and good evening, i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, the breaking news and it is concerning news this hour. we have a new study just coming out of the uk that finds there is no evidence that the omicron strain is less severe than the delta variant. well, this comes as dr. anthony fauci today warned that the 80% of americans who have not yet received their boosters are at real risk. >> the data i showed indicated that, particularly with omicron, that the level of protection goes really rather low in a -- in a -- in a range that may not be as protective as we like. but yet, when you get that boost, it goes right up there. >> okay. so, you know, when you look at how many americans actually are -- are boosted, right, it's, you know, about 14-15%. think about that. that -- that is a real issue. and the reality comes as cases are surging, deaths are up sharply now, about 8% from last week. and we are just at the beginning of the actual omicron wave, itself. right? you know, the -- don't have time for people to get severe illness in the hospital and dying. already seeing deaths go up as cases are hitting record highs new york city with a record number of cases in the past 24 hours. that is the most for the one-time epicenter of the pandemic in the united states since the pandemic began. and tonight, the cdc warning that america could be weeks away from record hospitalizations. this is a pretty grim forecast. i mean, let's just be honest, right? number watching this is happy about what they are hearing. it comes amid a backdrop of new cancellations and shutdowns. for the first time this season, the nfl having to postpone several games. nhl also cancelling games. in a statement, saying it's due to challenges from the pandemic. and one of the nation's bigger school districts shutting its doors, that's prince george's school district in maryland. transitioning to virtual learning until late january for its more than 136,000 students. so, that decision coming hours after the cdc rolled out new guidance to allow kids who have been exposed to covid to stay in school. >> today, we are releasing cdc science on test to stay that allows unvaccinated children to stay in school even if they have been exposed to the virus so that they don't have to miss school while they're quarantining at home. >> of course, the details matter a lot. tests to stay, you heard dr. walensky refer to that. that requires a significant number of tests. and right there, that's the problem. testing's always been a problem in the united states. and now, tests are in short supply because of the sudden surge in demand. just take a look at what it looks like in new york. anyone in new york saw this themselves in the past few days. long lines at testing centers. some people waiting hours and that scene is not just in new york with the record cases. also, florida. see everyone in line there? massachusetts. that's the other side of your screen. and the united states is behind its european and asian counterparts when it comes to testing. these are countries that could provide insight into what is about to happen in the united states. for the third day in a row, the uk broke its record for new cases. france's prime minister banning big gatherings, events for new years. denmark, they shut down museums and theaters and cinemas. now, new york's governor says no decision has been made about new york's new year's eve celebration but one thing is certain. the tens of thousands of americans who are now seriously ill are pushing hospitals in the united states to their breaking point. and we are now looking at a variant that is more transmissible, according to the uk, equally as severe and the vaccines -- according to dr. fauci -- you have essentially to assume no protection unless you are boosted. out front now, dr. larry brilliant, epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox and dr. megan ranney, she works at er in rhode island and it s a professor at brown university. dr. brilliant, let me start with you, the study that came out of uk and i know people were waiting thon to ftry to get information about the severity of omicron. they are reporting they do not have any evidence from data taken across the uk that omicron is less severe than delta. what do you make of this? >> erin, thank you for inviting me back, again. so, that strd study from imperial cloej is what a lot of people have been waiting for and the reason is we are pretty sure we understand transmissibility. omicron is one of the most, if not the most, transmissible virus in living memory. but we were unsure and we're still unsure about how much morbidity, disease, and hospitalizations and death will it cause? because we have only had this virus for three weeks. it's only been around for three weeks. and you never see the real impact on hospitalization and, god forbid, death for three, six, eight weeks later. so, we're still in that period of uncertainty. but we did get some early information from south africa that it looked to be more mild because of the unique characteristics i think of south africa. and what the imperial college study does