Capitol Hill hearing room or UFC octagon?
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) came to blows Tuesday with Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien, who has trash-talked the lawmaker for months on social media.
Mullin began his remarks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing by reciting a series of tweets and other taunts from O’Brien, who challenged him to a fight earlier this year.
“Sir, this is the time, this is the place. You want to run your mouth? We can be two consenting adults. We can get it done here,” Mullin said.
“OK, it’s okay. Perfect,” replied O’Brien.
“You want to do it now?” asked Mullin.
“I want to do it now, O’Brien said.
“Stand up straight,” Mullin demanded.
“You stand tall,” quipped O’Brien.
The Oklahoma senator then stood up and dared to fight.
Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) then stepped in before he was asked to judge.
“Sit down,” Sanders scolded Mullin. “You know you’re a United States senator.”
Mullin countered that O’Brien wanted this and O’Brien tried to copy, but Sanders didn’t.
“This is a hearing,” the Vermont socialist said.
Senator Markwayne Mullin told Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien to “stand firm now” during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing.
Mullin and O’Brien have been feuding since at least March, when O’Brien slammed Mullin — who owns a plumbing company — during another contentious hearing about the union.
The Oklahoman accused the Teamsters of trying to intimidate its workers into joining the union and claimed O’Brien was “sucking” money out of workers’ wages by “making them pay dues.”
But the hostility did not end there.
“Hey, JohnWayne Mullin … you should get your facts straight because every time you speak in this trial, you’re full of shit,” O’Brien posted on X Jun 21. “The more you talk, the more you show the American public how stupid you are.”
Mullin and Sean O’Brien have been at loggerheads since the Teamsters leader slammed the senator during a controversial hearing on the union in March.
A few days later, O’Brien mocked Mullin again.
“In reality, just clowning & fraud,” added O’Brien, tweet under the provocative handle “TeamsterSOB.” “Always have, always will be. Stop acting hard on this senate hearing. You know where to find me. Anywhere, anytime cowboy.”
“An attention-seeking Teamster union boss tried to be assertive after our Senate hearing. Okay, I accept your challenge. MMA fights for the charity of our choice,” Mullin later told O’Brien on Twitter. “Sept 30 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I will give you three days to accept it.”
The fight never came to fruition.
The Teamsters, which has 1.2 million members, is among the largest labor unions on the planet and represents workers in the trucking, railroad and publishing industries, among others.
Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders had to step in to calm Mullin down: “Sit down. You know you’re a United States senator.”
Mullin previously said he would fight former porn star Stormy Daniels’ disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti, but that never materialized either.
Mullin was elected to the House in 2012 and moved up to the Senate after winning a special election to replace Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) who retired last year.
There may be something in the water on Capitol Hill, because Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) accused former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) of elbowing him after a GOP conference hearing.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
