{"id":68301,"date":"2026-03-06T12:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T17:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/teamsters-boss-praises-mullin-dhs-nomination-despite-past-heated-hearings\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T12:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T17:02:13","slug":"teamsters-boss-praises-mullin-dhs-nomination-despite-past-heated-hearings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/teamsters-boss-praises-mullin-dhs-nomination-despite-past-heated-hearings\/","title":{"rendered":"Teamsters boss praises Mullin DHS nomination despite past heated hearings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly two and a half years after they nearly came to blows in a viral Senate hearing, Teamsters President Sean O\u2019Brien offered praise for Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., on Thursday after President Donald Trump<\/a> nominated him to lead the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

“If anyone is willing to stand their butt up to protect America, it\u2019s Markwayne Mullin,” O\u2019Brien said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The endorsement marked a striking turn for the two men, who clashed publicly in November 2023 during a heated Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions<\/a> Committee hearing that appeared to be on the brink of a physical altercation.<\/p>\n

During the exchange, Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, referenced a social media post in which O\u2019Brien had said he could take the senator “any time” or “any place.”<\/p>\n

BEHIND THE SCENES: TRUMP AND WHITE HOUSE RALLY BEHIND NOEM AS \u2018RADICALS\u2019 DEMAND OUSTER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Sir, this is a time, this is a place. You want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults, and we can finish it here,” Mullin said at the hearing.<\/p>\n

Mullin then stood up and appeared ready to approach O\u2019Brien before then-Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a>, I-Vt., intervened.<\/p>\n

“Stop it, hold it, no, no, sit down,” Sanders said. “You’re a United States senator. Sit down.”<\/p>\n

GOP SENATORS TANGLE WITH NOEM DURING HEATED HEARING ON HER HANDLING OF DEPORTATION SURGE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The confrontation continued verbally for several minutes, with Mullin calling O\u2019Brien a “thug” and O\u2019Brien labeling the senator “disrespectful,” before Sanders banged his gavel and moved the hearing forward.<\/p>\n

The two men had also sparred months earlier over O\u2019Brien\u2019s salary compared to that of union members, forcing Sanders to step in during that hearing as well.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien\u2019s statement Thursday signaled a sharp contrast from the combative exchanges that once defined their relationship.<\/p>\n

WATCH: The Teamsters president started it: Sen. Markwayne Mullin<\/strong><\/p>\n

GOP SENATOR BLOCKS TRUMP DHS NOMINEES UNTIL NOEM TESTIFIES BEFORE SENATE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The statement came as Mullin was nominated to lead DHS<\/a> following what Trump described as a turbulent tenure under current Secretary Kristi Noem, who will be reassigned as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a new security initiative focused on the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

The clash between the two men in November 2023 followed months of escalating tensions, including a public challenge earlier that year when Mullin accepted O\u2019Brien\u2019s social media dare of “any place, any time” and proposed a charitable mixed martial arts fight in Tulsa. But tensions appeared to cool in 2024 after Trump helped broker a truce between the two men.<\/p>\n

Mullin later recounted on “Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla”<\/a> that Trump reached out early to O\u2019Brien as Teamsters members increasingly leaned Republican.<\/p>\n

Mullin said O\u2019Brien told him many of his members were backing Trump and that the union boss felt compelled to reflect on where “my brothers” stood politically.<\/p>\n

Fox News’s Andrew Mark Miller and Houston Keene contributed to this report.<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly two and a half years after they nearly came to blows in a viral Senate hearing, Teamsters President Sean O\u2019Brien offered praise for Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., on Thursday after President Donald Trump nominated him to lead the Department of Homeland Security. “If anyone is willing to stand their butt up to protect America, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68301\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}