The nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-KY) to be President Donald Trump’s next head of the Department of Homeland Security may hinge on Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) in the face of opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
Paul, who chairs the Senate’s homeland security committee, will hold a Thursday vote to advance Mullin’s nomination to the full chamber, just one day after Paul eviscerated Mullin at the nominee’s confirmation hearing.
Paul described his fellow Republican as unfit to lead a massive department overseeing various federal agencies, including immigration enforcement agents. The Kentucky Republican also accused Mullin of endorsing political violence by refusing to apologize for comments sympathizing with a man who violently attacked Paul at his Kentucky home in 2017.
“I think there are anger issues,” Paul said of Mullin. “A guy who brawls, a guy who can’t even say he’s sorry about wishing violence on me… I don’t know how he could, from my point of view, be a leader of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or Border Patrol. I will be a ‘no.’”
A defiant Mullin rebuffed Paul’s assertions that he supported political violence and suggested Paul was disloyal to the Republican Party for frequently voting out of step with GOP colleagues.
Paul’s opposition means Mullin will need a Democrat on the committee to cross party lines if his nomination is to stay alive. Republicans would lack the 60 votes needed to discharge Mullin’s nomination from the committee and to the full chamber, should he lose Thursday’s panel vote.
Fetterman was undecided as of Wednesday but acknowledged he could be the deciding vote if no other Democrats on the committee support Mullin.
“I’m in a position to just absorb and take everything, so I’ve listened to every member of the committee,” Fetterman said. “I’m taking in everything, and that’s where I’m still at. I haven’t seen anything shocking.”
Mullin would have little issue securing confirmation by the full chamber, which Republicans control 53-47.
Mullin seeks to replace outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, whom Trump is moving to the newly created post of special envoy for the Shield of the Americas at the end of the month. Mullin, in his first term as a senator after serving five in the House, is seeking to lead the agency at a tumultuous time. Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda, carried out by federal immigration officials who serve under DHS, has sparked controversy after two American citizens were killed in Minnesota.
The exchange between Paul and Mullin at Wednesday’s confirmation hearing marked an extraordinarily tense episode involving senators of the same party, eclipsing that of even the combative moments with Mullin and Democratic members of the panel.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) rejected the notion that Mullin was “not qualified for this job 100%” and called him an “upstanding guy,” but it was unclear how the Democrat planned to vote. His office did not respond to a request for comment. Other Democrats remained opposed over the administration’s handling of the president’s sweeping deportation agenda.
Mullin and members of the committee held a private meeting after the hearing to discuss a classified foreign trip Mullin took on official business roughly a decade ago while serving in the House. But it appeared to have little impact.
Fetterman said the meeting, which occurred in a secure area of the U.S. Capitol reserved for classified briefings, did not sway him one way or the other. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said it “raised more questions,” while Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) downplayed the episode as “blown out of proportion.”
RAND PAUL TEARS INTO MARKWAYNE MULLIN FOR REMARKS ON HIS PAST ASSAULT: ‘TELL IT TO MY FACE’
Paul’s committee staff confirmed a Thursday vote to advance Mullin will go on as planned, despite previous threats by the chairman to delay it unless the nominee gave senators more information behind closed doors. Paul did not attend the meeting. A spokesman told the Washington Examiner that Paul’s mind was made up on Mullin’s confirmation but “facilitated the meeting to make sure everyone else got the information they needed.”
“Senator Paul already knows he can’t support the nominee, but he wanted to ensure all committee members have the information they need to make their own decisions,” a Paul spokesman said. “He knows enough to know how he is going to vote.”
