对俄克拉荷马州共和党参议员马克韦恩·穆林（Markwayne Mullin）的确认听证会充满了挫折、友谊与性格质疑，参议院正加速推进对他领导国土安全部（DHS）的确认程序。
听证会由肯塔基州共和党参议员、参议院国土安全与政府事务委员会主席兰德·保罗（Rand Paul）主持，以两人之间的紧张交锋开始，最终却引发了关于委员会是否会举行确认投票的疑问。
唐纳德·特朗普总统任命穆林接替即将卸任的国土安全部部长克里斯蒂·诺姆（Kristi Noem）。鉴于特朗普设定了3月31日的最后期限，要求穆林成为下一任国土安全部负责人，参议院已没有太多时间推进这一程序。
保罗计划反对穆林，这意味着除非穆林能获得委员会中民主党人的支持，否则他的提名将大幅受阻。
听证会节奏迅速、充满火药味，并因持续的国土安全部关闭而蒙上阴影——该关闭在周三已进入第33天。以下是这场将决定穆林是否能领导这个四面楚歌的机构的来回交锋中的关键时刻。
“当面告诉我”
听证会一开始就因穆林对保罗2017年袭击事件的评价而爆发冲突。保罗当时被袭击导致几根肋骨骨折并切除了部分肺叶，穆林称那次袭击”是合理的”。
保罗指责穆林从未有”勇气看着我的眼睛说那次袭击是合理的”。
“我只是想知道，一个为针对政治对手的暴力行为叫好的人，是否适合领导一个一直难以接受正确使用武力界限的机构，”保罗说。
穆林在开始陈述之前回击道，保罗称他为”骗子”，并辩称：”房间里的每个人都知道我非常直言不讳、直接了当。”
“如果我有话要说，我会直接对你说。如果你还记得，在我当国会议员的时候，我们确实因为我发表的言论进行过这样的对话。”
“你当时在场。我只是解释了一下，”他继续说道，”我说，考虑到你的行为，我能理解为什么你的邻居会那样做。”
“这些话本应收回”
小组委员会的高级民主党人、密歇根州民主党参议员加里·彼得斯（Gary Peters）就穆林指控明尼苏达州被美国移民与海关执法局（ICE）特工枪杀的亚历克斯·普雷蒂（Alex Pretti）是”一个疯狂的人来造成最大破坏”进行追问。
“如果你被确认为部长，我们能期待你有这样的快速反应吗？”彼得斯问道，”你——基本上——是以诺姆部长的身份回应，我们会再次看到同样的行为吗？”
穆林没有反驳彼得斯的问题。
“这些话本应收回，”穆林说，”我本不该那么说。如果我成为部长，我不会这么说。调查仍在进行中。”
“而且，就像我说的——有时候会犯错，我承认这个错误。我太快行动了，在没有事实依据的情况下立即回应，”他继续说道，”这是我的错。作为部长，这种情况不会再发生。”
费特曼与民主党决裂
宾夕法尼亚州民主党参议员约翰·费特曼（John Fetterman）并不陌生于与自己的政党背道而驰，他很可能在穆林的确认投票中再次这样做。
两人在一次国会代表团访问期间建立了友谊，并自此保持着这种关系。
他认识到，自己很可能是确认同事的关键投票者。
“我来到这里，并承诺持开放心态，我会继续这样做。对我来说，这不会是为了找岔子的时刻。我与你的相处经历是始终如一且专业的，”费特曼说。
但费特曼也花时间抨击自己的政党继续阻挠国土安全部资金，并指出他是”唯一拒绝关闭我们国土安全部的民主党人”。
“这是一种奇怪的忠诚。我不明白为什么你会仅仅因为想要对ICE进行那种改革而关闭整个机构，而那些改革对ICE绝对没有影响，也不会迫使任何事情发生，”费特曼说，”我拒绝这么做。”
穆林的秘密行程
穆林在众议院任职期间的一次秘密行程性质成谜，差点破坏了周四预期的确认投票。
彼得斯就2015年至2016年间一次未公开的行程向这位议员提问，并指责道：”坦率地说，在我们有过这些对话后，你没有向我或本委员会坦诚相告。”
“这个故事似乎一直在演变、变化，你知道，坦率、诚实、透明在此时绝对至关重要，以试图建立作为国土安全部部长的信任，”彼得斯说。
保罗要求穆林在秘密场合解释此次行程，并威胁称否则将取消听证会。
“我仍然愿意明天进行投票，但我可以取消明天的投票，”保罗说，”我仍然愿意进行投票，完成这个程序。”
穆林辩称，据他所知，只有四个人知道这次行程的细节，而他没有权力告知保罗或彼得斯。
“我真的很愿意和你坐下来交谈，因为我不想让你对我的品格产生疑问，”穆林说，”这对我来说很简单，但我无法做出这个授权。你们知道的。”
亚历克斯·米勒（Alex Miller）是福克斯新闻数字频道报道美国参议院的记者。
Frustrations, friendship and questions of temperament dominated the confirmation hearing for Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as the Senate sprints to confirm him to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The hearing, led by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., started with a tense exchange between him and Mullin and ended with questions about whether the committee would even hold a confirmation vote.
