During a tense DHS hearing, Mullin confronted Rand Paul’s “anger issues.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, the president’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was assaulted during his confirmation hearing Wednesday with questions about his “anger issues” by another Republican who heads the Senate committee that oversees the department.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, recalled at the start of the hearing how Mullin called him a “freak snake” and expressed sympathy for a neighbor who attacked Paul during a dispute in 2017, breaking six of his ribs and damaging a lung.

“You never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me the assault was justified,” Paul told Mullin, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of the 260,000-employee agency. – Say it to my face if you believe it.

In a tense exchange, Mullin defended himself and said he never “supported” the attack on Paul but “understood” why the neighbor attacked Paul.

“I think everyone in this room knows I’m very blunt,” Mullin, former MMA fighter physically challenged the witness said he will testify before Congress in 2023.

Paul criticized him and “this machismo you have” and expressed concerns about how Mullin could lead the department and “why (the American public) should trust a man with anger issues to set the right example for ICE and Border Patrol agents.”

Noem was fired following nationwide uproar over the January killing of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by immigration agents and public disapproval aggressive law enforcement tactics there and in Los Angeles and Chicago.

“I just wonder whether someone who approves of violence against political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has difficulty accepting the limits of the appropriate use of force,” Paul said.

Mullin did not apologize for his comments about attacking Paul and said the DHS top is “greater than the political differences we have.”

Mullin detailed his plans to senators, pledging to change several of his predecessor’s policies, including ensuring that “DHS is not in the news every day.”

Mullin also promised to fully fund DHS and continue the president’s mass deportation program.

If confirmed, he would have access to a special $175 billion funding stream for DHS included in the “one big, beautiful” 2025 tax and spending cut package that Mullin supported as a senator.

The post-Noem era

Trump moved Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, to another administration position earlier this month.

Her tenure sparked bipartisan anger over her hasty designation of two U.S. citizens killed by immigration agents as domestic terrorists, the suspension of disaster relief grants to states, and the awarding of a $220 million no-bid advertising campaign contract to a company owned by a subordinate’s spouse.

Paul said the committee plans to vote on Thursday to accept Mullin’s Senate nomination. Trump has said he wants Mullin in office by the end of the month.

If the Senate confirms Mullin, he would be the first Native American to lead DHS. He is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told reporters Wednesday that he was confident Mullin could be confirmed as homeland security secretary.

“Rand and Markwayne have some personal history that they’re going to have to work through,” Thune said. “But this is about the job and who should fill it. We all believe… that Markwayne is the right guy for the job.”

One Democrat has already answered yes.

Oklahoma’s junior senator, who was elected to the Senate in a 2022 special election, does not need any Democratic support to lead the agency because Republicans control the 53-seat chamber.

And even without Paul’s support, one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who sits on the committee, has already pledged his vote.

Mullin, if confirmed, will take over a department that has been closed since early February after Democrats refused to vote on funding for fiscal year 2026 unless changes are made to immigration enforcement following the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Top Homeland Security Democrat Gary Peters pressed Mullin about his previous comments about Good and Pretti. Mullin joined top Trump officials in accusing both of being agitators.

Mullin admitted his mistake and said he assessed the situation too quickly.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Mullin said. “I got out there too quickly. I responded immediately, without facts. It’s my fault. It’s not going to happen as secretary (of homeland security).”

Noem has never admitted that she wrongly labeled Good, a mother of three and a poet, and Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse who specializes in caring for veterans, as domestic terrorists. She was criticized both Democrats and Republicans for her comments.

On Wednesday, Republicans on the panel largely praised Mullin, with the exception of Paul, and criticized Democrats for not approving government funding for DHS.

Democrats in the House of Representatives are trying to force a legislative process to introduce a DHS funding bill that does not include any funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

ICE questions

Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin pressed Mullin on reforms he would make to ICE.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, asked Mullin about the 3,000-per-day arrest limit that White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, the chief architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, had set for ICE officers.

“I can’t speak for Stephen Miller,” Mullin said. “No limit was set for me.”

Blumenthal also pressed Mullin on concerns about violations of the Fourth Amendment by federal immigration agents entering homes and businesses without a court order.

He asked Mullin if he would “commit that ICE will no longer instruct agents to break into homes without a court order?”

“Sir, you use the word ‘home invasion’ loosely,” Mullin said. “We will not enter a home or place of business without a warrant unless we are prosecuting someone who comes across a business or resident.”

Blumenthal also addressed the awarding of a $220 million no-bid contract to Noem, which led to disgruntled Republicans ridiculing her during a congressional hearing shortly before Trump removed her as DHS secretary.

Mullin said he would allow the inspector general, an independent agency within DHS, to continue the investigation.

“I leave that to (the Inspector General),” Mullin said.

Purchases from detention warehouse

Democrats pressed Mullin on whether he would maintain certain policies of Noem, whose last day is March 31, and questioned DHS’s recent moves to purchase warehouses across the country to mass detain immigrants in the country without legal status.

New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim said Noem’s policies have led to a backlog of Federal Emergency Management Agency aid. Noem requested that she personally sign each FEMA award worth more than $100,000.

Kim asked Mullin if he would consider getting rid of the policy.

“Absolutely,” Mullin said. “This is micromanagement.”

Kim also mentioned a warehouse recently purchased by DHS in Roxbury, New Jersey, where up to 1,500 immigrants are being held, which has alarmed local community leaders.

“Most municipalities do not have the sewage and water capacity or infrastructure” to handle the warehouse where people are held, Kim said.

“There are only 42 police officers and a volunteer fire department in this city. Does this look like a city that has the resources to take over a warehouse?” – he asked Mullina.

Mullin did not say DHS would end its warehouse initiative, but said he wanted to make sure local communities were on board and promised to personally visit the site with Kim to meet with leaders.

New Hampshire Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan also raised the issue of locating a warehouse in her state. DHS initially planned to purchase a warehouse in Merrimack to modernize its immigration detention facility, but backed out.

She asked Mullin if he would “make sure the plan is not discussed?”

Mullin said he has no interest in this particular facility, but will work to get aid from the local community.

More FEMA questions

Oklahoma GOP colleague James Lankford asked Mullin what he sees as the future of FEMA. The president expressed his desire to dissolve the agency and FEMA review board was established to issue a report on its findings.

Mullin stated that FEMA should not be considered a first responder agency and that in the event of a natural disaster, the state responds first.

“We can be more effective, more direct and accelerate,” he said.

Mullin added that he does not believe FEMA should be disbanded, but that it can be restructured.

Mullin’s foreign ventures

The committee’s top Republicans and Democrats, Paul and Peters, criticized Mullin over his previous comments about an international trip he took in 2016 while serving in the House. In an interview with Fox News Mullin suggested that he had been on military missions and “smelled the smell of war.” Mullin did not serve in the military.

Mullin declined to discuss the comments, arguing that the trip took place while he was on official duty and was secret. He described these trips as of a training nature.

Peters asked why the trip was not included in his record of disclosures to the committee, to which Mullin argued that because it was considered official travel, he did not have to disclose it.

Paul said he would consider postponing the committee’s vote unless Mullin agreed to visit a secure facility, called SCIF, where classified matters are discussed, to discuss in detail his international travel.

Mullin said he would go to the SCIF meeting with lawmakers before Thursday’s committee vote.

Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.