Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin won't disclose what his congressional roommate pays to live in the Capitol Hill home Mullin owns.
According to a Thursday article by The Daily Mail, Mullin has shared the house with Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) for three years. Smith, who is unmarried, confirmed the arrangement to The Daily Mail during an interview in late July.
The house is a classic brick row that sits a short walk from the Capitol and is priced at $1.8 million, according to The Daily Mail.
A representative for Mullin told The Daily Mail that the secretary acts as Smith's landlord, having bought the house in 2023, but declined to say how much the congressman hands over each month. The Daily Mail reported that it could not find any public record of any rent transaction for the specific property, and Smith's office did not respond to its request for comment.
A House ethics rule bars members from accepting a gift worth more than $100 from a single source in a year, The Daily Mail noted. Rent charged below market value would likely count as a gift, The Daily Mail added.
The financial disclosures that The Daily Mail did unearth from Mullin Realty LLC revealed that the secretary's residential real estate is valued between $1 million and $5 million and generates $50,000 to $100,000 in rental income. The company owns more than 40 properties across Washington, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Smith's own disclosure reports list no specific rental payments to Mullin, according to The Daily Mail.
Smith also chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees portions of the Department of Homeland Security that Mullin runs. Sources who spoke to The Daily Mail described the setup as unusual for a cabinet official.
"It's strange that a cabinet secretary still has a roommate," an anonymous source familiar with the arrangement told The Daily Mail. "Maybe it's because he is so rarely in DC since he flies home so often. He literally uses it as a crash pad. People pass in and out."
Another source close to Mullin described the steady stream of visitors as well.
"People are all always going in and out of that place, for work, for fun," the source told The Daily Mail. "It's like a college dorm."
A third source doubted anyone else that senior in the Trump administration lives this way, telling The Daily Mail, "I think he is the only cabinet-level member with this kind of setup."
