The 7 Craziest Moments From Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s Pick to Lead Homeland Security

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

President Donald Trump nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to lead the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, shortly after he removed Kristi Noem from the position. Her firing came a day after yet another contentious hearing before Congress, where she was grilled about her tumultuous tenure at the department, culminating with one member asking Noem about her alleged affair with a subordinate.

Mullin has been a senator since 2023 after serving five terms in the House of Representatives. Before being elected to Congress, he took over his father’s plumbing business, and since then has started other ventures. The senator has also been something of a content machine thanks to his frequent cable news hits. Here are the seven craziest Markwayne Mullin moments.

7. Mullin said when he called Trump’s war on Iran a “war,” that it was “a misspoke.” 

MULLIN: This is war, and we’re taking out the threat. And if you’re part of the threat, then you’re a target. What we call not all the arrows, but going after the archers.

[…]

REPORTER: You will concede this is war.

MULLIN: We haven’t declared war. They declared war on us, but we haven’t.

REPORTER: The president called it war, and Secretary Hegseth–

MULLIN: We haven’t declared it.

REPORTER: Just now you said, “This is war.” You called it war.

MULLIN: They’ve called it war.

REPORTER: You just said–

MULLIN: Ok, well, that was a misspoke.”

6. Mullin compared Charlie Kirk to Martin Luther King Jr., whom Kirk harshly criticized. 

I heard that comparison earlier today, and I do believe that, because you had two non-elected officials that was taking a political stand and both their voices were silenced or tried to be silenced because of someone’s opposing view.

5. Mullin claimed – after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot – that only Democratic political rallies become violent.

We know their rallies get very violent. Ours do not. Republican sides do not, they’ll burn down buildings, they will riot offices, they will riot stores, they turn over cars, they vandalize police cars. And so that’s not protected in the Constitution. So when someone throws out the Constitution, I want them to understand what it is that they’re actually describing.

4. Mullin stated that he doesn’t wear a seatbelt while driving in Washington, D.C. because he is afraid of being carjacked.

And by the way, I’m not joking when I say this. I drive around in Washington, D.C. in my jeep and, yes, I do drive myself. And I don’t buckle up. And the reason why I don’t buckle up, and people can say whatever they want to, they can raise their eyebrows at me, again, is because of carjacking.

I don’t wanna be stuck in my vehicle when I need to exit in a hurry because I got a seat belt around me. And I wear my seat belt all the time, but in Washington, D.C., I do not because it is so prevalent of carjacking. And I don’t want the same thing happen to me what’s happened to a lot of people that work on The Hill.

3. Mullin said he understands why Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was physically attacked by a neighbor.

I respect Bernie Sanders because he’s an open socialist, and you know that he’s a communist so you know what you’re getting. Rand Paul’s a freaking snake. And I understand completely why his neighbor did what he did. And I told him that to his face. It stirred people up like [my wife] Cheryl, who don’t know the backstory. And then that night Rand sends out a fundraising letter on it. It’s a gimmick.

2. Mullin nearly had a fistfight with Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien during a Senate hearing in November 2023.

MULLIN: Sir, this is a time, this is a place. You want to run your mouth. We can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here.”

O’BRIEN: Okay, that’s fine. Perfect.

MULLIN: You want to do it now?

O’BRIEN: I’d love to do it right now.

MULLIN: Well, stand your butt up, then.

O’BRIEN: You stand your butt up.

MULLIN: [stands up and removes his ring]

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Hold it. Stop it.

O’BRIEN: Is that your solution to every problem?

SANDERS: Stop it. No, no. Sit down. Sit down! You’re a United States senator!

1. Mullin reportedly fingered the nostrils of sleeping congressional colleagues and their spouses while on a trip to Israel. 

From a November 2023 report in Politico:

Wednesday night, after a full day of coverage of Sen. MARKWAYNE MULLIN’s (R-Okla.) near-fisticuffs with a Teamsters leader — and his subsequent unapologetic victory lap of media appearances — we got an email from former Rep. DAVID TROTT (R-Mich.), who served with Mullin in the House: “My wife and I have a story about Senator Mullin if you’re interested.”

Consider our interest piqued.

We called up the former congressman, who told us about an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel in August 2015 that he remembered about 40 members attending, plus many spouses. Among those spouses was his wife, KATHLEEN “KAPPY” TROTT.

At this point, he handed the phone over to Kappy. She told us about the flight to Israel, which was hampered by layovers and delays. Though they were promised a quick shower in the hotel upon arriving, that schedule was revised on the fly: Instead, they’d immediately board buses to see an Iron Dome installation and a kibbutz.

“We were in the clothes we’d been wearing for like 24 hours,” Kappy says. “We get on this bus, and it’s a couple-hour bus ride and people were kind of leaning on their spouse’s shoulder and falling asleep. And this idiot starts walking up and down the bus with his camera and anyone who fell asleep, he would put his finger in their nose and take a picture.”

“I said [to myself, ‘If] that idiot comes near me when I fall asleep, I’m going to punch him,’” Kappy told us. “And I said to Dave: ‘This is a U.S. congressman?’”

That congressman? Markwayne Mullin.

“Some people were mad, and some people were laughing. There were a couple of women who were mad,” Kappy said. “You’re trying to fall asleep, somebody you don’t know has his finger … It was just middle school. And we were in Israel, and we’re going to go see the Iron Dome and go to a kibbutz. Just didn’t seem appropriate.”

They said that Mullin’s recent round of publicity jostled their memory. Contemporary press reports verify that Mullin was, in fact, on this 2015 trip to Israel.

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