Markwayne Mullin confirmation hearing set for today

Paul wrapped the hearing after more than three hours. Mullin agreed to meet in a SCIF to speak more about the trip after the hearing.

The Kentucky Republican suggested earlier in the hearing that he could delay the vote if the issue over the classified trip isn’t resolved. As he wrapped the hearing, Paul said he’s committed to the vote Thursday and noted that meeting in the SCIF “makes it much more likely that we have a vote tomorrow.”

Peters and Paul continued to press Mullin about special assignments and international travel, and invited Mullin to speak with senators in a secure location about the classified work he said he did.

“You brought this up that you were on a super secret mission that you can’t tell us about,” Paul said.

Peters said Mullin has not been forthcoming with the committee about his overseas work and said his story about it “always seems to, kind of, change.”

“Candor, honesty, transparency are absolutely critical particularly at this time to try to build trust as the secretary of Homeland Security,” the Michigan senator said.

Peters said he asked the FBI about the classified work that Mullin said he participated in and was told that he is not named in any classified document that the government has.

“We want to know what this supposed classified work was. I have real questions about it,” Peters said.

Still, Mullin told senators he participated in “official travel and it was a classified trip.”

“It wasn’t a mission,” he said. “It was official travel with specific fact finding just like any official travel is, that they wanted clarification on.”

Mullin told the panel that only he and three others knew about the activities, which he said was a “special program” in the House, and would need permission in order to discuss it with senators.

“I have zero issue with talking about it,” Mullin said. “I don’t have clearance to talk about this this afternoon.”

He also said the work was within his official duties but declined to say who assigned it or where the travel was to.

“It’s a little difficult for us to go ask about a program that has no name, and we have nobody that we know to talk to about it,” Paul said. “I don’t know how we would begin doing this without your cooperation.”

Mullin did tell senators the work took place while he was a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, prompting Peters to retort, “it was an Energy and Commerce top secret effort.”

Paul also said he asked the FBI about whether Mullin did work for the CIA, Pentagon or other intelligence agencies, and was told that if he did classified work, it would be in a separate folder that senators could view privately.

“It’s confusing to us because there may have been some papers that said your official trips were excluded,” the chairman said. “I don’t know which ones were or weren’t, but you’ve now mentioned today that you have activities that you’ve done.”

A vote on Mullin’s nomination is expected to take place Thursday, and while Paul said he was willing to hold the vote, he could also postpone it to ensure senators receive the necessary information about Mullin’s travel.

“If you’re doing something that important, really it probably ought to be revealed and discussed,” he said.

Asked by GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa about the DHS shutdown, Mullin cited the more than 200,000 employees at DHS that he said are still working without pay a month into the shutdown.

“I don’t know how in good conscience you could sit there and think that’s OK,” Mullin said.

Mullin said “I look at this as political theater that we’re playing games with and we’re risking people’s lives, and we’re disturbing people’s lives.”

Peters chimed in after Ernst’s line of questioning to defend Democrats’ position. He noted that Democrats have attempted to fund the other agencies that DHS oversees, including TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard. Democrats have tried to pass the funding under unanimous consent in recent weeks, but Republicans have blocked the efforts, while offering their own measures to fund all of DHS.

“I think the political theater has been on the Republican side,” Peters said.

Peters urged, “Let’s not make TSA a hostage in this whole thing.”

“Let’s pass the bills,” he said. “We can do it.”

Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat whose vote could be critical to advancing Mullin’s nomination out of committee, praised Mullin, saying “my experience with you has been consistent kindness and professionalism.”

Fetterman said before his nomination for DHS secretary, he and Mullin were discussing getting together and having dinner with their families.

“That’s an ongoing relationship because that’s also part of the fact here in this town, you got to get along and find a way to work together,” Fetterman said.

The Pennsylvania Democrat also outlined his views on illegal immigration. He said “Americans don’t like chaos,” while pointing to chaos at the southern border during the Biden administration.

Fetterman brought up Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed by an undocumented individual in February 2024, saying that her death, along with Pretti’s and Good’s deaths in Minneapolis, represent “failures of our government.”

“We need to have a secure border and we have to round up and deport every single criminal in our nation,” Fetterman said. “I can’t imagine why that’s controversial for anybody.”

Fetterman also cited the personal grievances on display at the hearing.

“I know that there’s a lot of hard personal feelings here,” Fetterman said. “It’s about letting it go and moving on.”

A source familiar with the proceedings confirmed to CBS News that Paul blocked Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican, from introducing Mullin at the confirmation hearing

Britt leads the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security and has been involved in negotiations over funding the department.

Britt confirmed that she was kept from introducing Mullin.

“I’m really disappointed,” she told reporters. “I asked obviously for the opportunity to speak about our colleague and my dear friend. I would’ve hoped that would’ve been something the chairman would have allowed to happen. We did speak. He told me that was not something he was going to let me do.”

Britt said she will instead submit her remarks for the record.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, asked whether Mullin would commit that ICE will no longer instruct agents to go into homes without judicial warrants.

Mullin said “I have made it very clear to the staff” that “judicial warrants will be used to go into houses and to place of businesses unless we’re pursuing someone that enters into that place.”

“I have not mixed words with that and I haven’t changed my opinion about that,” Mullin said.

The warrants issue has been a key point of contention between Democrats and the administration amid negotiations over reforms to immigration enforcement.

Peters pressed Mullin about comments he made about Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis in January. Mullin, in an interview on Fox News, called Pretti a “deranged individual that came in to cause max damage,” while Noem claimed he was a “domestic terrorist.”

“Could we expect those kinds of quick responses if you are confirmed as secretary?” Peters said.

Noem had been widely criticized for her remarks about Pretti and Renee Good, who was also shot and killed by an immigration officer in Minneapolis in early January.

“Those words probably should have been retracted. I shouldn’t have said that, and as secretary, I wouldn’t,” Mullin said of his comments about Pretti. “The investigation is ongoing, and there is, like I said, there’s some times I’m going to make a mistake, and I’ll own it. That one, I went out too fast. I was responding immediately without the facts. That’s my fault. That won’t happen as secretary.”

Asked by Peters whether he would like to apologize to Pretti’s family, Mullin said, “I regret those statements.”

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

Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, questioned Mullin about his leadership style should he be confirmed as DHS secretary. She asked Mullin how he would be different from Noem.

Mullin said he loves Noem’s family and considers them friends, but he said “everybody has different leadership styles.” He said his style is “empowering people.”

“I want to protect the homeland, I want to bring peace of mind, I want to bring confidence back to the agency,” Mullin said. “I’m not going to be the smartest guy in any room I walk into, but I know how to get talent and I know how to bring those people together.”

Hassan said Noem “gave the greenlight to lawless behavior” and asked whether Mullin would do the same. Mullin said at DHS he will operate “within the parameters and the policies and the laws that you guys set for me.” And “of course the Constitution of the United States,” he said.

The New Hampshire Democrat asked Mullin whether he would follow the law or the president if directed by Mr. Trump to take an action that would follow the law. Mullin said “the president would never ask me to do that.”

Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio, offered support and praise for Mullin following the intense questioning from Paul and Peters.

“I just want the American people to know that you’re a good man that doesn’t always go through all the political shenanigans, and maybe you’re not going to replace Shakespeare as the next greatest orator on earth,” he said. “You talk from the heart, and that’s OK. That’s who you are.”

Moreno then laid out the landscape for Mullin’s confirmation fight: “You will be confirmed. You will have the job and you’re going to make this country safer and better.”

Peters questioned Mullin about international travel he’s taken while in Congress, following reporting that Mullin has discussed a special assignment abroad but been scant on the details.

“This was an official trip and it is classified, but in 2015 I was asked to train with a very small contingency and go to a certain area which was scheduled for 2016. During that time, I was asked to go to, had to meet certain training qualifications,” Mullin said.

Mullin said he’s spoken in general about his experiences, but never specifically.

“It was an official trip that is classified,” Mullin said.

During his round of questioning, Sen. Rand Paul continued to criticize Mullin for what he said was a penchant for violent rhetoric, saying he was only interested in “machismo.”

“The sheer lack of any kind of self-awareness that you’re going to be leading thousands of men and women who will have the use of force and there’s been great questions in our country on how that will be used, and you think a violent attack is just fine,” he said.

Paul said that Mullin, sitting before him, still refused to apologize for the comments about him and his 2017 assault, when Paul was seriously injured in an attack by a neighbor.

“You offered no apology, and you offer no apology today, and no regrets,” the Kentucky senator said. “Haven’t heard the word apologize. Haven’t heard the word regret. Haven’t heard ‘I misspoke and it was heated and I made a mistake.'”

Paul said Mullin was “jolly well fine” with the American people and senators who will vote on his nomination knowing that he “supported the felonious violent attack on me from behind.”

Mullin said that he did not say he supported the attack, but “understood it.”

“There’s a difference,” he said.

Paul then played a video that showed Mullin threatening to fight Teamsters President Sean O’Brien during a November 2023 hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“Do you think fighting as a resolution for political differences is a good example for the men and women of ICE and Border Patrol?” Paul asked.

Mullin noted that O’Brien was in attendance at the hearing, which he said demonstrated that the two have since settled their differences.

“I don’t believe in political violence, I’ve made that clear,” he said, accusing Paul of engaging in “character assassination” against him.

Mullin said in his opening statement that “we have to get DHS funded.”

The Oklahoma Republican urged his colleagues to set partisanship aside, and recognize 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,” he said. “But what we do know is that we’re playing with fire.”

DHS has been shut down since Feb. 14.

Mullin said lawmakers should all be working together to approve funding for the department.

Mullin was sworn in and, in his opening statement, addressed Sen. Rand Paul directly for “calling me a liar.”

The Oklahoma senator said that he did have a conversation with Paul while he was serving in the House about the assault by Paul’s neighbor, but argued that despite disagreements with his fellow senators, he works to find consensus with them to fix problems.

“It seems like you fight Republicans more than work with us,” Mullin said of Paul.

