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matt: sarcasm.f the country still earns $100,000 or less in that segment of the economy is struggling. matt: yeah, if you don't own real assets, the inflation but was very difficult to deal with and that is what we are seeing. isabel, thank you so much, we appreciate that. giving us the latest on what we are seeing in the marketplace. kind of a mix right here in the s&p. veronica clark joins us, director of research and a u.s. economist there in a bank on the corner. what is your 2025 message to your clients about this u.s. economy? >> i like the previous discussion on our bifurcated economy where the lower income are struggling and higher income consumers are supporting aggregate consumption. i think it's a precarious economy and that's the message for 2025 and in our view it comes down to what we are seeing in the labor market. i worry that the fed has gotten complacent in the labor market weakening, more so than what the market is currently priced at. matt: cutting rates more than is currently pr

matt: welcome to "bloomberg markets." i'm a matt miller. let's get a quick check of what is going on in the markets with the s&p 500 off by almost half a percent. the nasdaq falling a little bit more, .75%, as some of the bigger tech stocks lose ground. we have a volatility up a little, but with the vix under 14 it is fair to call this market subdued. four-year yield approaching 4.20. midday movers on the equity side. we go to bailey lipschultz. bailey: comcast shares under pressure, the stock seeing the biggest drop since april. broadband subscriber losses of more than 100,000 in the fourth quarter with recent hurricanes causing 10,000 broadband losses. big m&a deal this morning, on the agreeing to buy interpublic. it would create the largest advertising company. shares falling on the news, the worst intraday drop since july. now the possible deal news. bloomberg news exclusive reporting that monda latest is exploring -- mondelez exploring an acquisition of hershey. we would create a food giant with combined sales of $50 billion, although

committee report includes matt gates, in fact matt gates as of now is the single biggest drug user in the house of representatives in history according to the house ethics committee. the egg is drug user the house ethics committee has ever investigated. a out-of-control criminal drug user according to the house ethics committee. they say he paid for sex while taking drugs with them. denying specific allegations in the ethics report has something matt gates decided not to do today. the report says the record overwhelmingly suggests that representative gates had sex with multiple women at the party including the then 17- year-old for which they were paid. victim a acknowledged she was under the influence of ecstasy during her sexual encounters with representative gates at the 2017 party and recalled seeing presented of gates use cocaine at that party. victim a told the committee she was certain of her sexual encounters with representative gates on that night. the committee report describes matt gates written answer to the committee about the question of having sex with victim a this way

gaetz, that teenager witnessed matt gaetz having sex with the 17-year-old minutes after matt gaetz entered a party and immediately upon meeting the 17- year-old. the committee report says the committee received testimony that victim a and representative gaetz had sex twice during the party, including at least once in the presence of other party attendees. victim a recalled receiving $400 in cash from representative gaetz that evening which she understood to be payment for sex. at the time she had just completed her junior year of high school. victim a acknowledged that she was under the influence of ecstasy during her sexual encounters with representative gaetz at the july 15th, 2017 party and recalled seeing representative gaetz use cocaine at that party. last month elon musk was part of a group on donald trump's plane who convinced donald trump to choose matt gaetz to be attorney general of the united states of america. in that passage of the ethics committee report, matt gaetz is described as committing state and federal crimes, the state and federal crime of using cocaine, the state cr

matt eversmann. i had done nonfiction with a friend of matt tim malloy. i done, as i mentioned, the book about jeffrey epstein and matt and and and tim did a inexpensive documentary and, afghanistan. and it had to do how the hospital fertilization, the medical care to to wounded soldiers had improved so much since matt in combat and and i work with him a little bit on that on that film just a little bit. and but i saw the interviews that matt did and and the title welcome my combat was the first one we did together just came me because i love the idea and this became our mission that our mission of walking in combat boots was if you had been in combat, you would say that every woman in patterson it right and how could we because we interviewed for that book over a hundred combat veterans and if you're one of these people that sits there and thinks that you understand things that you don't like, how i collaborate with people, those people always have their own stupid theories, who always are wrong. but if you think you understand the military you would rea

