"He was cheering for the criminal assault and battery of Rand Paul, and it's just I guess it's just these days, I don't know. I don't get it. Why can't he just apologize for a really stupid, insensitive, and misguided statement that he made?"
"I mean, it's just one of the rules of when White House officials appear before Congress – apologize for nothing, be combative, assume that the president of the United States is watching you. That's why so many of these hearings, you would hope they're a little more substantive, and it's not that there's not moments of substance, it's just so much theater, so much pageantry."
"You don't really get to the truth about, OK, how would he actually run the Department of Homeland Security at a time of great tension, when it's not even being funded, when you have a lot of attacks and an unpopularity among ICE, you have some really big philosophical decisions to be made about how do you balance protecting people's individual liberties with cracking down on people who are here illegally?"
During a Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of Homeland Security nominee Markwayne Mullin faced criticism for refusing to apologize to Senator Rand Paul for comments justifying Paul's 2017 assault, which resulted in broken ribs and a damaged lung. Joe Scarborough expressed bewilderment at Mullin's refusal to apologize for what he called a stupid and insensitive statement. Jim VandeHei noted that White House officials appearing before Congress typically avoid apologizing and adopt combative stances to appear loyal to the president. VandeHei argued this approach transforms substantive hearings into theater, preventing meaningful discussion about critical issues like Department of Homeland Security operations, immigration policy, and balancing civil liberties with enforcement.
#senate-confirmation-hearing #markwayne-mullin #accountability-and-apologies #congressional-theater #department-of-homeland-security
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