President Donald Trump tapped Mullin to replace outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The Senate has little time to move through the process, given that Trump set a deadline of March 31 to have Mullin installed as the next Homeland Security chief.
Paul plans to oppose him, meaning that unless Mullin can generate support from Democrats on the panel, his nomination will be substantially slowed.
It was fast, explosive and marred by the ongoing DHS shutdown, which entered its 33rd day on Wednesday. Below are top moments from the back-and-forth that will decide whether Mullin gets the job to lead the embattled agency.
‘Tell me to my face’
The hearing immediately opened with fireworks over Mullin’s comments that Paul’s 2017 assault, which left him with several broken ribs and the removal of part of his lung, was “justified.”
Paul accused Mullin of never having “the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified.”
“I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force,” Paul said.
Mullin shot back before launching into his opening remarks, saying Paul called him a “liar,” and argued, “everybody in this room knows that I’m very blunt and direct and to the point.”
“And if I have something to say, I’ll say it directly to your face. If you recall, back in my House days, we actually did have this conversation because of remarks that I made.”
“You were in a room. I simply addressed that,” he continued. “I said I could understand, because of the behavior you were having, that I could understand why your neighbor did what he did.”
‘Those words probably should have been retracted’
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the panel’s top Democrat, pressed Mullin on his accusation that Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minnesota, was a “deranged individual that came in to cause max damage.”
“Could we expect those kinds of quick responses if you are confirmed as secretary?” Peters asked. “Would you be — basically — were you responding as Secretary Noem, are we going to expect that same behavior all over again?”
Mullin didn’t push back against Peters’ question.
“Those words probably should have been retracted,” Mullin said. “I shouldn’t have said that. If secretary, I wouldn’t. The investigation is ongoing.”
“And there is — like I said — there’s sometimes going to make mistakes, and I own that one. I went out there too fast. I was responding immediately without the facts,” he continued. “That’s my fault. That won’t happen as secretary.”
Fetterman breaks with Dems
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is no stranger to bucking his own party, and he’ll likely do it again during Mullin’s confirmation vote.
The pair became friendly during a congressional delegation trip and have maintained that relationship ever since.
And he recognizes that he’ll likely be the key vote to confirm his colleague.
“I came here and committed to come here with an open mind, and I’m going to continue to do that. It’s not going to be about gotcha moments for me. My experience with you has been consistent and professionalism,” Fetterman said.
But Fetterman also took a moment to blast his party for continuing to block DHS funding and noted that he was “the only Democrat that refused to shut our DHS down.”
“It’s a strange devotion. I don’t understand why you would shut the entire agency down just because you want those kinds of reforms on ICE that have absolutely no impact on ICE and don’t force any of those things,” Fetterman said. “I refuse to do that.”
Mullin’s classified trip
The nature of a shadowy trip Mullin took while serving in the House nearly derailed his expected confirmation vote on Thursday.
Peters questioned the lawmaker about an undisclosed trip taken between 2015 and 2016 and charged that “quite frankly, as we’ve had these conversations, you have not been forthcoming with me or this committee.”
“The story always seems to evolve, to kind of change, and as you know, candor, honesty, transparency are absolutely critical, particularly at this time, to try to build trust as the secretary of Homeland Security,” Peters said.
Paul asked Mullin to explain the trip in a classified setting and threatened to cancel the hearing otherwise.
“I’m still willing to have the vote tomorrow, but I can cancel the vote tomorrow,” Paul said. “I’m still willing to have the vote, get this done and get it over with.”
Mullin argued that, to his knowledge, only four people were aware of the details of the trip, and he did not have the authority to tell Paul or Peters.
“I would really enjoy sitting there and having a conversation with you, because I don’t want you to have questions or question my character on this,” Mullin said. “That’s very simple for me, but I can’t make that authorization. You guys know that.”
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
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