is it sort of takes that good news off the table. and resets the counter at it's too early to tell. but it's certainly concerning, it's very concerning. >> dr. ranney, you have been talk about the struggles that you and your colleagues have been facing around -- around the world but around the united states. morale at an all-time low. i know you have lost so many nurses. and now, you are looking at this in real-time. is your hospital ready for what looks to be another massive surge of patients? >> i don't think there is any hospital in the country that is ready for another surge. you know, we are in the midst of a delta surge right now. my hospital system has already shut down. any nonemergent overnight surgery. so, things like heart surgery, joint replacement, gall bladder removal. things that are very necessary but not an emergency, shut down. and that is before omicron has hit tlhere is no pop-off valve. there is no surge capacity. there are no field hospitals right now. you know, many states across the country are calling in national guard, are asking for retired nurses to come back to work to try to provide little bit of extra capacity but we are overwhelmed already with all the stuff that got put off for the past two years. and the increasing hospitalizations from delta which, thank god, are not as bad as last year at this time thanks to the vaccines but it's still just too much. and omicron is going to push us further into a disaster level of care across this country. >> dr. brilliant, you know, today the ceo of southwest airlines ended up positive for covid after he had testified at a senate hearing on wednesday sitting next to the ceos of two other airlines. of course, he is vaccinated but he made headlines at that hearing for assstaying this abo mask mandates. >> i think the case is very strong that masks don't add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment. it's very safe and very high quality, com -- compared to any other indoor setting. >> doctor, tonight, he is changing his tune saying he does support federal mask mandate on -- on airplanes. but when we look at this -- the variant, the omicron variant that is so much more transmissible, um, obviously, masks make a difference. but -- but we don't know in what ways it is more transmissible, right? what type of mask, all the sudden, that you are wearing may suddenly matter a whole lot more now than it did a month ago. >> erin, could i just say it's a privilege to be on with dr. ranney? she is a hero for me. and her colleagues who are in the -- in the first round of the emergency room care. thank you for doing that. i actually take my mask off when i get on an airplane. but that's because i wear two masks and double mask twhi when i go through the airport, when i obviously viewed as being mormore more dangerous and that's because the airplanes have improved dramatically in the way in which they exchange so much air. but the fact that they are safer doesn't mean they're safe. and i'm afraid that when i saw all three of these ceos, um, i was just brought back to the time that ceos of the tobacco industry stood in front of congress and raised their hand and said nothing here to see. they will be sorry they said that. >> dr. ranney, you know, when dr. fauci today said essentially if you have only two shots, you are, um, not protected against omicron. um, you know, there are a lot of people in that situation, right, as i pointed out, right? the vast majority of this country. about 85, 86%, or 84% of americans are in that category. but one group in that koot gory just got their second shots. any young children 5 to 12 literally are just, in the past week, if they went in the first few days, right, fully vo vaccinated. so, do we have any sense of what that means if they -- for these young people who just recently got both shots? are they essentially unvaccinated against omicron, too? do we even know? >> we don't. so i will say i have one kid who just completed that first vaccine series. a 10-year-old. i also have a 13-year-old who got both of her shots more than six months ago. we don't, yet, have any idea about boosters for that 12 to 15-year-old age group. and we know very little right now about how protected they are against omicron. i will say dr. fauci's words notwithstanding, with two doses of the vaccine, you are still somewhat protected from symptomatic disease, and even more so from severe disease, hospitalization, and death. but two shots against omicron pale until comparison to three shots. you really need three shots to get yourself up to the level of protection that you currently have against delta and earlier variants. but i will say, as a parent, and i know you have a kid that's not even eligible for vaccines yet. this is a tough moment. um, we all want our kids in school or in daycare, to be doing normal-kid things. it -- it is another moment where we're in a dearth of information for parents. >> all right. thank you, both, very much. i really appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> unfortunately, very sobering conversation this evening. well next, trump has never been shy when it comes to his purported wealth. >> i ran and everybody knew i was a rich person. i'm much richer than almost anybody. >> so, why doesn't he pay his legal bills? why is the rnc, anyone who donates to it, spending all the money? more than a million dollars to pay trump's legal fees. plus, emotional testimony today as the officer who shot and killed daunte wright took the stand. >> remember yelling taser, taser, taser. and nothing happened. >> and an out front investigation. we are going to look at companies that have found a way to avoid paying what they owe in taxes. talk about tax increases, there is a lot of money being left on the table. 