Markwayne Mullin was caught on live television in what appeared to be a bit of locker-room talk.
Mullin, who was installed as Department of Homeland Security secretary at the end of March, appeared on Newsmax on Thursday—a little earlier than he expected.
The 48-year-old was introduced by Wake Up America host Marc Lotter, who referred to the secretary as a “good friend of our show.”
The camera then cut to Mullin, who appeared unaware that he was already on live television and was chatting with someone off-camera.
“So you could see all the heifers,” Mullin could be heard saying, prompting booming laughter from people out of view. Officially, heifers are young female cows. But the word is often used as slang to derogatorily refer to an overweight or obese woman.
“Good morning, Mr. Secretary. You ready for us? Can you hear us?” Lotter said.
Mullin, who appeared to realize he was on live television, quickly responded: “Yeah, I’m ready.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to DHS for clarification on Mullin’s hot-mic comments.
The interaction quickly made the rounds on social media, where critics were quick to slam the former Oklahoma senator for his “locker room talk.”
“The good ole boy culture is making America not great,” one person wrote on X. Another chimed in: “[Mullin] got a lot of nerve calling someone a heifer when he has more neck fat than he has education.”
To be fair, Mullin has a reputation for not holding back. 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 at the time.
“Well, stand your butt up then,” Mullin responded, to which O’Brien shot back: “You stand your butt up.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who chaired 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 in an attempt to bring the now-soon-to-be secretary to order.
At the same time, his boss is practically the locker-room-talker-in-chief. President Donald Trump famously defended his 2005 Access Hollywood comments—in which he said he forgoes consent and grabs women “by the p----”—as merely “locker room talk.”
