Mullin, a staunch Trump supporter, has no law enforcement experience.
The spotlight is now on Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin as the Oklahoma lawmaker is poised to take over the Department of Homeland Security following Kristi Noem's controversial tenure and Mullin, 48, has no law enforcement experience but has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump's policies on immigration and law enforcement.
Mullin told ABC News' Rachel Scott and other reporters shortly after the news broke that he was completely caught off guard when Trump called him about the announcement and hadn't yet talked to his wife.Trump fires DHS secretary Kristi Noem, says he will nominate Markwayne Mullin as replacement"If they have real concerns I'm going to listen to it, I'm going to be practical," he said.Mullin has been a member of Congress since 2013, with four years as a senator. He was born and raised in Oklahoma and member of the Cherokee Nation. Mullin dropped out of college at age 20 to run his father's plumbing business. He would eventually earn an associate's degree from the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology, making him the only current sitting senator without a bachelor's degree.Mullin would expand his business to other ventures including real estate and agriculture and hosted a radio show on home improvement. In 2012, Mullin won his first election for Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District with the slogan "A rancher. A businessman. Not a politician."Mullin championed hard conservative policies during his tenure in the House, including opposing abortion rights, relaxing gun control laws and supporting Trump's tax cuts.He was a vocal supporter of Trump and echoed the president's baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen and rigged. Mullin was inside the House Chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters and was seen making makeshift barricades to prevent the rioters from getting in. He continued to push Trump's baseless election claims following the attack. "It's going to be very hard to convince me that Joe Biden received more votes than any other president in history," Mullin said during an "More and more, we're finding more details out from different states who are doing a deep dive and are saying this election had a lot more irregularities than we thought," he added.Several audits, probes and lawsuits have determined that the count that gave Biden the win was accurate and the election was conducted properly. Mullin was a vocal critic of President Joe Biden during his time in the White House and came out against the president's student loan forgiveness plan. Mullin introduced two resolutions to impeach Biden, which never passed. In 2022, Mullin won a special election to finish the term retiring GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe. Over the last three years, Mullin continued to push for his conservative policies and when Trump was reelected in 2024, the senator championed the Trump administration's messaging and policies.A tense meeting at during a November 2023 Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing went viral after Mullin stood up from his seat and O'Brien and Mullin had been engaged in a back and forth on social media where the union leader called the senator a "clown" and a "fraud.""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," the senator said."I'd love to do it right now," O'Brien said.Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pleaded for everyone to calm down. Mullin later told reporters that he has "no beef" with O'Brien and was simply responding to O'Brien's tweets calling for a fight. "People have been fighting for a long time. I mean, go back to the 1800s .... It was legal to do duels. If you have a difference, you have a difference," Mullin said. "I didn't start it."This week Mullin was on the hot seat on Tuesday after he initially told reporters, "This is war, and we're taking out the threat," after asked about the U.S. and Israeli army attacks on Iran before backtracking and saying, "We haven't declared war."If Mullin becomes the new Homeland Security secretary and resigns his seat, then Oklahoma's governor will temporarily appoint someone to fill his spot but will not need to call a special election, since Mullin's Senate seat is already up for election this year., the governor of Oklahoma appoints someone to take the senator's place within 30 days of the seat becoming vacant. The statute also says that "a person who is a prospective appointee shall submit to the Secretary of State an oath affirming that the person will not file as a candidate for the office when it next appears on the ballot.", "the candidate elected to the office at the regularly scheduled election shall be deemed to also have been elected to fill the vacancy and shall be eligible to assume the office upon the official certification of the election by the State Election Board." Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, in a statement to ABC News, described Mullen as a "fighter" and said he plans to appoint a "strong, small government conservative voice," without saying who he is thinking of appointing.ON NOW
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Trump says he's replacing Homeland Security Secretary Noem with GOP Sen. Markwayne MullinPresident Donald Trump says he’s replacing his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and will nominate in her place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
Read more »
Kristi Noem out as DHS Secretary; Trump announces Sen. Markwayne Mullin as replacementThe announcement comes amid criticism of DHS spending under Noem, and as Congress has allowed the department's funding to lapse.
Read more »
Trump says he's replacing Homeland Security Secretary Noem with GOP Sen. Markwayne MullinThe president says he’ll make Noem a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere.
Read more »
Trump names Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin as new DHS secretaryPresident Donald Trump announced that U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will become the next Secretary of Homeland Security.
Read more »
Kristi Noem Fired—Trump Taps Sen. Markwayne Mullin as DHS Secretary: Live UpdatesTrump taps Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace Kristi Noem at DHS. Follow live.
Read more »
Trump says he's replacing Homeland Security Secretary Noem with GOP Sen. Markwayne MullinNoem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term. Her departure caps a tumultuous tenure overseeing immigration enforcement tactics that have been met with protests and lawsuits.
Read more »