‘Who won 2020?’ Slotkin asks Mullin, says 'zero trust' in President Trump allowing fair elections

In a contentious exchange on Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary nominee Markwayne Mullin was questioned about his views on President Donald Trump's claims about a rigged election in 2020. During his confirmation hearing, Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a former CIA analyst, centered her questions around Democratic concerns about the possible interference of federal law enforcement in the 2026 midterm elections. 

"You have your own history; you did not certify the 2020 election. There are people at the Department of Homeland Security—three individuals specifically—who are well-known election deniers now running election security functions," Slotkin said after pointing out that it has been the mandate since the Obama era for the DHS to secure election infrastructure. Recalling Trump's statement where he had said that if his side didn't win in November, then the elections were rigged, Slotkin asked Mullin, "Who won the 2020 election?"

In his response, Mullin said, "Ma'am, we know that President Joe Biden was sworn into office. He was the President for the last four years. But I do believe my job as Department of Homeland Security Secretary will be to make sure that we assure that the elections are fair and people can trust them." Earlier in the exchange, Slotkin had lashed out at the conduct of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reiterating the Democrats' demand of bringing in major administrative changes—a political contention that has led to a partial government shutdown, affecting all DHS departments, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

"I think first and foremost on the use of ICE: my state voted for Donald Trump in 2024. A lot of people supported the President's immigration agenda. But then they watched with their own eyes—not filtered through a news source—they watched with their own eyes American citizens killed in their streets for protesting," Slotkin had said. "Your predecessor was fired because she couldn't manage that, and people had to go in and bring the temperature down. Can you, without other words, just state clearly what you'd be willing to do to fundamentally reform ICE and put into law to do so, since that trust is gone?" Mullin responded by saying that it was not under his power to make laws, and that he will work "within the parameters."

Focusing on the upcoming elections, when Slotkin asked Trump's DHS Secretary nominee if he feels he has the authority to put uniformed officers at polling locations in 2026, Mullin clarified that the only reason his officers would be there was if there was a "specific threat for them to be there." "Not for intimidation," he said. Slotkin, visibly unsatisfied by the answer, concluded her remarks by reiterating her concerns about the possible role of ICE in the 2026 midterms. "Americans trust their local law enforcement now way more than they trust ICE. So I would just say: if we ever get to the point where you are being asked to put armed ICE officers at polling locations, we have lost the plot as a country. We have fundamentally lost it," she said. "And until I hear someone tell me that this man, President Trump, will actually allow us to have a free and fair election, there is zero trust here. And I cannot trust that he won't try, and steal it again."