Incoming Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin once bragged to a religious group that he hit his children to discipline them.
Mullin, a father of six who spent a year as a professional MMA fighter before becoming a senator, discussed his use of corporal punishment during a 2023 meeting with the “City Elders.” The group, according to Mullin, is an activist group that tries to place “Godly people” into local positions of power.
The incoming DHS head told the group that parents must be “willing to discipline our kids” and insisted that when he was beaten as a child, he “deserved” his lashings.
“I’ve never seen a man that can take a belt off so fast, double it up and still hit you. I don’t know how in the world he done that. I tried it and I just can’t,” Mullin said of his own father, who was watching from the audience.
He then admitted that he does spank his kids, and that he has “no problem with that.” His comments drew applause.
Mullin said that his form of punishment wasn’t driving wedges between him and his children, insisting that his daughters often comfort him after he has to spank them.
“I can spank them and I’m still upset and they’ll come and crawl on my lap two minutes later and just hug on me,” he said.
The incoming DHS head did admit that at least one daughter begged him not to hit her, and he had to threaten her to comply with his discipline or get a worse spanking.
“No, daddy, no. Daddy, no daddy, no, I’m sorry, daddy, I’m sorry, dad,” he recalled the little girl saying.
He said his daughter would “get madder and madder and she just couldn’t bring herself to even bend over to for me to bust her butt and I was like, ‘Hun, you got like two seconds or you going to get two instead of one.’”
Mullin said after that his daughter would be mad at him for “like a day.”
He said that disciplining his son was difficult for him because he always cried before he was hit. Mullin said the boy was “so hard on himself because he would just have this huge crocodile tear running down his eyes.”
The footage resurfaced as Mullin was confirmed to become the new DHS secretary. He will replace Kristi Noem, who is being shuffled to President Donald Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” military coalition. Her ousting comes after she was publicly excoriated for a $220 million ad campaign for the DHS featuring her riding a horse in front of Mount Rushmore.
Mullin was subject to a similarly tense confirmation hearing before taking on his new role. During his hearing, Mullin called on the Senate to restore DHS funding as quickly as possible.
He said during his hearing that he wanted to use the resources at his disposal in DHS to carry out its mission, but to do so in a way that didn’t make constant headlines.
“I’m not scared of a challenge. I am scared of failure, and so I will work hard each day,” Mullin said. “My goal in six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day. My goal is for people to understand we’re out there. We’re protecting them, and we’re working with them. My goal is to make every one of you guys proud.”
The senators asked him about the outcome of the 2020 election, and Mullin was unwilling to admit that former President Joe Biden won. He also refused to directly answer whether or not he’d station DHS uniformed officers at polling places during the midterm elections.
Mullin’s strange feud with longstanding Senator Rand Paul reared its head during the confirmation hearing. Mullin has previously called Paul a “freaking snake” and defended the man who assaulted Paul at his home.
Paul brought that point up during the confirmation hearing, asking Mullin to “tell it to the world why you believe I deserved to be assaulted.”
“Explain to the American people why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and border patrol agents.”
Mullin told Paul that if he has something to say, “I’ll say it directly to your face.”
He later said he would not apologize for siding with Paul’s neighbor.
Paul later played a video of Mullin telling a union leader to “stand your butt up” during a 2023 Senate hearing. Mullin and the union leader had been needling each other during the hearing when Mullin finally challenged the man to a fight.
Mullin noted during his hearing that he and the union leader, Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien, had since become friends. He told Paul that he can “set it aside if you’re willing to set it aside,” but Paul refused the olive branch.
“Somehow you think I’m going to just set that aside?” the senator asked.
Mullin was ultimately confirmed and will be sworn in on Tuesday afternoon. The Independent has requested comment from Mullin.
