Senators grill Mullin during DHS confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Lawmakers grilled Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on Wednesday, during his confirmation hearing for Homeland Security secretary.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has to vet Mullin before a full Senate vote. The committee asked the Oklahoma lawmaker a number of questions about his past and how he would handle the role and replace Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired by President Donald Trump earlier this month.

Mullin said he aimed to lead the department with a lower profile, during a time when the agency is facing a funding impasse due to congressional disagreement over immigration enforcement.

“My goal in six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day. My goal is for people to understand we’re out there, we’re protecting them,” said Mullin.

The hearing grew contentious early, with pointed questioning from the committee’s chair, Sen Rand Paul (R-KY). Paul confronted Mullin about his temperament and pressed him on past comments he made about an assault on Paul that happened back in 2017.

“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,” said Sen. Paul.

Mullin addressed past tensions with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, whom he threatened to fight during a Senate hearing in 2023.

“As you can notice over my shoulder here is my good friend, Sean O’Brien. Both of us have had conversations. Both of us have shaken hands and both agreed we could have done things different. Sean is someone that has become a close friend. We talk all the time. I’ve been on his podcast. We talked through this. That’s how you handle your differences,” Mullin said.

Paul later said he would not support Mullin’s nomination.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) also pressed Mullin on his past characterization of Alex Pretti, after he was shot and killed by Customs and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.

“You, sir, called Alex Pretti, quote, ‘a deranged individual that came in to cause max damage.’ Could we expect those kinds of quick responses if you are confirmed as secretary?” Peters said.

Mullin acknowledged the remarks were a mistake.

“No, Senator. I have a deep amount of respect for you. We’ve had our differences, but I do respect you. Those words probably should have been retracted. I shouldn’t have said that. I went out there too fast. I was responding immediately without the facts. That’s my fault. That won’t happen as Secretary,” Mullin said.

Peters followed up, asking whether Mullin regretted the statement and whether he would apologize to Pretti’s family.

“Would you want to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti?” Peters said.

“Sir, I just said I regret those statements,” Mullin said.

“Is that the same as an apology?” Peters said.

“I haven’t seen the investigation. We’ll let the investigation go through. And if I’m proven wrong, then I will absolutely,” Mullin said.

Mullin was also pressed about a “classified” trip he took to an undisclosed location in 2016 while serving in Congress, and asked him about comments when he referenced the “smell of war.”

“So where did you smell war?” said Sen. Peters.

“Sir, I just said that this was classified and the dates, locations, and mission — I’ve never spoke specific details about,” said Mullin, who has never served in the military.

Mullin later agreed to discuss the trip with the senators during a classified session.

Without Sen. Paul’s support, Mullin needs at least one Democrat on the committee to vote for him.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he may be open to supporting the nomination.

“Well, I came up with an open mind and I’m going to maintain that. That was always my commitment to do that,” said Fetterman.

The committee is set to vote on advancing Mullin’s nomination on Thursday.