matt: he has to. sonali: you are not putting your money where your loyalty is because sports betting is the other thing. matt: i don't. i don't do that. sonali: i am usually raining in his impulses but this is the one thing where he is raining and mine. paul: good luck raining in his impulses. i tried a while. matt: we got david westin waiting in the wings. he is a wolverine alum and will talk to us about jimmy carter, who died at 100 years old. only four years in the oval office but after that is when the real magic happened. jimmy carter's obit next. this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: welcome back to a joint production of "bloomberg open interest." what do you call the show broadcasting right now? paul: bloomberg intelligence. actually, we are finishing up "bloomberg surveillance." we are assuming he is at a cafe in paris with a bottle of wine. matt: wine? i would say that is unlikely. we are looking at a market right now that i think is safe to say is reeling. s&p futures are down 1.2% after a 1% drop on f

matt gaetz giving payments to women. so they're putting everything together here in this very searing, damaging house ethics committee report that matt gaetz has been trying to stop from having made public. but now it is out there and he's denying these allegations against him. >> caitlin, how is gaetz pushing back now? >> well, wolf, he went to court this morning to try to stop the release of the report was totally unsuccessful. that fell flat very quickly. but he's also taken to social media to put his message out there. one of the things he says is giving funds to someone you are dating that they didn't ask for, and that isn't charged for sex is now prostitution. there is a reason they did this to me in a christmas eve eve report, and not in a courtroom of any kind and challenge witnesses. when he did make that court filing earlier today to try to stop the committee, he was claiming they were defaming him. they were invading his privacy. he even signed a declaration saying, everything that i am saying in court is true

november 13, 2024 representative matt gaetz announced his resignation from congress. the committee on ethics from the house of representatives is urgedto continue investigating and release its investigation into former members of the house. in 1987 the committee on ethics of the house of representatives written released a report on outpatient on misuseof campaign funds. in the 1990s, the committee on ethics of the house of representatives announced a report on investigations of sexual misconduct allegations which included having sexual intercourse with a minor in making sexual offenses towards a congressional employee against former representative don luke following his resignation from congress. in 2006 the committee on ethics of the house of representatives released a report on its investigation of sexual misconduct allegations which included sending sexually explicit messages to at least one minor against former representative mark foley following his resignation from congress. in 2011, the committee on ethics of the house of representatives continued its investiga

people knew what the deal was with matt gaetz and what he had been up to., he didn't have much in the web defenders. i mean, what i would suggest is important as we contemplate a new president starting january 20, read the report and then contemplate the fact the president nominated him to be the attorney general of the united states. sit with that for a minute or two and think about what that means for the seriousness with which the republican party and president elect trump is taking the rather serious job of governing the most powerful country on the planet. >> a very important point and they still seem to be applauding him are not being critical post report so that tells you a lot. thank you so much. have a happy holiday and appreciate you taking the time. >>> trump has promised to do a lot of things on his first day in office, day that's rapidly approaching. i will talk to two who know more of the extent of accusative -- executive power. what would you pay for an ipad pro? i only paid $42 on dealdash. dealdash.com, online auctions since 2009. this play

we begin with the rise and fall of matt gaetz. today the house ethic's committee revealed it found substantial evidence that the former republican congressman had sex with a 17-year-old girl in 2017. and that he regularly paid women for sex while he was in congress. the 42-page report concluded that the committee, quote, determined there is substantial evidence that representative gaetz violated house rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory a perks, impermissible gifts, obstruction of congress. committee investigators said they tracked 12 different women from 2017 to 2020. the committee concluded that most of the payments were likely connected to sexual activity and/or drug use. gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrong doing. and on monday, in a series of posts on x, he denied paying for sex. earlier this morning, gaetz filed a lawsuit, seeking to get federal court to block the ethic's committee from releasing the damning report. he has also noted that the separate doj allegation of sex trafficking en

