Teamsters Boss Who Nearly Came to Blows With Markwayne Mullin Endorses His DHS Nomination

The Teamsters president who nearly came to blows with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) during a Senate hearing two-and-a-half years ago has thrown his support behind Mullin’s nomination to be the next Homeland Security secretary.

Sean O’Brien released a statement Thursday after President Donald Trump announced Mullin would replace Kristi Noem at the end of the month.

“If anyone is willing to stand their butt up to protect America, it’s Markwayne Mullin,” O’Brien said in the statement.

During the Nov. 2023 Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, Mullin took issue with O’Brien’s salary compared to that of his union members.

“You tweeted at me one, two, three, four, five times,” Mullin said at the hearing, while holding up pages of computer printouts. “And let me read what the last one said. It said, ‘Greedy CEO who pretends like he’s self-made.’ Sir, I wish you were in the truck with me when I was building my plumbing business and my wife was running the office, because I sure remember working pretty long and hard hours.”

Mullin continued reading, “‘What a clown. A fraud. Always has been, always will be. Quit the Tough-guy act in these Senate hearings. You know where to find me, any place, any time, cowboy.’ Sir, this is a time, this is a place,” Mullin addressed O’Brien. ” You want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults, and we can finish it here.”

O’BRIEN: Okay, that’s fine. Perfect.

MULLIN: You wanna do it now?

O’BRIEN: I’d love to do it now.

MULLIN: Stand your butt up, then.

O’BRIEN: You stand your butt up.

As Mullin stood up and started to remove his wedding ring, then-Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) intervened.

“Stop it, hold it, no, no, sit down,” Sanders said. “You’re a United States senator. Sit down!”

“I don’t like thugs and bullies,” Mullin exclaimed over Sanders.

“I don’t like you, cause you just described yourself!” O’Brien shot back before Sanders tried to get control of the situation, which lasted for several more minutes.

Fox Digital reported that “tensions appeared to cool in 2024 after Trump helped broker a truce between the two men.”

Mullin later recounted on Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla that Trump reached out to O’Brien as Teamsters members “increasingly leaned Republican.”

O’Brien said that since many of his members were supporting Trump, he felt compelled to acknowledge where his “brothers” stood politically.

Watch the exchange between Mullin and O’Brien from 2023 above via C-SPAN.

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