TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Gaetz of Hell: Florida Republican Scurries to Explain FBI Teen Sex Investigation

Episode Date: April 1, 2021

Today on TRUNEWS, we discuss the self-confessed investigation of conservative darling Representative Matt Gaetz, as charges of sex trafficking roil around him and his Florida political associate Joel Greenberg. We examine the connections between the Congressman’s stand on legislation regarding underage sex, other connections in his personal life, and how he is a 'generous partner.' Edward Szall, Rick Wiles, Matt Skow. Airdate (3/31/21)

The following program is made possible by the faithful prayers and financial support of listeners just like you. To find out how you can help,, 2021. I'm Edward Zoll. Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz has announced that he is under FBI investigation for child sex trafficking. Last night, 38-year-old representative from northern Florida said the allegations of sexual misconduct, including payments for flights, lodging, and intimacy with a 17-year-old that Mr. Gaetz identified as a woman are false and are rooted in a $25 million extortion operation being run against his family. Representative Gates says he's been cooperating with the FBI in an alleged countersting operation

against a former Trump Department Justice of Official, which included Matt Gates' father wearing a wire. Congressman Gates says the Department of Justice has informed him that he is the subject of an investigation regarding sexual conduct with a woman. But he says the only thing he's guilty of is being a generous partner. Join me to discuss this latest chapter in politics and pedophilia, our True News founder Rick Walsh and Doc Burkhart. Hey, Edward.

Hey, Edward. This story has got some stink on it. Yes. And it's not going to go away soon. This broke last night, and I think it shocked many in the conservative movement. Many Christians look to Matt Gaetz as one of the few voices that were standing up for issues we cared about. Well, there's talk here in Florida, Matt Gaetz ruled it out, that Matt Gates would challenge Senator Rubio in the Republican primary next year. So he's got a lot of support in the state of Florida and across America. So you're right. When this came out last night,

it was a shocking, stunning news headline. But Doc, I spent a couple hours last night looking into it. And the deeper I got, the stinkier it got. That's true. And I don't know. And we don't know. We're going to want to make it very clear here. We don't know whether he's guilty or not. And we don't know who's behind the allegations. But what we're going to do here today is lay out the facts as we have found them. Yes. And let our audience come to their own conclusions. But I will tell you right now, personally, I think there's something to it. And I think he will be out of the US Congress in the very near future.

As we noted in the open, Rick, Representative Gates has confirmed he's under investigation. That's not a conspiracy. That's not a fake news story for The New York Times. He has confirmed he's under investigation. That's not a conspiracy. That's not a fake news story for The New York Times. He has confirmed he's under investigation. To The New York Times, Matt Gates said, I have suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward. To Axios, Representative Gates said,

I have definitely in my single days provided for women I've dated. You know, I've paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I've been, you know, generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it's not. Well, it's only criminal if the partner is underage. Yes. There's nothing criminal about paying for an adult to have an airline flight or lodging or whatever.

There's nothing criminal about it. It's when we enter into the accusation there possibly being someone underage that this becomes an explosive issue. And if you paid to transport an underage person, we're talking a teenager, a teenager, a child, and you paid to transport that person, you have now entered into a crime of child trafficking. Right. And apparently that's the accusation against Matt Gaetz. Let's be clear here.

We're not saying that Matt Gaetz is guilty. We're not condemning him. He has admitted that he's under investigation. But I think when we lay out the particulars of the investigation, it's going to prompt some questions. It prompted questions from us. So be patient with us here as we walk through this. We want you to understand as we've walked through this too, okay? This used to be how justice was administered, or rather there was due process.

People were given a fair shake. They're given their day in court. Doesn't seem to happen anymore in America. Not with social media. No. You're tried in the public square, but we're laying out the facts. We're not here to slander anyone. We're here to lay out the facts. So what is Matt Gates's explanation on this investigation that's going on? Matt Gates, on top of an outright denial, he said the allegations published by the New York Times yesterday are false. He has also proposed and really revealed a secondary allegation, and that is that there was a counter sting operation being run by federal authorities with Matt Gaetz and his father, Don Gaetz, participating in this, to expose

an extortion, a $25 million extortion case. Okay, so this is Matt Gaetz's response. So let's give him the benefit of the doubt here and say, and read what he says here. He says, over the past several weeks, my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name. We have been cooperating with federal authorities on this matter, and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI's direction to catch these criminals. The planted leak to the FBI tonight was intended to thwart that investigation. No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing

these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation. I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations. And so he tweeted that, I believe, sometime yesterday evening or yesterday afternoon. And so that is his explanation. He admits that there is an ongoing investigation, that his father at some point was involved in this investigation, Rick. His father was, we'll find out as we go along here, wore a wire at least once and was going to wear a wire a second time. So there was some involvement with some cooperation on the family's part in cooperating with the FBI. But understand too, this is Mr. Gates's

explanation. And so it's going to have his collar to it. Right. I saw some things there that I had not seen before. If we could put this back up. In the second one, it says, And my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI's direction to catch these criminals, the people that Mr. Gates alleges are shaking down his father for $25 million. Here's the line. the people that Mr. Gates alleges are shaking down his father for $25 million. Here's the line.