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(naj) one that we don't take lightly. it's why our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. fisher investments is clearly different. ♪ ♪ cases of anxiety in young adults are rising as experts warn of the effects on well-being caused by the pandemic. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ look, serena williams... matrix... serena... matrix... serena... matrix... ♪ get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. introducing directv stream. this is your home. this is your family room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash classroom. and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. ♪ just getting by. it's an ongoing struggle. that's why president biden and democrats in congress have a plan to lower costs for america's working families. lower costs of health care premiums. and the price of prescription drugs. pay less for electric bills by moving to clean energy. we do it all by making the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. it'd be a win for the everyday american family. right when they could really use one. congress, let's get this done. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. new tonight. a judge handing down the longest sentence so far to one of the january 6th rioters. robert scott palmer getting narn five years behind bars for his actions seen here on your screen. attacking police with a wooden plank pole, and a fire extinguisher. the january 6th committee briefly met with roger stone who pushed the stop the steal movement aggressively. >> i did invoke my fifth amendment rights to every question. not because i have done anything wrong but because i am fully aware of the house democrats' long history of fabricating perjury charges. this is witch hunt 3.0. >> of course, we all know what the former president thinks about people who plead the fifth. ryan nobles is out front. and we're also, ryan, learning who the committee believes was behind one of the text messages sent to mark meadows about overturning the election i believe. >> that's right. this is exclusive reporting from jake tapper and jamie gangel and what is so interesting is the source of this text message that was part of the presentation that the select committee put on in the terms of their criminal contempt referral of mark meadows. now originally, they made it seem ooze though it was a member of the house who sent this text message. it turns out, it was rick perry, the former governor of texas and the former energy secretary in the trump administration. at least the select committee believes it was sent from rick perry's phone. this was the text message as a refresher. he said, quote, here is an aggressive strategy. why can't the states of georgia, north carolina, pennsylvania, and other r-controlled statehouses declare this is bs? conflicts in elections not called that night and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the scotus. now, perry denies that he wrote this text. but they can't explain why it came from a phone number that is clearly his phone number. and -- and, erin, it does speak to a broader sense here of just how far and deep this idea of overturning the election and election fraud as a concept went beyond the republican party. perry not considered someone in the same camp with matt gaetz, marjorie taylor greene, and others, yet, he too peddling these lies about the election. >> all right. thank you very much. well, this new reporting comes as "the new york times" and "washington post" report that the rnc -- the republican national committee -- has agreed to pay to $1.6 million in personal legal bills for donald trump as he faces multiple investigations. out front now, danny everhart, a major republican donor. so, dan, three weeks ago, you and i spoke. you knew about $121,000 in legal fees for the former president the rnc was going to cover. you were frustrated you said and now you found out they are actually -- they have agreed to pay $1.6 million in personal legal fees for the former president. wow. >> yeah. look. i think this is a freight train out of control. the president -- you know, i don't necessarily think he needs to pay for this out of his personal expenses but he has got a campaign fund, a super pac that has nine figures in it, more than $100 million. when i give money to the rnc, when i give money to campaigns, they are to win the next election. they are to win the 2022 midterms in this case or