Senators on Wednesday questioned whether one of their colleagues, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, has the temperament to helm the Homeland Security Department — with Sen. Rand Paul, a fellow Republican, calling the nominee “a man with anger issues.”
Mr. Paul, chairman of the committee that oversees the nomination, has emerged as a major hurdle for Mr. Mullin, lambasting the nominee for calling Mr. Paul a “freaking snake” and for sympathizing with an attacker who left Mr. Paul with six broken ribs and years of pain and recovery.
“I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against his political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled with limits to the proper use of force,” Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said as he kicked off Mr. Mullin’s confirmation hearing.
Mr. Paul also threatened to scuttle a vote planned for Thursday in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to advance Mr. Mullin’s nomination unless he provided more clarity to the panel on what he described as a secret training program he did in 2015 and 2016 while a House lawmaker.
The personal drama between the two men overshadowed what was otherwise a mundane nomination hearing. President Trump has tapped Mr. Mullin, Oklahoma Republican, to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of DHS, hoping for a reboot on his mass deportation mission.
Mr. Mullin told senators he’s eager for a quieter approach than Ms. Noem, under whose leadership the department dominated newscasts and front pages of newspapers with its aggressive approach to immigration enforcement and a pile of scandals.
“I hope that I’m not on the news, six months from now, every day,” Mr. Mullin said.
He told senators he would order Immigration and Customs Enforcement to curtail entry into homes and businesses without a judicial warrant, except in instances where officers are in pursuit of a subject. ICE last year adopted a policy of allowing entry under an administrative warrant in certain instances.
He also said he regretted calling Alex Pretti, the nurse shot and killed by DHS personnel in Minneapolis in January, a “deranged individual,” saying he spouted off prematurely and should have waited until the investigation was completed.
But he declined to retract his comments on the death of Renee Good, the other U.S. citizen killed in Minneapolis during a clash with DHS in January. Mr. Mullin said she turned her vehicle into a weapon and the officer — who was struck by the SUV — had to make a split-second decision.
Mr. Mullin also rejected calls to abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but said he would like to see it restructured.
And he said he would try to cajole sanctuary jurisdictions into better cooperation, but if that doesn’t work, he reserves the right to try to withhold federal funding from them.
“We’re just saying be good partners with us,” he said.
Mr. Mullin, a plumber by trade before being elected to Congress, brings little direct experience with Homeland Security, a department that includes agencies such as the Coast Guard, immigration agencies and cybersecurity defense.
He has backed Republican border and immigration enforcement measures as a lawmaker, but he hasn’t served on the committees or subcommittees that directly oversee the department.
He does, however, have a friendship with Mr. Trump, forged during a major health scare — a traumatic brain injury — for Mr. Mullin’s son. He said the president’s personal visit was even the catalyst for his son regaining his short-term memory functions.
Mr. Paul, joined by Democrats, said their difficulty with Mr. Mullin is his temperament.
Mr. Paul’s beef stems from a feud between the two men earlier this year when Mr. Paul criticized Mr. Mullin for voting against an amendment to rescind taxpayer-funded assistance for refugees. Mr. Mullin told constituents that the amendment would have scuttled a broader spending bill, and he called Mr. Paul a “freaking snake” in his dealings with fellow Republicans.
Mr. Mullin also said he could understand the neighbor who viciously attacked Mr. Paul in 2017.
On Wednesday, Mr. Mullin refused to recant.
“It seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us,” he told Mr. Paul.
“We just don’t get along,” he said. “However, sir, that doesn’t keep me, at all, from doing my job. … Let me earn the job.”
Mr. Paul then seized on an issue raised by Democrats who questioned Mr. Mullin’s past talk about having made “special” assignments overseas and experiencing the “smell of war.”
Mr. Mullin has not served in the military, so those words raised questions for Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the committee, who said he had been trying to get to the bottom of what Mr. Mullin meant.
“You have not been forthcoming with me or this committee,” Mr. Peters said. “We have to clear this up.”
Mr. Mullin tied the “smell of war” remarks to a secret operation he said he was part of in 2015 and 2016, though he has been cagey with the details.
He said the entire matter is shrouded in secrecy and he was unable to talk about specifics, though he said he did it for the U.S. House, where he was a member at the time.
Mr. Mullin initially used the word “mission” to characterize the operation in response to Mr. Peters. But later, questioned by Mr. Paul, he said it “wasn’t a mission, it was official travel.” He called it “fact-finding.”
“It was only me and three other people,” he said.
Under badgering from his colleagues, he agreed to speak to them in a secure room where classified information can be shared.
As senators emerged from that meeting Wednesday afternoon, it wasn’t clear whether he had settled matters.
Mr. Paul said that unless Mr. Mullin cleared up questions, Thursday’s committee vote was in jeopardy.
“I can cancel the vote,” he warned.
Even with Mr. Paul’s opposition, Mr. Mullin may have the votes to clear the committee whenever it does occur.
Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, voiced some level of support. Republicans said it was a done deal.
“You will be confirmed. You will have the job. And you’re going to make this country safer and better,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, Ohio Republican.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.