he is at work. i have watched him in these hearings and he makes an ass out of himself. host: we go to amy calling from orange park, florida on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, amy. caller: good morning. yes, i really agree with the previous callers who are questioning why are the republicans circling the wagons around matt gaetz? they are really only hurting themselves and it seems like -- like he said, he is in the maga sphere and taking the donald trump approach by dealing with the scandal with upholding rallies. if the republicans want to circle the wagons around him like they did around donald trump, they are going to suffer the consequences.

"not much, just hung out," said matt gaetz before anyone could talkn matt gaetz used the cash transfercus "tuition and school," which is a pretty weak attempt to cover your tracks. that's like leaving your wallet at a crime scene but wiping your finger prints off it the house ethics committee announced friday it will launch an investigation into republican congressman matt gaetz over allegations that he, quote, "may have engaged in sexual misconduct, and/or elicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the house floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity or impermissible gift." or as republicans call it, "running for re-election." new york city mayoral candidate andrew yang marked national pet day yesterday by tweeting that his family had to give away their dog after one of his sons became allergic. whoa, i can't wait to see what he posts for mother's day. [ light laughter ] he's the new scollins. he's ruining days. [ light laughter ] two weeks off, i felt like days were safe. britain's pr

nobody really likes matt. leadership doesn't like matt. today, and the interesting thing for democrats right now, instead of putting the screws on matt gaetz, put them on kevin mccarthy. expect more of the republican leader in this moment than what we're getting. >> right. and someone accused of sex trafficking a child. david jolly, thank you so much. for being part of this swampy conversation about florida. katie benner is sticking around. when we return, the biden administration's not so secret weapon in the fight against voter suppression. how kristen clark plans to tackle voter restriction laws and why the right wing is going berserk about it. that's next. s going berserk about it that's next. my grandfather had an amazing life, but ancestry showed me so much more than i could have imagined. my grandfather was born in a shack in pennsylvania, his father was a miner, they were immigrants from italy and somewhere along the way that man changed his name and transformed himself into a successful mid-century american man. he had a whole lif

matt gaetz has never paid for sex. matt gaetz refutes all of the disgusting allegations completely. matt gaetz has never, ever been on any such websites whatsoever. matt gaetz cherishes the relationships in his past and looks forward to marrying the love of his life. >> he has never explained the payments only saying he never paid for sex. another interesting allegation that came up in our reporting and also in cnn's reporting was the use of drugs in these encounters. so what we know is that women have told the fbi that gaetz and his -- and greenberg, they took drugs with them before having sex and that was very common in a lot of these encounters. again, i think that the prosecutors will look at that evidence, if they are able to corroborate it, and they will say to themselves, what is this? is this a federal crime? what does this contribute to in terms of our ability or not to charge. >> again, this comes from one of ex-president trump's strongest defenders. talk about a swamp. thank you very much for all your reporting. >>> now on to the political fallout from this gaetz scandal.

matt gaetz? >> maybe it's not so bad for matt gaetz. maybe these guys were out to get him.ig a part of this as anything else. >> we weren't out to get matt gaetz. we were out to rescue bob levinson. >> there was no attempt to extort, no threat, no demand. >> no threats, no demands. the opposite. when i left, the last thing i told don gaetz is you'll never hear from me again. i'm not a threat to you or your son. i'm not going to talk to the press, i'm not going to say a bad word about him. i thank him for his time. the next day, he sent me a text. offering to have his son contact the president. i texted back, no thank you. and a week later, he was calling up to meet with david mcgee. >> have the federal authorities told you don't leave town, asked you to surrender your passport, told you to stay in contact with them on any kind of regular basis? >> no. >> do you anticipate any problems coming your way because of your dealings with the gaetz family? >> i do not. >> other than having to come on a show like this. bob kent, i understand and i appreciate you taking this opportuni

matt gaetz, you know, he took calls from donald trump. he would call in nightclubs, on his car, sleeping. the relationship went from there. gaetz is someone that rode maga world for all that it was worth. >> stephanie for those in washington not thinking about matt gaetz or thinking about the infrastructure bill, the president is working to win over lawmakers on this. democrats and republicans supported infrastructure in the past. we recognize the investment will require concessions on both sides. we are supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate. what do you make of that warm hug from amazon? >> i think there is some level of rock on with your bad self. one way they are look to pay for the plan is by raising corporate taxes. we are hearing push backs from multinational companies and the business roundtable. that pushed janet yellen to push the idea of a global minimum tax rate saying stop the race to the bottom where companies are looking for headquarters in lower taxed countries and in this race to the bottom for cheaper labor. jane

