Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin should “go back to plumbing school,” a legal expert said, warning that his own on-camera words are a crime.
In a Monday episode of the “Legal AF” podcast, lawyer and legal analyst Michael Popok unloaded on Mullin after the secretary suggested federal agents could turn up where people cast their ballots. Popok said Mullin, or “somebody,” needs a lesson in “18 United States Code 592” and “593,” the statutes that govern “armed forces or troops at polling places.”
Popok said Mullin gave away far more than he realized when he floated sending agents to serve a warrant.
“No, you can’t,” Popok said. “And you just conceded that you’re willing to commit a crime punishable by five years in prison.”
In a clip Popok played, Mullin laid out when his agents might show up.
“The only reason why we would be at polling places if there is a threat to that polling place or we’re serving a warrant on someone that we have been actively tracking down,” Mullin said.
Mullin insisted any operation would be “specifically for immigration and custom enforcement,” and “not because of suspicion of a voter.”
Popok said the excuse does not hold because the law reaches armed federal officers no matter the stated reason. He read from the statute directly.
“This prevents and makes it a federal crime for an Army or Navy officer or another person in the civil, military or naval service of the United States to order, bring, keep, or control troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held,” Popok said. “[A] person that orders that is five years imprisoned if convicted.”
“That would cover Homeland Security,” he added. “They’re not armed forces per se, but they would be armed troops at the polls.”
Popok mocked Mullin’s resumé, saying he “had been a plumber or a small homebuilder, and that was his credentials to become the head of Homeland Security.” Popok called the wider administration “comprised of dingbats and idiots” and said Mullin is “about as smart as his predecessor,” a jab at former Secretary Kristi Noem.
State attorneys general “know these rules like the back of their hand” and “are ready” to race into court, Popok warned. He closed with a warning aimed straight at the secretary.
“He should be put on notice that if he does that, he’ll not only go to jail, but he will be impeached as soon as the new Congress takes control,” Popok said. “Markwayne Mullin should go back to plumbing school.”
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