Hello readers! Kathryn Palmer here. Welcome to Wednesday's On Politics. It's a loaded day of hearings at the Capitol today. Let's get into it. |
Mullin grilled in testy DHS confirmation |
Sen. Markwayne Mullin's Senate confirmation hearing today started out hot, as the outspoken Oklahoma Republican faced pointed questions about not only his policy stances but also his character and his history of making inflammatory comments. Mullin is President Donald Trump's pick to replace Kristi Noem, the former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, whom he fired last week. In the fiery hearing, Mullin said he regretted calling Alex Pretti "a deranged individual that came in to cause max damage" soon after the nurse was killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis. He bit back at Sen. Rand Paul after his fellow GOP lawmaker called Mullin's rhetoric "very dangerous." Read the highlights from the hearing here. | Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), President Donald Trump's nominee to be Homeland Security secretary, swears in as he testifies before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 18, 2026. Nathan Howard, REUTERS |
Stratton wins and new faces emerge in Illinois primary |
Democratic voters itching for a new direction during the 2026 primary season took advantage of a rare opportunity to significantly reshape the national party by backing a new generation of faces in yesterday's Illinois primary. In the closely watched Democratic primary to pick a replacement for retiring incumbent Sen. Dick Durbin, voters chose Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, nearly guaranteeing her November win in the solidly blue state. If victorious in the fall, she would become the sixth Black woman in history to serve in the Senate. Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker sailed to his own win (he was unopposed in the primary), while voters chose a bevy of new faces to fill the Republican and Democratic tickets for four open House seat races. |
Iran regime 'intact' but 'degraded,' US intelligence chief says |
Also happening on Capitol Hill today: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, during an annual hearing about global threats to the United States. As the U.S.-Israel war with Iran enters its 19th day, Gabbard told senators that the "regime in Iran appears to be intact but largely degraded." Her comments come after Israel announced its forces killed a handful of the Islamic Republic's top military and intelligence leaders over the past few days. CIA Director John Ratcliffe is also answering questions at the hearing, though the spot usually held for the counterintelligence chief is empty, after Joe Kent, former head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned yesterday in protest of the ongoing war. | | Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said the idea that he and other justices are on the court to carry out a president's agenda is "absurd." | | The Oklahoma Republican has long had an affinity for a pink rubber bouncy ball. "I don't know why," he once told a tour group. | | | | The Second Avenue Subway expansion has been planned for a century. Federal officials abruptly withheld funds on what Trump called "Democrat projects." | | | | The contentious SAVE America Act would impact voting access for millions of Americans. | | | | Mullin sold a Stilwell property to the Cherokee Nation in 2024 for $1.5 million. The purchase price was nearly twice the assessed value. | | | | | Sign up for the news you want | Exclusive newsletters are part of your subscription, don't miss out! We're always working to add benefits for subscribers like you. | | | | | |
