Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who Trump tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security, just last month called the man who will preside over his confirmation hearing a “freaking snake.”
During a breakfast in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month, Mullin voiced his frustration with Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, which will oversee his DHS confirmation hearing. Paul, a Republican, has been a thorn in the side of the Trump administration, as he has broken with leadership on several key MAGA issues.
“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,” Mullin, 48, said.
In his criticism, Mullin went as far as to say he took the side of the man who attacked Paul in 2017, which left him with lifelong injuries.
“And I understand completely why his neighbor did what he did. And I told him that to his face…And then that night Rand sends out a fundraising letter on it. It’s a gimmick,” he continued.
In 2017, Paul’s neighbor attacked the Kentucky Republican while he was mowing the lawn during a landscaping dispute about their yards. The attack left Paul suffering from multiple broken ribs, recurring pneumonia, and a hernia. He later had part of his lung removed stemming from the injuries.
Paul, 63, said the attack left him with a “significant injury that I have lifelong symptoms from.”
The Daily Beast reached out to Mullin and Paul’s office for comment.
President Donald Trump, 79, tapped Mullin to lead DHS after he fired Kristi Noem on Thursday, marking the end of a tumultuous year of her leadership at the agency. Mullin’s new role has prompted many to dig up his past public mishaps, of which Mullin has several.
A report that resurfaced from 2015, when Mullin was a congressman, concerned Mullin’s odd behavior on an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel. Then-Michigan Rep. David Trott and his wife, Kathleen, also attended with roughly 40 others.
Kathleen alleges that after a nightmare day of travel, they finally boarded a bus. At that point, Mullin took out a camera and began photographing himself sticking his finger up the nose of any guests who fell asleep.
One of his most notable moments came in 2023 when he challenged Teamsters President Sean O’Brien to a physical fight during a Senate hearing.
Mullin was upset over a tweet from O’Brien, who called him “a clown & fraud.”
“This is the time, this is the place,” Mullin told O’Brien after reading several critical tweets O’Brien had made. “If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here.”
“I’d love to do it right now,” O’Brien said.
“Well, stand your butt up then,” Mullin responded, to which O’Brien shot back. “You stand your butt up.”
Mullin then stood up in his chair and squared up to O’Brien, seemingly daring him to fight.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the Senate panel at the time, intervened and told Mullin to sit down.
Sanders yelled at Mullin, “You are a United States senator!” while banging his gavel several times to try to bring the now soon-to-be secretary to order.
