From PBS NewsHour.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., President Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, told a story in his confirmation hearing Wednesday about Trump’s efforts to help Mullin’s teenage son recover from a devastating brain injury.

At times emotional, Mullin recalled how Trump offered the use of his private plane, called the Mullin family multiple times and visited with Mullin’s son as he recovered in early 2020.

“Every week, if not most days, the president would call and ask how he could help, ask how’s his buddy doing, how’s Jim doing?” Mullin said before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “He didn’t do it for publicity. He didn’t do it for any show. He was running in one of the toughest elections he’d been in, and the guy was still that concerned about my son.”

Trump tapped Mullin to take over the embattled agency from Kristi Noem, who was fired earlier this month after her leadership came under bipartisan scrutiny during tense congressional hearings.

Mullin was elected to Congress in 2012 and has branded himself as a businessman and a Washington outsider. As Homeland Security secretary, Mullin, a former business owner, would take charge of one of the biggest government agencies, leading the nation’s disaster response, counterterrorism efforts, border security and the president’s mass deportation agenda.

A former mixed martial arts fighter who once challenged the Teamsters president to a fight during a Senate hearing, Mullin has pledged to stay “focused on protecting the homeland" if he is confirmed.

The Republican Party is considering a pivot on how it approaches immigration enforcement as more voters grow concerned over DHS agents’ aggressive tactics, which has led to the shooting deaths of at least three U.S. citizens since Trump retook office.

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