The planted leak to the FBI tonight was intended to thwart that investigation. The planted leak. He says the leak was to the FBI. Was the leak to the FBI or from the FBI? But the purpose of the leak last night, the leak of this investigation to the news media, according to Mr. Gates, was intended to stop the investigation. The investigation not of Matt Gates, but of the extortioners. That's what he's saying here. Yes. In that line. Do you have any thoughts about what that implies? Well, to say

planted leak, first of all, he's describing what we've already come to known to be common operation of the FBI. Andrew McCabe, the deputy head of the FBI, did leak information. So did James Comey. So did James Comey. The top two officials of the FBI have done this before. Matt Gaetz is alleging that this is what took place in this case. What he's saying here is that the leak actually stopped him and his father and the FBI, with whom they were working with.

This has since been confirmed by the father. The father has come out with his own statement saying that he wore a wire on behalf of his son and the investigation. On behalf of his son? On behalf of his son. Did he wear a wire for the FBI? He says he did it as part of the FBI operation. Did he say that as part of the FBI operation?

I'll read his exact quote. This is the story where Matt Gaetz's father is quoted as saying this, now confirming those points. What I was simply going to say is this is an assembly of two separate investigations. It also sounds like this was timed to stop Matt Gaetz and his father and the FBI officials working with them on this separate extortion sting from gathering the evidence they needed to prove their case. Now, the statement that I was just referring to is a statement about the sting. This is Don Gates to Politico. He said, the FBI asked me to try and get that information for Matt and an indication we

would transfer money to Mr. David McGee. Now, Mr. David McGee is the former Trump Department of Justice official that Matt Gaetz is referring to and actually named in an interview with Tucker Carlson last night. So the father has confirmed this. We haven't yet gotten pictures, text messages, audio. For example, a wire doesn't just record thin air, okay? There should be something recorded. If Matt Gaetz was telling the truth there, there should be tapes. There should be something that the public can hear showing that they were running this counter-sting operation. Already an incredibly interesting story because you have both the intrigue of the accusation of an investigation and that Matt Gaetz was working to try to, say, foil it, a separate extortion. All right. So once again, we're walking you through this as we've gone through our sources today and our investigation today. So once again, be patient with us as we walk through it.

What's been the response from politicians on the Hill and elsewhere? What are they saying now? Well, the Democrats are calling for his removal, not just from the House Judiciary Committee where he serves, but from Congress. Representative Ted Lieu specifically responded to the tweet thread we just read. He said, the Department of Justice does not take lightly opening a criminal investigation against a member of Congress. Hard to believe root cause of problem would be a single former DOJ official making up allegations. There would be an entire team of federal agents and

prosecutors investigating Matt Gaetz. Ted Lieu also went on to say that he wants Matt Gaetz. And Ted Lieu also went on to say that he wants Matt Gaetz removed because of the act of revealing an active investigation, which is interesting. Ted Lieu's even recognizing point that because Matt Gaetz openly spoke about the investigation itself that the FBI is conducting, that that may be a violation of ethics, ethics such as it is in Congress. In Ted Lieu's mind, and others have suggested there's two on the left, Representative Gaetz should have never shared details about this alleged counter sting operation, where his father wore wire or explained how the FBI was pursuing it. Ted Lieu is saying that this blew up that investigation, thwarted, obstructed the investigation. And that would be unbecoming of someone who's serving on the House Judiciary Committee, an organization, actually a committee that's specifically dedicated to investigating crimes or looking into criminal acts.

I had that same thought. When you're involved in a federal investigation and that investigation includes a member of your family wearing a wire, a recording device for the FBI, you're not at liberty to tell anybody. Right. I mean... Unless the FBI has released you and authorized you to disclose the details. I want to go back to the tweets from Matt Gaetz. And look at the last one. I demand the Department of Justice immediately release the tapes made at their discretion, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on the allegations.

So Matt Gaetz says he's aware that there are recordings and that these recordings were made at the instruction of the Department of Justice investigators. And he's demanding that they be released. Yes. And the reporting states that at least one of the recordings was done at the law firm of the Department of Justice official, that was named by Matt Gaetz, Mr. McGee. McGee. This, he actually currently serves at a law firm in Florida, Beggs and Lane is the name of the law firm. At the pin of the collar, yes.

And the recording, from my understanding, was done, it was produced by the father. So a discussion was had at the law firm. And, of course, this has been fully denied by the lawyer, Mr. McGee. He said that this is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaith is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls. That's a direct quote from Mr. McGee. So we expect the attacks on the left, but I've been seeing Republicans on the right, like Representative Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene, they're tweeting out saying things like, I stand with Matt Gaetz and everything. Is that, would you say that support is solid on the Republican side? I don't think so. The leadership have

either been quiet, such as Senator McConnell, or they have entertained the possibility of removing Representative Gates from his position on the House Judiciary Committee. It would be big. The Republicans have? Republicans.

