Mullin telephone town hall features handful of pre-screened callers, no disagreement
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Amid a wave of contentious town hall events across the country, Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin took a different approach Monday night, holding his town hall over the phone and allowing six handpicked callers to ask questions.
The town hall lasted one hour from 6 to 7 p.m. on Monday.
The chosen callers expressed support for both Mullin and President Trump when they spoke.
“I want to say thank you for the job you’re doing and to President Trump,” one caller said.
“We voted for you and appreciate the warriors that have some common sense,” another caller said.
Meanwhile, on Mullin’s Facebook livestream of the event, many people posted comments expressing their disagreements and disappointment over not being chosen to speak.
One caller encouraged Mullin to support prosecuting anyone found to have committed so-called fraud or abuse that may be uncovered by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
Mullin did not go as far as to support prosecutions, but said he would like Congress to have more control over agency spending going forward.
“Really it was more waste and abuse than it was fraud,” Mullin said. “We don’t control the purse strings anymore in Congress.”
Another caller asked Mullin about federal judges who have ruled against Trump, urging Mullin to help stop them from “getting in the way” of Trump.
In his response, Mullin described them as “activist judges” and said he supports limiting the power of lower courts by sending more issues directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A veteran on the call asked if VA benefits could be at risk of being cut under DOGE.
Mullin assured the caller no benefits were at risk, but also said the federal agencies in charge of ensuring people receive their benefits need to be massively cut.
“We’re not cutting benefits to anybody,” Mullin said. “Not anybody on Social Security, not anybody on Medicare, Medicaid, not anybody on VA benefits. Now, are we looking at making cuts because they’re bloated? Yes. Are we looking at shrinking the workforce in some of these places? Absolutely.”
Another caller asked Mullin if funding for schools will be impacted now that Trump has begun dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
Mullin assured the caller schools will not lose out on any federal funding.
“I don’t think you’re gonna see any disruption in flow to our schools,” Mullin said. “The funding… you shouldn’t see any disruption in the funding.”
Mullin was also asked how he expects Trump’s tariffs to work.
He said he supports them as “what’s fair” and expects them to take effect on April 2.
The town hall lasted about an hour and frequently veered off topic, with Mullin engaging in casual banter with callers about their personal lives for multiple minutes at a time.
Mullin streamed the call live on his Facebook page, where it remains available to watch.
He said he plans to hold another telephone town hall in a few months.