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Watchdog Blasts Mullin’s Self-Enrichment as Fetterman Joins GOP to Advance Trump DHS Pick
"Mullin’s long list of conflicts of interest even as he seeks this next level of public office is reprehensible."
Mar 19, 2026
Government watchdog Public Citizen on Thursday slammed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for voting to advance the nomination of Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin to be the next US homeland security secretary.
Shortly after the committee delivered an 8-to-7 vote to advance Mullin's (R-Okla.) nomination out of committee, Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert described the move as "simply inappropriate."
"It is inappropriate because of his self-enrichment," Gilbert said. "Mullin’s long list of conflicts of interest even as he seeks this next level of public office is reprehensible."
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Mullin has grown significantly wealthier throughout his tenure first as a US congressman then as a US senator, in part because he is "one of the most prolific stock buyers in Congress."
According to financial disclosure forms cited by the Times, Mullin's net worth in 2024 was between $29 million and $97 million, a massive jump from the estimated net worth of $2.8 million to $9 million he reported in 2012.
In addition to citing Mullin's self-enrichment during his political career, Gilbert decried the senator's past statements defending actions taken by federal immigration enforcement officials, including the fatal shootings of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
"It is inappropriate because Mullin has consistently defended ICE agents involved in fatal shootings," said Gilbert, "and justified the use of lethal force in enforcement operations, rather than calling for accountability or reform of use-of-force policies. It is inappropriate because he treats protest against ICE operations as a prosecutable offense rather than a legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights and an expression of community concern."
While Mullin on Wednesday walked back his past attack on Pretty as "deranged," he stood by his claim that the shooting of Good was entirely justified.
Mullin's nomination advanced to the Senate floor after Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) broke with his party, canceling out the "no" vote on the committee delivered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who got into an angry spat with Mullin on Wednesday over past comments the Oklahoma Republican made justifying a 2017 assault on his colleague from Kentucky.
In a social media post defending his vote to advance Mullin, Fetterman argued that "we need a leader" at the US Department of Homeland Security and said his vote in favor of the nomination was "rooted in a strong committed, constructive working relationship with Senator Mullin for our nation’s security."
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'Blood Is On Their Hands': Fetterman and Senate GOP Block War Powers Resolution on Iran
The Pennsylvania Democrat "and his GOP colleagues now share ownership of Trump's stupid, unpopular, unjustified, and already tragic war—and the fallout," said Indivisible.
Mar 04, 2026
Democratic US Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted with nearly every Senate Republican on Wednesday to block a war powers resolution intended to halt President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war on Iran.
Only Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who co-sponsored S.J.Res.104 with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), joined Democrats for the 47-53 vote on the motion to discharge the measure, which would direct the removal of US armed forces from hostilities with Iran.
"This is shameful," declared the anti-war group CodePink, calling out the senators who voted to let the war continue. "The blood is on their hands."
The grassroots group Indivisible similarly said that Fetterman "and his GOP colleagues now share ownership of Trump's stupid, unpopular, unjustified, and already tragic war—and the fallout."
So far, over 1,000 people have been killed in Iran—including around 175 in an attack on a girls' elementary school in Minab—according to the Iranian government, and six US service members are dead.
Cavan Kharrazian, senior policy adviser at the group Demand Progress, said in a statement that "the American people will remember who voted to continue an illegal, unnecessary war. Every senator who voted against the war powers resolution also voted against the wishes of the American people and against the safety of the service members they are sworn to protect."
"The stakes are clear, and there is no more time for political games," Kharrazian continued. "We cannot accept anything except full opposition to Trump's war. This means no votes to authorize it for any period of time and no votes for spending a single penny on it."
The vote came after Senate Democrats left a Tuesday night classified briefing even more concerned that the US-Israeli war on Iran will involve a ground invasion and drag on "forever." The Pentagon is reportedly planning to seek around $50 billion to fund the war, which has not been authorized by Congress and has been widely condemned as illegal under international law.
In the lead-up to the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had urged Democrats and Republicans alike to "stand with the American people who are tired of war in the Middle East" and "act to stop Trump’s belligerence" by voting "yes."
Pointing to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Wednesday morning press conference, during which he suggested the war could last at least eight weeks, Schumer said that "one thing is crystal clear: America is at war with no plan, no strategy."
Schumer—who has faced criticism for not leading a strong enough opposition to Trump in general—continued:
In his own words, Hegseth said, "We are just getting started." Hegseth says, "We are accelerating, not decelerating." And in the wake of six brave Americans who died in uniform, Trump simply says: "There will likely be more. That's the way it is." This, my colleagues, is madness. Americans spent the last two decades fighting and dying in the Middle East. Parents watched their kids shipped off to foreign lands.
