New Homeland Security Secretary's Lying Record

What the media is ignoring about Markwayne Mullin

When Trump recently appointed a new head of Homeland Security, the media did what it usually does: It rushed into the realm of opinion.

News giants invited talking heads to predict how things might maybe, possibly, perhaps change under new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who was previously a senator from Oklahoma. This media strategy yielded us super helpful insights, like a guest on CNN describing a “wait-and-see approach.”

None of them bothered to tell us about Mullin’s record of lying to the public. Learn about it in the latest episode.

Mullin: I’m no Liar

In his confirmation hearing, Mullin assailed Sen. Rand Paul for calling him a liar. “That’s not accurate,” he said.

Mullin in December, 2024. (Gage Skidmore)

Numerous news agencies covered this, including The Associated Press, which is probably the most impactful news agency in America. It was a perfect opportunity for Big Media to follow up with facts. They didn’t.

Mullin was even featured in the recent Media Fail Awards because NBC’s Meet the Press did nothing to correct his onslaught of lies about major cuts to the federal workforce. Hear him in Episode 47:

“What Oklahomans want is to make sure that we get rid of the waste and fraud inside the federal government,” he said. “And that’s exactly what the president has done. They’ve already identified billions of dollars of waste and fraud for the taxpayers.”

Host Kristen Welker at least mentioned that no proof of fraud had been provided. But Mullin made an even bigger claim about waste, which went unchecked. “Within only four short weeks, we’ve already identified over fifty-five billion dollars of waste and fraud,” he claimed. When this interview took place, there was already a lot of reporting showing that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had no clue what it was cutting or how much it was saving.

Meanwhile, Mullin offered up this lie about protests at the time: “The chair of the DNC, Ken Martin, openly admitted on MSNBC just yesterday that they were manufacturing these protests. They were bussing in armies to manufacture these protests.”

No, Martin didn’t say that. So Mullin was on NBC News, claiming that something happened on another part of NBC News. And NBC News didn’t bother to fact-check him.

Mullin replaced Kristi Noem. Her ousting from the position continues Trump’s track record of exceptional upheaval. The Brookings Institution tracked presidencies across decades. In this episode, I mention their chart.

All these lines can seem confusing, so here’s what to look at: Within each presidency, note the blue bar to the left, showing first-year turnover. Then look at the darkest blue line for each, summarizing total turnover.

It’s easy for the media to give “open mic nights” to pundits. It takes a lot more time and effort to provide facts and context. But you deserve both, always.

Supporters, weigh in with questions, feedback, links to fact check and more:

JL

P.S. ICYMI: