Sen. Mark Wayne Mullin (R-Okla.) condemned his Democratic colleagues for attacking President-elect Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth during a hearing Tuesday, calling them hypocritical on a variety of topics. criticized.
Marin called out Democratic senators, especially those who continue to question Hegseth's qualifications to lead such a large department.
“You know, there's a lot of talk about qualifications and if we were a board, we'd hire him, but there's a lot of senators here that I wouldn't put on a board. “Because no one else is eligible except you,'' he said, “to be a senator, you have to be that age, live in the state, and be a U.S. citizen.''
“In fact, we had to convince a lot of people to vote for us. And when we start talking about the qualifications, if you are qualified to “Could you tell me what the qualifications are? Mr. Chairman, can you tell me what the qualifications are for the Secretary of Defense?” he asked.
“Let me read it,” he continued, explaining that he was right.
“There's a lot of qualifications. I think the senators on the other side in particular are being very hypocritical, I'm going to talk about his qualifications…and your qualifications are no better than that,” he slammed them. did.
“Except that we are lucky to be here, none of you are qualified to be a senator any more than I am qualified to be a senator. But you are qualified to be secretary of defense. Let's read what it is, because I Googled it and looked at a lot of different sites. It's really confusing, but in general, the position of the US Secretary of Defense is: ”, he revealed. “that's it.”
This reality caused laughter in the audience. Marin continued.
If you have served and continued to serve in the U.S. Army — you must have been discharged for at least seven years, Congress can consider it — and you are a member of the Massachusetts State Senate. There are questions raised about serving in the U.S. Army. The boards within the military industry, and your own secretary, Secretary Austin, whom you voted for, we had to vote for exemption because he resigned from the Raytheon board. But I think it's okay because it's a Democratic Secretary of Defense.
Mullin pointed out that Democrats quickly forgot that fact.
He then criticized Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), saying he “started bringing up the fact that if you showed up to work drunk, what would you do?”
“How many senators showed up drunk at night to vote?'' he asked, and another burst of laughter filled the room.
“Many of you asked them to step down and resign for the sake of their jobs? And don't say you didn't see it, because I know you saw it.” he said, referring to other attacks from colleagues on the left. Marin added:
So do you know how many senators have divorced because their wives cheated? Have you asked them to resign? No, but it's a sham. You guys are making a big show of yourself pointing out the hypocrisy. Because a guy makes a mistake and you want to sit there and say he's not qualified.
“It’s so ridiculous how you think you hold yourself to such high standards and then forget that you got a big plank stuck in your eye. We’ve all made mistakes. “I made a mistake,” he said, and thanked Mr. Hegseth's wife for “loving him through that mistake. Because the only reason I'm here and not in prison is because of my wife. Because he loved me too.”
“I've changed, I'm not perfect, but I found someone who thinks I'm perfect. And for whatever reason, you love Pete, and I don't know why.” But my wife had to forgive me many times, just as our Lord and Savior forgave me, and I'm sure you had to forgive him too. ” he continued.
