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A handful of Trump’s recent pardons show a shift in Justice Department priorities. British authorities garner praise for swift reaction to incident involving a vehicle in Liverpool. And a woman is in a coma after a break-in at the home of Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner.

Here’s what to know today.

Trump’s pardons highlight Justice Department’s pullback from public corruption cases

When President Donald Trump announced this week that he would pardon Scott Jenkins, the former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, it furthered a shifting mission within the Justice Department: to de-emphasize public corruption cases.

Jenkins’ name and his case are likely not widely recognized by the general public. In March, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of accepting over $75,000 in exchange for giving law enforcement authority to local businessmen, as well as two undercover FBI special agents. All of Jenkins’ co-defendants pleaded guilty.

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Still, Trump sees him as a “victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice” who “doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail.” It’s part of a broader pattern, in which he has pardoned at least four supportive former public officials who were convicted of financial improprieties.

That includes: Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic former governor of Illinois, over corruption charges related to bribery; Republican former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey over a campaign finance-related fraud conviction; and Republican former Las Vegas City Council member Michele Fiore, who was convicted on conspiracy and wire fraud charges and had been set to be sentenced this month. Also notably, the Trump administration moved to drop the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams earlier this year.

And yesterday, the president said he plans to pardon Todd and Julie Chrisley, the pair known for their roles on the reality TV show “Chrisley Knows Best” who are serving time for bilking banks out of tens of millions of dollars.

Trump, who faced two separate federal criminal cases that were dropped after his re-election, has long argued that he was a victim of the weaponization of the DOJ and FBI, and he has been sympathetic to those who make similar claims. Since Trump took office, the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section has shrunk both in size and influence, while the FBI’s Washington Field Office is shutting down a public corruption squad that was focused on federal corruption.

“It’s clear that this administration doesn’t believe that tamping down on public corruption is a priority,” said Stacey Young, a former Justice Department official.

Read the full story here.

More politics news:

• The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to make it easier for officials to deport convicted criminals to “third countries” that are not their countries of origin.

• The Trump administration has also stopped scheduling new interviews for international students seeking visas to study in the U.S. as the State Department prepares for expanded social media screenings.

• ICE deported over 17,200 people in April, according to new data, a 29% increase compared to the same period last year and an almost 40% increase from the previous month.

• Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced he’s running for governor of Alabama.

• Britain’s King Charles III said Canada is facing a “critical moment” in a rare speech seen as a show of support for Canada in the face of Trump’s annexation threats.

A rush to release details after the Liverpool parade incident

Authorities in England announced the arrest of a suspect on suspicion of attempted murder after a vehicle drove through a crowd of soccer fans in Liverpool’s city center, leaving dozens injured. Eleven people remained hospitalized as of yesterday.

When the incident initially made national newscasts on Monday, it didn’t take long for notorious right-wing voices on social media to label it a “suspect terrorist attack” and for others to speculate that the driver had been motivated by Islamic extremism. But authorities shut down those rumors within a couple of hours. First, police described the suspect as a 53-year-old white British male from the Liverpool area. A few hours later, police said the incident was not being investigated as terrorism-related.

“I’ve never known a case like this before where they’ve given the ethnicity and the race of the individual who was involved in it,” Dal Babu, a former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent, told BBC Radio 5 Live. But the remarkably swift release of details in Monday’s incident, which authorities and civilians praised, was a sign of lessons learned after a deadly stabbing attack last year sparked violent riots in the town of Southport. Read the full story here.

Violent break-in at Beanie Babies billionaire’s mansion

A woman is in a coma and a suspect has been arrested after a break-in at the California home of Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office said in a criminal complaint. The incident happened last week when the suspect, identified as 42-year-old Russell Maxwell Phay, allegedly broke into the home, “violently” beat a woman and then barricaded himself in an upstairs bathroom, according to the Santa Barbara County’s Sheriff’s Office. Phay was apprehended after he “attempted to flee by climbing out of” the bathroom window.

The victim was identified through public records and social media as Linda Malek-Aslanian, whose LinkedIn profile identifies her as a financial services professional from New York. Warner, who is known for being reclusive, was at home at the time of the attack but not harmed.

