Today on Velsie, just as Matt Gates' former associate agrees to a deal that could turn him

into a witness in the sex trafficking investigation of the Republican Congressman, a bombshell

new report chronicling a drug-fueled after party for a Trump Defender Gala starring none

other than Matt Gates and a paid escort.

The reporter who broke that story joins me this hour.

Gates denies any wrongdoing.

Plus, the Republican Civil War is splitting wide open this week as dozens of high-profile

conservatives threatened to break away from the cult of Trump.

I'll talk to four key members of that group this morning about how far they're willing to go.

Then they called

themselves the Ministry of Self-Defense. Now four of those so-called ministers are charged with

conspiracy, new reporting on how an organized extremist group planned to swarm the U.S. Capitol

on January 6th. And it might be the first maskless weekend in more than a year.

Making sense of those new CDC guidelines, we'll be talking about how you're feeling about it

and answering your questions. Velshi starts now.

Good morning. I'm Ali Velshi. It is Saturday, May 15th, 129 days since the insurrection and the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

An event the Republican Party already wants to have you believe was a peaceful tourist trip.

We begin with the ongoing decay of the Republican Party, which has now made crystal clear that its ideology moving forward is Trumpism.

Following her election via secret ballot to become the number three Republican in the House,

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said the former president is a, quote, critical part of the GOP,

and that she believes, quote, voters determine the leader of the Republican Party and that the

former president is the leader that they look to.

...