Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) was sworn in Tuesday as secretary of Homeland Security. Mullin. The former mixed martial arts champion and plumbing business owner succeeds Kristi Noem, who left the department to lead Trump’s newly announced Shield of the Americas security initiative after a series of scandals.
Mullin takes over DHS amid agency turmoil and a partial shutdown that has left many of its employees working without pay. In brief remarks, he vowed to protect all Americans “the same” regardless of politics and said “failure’s not an option.”
His nomination advanced only with Democratic support after opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). The Democratic Senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico joined with the rest of the chamber’s Republicans to approve Mullin’s elevation to DHS head.
At Mullin’s swearing-in ceremony, President Donald Trump praised the new DHS secretary as a “man who’s going to do a phenomenal job for a country.”
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