Phay is charged with attempted murder, burglary, kidnapping and assault in the incident. Previous local news reports and public records reveal his previous run-ins with law enforcement. Read the full story here.

Read All About It

• The CDC will no longer recommend routine Covid shots for healthy children and pregnant women, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.

• Thousands of hungry Palestinians stormed a new, controversial U.S.- and Israel-backed aid distribution center in Gaza and made off with boxes of food as Israeli soldiers fired live rounds in the air.

• Eight of the 10 New Orleans jail escapees are now in custody after three arrests yesterday. Meanwhile, court documents have revealed where the inmates went after their escape and the names of those accused of assisting them.

• As the use of dietary or herbal supplements grows, so have rates of toxic hepatitis.

• Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani hasn’t pitched in a game in more than 640 days, but that could soon change.

Staff Pick: The global competition for Harvard students

As the oldest, richest and most renowned university in the U.S., Harvard is a dream school not just for Americans but also for international students, who make up more than a quarter of its student body. Their future at the Ivy League school is uncertain, however, as the Trump administration tries to impose a ban on international students’ enrollment. Such a ban would be a loss for Harvard both financially and in terms of academic talent — and a win for universities in Asia, Europe and elsewhere that are eager to snatch them up. Now, some students say they’re exploring their options. — Jennifer Jett, Asia digital editor

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

Curious about the best way to clean your windows? One quick tip is to clean your windows in the shade or in the evening to prevent streaks from forming. Plus, the NBC Select team tested over 20 compression socks and shared their six favorite options.

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Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here.

      

Researchers in Spain say they have found evidence that Neanderthals were capable of creating art — challenging the idea that art began with the modern humans who succeeded them.

The canvas was a quartz-rich granite pebble that was excavated from a rock shelter in central Spain in 2022, in a layer dating back between 42,000 and 43,000 years. Measuring more than 8 inches long, the pebble has curves and indentations that make it resemble a human face.

In the middle of its surface is a single red dot, right where a nose would be, researchers said in a study published Saturday in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, adding that it appeared to be a non-utilitarian object rather than a tool.

“From the outset we could tell it was peculiar,” said David Álvarez-Alonso, lead author of the paper.

Analysis showed that the red dot consisted of ochre, a natural earth pigment. The next step was to determine how it got there.

While not visible to the naked eye, the red dot was confirmed by Spanish forensic police to be a fingerprint, leaving “no doubt” that it was applied to the stone intentionally by a finger dipped in ochre, Álvarez-Alonso said in an email on Tuesday.

The researchers postulate that the Neanderthal, who based on the fingerprint was possibly an adult male, perceived the pebble as resembling a face — a psychological phenomenon known as pareidolia — and was inspired to complete the depiction, creating “one of the oldest known abstractions of a human face in the prehistoric record.”

“It would be a clear act of symbolization — apparently very simple, yet meaningful,” Álvarez-Alonso said.

The discovery is “doubly exceptional” since it’s the “most complete” Neanderthal fingerprint identified to date, apart from a partial one previously found in Germany, the researchers said.

Neanderthals, a distinct species that went extinct around 40,000 years ago, lived alongside early modern humans in Europe, Asia and the Middle East for at least part of their existence. Characterized by a large nose and relatively short and stocky bodies, the species is very closely related to humans, or Homo sapiens.

The remains of Neanderthals do not show clear evidence of lower intelligence than modern humans, some scientists have argued.

The stone is “one of a small but growing number of discoveries that point to the existence of symbolic behavior among Neanderthals,” Álvarez-Alonso said.

However, it’s “clearly an isolated object, with no known parallels” that can be used for comparison, he added.

“We should not try to draw direct analogies between the Neanderthal and sapiens worlds,” Álvarez-Alonso said, as Neanderthals did not create a visual symbolic system as complex and diverse as the one developed by Homo sapiens.

“This pebble doesn’t solve the mystery, but it offers one more clue suggesting the presence of a complex mind — one capable of producing symbols,” he said.