you know, honestly, pam, i like matt. he and i came in together along with mike johnson and liz cheney, and we had a pretty big class that started in 2017 was my first full session, but at the end of the day, there were a lot of people, republicans that didn't approve of the way that gaetz worked with the 211 democrats to have the motion to vacate, succeed and get rid of mccarthy. and that led to three and a half weeks of pretty tough living conditions here in the capitol, trying to find a replacement. so i'm not surprised. i think it's unfortunate, but at the end of the day, i think that the american people probably want to see this ethics report. i think the ethics committee knew that. now, hopefully gates will be given plenty of opportunity to to defend anything in there that he feels is isn't true. >> i want to talk about the spending bill. members of congress are now set to get a cost of living pay raise in this 1500 page bill, the first time in 15 years. do you agree with this well, you know, it's i was surprised to

we begin with that bombshell report on former congressman matt gaetz, by the house ethics committee. a report so blistering you cannot enunciate. the culmination of a years long investigation, 37 pages, compiled by gaetz former peers in congress. between 2017 and 2020, gaetz regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him. that quote, in 2017 gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl. that from 2017 to 2019, gaetz quote, used or possessed illegal drugs including cocaine and ecstasy but hates, quote, accepted's, including transportation and lodging and gaetz arrange for his chief of staff to assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport falsely indicating that she was a constituent. that he no knowingly and willfully sought to impede the investigation and gaetz conduct reflects, it concludes, quote, there is substantial evidence the representative gaetz violated house rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory , illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors an obstruction of congress. i

and they're not winning because matt's matt's already got a new job and he's doing well, and he's marrieda beautiful woman. so it was wonderful. and i wish him well, but he's out of congress, you know. are they going to keep digging down? i hope they do. i hope they go after every congressman. they have a report on. >> let me ask you about the spending deal that was unveiled last night. and manu raju was just talking about this a few moments ago. some of your fellow republicans are upset at speaker johnson for once again working with democrats on this. do you want him to remain as speaker of the house? >> that's totally up to the body. you know, he's he's working under very tough conditions. he's in the minority most of the time. and he's you know, we've we've in the republicans have a very slim majority. and as far as that pay raise goes, dick durbin i mean, come on, dick, you know better than that. and comparing, i think i'm going to start a gofundme page for you all at cnn after hearing dick durbin. that's the most pitiful excuse i've ever heard to act like the number two democrat does

so, what that means for matt gaetz.he thing i think about with matt gaetz after he say he was not going to try to become attorney general he said maybe i will be a special counselor. biden administration has gone going on and on about how you don't need to be senate confirmed to be a special counselor. so someone like matt gaetz could get more accomplished for donald trump as a special counselor. >> and oan one american news host and special counselor. >> and cameo the cameo where you record messages from. >> for money. >> yeah. >> he does that or he did that. >> bears mentioning this report seemed to -- i don't know if it was central but played a role in all the machinations around gaetz maybe even securing the attorney general pick from trump right? there was vaping timing concerning the report was set to be released, then all of a sudden, trump makes a decision on air force one taking a ride with matt gaetz he is going to announce matt gaetz ace his pick for attorney general. >> and than they don't vote to release it

where is matt, he is around here some place. matt gaetz. he has a big career set up. >> that guy, i just described in that report, that is trump, yesterday, calling him a friend of mine. saying he has a big career set up. and here is prominent maga mouthpiece steve bannon. >> take the ethic's report and shove it up your ass. that is what i think. gaetz must return, like trump returned. don't back down. double down. >> double down. i don't even know literally what he means in this context which is disturbing. but, i mean in normal times here is the thing. lesser scandals were career enders. driving politicians out of public life with a cloud of shame hanging over their heads, they would have to return donations, just google mark foley and learn more. there is no note from republicans, so, trump's party clearly lives by what seems to be a different standard. a lower one. it is clear, at least for now. that somehow matt gaetz still represents the future of that party. joining me now is mrs. crockett and katie fang. she is a long time attorney