beyond. oren the infrastructure to do that. i see this as spending money on a past candidate's, you know, legal issues surrounding a campaign and that's not why i give money to a party. alor also, i think the party is supposed to be neutral so as we creep closer to 2024, this is really way too much. this freight train needs to be stopped. >> so, yesterday it all comes from -- you actually -- you nailed it, right? you want to pay for future elections, move forward. all of this is looking in the past. but it is the past. it is dominating the republican party right now in a lot of very, very potent ways. yesterday, i played hugh hewitt asking five candidates for governor in minnesota if president biden was legitimately elected president. i played this yesterday, which was thursday. so it happened wednesday night of this week, right, december, 2021. a every single one of them, all five, refused to say yes that biden was legitimate president. it's incredible. and here is some of what happened today, dan, when hugh hewitt asked that same question to republican senate candidate josh mandel in ohio. >> i do not believe he won. i think trump won. um, i think michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, georgia, all of those states need to be fully investigated and none of them have. >> josh, there is no evidence for that that has been adduced in a court of law. >> what i am talking about is not a court of law but actually doing what they did in arizona. >> who happened in arizona? because i'm unaware of any serious claim arizona was fwh dispute. zon was audited. they found nothing. >> dan, it went on and on. these are current republican candidates on the ballot. >> yeah. look. i think what is going on -- you know, david just came out with a puck in trump's shadow and i think that pretty much sums it up. but the problem for the party is all this kind of stuff to try to win a primary to out maga the other people. you have this kind of thing going on in primaries in the senate campaign in ohio. senate campaign in pennsylvania and elsewhere. it's all destructive to winning in 2022 in the midterms and general election. think the republicans are really this circular firing squad to out maga each other is really creating seeds around destruction. we should have a smashing victory in the house in -- in 2022 in the midterms. and i think we are sowing the seeds of our own defeat here. we really need to get behind common sense candidates that acknowledge what happened. look. we ran a good campaign. we tried really hard. look, i wanted trump to win but he lost. we have got to move on as a party so we can move forward so we can take the house back and the senate back. and we should be focused on hitting back at biden's policies, not focused on this cult of personality with trump. >> right. all right. thank you very much, i appreciate your time. next, the officer who shot and killed daunte wright breaking down today. she testified in front of the jury. told her side of the story. did she help her case by taking the stand? and dr. sanjay gupta joins me on why a growing number of parents are turning to pot to help their children with autism. don't just put on a light show—be the light show. make your nights anything but silent. and ride in a sleigh that really slays. because in a cadillac, tradition is yours to define. so visit a cadillac showroom, and start celebrating today. ♪ ♪ as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ ♪ it wasn't me by shaggy ♪ you're never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your discover card. ♪ downy's been taking you back, since way back. with freshness and softness you never forget. feel the difference with downy. tonight, taking the stand. an emotional kim potter testifying in her own defense about the traffic stop earlier-this year that resulted in the death of daunte wright. prosecution using the opportunity to point out several missteps potter made in her job that day, including her failure to communicate with other officers right after the shooting. comes as the defense officially rests its case. closing arguments will begin monday. adrienne broaddus is out front. >> i'm sorry. >> you didn't plan to use deadly force that day, did you? >> no. >> because you knew that deadly force was unreasonable and unwarranted in this circumstance. >> i didn't want to hurt anybody. >> reporter: under cross-examination by the prosecution, former-minnesota police officer kim potter wept. >> you stopped doing your job completely. you didn't communicate what happened over the radio, right? >> no. >> you didn't make sure any officers had knew what you had just done, right? >> no. >> you didn't run down the street and try to save daunte wright's life, did you? >> no. >> you didn't check on the other car that had been hit, did you? >> no. >> you were focused on what you had done 'cause you had just killed somebody. >> i'm sorry. >> reporter: breaking down on the stand while testifying in her own defense about the day she shot and killed daunte wright. >> we were struggling. we were trying to keep him from driving away. it just -- it just went chaotic. and