Shohei Ohtani is already known as one of the most feared players in baseball. He’s about to get even scarier.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar, a two-way player who pitches and bats as a designated hitter, has not thrown to batters off a mound in 641 days after elbow surgery in September 2023. But in a simulated game before the Dodgers’ matchup with the New York Mets at Citi Field on Sunday, Ohtani threw 22 pitches to five batters.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, pitching coach Mark Prior and teammates looked on from a few feet away. It was the first sign that Ohtani — a three-time MVP — could be pitching in a real game soon.

“I haven’t thrown in a while, so it was nice to be able to feel like I was a pitcher,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after the Dodgers’ 3-1 loss to the Mets. “I just kind of remembered those days when I used to have a lot of good memories as a pitcher.”

Ohtani reportedly threw mostly fastballs, cutters and sinkers with two sweepers and a sinker. His fastball ranged from 94 to 97 mph.

After he began his MLB career with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani pitched five seasons in Anaheim. When he signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December 2023, the expectation was that that would continue. But two operations on his elbow paused that dream, and so far he has only hit with the Dodgers.

Roberts said that it is likely to change after the All-Star break in mid-July.

“I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as a hitter,” Roberts said after Ohtani threw. “So to see him on the mound just solely as a pitcher, it was different. And certainly exciting for all of us.”

Prior said he was impressed with what he saw after such a long layoff.

“He looks good. He looked healthy,” Prior said. “That’s always the main thing with facing hitters — that he feels confident, his endurance is good, he maintained his stuff. From that standpoint, it was good. Pitch movement-wise, it looked good, too.”

Los Angeles is certainly in need of extra reinforcements.

Three members of the Opening Day rotation — Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki — are out with shoulder injuries, which has turned one of the best pitching staffs in baseball into one of the team’s biggest question marks.

The Dodgers (33-21) are in first place in the National League West but are only two games ahead of the San Diego Padres.

Ohtani, who leads baseball with 20 home runs this season, is the only two-way player in the league. It has happened in the past — Babe Ruth is the top example as a pitcher and outfielder — but it is few and far between largely because of the physical and mental demands.

Ohtani is 38-19 with a 3.01 ERA and 608 strikeouts in 481 2/3 innings over five MLB seasons. Adding his prolific arm every five days could immediately bolster the Dodgers’ hopes of winning back-to-back World Series championships.

His opponents are already taking notice.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, who watched the practice session, called Ohtani “special.”

“He’s getting ready to be the leadoff hitter for the Dodgers and four hours before the first pitch, he’s throwing 95, 96 (mph) with a split,” Mendoza said. “He’s having fun. That’s what the game needs, players like that. It’s just fun to be out there and watch him do his thing.”

The “fun” for Mendoza didn’t last too long.

Just four hours later, Ohtani stepped to the batter’s box and crushed Mets pitcher Kodai Senga’s fastball 411 feet into the second deck in right field.

The Trump administration has dramatically stepped up its pace of deportations, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data obtained by NBC News, and in April, for the first time this year, it deported more people than the Biden administration did during the same period last year.

In April, the latest month for which the data is available, ICE deported over 17,200 people, an increase of about 29% compared with April 2024, when over 13,300 were deported.

Even deporting more than 17,200 people in a single month does not put President Donald Trump on track to make good on his Inauguration Day promise to deport “millions and millions.” In fact, 17,200 deportations per month is less than half the pace it would take to reach the record number of 430,000 deportations in a single year, set under former President Barack Obama in 2013.

But the pressure the Trump administration has been putting on ICE for arrests and deportations and ICE’s nationwide arrest operations do appear to be yielding results.

In February and March, the first two full months of the Trump administration, ICE had actually deported fewer people than it had during the same months during the Biden administration, in part because fewer people have been trying to cross the border as a result of Trump’s policy changes. It is easier to deport people when they are arrested at the border than to find them at large in the United States. But ICE’s efforts to increase deportations have made up for the smaller number of people being detained at the border.

Deportations in April were up more than 50% over February, when ICE deported around 11,000 people, and almost 40% over March, when just more than 12,300 people were deported.

“One reason we’re seeing such a massive increase is that ICE enforcement officers are finally able to do their jobs,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, under which ICE falls, said in an email. “They are ready to go to work. They are eager to carry out their sworn duty to protect the American people, the homeland, and our way of life.”