and i think what we can leave here is, is it move on from past matt gaetz, or is it move on with matt gaetz? and that's exactly what what i will lean on for your reporting going forward. it's good to see you, mark. thank you so much thanks, kate. >> appreciate it. bye. >> thank you. see you. coming up for us, donald trump's pick to run the fcc has a harsh message for disney's ceo. and also the nation's news networks, why he is accusing them of eroding the public's trust. and a ski lift collision high over the slopes of a popular resort, sending people plunging to the ground. got an update on that for you? and the holidays can be a stressful time for everyone. understatement of the year, including delivery workers, where police found dozens of undelivered packages allegedly left by an overwhelmed worker. >> can't fool myself. it was the most exciting time in the world. his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. luther. >> never too much new year's day on cnn. >> my name is dan. i li

matt gaetz remains a close ally to donald trump. rachel?: he continues to deny those allegations. selina, we also want to get to another headline out of the white house. president biden commuting 37 sentences, and you're learning tonight, that's nearly all the prisoners on federal death row. >> reporter: that's exactly right. so, those 37 inmates will now serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. so now, there are only three men who remain on federal death row, including one of the boston marathon bombers and the mass shooters in the attacks on the tree of life synagogue and the mother emanuel ame church. tonight, trump's team and some of the family members of the victims are slamming the decision. rachel? >> rachel: selina reporting from washington tonight. selina, thank you. >>> turning now to the holiday light show disaster in orlando, florida. several drones suddenly falling from the sky. a 7-year-old boy severely injured. here's abc's stephanie ramos. >> reporter: watch as a drone in a popular light show comes barrelling

matt gaetz is here. where's matt? he's around here someplace. matt gaetz, he's got a big career set up. and i just want to say hello to matt. >> now, that was before this report came out at the same event and before the report. gaetz himself trolled some of his critics while assessing his own future. >> many have asked which perch i will be fighting from next. >> my fellow floridians have asked me to i the governor's mansion in tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in congress. it seems i may not have had enough support in the united states senate. maybe i'll just run for marco rubio's vacant seat in the united states senate and join some of those folks. >> so does this report change that? my first source tonight is cnn crime and justice correspondent katelyn polantz. thank you so much for being here, caitlin, on this christmas eve eve. can you walk us through the pages and pages of evidence that the committee found that they say backs up their report? >> yes, sarah, that evidence that the co

we also know matt gaetz didn't sit for an interview. they asked him back in july to have him sit for a voluntary interview or respond to a scene of subpoena for the ethics committee. he chose not to do that. those things also tell us things about where he stands regarding the charges. >> and when we look at all of this, what are you hearing from your sources in terms of whether or not we may hear donald trump weigh in publicly? >> yeah. well, what i've heard from my sources, people close to trump, is that some are actually surprised that the that the report actually came out because matt gaetz is no longer a sitting member of congress, because the way that he resigned. um, but i think the question on a lot of people's minds in and around mar-a-lago and certainly here in dc, is whether or not trump is going to publicly come out and kind of bless this. i think what we have seen in the reality, getting to van's first point is that some of these republicans live in different realities, which is that if you are a trump loyalist, you kind of

matt gaetz saying that he's now withdrawing from consideration. [cheers and applause] >> he said on x, "i had excellent meetings with senators yesterday. i appreciate their thoughtful feedback." >> "the late show" acquired footage of senators giving matt gaetz their thoughtful feedback. >> i don't like your jerk-off face. i don't like your jerk-off behavior. and i don't like you, jerk-off. >> you are physically repulsive. >> you have the manners of a goat. >> you look like the vermin-ridden son of a bitch you are. >> you're garbage. >> i think you are scum. >> get out of my office! >> get the [bleep] out! >> to every republican, give matt a chance. >> announcer: it's "the late show with stephen colbert!" tonight... the gaetz escape! and thanksgiving first drafts with stephen and evie. plus, stephen welcomes house democratic leader hakeem jeffries! and jeffrey wright! featuring louis cato and "the late show" band. and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! [cheers and applause] >> stephen: right there

