Wisconsin 7th District Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany (left) and 8th District Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Wied held an over-the-phone town hall Monday evening. (Tiffany image: Official congressional photo; Wied image: WisEye screenshot. Wisconsin Examiner photo illustration.)

U.S Rep. Tony Wied defended President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s work inside the Trump administration Monday evening during his first town hall, which was hosted by phone. 

Wied, who represents Green Bay and other parts of northeast Wisconsin, scheduled the call after GOP congressional leaders told members to avoid in-person town halls. The guidance came after several lawmakers, including Wisconsin U.S. Reps. Glenn Grothman and Scott Fitzgerald, were met with backlash at in-person town halls because of Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project.

The call lasted a little less than an hour. Wied was joined by U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who helped answer questions from callers. 

A few poll questions were asked during the call, with participants answering using their keypad. The first question was “Do you believe the federal government spends too much taxpayer money?” The results were shared on the call, with 43% of callers answering “yes” and 57% answering “no.” Another question asked was, “Do you believe men should be allowed to participate in women’s sports?” No results were shared. 

While Wied wasn’t met with the pushback his colleagues had, perhaps because of the controlled nature of a telecall, a handful of callers expressed worries about the potential for cuts to a number of federal programs and asked where Wied stood on the issues. He mostly defended the actions of Trump, Republicans and Musk. 

A nurse practitioner asked Wied about his position on Medicaid and Medicare. Questions about Medicaid cuts have been circulating and creating anxiety among many Wisconsinites who rely on the program. Trump has said he won’t cut the programs — or Social Security — but a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office found that lawmakers can’t meet their goal of cutting $880 billion without significant cuts to Medicaid. 

“A lot of my patients rely on [Medicaid and Medicare]. My parents are on Medicaid, and I’m sure both of your parents are also on Medicare. What are your plans as far as trying to save it?” the caller asked. “Lots of rumors going around that there’s going to be $800 billion that will need to be cut over the next decade, and while Trump says that he won’t be touching Medicare or Medicaid, there’s serious concerns about where that money will come from.”

Wied and Tiffany said they want to protect Medicaid, but lawmakers will be looking for savings, including by potentially establishing work requirements for the program and keeping “illegal immigrants” from accessing the program.

Tiffany said there are too many able-bodied adults on Medicaid and rhetorically asked if “we want them getting help there from the federal government, from you, the taxpayer?” He implied that people should get a job so they can get insurance through their employer. “The second thing is illegal immigrants.” 

Medicaid is funded partially with federal funds and partially with state funds, and approximately two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are working. Undocumented immigrants are already not eligible for federal Medicaid, though some states have expanded access using state funds, including California, which recently expanded its Medicaid program to cover all residents regardless of immigration status. 

Tiffany said that “if we have too many people that are on the program via waste, fraud and abuse, it jeopardizes the program. What we want to do is protect and save Medicaid for the future so people can count on it.” 

Wied said the government needs to be “prudent” and looking at the programs is part of getting rid of “bureaucratic waste, fraud and abuse,” and said Musk is helping with that. 

“[Musk is] somebody that has a lot of experience working on big budgets and finding efficiencies, and his job is only to identify, then it comes down to the elected officials to make the decisions and ultimately do what they need to do again, to make sure that we keep these programs,” Wied said. 

Another caller asked lawmakers whether they have a “red line” for where their support of Trump and Musk ends. 

Wied said Musk is “designated as a special government employee” and “there’s no evidence that he or the team has unlawfully accessed or used any sensitive data.” 

“If there is, I would certainly be concerned and make sure that I push back, but you know, the whole role of the Department of Government Efficiency is to streamline the government’s outdated and bloated systems,” Wied said. 

Musk’s DOGE team has been seeking access to databases that store personal information of millions of Americans. The administration has also been muddying who is in charge of DOGE and downplaying Musk’s role by appointing a new “acting administrator,” though Trump recently said Musk is in charge of DOGE.

“Trump is in charge, he’s our president. He’s making the decisions. Elon Musk has not fired anybody,” Wied said. The comment is in line with what Musk has reportedly told other Republicans. 

A Green Bay caller had concerns about benefits for veterans, given the Trump administration’s goal of cutting over 80,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees, who provide health care and other services for millions of veterans.

“My son served in Afghanistan twice and uses the VA insurance. Our clinic here in Green Bay is awesome. I’ve been there a couple times with him, and he gets his surgery done there,” the caller said. “What are you going to do with 83,000 jobs that are cut in the VA, and where are the people that I love when they have their health care?”

The caller also added that tax cuts for the rich are “not worth it if it means hurting our veterans for they have served our country.” 

Wied said he would “make sure that we continue to fund that at the appropriate level, so that people have the best care possible within the VA system.” 

Some callers were supportive of Trump. 

