Jimmy Kimmel ripped into Sen. Markwayne Mullin for his awkward, unimpressive confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
The Oklahoma Republican, who was picked by President Donald Trump to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of Homeland Security, struggled to answer seemingly basic questions about his beliefs.
When Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin asked Mullin directly, “Who won the 2020 election?” Mullin evasively responded, “Ma’am, we know that President Joe Biden was sworn into office.“
As Slotkin tried to get him to directly answer her question, Mullin continued, “[Biden] was the president for the last four years. But I do believe my job as Department of Homeland Security secretary will be to make sure that we assure that the elections are fair and people can trust them.”
Kimmel responded to Mullin in his Wednesday monologue, “Ah, I’m sorry, the correct answer was Joseph Biden. We would have also accepted Joe. For sure, you got that wrong. Go back to your seat.”
Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republian who chairs the Homeland Security committee, grilled Mullin at the hearing, demanding an explanation for why he “applauded” Paul being assaulted by his neighbor in a 2017 incident that left him with six broken ribs.
In a February event, Mullin called Paul a “freaking snake” and added, “I understand completely why his neighbor did what he did. And I told [Paul] that to his face.”
“You got a chance today. You can either continue to lie, or you can correct the record,” Paul told Mullin. “You have never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified.”
Kimmel found the showdown between Paul and Mullin hilarious.
“Either The Bachelorette is becoming more like Congress or Congress is becoming more like The Bachelorette," Kimmel joked.
“And of course, Markwayne didn’t have a good answer for the question, other than some mutters and grunts,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel showed a clip from the hearing of Mullin defending the outdated practice of dueling, only for Rand to tell him that dueling has been “illegal for 170 years.”
In an impression of Mullin, Kimmel joked, “Whoa, hold up. I just saw Hamilton last summer. That weren’t real?”
Kimmel also revealed an old commercial for Mullin’s plumbing company, starring Mullin himself.
“That man has more business plunging the Whataburgers out of Trump’s golden toilet than running Homeland Security for this country,” Kimmel said.
Although Mullin was grilled at the hearing for his lack of experience on immigration and his controversial views, he is still expected to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan defended Mullin in a Fox News interview on Wednesday, arguing that his lack of experience won’t be a problem because he’ll be surrounded by experts:
“He don’t know the immigration game very well,” Homan said, “But he’s counting on people with 30, 40 years of experience to guide him.”
