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'We all are going to die': Sen. Ernst offers bleak response to grilling over Medicaid
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks to reporters as she walks to a Senate luncheons at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 19, 2024.
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Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst faced intense questioning from her constituents during a Friday town hall, eliciting shouts and boos from community members over her support for President Trump’s contentious One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The first speaker offered Ernst a softball question, telling the National Guard veteran that his sole request was for her to be the guest speaker at the American Legion for Memorial Day next year.

But just minutes into the hour-long session in Butler County, Iowa, the tenor quickly shifted. The crowd grew tense and Ernst appeared flip and defensive.
Ernst was repeatedly peppered with questions about the thousand-page bill, with many attendees focusing on proposed cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Ernst defended the bill, arguing that those eliminated from these programs would be people who were not eligible to benefit from them in the first place.
“When you’re arguing about illegals that are receiving Medicaid benefits, 1.4 million (people) … they are not eligible so they will be coming off,” Ernst said.
Someone in the crowd shouted in response: “People are going to die.”
“Well, we all are going to die,” Ernst responded. “For heaven’s sakes, folks,” she continued with a smile.
The crowd, which had already grown hostile to Ernst’s tone, erupted in roars of disapproval.

The GOP budget package is a sweeping piece of legislation that would provide massive tax cuts to the wealthy and slash funding for social programs including Medicaid and food assistance.
A version of the bill narrowly passed in the House earlier this month — eking by with a final vote of 215-214.
But the act faces pushback in the Senate over concerns regarding some of the more consequential aspects of the legislation, which include: extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts — with about $3.8 trillion in cuts overall, largely for the nation’s top earners; raising the national debt ceiling by $4 trillion; and costly fees on asylum seekers and those who sponsor unaccompanied minors.

As written, the bill is projected to add trillions to the nation’s debt over the next decade.
The bill is now going through the process of reconciliation — a complicated Senate process that would allow Republicans to avoid a filibuster by Democratic legislators and pass the bill on a simple majority.
Back at the Iowa town hall, Ernst continued to spar with voters over her support for these changes.
In another heated exchange, a man — who identified himself as a Navy veteran and retired school superintendent — grilled Ernst about Trump’s authoritarian style of governing.
“Are you afraid of Trump? Are you corrupt like Trump? Or are you just at the point that you don’t care anymore and that’s why you don’t do anything?,” the man asked to cheers.
Her response set off another round of dissenting yells.
“Obviously I don’t agree because I don’t think our country is being destroyed,” she said as the crowd offered shouts in protest.
After the event, Ernst posted a message to social media, appearing unbothered by the turn of events at the town hall.
“Thanks folks for coming out to my town hall in Parkersburg today,” she wrote. “I always enjoy hearing from constituents and sharing my work to cut government red tape for you.”
Thanks folks for coming out to my town hall in Parkersburg today!
I always enjoy hearing from constituents and sharing my work to cut government red tape for you. pic.twitter.com/Roy06rQVvL
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) May 30, 2025
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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack
Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.
The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.
Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.
The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.
The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.
Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.
The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.
“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”
The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.
Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.
“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”
Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.
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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder
A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.
The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.
In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.
Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.
Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.
A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.
Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.
According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.
A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.
When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.
He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.
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