Democrat Welch praises Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s DHS pick to replace Noem, as ‘competent,‘ ‘honest’

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) says that Senate will confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of Homeland Security, praising his colleague as “competent” and “honest.”

Welch welcomed Mullin’s nomination as an opportunity for Republican and Democratic senators to examine problems at the Department of Homeland Security under Noem’s leadership.

“He’ll be confirmed, the question is whether there’s bipartisan support for him. Markwayne Mullin is competent and he’s honest, so those are two good things that Kristi Noem did not have,” Welch told CNN’s Kasie Hunt in an interview.

Trump fired Noem on Thursday and announced he would nominate Mullin, a member of the Senate GOP whip team, to head the Homeland Security department.

“This is going to give us an opportunity to have real discussion about what’s going on with the Department of Homeland Security,” he said. “Number one, we saw with that rampage in Minneapolis cannot ever happen again. You had Kristi Noem who essentially was calling two people who got killed domestic terrorists.

“Are we going to continue to have raids on churches, on farms, on worksites? Are we going to be threatened with election interference? So we’re going to have an opportunity to speak with Sen. Mullin and go to the heart of some of these questions that I think are troubling,” he added.

Mullin told reporters at the Capitol Thursday that he’s willing to meet with Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) to hear their concerns about the operations of the Department Homeland Security, which saw its funding lapse on Feb. 14.

“We’re going to try to earn everybody’s vote. I want people to understand, when I go into this position, yes, I’m a Republican, yes, I’m conservative but the Department of Homeland Security is to keep everybody [safe,] regardless of if you support me or you don’t support me, regardless of what your thoughts are,” he said.

Mullin said he would sit down with Schumer and other Democrats to discuss ways to improve immigration enforcement operations and other essential operations of the department.

“If they have real concerns, I’m going to listen to them. I’m going to see if it’s practical” to make changes, he said.

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