Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing to serve as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) asked him to recount a personal story involving his son as part of a discussion about leadership qualities including integrity, commitment to the nation’s security, maintaining a strong relationship with the president, and providing insight into his loyalty to President Donald Trump.
Mullin began by describing how his son, whom he called “a really world-class athlete,” suffered a severe brain injury on January 17, 2020. Mullin said, “We almost lost him. For 26 hours, he had an extremely low pulse. There was a time they thought that they lost his pulse altogether, and when he woke up, he was just different.”
He detailed the extent of the recovery process, stating that his son “couldn’t touch his nose,” “couldn’t walk without shuffling his feet,” and “had short term memory loss,” adding that he “had to learn how to read, walk, everything.” Mullin also said that, at the time, his son was in high school and “couldn’t add five plus three.”
According to Mullin, Donald Trump contacted him after learning about the injury. “The president found out about it, and he gave me a call immediately,” Mullin said, adding that Trump “called almost every day for two weeks, checking on Jim.”
Mullin testified that his family sought treatment at the Center for Neural Skills in Bakersfield, California, describing it as “one of the best neural rehabilitation places in the world.” He said the president offered the use of a personal plane, though Mullin declined, explaining, “Sir, we can’t fly. We got to drive.”
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He further stated that Trump later visited his son during the 2020 election period, noting, “This is the middle of the election. This is Bakersville, California, really not an area he’s got to go campaign. He took the time to come up there and see Jim.”
Mullin said that during the visit, Trump spent extended time with his son, recalling that when staff urged the president to leave, “he says, ‘Hey, I guarantee you that plane won’t leave without me,’” and that “over the next 15 minutes, he did nothing but love on my son.”
Mullin connected the visit to improvements in his son’s recovery, stating, “That one incident jogged his memory, and from then on, he started retaining things,” and that his son’s attitude changed to “I’m going to get through it.”
He added that Trump continued to check in regularly, saying, “Every week, if not most days, the president would call and ask how he could help,” and emphasized, “He didn’t do it for publicity. He didn’t do it for any show.”
Mullin also described a later visit to Mar-a-Lago, where he said the president spoke directly to his son, recounting, “He grabbed my son and he said, ‘Do you know why I love your dad? … because he loves you.’”
Concluding his remarks, Mullin said, “He didn’t do it for any other reason. I mean, here’s the president of the United States, and he did it just because he cared. We were acquaintances before that. We’ve been friends ever since.”
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