let's get right to the house ethics committee report on matt gaetz. we're learning more and more about the sex and drug allegations against the former republican congressman, who was forced to bow out as president elect. trump's choice for u.s. attorney general. cnn's katelyn polantz has been studying the report and the supporting evidence that was released just a little while ago. caitlin, give us the latest details. well, wolf, the house has released this report. >> they've also released evidence that they gathered for it, and they spoke to half a dozen witnesses who they say were able to put together the story. and they also looked at text messages. they traced payments, the story of matt gaetz for more than 20 times, paying tens of thousands of dollars toward women, either for sex or for drugs. and they're saying in those findings that it shows matt gaetz was engaged in commercial sex. so paying women in exchange for sex, at one point paying a 17 year old for sex, having sex with her at a party in 2017. in july of that year twice, and giving her $

something many men wish for, but that matt darby, well endowed, has affected his entire life. >> mattst penis, measuring over 12 inches when erect, more than double the average size. >> far from being a gift, matt's large penis comes with equally large problems. he joins us now to discuss them. good morning to you, matt. >> good morning. >> old yellow. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] jersey boys. >> anthony black and gradey dick. one from arkansas, the other from kansas. exchanging jerseys. [ cheers and applause ] and vanna what? ♪ >> right in the butt. >> no. >> this is the best. >> yeah, that's it, i think. >> jimmy: and the clip of the year for 2024 is -- very exciting, guillermo. britain's got talent! [ cheers and applause ] that's right. now to accept the award, coming to us all the way from london, he's even bigger than ben, say hello to the bearer of the largest measured penis in the whole world, matt barr. [ cheers and applause ] hello, matt. thank you for being with us. sorry we couldn't bring you out here in person. abc would only allow us to show you from the waist up.

what that means for matt gaetz.ter he said he was not going to try to become attorney general. he said maybe i will become a special counsel. the biden administration has been going on and on about how you don't need to be senate confirmed to be a special counsel. someone like matt gaetz can probably get more accomplished for trump. >> and he could be news host and special counsel. >> don't you record for money. >> yeah, for money. >> he did that too. >> this report, seemed to, i don't know if it was central but it played a role in all the machinations around gaetz maybe even securing the pick from trump. there was strange timing as it's concerned. this report is set to be released then all of a sudden trump makes this decision on air force one, taking a ride with matt gaetz that he's going to announce matt gaetz as his pick. >> he's no longer the nominee to be. the attorney general. >> some people read into this sort of flurry of action that prevented the report from being released as evidence that matt gaetz reall

this happened when matt was already a member of congress!she is a defender of matt and another person who is ostracized in congress. i'm sure as you hear marjorie taylor greene opining on a number of things like this, if she is going to blow people up, she is going to face the same fate as matt eventually. she is, you know, equally problematic in some different ways. and similar ways and different in others but she is another person who even her maga colleagues really, really wish she could get struck by lightning. >> amisa and rick, thank you so much. coming up, fani willis has been disqualified from overseeing trump's interference case so what happens next? ase so what happens next? i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me... emerge as you, with clearer skin. with tremfya®, most people saw 100% clear skin... ...that stayed clear, even at 5 years. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you ha

