Rep. Flood Says Security Scrutinized

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcoming Nebraska first District Congressman Mike floodback to the program, Mike,
good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hey, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Saw that there were lots of folks in the House
of Representatives, particularly possibly the Senate, concerned in the wake
of the Charlie Kirk killing, concerned about safety and security,
and the Speaker Johnson said something about, well, yeah, we
need to take a look at it, but it would
be a huge budget budget. Where are you on this

(00:30):
and are you concerned?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, at the end of the day, we do have
pretty good resources. We get money for our home security systems,
and anytime we feel like we need help, you know,
the police agencies in Nebraska, they'll do everything to help.
It doesn't matter if the Steward, Columbus un l Police,
wherever you go, if you need the help, they'll provide
it and the US Capitol Police will reimburse them for it.

(00:55):
So I think we have a pretty good system in place.
And by the way, how many people do you need?
I mean, Charlie Kirk had but six officers and his
own security team and there was a sniper and a roof. Yeah.
I have to say this, like, if somebody really wants
to get you they're going to get you. Otherwise we're
going to live in like a prison like society. We

(01:17):
have to be able to be out in public. We
have to be doing town halls, we have to be
in the town square having conversations. None of this gets
better if we put more barriers between us and the people.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Do you think it's possible that the left? And I
don't I hesitate to you the broad brush the left,
but when you see some of this stuff online celebrating
this killing, I'm tempted to use the term, even though
it was one loan nut in this case. But do
you think that that the left, because of their response

(01:49):
to this, has overflayed their hand, and that and that
people of goodwill far and wide, and all parties and
all persuasions will say enough.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think to the second part of your statements, there
vast majority of both Republicans and Democrats and independents think
this is abhorrent. There are people on the fringes in
every party that think they speak for everybody else. But
to your point, this guy's a nut, and people that
have those reactions have their own set of problems. Certainly,

(02:22):
there's more of it than I've ever experienced. In my service,
public service. But they are not the majority. They are
not the people that will decide who wins elections. These
are fringe characters that somehow it worked themselves up into
such a frenzy that they think that there was something

(02:43):
good that came out of this, this assassination. And I
refuse to paint everybody that way. I've talked to a
lot of people, in fact, since Charlie Kirk was assassinated,
people that I would regard as maybe not interested politically.
That's all they want to talk about. No matter where
I'm at, whether it's Lincoln nor Fork. You know, Omaha,
this is on the top of everybody's mind. And it's

(03:05):
because it's so jarring, and I think that speaks well
as Americans like we can get through this, and these
people in the fringes, I mean, they need to. They
need some kind of a revival.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Are you afraid of getting shot?

Speaker 2 (03:22):
No?

Speaker 3 (03:24):
How many death threats have you received?

Speaker 2 (03:27):
I don't talk about those things.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, I think everybody who is a public figure has
probably at least once or twice had that happen. But
it's just this environment that we're in now. And what
do you think, Mike about because I know what your
stance is. We've talked about it before before the Charlie
Kirk killing about you're going to do town halls and

(03:50):
you're going to stand on the stage and you're gonna
you're going to take the hoots and the hollers and
try to answer questions. What do you think the general
vibe is among your colleagues in Congress about being public?
Those that have been public, are many of them now
going to say, Okay, I'm not going to do that anymore?
What's your sense?

Speaker 2 (04:12):
I do think that there are a growing number of
members of Congress who aren't doing account halls because of
safety issues. But that is a real thing. I will
say that I've heard it. I've heard other members of
Congress voice concerns about doing parades. I've heard members of
Congress voice concerns about their own personal security. And all

(04:33):
of that stuff is legitimate and it's important. But there's
also a lot of members of Congress that haven't or
don't understand, don't know what kind of resources are available.
Through the US Capitol Police and the Sergeant at Arms
and the House Committee on Administration, there are programs that
are there and in place, and every member can significantly
increase their security staffing if they want to infect Just

(04:58):
in the months of August in September, when recess was
going on, each member was allotted up to five thousand
dollars for personal security while they're in the district. You know,
I used a little bit of that to reimburse you
and l police for the town hall that I had
at Lincoln. But there are resources out there and people

(05:22):
need to be able to use them. They need to
understand it. But none of this gets better if we
go into some kind of bucker like mentality. You're right,
this guy was a nut. He was a lone nut.
He did a terrible thing, and he'll pay a high
price for it, I hope if he's found guilty. But
we can't bunk her down and think that, you know,

(05:44):
not coming out of our homes is going to work.
That's not what people want. That's not what I want.
You know, that's not what the voters want. So we'll
get through this. I mean President Trump was nearly assascinated.
He kept doing that thing. He was showing up in stadiums.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Well yeah, but he also he's also behind glass now,
bulletproof glass. Now have you changed any of your security protocols.
I mean, do you have to pass through metal detector
now to get into one of your town halls or
anything like that. Since this uptick in threats against conservatives.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
I didn't use any meganometers if for any of my
town halls, I don't know. I don't want to sound
like I'm being polly ish, but the people that are
coming to these town halls, yes they're spirited, but they're
not physically violent, and they at least they haven't been.
And you know, I go shake their hands in line
before they come in, and I stay around at the

(06:39):
end and talk to those that remain. So this is
you know, this is a bad, bad, bad situation. And
if members of Congress or any public official, you know,
I worry more about judges. I worry about district court
judge anywhere Nebraska. With all the mentally ill people that
we see coming in and out of our court system,

(07:00):
I worry about them walk into their car after they're
done with court, they have direct contact with somebody that's unhitched.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Well, And the Trump administration is asking you guys in
Congress for fifty eight million for security services to protect
members of the executive and judicial branches, so I suspect
that we'll get some traction. Mike, thank you. Always good
to have you with us. We appreciate it. Nebraska first
District Congressman Mike Flott