then, i remember yelling taser, taser, taser and nothing happened. and then, he told me i shot him. >> taser, taser, taser! >> reporter: back in april, her life shifted in seconds. >> you actually remember what you said and this is my question, not with help from the video? >> i don't remember what i said. >> reporter: but an officer's body camera capturing her response. >> no. >> reporter: potter testifying today she never fired her gun or taser in the field before this incident. >> you have drawn your taser and not fired it in your 26-year career? >> yes. >> reporter: the prosecution continuing to challenge. >> you never saw a weapon on mr. wright, did you? >> no. >> never saw a gun? >> no. >> he never threw a punch. >> no. >> reporter: the prosecutor, also, focusing in on her taser training and decades of experience. >> these items look different, don't they? >> yes. >> the taser is yellow, right? >> yes. >> the firearm is black, correct? >> yes. >> and you have been trained on tasers since 2002, correct? >> yes. >> reporter: potter's defense attorney asking about the aftermath of the shooting. potter testified she sold her family home, and moved out of the state. >> have you been in therapy? >> yes. >> you still work as a police officer there? >> no. >> and why did you quit? >> there was so much bad things happening, i didn't want my co-workers and i didn't want anything bad to happen to the city. >> reporter: potter is facing first and second-degree manslaughter charges. she has pleaded not guilty to all charges. daunte wright's family releasing a statement calling this killing, quote, preventable as they prepare to spend their first christmas without him. kim potter, in agony as she watched that body-camera video following the traffic stop she says she never would have initiated had she been on patrol il alone that day. potter testified it was a car freshener, similar to this one, in the shape of a tree that led to the stop. in minnesota, it's illegal for drivers to have anything obstruct their view erin? >> adrienne, thank you very much. i want to go to former defense attorney, former mayor of baltimore. and mayor rawlings-blake, obviously, you have been with me all through this trial but also other recent high-profile trials, including that of kyle rittenhouse, who also took the stand. and you have talked about how risky it is when a defendant takes the stand, right? you didn't -- competent did not expect this to happen there. it did. and today, yet again, happens again. kim potter takes the stand. what did you think? >> i was shocked at her -- the -- the entirety of her testimony. when i look at her reaction after the incident, the way she just broke down. she was devastated. you could see it. you could feel it. and so much of her testimony today, i think, really fell flat. i -- i think she let the prosecutor get under her skin a bit. and she didn't and really show herself to be as sympathetic as i think that she could. you know, you talked about the rittenhouse trial. um, he seemed like he was totally prepared for that testimony and it was like potter didn't even get briefed or, you know, to practice her testimony, um, before she went on today. >> so, you know, i -- obviously, you know, she -- i -- i -- i'm so interested from a legal perspective, um, how -- how you feel that way. she was incredibly emotional, she was devastated as you say. thig they did, though, call out all sorts of inconsistencies, missteps she made in her job after the shooting, right? not making the call, not radioing in. here is some of the other they pointed out. >> you agree as a police officer, you have the duty to render aid and communicate information to other officers, right? >> yes. >> and it's part of your job to assist those who are hurt or injured, true? >> yes. >> but you didn't do any of those things on april 11th, did you? >> no. >> so how do you interpret that? it seems the reason she didn't do those things was she completely lost control because she was -- she was -- she was so consecutive devastated, right? talking about shooting herself. and yet, she didn't do those things and those are -- those are part of her responsibility. how does that play to -- to a jury? >> it's really hard to hear. um, it was hard to see the incident play out and it was hard to hear those questions because, you know, had she done a better job testifying, i think the jury could have seen that she just totally lost it. that she did something that she never thought that she would do or have to do in a thousand years and the worst possible thing happened. but i just don't know if her testimony really -- that really rang true today. >> all right. well, we are going to see what happens because of course closing statements monday and it will go to the jury and we will see. thanks so much. >> my pleasure. and next, we take you inside a hospital that's already facing a crushing surge of covid cases. that's before the omicron cases come in. the situation is so bad in this particular hospital, the department of defense is stepping in. and the out front investigation tonight. companies across the country have found a way to avoid paying what they should be paying -- what they owe in taxes. so as we talk about raising taxes, better not be leaving that money on the table. we will tell you how they are doing it. ...and heart risk. we're working up a sweat before coffee. and saying, “no thanks...” ...to a boston cream. jardiance is a once-daily pill that can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. so, it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and jardiance lowers a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects including... ...dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away... ...if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ...ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction, ...and don't take it if you're on dialysis. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack? 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what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. tonight, ohio's governor deploying more than 1,000 members of the national guard to hospitals as covid tears through the midwest. just north of michigan, covid hospitalizations spiking more than 40% in the past month, before omieks ron. ja jason carroll is out front. >> it's been a lot worse lately but we do what we can. >> reporter: the hours at work for nurses like lissa mad docks seem never ending. >> unfortunately, i am not a superhero or -- i am just a nurse. >> reporter: maddocks is a covid nurse working on eighth north team. eighth floor, north tower, at beaumont hospital in dearborn, michigan. she's worked here since she graduated from nursing school only about a year and a half ago. lately, the covid unit here is seeing more and more patients, all while there are few nurses to care for them. >> there's been days where i have been like i don't know how much longer i can do this and i'm brand new, you know? but then at the same time, it's very rewarding what we do. >> reporter: the new wave of covid-19 is flooding michigan's healthcare system. overwhelming doctors and nurses admissions to hospitals statewide have risen 43% over the past month. currently, there are more than 100 people being treated for covid-19 at belmont hospital. by comparison, in july, hospitalized covid patients were only in the single digits. the influx of patients has taxed this hospital so much so, the department of defense dispatched a joint task force support unit to help. >> i mean, the pace is very, very fast. um, the need is -- is -- is constant. >> reporter: lieutenant colonel based out of brook army medical center in san antonio, texas. she is part of a mobile team that includes 14 critical care nurses, four doctors, and two respiratory therapists now working at belmont. the team has worked at hospitals in 13 states since august. the situation so critical here, just a few minutes into our interview, staff had to rush into help a distressed patient. >> tell us what's happening behind us here. >> so if there is a patient that needs acute care. maybe, a change in heart rate, a change in respiratory rate. then generally, care comes that have critical care experience, they come in and help -- help with care for that patient. i have been for almost 17 years and if you asked me five years ago would i be embedding in a, um, civilian hospital to help provide care? i would have -- i would've been like, no, you have got to be kidding me. >> what is not surprising to the strike team or to hospital staff? people needing critical care are overwhelmingly unvaccinated. beaumont health says 443 out of the 583 covid patients it is caring for statewide are unvaccinated. the vast majority of those in its icu and on ventilators, also, unvaccinated. sarah is a recovering covid patient. she says her vaccination status is private. she and her father, who also has covid, were admitted on sunday. >> i hope he is okay. he's not too far from me here. i'm not allowed to see him because of the quarantining. it's been a roller coaster. sorry. it is been a roller coaster. >> reporter: she says she needed oxygen when she arrived but no longer and she credits those working the covid unit here, both civilian and military, with helping to save her life. and as for urgent pleas from those in the medical field for more people to get vaccinated? she says this. >> what do you see as the right thing and the wrong thing? >> i really like to stay neutral. >> reporter: nurses like melissa know the stress for the eighth north team may just be beginning, again. >> will i break in three months? will i break in a year? will i break in ten? i can't -- i don't have that answer for you. right now, i am battling this with my patients and i don't see a stop anytime soon. >> reporter: and, erin, after spending so much time here at beaumont, i can tell you how dedicated the doctors and their nurses are here and how grateful they are to have that military here -- team here to help them out. and plug in where help is needed. and in terms of how long that team is actually going to be here, probably about a month, it could be even a little longer depending upon the need. and then, after that, of course, they will move on to another hospital where there is more need. erin? >> jason, thank you so much. so many yeses, of course, with omicron virus spreading so quickly. these sort of lags, it would go one place and you are have time and then the other. are we even going to have that this time? it doesn't look that way. next, we have a shocking investigation. you will see how companies have found a way to avoid paying taxes that they already owe. and it is costing the united states billions and billions and billions of dollars. and dr. sanjay gupta joins me on what some parents are calling a miracle, using marijuana to help their children with autism. feel the difference with downy. 