What we're covering
• Global threats hearing: President Donald Trump’s intelligence chiefs are appearing at a Senate hearing to face questions about the Annual Threat Assessment. The war in Iran will likely be a key topic at the hearing, and you can follow CNN’s live coverage on Iran here.
• Tense start to Mullin’s hearing: Meanwhile, Sen. Markwayne Mullin is currently testifying before a Senate committee in his pursuit to serve as next Homeland Security secretary. Sen. Rand Paul kicked off the hearing by accusing the Oklahoma senator of having “anger issues” while criticizing Mullin for his previous public comments.
• DHS shutdown: Mullin’s testimony comes one month into the partial government shutdown. Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration workers going without full pay have quit, while others have taken unscheduled time off, prompting travel headaches at the nation’s airports.
Moreno slams Democrats for "political theater" over DHS funding, leaves hearing to attend dignified transfer
GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio slammed Democrats over the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, calling it a “disgrace,” and warning of “political theater” from Democratic side of the dais.
Moreno, though he is a very junior member of the committee, was allowed to jump the line so he can attend a dignified transfer of three soldiers from his state who were killed in the ongoing war with Iran.
“This job isn’t complicated. The American people send us here to get things done, and yet, for the third time in six months, we shut down this government with total impunity. They will go home and just make social media videos and try to blame Republicans. It is a disgrace,” Moreno said.
“I’m going to go pay respects to three soldiers who died so that we can have the liberties that we enjoy here, and you guys continue with political theater, personal attacks, whatever you can do. I know that is a good man,” he added, referring to Mullin. “I will vote for you. Our Republican colleagues will vote for you. You will get confirmed. You will do a great job, and you will make this country proud.”
Mullin says accusations of stolen valor are a “misunderstanding”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who has no history of US military service, on Wednesday addressed accusations that his previous, vague statements about serving overseas or smelling war amounted to stolen valor.
Mullin said the controversy around his statements amounted to a “misunderstanding.” The Oklahoma senator told Sen. Gary Peters during his confirmation hearing to serve as Homeland Security secretary that he was asked to train with a “a very small contingency and go to a certain area” around 2016.
As part of that trip, Mullin said, he participated in Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training, which he simultaneously described as “kind of fun” and “absolutely awful.” He said aspects of that training and trip were classified.
Peters, the top Democrat on the committee, also confronted Mullin about cryptic comments he made during a Fox News interview earlier this month, during which he said war “smells bad.”
“So where did you smell war, sir?” Peters asked.
Mullin again responded that his answer would be classified.
Sen. Warner: Gabbard “not interested” in protecting US democracy from foreign influence
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is “not interested in protecting American democracy by combatting foreign influence,” Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, said at Wednesday’s worldwide threats hearing.
Warner cited Gabbard’s dissolution of a center in her office to counter foreign malign threats and her presence at the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots in Georgia in January. Warner also claimed US intelligence agencies have not responded to the committee’s requests for legally required briefings on foreign threats to the midterms.
Former senior US intelligence officials and election experts have told CNN that Gabbard’s presence at the FBI’s execution of a search warrant in Fulton County, Georgia, risks eroding a crucial line between foreign and domestic intelligence activities instituted after Watergate.
Gabbard has defended her actions as falling under her mandate to probe foreign influence aimed at US elections.
Warner used his opening statement to sound other notes of alarm about the state of American democracy. He slammed Kurt Olsen, the White House official and election denier whose referral led to the FBI’s ballot seizure.
“[I]t is worth asking: why is someone whose career has been devoted to undermining the legitimate results of a democratic election now operating from inside the federal government with access to law enforcement and intelligence authorities? What exactly is he being empowered to do?” Warner said in his prepared remarks, referring to Olsen.
Sen. Paul demands an apology, plays video of Mullin confronting witness during hearing
GOP Sen. Rand Paul demanded an apology from Sen. Markwayne Mullin for his past comments that he “understood completely” why Paul’s neighbor attacked him in 2017 during Mullin’s confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Homeland Security.
Paul, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, then played clips of Mullin confronting a witness and appearing to threaten a physical fight in a 2023 hearing.
He also showed clips of Mullin saying he would have gone after the witness if he hadn’t been told to stop and that he doesn’t regret his handling of the event.
Mullin pushed back, noting that the witness, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Sean O’Brien, is now a “good friend,” and is attending the hearing as Mullin’s guest.
Mullin says he speaks with Trump at “friend level" more than "policy level"
Senator Markwayne Mullin told Democratic Sen. Gary Peters that he largely speaks to President Donald Trump about his family, as a friend.
“He’s a friend,” said Mullin at his confirmation hearing to serve as Trump’s Homeland Security secretary. He noted they speak “often, most of the time about my family.”
He added that “the friendship we saw going back to 2020 is quite remarkable. And so I speak to the president from a friend level, more than I do a policy level.”
Mullin sets early Noem contrast and says he'll acknowledge mistakes, stay out of news
Sen. Markwayne Mullin acknowledged during his confirmation hearing to serve as Homeland Security secretary that he’s “not perfect” and said he would be prepared to acknowledge any mistakes he makes.
“I won’t fail you,” Mullin said during his opening statements in front of the Senate Homeland Security committee. “I won’t back down from a challenge. And I’ll also admit when I’m wrong.”
“I’m not perfect,” he added. “I don’t claim to be perfect. I make mistakes, just like anybody else. But mistakes, if you own them, you can learn from them, and you can move ahead. And I’ll make that commitment to you.”
His comments stand in contrast with the tenure of DHS’ outgoing secretary, Kristi Noem, who was often reticent to acknowledge mistakes she made, including her premature descriptions of two American citizens killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis as domestic terrorists who intended to kill law enforcement.
