Sen. Markwayne Mullin Gets Teary-Eyed Recalling How Trump Treated His Injured Son

Most United States Senators are known by their public personas. They very intentionally keep their private lives out of the spotlight, and it's no wonder, given the increase in violent threats and actions against them over the past few years.

However, Senator Markwayne Mullin got a little teary-eyed recounting a personal anecdote about President Donald Trump as he sat before Congress during a hearing to confirm him as Secretary of Homeland Security.

In the unusual tableau, Mullin revealed what his son deals with and how a moment of kindness from the president left him with a strong impression of the Republican leader, who isn't usually the star in heartwarming stories.

Here's what we know about what happened to Mullin's son.

In 2020, Mullin's son Jim suffered a devastating injury. He temporarily lost motor skills and his short-term memory. According to Fox News, the injury was related to wrestling.

Mullin said that his son was a "world-class athlete" during his confirmation hearing, and described what he went through following the injury.

"He had an extremely low pulse," Mullin shared, "There was a time that they thought they lost his pulse altogether. And when he woke up, he was just different." Mullin, emotional, shared that his once-athletic son suddenly could not "touch his nose."

According to Mullin, Trump found out about his son's injury and regularly called to check on him, even visiting Jim at one point.

Mullin even went so far as to suggest that a visit from Trump helped Jim's recovery, saying that his son improved after a visit from the president. "That one incident jogged his memory, and, from then on, he started retaining things," he said.

Meanwhile, in 2026, Mullin had his eyes set on something higher than the Senate. After President Donald Trump decided to remove Kristi Noem from the role of Secretary of Homeland Security, he had to pick someone new.

So, of course, he chose someone with few qualifications aside from being doggedly loyal to Trump: Markwayne Mullin.

But Mullin's path to the role wasn't necessarily meant to be easy. After Noem left with so much controversy and so many lingering questions about how she not only appropriated funds for DHS but also how she guided ICE to treat citizens and immigrants, Mullin was walking into a hornet's nest.

And, unfortunately for Mullin, some of his most disqualifying behaviors were captured on film. Including an argument during a 2023 Senate hearing in which Mullin threatened a union leader, challenging him to a fight and standing up to throw hands before Senator Bernie Sanders scolded his behavior as unbecoming of a United States Senator (via The Independent). Mullin even later doubled down, blaming the teamster for his own behavior.

While Trump may feel as though Mullin is the ideal pick for DHS Secretary, not everyone agrees. Combine a far-right extremist belief system with a penchant for violent behavior, and you have a powder keg amid an already tense era of ICE behavior and leadership over the department that oversees domestic tranquility.

Mullin's nomination to the role proves that Trump didn't learn anything after Noem crashed and burned spectacularly, and he's not particularly bothered about a potential repeat.