Republican leaders in the House expressed strong support for Sen. Markwayne Mullin after President Donald Trump nominated him to head the Department of Homeland Security following a reassignment of Secretary Kristi Noem.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Senior House Republicans voiced confidence Thursday in Sen. Markwayne Mullin as President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security after the president reassigned current Secretary Kristi Noem to oversee a new Western Hemisphere security initiative.
Trump revealed the leadership change earlier in the day through a message posted on Truth Social, where he confirmed the transition and identified Mullin as his selection to assume the top post at the agency, according to the president’s announcement on Truth Social.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he believes Mullin is well prepared to take over the department. Speaking on Capitol Hill in an interview with congressional correspondent Kilmeny Duchardt, Johnson expressed confidence in the Oklahoma senator’s qualifications.
“Sen. Markwayne Mullin is going to do an extraordinary job in that position,” Johnson said during an interview broadcast on Newsmax. “He’s well suited for it. I think he’ll do great.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise also endorsed the nomination, pointing to his long working relationship with Mullin during the senator’s time in both chambers of Congress. Mullin served previously in the House of Representatives before winning a 2022 special election to the Senate following the retirement of longtime Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe.
Scalise told Duchardt that Mullin has consistently prioritized national security issues, particularly border enforcement.
“He’s going to do a fine job in that role. He understands what’s important about border security and making sure that we protect this homeland,” Scalise said.
“The job of the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is to protect the homeland, and there are a lot of threats right now,” he added.
Scalise pointed to Mullin’s voting record on immigration policy and security measures, noting his support for legislative efforts intended to tighten border enforcement during the previous administration.
“If you look at Sen. Mullin’s record, he’s been a staunch defender of border security. He worked with us when [former President] Joe Biden was in office to try to reverse the open border policy,” Scalise said.
The majority leader also highlighted legislation passed after Trump returned to office, describing it as providing additional resources for border security operations.
“And then when President Trump came into office, he was right there with us every step of the way, passing the Working Families Tax Cut, which, among many other good things, gave the president all the tools he needed to secure the border, to finish building the wall, to give our Border Patrol agents the tools they need to combat the drug cartels who, frankly, had operational control of our border and had better technology than America, which was embarrassing,” Scalise said.
“We reversed that. … It’s a tough job, but he’s going to be up to the job,” he continued.
The leadership change follows a period of scrutiny surrounding Noem’s tenure at DHS. The secretary faced criticism in recent weeks following immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
Two individuals participating in protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement were fatally shot in separate incidents after encounters with federal law enforcement.
Several lawmakers, including Sen. John Fetterman, called for Noem’s removal from the position in the aftermath of the incidents.
Noem also appeared before both the House and Senate Judiciary committees earlier this week, where she faced intense questioning from lawmakers across both parties regarding immigration enforcement policies and federal operations.
Johnson declined to say whether those hearings influenced the decision to move Noem into the new role when asked during his interview with Duchardt.
Scalise noted that he did not personally participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings but acknowledged the complexity of the role Noem had been assigned.
“I didn’t participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings,” Scalise said. “Secretary Noem had an incredibly tough job. I mean, she was tasked with working with President Trump to secure the border.”
He also pointed to the immigration environment the administration inherited when Trump returned to office.
“But also, you know, she inherited a massive mess. For four years, there was a wide-open border with a lot of violent criminals who came into our country,” Scalise said.
“And she was tasked with, number one, securing the border, but also going and finding the violent criminals. And they’ve done that,” he added. “They’ve been doing that. They’ve gotten resistance from a lot of governors along the way.”
The nomination comes while the Department of Homeland Security continues to operate under a partial shutdown. Senate Democrats last month blocked a House-approved appropriations bill tied to the current fiscal year during a dispute centered on immigration enforcement policies.
Although immigration enforcement activities have continued during the funding lapse, other DHS components have experienced operational disruptions. Agencies affected include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Transportation Security Administration.
Mullin, who is up for reelection this year, would assume leadership of one of the federal government’s largest departments if confirmed by the Senate.