i expect matt gaetz the voters to say the same thing about him.his. >> and he certainly now is projectings himself as a victim of republicans who don't like him, who don't like the maga, that he's a loyalist and can get things done. my question to you basil about this specifically is, how is it that the voters, the republicans, the people in this country who kind of go along with this are so siloed that even when the details of the report come out tomorrow, they can just either be dismissed, ignored or somehow recast in a positive light that matt gaetz is the victim cast by maga republicans. >> i had about four hours to kill and what did i do with those four hours, i got a tattoo. so i was talking to the tattoo artist and asked him where he got his news. this was back in 2017, he said you tube. because he likes the people he liked and that really is a message for where we are today. this is not about having a really healthy debate and making really good informed choices and saying you know what i think this person, you know actually is standing up

i don't know that he will view matt gaetz as a winner over the long haul. he also values people who can be personally in control. you know, he's famously doesn't use drugs, doesn't use alcohol and never has. and so you have to think that that the revelations in the report probably lower him in esteem with president-elect trump. >> yeah. max, let me let you have the last word here. >> your thoughts. >> look, i mean, matt gaetz is obviously a troubled human being with a checkered past, but what the real test here will be the real litmus test is how does the maga base continue to receive matt gaetz going forward? and what you see from him is actually this exuberant confidence that he will be stronger amongst the maga base than ever before. how far we have come from the wholesome values that once was the republican base. so we're going to see this play out in florida statewide politics, perhaps a gubernatorial campaign or a senate campaign. but i suspect that matt gaetz's days in washington, d.c., are not coming back anytime soon. >> yeah, it's interesting beca

matt gaetz can remain an ally. he's going to be an anchor on right wing propaganda outlet called oan moving forward and for trump, and for matt gaetz, he knows that trump has been a chief ally of his over the years, throughout doj, house ethics, when speaker mccarthy was openly talking from the floor of the republican national convention about matt gaetz potentially going to jail, donald trump stood by him every step of the way and nominated him to be his attorney general. he's no longer his ag pick, and there's really no political capital needed to expend what he has put out there in defense of matt gaetz. >> let's do liz cheney now. donald trump keeps talking about how he thinks she should be investigated by the fbi. there's an interim report from a congress member who is trying to blast open the january 6th committee investigation. liz cheney pushing back and saying we laid out all of our evidence. we laid it out in the public. we meticulously went through everything. we have republicans interviewed, including t

the bombshell release about matt gaetz.

the house ethics committee has just released a report on former congressman matt gaetz. something gaetz never wanted the public to see. what we are learning about numerous allegations, including illicit drug use and sexual misconduct, and with record breaking travel numbers this holiday, drivers are getting a little gift. the cheapest gas prices in years. i'm sara sidner with kate baldwin and john berman. john berman is off today. this is cnn news central all right. we've got some breaking news to begin with. the house ethics committee found evidence that former congressman matt gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions. cnn's lauren fox is live in dc. lauren, this is, um, you know, according to a final draft of the panel's report that cnn has obtained. what more can you tell us about what is in this report? >> yeah, like you said, sarah, these this effort by the house ethics committee spanned years. and i want to read just a part of the committee's finding. they say, quote, the committee determined there is substantial ev

barr. [ cheers and applause ] hello, matt.ng with us. sorry we couldn't bring you out here in person. abc would only allow us to show you from the waist up. [ laughter ] how has your life changed since sharing this celebration of your private parts with the world? >> i've had a lot more strange messages online, i'll say that. >> that's it, huh? >> well, i'm not -- luigi mangione-level looking. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: has king charles reached out to offer you a knighthood? [ laughter ] >> he's kind of busy at the moment. hopefully it's going to come in the mail. >> jimmy: how can you ever be too busy for that? you have the world's largest measured ppenis. take us through what goes into determining that. [ laughter ] >> mostly interesting to you're on thes and dropping the trousers and getting measured. obviously a lot of men say things they can't back up. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: the you're on the signs an affidavit, that affidavit is shared with the world? >> obviously there are billions of men out there, there could be someone b

