Sen. Markwayne Mullin faced his colleagues Wednesday in an often-heated confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Homeland Security, fielding questions about enforcing the administration’s immigration deportations, the ongoing shutdown and concerns about his previous travel.
The Oklahoma Republican was tapped by President Donald Trump earlier this month to replace outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem, who faced criticism from lawmakers for a DHS contract for advertisements and the speed of dispersing disaster funds.
“I’m not scared of a challenge. I am scared of failure, and so I will work hard each day,” Mullin said during his opening remarks before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “My goal in six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day.”
It’s unclear how much support Mullin might get from Democrats, who have declined to further fund DHS in fiscal 2026 without changes in immigration enforcement tactics.
If the panel advances Mullin’s nomination at a meeting Thursday, his confirmation will likely be on a glide path in the full Senate, given it’s 53-47 GOP majority. A floor vote on confirmation will be a top priority, leadership aides said.
Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that the confirmation process “is about the job, and it’s about who ought to fill that job. And I believe, we all believe, I think that Markwayne is the right guy for the job.”
Personal relationships highlighted
Much of the hearing revolved around Mullin’s relationship-building skills on Capitol Hill. A former member of the House, Mullin has been dubbed the “House whisperer” during his three-plus years in the Senate, and has also touted a close, personal relationship with the president.
Those relationships have often come in handy for Senate Republicans, who utilized Mullin to help soothe tensions last year during debate over their landmark reconciliation bill. During those negotiations, the senator could often be seen walking between the chambers, bouncing a stress ball.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a member of the Homeland Security panel, has said he will likely support Mullin and that he is keeping an “open mind.”
And Mullin could need Fetterman’s vote to move his nomination out of committee, given his contentious relationship with its chairman, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Paul on Wednesday confronted Mullin over comments Mullin made surrounding a 2017 attack on Paul by his neighbor when he was mowing his lawn. The attack left Paul with several broken ribs.
“You told the media that I was a ‘freaking snake’ and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted,” Paul said to Mullin during his opening remarks. “I was shocked you would justify and celebrate this violent assault that caused me so much pain and my family so much pain.”
“Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung,” Paul said. “Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it.”
“I did not say I supported it. I said, understood it. There’s a difference,” Mullin said to Paul over the attack. “I can set it aside, if you’re willing to set it aside, let me earn your respect and earn the job.”
Paul also raised a 2023 hearing when Mullin, a former MMA fighter, appeared to challenge Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to a physical fight.
“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 [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and Border Patrol agents,” Paul continued. “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.”
O’Brien and Mullin have since reconciled, and he was seated behind the senator during Wednesday’s hearing.
Thune told reporters “obviously today’s hearing sounds like [it was] a little spicy at times,” but he said he has confidence Mullin will be confirmed.
He said if Mullin advances, floor action could happen “early next week.”
Shutdown showdown
Mullin said one of his highest priorities is getting DHS reopened; the agency’s shutdown has stretched more than a month.
“We have to get DHS funded,” Mullin told the panel. “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. Sometimes it’s political theater, sometimes it’s true differences, but what we do know is that we’re playing with fire.”
Both the White House and Democrats continue to exchange offers, with the latest papers being traded on Tuesday between the two sides. Still, the agency remains unfunded as both sides struggle to find consensus on issues such as body-worn cameras.
The shutdown remained a consistent theme at the hearing, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and others questioning how Mullin would run the agency differently.
“We’re here because of a lawless and reckless agency that has broken into homes without judicial approval, shot United States citizens, detained them without any cause and sometimes killed them,” Blumenthal said.
“I am looking for real, substantive reform in that agency,” Blumenthal said, and a break from “others who have used Kristi Noem, in effect, as a puppet to implement lawless policy.”
Mullin was put in the hot seat over percolating questions regarding comments he has made about overseas trips and active combat. Mullin hasn’t served in the military or a similar capacity.
Mullin told the panel he took a “classified” trip in 2015 to an undisclosed location while serving in Congress, during questioning from ranking member Gary Peters, D-Mich.
Peters pressed Mullin about a recent interview he had with Fox News where Mullin described the location as “ugly. It smells bad, and if anybody’s ever been there, and been able to smell the war that’s happened around you and taste it and feel it in your nostrils and hear it, it’s something that you’ll never forget and it’s ugly.”
Peters asked Mullin, “Where did you ‘smell war?’”
Mullin said he had trained “with a very small contingency” to go to a “certain area.” He wouldn’t say exactly where, and that it was classified.
Mullin’s office told The Washington Post that before entering Congress, he did “mission work” from a “Christian perspective” that included mentoring U.S. troops.
Peters said Mullin hadn’t properly notified the committee about the travel in question: “The letter that we sent you said that we need to have information of any of these activities.”
Members of the committee were subsequently briefed on the subject in a secure room Wednesday afternoon. Mullin declined to answer questions from reporters leaving that meeting.
