ryan nobles, cnn, on capitol hill. >>> tesla's profits have topped $1 billion for the t. irs time.'t long ago that the automaker was losing money most quarters and in danger of running out of cash, but tesla has now posted record profits for three straight quarters. ceo elon musk told investors monday the company struggled in recent months with a shortage of computer chips that has dogged the industry. tesla has also been helped by a large investment in bitcoin. >>> and thank you so much for your company. i'm rosemary church. "early start" is coming up next. you're watching cnn. have yourselves a great day. i got this mountain bike for only $11. dealdash.com, the fair and honest bidding site. we sold an ipad worth $5 for less than $24. a stand mer for less than $20. a 4k television for under $2. macbook pro for under $16. as well as a playstation 4 for under $16. and brand new cars for less than $900. dealdash.com offers hundreds of auctions every day. all auctions start at $0 and everything must go. and don't forget, we offer a full 90 day money back guarantee on your first bid pa

cnn congressional correspondent ryan nobles has the report. >> reporter: embattled congressman matt gaetzll, but refused to answer questions about the federal investigation in his conduct and looming legal trouble. this as more details continue to emerge about his past. two women telling cnn about parties in florida attended by gates and his friend and political ally, joel greenberg. parties were boozy, some had sex. others included drugs like ecstasy and cocaine. one of the women described him acting like a frat boy, and taking what appeared to be recreational drugs. in some cases, money was exchanged afterwards. receipts reviewed by cnn showed payments in 2018 and 2019 of hundreds of dollars by gaetz and greenberg using payment apps to at least one woman that attended the parties. another woman said she received money from greenberg after some parties. she said she never got money from gaetz directly. greenberg's knowledge of what gaetz did apparently of interest to investigators. >> he is uniquely situated. >> reporter: the former tax collector facing 33 federal charges is cooperating

ryan nobles is following the story. good morning, ryan. that associate now appears to be willing to strike a plea deal and maybe flip on his friend. >> yeah, poppy. and that is why the pressure is really mounting on matt gaetz. joel greenberg, the former tax collector in seminole county, florida, and facing charges ranging from prostitution to human trafficking to stalking, he told prosecutors and his attorney telling a judge yesterday in open court that he is open to a plea deal. if he's open to a plea deal, the next step would be a cooperation agreement. and if he begins talking to the feds about his relationship with matt gaetz, that could be trouble for the florida congressman. greenberg's attorney even admitted. coming out of court yesterday saying matt gaetz should be pretty uncomfortable right now because his client is uniquely positioned to discuss gaetz's activities that led to this federal investigation. and greenberg and gaetz are two men that were very close, political and personal associates. and it was the investigation into

ryan nobles, cnn on capitol hill. >>> now the caribbean island of st.cent is on red alert as emergency officials warn a volcanic eruption is imminent. these are the latest images from the seismic research center. emergency officials say the volcano's dome was heightened significantly in the past day and all indications are that molten lava is pushing towards the surface. patrick oppmann has more. >> reporter: residents of the island of st. vincent were forced to evacuate their homes after being warned of, quote, an imminent volcano explosion. the prime minister of st. vincent and the grenadines declares a disaster alert after ee run testify activity was observed. clouds of steam were seen coming from the volcano following several strong tremors that were felt on the island on thursday. scientists said that kind of seismic activity that was recorded usually is associated with the movement of mag ma near the surface. evacuation orders were in place in about a dozen districts all on the island and cruise ships were reportedly being used to ferry people out

cnn's ryan nobles picks up the story. >> reporter: tonight embattled congressman matt gaetz in searchf support and getting a returned favor from the man he spent years defending and praising. >> president trump sometimes raises his voice and a ruckus. he knows that's what it takes to raise an army of patriots who love america and will protect her. >> reporter: in his short time in washington the florida congressman has gone out of his way to attach himself to trump, as demonstrated in the 2020 hbo documentary "the swamp." >> hey, mr. president, it's matt gaetz. i don't need anything, sir, just calling to tell you you did a great job today. don't let these people get you down, we're going to keep fighting for you with all we've got. >> reporter: gaetz defending trump, even when some republicans were unwilling. >> my fellow patriots, don't be shy and don't be sorry. join me as we proudly represent the pro-trump america first wing of the conservative movement. >> reporter: the congressman so connected to the former president, he even met and then proposed to his fiancÉe ginger lucky at t

