Nationals beat Cubs 10-4 on opening day for manager Blake Butera’s first win with the team

CHICAGO (AP) — Brady House, Joey Wiemer and Jacob Young homered for Washington on opening day, and the Nationals beat Alex Bregman and the Chicago Cubs 10-4 on Thursday for manager Blake Butera's first win with the team.

CJ Abrams hit a tiebreaking two-run single during Washington's six-run fourth inning on a blustery, overcast afternoon at Wrigley Field. Andrés Chaparro had two hits and scored a run.

Butera is part of a new leadership group for the rebuilding Nationals after they went 66-96 last year in their sixth straight losing season. Paul Toboni took over as the team's president of baseball operations on Oct. 1, and he hired the 33-year-old Butera out of Tampa Bay's front office.

Michael Busch had three hits for Chicago, which begins the season with World Series aspirations after losing to Milwaukee in the playoffs last year. Pete Crow-Armstrong had two hits and two RBIs just days after agreeing to a $115 million, six-year contract with the Cubs.

Bregman and Crow-Armstrong each got a loud ovation from the crowd of 39,712 when they were announced with the starting lineup. Bregman went 1 for 4 with a single and a walk in his first regular-season game since signing a $175 million, five-year contract with the Cubs in free agency.

Wiemer hit a solo drive to left off Matthew Boyd in the second. Young capped Washington's fourth-inning outburst with a two-run shot to right off Ben Brown, and House tacked on another two-run drive in the ninth against Jacob Webb.

Boyd (0-1) was charged with six runs and six hits in 3 2/3 innings in his third career opening-day start. The left-hander struck out seven and walked one.

Washington's Cade Cavalli allowed three runs, two earned, and three hits in 3 2/3 innings in his first start on opening day. Brad Lord (1-0) pitched 2 1/3 innings of one-run ball for the win.

Following a day off, Miles Mikolas makes his first start for Washington on Saturday. Mikolas signed a $2.25 million, one-year deal with the Nationals in February. Cade Horton pitches for Chicago.

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Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Matthew Boyd (16) throws against the Washington Nationals during the first inning of an opening-day baseball game Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Cade Cavalli (24) throws against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning of an opening-day baseball game Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (4) hits a one-run single during the third inning of an opening-day baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Washington Nationals' Joey Wiemer (21) is greeted in the dugout after hitting a home run during the second inning of an opening-day baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Washington Nationals' Jacob Young (30) runs the bases afer hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning of an opening-day baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee held a rare public hearing Thursday into alleged ethics violations committed by Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida, pushing into the open a yearslong investigation into how she funded her political rise.

Over two years of work, committee investigators say they collected “a mountain of evidence” that the third-term congresswoman committed numerous ethics violations, including failing to follow campaign finance laws, commingling campaign, personal and business funds and using her position to benefit allies. She is also facing federal charges for allegedly stealing $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds. She denies any wrongdoing, and her attorney criticized the House hearing as unfair.

The hearing could carry significant political repercussions because some Republican lawmakers are threatening a vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick from the House. Both parties are vying for the ethical high ground before the November elections.

Cherfilus-McCormick, who represents a heavily Democratic district in southeastern Florida, has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and last year called it “an unjust, baseless, sham indictment.”

Thursday's hearing gave House investigators an opportunity to lay out their findings and make a motion for the panel of lawmakers to conclude that Cherfilus-McCormick committed 27 ethics violations. The full committee could then later recommend a punishment.

Sydney Bellwoar, senior counsel for the House Ethics Committee, told the panel that investigators found “a mountain of evidence” that showed Cherfilus-McCormick violated laws, ethical standards and rules for House members.

Yet to start the hearing, Cherfilus-McCormick's lawyer, William R. Barzee, asked the subcommittee to postpone the proceedings. Barzee had told the committee that if she wants to preserve her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the upcoming federal trial, “she must remain silent before the committee.”