“There’s a lot of waste in government,” said one. “We have to cut back. We just have to — on the waste. I see people who are alcoholics, get early Social Security disability. I’ve worked with people who are overweight and get out and take early disability. I don’t think people realize the numbers of abuse and it takes from our Medicare, Medicaid, it takes from all of us.”

The caller added, “I’m middle class. I’ve worked hard all my life. We have to give President Trump a chance.”

The Milwaukee County Jail. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

A potential uprising in the Milwaukee County Jail in mid-February, reportedly sparked by conditions in the facility, was quelled by guards before it occurred, according to Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office emails obtained by Wisconsin Examiner. 

Jail staff transported 42-year-old Keenan Brown to a segregation unit after Brown allegedly threatened to incite a riot in one of the jail’s housing units, according to sheriff’s department records. 

One incident report states that Brown “was shouting to the entire housing unit that the inmates needed to stick up for themselves and that they would not be taken seriously until they started assaulting staff.” Brown, according to the report, was placed on administrative segregation as a result. 

Another email, sent by a sergeant in the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Detention Services Bureau to other jail supervisors on Feb. 12, mentions that jail supervisors learned that Brown had used a tablet to message his mother with information about a potential riot and encouraged her to post the information on social media and contact Fox6 News. The email states that when jail staff spoke to Brown, he expressed concerns about jail occupants not being let out of their cells all day and his feelings that the guards were violating their rights. 

Staff questioned Brown about possible threats made about inciting a riot, according to the sergeant’s email, and Brown replied that several people housed in the jail were making such comments. Emails note that Brown was moved to segregation in the jail’s POD 4D. At least 20 people were removed from POD 5D. While it appears from the emails that Brown was one of them, the sheriff’s office has not confirmed that was his previous housing. The sheriff’s office has not said whether Brown remains in the segregation unit. 

When Brown was removed from his cell, according to a major incident summary obtained by Wisconsin Examiner through open records requests, he was in a wheelchair. The report says that “he stood up and got into a defensive stance and became violently aggressive with staff.” The report lists four jail guards as victims, and refers to photos and body camera footage that was captured of the cell extraction. Jail Staff used a type of pepper spray called Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) and a taser, according to the summary. 

The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story. Court records and online booking information show that Brown was booked into the jail on April 1, 2024. He was charged with two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with use of a dangerous weapon, using a vehicle to flee an officer, resisting an officer, and one count of second-degree recklessly endangering safety. His next court date is set for March 27, 2025. 

There have been previous incidents of unrest in the jail in recent years. During the summer of 2023, over two dozen men housed in the jail barricaded themselves in a library area. The jail’s Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) was activated, and the jail was locked down. 

That standoff began as a protest over conditions in the jail. It ended after correctional staff used OC spray to remove the men from the library. The unrest wasn’t made public for weeks, until the district attorney’s office filed a complaint charging the 27 men with disorderly conduct. 

After the 2023 unrest was made public Sylvester Jackson, a Milwaukee-area incarceration activist, told Wisconsin Examiner that incarcerated people have turned to fomenting unrest when they don’t see other options to raise their concerns. “When you get to a point where you can’t take no more, you go to the extreme to do what you got to do to literally draw attention,” said Jackson. 

The Milwaukee County Jail has been the object of growing controversy. Over a 14-month period from 2022 to 2023, six people died in custody in the jail. 

Among the first to raise attention in the community was 21-year-old Brieon Green, who the sheriff’s department said died by suicide in his cell. Another death involved Cilivea Thyrion, a 20-year-old woman who died after eating pieces of an adult diaper while on suicide watch. In the days and weeks leading up to her death, Thryion made repeated attempts to inform jail staff of harassment and maltreatment she’d received from certain guards. 

In 2024, an audit of the jail found that the facility “faces a complex web of challenges that jeopardize the safety and well-being of its occupant population and staff.” The audit found “unsafe restraining of occupants” who are on suicide watch, lack of supervision of people in segregation and suicide watch units, occupants who reported difficulty accessing mental health services, problems with use of force procedures, and and other issues. 

On Thursday, Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball held a highly structured town hall, attended by jail command staff and with the only questions being asked by Ken Harris, a former Milwaukee police officer and host of the radio show The Truth on 101.7. Urban Milwaukee reported that Milwaukee County supervisors criticized how the town hall was conducted. 

Jail command staff said during the town hall that plans are underway to retrofit existing booking rooms with individual suicide cells. The Sheriff’s Office, however, has continued to oppose implementing an expedited video release policy for critical incidents, which has been active in the City of Milwaukee for the police department. A more transparent video release policy has been a key policy demand of local activists and the families of people who’ve died in the jail. 

Ball said that she hoped the town hall “was an opportunity for [the public] to express themselves.” To address issues like replacing the suicide watch areas of the booking room Ball said, “we’re going to need resources, and as a result, we will be requesting those resources…It’s going to cost a lot of money.”