- A Republican senator and the president of the Teamsters almost got into a fist fight Tuesday.
- The almost-skirmish was snuffed out, however, before it could even begin by an 82-year-old senator.
Sen. Bernie Sanders stopped a fight from breaking out in the middle of a Senate committee meeting on Tuesday when a Republican senator stood up from his chair to fistfight a labor leader who was testifying.
The incident occurred 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," where Teamsters President Sean O'Brien and other labor leaders were scheduled to speak.
During the hearing, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma read aloud a post O'Brien previously made to X, formerly known as Twitter, where he called the Republican senator a "Greedy CEO who pretends like he's self made."
A fight almost broke out in a Senate hearing.
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 14, 2023
Markwayne Mullin read a tweet from Teamster boss Sean O'Brien which challenged Mullin to a fight. Mullin said he was ready to settle things right here, right now.
Bernie Sanders shut the scene down. pic.twitter.com/U0X3YmWPwY
"In reality, just a clown & fraud," O'Brien wrote. "Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy."
In June, Mullin drafted his response to O'Brien's comments onto X, challenging him to an "MMA fight for charity," though the brawl never actually took place.
After reading out the post on Tuesday, Mullins responded to the criticism in person, particularly to the claim that he was pretending to be self-made. He then stared down the labor leader, saying "Sir, this is a time and 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 said.
"You want to do it now?" The senator replied.
"I'd love to do it right now," the labor leader responded.
"Then stand your butt up then," Mullin said.
"You stand your butt up, big guy," O'Brien said, leading Mullin to stand up and play with the ring affixed to his hand in preparation for a fight.
"No, no, sit down," Sanders said. "You're a United States senator."
The almost-brawl comes approximately eight months after a previous committee hearing in March where O'Brien accused Mullin of being a "greedy CEO" who "hid money."