THEIR TAXES LOW. HUH? WE’LL GET TO ALL OF THAT. WILLIE? >> YEAH. BUSY MORNING. START, THOUGH, WITH NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION INTO FLORIDA CONGRESSMAN MATT GAETZ. THE "NEW YORK TIMES" NOW IS REPORTING THE INQUIRY INTO GAETZ AND FORMER SEMINOLE TAX COLLECTOR JOEL GREENBURGH IS FOCUSED AND SUSPECTED INVOLVEMENT WITH MULTIPLE WOMEN IT IS ALLEGED WERE RECRUITED ONLINE FOR SEX AND RECEIVED CASH PAYMENTS. THAT’S ACCORDING TO PEOPLE CLOSE TO THE INVESTIGATION. TEXT MESSAGES AND PAYMENT RECEIPTS ALL REVIEWED BY THE "TIMES." TLEEP THREE PEOPLE WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THESE BELIEVE GREENBURGH INDICTED LAST YEAR, PLED NOT GUILTY TO A FEDERAL SEX TRAFFICKING CHARGE AND OTHER CHARGES INITIALLY MET THE WOMEN THROUGH WEBSITES THAT CONNECT PEOPLE TOO GO ON DATES IN EXCHANGE FOR GIFTS, FINE DINING, TRAVEL AND ALLOWANCES. GREENBURGH REPORTEDLY INTRODUCED THE WOMEN TO CONGRESSMAN GAETZ WHO ALSO HAD SEX WITH THEM. MESSAGES IN INTERVIEWS SHOW DURING ENCOUNTERS IN 2020, GAETZ AND GREENBURGH INSTRUCTED THE WOMEN TO MEET AT CERTAIN TIMES AND PLACES, OFTEN HOTELS AROUND FLORIDA AND TELL THEM THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY WERE WILLING TO PAY. NO CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST CONGRESSMAN GAETZ, WHO’S DENIED ANY WRONGDOING SAYING THERE IS AN EXTORTION PLOT AGAINST HIS FAMILY. THE EXTENT OF HIS CRIMINAL EXPOSURE IS UNCLEAR. IN A STATEMENT TO THE "TIMES" THE CONGRESSMAN’S OFFICE SAID, MATT GAETZ HAS NEVER PAID FOR SEX AND REFUTES ALL DISGUSTING ALLEGATIONS COMPLETELY. MEANWHILE, MULTIPLE SOURCES TELLING CNN GAETZ ALLEGEDLY SHOWED PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF NUDE WOMEN HE HAD SLEPT WITH TO OTHER LAWMAKERS, INCLUDING WHILE ON THE HOUSE FLOOR. THERE IS NO INDICATION THE PICTURES ARE CONNECTED TO THE DOJ INVESTIGATION. THE "DAILY BEAST" REPORTS MORE THAN A HALF DOZEN LAWMAKERS HAVE SPOKEN ABOUT GAETZ CLAIMING A LOVE OF ALCOHOL AND ILLEGAL DRUGS AS WELL AS ALLEGING A PROCLIVITY FOR YOUNGER WOMEN. ONE FORMER REPUBLICAN STAFFER SAYS THEIR OFFICE HAD AN INFORMAL RULE TO NOT ALLOW THEIR MEMBER TO APPEAR NEXT TO GAETZ DURING TV HITS FEARFUL OF THE INEVITABLE SCANDAL THAT WOULD COME ONE DAY. A LOT TO SIFT THROUGH THERE. BRING IN ONE REPORTER ON THE "NEW YORK TIMES" STORY, MICHAEL SCHMIDT, AN MSNBC NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST. ALSO WITH US, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA AND MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST JOYCE VANCE. GOOD MORNING TO YOU BOTH. MIKE, START WITH YOU. THIS IS YOUR STORY. BRING US UP TO SPEED ON SOME OF THESE LATEST DETAILS YOU’RE JUST REPORTING THIS MORNING. FLESH IT OUT AND HOW MUCH MORE TROUBLE THIS HAS PUT MR. GAETZ IN? >> LOOK, WHAT WE HAVE HERE TODAY IN OUR STORY IS CERTAINLY A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONDUCT THAT WAS GOING ON. AS PART OF OUR REPORTING WE ABLE TO LOOK AT SOME OF THE RECEIPTS. WE WERE ABLE TO SEE SOME OF THE COMMUNICATIONS, THE BACK-AND-FORTH GOING ON. HOW THESE WOMEN WERE BEING PAID. THEY WERE BEING PAID VERY, YOU KNOW, THROUGH APPS ON THEIR PHONE. THROUGH CASH APPS. THROUGH APPLE PAY. THEY WERE NOT TAKING GREAT STEPS TO HIDE THESE. AT TIMES, GAETZ OR GREENBURGH WOULD GO TOE AN ATM IN THE HOTEL THAT THEY WERE IN. THEY WOULD OFTEN MEET THESE WOMEN IN HOTELS. THESE ARE DETAILS THAT HELP US FLESH OUT WHAT THE, WHAT