‘It’s Been Illegal For 170 Years!’ Rand Paul Shuts Down Markwayne Mullin For Suggesting Dueling Is Allowed in the Senate

 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) shut down President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, after Mullin bizarrely argued that dueling between two consenting senators was still legal in 2026.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday, Mullin was confronted by Paul with footage of the time he tried to get into a fist fight with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien on the Senate floor.

“In the days after the fight, you did many interviews in which you justified the violence as historically justified by precedents such as caning and dueling,” said Paul. “Is it today your opinion that the caning of Charles Sumner was not only justified but are used still for resolving our political differences with violence?”

Mullin replied, “What I was simply pointing out is some of the rules that still apply to this body. For instance, dueling with two consenting adults is still there.”

Paul then informed Mullin, “It’s been illegal for 170 years! There’s no precedent for legal dueling. Even then, they fled the country. Do you realize that the man that beat Charles Sumner with a cane, he beat him until he was unconscious? You know why no senators intervened? Because his friend held a gun on the other senators, and he kept beating him and beating him until he crushed his skull.”

“That’s what you’re insinuating is a precedent of the Senate, and that’s what you live by,” he concluded. “That is a very, very dangerous sentiment.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!

Tags: