Meet Trump's Pick To Lead DHS
What A Day
What A Day
4.6 • 12.6K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
This week, the Senate will hold a confirmation hearing for Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump's pick to replace Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security Secretary. In some ways, he’s not very different from his predecessor. Mullin also smeared Renee Good and Alex Pretti following their killings by federal immigration officials in Minnesota. He endorses the President’s debunked theory that the 2020 election was stolen. And he threatened to fight the head of the Teamsters union back in 2023 during a Senate committee hearing over a Twitter spat. Burgess Everett, Congressional bureau chief at Semafor, joins the show to talk more about Senator Mullin, the DHS shutdown, and what else to watch for on the Hill this week.
And in headlines, FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testify before Congress about global security threats, thousands of workers go on strike at a Colorado meatpacking plant, and Trump continues to insist the war with Iran will wrap up “soon.”
Show Notes:
- Check out Burgess reporting – www.semafor.com/author/burgess-everett
- Call Congress – 202-224-3121
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Tuesday, March 17th. Happy St. Patrick's Day. I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day. |
| 0:08.8 | The show that, like Fox News reporter, Peter Ducey, wants to know which president was President Donald Trump allegedly speaking to about Iran? |
| 0:18.1 | I just want to ask you about something very interesting that you said twice today, that |
| 0:21.6 | you talked to another former president about the Iran strikes. |
| 0:25.6 | Was it George Plovy Bush? |
| 0:26.6 | No. |
| 0:27.6 | Was it Bill Clinton? |
| 0:28.6 | I don't want to say. |
| 0:30.6 | I don't want to say. |
| 0:32.6 | Because a member of a party, a member of a party, they have trumped arrangement syndrome |
| 0:42.9 | all, but it's somebody that happens to like me and I like that person who's a smart |
| 0:48.2 | person. |
| 0:49.2 | The funniest possibility? |
| 0:51.0 | Definitely former president, Joe Biden. |
| 1:00.0 | On top. possibility, definitely former president Joe Biden. On today's show, FBI director Cash Patel takes a break from chugging beer to testify before Congress about global security threats, |
| 1:04.6 | something he's definitely monitoring closely. And Trump insists the war with Iran will wrap up |
| 1:09.5 | soon, even though his definition of |
| 1:12.0 | soon remains unclear. But let's start with the Department of Homeland Security. Sure, DHS is still |
| 1:18.7 | knee-deep in a partial shutdown and will be for the foreseeable future. But with the ignominious |
| 1:24.0 | dismissal of Christy Noem, the Senate will be taking up the nomination of her replacement |
| 1:27.6 | this week, Oklahoma Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. I'll say this for Mark Wayne Mullen. He has not, |
| 1:34.2 | as far as I know, spent more than $200 million on an ad campaign for a federal agency that prominently |
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