One of them speaking here is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was asked this. I wouldn't say he came out swinging against Matt Gaetz, but he did announce if investigation that is confirmed at this point by the representative himself proves sexual misconduct, then Representative McCarthy said he will have to remove Matt Gaetz from position on the House Judiciary Committee. All right, let's watch this. Will you take any action to remove Matt Gates from

the Judiciary Committee while he's under investigation by the DOJ over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him? That's something he denies, but that would be a violation of federal sex trafficking laws. Look, I haven't heard from DOJ. I haven't been able to talk to Matt Gaetz yet. I just read the story. Those are serious implications. If it comes out to be true, yes, we would remove him if that was the case. But right now, as Matt Gaetz says, this is not true and we don't have any information. So let's get all the information. And he's right. Let's get all the information.

One of the best sources of information is Matt Gaetz himself. So do we have information other than tweets from Matt Gaetz? He gave a very unorthodox interview last night to Tucker Carlson. I say unorthodox because Matt Gaetz is a trained lawyer. He knows, he's admitted he's under investigation. And he made not only an allegation, an accusation against a named official, but he laid out an incredible case of cat and mouse here that he is the victim. This is the statement. But the way he did it provoked Tucker Carlson into coming back after the break

and saying that was a weird interview. The most bizarre interview he's ever recorded. Quite a statement. How many interviews have you recorded, Rick? Thousands, right? Tens of them. Five to 7,000. Five to 7,000.

You'd say this interview right here is the weirdest, most bizarre interview I've ever recorded. It'd have to be quite a crazy interview. So it didn't end well for Matt Gaetz. It was strategically a mistake. Just for our audience, and this is a very generalized layman's interpretation, the terms blackmail and extortion, people get the two confused. So blackmail, let's say extortion. Extortion is when a criminal says to you, give me money or I am going to make up stories about you. I'm going to destroy your reputation.

I'm going to plant fake evidence throughout the town. I want money. I got this bill. I got to get it paid. You've got money and I'm going to do something bad to you until you give me money. I got this bill. I got to get it paid. You've got money and I'm gonna I'm gonna do something bad to you until you give me money. That's extortion blackmail is Edward I got pictures of you doing something bad. There's something and if you don't give me the money

I'm gonna publish the pictures. That's the difference. Hmm in a very simplified way Matt Gates said blackmail, right? That's the difference in a very simplified way. Matt Gaetz said blackmail, right? He said extortion. He did say extortion. But it's important you brought this up, this distinction, because the media, and let's listen carefully to Matt Gaetz's statements in the interview to Tucker Carlson. What he's describing is that payment was about to happen.

$4.5 million was going to be transferred today. He claims this is going to be for evidence to show money changing hands for the extortion. But it's important you made this up because that sounds like blackmail. Wait, wait, wait a minute. I didn't know that. This is new. Matt Gates said that today his father was going to transfer four and a half million dollars to the extortionists. Yes. The first payment of three. You just don't wire four and a half million dollars. No. And when you're not guilty. First of all, his father does have those kind of resources. He's well off.

He owns a bunch of hospice facilities around the state. And so, but, you know, this is building out. Once again, walk with us through this, folks. Don't, you know, we're not trying to bash Matt Gates. What we're trying to do is trying to figure this out. We're walking through this like you're walking through this. So be patient. If you're working with the FBI, if you, if you, the Biden FBI, this is important to note. Yeah. Well, if you just, you're telling the FBI, Hey, there's something, there's some criminals trying to get millions of dollars out of my dad. And there's

an investigation by the FBI into these criminals. Why would you wire $4.5 million to the criminals? Why would it have to be your money? Think about it. Why would you do that if you're working with questions all abounding? That means something weird was happening yesterday, and the news broke last night about what was taking place. So there's something about the story. Let's hear from Matt Gaetz himself. All right. Let's analyze this. So this is obviously a serious allegation. Tell us what the truth is

from your perspective. It is a horrible allegation and it is a lie. The New York Times is running a story that I have traveled with a 17 year old woman and that is verifiably false. People can look at my travel records and see that that is not the case. What is happening is an extortion of me and my family involving a former Department of Justice official. On March 16th, my father got a text message demanding a meeting wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away. Our family was so troubled by that, we went to the local FBI. And the FBI and the Department of Justice were so concerned about this attempted extortion

of a member of Congress that they asked my dad to wear a wire, which he did with the former Department of Justice official. Tonight, I am demanding that the Department of Justice and the FBI release the audio recordings that were made under their supervision and at their direction, which will prove my innocence and that will show that these allegations aren't true. They're merely intended to try to bleed my family out of money. And this former Department of Justice official tomorrow was supposed to be contacted by my father so that specific instructions could be given regarding the wiring of $4.5 million

as a down payment on this bribe. I don't think it's a coincidence that tonight, somehow, the New York Times is leaking this information, smearing me, and ruining the investigation that would likely result in one of the former colleagues of the current DOJ being brought to justice for trying to extort me and my family. His name is David McGee. He was a top official in the leadership in the Northern District of Florida as a prosecutor. He currently works at the Beggs and Lane law firm. As a matter of fact, one of the recordings that was made at the FBI and Department of

Justice request occurred at that law firm, and the money that was supposed to be paid today that would have shown even more evidence of David McGee's work in this extortion scheme, that was foiled by the New York Times story and I believe that's why this horrible information and these terrible allegations have been used this evening. I know that there was a demand for money in exchange for a commitment that he could make this investigation go away along with his co-conspirators. They even claimed to have specific connections inside the Biden White House. Now, I don't know if that's true.

