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Markwayne Mullin confirmation hearing for Secretary of Homeland Security: Fact check
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s the practice of this committee to swear in witnesses. Will the nominee, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony we’ll give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Senator Mullen, you are recognized for your opening statement. I think before I can start my opening statement, I have to address the remarks that the chairman made, uh, calling me *** liar. Sir, I think there’s, everybody in this room knows that I’m very blunt and direct to the point, and if I have something to say, I’ll say it directly to your face. If you recall back in your, uh, back in my house days, we actually did have this conversation because of the remarks that I’ve made. Um, you were in *** room. I simply addressed that I said I could understand because of the behavior you were having that. I can understand why your neighbor, why the neighbor did what he did. As far as my terms as *** snake in the grass, sir, I work around this room to try to fix problems. I’ve worked with many people in this room. Seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us. I did address those remarks. I did explain your gimmicks by the amendment you put forth. And as far as me saying that I invoke violence, I don’t. I don’t think anybody should be hit by surprise. I don’t like that. But if I do have something to say, Everybody in this room knows I’ll come straight to you. I’ll say it publicly and I’ll say it privately, but I’ll never say it behind your back. So for you to say, I’m *** liar, sir, that’s not accurate. And I got proof to say that because you have spent millions of dollars in my campaigns against me, because we just don’t get along. However, sir, that doesn’t keep me at all. From doing my job. I can have different opinions with everybody in this room, but as Secretary of Homeland, I’ll be protecting everybody, including Kentucky as much as I will my own backyard in Oklahoma. It’s bigger than the partisan bickering that we have. It’s bigger than the political, political differences we have. The truth is, I have *** job to do and I don’t like to fail at anything at all. So, I can set it aside if you’re willing to set it aside. Let me earn your respect. Let me earn the job. I won’t fail you. I won’t back down from *** challenge, and I’ll also admit when I’m wrong. I’m not perfect. I don’t claim to be perfect. I make mistakes just like anybody else. But mistakes, if you own them, you can learn from them, and you can move ahead. And I’ll make that commitment to you. Ranking Member Peters Chairman Paul, I do thank you for this opportunity. It is *** humbling experience. *** kid from Westville, Oklahoma. That grew up With *** dad that worked hard. He set the work example for all of us. And all my families, uh, and my, my, my siblings, we all work hard and I’m proud of the family we have. But to say that *** kid with *** bad speech impediment would one day sit up here in front of you. And be nominated to be the Secretary of Homeland. It was humbling enough to be selected by Oklahoma to be their US Representative when I didn’t even know how to tie *** tie. And 10 years later to be able to be called *** United States Senator and serve with all you guys. And I respect every one of you guys. I do. Regardless if I have an opinion about you or not, you were elected by your state and I respect that. I may disagree with you, but I respect it because we all make decisions based on two things, the way we’re raised. Which never changes, and our life experiences would constantly change. For me, To be able to have the love of my life behind me. Somebody I literally fell in love with in 3rd grade. I knew I was going to marry her in 8th grade. She didn’t know that yet. Uh, we had to work through that process. But at 18 years old, and I was 19, she agreed to marry me. I didn’t have anything. I was on *** wrestling scholarship, living in *** dorm. She was cheering at Northeastern State University. Um, I think she fell in love with my truck because my truck was pretty cool. But the truth is, um, We didn’t know what we didn’t know, but we did know we loved each other. And I haven’t been perfect. I apologize to her quite often and send her flowers all the time. But I still am humbled by the fact that we’ve got to enjoy this walk together. We’ve had God on our side and her right beside me. And, and to our six children who’s been on this adventure with me, what an adventure it’s been. We have *** saying in our family, you’re never going to change anything you’re willing to tolerate. That’s how we live our life and that’s how we move forward. And and regardless. Of Regardless of what’s in front of us, we always take it on as *** family. Yeah, I’m not scared of *** challenge. I am scared of failure. And so I will work hard. Each day I’ll work hard to make the 280,000 employees at DHS with the 22 agencies that’s underneath me proud. They’ll show, I’ll show them somebody that no one will outwork. I’ll work beside them every single day. To not just secure *** homeland. To bring peace of mind and confidence to the agency. My goal in 6 months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day. My goal is for people to understand we’re out there, we’re protecting them, and we’re working with them. My goal is to make every one of you guys proud. My goal for those that don’t support me, regret not supporting me. But we have to get DHS funded. We have to My friends, we have to set the partisan side. Down, and we have to realize that. We’re putting our homeland and the peace of mind at risk for the American people. Sometimes it’s political theater, sometimes it’s true differences. But what we do know is that we’re playing with fire. We have 280,000 DHS employees right now that are on day 30 without pay, and they’re still showing up every single day to do their job. That is *** dedicated group of people. And we should all be proud of them. We should all be working together and we should all be trying to fund them. So I pray, seriously, I pray that we can get past this. That once this hearing is over and once we go through this process, I get it. I get some of it’s gotta be political theater. I understand it. I’ve had to really pray about my attitude. But I will say Once it’s over, I hope we can work together and get them funded. So when I walk in, If I’m fortunate enough to be confirmed, if I walk in. As secretary That these guys are ready to go to work day one. So God bless you. Thank you so much for this opportunity, and I look forward to your questions.
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Markwayne Mullin confirmation hearing for Secretary of Homeland Security: Fact check
Sen. Markwayne Mullin sat for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday to become the next Secretary of Homeland Security, facing high expectations and critical questions from senators. Our partners at PolitiFact provided a live fact check of the hearing.Viewing in app? Click here to see the updates.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin sat for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday to become the next Secretary of Homeland Security, facing high expectations and critical questions from senators. Our partners at PolitiFact provided a live fact check of the hearing.
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