Rand Paul Confronts Markwayne Mullin With Video of Him Ready to Fight Teamsters President

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) confronted Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on Wednesday with footage of Mullin nearly getting into an actual fistfight in the Senate.

Mullin’s testimony began tense as Paul pressed him about alleged comments he’d made about a past assault against Paul, as well as arguably Mullin’s most widely-seen moment in the Senate. Mullin is currently President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Kristi Noem as head of the Homeland Security.

In November 2023, Mullin questioned Teamsters President Sean O’Brien about insults they had exchanged on social media during a hearing.

“You want to run your mouth. We can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here,” Mullin said at the time.

“Okay, that’s fine. Perfect,” O’Brien said as Mullin jumped out of his chair and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) needed to convince him to sit again.

On Wednesday, Paul played footage of the incident as well as interviews Mullin gave afterwards.

“I would have probably jumped over the dais at that point,” Mullin said in a clip from a Newsmax interview after the O’Brien confrontation.

“You have to be called out. This guy continues to get away with this stuff. And then it’s just, you know, it’s silly, it’s stupid, but every now and then you get punched in the face,” he said in a clip from another interview on the same network.

“So no regrets,” Paul said after showing the clips. “In fact, even after your anger had cooled, you were still bragging that if he’d only been brave enough to stand up, you’d have jumped over the dais and taught him a lesson, because that’s how men should settle their differences. Do you think fighting as a resolution for political differences is a good example for the men and women of ICE and Border Patrol?”

Mullin answered by pointing to O’Brien, seated behind him. The two have been public about coming together as friends since their Senate dustup. Mullin has credited President Donald Trump with bringing the two together.

“As you can notice over my shoulder here, is my good friend Sean O’Brien. Both of us had had conversations. Both of us have shaken hands,” Mullin said. “And both of us agreed we could have done things different. Sean is someone that has become a close friend. We talk all the time. I’ve been on his podcast. We’ve talked through this. That’s how you handle your differences. Not like this chairman.”

“I’m glad you guys are friends now and that you’ve reconciled,” Paul replied. “But really it doesn’t get to the real point of whether or night you think violence is the way we settle things.”

Watch above via CSPAN.

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