They were promising that Joe Biden would pardon me. Obviously, I don't need a pardon. I'm not seeking a pardon. I have not done anything improper or wrong. The allegation, as I read it in the New York Times, is that I've traveled with some 17-year-old in some relationship. That is false, and records will bear that out to be false. How long has this investigation been going on, do you know? I don't know.

When were you first informed of it? You know, again, I really saw this as a deeply troubling challenge for my family on March 16th when people were, you know, talking about a minor and that there were pictures of me with child prostitutes. That's obviously false. There will be no such pictures because no such thing happened. But really on March 16th was when this got going from the extortion standpoint. That was very odd. I mean, Tucker Carlson's face is always the same when it comes to these shocking statements. But Matt Gaetz made a series of very shocking statements there. And partly in this, he's laying out a national scandal. First of all, he's revealing an ongoing investigation, a sting against him, extortion against him. But did you hear what he said? He actually

characterized what was basically being laid out. He did describe blackmail. He said, alleged photos that are not real, they don't exist, but alleged photos of me with child prostitutes. I don't know what a child prostitute is. There's no such thing as a child prostitute. All right, so photos that don't exist means somebody had to produce them. Deep fakes? Yeah, deep fake photos. But it also could be lawyer speak, because he also said the same about the 17-year-old woman. But he described it as a woman. Yeah, because that's the first time I heard child prostitute.

Yeah, that's an Alan Dershowitz term. That's a term that was used in the Jeffrey Epstein settlement. Well, Matt Gaetz probably has met Alan Dershowitz at Trump parties in Mar-a-Lago. That's a likelihood. I mean, Donald Trump does hang out with people that dabble in child sex. He's not the first one, is he? No. Now, of course, we need to make this connection here and everything. We already

talked about Matt Gaetz's dad wearing a wire and explain that and the whole thing going on. If you notice, if you watch the full as if Tucker Carlson was trying to, I don't know, it appeared that Matt Gaetz was trying to lure Tucker Carlson into this whole topic of, you've been accused of similar things, Tucker. And that you've met with me while I've been with younger girls or a young woman. Yeah, that was a strange statement. Do we have video of this one? We do. We do. This is the video from last night with Representative Gates. And I believe we are in an era of our politics now, Tucker, where people are smeared to try to

take them out of the conversation. I'm not the only person on screen right now who's been falsely accused of a terrible sex act. You were accused of something that you did not do. And so you know what this feels like. You know the pain it can bring to your family. And you know how it just puts people on defense when you're accused of something so salacious and awful. But it did not happen. It is not true. And the fact that it is the basis of this attempt to extort my family tells a lot. And if the FBI and Department of Justice will release the tapes that they are in possession of, the American people will see what is really going on.

You just referred to a mentally ill viewer who accused me of a sex crime 20 years ago. Of course, it was not true. I never met the person. But I do agree with you that being accused falsely is one of the worst things that can happen. And you do see it a lot. Let's go back to the investigation. You say that it was or is underway. There was an investigation. What is the basis of that investigation? What is the allegation? Is that really not very clear from these news stories? Yeah, again, I only know what I've read in the New York Times. I can say that actually you and I went to dinner about two years ago. Your wife was there and I brought a friend

of mine. You'll remember her. And she was actually threatened by the FBI, told that if she wouldn't cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay for play scheme, that she could face trouble. And so I do believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to smear me, you know, providing for flights and hotel rooms for people that you're dating who are of legal age is not a crime. And I'm just troubled that the lack of any sort of legitimate investigation into me would then permute, would then convert into this extortion attempt. JOHN YANG I don't remember the woman you're speaking

of or the context at all, honestly. But I would like to know who... So they're saying there is a 17-year-old girl who you had a relationship with. Is that true? And who is this girl? What are they talking about at the New York Times? The person doesn't exist. I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false.

Matt Gaetz's interview, that was one of the weirdest interviews I've ever conducted. That story just appeared in the news a couple of hours ago. And on the certainty that there's always more than you read in the newspaper, we immediately called Matt Gaetz and asked him to come on and tell us more, which, as you saw, he did. I don't think that clarified much, but it certainly showed this is a deeply interesting story, and we'll be following it. Don't quite understand it, but we'll bring you more when we find out.

