Senate hearings are not particularly known for showing sympathy and affection between senators and witnesses, but rarely did you see something like what transpired between Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and union member Sean O'Brien, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. It turns out that they almost came to blows in the middle of a verbal exchange.
The event occurred on Tuesday in the middle of a hearing of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The relationship between the two was a bit rough at first, given that O'Brien had challenged the senator through X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Greedy CEO who pretends like he’s self made. In reality, just a clown & fraud. Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy," he wrote in reference to the senator.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin @SenMullin just stood up and tried to fight labor leader Sean O'Brien @TeamsterSOB at a Senate Help Committee hearing after reading his tweet where O'Brien says he'd take him "any time, any place." pic.twitter.com/8oiPSNZJV8
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 14, 2023
In this hostile context, the union member was a member of a panel before the aforementioned Committee of which Mullin is a part. When it was his turn to ask questions, the senator quickly remembered that post on social media and proceeded to accept the invitation. After reading aloud the text from the tweet, he expressed the following: "Sir, this is a time. This is a place. If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here."
"OK, that's fine. Perfect," O'Brien replied, raising the temperature in the room.
"You want to do it now?" asked Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter. "Well, stand your butt up, then," he added.
"You stand your butt up," the union member responded, causing the senator to get up from his chair, almost as if ready to pounce on him and start a fight.
At that moment of maximum tension, Bernie Sanders (D-VT) dressed as a firefighter to calm the situation. "Stop it, hold it. No, no, no, sit down. Sit down. You're a United States senator, sit down," shouted Sanders, who had called the hearing to try to show how unions are improving the lives of working families, as he attempted to restore order to the room.
"This is a hearing. And God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress," added Sanders. The back-and-forth continued for a few more seconds until Senator Magie Hassan (D-NH) was given the floor.
Already calm, Mullin was consulted about what happened and clarified that he only responded to O'Brien's provocation. "He scolded me. He said anytime, anywhere. You don't scold me and say 'whenever you want, wherever you want and then you don't back up what you've said. I responded and that's it," he declared.