matt gaetz here is a subject of a criminal investigation with very serious allegations. these are completely not compable and matt gaetz is sitting on the oversight committee of the justice department that's investigating him. >> so, you've laid it out pretty clearly. do you think your republican colleagues understand the two differences there, between these two cases? >> oh, absolutely. they understand. they're just being completely hypocritical but not removing matt gaetz from the house judiciary committee >> let's switch gears here and talk about a sensitive topic, that being the rise in asian-american attacks in this country. you're well aware of the horrific attack in new york city. a 65-year-old asian woman being knocked to the ground, beaten, kicked as her attacker was making anti-asian statements. staff members, though, the position from which we are seeing this incident, staff members inside that building did nothing. in fact, one actually closed the door as she was struggling to get up afterwards. how do you account for this? how do you account for people just

i mean, it would be impossible to even draw a political cartoon about matt gaetz, because matt gaetz looks like a political cartoon. "i don't know. i guess i'll make his head look smaller? i mean, look at that thing based on that noggin, you'd expect his mouth to move like a "south park" character >> oh, hamburgers. [ light laughter ] >> seth: by the way, he'd be a good substitute if mr. met ever calls in sick. gaetz repeatedly claimed there was fraud even after admitting he didn't have any proof and that the trump campaign couldn't produce any proof. >> i think the justice department has a lot of egg on their face for having not discovered a lot of this fraud as it was occurring. david, as you know, this is very hard to find, prove and obtain relief on after the fact because so many of the ballots get co-mingled >> seth: so, according to gaetz, the fact that you can't prove there was fraud proves there was fraud. that's the same argument with your college roommate made to prove aliens built the pyramids. "if aliens are advanced to build pyramids, then they'd be advanced enough to ma

there's new a lawsuit against matt gaetz, the person matt gaetz worships in word and in deed, donaldofficers have sued donald trump for sparking the january 6th attack in which the officer says he was slammed into a stone column while rioters hurled the n-word at him. one officer said he suffered injuries that required ongoing care. he lost count of how many times he was called the n-word. how much trouble might donald trump be in on that? he is now the target directly of a lawsuit about that insurrection. >> this reads like a straight-faced lawsuit. i found it very emotional, frankly, that the officers who are suing for both physical damage, injuries, and emotional damage, they said not only were they haunted because they were being physically attacked by the crowd, but they said they were haunted because they saw their fellow officers, literally arm's reach away, being attacked by the crowd and there was nothing they could do to protect them. when donald trump making public statements about, well, they were just hugging and kissing, when in fact they were hanging and killing, or at

. >> the matt gaetz case gets even stranger he now claims extortion as republican leadership gets caught flat-footed by the investigation. >> no, i didn't know about it. yes, i'm surprised about it and yes i want to get to the bottom of it. i haven't been able to speak to mr. gaetz, but i will. >> tonight the latest on the allegations against gop congressman matt gaetz and the justice department sex trafficking investigation. >>> then -- an emotional day in court as witnesses recount what happened to george floyd after derek chauvin pinned him down. >> george was motionless, limp, and chauvin seemed very -- he was in a resting state meaning like he just rested his knee on his neck >>> then as covid cases surge in wisconsin, republicans shot down the governor's mask mandate while in pennsylvania infrastructure week finally arrives. >> it's big, yes it's bold, yes and we can get it done >> when "all in" starts now. good evening from washington, d.c. i'm medhi hassan in for chris hayes. if you've been following the news today you've probably heard a lot about the justice department investig

from congressman matt gaetz's deepening problems. and president biden's executive actions on guns being followed by, yet another, mass shooting. matthew dodd is here. let's discuss with him. he is the former chief strategist for president george w. bush. matthew, thank you. good to see you. and, man, boy, we got a lot to talk about. so, you are in texas, where there has been another, horrific, mass shooting. just hours after president joe biden called gun violence an epidemic and an embarrassment. texas governor there, greg abbott, tweeting just-hours after biden's announcement today, calling it a liberal-power grab to take away our guns. he went straight for the knee-jerk, political reaction, didn't he? >> yeah. and -- and what makes it even crazier, don, is on the same day that happens, a tragedy, and again, more gun tragedy in texas. the house republicans and the committee passed voting restrictions, today. so, while, on one hand, we're sort of advocating ease of -- ease of access to guns. on the other hand, we're creating restric

watch. >> does matt gaetz have anything to worry about? >> does matt gaetz -- that is such a -- >> when it comes to what happened today in court. >> does he have anything to worry about? you're asking me to get into the mind of matt gaetz, right? >> well, from your mind? >> from my mind. >> based on what your client knows. >> based on what my client nose. >> and the fact that -- >> see, if i kept on talking and talking, i could avoid these questions. i'm sure matt gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today. >> did you catch that? that was fritz scheller, the lawyer for former tax collector from seminole county, florida, a man named joel greenberg. mr. greenberg was arrested last year on a slew of criminal charges ranging from stalking to bribery to sex trafficking of a minor, and it was out of that sex trafficking investigation into a florida tax collector that the matt gaetz investigation we know about today was born. it was first reported by "the new york times" last week that congressman gaetz is currently under federal criminal invest

