The tense confrontation at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing stemmed from acrimonious posts on social media, as well as a confrontation between the two at an earlier Senate hearing.
Tuesday’s episode started after Mullin read aloud one of Teamsters chief Sean O’Brien’s posts on X, formerly known as Twitter. In the post, O’Brien had called Mullin a “greedy CEO who pretends like he’s self made.”
O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, ended the post by writing, “You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy.”
“So this is a time, this is a place,” said Mullin, who has a mixed martial arts background, to O’Brien, seated at a witness table in front of him. “You want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here.”
“OK, that’s fine,” O’Brien said. “Perfect.”
“You want to do it now?” Mullin asked.
“I’d love to do it right now,” O’Brien said.
“Well, stand your butt up, then,” Mullin said.
“You stand your butt up,” O’Brien said.
Both men rose to their feet. Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, an 82-year-old Vermont independent, intervened and called for them to sit down.
“You’re a United States senator,” Sanders told Mullin. “This is a hearing. God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress, let’s not make it worse.”
For Mullin’s remaining time asking questions of O’Brien and other witnesses, the two continued to throw verbal insults at each other. Sanders pounded his gavel and shouted over them in attempts to shut down the heated exchange.
“We’re not here to talk about fights or anything else,” Sanders said.
Mullin and O’Brien also had a tense moment at a previous committee hearing back in March. In another post on X, O’Brien told Mullin, “Sounds like you need to shut your mouth & get to work for the people of your state.”
During the near-fight in sixteen months ago, Senator Mullin, a former mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, referred to O'Brien as "this thug." The observation was unavoidable and bears recollection at this moment in tiem, as Mullin has been nominated by President Trump tor replace Krisi Noem as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. (He will not, however, replace Noem in bed with Corey Lewandowski.) Thr nominstiom was natural for Donald, who (successfully) nominated a retired Air Force lieutenant general to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because the latter was known as Dan "Razin" Caine. Like Donald himself, he's a macho man!
A few minutes after President Trump announced Mullin as his choice to replace Kristi Noem, Democratic senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania tweeted that he would be an "aye" on he vote to approve the Oklahoman as the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Then
Fetterman joined Kayleigh McEnany on Fox News’ Saturday in America where he criticized his fellow Democrats not supporting “Operation Epic Fury,” the U.S. military operation targeting Iran’s current regime.
The senator also addressed throwing his support behind Mullin so quickly after Trump announced he would be replacing Kristi Noem. Noem faced bipartisan calls to step down, facing criticism over DHS spending and her response to federal immigration agents shooting and killing two American citizens in Minneapolis.
Fetterman told McEnany he got to know Mullin well during a trip Turks and Caicos (TCI) in 2024 to advocate for detained American citizens to be released.
“I was the only Democrat that joined him on that mission the
Turks and Caicos to help save those Americans being locked up in prison because
they had a couple random bullets in there as accidentally… I mean, he’s a good
dude. I know it’s a significant upgrade, and I’m absolutely going to vote for
him,” Fetterman said.
To be fair, that "good dude" was right about Teamsters president O'Brien, who shas responded to the nomination with "if anyone is willing to stand ther butt up to protect Aerica,it's Markwayne Mullin.". In return, the latter has praised O'Brien as a "workout fanatic" who "pulled himself up from his own bootstraps and grew up in a blue-colllar household." (It's a good thing that toxic masculinity is a myth.)
Makwayne Mullin very likely will be approved by the Senate, short of photographic evidence that he's sharing closet space with Lindsey Graham. (Sure, that 's a cheap shot at Graham. And iIf such a thing were revealed, Mullin still would get approved, though Trump's leverage over the South Carolina senator would be eliminated.) Republicans still bow at the altar of Donald Trump, and M.M. is a Senator himself. He's no less qualified for the position than was Noem when she was nominated, probably will be a little less reprehensible as the DHS secretary, and probably won't be the worst member of Trump's cabinet.
Nonetheless, someone in the media should ask John Fetterman a basic question about Senator Mullin. If a United States senator credibly- with full intention of following through- challenges a witness at a hearing to a fistfight, what would a bad dude look like?
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