matt gaetz posted this: in my single days, i often sent funds to women i dated. never had sexual contact with someone under 18. any claim that i would have would have been destroyed in court which is why no such claim was ever made in court. it's embarrassing though not criminal that i probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than i should have earlier in life. liberal pundits quickly piled on. >> the results that have come from this investigation, i emphasize the adjective, they're salacious, but they're criminal in nature. >> donald trump made the most inappropriate choice of attorney general in history. >> i don't make much of it because most of details or most of the stories that we heard we already knew. a lot of this stuff was already swirling in the public do main anyway -- domain anyway. howard: fox news if mainly stuck to straight news reports with a couple of exceptions. >> they don't like matt gaetz about as much as a lot of people on the hill don't like him, and they found the allegations were completely lacking in credibility. howard: i thi

and we saw what happened with matt gaetz. the court of public opinion pushed matt gaetz to say look, i don't want to be a distraction. the question is will this be along that same line? making kash patel a distraction for donald trump? >> hayes, what you make of that? matt gaetz didn't even make it as confirmation hearings. made it seven days, i think. too many skeletons in the closet. is there a sense that kash patel as the relationships with republican senators to avoid that same fate? >> i mean, i doubt it. i don't believe he has ever been in the senate confirmed. he has never had to go through that process. trump kind of just shuffling around in the various placements where that was not necessary. so he has never had to go through the grind of publicly defending his past statements, of which there have been many. like the opera file on kash patel has to be as long as the files he wants to put together as fbi director on all of us here in the press. the number of things he has said that should disqualify him as being in ou

i'm not a fan of matt gaetz, and i've said this many times, i am not a fan of matt gaetz. he joined 208 democrats to oust kevin mccarthy. so for me, it's a no when it comes to matt gaetz. but i thought that the ethics report should come out when he was in contention for the ag slot. there. isn't it isn't typical that these reports come out after a member is gone. it is something that has happened before. i'm not a fan of it coming out here, but i think what it also speaks to when it when this issue of matt gaetz, as horrible as the allegations are, and let's be clear, these are allegations. we saw similar allegations against brett, justice kavanaugh that although to be clear and in defense of justice kavanaugh, honestly, he actually was not accused of things like this. >> he was not accused of being in real time. he was not accused. no, he was not accused of anything like this, actually. >> well, i'm saying as far as allegations, because there was literally a hearing at his confirmation hearing and it came up during his confirmation hearing. so i do we need to be careful o

ethics report on matt gaetz after all. and a huge about face the house ethics committee secretly voted earlier this month to release its report into the conduct of now former republican congressman matt gaetz. that's according to multiple sources. remember back in november, while gates was still president elect, trump's choice to be u.s. attorney general, this same panel of five democrats and five republicans voted strictly along party lines, thus keeping the report under wraps, which presumably means at least one republican changed his or her mind and sided with democrats to release the report. the report, which could be released in days, contains the results of the committee's years long probe into allegations against gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct or used illicit drugs or shared inappropriate images or videos on the house floor, and much more. gaetz has denied all of this, and he posted today on x, quote, i was charged with nothing. he's referring to the justice department investigation, fully

this pot that matt haney had access to? >> yeah. so this follows up on reports that i did earlier in the summer, looking at the campaign finances of assembly member matt haney, who represents san francisco uh. when i did that initial reporting, we found that he was spending tens of thousands of dollars on forty-niners giants and warriors games, as well as broadway shows and calling them fundraisers, which is not completely unheard of. but the level he was doing it was very strange. i then actually got another tip that actually he had quietly created a political committee to support ballot measures in the primary and the general election this past year. and what i found is actually a similar pattern. more forty-niners tickets, more warriors tickets, and more fancy hotels, restaurants, bars, a lot of lifestyle purchases that would seem, even though they were billed as fundraisers or normal campaign expenses. >> so are these committees like this ballot measure committee he formed, typical for politicians who are running to also have on