So many lives lost. So many billions wasted. So much suffering and anguish that scarred an entire generation. Why is Donald Trump hellbent on making history repeat itself? Why is he plunging America headfirst into a war that Americans do not want, and which he cannot even explain? Enough is enough. The American people deserve a say. And that is what our resolution is about.
As the voting got underway, Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, a Washington, DC-based think tank, highlighted on social media that "Democrats are at their desks, while the Republican side is empty. The message is unmistakable. For Democrats this is a solemn moment. For Republicans it's just another vote."
The Senate blocked Kaine and Paul's measure from advancing to a final vote as the US House of Representatives on Wednesday debated H.Con.Res.38, a war powers resolution led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
"The Constitution entrusts Congress to declare war—not the president," noted Alix Fraser, vice president of advocacy at Issue One. "Today's Senate vote on Sens. Tim Kaine's and Rand Paul's war powers resolution is the first step in setting a precedent to reclaim war powers from the president. We thank Kaine and Paul for bringing this resolution to the floor in a bipartisan manner and Paul for his bravery in standing up and exercising Congress' Article I responsibilities."
"War puts the lives of American military personnel at risk, and the potential economic fallout is massive. The disruption of energy supply chains risks raising the price of everything from fuel to food for everyday Americans. This is why the representatives of we the people must make this decision," he continued. "We hope that tomorrow, the House will follow the Senate's lead and vote on a war powers resolution. Even if the House votes down a war powers resolution like the Senate, this will be an important step in reclaiming our experiment in self-government that our founders intended."
Promoting the We the People Playbook crafted by his and other groups, Fraser stressed that "it is clear that more must be done to ensure that Congress plays its constitutional role. In two months, President Trump has started military conflicts in Iran and Venezuela without congressional approval, and it seems likely he will continue this course unless Congress steps up and reasserts its power."
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'Pretty Much Put Us Out of Business': Uproar After Shutdown Bill Targets Hemp Industry
"Recriminalizing hemp will force American farms and businesses to close and disrupt the well-being of countless Americans who depend on hemp," warned one critic.
Nov 13, 2025
Advocates for hemp on Wednesday decried a provision of the Republican government funding law signed by President Donald Trump that tightens restrictions on the versatile plant—a move critics say will devastate a $30 billion industry.
The new restrictions set a stricter limit on the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the psychoactive chemical in cannabis—in order to close a loophole that allowed for the sale of unregulated food and beverages containing intoxicating hemp-derived compounds.
Twenty-two Democratic senators—including advocates for legal recreational or medical marijuana—joined almost all Republicans in voting against an amendment introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to strip out the restrictions from the final bill. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was the only other Republican to back Paul's effort.
"Our industry is being used as a pawn as leaders work to reopen the government," Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the US Hemp Roundtable, an industry group, warned ahead of the vote. "Recriminalizing hemp will force American farms and businesses to close and disrupt the well-being of countless Americans who depend on hemp."
Hemp—which is used in a wide range of products from clothing to construction materials to fuel, food, and biodegradable plastics—was legalized under the 2018 farm bill signed by President Donald Trump during his first term.
But lawmakers including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—who backed the 2018 legislation—argued that cannabis companies are exploiting a loophole in the farm bill to legally manufacture products with enough THC to get consumers high.
Paul, however, ripped the provision, arguing in a Thursday Courier Journal opinion piece that it "destroys the livelihood of hemp farmers."
"This could not come at a worse time for our farmers," Paul wrote. "Costs have increased while prices for crops have declined. Farm bankruptcies are rising."
"For many farmers, planting hemp offered them a lifeline," he continued. "Hemp can be used for textiles, rope, insulation, composite wood, paper, grain, and in CBD products, and growing hemp helped farmers to mitigate the loses they’ve endured during this season of hardship."
Paul noted that "the provision that was inserted into the government funding bill makes illegal any hemp product that contains more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container."
"That would be nearly 100% of hemp products currently sold," he said. "This is so low that it takes away any of the benefit of the current products intended to manage pain or other conditions."
Charles and Linda Gill have grown hemp on their family farm in Bowdoinham, Maine since the plant was legalized in 2018.
“We are not in the business of these intoxicating hemp products on the market, which are the ones that are screwing it up for everybody,” Charles Gill told Maine Morning Star's Emma Davis on Wednesday. “They’re abusing the system.”
“All our current products would be banned,” Gill said of the new restrictions. “It would pretty much put us out of business.”
Hemp defenders vowed to contest the new law.
"The fight isn't over," Hemp Industry & Farmers of America executive director Brian Swensen said on X after the law's passage.
"In 2018, President Trump and Congress legalized hemp, delivering more jobs and opportunities to American farmers and small businesses," Swensen said, adding that the restrictions "will devastate American farmers, business owners, veterans, and seniors."
"The hemp ban will also open up dangerous black markets for hemp and allow China to take over the entire hemp market," he added, claiming "it kills over 325,000 American jobs and destroys the industry."
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