Markwayne Mullin clears key hurdle on path to becoming DHS secretary
USA TODAY
A key Senate panel advanced Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin's nomination to lead DHS, putting him on a glide path to confirmation.
WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump's pick to replace Kristi Noem at the top of the Department of Homeland Security is on a glide path to Senate confirmation after a Democrat helped a key panel of lawmakers clear an important procedural hurdle.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs moved Sen. Markwayne Mullin's nomination out of committee on March 19, setting up a full Senate vote likely in the coming week. The Oklahoma Republican only needs a simple majority vote to get the job, and with the GOP in control of the upper chamber, he will almost certainly get it.
The green light followed a wave of eleventh-hour questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about a mysterious foreign trip Mullin made while serving as a member of the House of Representatives. He has offered few details publicly about the mission but has in the past made comments about experiencing war zones, even though he never served in the military or in the intelligence community.
“Why it was classified and who classified it, is still a mystery,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, told reporters after a closed-door briefing with Mullin about the issue following his March 18 confirmation hearing. “There is no valid reason in my personal opinion for anything he told us to be classified.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, ultimately supported Mullin, saying "he didn’t see anything shocking" in the same meeting. The trip dealt with a "whistleblower issue” and Mullin “happened to be overseas,” Sen. James Lankford, a fellow Oklahoma Republican and close friend of Mullin's, said.
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