Markwayne Mullin tears up in Senate confirmation hearing over Trump helping his son, family after brain injury

President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, Senator Markwayne Mullin, came to tears as he recounted in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday how Trump came to his family’s aid in the wake of his son suffering a traumatic brain injury. 

Mullin said that his son, who had been a "world-class athlete," nearly died in January of 2020 after suffering a serious brain injury. "January 17 of 2020, which, mind you, was an election year, he had a really serious brain injury. Woke up 26 hours later, he’s a different kid. We almost lost him. For 26 hours, he had an extremely low pulse. There was a time that they thought that they lost his pulse altogether, and when he woke up, he was just different."

"When he woke up, he was just different. I mean, here you had a world-class athlete that wrestled all over the world since he was 12 years old. And he couldn't touch his nose. He couldn't walk without shuffling his feet. He had short-term memory loss. He couldn't control his muscles. Couldn't add five plus three. He was in high school at that time. Had to learn how to read, walk, everything."

He said that when Trump found out about this, "he gave me a call immediately. And one thing the President joked about, was he said, let me get this straight, he doesn’t know who you and Christie are, but he knew who I was because the only question he got right is who the president was, and he said Trump with this cocky grin on his face."

Mullin said that once Trump understood the severity of the situation, he "immediately got to work." Mullin said that he needed to get his son to one of the best neural rehabilitation centers in the world, located in California, "and the President offered us his plane, his personal plane." Mullin declined the offer, saying that they had to drive out to California, but Trump "called almost every day for two weeks, checking on Jim."

While on the campaign trail, Trump told Mullin that he was going to come out to see his son. He came to visit, with Mullin saying that on the third time Trump’s team informed him that they needed to leave, Trump told them, "I guarantee you that plane won’t leave without me.’ Over the next 15 minutes, he did nothing but love on my son."

Mullin recounted doctors telling him prior to the visit that one incident could jog something in his son’s brain and help start retaining information again, adding, "that one incident jogged his memory, and from then on, he started retaining things."

"And 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? 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 had been in, and the guy was still that concerned about my son."

Tearing up, he said that when his son was released from the center, Trump invited them to Mar-a-Lago to visit. When they were beginning to leave, Mullin said Trump pulled his son aside and told him "do you know why I love your dad?" Mullin’s son replied, "no sir." Trump said, "because he loves you."

Mullin concluded of Trump, "we were acquaintances before that. We've been friends ever since."