On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, ABC and NBC used their flagship newscasts to paint Homeland Security Secretary nominee — current Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) — as a hot bed of controversy who faced a “heated” and “tense” hearing over his “anger issues” and Republican opposition from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).
The networks even admitted they were making a mountain out of a mole hill by conceding he was on track for confirmation despite all these hoopla.
Unsurprisingly, ABC led the way with the buffoonery. Wednesday’s World News Tonight included this tease from anchor David Muir: “Also tonight, the heated moments during the Senate confirmation hearing for the President’s pick to replace Kristi Noem to run Homeland Security. The fiery moments right here as Senator Markwayne Mullin is questioned by lawmakers on both sides.”
Muir later doubled down on the “heated moments” line and boasted Mullin was “questioned about potential anger issues and about what he said about that ICU nurse killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.”
ABC's 'World News Tonight' giddily promotes DHS secretary nominee @MarkwayneMullin having serious "anger issues" pic.twitter.com/3BVXVa19dH
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 18, 2026
Capitol Hill correspondent Jay O’Brien relayed from D.C. the recap of “the surprisingly personal confrontation” with “Paul accusing...Mullin of having serious anger issues” in relation to comments Mullin made after Pul was the victim of “assault by a neighbor in 2017.”
“Paul then playing a video of the time Mullin, a former MMA fighter, tried to fight a union leader in the middle of a Senate hearing,” O’Brien added, only conceding after the entire back-and-forth that the man in question — Sean O’Brien of the Teamsters — was sitting directly over Mullin’s shoulder to support his now-friend.
Following a soundbite about Mullin expressing regret for passing judgment on the Alex Pretti case, O’Brien then admitted this was all for naught: “Mullin is on track to be confirmed. Senator Paul telling me he is a no. Mullin likely to get the support of one Democrat, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman.”
Thursday’s Good Morning America feature more of the same shtick. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos teased vague allusions to a “[h]eated hearing with President Trump’s pick to take over the Department of Homeland Security.”
“Now to the heated confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security, Senator Markwayne Mullin. Things got personal. He was grilled by fellow Republican Rand Paul,” Stephanopoulos later said in his toss to O’Brien.
This time, O’Brien at least led with the fact that “Mullin is still on track to be confirmed as the next DHS secretary, but his nomination causing a last minute stir after that fiery hearing yesterday” before running through the supposed highlights.
Shifting to NBC, Wednesday’s Nightly News included fill-in anchor Hallie Jackson declaring Mullin “fac[ed] heat” and senior correspondent Tom Costello weaving it into a story about the ongoing Homeland Security shutdown. Costello said the shutdown was “part of a contentious confirmation hearing” (along with Paul’s personal vandetta).
On the substance, Costello said “Mullin softened some position on immigration policies and defended officers who shot and killed two Americans in Minneapolis” and “regrets the statements he made about Alex Pretti” shortly after his death.
Thursday’s Today was more in line with the ABC newscasts in dialing up the drama. Here was co-host Craig Melvin’s tease:
Getting personal...Republican Senator Rand Paul clashing with President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Inside the tense confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill and the tough questions he’s facing about national security, the role of ICE, and protecting our borders.
Longtime correspondent Kelly O’Donnell had the story and made it seem like Mullin is Kristi Noem 2.0 (while also admitting Mullin himself insisted otherwise): “The Department of Homeland Security has often been at the center of controversy and the work to find a new secretary brought out more heat and drama. The President’s choice, Markwayne Mullin, made clear he sees things differently than outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem.”
Long with ABC, NBC’s ‘Today’ really tried to make a mountain out of a molehill with the Mullin hearing, leaning into Rand Paul’s complaints even though they won’t actually matter pic.twitter.com/gMYyEUNJro
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 19, 2026
“But he’s also in a very personal feud with the Republican chairman, Rand Paul, who said Mullen has anger issues that could affect whether he can set the right example,” she continued.
Having placed drama in the fornt, O’Donnell backloaded her piece with the actual subject matter about DHS (click “expand”):
O’DONNELL: But Mullen did reverse course, admitting he was wrong to label Alex Pretti “a deranged individual” after his fatal shooting by ICE in Minneapolis.
(....)
O’DONNELL: Mullin, a former pro-MMA fighter, with a multi-million dollar family plumbing business, repeatedly distanced himself from fired Secretary Kristi Noem’s tenure. On deportations, he said he was open to reforms for ICE agents.
MULLIN: Judicial warrants will be used to go in to houses, and into place the businesses unless we’re pursuing someone that enters in that place.
O’DONNELL: Mullin said he would not close FEMA.
MULLIN: I think it needs to be restructured and not eliminated.
O’DONNELL: And pledged to end a Noem policy that required her signature for dispersing certain disaster relief funds that critics say caused delays.
MULLIN: Absolutely. That’s called micromanaging. And I don’t know if secretary put that in or someone else did. I’m not a micromanager.
O’DONNELL: Under questioning, Mullen told senators he would cooperate with investigations of the DHS contracting process under Noem’s leadership. Today, in an exclusive from NBC News, our team reports that some companies wanting to do business with the government complained to the White House that Kristi Noem aide Corey Lewandowski stood to personally profit from government contracts at DHS. That’s according to multiple sources. Lewandowski has denied those allegations[.]
Finally, Wednesday’s CBS Evening News was relatively muted. Anchor Tony Dokoupil focused on DHS being without funding and one of its agencies — the TSA — bearing the brunt.
He led a combined hearing/shutdown segment by emphasizing the latter: “Today, President Trump’s nominee to run Homeland Security urged lawmakers to put aside partisanship and fund the department.”
Correspondent Mark Strassmann did the same, noting “Congress shows no sign of touching the impasse, other than a DHS secretary nominee waiting to get confirmed.”
Only after focusing on what actually affects everyday Americans did Dokoupil allude to the personal beef, telling viewers “[t]o be confirmed, Mullin needs every Republican vote to go his way, which isn’t guaranteed, especially given the personal history he has with Senator Rand Paul, who brought it up today, questioning Mullin about comments he had made following a 2017 altercation between Paul and a neighbor.”
Once he played a portion of Paul ripping into Mullin, Dokoupil ended the extended brief: “I should add, with the support of at least one Democrat on the Senate committee, Mullin is expected to eventually be confirmed.”
Thursday’s CBS Mornings never even covered the hearing other than this single sentence from co-host Gayle King about the shutdown of the agency Mullin would lead: “Yesterday, the President's nominee for Homeland Security secretary urged Congress to break that deadlock.”
To see the relevant transcripts from March 18, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC). To see the relevant transcripts from March 19, click here (for ABC) and here (for NBC).
