‘I’m Gonna Break My Hand On This Guy’s Face’: GOP Senator Reveals to CNN He Had ‘Full Intention’ of Coming to Blows During Hearing

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) joined CNN’s Dana Bash on Wednesday to discuss challenging the head of the Teamsters to a fistfight during a U.S. Senate hearing the day before.

The fight was prevented when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who was leading the hearing, intervened and chastised both Mullin and Teamster head Sean O’Brien for their childish behavior.

Bash began the interview by noting that tensions between Mullin and O’Brien “were already bubbling over” in the months before the hearing.

“Most recently before coming, the head of the Teamsters said in a tweet, ‘You know where to find me.’ This is to you. ‘Any place. Any time, cowboy.’ Having said all that, in hindsight, any regrets?” Bash asked the Republican senator.

“No, I really don’t,” Mullin replied, adding:

What happens all the time is you’ve got these keyboard warriors that’s going to go out there and run their mouth all the time, and then they don’t ever have to face the consequences. And people tell me all the time, you know, this isn’t becoming of a United States Senator and I remind people, I’m a guy from Oklahoma first, and there’s consequences for doing some of this. I get there’s people on social media that they’ll do this constantly. I’ll never see them.

This guy I did see and this wasn’t his first time. He did this to me five separate times. I ignored it every time. And then the last time when he called, when he said, “You know where to find me? Any time, anywhere, cowboy.”

I thought, you know, maybe this could be a good thing. Maybe we could do this for charity. If he really wants to be this tough guy and be this, you know, this union boss of the Teamsters who said that, mind you, in 2022, he said he wants to bring back the mob mentality back to the Teamsters. This is the same guy in 2013 that was suspended by his Teamsters for harassing and intimidating them. I thought, you know, maybe this guy could be taught a lesson and we could just do it for charity.

“What do you mean by that, ‘for charity,’ because this looked like you almost came to blows in the middle of the Senate,” Bash pushed back.

“But I had already challenged him before this. Prior to this, I had I had said when he first put out that first tweet or that actually that was the fifth tweet. I put out, ‘Okay. Challenge accepted September 30th in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for charity. MMA fight.’ And I said, and of course, he didn’t say anything until right before this hearing. He started running his mouth again,” Mullin replied.

“You mentioned an MMA fight. You are an MMA champion. I noticed that when you were getting up in an escalator — you’re playing with it right now — you reached for your wedding ring. What was that about?” Bash asked.

“Well, I wasn’t mad, first of all. So when you get mad, you get angry, you lose your mind. First thing I thought of when I stood up I thought, ‘I’m going to break my hand on this guy’s face’ and will take my wedding ring off. Because when you’re fighting, you learn how to punch correctly. You really shouldn’t break your hand. But when you aren’t doing it with wraps –” Mullin replied as Bash cut in.

“You actually thought you were going to come to blows in that moment?” Bash pressed.

“I had full intentions of doing that, absolutely,” Mullin replied.

Bash then played Mullin a sound bite from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) admonishing his behavior and arguing that elected officials should set an example for the rest of the country. Mullin remained defiant and argued he teaches his six kids “you’re responsible for your words.”

Watch the full clip above via CNN.