Okay, he's had a lot of weird interviews. We'll be following it. Don't quite understand it. But we'll bring you more when we find out. Okay. He's had a lot of weird interviews. Well, certainly not when a guest starts bringing up laundry from the past. But he did two things there. He deliberately tossed two grenades at Tucker Carlson in a live interview on national television. The first one, he goes, well, Tucker, we both know you were accused of sexual misconduct 20 years ago. What, what? I didn't know about that. I don't remember it.

Matt Gaetz is a lot younger than me. For some reason, he remembers something that happened 20 years ago. I don't remember it with Tucker Carlson. The other thing was he said, and you know, you and your wife were at dinner and I brought a friend with me and the FBI accused, or tried to get her involved in making accusations against me in a pay to play scheme. A pay to play is a term used to when politicians or bureaucrats say you've got to donate money to a political campaign if you want in on the political action if you want to be part of a contract or part of a government decision if you want to be inside the inside you want to be

in the inner circle you've got to you got to cough up the inside, you want to be in the inner circle, you've got to cough up the money. But he threw that out to Tucker Carlson on live TV. Yes. What was the purpose of that? To me, the way I interpreted it was Matt Gaetz was reminding Tucker Carlson, I know a lot of stuff about you. You think he was threatening him on air? I think he was saying, Tucker, you and I have been around.

I know things about you. That's bold, if that's what Matt Gaetz was doing. And again, the term there was very interesting. He said, oh, you know, the girl, you know who I'm talking about. Well, let's let's remind our audience that Tucker Carlson is a close, close friend of Hunter Biden. That's right. And Tucker Carlson was a VIP patron at Comet Pizza. That's right. End of discussion. Let's move to the next item. Right now, a lot of you online are watching us right now. At Comet Pizza. That's right. End of discussion. Let's move to the next item. Right.

Now, a lot of you online are watching us right now. You're thinking, why are you guys just bashing, bashing, bashing Matt Gaetz? All we've done so far is shown you what the mainstream media is reporting, what Mr. Gaetz himself has said on Twitter and on Tucker Carlson and everything. But what we're going to show you as we move forward here are the connections. Why you should be questioning this whole story. Is that what our audience is saying right now? There are a lot of people right now that are upset with us because we are even talking about Matt Gates. Look at our name. Our name is True News.

Yes. Look, all I can say is, why can't you think with an independent mind? To me, they're all corrupt. Yeah, they're all corrupt. Republicans, Democrats, all of them.

I start out with the premise they're crooks. And then they have to prove to me that they're not crooks. That they're not a crook. Yes. But have an independent mind. Don't be in this Republican versus Democrat, right versus left.

Get out of that thinking. We complain about the Democrats thinking that way, but the Republicans think the same way. Yes. This wasn't a story to you and I until Matt Gates went on to Tucker Carlson on Fox News and spoke about it. I've never, I didn't even know about this story. He brought it up. He brought it. And now that he brought it up, I'm looking into it. Right. So as we've moved forward with all of this, Mr. Gates actually named the DOJ official that he said tried to extort his family for $25 million. We mentioned the name.

He's an attorney based in Pensacola, Florida. Mr. McGee, forget his last name, Edward. But it's David McGee. Right. Gates has made the counter accusation that Mr. McGee and other associates, I guess, have tried to extort the Gates family who have resources for $25 million. Now, so extortion, as Rick was pointing out, is different from blackmail. And so now, of course, the ex-DOJ official, he's going to deny the allegations, of course. And this is a picture of Mr. McGee up in Pensacola there.

It's important to note that both this article and the Washington Examiner article that we just showed are currently showing up as deleted articles. So we're actually showing you cached versions of them that we caught earlier in the day prior to the deletion. But our audience right now cannot go to the New York Post or the Washington Examiner and find these articles. Right. They've pulled these articles down. This article specifically, I want to read the bottom. But fortunately, true news, we keep the articles. Because we actually read them. It's an incredible concept, isn't it?

Over 22 years, I've seen articles disappear more than, yes. In real time. In real time, they're gone. Well, the bottom of that article, there is an astounding statement I have not seen anywhere else. Matt Gaetz is quoted in that New York Post article saying, this is quoting the New York Post article just out on screen. He said he became aware of the probe after two of his ex-girlfriends were contacted by authorities. This is quoting Matt Gaetz. They were asked why I had given them plane tickets, money

and other interactions. They were in their 20s. End of quote. Okay. So he's confirming in part that he is paid for travel, paid for arrangement. He's not contesting that. Well, he's generous. And that he's dated girls in pay for a ridge with is not contesting that well He's and then he's gated girls in their 20s. That's this that's his official statement Well, the only the only issue here is were they in their 20s when he paid for it

That and how does he know they were in their 20s because again he's being accused investigated specifically in this case for child sex trafficking, not adult trafficking, child sex trafficking. The case you have to look at all the instances of who he's paid for travel across state lines. In the course of our looking at this story today, we discovered several aspects of this, that this is not something that just suddenly popped up on the radar. Apparently, Mr. Gates has been under investigation by the Department of Justice since last summer. That was a stunner to me. Under the Trump administration, under Attorney General Bill Barr.