“She is not guilty of these allegations. She is absolutely innocent,” Barzee said, adding, “But she is in between a rock and a hard place right now.”

Cherfilus-McCormick did not address the panel throughout the proceedings, but took notes and at some moments whispered with her attorney and asked him to raise an issue.

After meeting for roughly an hour in private, the panel of four Democrats and four Republicans denied Cherfilus-McCormick’s request to postpone the proceedings.

Still, Barzee called it a “travesty of justice” for the committee to proceed with the hearing without allowing him to cross-examine witnesses and submit competing evidence to refute the allegations against the congresswoman.

“At least give her a fair shake and let me cross-examine some witnesses. Let me put some witnesses on the stand to defend her and to tell you what happened,” he said.

The hearing grew tense at several turns, with Barzee getting into spirited exchanges with lawmakers on the panel. The proceedings centered on a profit-sharing agreement between Cherfilus-McCormick and her family's business, Trinity Health Care Services.

Barzee argued the agreement absolved the congresswoman of guilt. But lawmakers were skeptical of that argument, pointing out that the only evidence presented for it was an unsigned document that appeared to be the basis of transferring millions of dollars to Cherfilus-McCormick. Barzee sharply responded that Trinity Health Care Services was a family business that made decisions “around the kitchen table.”

Committee investigators have laid out their findings in a 242-page report that concludes Cherfilus-McCormick committed 27 counts of ethics violations.

The report alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick first won a special election in 2022 with a campaign that presented itself as self-financed. But in reality, the campaign was substantially funded through a $5 million overpayment for COVID-19 vaccination services that her family's company had received from the state of Florida, according to investigators.

Barzee said that, regardless of the overpayment, Cherfilus-McCormick was entitled to profits from the business. “There was nothing nefarious or improper about that,” he said.

But investigators laid out an argument that funds were channeled into Cherfilus-McCormick's campaign through a number of business entities that were connected to the congresswoman and her siblings. Bank records also showed a pattern of transferring funds into her campaign accounts shortly before filing deadlines, only to transfer the money out after the deadline. This misled voters about the strength of her campaign, investigators argued.

The investigation also found evidence that the congresswoman then funded her reelection campaign largely through outside groups run by her friends and family, including a company that was mostly funded by the Haitian government.

Investigators allege that she continued to commit ethics violations in office, including using her position to benefit allies with special favors during the appropriations process and disregarding restrictions on volunteer work by her senior campaign adviser.

In February, the Florida Democrat pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen federal counts, including theft of government funds, making and receiving straw donor contributions and money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each of those counts.

Prosecutors accuse her of conspiring to steal $5 million in federal disaster funds mistakenly overpaid to the health care company owned by her family through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract. Within two months of receiving the money, prosecutors allege, more than $100,000 had been spent to buy the congresswoman a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. Her brother, the former chief of staff and accountant, was also charged in the alleged scheme.

She has said she doesn't plan to resign and is running for reelection.

Republicans are moving to do just that, although it would require a significant number of Democrats to join them. It takes a two-thirds vote to expel a member from the House.

Democratic leaders have so far declined to condemn Cherfilus-McCormick. California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the third-ranked Democrat in House leadership, said this week that he would not “prejudge” the allegations against her.

“Let’s see what happens in the Ethics Committee,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.

But Thursday's hearing was a rare occurrence that underscored the gravity of the allegations. It has been more than 15 years since a sitting member of the House faced a public hearing, dating to the 2010 ethics trial of Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., on charges related to his personal finances. The panel also held a hearing that year on allegations against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., but found insufficient evidence to prove them.

The last member of Congress to be expelled was Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in 2023. Santos had not yet been convicted of federal charges, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voted against it at the time, expressing concern about setting a precedent of expelling members based on untried allegations.

Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C., and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

FILE - Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., listens during a rally on Jan. 28, 2026, in support of the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants before it expires in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)