Tipsheet

Fetterman Claps Back at Critics of Markwayne Mullin Who Say He Is Too Inexperienced to Be DHS Secretary

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  March 29, 2026 12:00 PM

Senator John Fetterman pushed back on claims that newly appointed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin lacks the experience to lead the agency, arguing that experience alone does not guarantee results. Pointing to the former DHS secretary who served under both Biden and Obama, Fetterman argued that despite extensive credentials, “the border turned into an absolute disaster.”

"I didn't know that you thought he was a good fit for the job," Cuomo said. "Because I've never seen anybody in that position with no experience in law enforcement, let alone homeland security. 

"Yeah, well, Mayorkas may have had some experience and the border turned into an absolute disaster," Sen. Fetterman replied. "And I referred to Noem as their version of Mayorkas, you know, but I do believe he's committed and we've had multiple conversations and his top priority is to secure our border, round up all of the criminals, and they're not going to have any more things like Minneapolis and that tragedy."

"And I would point out that to my knowledge, what I've reported, there is no ICE presence in Minneapolis anymore right now," he continued. "So, you know, we have a choice to find someone to work with. And now that's a choice that I made, and there were multiple Democrats privately, they wanted to work or to vote for him.

"I certainly felt some blowback from parts of the Democratic Party to vote for him," he added. "But they just didn't want the blowback."

This comes just days after Jimmy Kimmel blasted Secretary Mullin's alleged lack of inexperience and mocked him for previously working as a plumber.