Yes. So Bill Barr did investigate somebody. Right. Not Hunter Biden. But Matt Gaetz. Something interesting of note that Edward came across as we were looking at features of, you know, trying to find some things to corroborate the whole trail here was that Mr. Gaetz started, you know, a lot, paying for a lot of legal fees starting back last summer.

Paying for them out of what bank account? Well, the campaign fund. The campaign fund. Okay. And this was of a significant increase. No money to $64,000, specifically on legal consulting. Now, you have to look at these numbers going backwards. The most recent one's at the top.

So it started back in July, you know, and then goes on to September, October, November, December. I realize that campaigns pay legal fees. They have expenses that come up. You've got to pay lawyers for things. But he hadn't actually throughout that whole year. That's what's important. No money had been paid from the campaign fund to legal fees. Well, I point this out now.

The New York Times article noted that Matt Gaetz was not the target. Even Matt Gaetz confirms, not the target, but the subject. The target was a man by the name of Joel Greenberg. Now, this is Matt Gaetz with Joel Greenberg in 2017. And Roger Stone. Roger Stone. Okay. So, of course, Matt Gaetz is in the background there.

The gentleman on the right is Joel Greenberg, who we're going to talk about here in just a moment. And, of course, many of you recognize Roger Stone. Now, Joel Greenberg is the former tax collector for Seminole County up in Orlando. And he and Matt Gaetz, longtime associates, dare I say friends, in that they've both, Matt Gaetz has endorsed Joel Greenberg, endorsed him in his run and his subsequent decline. Not simple associates or coincidences. This is why Matt Gaetz is under investigation. Okay, so Joe Greenberg was the county tax collector for Seminole County, Florida.

Yes. A very powerful position, mind you. Yes. And so Mr. Greenberg had a very creative operation going on in the tax collector's office up there in Seminole County up in Orlando. Apparently he was mining cryptocurrency. He was had armed guards that were protecting him throughout the day. He had machines in his office that were making that had the ability to make driver's licenses. Driver's licenses in Puerto Rico and Florida. And found evidence of driver's license for Puerto Rico and Florida, as Edward mentioned. But, Doc, that headline says Greenberg facing sex trafficking charges.

Yes. Yes. So there is a sex scandal involving Joe Greenberg. Yes. Who is a close friend of Matt Gaetz. Yes, Matt Gaetz brought him to the White House. Now, to lay out who this man is, this associate

that has brought an investigation upon Matt Gaetz due to association at a minimum. We've grabbed a news report from August of 2020 from a local station in Orlando. And what we brought up by campaign financing, mind you, a couple moments ago, is it was at the point of indictment that Matt Gaetz began spending money from the campaign fund on legal consultation.

When Greenberg was indicted? Yes, when Greenberg was indicted. So there's a correlation between the legal funds coming out of the Gates campaign and when the explosive charges against Mr. Greenberg developed. Okay, guys, have you considered the possibility that Gates was paying for Greenberg's lawyer? That thought crossed my mind and is just, you know, I can't make that connection. Certainly, Mr. Greenberg was speaking at rallies. Here is Mr. Greenberg, number 17, speaking at a Trump rally.

I don't know a Florida election law restrictions justified that the campaign spend money for legal representation for the campaign. Right. I don't know if a candidate or an office holder can use campaign money to pay for legal expenses for something that doesn't involve his campaign, involves himself personally. But certainly, I can't imagine that a candidate or an officeholder can use campaign money to pay for somebody else's legal expenses. Remember Perkins Coie? Remember the steal ofier? The Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton and her campaign used a law firm to funnel the money to Mr. Steel. But they paid a law firm. Yes. All right. That on. On record, it's just a line item.

The campaign paid a major D.C. law firm. Nothing fishy about that. Right. You want when you're running a presidential campaign, you want to make sure you're obeying all the laws. Right. But what we didn't know back then was that money was paying for the dossier to smear Donald Trump to a spy. So the question here is. Where did this money go that Matt Gaetz was spending? Was it for himself or was it for Joel Greenberg? So two possibilities there. Of course, one may be that it may be getting some money over to Greenberg to defend himself.

The other is, I believe that Mr. Gaetz knew he was under investigation last summer, and he was already setting the legal process in place to defend himself even then because he saw his good buddy and they were good buddies mr. Gates spent a time in mr. Greenberg's Lake Mary home up in Orlando on a regular basis keep in mind mr. Greenberg had the ability to create fake IDs he was doing that in his office part of the process It has been indicted on and has been indicted on six trafficking charges. Okay, this was stop right there doc the the county tax collector Joel Greenberg was accused of

Manufacturing fake identification documents like driver's licenses. Yes Rican and Florida. In the county tax collector's office. Right. Which is important because, first, other than the fact that it's literally a tax collector doing this as a public official, there's no reason to produce Florida or Puerto Rican driver's license for people who want to drive in either of those, the territory of Puerto Rico or the state of Florida, because you can use your Puerto Rican driver's license to drive in Florida. Of course.

