The Senate Committee on Homeland Security has voted to advance the nomination of Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Trump’s new nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Mullin took tough questions in a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, including from Republican Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul, who accuses him of “anger issues.” Paul cited Mullin’s comments that he understood why Paul’s Kentucky neighbor attacked him and broke six of his ribs in 2017.
“Tell it to the world why you believe I deserved to be assaulted,” Paul blasted Mullin. “Explain to the American people why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and border patrol agents.”
The Oklahoma senator did not apologize to Paul, but asked him and the rest of the senators to set the issue aside and let him earn their trust.
Mullin did express regret for calling Alex Pretti – the man killed by federal agents during immigration operations in Minneapolis – a “deranged individual.”
“I shouldn’t have said that. And as Secretary, I wouldn’t,” Mullin said. “Sometimes I’m going to make a mistake, and I own it. That one, I went out there too fast. I was responding immediately without the facts. That’s my fault.”
Mullen also said his goal is to get the department out of the news cycle and reassure the American people.
President Trump fired Mullen’s predecessor, Kristi Noem, after the Minneapolis operation became a daily news story in which two American citizens died in confrontations with federal agents.
Democrats in Congress are holding up funding for DHS, demanding reforms to ICE tactics. The nominee called on Congress to end the partial shutdown.
“We have to get DHS funded. We have to. My friends, we have to set the partisan side down, and we have to realize that we’re putting our homeland and the peace of mind at risk for the American people,” Mullin said.
Mullin has a close bond with President Trump that formed after a scary personal moment in 2020, when his son suffered a severe brain injury during a high school wrestling match.
At a rally later that year, Trump invited the Oklahoma Republican and his son on stage. Trump took a special interest in the teenager’s case, offering to fly the family to medical specialists and pay for treatments.
Throughout that difficult season, Mullin said the president would call and ask how his son was doing. “He was running in one of the toughest elections he had been in, and the guy was still that concerned about my son,” said Mullin. “We were acquaintances before that. We’ve been friends ever since.”
