Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation hearing Wednesday to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security ended with senators moving to a classified setting so he could answer questions behind closed doors about his international travel.
The lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security Committee were confused about Mullin’s trip to an undisclosed location when he was a member of the House of Representatives, which he seemed to bring up for the first time when clarifying other travel at the hearing. His attempts to provide information, however, seemed to only spur more confusion and open him up to a new line of questioning.
“Senator, I think there’s a misunderstanding here that I can clear up, if you want me to clear up for you,” Mullin said in response to the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Gary Peters. “This is an official trip, and it is classified, but in 2015 I was asked to train with a very small contingency and go to a certain area, which was scheduled for 2016.”