Puerto Rico is the United States. That's why. Here was a scam. People would come to the tax collector's office because in our state here in Florida, you want to get your driver's license renewed. You go to the tax collector's office. You'd come in, you'd hand over your old driver's license, right? And normally what they do is they take your driver's license, they punch a hole in it and they say, you know, it's done. What Mr. Greenberg would do is he would collect driver's licenses before they had the hole punch in them. He would take them, and he would make fake IDs with the information from those licenses. Well, only a crook would do that, Doc.

Okay. So he qualifies. Mr. Greenberg was into a lot of stuff. Why would he need to produce fake driver's licenses? How many identities does he have? Well, he would even, I'd say he would masquerade as a student in one of the various charges that he is. A student? A student. He's been indicted on 12 different charges.

Like a 40-year-old student? In this case, a young student, I believe in teenage teenage years trying to catch another political opponent and an untoward relationship untoward communication with a like I can I've got an idea if You're involved in in child trafficking if you're moving teenage girls From one country to another state to state You would need to come up with some type of identification document that makes a 14-year-old be an 18-year-old.

That's right. That if a police officer says, do you have any identification on you? Yeah, here's my driver's license. I'm 19 years old. Don't you have to show a driver's license to fly? Yes. And to check into a hotel? Yes, to board a plane, you you have to show a driver's license to fly? Yes. And to check into a hotel room. Yes, to board a plane you do.

You need a driver's license. Now, once again, remember, Mr. Gates himself said, you know, I paid for flights. I paid for hotel rooms. You know, so he has admitted that. He's a generous partner after all. Well, he had another generous partner, Mr. Greenberg. Who liked to make driver's licenses. Who liked to make driver's licenses.

It's very important to watch this. This is what his partner is being indicted for. Joel Greenberg was already under indictment in June for stalking an unlawful means of identification of another person for allegedly creating fake social media accounts that appeared to be set up by political rival Brian Butte and sending letters pretending to be a student molested by the teacher, which authorities determined to be false. Then he was indicted in July for allegedly making bogus Florida and Puerto Rico driver licenses for himself. The Justice Department says Greenberg used the surrender driver licenses that he had taken to cause fake driver licenses to be produced that had his photograph,

but the personal information of the victims whose driver licenses he had taken. Now Greenberg is facing a slew of new charges, bringing the total to 12. According to the new indictment, Greenberg was using the power of his office and confidential databases to engage in sugar daddy relationships. Count one is sex trafficking of a child and further reads that the minor victim refers to a female over age 14. The document also says the girl would be caused to engage in a commercial sex act. Greenberg's attorney talked with West 2 News and said the sex trafficking allegation involves a girl over 14 but not 18. That is what the indictment involves.

He added, The indictment also claims Greenberg illegally used driver information databases to obtain personal information for several drivers, including the photograph and driver identification number of the minor victim. Greenberg resigned from office after his June arrest, and a new tax collector will be elected in November. That report was back from last August, of course. That was when the story broke, which now has relevance today to the story related to Matt Gates. They were great friends. I'm telling you.

Not hearsay. They were great friends. Doc, what I got out of watching that video is that Joe Greenberg ran for tax collector for the purpose of having the power to do these crooked things to help facilitate his crimes, like producing fake driver's licenses. That's the reason he ran. He had a badge. He had a gun. And money, walking around money. So in the course of investigating Mr. Greenberg, what has happened now is that in the course of that, Mr. Gates's name has come into play. That's number 18 for control. So this is the Orlando Sentinel late yesterday. Sex trafficking probe representing Matt Gates emerges from Joel Greenberg prosecution.

So in the process of gathering additional information of Joel Greenberg, Mr. Gates's name and connection have come up. Well, the thing with Representative Gates, okay, so we have to now look at some of the things that happened in the past with a different light. I mean, first of all, Mr. Gates, he hasn't been married. He actually just got engaged this December at New Year's Eve at the Mar-a-Lago. And when did he get engaged? On New Year's Eve last year at the Mar-a-Lago.

At the Mar-a-Lago, at Trump's resort. Yes, and he's gotten engaged to a 26-year-old named Jim Milwaukee. And Judge Jeanine Pirro took the picture. Took the photograph. Yes, there were many in attendance at that gala. Help me understand something, Edward. Now, we've learned today that it was Bill Barr's Department of Justice that had already started the investigation on Matt Gates back in the summer.

Was Mr. Trump aware of this investigation? The New York Times article indicates he was informed and by Barr because it says many senior officials in the Trump administration, potentially even President Trump himself, were told about this ongoing investigation in part because President Trump was going to spend time around this man being accused and investigated for child sex trafficking. So the Department of Justice is investigating a sitting member of Congress for possible sex trafficking charges, and he shows up at the president's home in Mar-a-Lago under an active investigation. Yes.

