Donald Trump has removed Kristi Noem from office amid several controversies during her term, as well as the growing criticism about how she has been handling immigration enforcement. Markwayne Mullin, 48, the Oklahoma Republican, has received the president’s approval to take over the position of Department of Homeland Security Secretary.
However, as it turns out, Mullin is no saint, as the DHS chief has immediately fired up the critics with his past controversies. He has been accused of showing “middle school behavior” during a trip with fellow lawmakers.
Back in 2015, when he was a congressman representing Oklahoma’s second district, Mullin went on an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel with about 40 of his fellow lawmakers. Their spouses also joined the foreign policy trip, including then-Michigan Rep. David Trott and his wife, Kathleen.
As a kid from Westville, it has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve the people of Oklahoma for the past thirteen years in both the House and Senate.
I am grateful to President Trump for nominating me to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I look forward to…
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) March 5, 2026
Kathleen accused Mullin of weird attacks on women during the trip. According to her, the Oklahoma Republican stuck his finger up other attendees’ noses where they were sleeping. His juvenile behavior infuriated a lot of women who were on the trip.
In particular, for Kathleen, it was a disturbing encounter and left a mark on her traveling experience. Eight years later, during an interview with Politico, she described the trip as anything but peaceful. Kathleen recounted that the group had to put up with multiple layovers and delays during the flight to Israel.
“We were in the clothes we’d been wearing for like 24 hours,” she recounted. Kathleen added, “We get on this bus, and it’s a couple-hour bus ride and people were kind of leaning on their spouse’s shoulder and falling asleep. And this idiot starts walking up and down the bus with his camera and anyone who fell asleep, he would put his finger in their nose and take a picture.”
She recounted, “I said [to myself, ‘If] that idiot comes near me when I fall asleep, I’m going to punch him. And I said to Dave: ‘This is a U.S. congressman?'” According to her, the unusual incident left a lot of the attendees furious, who were already exhausted at that time.
Here is Trump’s Director of Homeland Security pick Markwayne Mullin trying to physically fight someone in the middle of a Senate hearing pic.twitter.com/icAcRluR4t
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) March 5, 2026
“There were a couple of women who were mad. You’re trying to fall asleep, somebody you don’t know has his finger … It was just middle school. And we were in Israel, and we’re going to go see the Iron Dome and go to a kibbutz. Just didn’t seem appropriate,” Kathleen told Politico.
This is not all; it seems like Mullin has a habit of unusual outbursts. During a Senate hearing in 2023, he went into a feud with Sean O’Brien.
The Teamsters president wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Greedy CEO who pretends like he’s self-made. In reality, just a clown & fraud. Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy. #LittleManSyndrome.” Mullin read out the tweet during the Senate hearing, and challenged O’Brien to “finish it here.”
O’Brien accepted the challenge, and had Sen. Bernie Sanders not stepped in, it would have led to an embarrassing brawl.
