Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., pulled no punches in his opening statement Wednesday morning at the Department of Homeland Security Committee hearing on fellow GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to be Kristi Noem‘s successor as secretary.
Paul, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, accused Mullin of excusing political violence and challenging him to repeat past remarks of having called him a “snake” and saying he understood why Paul was attacked violently by a neighbor in 2017.
“You have never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified,” Paul told the committee in his opening remarks. “So today you’ll have your chance. Today I’ll give you that chance to clear the record.
“Tell it to my face if that’s what you believe. Tell it to me today. Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung.
“Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it.”
Mullin opened his own remarks off the cuff before his prepared statement to address Paul’s verbal attack.
“I have to address the remarks the chairman made, calling me a liar,” Mullin opened. “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.”
WATCH MULLIN’S RESPONSE:
Mullin pointed Paul back to a private conversation back in their days as House GOP members.
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“I said I could understand because of the behavior you were having, that I could understand why your neighbor…did what he did,” Mullin said. “As far as my terms, the snake in the grass, sir, I work around this room to try to fix problems. I’ve worked with many people in this room.
“It seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us. I did address those remarks.”
Mullin vowed to Paul to be blunt and direct.
“If I do have something to say, everybody in this room knows how I’ll come straight to you,” he said. “I’ll say it publicly and I’ll say it privately, but I’ll never say it behind your back.”
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Mullin acknowledged about Paul, “We just don’t get along,” and saying Paul has “spent millions of dollars in my campaigns against me.”
“That doesn’t keep me at all from doing my job,” Mullin continued. “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 differences we have.”
“The truth is, I have a 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. I’m going to earn the job. I won’t fail you. I won’t back down from a 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.”
Paul showed no interest in setting the feud aside.
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“The record should show, and I think we’ll show a lack of contrition: No apology and no regrets for your support,” Paul picked up in his first line of questioning. “You completely understand the violence that was perpetrated on me. You’re unrepentant. The only thing you quibble about is whether I met you somehow when you’re in the House.”
“I don’t think we ever met when you were in the House, and this idea that the only thing you’re upset about is not that you are for violence. What you’re upset about is that I called you a liar because you said it to my face. So it’s really more about this machismo that you have.”
Paul was under some scrutiny for blocking fellow Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., from introducing Mullin at the start of the hearing, forcing Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., to do the introduction instead, three sources told Fox News’ Bill Melugin.
“Rand Paul has become completely blinded by his hatred of President Trump and petty personal squabbles,” a senior Senate Republican source told Melugin. “His actions today were those of a seething snake — and a hopeless hypocrite.”
“What kind of free speech advocate would bar Sen. Mullin’s choice to deliver his introduction from speaking?” the source asked. “What kind of Republican would bar a fellow Republican Senator from voicing their support of a colleague? Why is this guy allowed to hold a Republican gavel anymore?”
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