WASHINGTON — Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, engaged in a heated confirmation hearing with fellow senators on Wednesday.
The meeting was confrontational right from the start and ended on a similar note. The hearing started with a personal confrontation between fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Mullin over comments the Oklahoma senator reportedly made earlier this year regarding Paul’s voting record and assault by a neighbor in Kentucky in 2017.
“You told the media that I was a ‘freaking snake’ and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted,” Paul said.
Paul also pointed to Mullin’s previous public confrontations and temperament, adding that Mullin had “low impulse control.”
“Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung. Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it. And while you’re at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues,” Paul said.
Paul continued “I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits of the proper use of force.”
“I said I could understand, because of the behavior, you were having, that I could understand why your neighbor … did what he did,” Mullin said. “As far as my term of ‘snake in the grass,’ sir, I work around this room to try to fix problems. I’ve worked with many people in this room. It seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us.”
Paul later played the tense moment at a November 2023 Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing when Mullin stood up from his seat and appeared to prepare to physically fight Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien.
“I get it — it’s about character assassination for you,” Mullin said to Paul. “That’s the way this game is played. I understand it. And you are making this about you, which is fine.”
Mullin has been appointed to lead the Department of Homeland Security at a critical juncture. The United States is embroiled in a conflict with Iran, and the Trump administration is facing criticism for its aggressive immigration enforcement measures. On February 13, DHS funding expired, resulting in significant delays at airports, and the two parties have yet to reach an agreement.
Republicans hold 53 seats in the chamber, and Senator Mullin requires 50 votes to secure confirmation. Given the Republican senators’ deferential stance towards Trump’s picks, early expectations are that he will ultimately receive enough votes.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is the lone Democrat expected to vote to confirm Mullin.
Democrats pushed Mullin on how he would take a different approach to ICE than Noem.
“I do believe there is a better approach. And I think working with municipalities, I would love to see ICE become a transport more than the front line,” Mullin said.
