The US Senate confirmation hearing for Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump's pick as Homeland Security chief, got off to a fiery start on Wednesday as he clashed with the committee chairman, a fellow Republican.
Senator Rand Paul, who heads the Senate Homeland Security Committee, opened the session by grilling Mullin about past comments the senator from Oklahoma made about Paul, a senator from Kentucky.
The 48-year-old Mullin, a burly former wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter, once called Paul a "freaking snake" and said he "understood" why Paul had been assaulted by a neighbor in 2017.
"Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it," Paul asked Mullin. "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."
ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, falls under DHS, the sprawling department tasked with carrying out Trump's campaign pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants.
"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.
Mullin declined to apologize to Paul for his past comments and, referring to the assault by his neighbor, said "I don't think anybody should be hit by surprise."
"I did not say I supported it," he said. "I said I understood it. There's a difference."
"Seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us," Mullin added.
Republicans hold an 8-7 majority on the Senate panel and it was not immediately clear that Paul would vote to advance Mullin's nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.
A Democratic senator on the committee, John Fetterman, has indicated, however, he may vote for Mullin's confirmation and said Wednesday that he has an "open mind."
- 'I shouldn't have said that' -
Mullin said one of his goals if he is confirmed to head DHS is to steer it away from the spotlight.
Former Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem was fired by Trump this month in part for her handling of the recent large-scale operation against undocumented migrants in Minnesota, during which federal immigration agents shot dead two protesters who were US citizens.
"My goal in six months is that we're not the lead story every single day," Mullin said.
The senator from Oklahoma also distanced himself from remarks he made at the time in which he called one of the Americans slain in Minneapolis a "deranged individual."
"I shouldn't have said that," he said.
Mullin, a staunch Trump supporter, was elected to the Senate from Oklahoma in 2022 after serving 10 years in the US House of Representatives.
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