Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who’s been accused by Democrats of stolen valor, revealed on Fox News Tuesday that he had been rejected by the U.S. military three times, and called the military’s decision to turn him down “crazy.”
In the past, Mullin has given vague references to the “smell” and “taste” of “war,” comments that have led some critics to accuse Mullin of misrepresenting himself as having served in the military. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) aggressively questioned Mullin on the matter in March during a congressional hearing, asking him: “So where did you smell war, sir?”
Mullin refused to answer, telling Peters his answer would reveal classified information.
On Tuesday, Mullin was asked by Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade where he was during the 9/11 attacks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the incident.
“I was doing construction at that time, I was at a customer’s house, they came out and got me, we went and looked at it, and my life drastically changed from that point,” Mullin said. “I took a totally different approach to life after that one.”
Kilmeade asked Mullin if it was the 9/11 attacks that motivated him to run for Congress, to which Mullin said it wasn’t. “No, not at that time, I actually tried to join the military three times after that, and… uh… because of some previous injuries, they never would accept me, which is crazy because I try to keep myself in good shape,” Mullin said. “But that didn’t stop us from being involved in other ways.”
A former wrestler, Mullin did suffer a shoulder injury while in college, but has not previously connected the injury to his lack of military service.
In private, Mullin has “hinted to colleagues that he was involved in a dangerous private security work in Middle East war zones” before running for Congress in 2012, Axios reported in March.
Mullin’s supposed work in the Middle East has yet to be verified, though The Washington Post did publish a report in 2021 that revealed Mullin was denied a request from a U.S. ambassador to “rescue five American citizens, a woman and her four children” who were stuck in Afghanistan. Per the Post, Mullin was “outraged” by the denial and threatened the ambassador and their staff.
DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin calls it “crazy” that he was rejected from the military 3 times Says he tried to join the military 3 times after 9/11 but was turned down “because of some previous injuries” Mullin has been accused of stolen valor for talking about the “smell” of war pic.twitter.com/yQbVENWQth — Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) September 8, 2026
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