U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal pressed Markwayne Mullin, the nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on Wednesday over whether federal agents will be instructed to enter private homes and businesses without a judicial warrant.
While the Connecticut senator was pleased to hear Mullin say he would do things differently than former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem would on that front, Blumenthal said he won’t support his nomination, arguing there was an overall “failure to break with the past and commit to reform.”
Mullin, who currently serves as a Republican senator from Oklahoma, testified for several hours before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee as senators questioned President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the embattled agency that has gone without funding a month.
Wednesday’s high-stakes confirmation hearing turned unusually personal from the onset, with a member of Mullin’s own party and a colleague calling into question his character and fitness for the job.
A long-simmering spat between Mullin and the Republican chairman of the committee, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, took center stage. Mullin called him a “snake in the grass” and said he understood why a neighbor physically assaulted Paul back in 2017.
Paul questioned how a “man with anger issues” could lead an agency and set the tone for agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who have come under scrutiny for their use of force.
The Kentucky senator played a video of 2023 hearing where Mullin threatened to fight Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters. The two have since made amends and became friends. O’Brien was seated directly behind Mullin during the hearing.
Mullin accused the Republican chairman of “character assassination,” pushing back that he doesn’t condone political violence. The nominee didn’t apologize for his comments about Paul but said he’s able to move past it and commit to doing the job of overseeing a department of more than 260,000 employees.
“We just don’t get along. That doesn’t keep me at all from doing my job. It’s bigger than the partisan bickering we have. I can set it aside if you’re willing to set it aside,” he said.
When it was Blumenthal’s turn, he used his seven minutes of initial questioning to ask Mullin about DHS’ immigration enforcement. During recent public forums, Blumenthal has sought to put a spotlight on U.S. citizens who have been arrested, detained or injured by federal agents under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security.
Blumenthal pointed to a memo from last May in which Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons instructed agents to enter private homes without obtaining a judicial warrant. He sought a commitment from Mullin that the agency under his leadership wouldn’t pursue such a policy to forcibly enter a residence without one.
“If confirmed, will you commit to me and the chair and ranking member of this committee and the American people that ICE will no longer instruct agents to break into people’s homes without a judicial warrant?” Blumenthal asked the nominee.
Mullin took issue with the use of the word “break into” but committed that federal agents would seek judicial warrants in most cases.
“Sir, you’re using the word ‘break into’ people’s houses very loosely. However, I have made it very clear to the staff, and I think when you and I spoke, that a judicial warrant will be used to go into houses and into place of businesses unless we’re pursuing someone that enters into that place,” Mullin said. “I have not mixed words with that and I haven’t changed my opinion about that.”
Requiring federal agents to obtain a warrant from a judge is one of Democrats’ demands for reforms before supporting funding for Homeland Security, which has been shut down since mid-February. Negotiations have picked up in recent days as the White House and Democrats exchanged proposals. The DHS shutdown was also a focus of the hearing, as both parties cast blame on one another about why agencies like FEMA, TSA and the U.S. Coast Guard remain unfunded.
Blumenthal also followed up on an exchange with another senator during which Mullin said he regretted his past comments about Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis earlier this year. Mullin didn’t apologize to Pretti’s family, saying he would do so if proven wrong when the investigation wraps up.
The Connecticut senator asked if the DHS nominee regretted his previous comments about Renee Good, another U.S. citizen who was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis a few weeks earlier. In an appearance on CNN at the time, Mullin said he believed the shooting was justified.
Mullin had a different sentiment when it came to Good.
“Senator, it’s very clear that an officer had to make a split decision in that case as a car was running toward him and did strike him. At that point, that car becomes a lethal weapon. There was another officer obviously giving her verbal commands,” Mullin said. Video analysis and eyewitness accounts dispute that characterization.
When asked again if he regrets it, Mullin said there’s an investigation underway. But Blumenthal interrupted his response to say there is none. “In fact, that was my next question to you: Don’t you think there should be an investigation?”
“My understanding is that there is, and I will find out if I’m able to get confirmed, but those are two different incidences,” Mullin testified.
Blumenthal said the Trump administration has blocked state and local authorities from conducting oversight and investigations. Mullin countered that it is the job of the FBI to investigate federal matters.
As he exited the hearing room, Blumenthal told The Connecticut Mirror he got clearer answers about how Mullin would handle policy regarding judicial warrants.
“He was somewhat ambiguous in his written responses, and I welcome the commitment to follow the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. That reform is only one of many that I was seeking and the American people are demanding,” Blumenthal said. “On the others, he was equivocal and evasive.”
For that reason, Blumenthal said, he won’t support Mullin’s nomination in an upcoming committee vote that could happen as early as Thursday or if it comes before the full Senate.
“He has to be clear and unequivocal, which he failed to do. And he said in effect that he was going to continue many of the policies and practices that resulted in violence and brutality, lawlessness and recklessness on the part of ICE and CBP,” Blumenthal said.
Speaking to CT Mirror on Tuesday, Blumenthal said he wanted to hear a commitment to “substantive” reforms to ICE and Border Patrol. He also wanted to hear more about Mullin’s relationships with the White House and Stephen Miller, who serves as Trump’s deputy chief of staff and a homeland security adviser.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Mullin spoke about his relationship with Trump, describing the president as a friend and saying their relationship is focused more on family than policy. The Oklahoma senator, who grew emotional, later recalled Trump frequently calling him during the 2020 campaign to ask about Mullin’s son, who had suffered a brain injury.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee will first need to approve Mullin’s nomination before it’s sent to the full chamber for final confirmation. Nominations for Cabinet secretaries only need to secure a simple majority to clear the Senate.
Paul scheduled a committee vote on Mullin’s nomination for Thursday. But that appeared in doubt toward the end of the hearing because some members of the committee raised concerns over a foreign trip Mullin said he took in his official capacity a decade ago but wouldn’t provide more details because of its classified nature.
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
