Stephen Colbert roasted Markwayne Mullin’s disastrous Senate hearing, saying ICE Barbie’s replacement has “a history of being real dumb and real angry about it.”
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, 48, was grilled at his Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing this week after President Trump picked him to replace Kristi Noem as the new Homeland Security secretary.
“I’m not going to be the smartest guy in any room I walk into,” Mullin said during the hearing.
Colbert seized on the admission, saying, “Now, Mullin, you may know, has a history of being real dumb and real angry about it. He once stood up and tried to start a literal fight at a Senate hearing. And a few years ago, when Senator Rand Paul was attacked by his neighbor and sent to the hospital from that attack, Markwayne said he understood why Paul had been attacked.”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, 63, and Mullin have a tense history. The Oklahoma Republican applauded a 2017 attack on Paul that left the senator with six broken ribs. At the time, Mullin said he “completely” understood why Paul’s neighbor, who got prison time for the attack, did what he did. He also claimed he had shared this opinion with Paul: “I told him that to his face,” he said at the time. Just last month, he called Paul a “freaking snake.”
Paul ripped into Mullin in the Senate, where he presided over the confirmation hearing. The senator asked Mullin to set the record straight on why he deserved “to be assaulted.” He threw Mullin’s remarks back in his face, saying, “tell it to my face.”
“And while you’re at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents,” Paul said.
Colbert had the perfect retort for both figures embroiled in the bizarre feud.
“While that is a valid question,” he said, addressing Paul’s demands, “And it is a valid question, Senator Paul knows that anger issues are the top requirement for ICE and Border Patrol agents, right above not being the smartest person in any room you walk into."
During the heated interaction, Mullin also made a wild suggestion to Paul that dueling is an acceptable way to resolve conflict between “consenting adults.” Paul responded that the act of dueling has “been illegal for 170 years.”
“I can’t believe ... I cannot believe I’m agreeing with Rand Paul, but he’s right,” laughed Colbert, adding that ”the only kind of duel that’s still legal is FanDuel," a sports betting app.
Senators voted, 8 to 7, in favor of passing Mullin’s nomination to take over as the new DHS leader. Paul voted in opposition, unlike his fellow Republicans.
