Mullin and Paul get off to testy start at DHS confirmation hearing

The Senate confirmation hearing of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to lead the Department of Homeland Security, got off to a tense start on Wednesday.

Sen. Rand Paul, chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, began the hearing by calling Mullin out on recent comments he made. In February, it was reported that Mullin called called the Kentucky Republican a “freaking snake” and suggested he understand why a neighbor of Paul’s attacked him in 2017.

“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.

“Today, I’ll give you that chance to clear the record,” Paul continued. “Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it. 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.”

Mullin, in response, did not take a conciliatory tone.

“We just don’t get along. However, sir, that doesn’t keep me at all from doing my job,” Mullin told Paul. “I can have different opinions with everybody in this room, but as secretary of Homeland, I’ll be protecting everybody.”

“The record should show, and I think will show, a lack of contrition, no apology, and no regrets for your support, you completely understand the violence that was perpetrated on me,” Paul said.

Republicans have an 8-7 majority on the committee and Mullin needs a simple majority to advance to the full Senate. Opposition from Paul could complicate his candidacy, though Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has said he would vote in support of Mullin.

Mullin’s appearance Wednesday is the first of two this week before the panel Paul leads. President Donald Trump tapped Mullin, a close congressional ally of the president, to lead DHS earlier this month after firing Kristi Noem, who was mired in controversy.

Mullin is a hardliner who has endorsed the Trump administration’s immigration policies but is generally well-liked by his Senate peers.

He also got tough questions from the panel’s Democrats, who have been sharply critical of Trump’s mass deportation policies and liberal deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal immigration agents.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the top Democrat on the committee, questioned Mullin about his response to the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both of whom were killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. Before an investigation played out, Mullin called Pretti, a federal employee ICU nurse, a “deranged individual,” echoing claims made by Noem in the…