So here's what needs to happen next.

The FBI in the Department of Justice must release the tapes

that are in their possession that were done at their direction.

Those tapes will show that I am innocent

and that the whole concept of sex charges against me

was really just a way to try to bleed my family out of money

and probably smear my name because I am a well-known,

outspoken conservative, and I guess that's out of style

in a lot of parts of the country right now.

That was Florida Congressman Matt Gates talking to Tucker Carlson the other night

and what even the Fox News host later admitted was one of the more unusual interviews he is conducted.

The news had just broken that Gates, one of Donald Trump's more vocal supporters,

was under Justice Department investigation for alleged sex crimes,

having sex with and financing the travels of a 17-year-old girl.

But while denying any wrongdoing, Gates also sought to turn the tables,

claiming that in fact he was the victim of a bizarre extortion plot

orchestrated by a former federal prosecutor seeking to shake down the congressman's wealthy father

for $25 million in exchange for making the potential charges against his son go away.

It's a strange story to say the least that has suddenly become the talk of the political world

in Washington and Florida and we'll try to break it down with Devlin Barrett,

the Justice Department reporter for the Washington Post.

And we'll talk to Stephen Block, the former federal prosecutor who convicted

...