cnn's ryan nobles is at the capitol. how are the capitol police responding to the accusation?ng congresswoman lofgren is taking this out of context. if this was a transmission that was early on in the day at 8:00 in the morning and they were specifically calling out non-trump supporters because they were concerned about skirmishes between the growing group of trump supporters gathering around the capitol at that time, now, they say if you listen to the transmission throughout the day they call out the pro-trump demonstrators as well as. this doesn't tell the full story of what happened on january 6th. >> is there any movement tonight on a possible september 11-style commission to investigate exactly what occurred on january 6? >> reporter: anderson, i think this controversy crystallizes the need for this independent commission. and we do see some movement between republicans and democrats, but right now they're still at an impasse. nancy pelosi has offered up some changes to the 9/11 commission that would meet the republican standards. so far she hasn't conveyed them to republ

. >> cnn ryan nobles with us from capitol hill with more. explain that one. >> well, right now, john, the u.s. capitol police are pushing back on the way that zoe framed this radio transmission that went out at 8:00 a.m. on the day of the insurrection saying it was only one slice of the radio communication going on sand not indicative of what the officer. were on the look out for. in a statement just shared moments ago capitol police quote the radio call does not mean uscp was only looking for anti-trump counter protesters [ reading ] now the capitol police go on to say in this statement -- they were taking the serious threat of pro-trump demonstrators and violence they could cause at the united states capitol and said perhaps the reason for that radio transmission was to be on the look out for dust ups between protesters and anti-trump protesters. this gets to the larger questions about what exactly happened january 6th. house speaker nancy pelosi is proposing a commission that would look into questions how united states capitol police handl

. >> ryan noble, thanks very much. >>> let's get some analysis from pahreet, and dana bash.u think this is something that an innocent person would typically behave like this? >> uh, no, and the typical guilty person, for that matter, doesn't have a close relationship with the president at the time of the united states of america. and it's an example of the culture that was created in the white house, that if you want a pardon, if you're roger stone -- the fact that you're matt gaetz, according to other sourceses, was lobbying for a broad, preemptive sweeping pardon, without any charges being brought to me is what the lawyers call consciousness of guilt. you know you've done something wrong, you want protection, here's a president handing south pardons right and left, maybe i should get one, too. >> in his statement, the former president trump said he was never asked for a pardon. carefully chosen words, i suspect. >> no question. that was very, very intentional. you know, just a reminder, for people who didn't read the "new york times" story which broke this and cnn's subseq

cnn ryan noble joining me now with more, what can you tell us?t a hearing at the house administration committee talking about the police response on january 6th, the chair of that committee is representative in california who referred tos this transmission that was caught from capitol police to officers on the ground that were responding to the growing protests she said, quote, attention all units on the field we're will not looking for pro-trump in the crump only anti for pro-trump in the crowd only anti pro-trump looking for a fight. this not being the right-hand response given the crowd were overwhelmingly supporters of the former president of the capitol police did respond saying this was part of the transmission early in the day around 8:00 a.m. and what they were specifically looking for potential incidents, problems that could a rise. which is the reason they said to look for people who could be instigators starting trouble with the overwhelmingly pro-trump crowd. this is part of a growing issue house democrats are concerned about that cap

our ryan nobles is working the story for us. the problems seem to be mounting for gaetz.t? >> reporter: it's the drip, drip, drip in this scandal surrounding the congressman. this letter comes from joel greenberg, a close associate of gaetz. cnn has not been able to independently corroborate the contents of this letter but it is pretty damning. it is remarkable that greenberg would put all of these admissions of criminal conduct into a letter. this is what he says at one point. this letter sent to roger stone, the former trump associate asking for stone's help in soliciting a pardon for greenberg. he wrote, quote, my lawyers that i fired know the whole story about mg's involvement. mg being matt gaetz. they know he paid me to pay the girls and that he and i both had sex with the girl, who is underage. roger stone told our chris cuomo that he knew nothing about this letter, that he never solicited a pardon on behalf of greenberg or gaetz and he doesn't know what greenberg is talking about. gaetz himself is also pushing back on these allegations. he said, quote, congressman

