The Senate on Sunday advanced the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin as the next Homeland Security secretary, clearing a procedural hurdle while setting up a final vote as early as Monday evening.
The final tally on the motion to invoke cloture was 54-37, with nine senators not voting. Democratic Sens. John Fetterman and Martin Heinrich voted in favor of Mullin, who now only needs a simple majority in the chamber to be sworn in as outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem’s replacement.
“I have also seen first-hand that Markwayne is not someone who can simply be bullied into changing his views, and I look forward to having a Secretary who doesn’t take their orders from Stephen Miller,” Heinrich said in a statement.
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Mullin’s nomination just barely made it out of the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee after chairman Rand Paul criticized Mullin and voted against him.
Paul and Mullin hashed out some personal drama during a heated back-and-forth — Paul was assaulted in 2017, and Mullin said at the time that he “completely” understood why. Paul tied Mullin’s comments to a pattern of “anger issues,” also citing a 2023 incident during a Senate hearing where Mullin challenged a witness to a fight.
“If you just disliked me so much that you approved of the violence against me, people could just write it off, maybe they hate each other. But really, there’s a pattern of this,” Paul said.
Mullin was also asked about his travels overseas in 2015, which he claimed was classified. After his confirmation hearing, Mullin and the committee went into the Senate’s sensitive information facility to discuss the matter.
During last week’s hearing, Mullin answered questions about how he would handle his duties as head of DHS — including changing a few policies championed by Noem.
He vowed to end Noem’s reported disaster relief sign-off policy on disbursements of $100,000 or more and require judicial warrants for federal agents to enter homes and businesses.
“I have made it very clear to the staff that a judicial warrant will be used to go into houses or to place of businesses unless we are pursuing someone who enters into that place,” Mullin said. “I have not minced words with that and I haven’t changed my opinion on that.”
With Mullin likely to be confirmed as DHS secretary, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will appoint someone to the Senate to finish out Mullin’s term. NOTUS previously reported that Stitt has landed on the oil and gas executive Alan Armstrong. The pair are expected to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago Sunday, with sources cautioning that the pick could change after the meeting.
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