‘You Gonna Tell Me To Shut My Mouth?!’ Senate Hearing Goes Off Rails as Teamster President and Oklahoma Republican Go to War

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien traded barbs during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Wednesday after Mullin accused the labor union of forcing members to pay dues and effectively stealing wages.

“What job have you committed or have you, have you started? What job have you created? One job other than sucking the paycheck out of some other body, somebody else that you want to say that you’re trying to provide because you’re forcing them to pay dues,” Mullin said, beginning the heated exchange.

“No, we don’t force,” O’Brien replied as Mullin continued.

“Senator, you’ve asked the question,” interjected committee chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

“You’re out of line,” hit back O’Brien.

“No, don’t tell me I’m out of line. Don’t tell me,” raged Mullin.

“You are out of line. You frame, you frame the statement,” O’Brien added, before being cut off by crosstalk.

“Tough guy,” O’Brien can be heard saying.

Mullin says, “Shut your mouth.”

“You are gonna tell me to shut my mouth!?” O’Brien hits back.

“Yes, I did,” replies Mullin.

“Tough guy, I’m not afraid of physical…” adds O’Brien appearing to mock Mullin.

“But don’t sit there and tell me I’m out of line,” Mullin says as they continue to speak over each other.

Sanders tries to regain control and stop the childish exchange. “Senator. You made a statement, you asked the question,” Sanders says

“I didn’t ask the question,” Mullin says, now tussling with Sanders.

“You asked the question. Let him answer to that,” Sanders continues.

“It’s rhetorical,” Mullin says continuing to deny he asked a question.

“Sounded to me like a question. Let him answer the question,” Sanders insisted.

“I’m not yielding my time to him,” Mullin declares.

After some more discussion, Sanders concludes, “Let him, you asked a question, he has a right to answer that.”

“As far as my salary goes, my salary, if you follow me around, I walk. I actually look at this building. I bet I work more hours than you do twice as many hours as you do. That’s true,” O’Brien says, taking a dig at Mullin.

“You don’t know what hard work is,” Mullin hits back.

Democrats in the Senate called O’Brien to testify about corporate regarding labor law enforcement. The Teamsters put out a statement summarizing O’Brien’s testimony. “O’Brien gave extensive testimony to senators about the various ways that corporations break the law with impunity and shut down operations in response to union organizing and collective bargaining efforts, often with no consequences,” said the statement.

Watch the full exchange above.