April was the first full month on the job for acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who was brought in on March 7, after his predecessor, Caleb Vitello, was reassigned in late February after both Trump and border czar Tom Homan had expressed anger that the number of people being deported was not higher.

Deportation numbers are likely to continue to rise in the near future and beyond as the administration puts more and more resources into immigration enforcement and deportations. A key factor holding down the pace of deportations has been detention space, and since Trump took office, ICE has added 47 facilities to detain immigrants, including through agreements with local jails and federal agencies, for a total of 154 facilities.

ICE has also recently increased the number of deportation flights it conducts, going from eight to 10 per day to 11 to 13, according to Tom Cartwright, who tracks ICE deportation flights for Witness at the Border, an immigrant rights group.

The administration is also moving resources from elsewhere in government to immigration enforcement, even ordering FBI field offices to shift agents to those duties. ICE this month announced a contracting opportunity for 30,000 laminated credentials, which would be intended for the increasing number of local law enforcement officers being deputized to enforce immigration laws through a program called 287(g).

The verdict in France’s largest-ever child sexual abuse case is set to be delivered Wednesday, bringing the landmark three-month trial to an end.

Former surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, faces up to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting 299 victims over three decades, most of them girls and boys whose average age was 11. Many were assaulted while they were under the effects of anesthesia or recovering from surgery, prosecutors said.

Le Scouarnec, himself a father of three, confessed to committing “hideous acts” during the trial in the northwestern town of Vannes in the region of Brittany, where he admitted to many, but not all of his charges.

His sentence will run concurrently with the 15 years he is serving after he was found guilty in 2020 of raping a young neighbor and three others when they were children.

After lawyers for some of the victims complained that he could be released by 2030 if his pretrial detention and parole eligibility were taken into account, the prosecution has made the rare request that he be held in a treatment center under supervision even if he is released.

Many victims have said they don’t remember being assaulted, but police were able to build a case against Le Scouarnec because he meticulously cataloged his abuse in digital diaries.

Hundreds of witnesses testified at the trial, including Le Scouarnec’s niece and a family friend. Now in their 40s, both said he assaulted them in the early 1980s. However, French law did not allow him to be prosecuted for their alleged abuse because it happened too long ago.

In France it is illegal for an adult to have sex with a minor under the age of 15, though child advocates say many adults are never charged.

The case has put a spotlight on the French medical system, which allowed Le Scouarnec to continue working despite many warning signs, including a 2005 conviction for possessing images depicting child abuse.

Lawyers for some of the victims have said the once-respected local doctor should have been stripped of his medical privileges after that case. Instead, Le Scouarnec worked across nine public hospitals and private clinics in five regions of France, where he specialized in appendectomies, abdominal and gynecological surgery.

Victims’ advocates also hope the case will prompt a hard look at what they call a lax pursuit of child abuse allegations, particularly when doctors — who are in short supply in many areas — are accused of misconduct.

“There were warnings over 30 years,” Francesca Satta, a lawyer who represented 10 victims and families said previously, adding, “This man benefited from a system that opened the door for him to have his own hunting ground.”

During the trial, many victims watched the proceedings through a video link in a 450-seat auditorium, a short walk from the courthouse, which was too small to cope with the number of people who wanted to watch the case unfold. Two other transmission rooms in a former law school broadcasted the trial to the media and spectators.

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton had 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds without a turnover in a sensational postseason performance to lead the Indiana Pacers past the New York Knicks 130-121 on Tuesday night for a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

With his father, John, back in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Haliburton carried the Pacers within a victory of their second trip to the NBA Finals. Game 5 is Thursday in New York.

Pascal Siakam added 30 points while Haliburton had four steals in his second career postseason triple-double — the first in NBA playoff history in which a player had at least 30 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds with no turnovers. Obi Toppin’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds left sealed it.

The Pacers have not lost consecutive games since March 10.

Jalen Brunson scored 31 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and OG Anunoby finished with 22 points. But the Knicks couldn’t rally from another double-digit deficit.

It marked the first time in the series the home team won.

Nearly a dozen former Pacers players, including Jermaine O’Neal and Lance Stephenson, joined Haliburton’s father in the heavily gold-clad crowd. So did WWE Hall of Famer Triple H, rappers Rob 49 and 50 Cent and singers John Mellencamp and Jelly Roll.

John Haliburton had been forced to watch Indiana’s previous eight postseason games from afar after he ran onto the court and confronted Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo following his son’s last-second shot to eliminate Milwaukee in the first round. The Pacers allowed him to return for Game 4 and he sat in a suite.

“I’m glad Pop’s in the building. It makes it that much more sweet,” Tyrese Haliburton said in his postgame interview on the court.

The Knicks had their own fan section featuring film director Spike Lee and actors Timothee Chalamet and Ben Stiller.

What they witnessed was one of the most entertaining games of the NBA’s 2025 postseason. Both teams were shooting at a clip of 70% long into the first quarter as the Pacers raced to a 43-35 lead. New York stormed back in the second quarter reclaiming the lead three times, the last at 64-63.

But Haliburton helped Indiana close the half on a 6-0 run to make it 69-64 as he finished the half just two rebounds short of a triple-double.

Indiana then opened the second half with an even more aggressive style that spurred a 9-2 run and closed the quarter on a 9-4 spurt to extend the margin to 102-91. Siakam scored the final five points of a 9-3 run early in the fourth to give Indiana a 1110-96 lead.

New York got as close as six three times in the closing minutes, but Towns limped to the bench after hurting his left knee with 2:11 to play and finished the game.

It was one of the key questions heading into the series: Could the Knicks’ defense slow the uptempo Pacers’ offense enough to give themselves a chance? Through the first three games, Indiana had a 119.3 offensive rating, slightly better than their top-five regular season number, which had them up 2-1 in the series.

In a critical Game 4, the Pacers’ offense found a new gear, and their offensive rating jumped to 126.2, thanks to a masterclass 32-point triple-double from Tyrese Haliburton — with zero turnovers — in front of his father, who was back in the building.

New York couldn’t keep up.

Despite a strong offensive game themselves, Indiana’s offensive outburst sparked a Game 4 win, 130-121, and Indiana now has a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Game 5 — must win for the Knicks to stay alive — is Thursday night in Madison Square Garden.

Game 4 was played at the Pacers’ tempo from the opening tip. The Knicks’ new starting five was -5 in its first quarter run, while the Pacers had a 159.3 offensive rating in the first quarter, which is why they led by 8 after one. The Knicks made a comeback, using a 9-2 run in the second quarter with the bench in and Brunson resting, and tied the game at 51-51. New York slowed the game down in the second with that bench lineup.

However, in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, Thibodeau leaned back into his former starting lineup — playing Josh Hart but not Mitchell Robinson — and while that lineup was +5 for the game it could not close the gap at the end. The Knicks again looked worn down by the Pacers’ pace of play.

“Just the hustle, making defensive transition, getting more continuity into the offense,” Thibodeau said of why he leaned into Hart in the fourth, rather than going with the bench group that has done well the past two games.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 31 points with five assists, while Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 and OG Anunoby 22.

Towns injured his knee in the final minutes in a collision with Aaron Nesmith (where Myles Turner was called for the foul following a review for shoving Towns into Nesmith). This is the same knee he had meniscus surgery on in 2024 and he was limping and flexing that knee the rest of the game. However, he stayed in the game and said he would be good to go in Game 5.

Haliburton got more help with Pascal Siakam adding 30 points and Aaron Nesmith adding 16.

“He stole a lot of my rebounds,” Siakam joked about Haliburton. “He was amazing… I just love the way he played tonight, his energy.”
The Knicks now have to win three straight games to advance to the NBA Finals.

“I’ve never known this team to quit,” Hart said. “That’s not the character of the guys we have in the locker room.”
More than not quitting, the Knicks need to slow down the tempo of the game — and provide Brunson and Towns with consistent help — to have a chance at those wins.

A group of New York teenagers returning home from junior prom are being hailed as heroes for helping get a father and his two daughters to safety upon noticing the family’s garage was on fire.

“Your house is on fire! Your house is on fire,” Aiden Kane, 17, is heard in cellphone video yelling to alert the occupants of the house in Marcy — a town of around 8,700 — on May 17.