The Oklahoma senator also accused Paul of spending “millions of dollars” to defeat him in his campaigns because they don’t get along.

“I have a job to do, and I don’t like to fail at anything at all. So I can set it aside if you’re willing to set it aside,” he said. “Let me earn your respect. Let me earn the job. I won’t fail you. I won’t back down from a challenge, and I’ll also admit when I’m wrong.”

Mullin also said that he does not speak about people behind their backs.

“So for you to say I’m a liar, sir, that’s not accurate,” he said.

Sen. James Lankford, a fellow Oklahoma Republican, introduced Mullin and spoke of their years of experience working together.

“There are a lot of folks that think they know you, I actually get to know you,” Lankford said.

Lankford called Mullin a “person of faith” and said he has “the rare gift of bringing people together on both sides of the aisle.”

“Markwayne is not afraid to do the work,” Lankford said.

Lankford said he’s confident in Mullin’s ability to take on challenges at DHS.

Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the panel, criticized the actions of the Trump administration regarding the Department of Homeland Security, including cutting counterterrorism programs and gutting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA.

“We need a steady, qualified leader at the Department of Homeland Security to address these serious threats,” he said. “How the Homeland Security secretary responds to a crisis sends signals to everyone, from the department’s own personnel to the American people and to the entire world.”

Peters said the role of Homeland Security secretary requires good judgment and experience, and that under Kristi Noem’s leadership, the nation saw “how shortcomings in these traits can compound the challenges that already come with leading a large and complex department.”

The Michigan Democrat said he has “reservations” about Mullin’s readiness to take the helm of the Homeland Security Department.

“The Department of Homeland Security is a complicated organization with challenging operational dynamics,” Peters said.

He noted that the hearing is taking place while the Department of Homeland Security is shut down because of a lapse in federal funding, but said Democrats are committed to funding other components of the department, including TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard, while negotiations over reforms to immigration agencies continue.

“If Republicans really do agree with us that TSA and other personnel need to be paid, then they should join us and pass the bills to pay them today,” he said.

Paul began his opening statement by discussing political violence, speaking of incidents where he said he himself was exposed to political violence, including one where he spent a week in the hospital after he said he was attacked in his yard. Paul suffered several cracked ribs as well as damage to his lung, and has described the aftermath as “living hell.”

Paul then turned to Mullin, citing reporting that Mullin said he was a “freaking snake” and that he understood why Paul was assaulted.

“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 to the proper use of force,” Paul said.

Paul said Mullin has never had “the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified.

“So today you’ll have your chance,” he said.

Paul said Mullin must explain to Americans “why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents”

Mullin, 48, has been in the Senate since 2023, after representing Oklahoma in the House for a decade. Mullin is a member of the Cherokee Nation, a business owner, and a former college wrestler and MMA fighter.

In the Senate, Mullin has served as the de facto middleman with the House, often fielding disagreements between the upper and lower chamber. He’s also a reliable ally of the president, propping up his agenda on Capitol Hill.

The push to confirm a new DHS secretary comes as the department has been shut down for more than a month amid an impasse in Congress over funding for its immigration enforcement operation.

Democrats are adamantly against funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection without serious reforms, following two deadly shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis in January. Senate Democrats and the White House have been trading proposals in recent weeks, but a breakthrough appears far off.

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s impact is being felt by agencies overseen by DHS, including TSA. The impasse has created a significant staffing headache at airports, with hundreds of TSA officers quitting their jobs while others call out sick as they go without pay during the shutdown.

Both parties attempted to pass measures last week to get around the impasse. Democrats sought to approve funding for the bulk of DHS’ agencies by unanimous consent, which Republicans rejected. The GOP then tried to approve funding for all of DHS on a temporary basis as negotiations continue. Democrats blocked their efforts.

Mullin is on a glidepath to confirmation, buoyed by strong relationships with his Senate colleagues, and relief from many over Noem’s ouster.

After Wednesday’s hearing, the Homeland Security Committee said it could vote as soon as Thursday to advance Mullin’s nomination, which would tee up a vote before the full chamber in the near future.

Mullin only needs a simple majority from the full chamber to be confirmed as DHS secretary. With 53 Republicans, his support is locked down, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters last week that he’s hopeful Mullin will even get some support from Democrats.

“He’s got good, strong relationships on the other side of the aisle,” Thune said. “And I mean, this is what the Democrats were clamoring for. They wanted a new change and shake up in the leadership, and it’s now happening.”

Thune added that he “can’t imagine” that Democrats, after pushing for new leadership, would “turn on one of their colleagues in the Senate, who I think has done a pretty good job in his time here of really building relationships on the other side.”

At least one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, said he intends to support Mullin’s confirmation.

Asked whether Democrats would oppose Mullin’s confirmation, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference last week that “the rot in ICE is deep.”

“It’s not one person — it goes deep within it. And what we need is not changing the personnel, but changing the law,” Schumer said. “That’s what Democrats are for.”

Mr. Trump said when he announced Mullin as his pick to be Noem’s replacement that she would remain in the role until March 31.