MS NOW's Jonathan Lemire and Ali Vitali were astonished by the "extraordinary" opening statement by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in the confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
The Kentucky Republican came out firing Wednesday morning at the start of confirmation hearings for his fellow GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who last month called him "a freaking snake" and said he understood why Paul's neighbor violently assaulted him.
Paul was left with broken ribs and needed part of a lung removed after the attack in 2017.
"Sen. Rand Paul just concluded an extraordinaryopening statement, reallyattacking Mullin and hiscredentials and credibility inthis job," Lemire said, and then turned to Vitali reporting live from the Capitol. "You're thereoutside the hearing room, you're listening in. Just walkus through what just happened.Extraordinary statement, Republican on Republicancolleagues in the Senate."
Vitali was stunned by how thoroughly Paul attacked his GOP colleague's qualifications to take over for ousted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
"Rand Paul, frankly, just finished a mic drop of an opening statementhere," Vitali said. "I asked himseveral times yesterday what hewanted to hear from Mullin,given the fact that these twohave a somewhat open feud ascolleagues here in Congress, [and] Paul continuously just told me, watch the hearing, and now wehave a very clear sense of why. It was an absolutely ice-coldopening. At one point, as hestarted to address Mullin,saying that at a time ofpolitical violence in thiscountry, Mullin is someone whohas only fomented thosetensions."
"Paul pointed to thefact that Mullin attacked himand said that he agreed with aneighbor who several years agoattacked Paul, injuring him,breaking several ribs, givinghim lifelong injuries," Vitali added. "Mullinat that time said he agreedwith the neighbor and that hesaid he told Rand Paul to hisface he understood why theneighbor did it. Paul at onepoint said, 'I'll give you theopportunity now to say it to myface.' At another point, hedirectly took on Mullin'scomments from just in the lastfew months, where he talkedabout a policy disagreementthat manifested in Mullin goingback home to a gathering ofconstituents in Oklahoma andcalling Rand Paul 'a freakingsnake.'"
The Kentucky senator repeated those comments to Mullin's face, and Vitali noted that he looked away from Paul at one point and Paul noticed.
"Rand Paul said, 'I'm goingto address several instances toyou if you have the time,' sortof calling him to attention ashis eyes strayed from thechairman of the committee thatis in control of keepingcontrol of the confirmationbattle that is underway here," he said. "I think the fact that Paul,at several points, pointed to Markwayne Mullin as someonewith anger issues, that's aphrase that Paul used alsosaying at one point that he, and these are Paul's words, 'Ijust wonder if someone whoapplauds political violence isthe right person to lead anagency that has struggled withguardrails and instances of controversy and tragedy.'"
Vitali said he was interested to see whether Paul or any other senators would specifically ask Mullin about Noem's tenure at DHS, where she was in charge during the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good during an immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
"I would now imagine,as we go forward into severalrounds of questions from bothsides of the aisle, Democratscertainly have a lot ofquestions of substance to air," he said. "Most of them don't think that achange in personnel is enoughto get them behind supportingthis confirmation."
"The one Democrat that I'm watchingclosely today is DemocraticSen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania," Vitali added. "When I spoke tohim yesterday, he told me thathe thinks that Mullin is a, inhis words, 'good dude,' and thathe thinks that having someonewho understands Congress andcan be in a dialog withlawmakers is enough for him topotentially support thisconfirmation. That means thatit could be bipartisan in itsaffirmation, but thenalso could potentially bebipartisan in people who arevoting against him."
Vitali said other senators seemed to be as shocked by Paul's opening statement as reporters.
"Again,we're going to have to seewhere Sen. Rand Paul bringshis question," he said. "But I thinkyou're right, this was justabsolutely stunning. You sawseveral of the faces behindSen. Mullin, their eyebrowsall the way up to theirhairlines, their mouths agape, and frankly, for many of us inthe hallway, that was ourreaction, as well."