A congressional hearing devolved into an angry confrontation between a senator and a witness on Nov. 14, 2023, after Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma challenged Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to “stand your butt up” and settle longstanding differences right there in the room.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the Senate panel that was holding the hearing, yelled at Mullin to sit down after he challenged O’Brien to a fight. Mullin had stood up from his seat at the dais and appeared to start taking his ring off.
“This is the time, this is the place,” Mullin told O’Brien after reading a series of critical tweets O’Brien had sent about him in the past. “If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here.”
The two men never came face to face in the hearing room. But they hurled insults at each other for around six minutes as Sanders repeatedly banged his gavel and tried to cut them off. Sanders, a longtime union ally, pleaded with them to focus on the economic issues that were the focus of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, which Sanders was holding to review how unions help working families.
“You are a United States senator!” Sanders yelled at Mullin at one point.
Mullin, a frequent critic of union leadership, has sparred before with the union head. Earlier this year, O’Brien posted repeatedly about Mullin on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling him a “moron” and “full of s---” after Mullin criticized O'Brien at a hearing for what Mullin said were intimidation tactics.
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