. >> ryan nobles, appreciate it. thank you very much. a lot to learn on that still about what exactly occurred on that day and whether or not there will be actually some sort of 9/11-style commission. that's it for us. thanks so much for watching. the news continues right now. let's hand it over to chris for cuomo primetime. chris? >> appreciate it, anderson. how about that sanjay? 20 years. >> i mean, amazing. what an incredible career, an incredible contribution. particularly this last year i feel like he's gotten a lot of us through some very, very difficult times. >> oh, absolutely. and i know you were obviously joking saying, hey, you've been here 20 years? because you guy, when you and he are together on a story anywhere in the world, the humanity that's brought to bear and the relative act men. obviously nobody's been in tough times more than you when it comes to coverage in our generation of journalists, andan amazing combination and i has been for a long time. he's got some years on you here at cnn, but -- >> sure. getting close

at cnn ryan nobles reports for us now, all these bizarre conspiracy they're sis making it clear that even with trump out of washington the trumpist embrace of lies continues. >> reporter: nearly six months after the presidential election a nationwide pockets of republicans amping up claims that the election was stolen and donald trump should be president. in arizona a group of gop leaders attempting a fourth recount of the ballots in maricopa county reigniting false claims that trump won the county by 200,000 votes. >> there's a lot of americans here, myself included, real bothered by the way the country is being ripped apart right now. >> reporter: and the owner of the firm leading the recount has pushed the false claim that the election was stolen. the big lie just one example of wild conspiracy theories being pushed by the far right. in minnesota a county republican committee hosting conspiracy theorist trevor lauden who says the coronavirus was created to undermine trump's election, that democrats are working covertly with islamic terrorists and that the murder of george floyd wa

let's bring in ryan nobles. some republicans are turning on one another.. what's the latest? >> reporter: it seems in many ways that the opposition to president biden is about the only unifying force within the republican party as they search for exactly what their future holds and who exactly is the leader of the republican party. on the eve of president joe biden's first address to a joint session of congress, national republicans insist their focus is on policy. >> if you're sitting here, it's focused on policy and focused on the future of making the america of the next century. >> reporter: but the actions of gop leaders in several states show otherwise. in arizona state republicans are dredging up months-old false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and are conducting a fourth audit of ballots in mary copa county. >> there's a lot of americans, myself includes, that are really bothered at the way our country is being ripped apart right now. >> reporter: another popular target of trump supporters, wyoming congresswoman liz cheney, who voted to imp

. >> the congressional correspondent ryan nobles is inside the chamber and joins us now over the line ryan, tell us what you're seeing there. the cameras are picking up some of the images. there is senator markey and senator elizabeth warren who is a woman that ran and tried to become the first woman president. what are you seeing, ryan? >> jake, you pointed out already that they have gone to great lengths in this room to try and encourage as much social distancing as possible. every single seat here is assigned so when members of congress come in a room, they have a special place they're designated to go to. it's not first come first serve as it normally is with a joint address to members of congress and each one of those seats is at least four seats in between them to try to keep them apart and as you pointed out, those seats along the aisle which are often most coveted to get close access to the president and dig tarries as they come down the aisle, those are three seats away from the aisle designed to prevent people from crowding that space as the president comes in but as you saw

. >> ryan nobles, thank you very much. joining us now is maggie haberman, a correspondent for "the new york times." matt gaetz lays out his response. he denies having sex with a 17-year-old, et cetera. with "the daily beast" reporting and the new report, where is matt gaetz this morning? >> look. matt gaetz has a series of problematic headlines at minimum, john, and as we have seen over the last day, the lawyer for his friend who is likely to cut a plea deal is suggesting that gaetz has a problem in that case, too, and, yes, he has denied any wrongdoing, but there does appear to be a swell of information tying gaetz more closely to his friend joel greenberg, this former tax collector, from florida. i think among the most damning pieces of information comes from "the daily beast" report showing he was sending money from venmo to his friend, which then allegedly got moved to this woman in question. i have not heard an explanation. he has, again, denied any wrongdoing. think we're going to be going along with this for a while

ryan nobles is "outfront." >> reporter: for embattled congressman matt gaetz, the news out of florida >> i'm sure matt gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today. >> reporter: joel greenberg, personal ally of gaetz, plans to strike a plea deal. it could mean greenberg is ready to share damaging information about his relationship with the congressman. the fbi continues to investigate gaetz as part of a broader investigation into possible prostitution and sex trafficking crimes, including allegations that gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl. gates and greenberg are close associates. the two were once rising republican stars in florida, posing for photos in front of the white house, and with trump ally roger stone. >> i think he becomes the next congressman for the 7th district. >> reporter: greenberg is facing 33 charges of stalking a political opponent, creating fake i.d.s and sex trafficking. the fact that he's ready to cut a deal to prosecutors could lead to gaetz, who denied having sex with a 17-year-old and he ever paid for sex. but his association to freinberg is what led to th