CNN anchor Jake Tapper grew visibly frustrated on Wednesday when the internet connection of his guest, Republican Congressman Mike Flood of Nebraska, repeatedly failed during a live interview.

Tapper had invited Rep. Flood to discuss a recent wave of ethics scandals involving several Republican members of the House of Representatives. These include Reps. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina, Cory Mills of Florida, and Max Miller of Ohio, each facing allegations related to varying degrees of predatory or abusive behavior toward women. The cluster of cases has drawn renewed scrutiny to how House leadership handles member misconduct allegations, particularly with the party holding a narrow majority.

Midway through the segment, Flood's broadband signal cut out, prompting an irritated response from the host.

"Do you hear me?" Tapper asked in frustration. "Because I was having trouble talking to you a second ago, and I think I need to talk to your governor about broadband in Nebraska. Can you hear me, sir?"

Flood, who represents the exurban areas around Omaha, responded: "I can now hear you. Did something happen there?"

"No. If you can hear me now, that's that. That's fine. You can hear me now," Tapper replied.

The CNN anchor then pressed forward with the substantive portion of his questioning, referencing House Speaker Mike Johnson's stance on the ethics investigations.

"Speaker Johnson says he wants the Ethics Committee to let the process play out," Tapper said. "As you know, that can take a very, very long time."

The House Ethics Committee operates under strict confidentiality rules, and investigations typically unfold over months or years before any findings are made public—a timeline that has drawn criticism from watchdog groups across multiple recent cases.

He pointed out that the investigation into Edwards for allegedly harassing female staffers "took months, even years," while the investigation into Mills for alleged domestic abuse of his ex-girlfriend remains ongoing.

"Should there be more pressure put on your colleagues who are distracting from what you would rather talk about, like no tax on tips or whatever?" Tapper asked.

As Flood began to respond, his connection deteriorated once more, eventually leaving Tapper staring at a black screen on the broadcast.

"All right. Nebraska Republican Congressman Mike Flood, thank you so much," Tapper said, before adding pointedly: "All those tens of billions of dollars that taxpayers spend on broadband and what the hell is going on?"

Tapper's remark referenced the federal government's ongoing broadband expansion efforts, including the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program created under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has faced implementation delays across multiple states.

The full segment is available on YouTube: youtu.be/yqu9c2C_kj4