trump as well, and matt gaetz. >> no. and, first of all, ali, sage advice when it comes to public versus private venmo accounts. this is not a surprising take from congressman kinzinger who has been one of the few republicans to sort of break with president trump and former president trump and his disciples of which congressman gaetz is certainly one of the more ardent ones where he's really patented himself as an heir to the trump throne. kinzinger has founded a group to try to unseat these republicans and replace them with more moderate members, ones willing to occasionally work across the aisle with democrats. but so far his voice is fairly lonely. gaetz, of course, as you noted is going to be in florida this week at president trump's former club and also this weekend there's a gathering of top republicans at, where else, palm beach, florida, just up the road from mar-a-lago, the former president's estate, and there is expected to be an event there, which underscores what a shadow he still casts over the republican par

"matt gaetz, loyal for years to trump is said to have sought a blanket pardon. that is not the kind of pardon that you need for your blanket. what this means is that he was asking for a pardon for himself for things for which he has not yet charged. this is the latest development in a bizarre and a stomach-churning story that we have been covering for about a week. matt gaetz is a republican congressman from florida as the headline alludes to and one of the most stanch and flamboyant defenders of former president donald trump. it was first reported last week in the "new york times" by york times" that matt gaetz is currently under federal criminal investigation for allegations of alleged sex trafficking of an underage girl. now, this is an investigation that started during the trump administration when bill barr was running the justice department. bill barr, as attorney general, was himself reportedly personally briefed on the matt gaetz investigation on multiple occasions. the federal investigation into congressman gaetz is reportedly examining, among other thi

people like matt gaetz. people like maybe even roger stone who is on our screen right now, but joel greenberg has had an involvement with matt gaetz that has been corroborated through flights records, through things like venmo transactions. i mean, these are objective things and evidence that prosecutors can look at for purposes of being able to bring a case. and you know what's kind of outrageous, too, is the fact that matt gaetz remains on the house judiciary committee while all of this is going on, but unfortunately for somebody like matt gaetz, in the event he is indicted, his jury will not be women for america first who he spoke to yesterday in florida. >> just want to be clear here, nbc has not yet confirmed those venmo payments that katie just spoke of. so i want to be sure there's no miscommunication on that. let's talk about the legal strategy, it seems, that gaetz has taken. michael cohen of all people criticizing on my colleague's show last night the legal strategy that gaetz has taken. let's take

it's not a family brand from matt gaetz's point. >> reporter: matt gaetz grew up in this house, used the movie "the truman show." >> in the mid '90s, one day some producer just shows up in a golf cart and tells my mother they want to make a movie in this house starring jim carrey. >> reporter: his mother is partially paralyzed after suffering complications while pregnant with his sister and opted not to terminate the pregnancy. the congressman said that's contributed to his anti-abortion stance. last year, the congressman announced he has a secret known biological 19-year-old son that he's been parents for years. >> i just couldn't be happier and prouder of the young man he's become. >> reporter: and, again, the fbi is investigating a potential extortion crime, but that is not specifically related to the other investigation and two sources tell cnn there is a separate federal probe looking into whether gaetz had a relationship with a minor, whether his involvement with other minors broke sex trafficking laws, prostitution laws. and gaetz's lawyer declined comment for this story and g

matt has always been a fighter. he's going to fight back against the unfounded allegations against him. the pressure on gaetz, though, is growing. this entire investigation began somewhere, and it didn't begin, for example, going after matt gaetz. he earlier emphasized he saw himself as a subject, not a target. based on the available reporting, there is no reason to think it began with him as a quote target. there is no indication that the doj was simply out to get a member of congress. what we do know is that the investigation that was further along was dealing with his associate joel greenberg and we know he was indicted for sex trafficking and a host of other times. greenberg pled not guilty for stealing $400,000 in taxes and charges of bribing a small business administration employee. we also know he's expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks. that's the reporting you may have seen in the newspaper like "the new york times" as well as covered on "the beat" that there is signs he's pled guilty and he has a pl

and that is the theme of matt gaetz' response. tell the voters i am going to be fine but they are going to destroy you. you can see after how badly it went that he would have keep writing the op-ed. i don't think this is the last time we will hear from him. >> i remind people, you are trained as a lawyer. this is just weird whether it is defiance or the death of shame. there is an investigation and something there or there isn't. >> he believes so anyway. if i were a defense attorney and he were my client i would advise him to say nothing. anything he says can and will be held against him. what you see here is a through line which i think begins in the locker room talk. the infamous statement by donald trump was dismissed as locker room talk. you stand by, deny and then you can just push your way through and try to withstand the political fall out. that is what you are seeing matt gaetz doing even though donald trump himself is not defending him here. it really -- i mean there was a time not very long ago that it would have ended