A Senate hearing got heated on Tuesday when Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) stood up in an apparent move to fight Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.
The move came after O’Brien, testifying before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions about unions, challenged Mullin to a fight in June on X, formerly Twitter. In a post, he called Mullin a “clown” and “fraud” and ended with, “You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy.”
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Mullin used his time during questioning to confront O’Brien over the comments. He read off some of O’Brien’s tweets, adding, “Sir, this is a time. This is a place. You want to run your mouth? We can be two consenting adults — we can finish it here.”
“OK, that’s fine. Perfect,” O’Brien responded to the challenge.
“You want to do it right now?” asked Mullin, who fought professionally as an MMA fighter before coming to Congress.
“I’d love to do it right now,” O’Brien said.
“Well, stand your butt up then,” Mullin taunted, with O’Brien telling Mullin to do the same.
Mullin then stood up from his chair and adjusted the wedding ring on his finger as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who was running the hearing, began pleading for them to stop.
“You’re a United States senator. Sit down,” Sanders said, banging the gavel. “This is a hearing, and God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress. Let’s not —,” he added before being cut off by the two men.
Mullin and O’Brien then went back and forth about the remarks, including an apparent challenge to fight for charity, as Sanders struggled to maintain control of the room.
“We’re not here to talk about physical abuse,” Sanders said.
Mullin, pointing toward O’Brien, said he doesn’t care about respecting him, and O’Brien responded by saying he doesn’t respect the Oklahoma senator at all, either.
The back-and-forth and taunting continued until Sanders cut them both off and recognized another senator for questioning.
Mullin challenged O’Brien to a fight in Oklahoma earlier this year over social media, but the fight ended up not happening.
“MMA fight for charity of our choice,” Mullin posted on X. “Sept 30th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ll give you 3 days to accept.”
During the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021, Mullin made headlines when he attempted to reach Afghanistan to rescue Americans as the country descended into chaos and Taliban rule.
When Mullin was asked by a reporter afterward whether he regretted that the situation escalated to the degree it did, the senator said he had no regrets at all.
“Any day you can back up and say, ‘That situation could have been handled different’ — but how do you not handle it that way when he said, ‘Anytime, anyplace, cowboy’?” Mullin said.
“You’re going to say that to me and expect me not to say anything back to you? He didn’t do his research good enough,” Mullin added.
At one point near the end of the confrontation, O’Brien, with a smirk, said he never meant a fight but rather meant they could get a coffee anytime, anyplace. Mullin said he would be open to doing so when asked by reporters later on Tuesday.
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The tense moment came as O’Brien, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, and others testified about unions and workers.
David Sivak contributed to this report.
