Rand Paul Opposes Trump DHS Pick Mullin Over ‘Anger Issues’

The Republican chairman overseeing hearings on Senator Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security blasted the Oklahoma Republican for “anger issues,” arguing they disqualified him from leading an agency enmeshed in controversy over aggressive tactics.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul scolded Mullin at a confirmation hearing Wednesday for publicly applauding a neighbor’s assault on Paul that put him in the hospital and for “brawling” at another Senate hearing. He later said he’d oppose confirming Mullin.

Paul appeared during the hearing to be referring to an incident in which Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, challenged Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to a fight during 2023 Senate hearing. Mullin brought O’Brien to the confirmation hearing.

While Paul’s opposition isn’t enough to block Mullin’s nomination on his own, it does leave President Donald Trump’s pick with little room for error as he navigates a thorny confirmation process.

DHS has been the subject of widespread calls among Democrats and some Republicans for change on how the department enforces Trump’s demands for aggressive immigration curbs. The standoff has led to a prolonged funding lapse with little end in sight and increasing airport travel delays as federal aviation security officers are asked to keep working without pay.

Paul and Mullin have, at times, had a hostile relationship and that tension spilled over into the hearing. Mullin referred to Paul, who often criticizes the president, as a “freaking snake” last month.

“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 as he opened the confirmation hearing. He questioned whether Americans could “trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and border control agents.”

Mullin, 48, a first-term senator, defended himself as “blunt” and added, “I simply said I could understand why the neighbor did what he did.”

Paul suffered six broken ribs and a damaged lung after an attack by a neighbor in 2017. The long-lasting damage to his lung led to several bouts of pneumonia.

Paul said after the hearing Mullin would set “a terrible example” for immigration enforcement agents.

Mullin must pass a majority vote from the committee before proceeding to a floor vote in the Senate. The committee has eight Republicans and seven Democrats.

With Paul’s opposition, Mullin will need support from at least one Democrat to advance. And one of those Democrats, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has repeatedly said he would vote to confirm Mullin.

After the hearing, Fetterman said he was keeping “an open mind” but suggested he heard nothing to change his view. “I haven’t been rocked by some kinds of mic dropping kinds of moments,” he told reporters.

The department’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics, including the killings of two US citizens in Minneapolis in January, have ignited a public furor and aroused protests across the country.

Funding for the department has been caught up in a fierce partisan clash over Democratic demands for restrictions on immigration agents, including that they stop wearing masks in most situations and obtain warrants before raiding private homes. The impasse has dragged on for more than a month while many DHS employees are forced to work without pay.

Mullin has been a vocal defender of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and deportation efforts.

Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan pressed Mullin on comments he made disparaging protester Alex Pretti as a “deranged individual” shortly after border patrol agents killed him in Minneapolis.

“Those words probably should have been retracted. I shouldn’t have said that,” Mullin responded.

Markwayne Mullin is sworn in during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on March 18.

Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg

Mullin told senators that under his leadership immigration enforcement agents would be instructed not to enter a home or business without a judicial warrant, “unless we’re pursuing the individual that runs into a place of business or a house.”

The pledge appears to run counter to previous DHS statements asserting that a judicial warrant isn’t required to enter a home or business to find and arrest a foreigner with a final deportation order.

Earlier this month, outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem testified that federal agents had made dozens of such arrests since last year, following a directive from acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons giving agents the authority to enter homes without a judicial warrant if the person sought had a final deportation order.

Trump chose Mullin to replace Noem, who had become the public face of its mass deportation campaign against migrants in the country illegally.

Noem exited the agency in part over a backlash against a quarter-billion dollar ad campaign paid for by federal taxpayers that featured her in a starring role. Noem told lawmakers during a congressional hearing that the president personally approved the advertisements, which Trump denied.

The DHS shutdown has limited non-essential functions of its underlying agencies, which include immigration enforcement, border patrol and customs, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration.

One in 10 federal airport security screeners skipped work on Monday after TSA officers missed their first full paycheck since the shutdown began last Friday. Airports around the country have started warning travelers to arrive early because of longer wait times at checkpoints.

(Updates with additional details throughout.)

--With assistance from Alicia A. Caldwell, Ellen M. Gilmer and Caitlin Reilly.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Alicia Diaz in Washington at adiaz243@bloomberg.net;
Matt Shirley in Washington at mshirley10@bloomberg.net;
Zahra Hirji in Washington at zhirji@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Megan Scully at mscully32@bloomberg.net

Mike Dorning, Derek Wallbank

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