And in my opinion, Mr. Gates knew he was under investigation then. But my, okay, so Doc, the woman is Ginger Luckey. She's 26 years old. Right. Her brother is Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR goggles. Yes. So he's a billionaire. He sold it to, what, was it Google?

Facebook. Facebook, Facebook, yeah, for a couple billion dollars. Did Ginger Lucky know that her boyfriend was under federal investigation when she said yes to his proposal? I don't know how women operate today. I've spent many decades trying to figure women out, but I would assume that she would be upset by that. But wouldn't you disclose that to, you know, if you're going to propose to somebody? By the way, I'm under federal investigation for children. Well, in addition to that, Rick, or was that a rushed, I got to get married quick. I got to look like I'm a married man? Well, it's funny you should say that because that's something that we've kind of looked at today as well. It was last year.

Right, last year the question was, what is the deal with Representative Gates? Is he married? Is he dating? Is he potentially gay? We don't know. What was odd was there was an adopted son that wasn't really adopted living with him. And what I'm referring to is number 24 for control. This is June. Matt Gaetz and the until now unknown adopted son from Cuba. But he's not adopted. No. No. He's not officially adopted. His name's Nestor. He's going to college now. How old is this? Well, he's in college now. How old was he when he moved in with Matt Gaetz?

Twelve. Twelve? It says, Nestor turned 19 a few days ago, will be off to university. He arrived here at 12. As you can imagine, I was triggered when, to make an absurd debate point, a fellow congressman diminished the contributions of Republicans because we don't raise non-white kids. Wait a minute. A 12-year-old boy

came from Cuba? Yes, he claims legally. Okay, he has no family in the United States? Well, a sister who Matt Gates reportedly was dating, and that's why he did this generous act. So he took in was dating, and that's why he did this generous act.

So he took in his girlfriend, former girlfriend's 12-year-old brother. Yes. And that 12-year-old continued to live with him. Until he went off to college this past year. In addition to this, Rick. It's possible. It's possible. It's just a good Christian act of generosity. But there's a question now about Matt Gaetz's lone no vote on a certain piece of legislation. In 2017, it's number 20 for control, he was the lone vote on a...

The lone no vote. Lone no vote on a human trafficking bill. It's a human sex trafficking bill. They even kind of dulled the title down here. So the bill passed the United States House of Representatives almost unanimously. One congressman voted no against a bill to fight the trafficking of children and adults for sex, commercial sex purposes, and Matt Gaetz voted against it? Yes. Really, I think I'm at a gasp when I learned this, because I can't think of a reason why you would vote against such a bill.

His position was he was fighting against bureaucracy. He didn't want to create another government agency, and that his constituents expected him to vote against things like this. Of course, as a Republican and a Christian living in Florida, I would expect him to vote for this bill. I didn't know Alan Dershowitz lived in his district. Well, with everything else that broke yesterday, Rick, there was news that Matt Gaetz was going to retire. And that's the last piece of information on Matt Gaetz. He was looking at a job at Newsmax before the gates of hell opened on him. Well, and there's an update to this, Edward, because Mr. Gaetz has now also told the Daily Beast on Wednesday.

He says, I've had many conversations with many people about life after Congress. And in that, he specifically had mentioned not only Newsmax, but OAN and Fox as well. Now, it's interesting that these stories about Mr. Gates retiring and looking at other opportunities broke on the very same day. As the scandal. As the scandal story. The same day. Broke yesterday.

So he's prepping his district and his political supporters around the country. He has a lot. Yes. Very popular. He's a national icon. He's prepping them. I'm going to resign. My house seat has nothing to do with the scandal.

It's because I want to become a news commentator. Right. That's what's happening right now. Well, we're going to keep following this story, and I'm sure it's not going away anytime soon. He would not be qualified for a job at True News. No, this would certainly have to be resolved and not just resolved. We have a couple of explanations to the questions. Can you imagine the employment interview I would give him? It would be a scary one. It'd be fun to watch, though, from a distance. So, Mr. Gates, I want to talk about it. Well, we spent the program talking about people being accused of trying

to kidnap or take away kids. Rick, there's a really awesome story I found today about someone who tried to save a kid. Actually, a kid trying to save a kid. This is Bridger Walker from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Last year, Rick, he stepped in as a German shepherd was about to maul his sister, his baby sister at that. Well, Bridger Walker, he'd been doing a Bible study with his parents. His parents were actually reading in the book of John. This is his father, Robert Walker.

He said that he'd been teaching his son about sacrifice in a gospel study, and that when his son stepped in front of a snarling dog mauling his sister, that it was this scripture that was in his head to protect his friends. This is my command. This is John 15, 12, 13. We've been studying this in-house. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. Well, Rick, the update to this story is that young Bridger Walker has been awarded. He is now the full-time world champion, according to the World Boxing Council, for his valorous

and Christian act of saving his little sister. Hallelujah. How about that? Congratulations, Bridger Walker Cheyenne, Wyoming. A hero saved his sister. Yes, that's a wonderful story and a great story to end on today. Amen. Well, thank you for joining us for today's edition of True News.

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