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(judith) yep, we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different. ho ho ho! not again. oh no. for the gifts you won't forget. the mercedes-benz winter event. get a credit toward your first month's payment on select models. tonight, president biden's build back better plan stalled amid questions about how to pay for the many programs in the bill. and there is a lot of talk about increasing taxes in washington. but that may miss a big and crucial point. and that is, that some businesses are right now not paying the federal government what they owe. not any way, shape, or form. ? short, they are ripping the rest of us off and costing the united states tens of billions of dollars every single year. here is nick watt with an out-front investigation. >> reporter: the owner of a chain of thai restaurants was sentenced recently in la to probation, community service, and some hefty restitution. why? he charged his customers sales tax and kept it. how? with something called a sales suppression device, aka a zapper. up in washington state, mike sniffs them out. >> so in this case, got two combos here. >> but in the restaurant's tax return? only one combo. >> this combo -- >> disappeared. >> is gone. >> zappers work like this. let's say you sell 100 pad thais. software on a simple memory stick plugged into the register can erase, zap any trace of, say, 50 of them. so, you keep the sales tax you collected on those vanished pad thai orders. plus, you save on other state and federal taxes because all that income just disappeared from your books. the irs told us zappers can be and are used in restaurants, bars, liquor stores, golf courses, movie theaters. cash transactions are easiest to erase. >> it's almost like tracks in the snow. and what happens after the tracks are made? the snow melts. >> reporter: no one knows just how much tax revenue is zapped, lost in the u.s. but this academic extrapolated using data from investigations overseas, plus some informed guesswork. >> the number comes out to close to $21 billion lost. in tax. every year for the last 10 or 15 years. >> reporter: enough to buy breakfast for every school kid in america every day of the school year or roughly 260 fighter jets. >> the person who should be upset with this is you because you paid your 6%, 9%, 10% sales tax and the government didn't get the money. >> reporter: in washington state, in one of the first and biggest zapper cases ever prosecuted in the u.s., the zapper salesman was jailed and a restaurant owner was accused of hiding zapping nearly a million dollars of taxable takings. >> she admitted she made a mistake. >> if you are convicted in order to operate, you have to have some type of electronic monitoring. >> she agreed to be monitored for five years. and do this at her expense. >> reporter: so i just bought us lunch from the restaurant and now that the state is monitoring everything she does, that he had be able to tell if my sautéed rice somehow disappeared. now, down in the south pacific paradise of fiji, the finance minister mandates nearly every register have monitoring software installed. at the same time, cut the tax rate. >> now, that guy -- that guy's got big ones because he doesn't know if this is going to work. end of the year, revenue went up by 20%. >> thank you for paying your taxes. >> reporter: would we ever mandate something similar here in the u.s.? >> we should be willing to do it. >> imagine what kind of uproar might occur if they tried to do it. i believe a state is waiting for somebody to say we are going to mandate this so that they are not the first. >> reporter: and, you know, one of the most telling things about this issue is no one knows how big a problem it really is. we just heard that $21 billion a year estimate. some say that's too high. some say that's too low. and like any tech or cybercrime, it's kind of cat and mouse. the -- the crooks get better. the authorities get better. boom, boom, boom, and it carries on. erin? >> pretty incredible, the fiji example, though. thanks so much, nick. and next, dr. sanjay gupta with an incredible story on how medical marijuana is said to be helping some kids with autism. seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with tide pods ultra oxi. and that's just basic wavy guy maintenance, right? next up, carvana. oh, boy. carvana just doesn't seem to understand how the test drive works. they give their customers seven days. and if they don't like it, they give 'em their money back. wait, they take the car back? that's crazy! what if it was driven by like a zookeeper? or a mud wrestler? or a guy who's on the outs with the missus and he just needs a place to sleep for seven days? yeah. 