Oklahoma senator has repeatedly made cryptic claims about ‘overseas’ work and war experience, while refusing to explain them

Markwayne Mullin, the Oklahoma senator chosen by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Homeland Security who will be considered by the Senate on Wednesday, has never served in the US military, but he routinely speaks as if he did in interviews.

Two days after the US attacked Iran, for instance, Mullin told Fox News: “War is ugly. It smells bad. And if anybody has ever been there and been able to smell the war that’s happening around you and taste it, and feel it in your nostrils, and hear it, it’s something you’ll never forget. And it’s ugly.”

While Mullin’s words might have lead many viewers to assume that he was speaking from personal experience, he went on to suggest, in a somewhat confusing manner, that he was actually talking about what he imagined the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, had been through.