Kane, his girlfriend, Morgan Randall, and their friends Donato Jellenich and Tyler Sojda were driving back from the junior prom at Whitesboro High School when they saw the garage engulfed in flames.

Kane said the orange glow looked like a bonfire, which they thought would not be unusual on prom night in Marcy, which is in Oneida County north of Utica. But upon getting closer, they realized what was happening.

The cellphone video shows Kane telling the dad and his two girls, “You guys got to get out!” and, once outside, telling one of the shaken children, “You’re OK,” and to stand behind a car.

Jared A. Pearl, chief of the Maynard Fire Department, one of several agencies that responded, said that Kane alerted the family, which allowed them to get to safety, and that he asked whether any pets were inside; Jellenich called 911; and Randall stayed with the family and helped with their children.

No one was hurt in the fire, Pearl said.

“The family was safely evacuated before flames could reach the main structure of the home,” Pearl said in a statement. “Thanks to Aiden’s leadership and the team’s quick response, a potential tragedy was averted.”

Sojda said their comforting the children touched close to home because he has a little brother.

Randall said, “We were there on the right time.”

Kane, a junior, said that his father has worked for police and EMS and that he has been on calls with his dad because emergencies have happened while they were together.

“Seeing him doing it kind of inspired me to help out the family,” he said.

Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., faced intense questioning from people at a town hall Tuesday, at one point conceding that he did not read a provision in the House’s “Big Beautiful Bill” before he voted for it, triggering loud protests from the audience.

The town hall was held in a high school in Seward, Nebraska, and livestreamed on YouTube by News Channel Nebraska — a media network founded and owned by Flood.

Flood admitted he did not read the full bill when an audience member asked him why he had voted in favor of a provision that would make it harder for judges to enforce orders holding parties before them in contempt for defying court orders.

Flood, who holds a law degree from the University of Nebraska, said that he did not agree with the provision and that he was unaware of it when he voted in favor of the bill.

“I believe in the rule of law. I’ve taken an oath as an attorney, I’ve taken an oath as a state senator, I’ve taken an oath as a member of Congress, and I support our court system, and I do believe that the federal district courts, when issuing an injunction, should have legal effect. In fact, I relied upon that when the Biden administration was in place. The federal courts did a tremendous amount of good work,” Flood said.

“This provision was unknown to me when I voted for the bill,” he finished, to loud yells from the crowd.

As the moderator tried to move on to the next question, Flood stopped her, saying: “I am not going to hide the truth. This provision was unknown to me when I voted for that, and when I found out that provision was in the bill, I immediately reached out to my Senate counterparts and told them of my concern.”

Flood’s words did not calm attendees, who continued their shouting.

The questions only got more intense from there, with attendees grilling him on a number of topics, from Medicaid cuts to his voting record to changes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Flood won handily in Seward County, winning re-election with 77.6% of the county’s votes in November — higher than President Donald Trump, who won 72.2% in the county. Flood won his district with 60.1% of the vote.

The Nebraska Democratic Party encouraged followers Tuesday to “pack the place” and ask Flood questions at the town hall.

One person accused Flood of being a “fascist” and asked him whether he would be willing to invoke articles of impeachment against Trump.

Flood denied the accusation, saying, “I get that you get an applause line when you call me a fascist, but I’m not. I am not a fascist, I’m an American, and I would never call you something like that.”

Yet another person accused him of lying over promises to protect health care but voting in favor of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which could trigger cuts. The bill would slash hundreds of billions of dollars for Medicaid and SNAP.

In response, Flood said Nebraska does not provide benefits to undocumented immigrants, arguing that the bill’s cuts would target that group of people and not his state. Minutes later, Flood turned the question on the crowd, asking, “Question for the audience, do you want illegal immigrants to get tax-funded benefits?”

The crowd answered with a loud “Yes.” Flood replied: “I would say that is not the majority opinion of most Nebraskans, however. Next question.”

Flood hosted a town hall in Columbus, Nebraska, in March, when he also faced criticism. Several of Flood’s colleagues have faced tough questions since Trump returned to office at the beginning of the year, leading Republican congressional leadership in March to advise GOP members not to hold in-person town halls.

A spokesperson for Flood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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