THE SCHEME WAS THAT WAS GOING ON HERE THAT HAS BEEN UNCOVERED IN THIS FEDERAL INVESTIGATION. THE OTHER THING THAT WE REPORT TODAY IS THAT AT LEAST ONE OF GAETZ AND GREENBURGH’S ASSOCIATES IN FLORIDA STATE POLITICS, REPUBLICAN STATE POLITICS IN FLORIDA, HAS BEEN, YOU KNOW -- WAS LINKED TO THIS BEHAVIOR. WE DON’T IDENTIFY THAT ASSOCIATE, BUT IT JUST GIVES YOU A SENSE OF HOW WIDE AND COMMON AND WIDESPREAD THIS CONDUCT WAS THAT IS PART OF THIS INVESTIGATION. >> ALL RIGHT. JOYCE VANCE, I’M JUST CURIOUS. AS IT PERTAINS TO THE CONCEPT, MICHAEL SCHMIDT JUST TALKED ABOUT APPS BEING USED. I READ ABOUT APPLE PAY. I KNOW A LOT OF LAWMAKERS ARE COMING FORWARD TALKING ABOUT HIS BEHAVIOR ON THE HOUSE FLOOR. SHOWING PICTURES OF WOMEN HE CLAIMED TO HAVE SLEPT WITH. MAYBE EVEN SOME LAWMAKERS PULLED HIM ASIDE SAYING WE NEED YOUR CONDUCT TO BE BETTER ON THE HOUSE FLOOR, BUT LEGALLY, WHAT IS HE FACING HERE ON THE CONCEPT OF WOMEN BEING PAID THROUGH APPS? WHAT ARE WE LOOKING AT? >> THERE ARE A LOT OF DIFFERENT POSSIBILITIES FOR FEDERAL CRIMINAL EXPOSURE FOR THE CONGRESSMAN RELATED TO THIS SERIES OF FACTS, AND SOMETHING THAT I’VE HEARD MIKE SAY BEFORE THAT’S VERY TRUE IS THAT THE REPORTING IS LIKELY JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG. FOR THIS TO HAVE GONE THIS FAR AND TO HAVE BECOME A FULL-BLOWN FEDERAL INVESTIGATION, THERE’S REPORTS THE INITIAL TIP TOOK PLACE IN JANUARY OF 2020. SO THIS WOULD BE A YEAR-LONG INVESTIGATION, IF THAT PANS OUT, AND IT’S LIKELY THAT THERE IS A GREAT DEAL MORE TO BACK THIS UP, BUT, MIKA, YOU’RE RIGHT TO FOCUS ON PAYMENT. IN IS A SPECIFIC STHACHT CRIMATU CRIMINALIZING PARTICULARLY WHEN IT COMES TO GIRLS, USE OF THE INTERNET OR ANY INTERSTATE MEANS TO ENTICE, TO LURE GIRLS INTO THIS SORT OF COMMERCIAL SEX TRAFFICKING, BUT THERE’S A WHOLE PANOPLY OF FEDERAL STATUTES THAT ARE DESIGNED TO ADDRESS THIS, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, FEDERAL PROSECUTORS TAKE THESE SORTS OF CRIMES VERY SERIOUSLY. >> MIKE, ONE OF THE QUESTIONS A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE LOOKING INTO IT WHETHER OFFICE MONEY FROM THE CONGRESSMAN’S OFFICE WAS USED TO PAY FOR ANY OF THIS. FIRST OF ALL, TWO PARTER FOR YOU -- WAS THIS KWUCT THATCONDUCT THE D LOOKING INTO DURING HIS TIME AS A CONGRESSMAN, TOOK OFFICE IN JANUARY 2017, AND SECOND, IS THERE ANY EVIDENCE THAT CONGRESSIONAL MONEY WAS USED TO PAY FOR ANY OF THIS? >> SO THE CONDUCT THAT WE WRITE ABOUT TODAY IS, OCCURRED DURING HIS TIME IN CONGRESS. HE CAME TO CONGRESS IN 2017. WAS ELECTED AS A TRUMP SUPPORTER IN THE 2016 ELECTION. HE’S BEEN THERE SINCE THEN AND OBVIOUSLY BEEN A VERY VOCAL SUPPORTER OF THE PRESIDENT. THAT’S WHERE THE CONDUCT COMES FROM. JUST TO PICK UP ON WHAT JOYCE WAS SAYING. THE THING THAT IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST FOCUSES OF THE LEGAL QUESTIONS IN THIS CASE OR IN THIS INVESTIGATION IS THE 17-YEAR-OLD GIRL. BECAUSE THAT, THAT CRIME OF, YOU KNOW, SOLICITING AND PAYING SOMEONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 FOR SEX CARRIES A MANDATORY MINIMUM OF TEN YEARS IN PRISON. OBVIOUSLY THAT’S A VERY, VERY SIGNIFICANT LEGAL ISSUE AND IS, YOU KNOW, IS -- IS A HUMONGOUS PROBLEM FOR GAETZ. AS WE REPORT TODAY, YOU KNOW, THEY ARE LOOKING AT GAETZ, AS WE REPORTED IN THE ORIGINAL STORY -- THEY ARE LOOKING AT GAETZ FOR HIS TIES TO THE 17-YEAR-OLD AND THEY’RE LOOKING AT OTHERS. WERE OTHERS CONNECTED TO THIS
