Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation hearing to run the Department of Homeland Security opened with a bitterly personal clash between the Oklahoma Republican and Sen. Rand Paul, who questioned how a “man with anger issues” can be trusted to lead thousands of armed federal officers.
Mullin did not deny calling his fellow Republican a “freaking snake” and refused to apologize for his remarks after Sen. Rand Paul was assaulted by his neighbor in 2017.
Paul, the chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, immediately ripped into Mullin for his smear and for telling a group of constituents that he “understands completely” why his neighbor attacked him.
The Kentucky Senator also played a video with several clips of Mullin’s past threats, including his invitation to brawl with Teamsters union president Sean O’Brien in the middle of a Senate hearing in 2023.
“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 to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents,” Paul said Wednesday. “Explain to the American public how a man who has no regrets about brawling in a Senate committee can set a proper example for over 250,000 men and women who work at the Department of Homeland Security.”
Paul has previously raised concerns about use of force among federal immigration agents, who are facing lawsuits across the country alleging unconstitutional abuse against immigrants and citizens alike.
Donald Trump nominated Mullin for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security after the president fired Kristi Noem, who has been tapped for a new role as “special envoy” for the newly created “Shield of the Americas.”
Noem, who was fired in the wake of bipartisan scrutiny over her oversight of lucrative federal contracts and the killings of American citizens by immigration officers, is set to leave DHS on March 31.
The 48-year-old senator and former MMA fighter does not have previous immigration enforcement experience.
“Everybody in this room knows that I’m very blunt and direct to the point, and if I have something to say, I’ll say it directly to your face,” Mullin said Wednesday.
“We just don’t get along,” he told Paul. “However, sir, that doesn’t keep me at all from doing my job. I can set it aside if you’re willing to set it aside. Let me earn my job. … I’m not perfect. I don’t claim to be perfect. I make mistakes like everyone else.”
Paul, in response, said Mullin has shown “a lack of contrition, no apology and no regrets.”
“You’re unrepentant,” said Paul, noting Mullin’s “machismo,” “anger,” and “low-impulse control.”
“You think that’s great and to be extolled?” he added. “I mean, the sheer lack of any kind of awareness that you’re going to be leading thousands of men and women who will be using use of force. Do you think justifying that kind of violence sets a good example for the men and women of ICE and Border Patrol?”
Noem’s departure and Mullin’s nomination also arrived in the middle of the ongoing Homeland Security shutdown, after funding lapsed last month with Republican and Democratic members of Congress at an impasse over federal spending for immigration enforcement without critical guardrails.
“Essential” work under the sprawling agency has continued, though roughly 100,000 employees are reporting to their jobs without pay.
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