Trump’s DHS pick Markwayne Mullin to get Senate committee vote

A day after a testy confirmation hearing, a Senate committee is expected to vote Thursday morning on the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

Mullin could clear his first procedural hurdle to leading the department despite prodding from his Senate peers on Wednesday over his temperament, DHS’ immigration policies and a trip he said he took abroad while a member of the House that he repeatedly said was “classified.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chair of the Senate panel, lashed out at the nominee. Mullin recently said he understood why Paul’s neighbor physically attacked him in 2017 and called Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican who often does not vote with his party, a “freaking snake.” Paul called Mullin “unrepentant.”

“I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force,” Paul said.

Paul told reporters after the hearing that he would not support the nomination but committed to the Thursday vote, even after questions swirled around Mullin’s hazy description of his classified trip abroad. After the public hearing on Wednesday, some committee members relocated to a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility to get more information from Mullin in an environment where he could talk about classified information.

Republicans hold a 8-7 majority on the committee. Without Paul’s vote, at least one Democrat would need to support Mullin’s nomination for it to advance out of committee. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who sits on the committee, has said he would vote for Mullin.