are there nominees like matt gaetz who should be stopped before that? >> i think the general way things have happened in the past and even now it's a place of traditions of processes is you have a process. you wait to see what the fbi finds. the committee will often do the room follow-up investigation. senators will consider all of that. they will ask questions at a hearing then they make a decision. that is the way it is supposed to go when one of the reasons for this fbi background process is so you can withdraw a nomination that never should go across the starting line because the problems are too large. ideally you wouldn't be in the situation. there are some nominees where there is so much publicly available, problematic information that it may be appropriate for senators to get ahead of this and say it doesn't seem like an appropriate nominee and it shouldn't come to a hearing. and we have process, let it take its course is one that has served the country pretty well. >> there's a lot of tests i think trump and his world to put on the system. you

you got me. [ laughter ] it's matt gaetz.." [ laughter ] and while i'm here, what's your deal, daphne? [ light laughter ] [ audience oohs ] just said, what's your deal?" [ laughter ] even fox news admitted this morning before gaetz withdrew that the nomination was a bad idea. although they also claimed that gaetz was really the only problematic nominee. >> the trump transition team, you look at the big screen, there isn't, you know, there isn't the kind of headlines around any of those that you see around matt gaetz. and the constant drip, drip, drip every day of some new revelation, the trump team's got to be thinking, "you know, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. we don't want to be spinning our wheels. we don't want the distraction. we would like to hit the ground running." >> seth: first of all, donald trump has never hit the ground running in his life. even when he walks, he lumbers around like a zombie - [ laughter ] waiting for his takeout order. "where the hell is brains? [ laughter ] i order brains hour ago." second

the note is written on a printed headline of the story and reads, matt, very unfair. joining me now to talk about this is margaret talev, senior contributor at axios. margaret. good morning. margaret. >> good morning. >> how are you? >> good, good, good to have you. so let's start with just the fact that there was a lot of back and forth about whether this report would ever see the light of day. it has. it's now out. what now? i mean, how do you see this playing out in washington? >> well, you know, you heard some of the commentary there saying he's a private citizen now. but one of the big questions for people in washington is, is he, um, he he will start shortly as a news anchor on a conservative station. but one of the bigger questions is will matt gaetz try to have a comeback, either in congress again at some point or perhaps in the senate or as florida's governor, as a candidate for governor? so i think if he proceeds with a political campaign in the coming months or year, um, it will renew a lot of this conversation. but what you're seeing is not just the presid

apparently she did not give matt gaetz up. section 793.05 that makes it a second-degree felony to engage in sexual activity with a 16 or 17-year-old when the individual is 24 years of age or older, but the statute of limitations is only three years after the victim turns 18. this victim is apparently around 24 years old now, so that ship has sailed. the only way to prosecute him now would be for sex trafficking, but state prosecutors are not going to do a case that the feds have dropped. they're not going to move forward with this case unless there's more corroboration themselves, and they just don't have it. don't expect matt gaetz to be prosecuted for any of this. in the court of opinion, that's something else. >> truly damaging. dave, stay with us. we want to get you on another story. as you know, there have been questions surrounding trump's choice to lead the fbi kash patel and his enemies' list. here is what john fedderman of pennsylvania said sunday about his recent discussion with patel. >> you met with kash patel, i b

andrea canning (voiceover): it wasn't just that matt left. he was never coming back. he left a key to their house on the table when he left. andrea canning (voiceover): but what bothered heather the most was the last thing matt said before he got on the plane. andrea canning (voiceover): now, the detectives were really listening. andrea canning (voiceover): heather went on to tell them that on the night of the fire, as soon as matt heard about it, he rushed out of the house. she assumed he went to go see his brother. but then she got a phone call. from david knight saying, where's matthew? and she thought i thought he was with you. and then she later learns that, in fact, he was with graham. andrea canning (voiceover): graham macdonald, a name that was new to investigators. graham macdonald was a friend of her husband. and graham and matthew had worked together at a company called hot sets in toronto. so he was just a family friend. andrea canning (voiceover): graham, a handyman, was also friends with matt's brother, david. in fact, david hir