- A GOP senator said his constituents would've been upset if he hadn't tried to fight a labor leader.
- "I mean, what do people want me to do?" Sen. Markwayne Mullin said in a Fox News appearance.
A Republican senator said his constituents would've been 'pretty upset' with him if he hadn't attempted to fight a labor leader during a congressional hearing.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who's represented Oklahoma in the Senate since 2023, made the comments in a Tuesday evening appearance on Fox News.
Earlier in the day, during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing titled "Standing Up Against Corporate Greed; How Unions are Improving the Lives of Working Families," Mullin got into an argument with the president of the Teamsters, Sean O'Brien.
After a brief back-and-forth, Mullin challenged O'Brien to a fight and proceeded to stand up and adjust the ring on his hand before Sen. Bernie Sanders quelled the commotion.
Hours after the brouhaha, Fox News host Sean Hannity fanned the flames even more.
"I think any other response would've been gutless," Hannity mentioned to Mullin, who agreed.
"I mean, what do people want me to do?" Mullin answered. "If I didn't do that, people in Oklahoma would be pretty upset with me."
For a brief period of time before he joined Congress, Mullin actually competed in mixed martial arts events, compiling a record of three wins and zero losses.
Several months prior to Tuesday's Capitol kerfuffle, Mullin had challenged O'Brien to an "MMA match for charity," though it never happened.
In a podcast appearance on Tuesday, Mullin admitted he's not afraid to break the rules in a fight to get an advantage.
"By the way, I'm not afraid of biting," Mullin said unprompted, surprising the podcast's host. "I will bite. In a fight, I'm gonna bite. I'll do anything, I mean, I'm not above it. And I don't care where I bite, by the way, it's just going to be a bite."