Trump’s pick to replace Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security is Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin, a man whose greatest hits include trying to fistfight a union leader on live television and openly admitting he blocked Epstein files to “give Trump cover.”
Let’s start with the fistfight. In 2023, Mullin got so mad at Teamsters head Sean O’Brien for calling him a “clown” and a “fraud” on Twitter that he tried to throw down during a Senate hearing.
“Sir, this is a time, this is a place, if you want to run your mouth we can be two consenting adults and finish it here,” Mullin said. “You want to do it now? Stand your butt up then.”
A US senator named "Markwayne Mullin" challenging a Teamsters leader to a fistfight makes me feel like we really have gone back to the mid-20th century pic.twitter.com/ktcKn6iRQ6
— Populism Updates (@PopulismUpdates) November 14, 2023
Bernie Sanders had to intervene. “You’re a United States senator, sit down,” Sanders boomed. “God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress.” Mullin later posted a picture of himself cleaning his guns on Twitter.
Then there’s the Epstein thing. Last summer, when Senator Ruben Gallego introduced a resolution calling for the Justice Department to release all Epstein files in full, Mullin blocked it with his own watered-down version that only called for releasing “credible information” from sealed proceedings.
His reasoning? “What we’re simply wanting to do here, is give [Trump] cover,” Mullin said out loud, on camera, to the entire country.
Mullin blocking Gallego resolution calling for release of the Epstein files: What we’re simply trying to do is give [Trump] cover pic.twitter.com/QzxffE821Z
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 24, 2025
Mullin also called D.C.’s “very racist mayor” out for making Trump’s authoritarian takeover of the capital about race—except D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is a Black woman who never said that, and Mullin kept referring to her as “he.”
Markwayne Mullin on DC: I will say this, the very racist mayor, and people may get eyebrows when I raise that, but he is the one that brings in race into the conversation.. pic.twitter.com/35dwdFX563
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 13, 2025
This week, Mullin declared the U.S. operation in Iran a “war”—then immediately walked it back when a reporter asked for clarification. “We haven’t declared war,” he said. “That was a misspoke.”
RAJU: You'll concede this is war?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 3, 2026
MARKWAYNE MULLIN: We haven't declared war. They declared war on us
RAJU: The president called it war and Secretary Hegseth called it war
REPORTER: When you walked up just now, you called it war
MULLIN: Okay. That was a misspoke. pic.twitter.com/x2YRUMmzUG
And finally, the cherry on top: Mullin called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “President Hegseth” twice while waxing poetic about the smell and taste of war on Fox News. “War is ugly, it smells bad,” Mullin said, describing combat he has never experienced because he’s never served in the military.
“And fortunately, you have President Hegseth—or I say President Hegseth—Secretary Hegseth,” he continued, before calling him “President Hegseth” again.
Markwayne Mullin just did a Fox News hit in which he repeatedly praised "President Hegseth" and then said the president can ask Congress to declare war "on Iraq" pic.twitter.com/4pbRBtKhHT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2026
This is the man Trump wants running the agency responsible for immigration enforcement, border security, and domestic counterterrorism. A senator who can’t keep track of who the president is, openly brags about protecting Trump from scrutiny over his ties to a dead sex trafficker, and responds to criticism by threatening violence and posting gun pictures.