Jake Tapper Asks GOP Senator if Markwayne Mullin Is a Hothead: ‘Does He Have Anger Issues?’ 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) endured some tense moments during Wednesday’s confirmation hearing as the Senate considers his nomination as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Quite predictably, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, mixed it up with Mullin, who once said he can “understand completely” why Paul’s neighbor physically attacked the Kentuckian in 2017.

“Rand Paul’s a freaking snake,” Mullin said last month. Just two weeks later, President Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and nominated Mullin to replace her.

Paul clearly relished grilling Mullin on Wednesday, particularly over one infamous incident in which Mullin nearly came to blows with Teamsters head Sean O’Brien in 2023.

Shortly after the hearing on CNN’s The Lead, Jake Tapper noted to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) that Paul claimed during the hearing that Mullin has “anger issues.”

“Rand Paul said that Mullin has ‘anger issues,'” Tapper said. “You’ve seen Mullin behind the scenes. Does he have anger issues, in your opinion?”

“I don’t think he does,” Ernst replied. “And actually, he has been pretty even keel. I think what you can see and what you’ve seen demonstrated through various committees is a lot of positioning, political positioning. But when he’s working with others and seeking information, especially when he’s working with Democrats across the aisle working on various legislative issues, he will sit down and have a calm, reasonable discussion.”

Ernst went on to say that Mullin and O’Brien have since patched things up since their explosive clash in 2023.

Despite the barrage of questions, no senator asked Mullin about a November 2023 report, in which the wife of an ex-congressman said she once witnessed Mullin fingering the nostrils of sleeping lawmakers and their spouses on a trip to Israel in 2015.

Watch above via CNN.

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