Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Trump’s pick to take over the Department of Homeland Security, sought to signal Wednesday that he would do things differently if confirmed to lead a sweeping federal organization that has been at the center of controversy over the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown and, as a result, remains partially shutdown because of a funding lapse.
Under intense grilling at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Mullin said he hopes to have the department work better with municipalities and does not want the department’s work to be in the headlines every day, as it has been for much of the year. “My goal in six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day,” he said. “My goal is for people to understand we’re out there, we’re protecting them, and we’re working with them.”
Yet he also indicated continued support for Trump’s immigration policies and mass deportation campaign as well as for calls by both the president and outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should not take the lead in disaster response.
He also emphasized the need for the department to be fully funded and for the partial shutdown that began last month to end.
Questions about temperament and biography: Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, faced questions from both Republicans and Democrats about his often pugnacious style and mysterious statements he has made suggesting past involvement in special security forces or overseas combat operations.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the committee, immediately challenged Mullin over personal attacks he had lobbed against him, including calling him a “freaking snake.” And he played video of a famous incident in which Mullin challenged Teamsters President Sean O’Brien to a fight during a Senate hearing. Paul suggested that Mullin has “anger issues” and might not be the right person to lead DHS. “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,” he said.
Sen. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the committee, also raised doubts about Mullin’s disposition. “This is a role where temperament matters, where judgment matters, and where experience matters,” he said.
Mullin said he is direct in his interpersonal dealings and noted that O’Brien was sitting behind him at the hearing and that the two are now good friends. Mullin said he was asked to train for and take an official, classified trip in 2015 and 2016, while he was a member of Congress. He did not provide details, insisting that he can’t discuss the dates, location and mission.
A call to end the shutdown: Democrats have blocked funding for DHS as they push for new limits on federal immigration enforcement tactics after at least three American citizens have been killed by federal agents. They have proposed to fund DHS agencies except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
Mullin praised DHS employees who have been working without pay and said that the shutdown must end. “We have to get DHS funded. We have to,” Mullin said in his opening remarks. “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.”
Agrees to use judicial warrants: Mullin seemed to back away from a Trump administration policy that defended the use of administrative warrants to allow federal immigration officers to enter private homes to search them or arrest undocumented immigrants. Democrats have demanded that immigration agents obtain judicial warrants for searches of private property. Asked whether federal agents should be required to get judicial warrants, Mullin signaled a policy change: “We will not enter a home or a place of business without a judicial warrant unless we’re pursuing an individual that runs into a place of business or a house,” he said.
Ending a Noem review policy: Mullin said he would not be a micromanager and would end Noem’s policy of personally reviewing every department expenditure of more than $100,000. That policy has been blamed for creating a multi-billion-dollar backlog of grants and disaster relief funding.
Restructuring FEMA: Asked if he would look to eliminate FEMA, as Noem has suggested, Mullin said he would seek to restructure the agency, not get rid of it. But he agreed that FEMA should defer to states for disaster response while ensuring that needed funding is delivered quickly. “FEMA was never designed to be the first responder,” he said. “That’s the states.”
What’s next: Paul reportedly said after the hearing that he will oppose Mullin’s confirmation, and he continued to criticize the man who has been his Senate colleague since 2023 in posts on X. “The fact that he can’t bring himself to say that, you know, really, we shouldn’t settle political questions with violence, I think that would be a terrible example for ICE and for our border patrol agents,” Paul told reporters.
That complicates the nomination’s path out of committee. If Paul votes against Mullin, the nomination would need the support of at least one Democrat to advance. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman might provide that vote. He praised Mullin’s “kindness and professionalism” and indicated he will have an open mind about the nomination.