During congressional hearings earlier this month, Noem was prompted several times to apologize for those remarks but declined to do so.
Mullin later added: “My goal in six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day.”
Mullin pushes back on Paul’s remarks: “I’ll never say it behind your back”
Senator Markwayne Mullin opened his nomination hearing for DHS secretary by pushing back on Homeland Security panel Chairman Rand Paul accusing Mullin of lying about his past comments about the attack on Paul by his neighbor in 2017.
Mullin told the committee that he did in fact tell Paul about his criticisms of him a few years ago, and refused to apologize for those comments.
“I have to address the remarks that the chairman made, calling me a liar. Sir, I think there’s — everybody in this room knows that I’m very blunt and direct to the point, and if I have something to say, I’ll say it directly to your face,” Mullin said. “If you recall back in your, back in my House days, we actually did have this conversation, because of remarks that I’ve made. You were in a room, I simply addressed that I said I could understand, because of the behavior you were having, that I could understand why your neighbor, the neighbor did what he did.”
“As far as the term ‘snake in the grass,’ I’ve worked with many people in this room. Seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us,” Mullin said to Paul.
Though Mullin did not apologize for his past remarks, he told Paul they should both “set it aside,” and that he’d commit to learning from past mistakes.
“I can set it aside, if you’re willing to set it aside. Let me earn your respect. Let me earn the job. I won’t fail you. I won’t back down from a challenge.”
GOP chairman questions Mullin's temperament for DHS chief and rails on past "snake" comment
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Rand Paul kicked off Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation hearing by criticizing Mullin for his previous public comments and accusing the Oklahoma senator of having “anger issues.”
Paul recalled Mullin calling him a “freaking snake” and saying that he “understands completely” why Paul’s neighbor attacked him in 2017.
Paul continued that Mullin would have the opportunity to “look [him] in the eye” and repeat those words during this hearing. Accusing the senator of having “anger issues,” he pointed to an episode in a 2023 hearing in which he appeared prepared to physically fight a witness.
“Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung. Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it, and while you’re at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ice and border patrol agents,” the chairman said.
Peters says DHS needs steady hand, doubts Mullin's readiness for job
Sen. Gary Peters, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said the Department of Homeland Security needs a “steady hand” following a year of controversies under outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem.
“We need a DHS secretary who is committed to the rule of law and who will protect and cooperate with independent oversight, whether that’s from the inspector general or from members of Congress,” Peters said during the confirmation hearing of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who President Donald Trump selected to replace Noem.
“And we need a DHS Secretary who is free from distractions and conflicts of interest that only undercut the department’s work and also break trust with the American people,” Peters added.
The Michigan senator said he had doubts about Mullin’s “readiness to take on such a significant role at such a critical time.”
Trump has confidence in Gabbard, Leavitt says, but directs further questions to Trump
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump still has confidence in Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a day after a senior US intelligence official resigned due to the Iran war.
“He does, yes, and we look forward to watching the director’s hearings today,” Leavitt told Fox News.
Gabbard is appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee and likely faces a barrage of questions surrounding former counterterrorism chief Joe Kent, who argued “Iran posed no imminent threat” to the United States.
An official told CNN Tuesday that the White House directed Gabbard to fire Kent before he publicly resigned, “but she never did.” A senior US intelligence official disputed that assertion, adding that she would have fired him had been the case.
Pressed by a reporter at the White House whether Gabbard’s job is in jeopardy, Leavitt sounded more tepid.
“Not to my knowledge, ” she said. “Obviously, that’s a question for him, but I haven’t heard him say that at all.”
Following Kent’s resignation, some former officials and those in the White House, including Leavitt, have sought to describe Kent as untrustworthy and out of the loop. Trump appointed Kent in February 2025.
“It’s been a while since the president has seen him here at the White House, it’s been a while since he’s been involved in the process of the presidential daily briefs, and he’s been actually present for the president’s intelligence briefings,” Leavitt said.
This is what's on Trump's schedule today
President Donald Trump has a few closed events on his public schedule today:
- 8 a.m. ET: Trump has “executive time.”
- 10 a.m. ET: The president receives his intelligence briefing.
- In the afternoon, he departs Washington, DC, for Dover, Delaware, where he will attend a dignified transfer at 1:25 p.m. ET for service members killed when their refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq last week.
We’ll let you know if we get any updates.
Senate to question Trump’s top intelligence chiefs on 2026 Worldwide Threats Assessment
President Donald Trump’s intelligence chiefs will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee today and will face questions about the Annual Threat Assessment.
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET, according to the committee’s website.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, Acting National Security Agency Director Lt. Gen. William J. Hartman and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. James H. Adams are expected to testify.
The House hearing on the assessment is scheduled for tomorrow.
Bondi and Blanche to brief House committee on Epstein probe behind closed doors
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche are slated to brief members of the House Oversight Committee on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein behind closed doors today.
It comes as House Oversight Chair James Comer yesterday issued a subpoena to Bondi to appear for a deposition on April 14 as part of the panel’s Epstein probe.
A source familiar with the process told CNN that the Justice Department requested it brief the committee on its Epstein investigation and compliance with the law in order to promptly answer lawmakers’ questions, given that scheduling a deposition with the committee will take time.
Comer wrote in the subpoena cover letter that his panel is investigating the “possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation” into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
“The Committee has questions regarding the Department of Justice’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates and its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Comer wrote, referring to the law passed by Congress last year mandating the Justice Department’s release of the files.
A DOJ spokesperson called the subpoena “completely unnecessary,” but did not say whether the attorney general would comply.
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