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>> yes. >> who -- who -- who? >> everyone. >> your family members? >> yeah. they all did. friends. >> because they were worried about the reaction? >> consequences. >> right. >> it was all about, well, you are going to end up in jail over this. >> reporter: that's when they decide to have christy film cara having a violent fit. and mark giving her cannabis. mark pockets the video on facebook and it goes viral. the story makes local and national news. >> on the front page on the sunday paper. >> reporter: people take notice. >> and somebody in our richardson town saw it on their local news and called 9-1-1. >> and so does child protective services. >> it didn't take long. >> so, sanjay is with me now. so, sanjay, just incredible story. and i know, you know, it is the subject of your documentary. why do you think this family was willing to take such a risk by going public, right? they didn't -- thiey could have done this and not gone public thachlt chose to do that, why? >> well, i think the -- there was a couple things. fundamentally, it was a choice. they realized that, you know, they were breaking the law by giving some of these strains to -- to cara. so, it was a question of do they allow her to continue to have this self-injurious behavior? or do they take the risk of giving her something they know has worked after they tried lots of other things? now, they found that worked. do they give that to her and risk potentially her being taken away. for year, they have been sort of keeping it a secret but decided if they wanted to create change, help other people photentially get access, they needed to do this. >> they chose to go public with it because they wanted people to know, they wanted to help others because it worked for them. that's what they felt. so as you looked into that story and then this scientific evidence out there, you know, on a -- on a broader basis, right, anecdote is not data. is there evidence that cannabis can help with autism? >> yeah. you know, so for the last ten years, we have been reporting on this, erin. and, you know, different diseases or different issues that have been treated with cannabis and sometimes they start off anecdotal and then studies are done. we started to hear from families saying they were giving cannabis sometimes for seizure disorders and they saw symptoms of autism start to mitigate, as well. then, the trial started to come. we have been following a trial for a few years. several trials out of israel. and now, southern california. they have to blind these studies. the families don't know what they are getting. researchers don't know what they are giving and they are trying to take out the factor much suggestibility or placebo effect. they're -- they're really involved studies and now that data's starting to come out. i think it is part of the reason you are hear thakt more and more, and now more than a dozen states are permitting cannabis for the use of autism. >> why do you think it works? and what does it explicitly do? does it just stop with seizures or does it actually change, big picture, the way a child is able to interact with other people? >> that is a -- that's a great question and, you know we don't -- i don't think researchers know, for sure, the mechanism of this. we know there is all sorts of receptors for cannabis in various parts of the body, including the brain. what exactly some of these things have in common, like refractory epilepsy. even autism like we are talking about, other things. is there something in common where you are -- when you bind those receptors, does it somehow treat the symptoms? i first thought it was going to be something that was just deeply sedating like a lot of the psychotropic drugs people get but that wasn't the case. when you sort of follow them along, you see they are actually not sedated. they are just not self-injurious anymore, at least during that time. >> right. and that obviously is huge. it isn't just sedation, something much more significant. dr. sanjay gupta, thank you as always. and everyone, please, don't miss sanjay's latest report "weed six, marijuana and autism sunday night at 8:00. "ac 360" begins now. good evening. drfrmt anthony fauci today issued a battle cry that speaks loudly to where we are right now against covid and how frustrating, confusing, and exhausting a place it can be. we can't give in, he said, as new york state reported its highest daily case count of the entire pandemic. he went on to say we will win this war, we have just got to hang in there. and if this is a war, there is no shortage of news tonight from the frontline. some of it hopeful, some deeply troubling, all important to bring you. belle we will joined by the director of the national institutes of health and ve

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