Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., grew emotional during his Senate Homeland Security nomination hearing as he described how President Donald Trump supported his family after Mullin's son Jim suffered a severe brain injury in January 2020.
"I'm going to try getting through without crying. It's not about President Trump. It's about my son," Mullin told Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., during what was otherwise a tense hearing, explaining why he is friends with the president who nominated him.
Fighting back tears, Mullin said his son, once a "world-class athlete," was left unable to walk normally, control his muscles or handle basic tasks after a traumatic brain injury from wrestling.
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He recalled that Trump called immediately after learning what had happened and stayed in close contact as the family sought treatment, even offering his private plane to travel for healthcare treatment.
"I mean, here's the president of the United States, and he did it just because he cared," Mullin told Johnson.
"And, so, when you want to say why he's a friend. Yeah, we were acquaintances before that. We've been friends ever since."
According to Mullin, Trump offered the use of his personal plane to help the family reach a California neurological rehabilitation center, then called almost daily for two weeks to check on Jim's condition. Mullin said Trump later visited Jim in Bakersfield during the middle of the 2020 election campaign, spending time with him despite pressure from aides to leave.
"His team came to him twice and said, 'Sir, we got to go; we got to go,'" Mullin said. "On the third time, they came over to him, he looked at them. He says, 'Hey, I guarantee you that plane won't leave without me for the next 15 minutes.'"
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"He did nothing but love on my son," Mullin testified.
Trump spending time with Mullin's son was credited with helping heal, including jump-starting his memory.
"That one incident jogged his memory, and, from then on, he started retaining things," Mullin continued, sharing a story he had shared before.
"And Jim's attitude went from this, 'You know, we're going to get through it to this.' I'm going to get through it."
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Mullin went from fearing the worst to getting on the road to recovery, thanks to his son meeting Trump and recognizing the sitting president of the U.S. over his own mother and father.
"We almost lost him, for 26 hours," Mullin said. "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.
"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."
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Trump continued calling regularly to ask how Jim was doing and offered support without seeking publicity.
"And every week, if not most days, the president would call and ask how he could help," Mullin said. "Ask what? 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."
Mullin, a former wrestler himself, nearly broke down in tears during what was otherwise a fiery nomination hearing.
"I hate getting emotional," Mullin said. "See, if I talk about my kids, I get emotional. Other than that, you can't make me cry, but my kids …"
"That's actually a good thing," Johnson interjected, adding that "the American people need to hear that."
