Markwayne Mullin has been running the Department of Homeland Security for roughly two months, and he already faces the kind of trouble that sank his predecessor. Four insiders told the Daily Mail that the 48-year-old secretary has been pushing to get his wife, Christie Mullin, hired onto the DHS payroll, while flight logs show him jetting home to Oklahoma on a $70 million government Gulfstream nearly every weekend.
The allegations land at a moment when DHS can least afford another leadership distraction. The agency that oversees border enforcement, immigration courts, FEMA, and the Secret Service is already under an inspector general investigation over aircraft contracts. And the man now running it stands accused of treating the department like a family employment office.
Christie Mullin, 47, currently serves as chair of rural policy at the America First Policy Institute, a non-profit research organization. Three people with direct knowledge of the matter told the Daily Mail that Secretary Mullin has been inquiring about bringing her aboard DHS through a Special Government Employee designation, a part-time arrangement that would pay roughly $65 to $70 per hour for up to 130 days per year.
The alleged motive is blunt. Insiders said the arrangement would give Christie Mullin government employee status, which would allow her to fly on the secretary's taxpayer-funded jet without Mullin having to pay for her airline ticket.
A DHS spokesperson pushed back, stating that Mullin "always pays for his wife's travel on the plane and that he abides by all ethics requirements." The spokesperson did not address whether Mullin had formally requested or explored the SGE designation for his wife.
No specific statute or ethics regulation was cited by either the insiders or the spokesperson. But the optics of a cabinet secretary maneuvering to put his spouse on the federal payroll, particularly one who already holds a policy role at an outside organization, are hard to spin as routine personnel business.
The aircraft at the center of this story is a Gulfstream G700, a luxury jet complete with a queen bed, showers, and a fully stocked bar. Kristi Noem, the former DHS secretary, whose own tenure ended amid personal and professional scandals, originally defended the plane's lease to Congress by arguing it was required by law for long-range ICE deportation flights.
Trump fired Noem in March 2025 after congressional backlash over her travel and spending. The luxury aircraft was, in the Daily Mail's words, "a primary catalyst for her downfall."
Mullin inherited the jet. And flight data obtained by the Daily Mail shows he has put it to steady personal use. During the government shutdown, Mullin flew home to Oklahoma on the taxpayer-funded aircraft almost every weekend, the data shows.
The pattern did not stop there. On the night of April 25, after a shooting incident disrupted the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton, Mullin stepped to the press briefing podium and praised President Trump's composure.
"So calm, completely composed."
He described First Lady Melania Trump as "cool as a cucumber" and said the Secret Service agents had "performed their job." Then, immediately after the briefing, he left town. Flight logs show the Gulfstream G700 departed Washington late that night and landed at Tulsa International Airport at approximately 2:31 a.m. Eastern on April 26.
The shooting at the correspondents' dinner was a serious security event. The head of the department responsible for the Secret Service flew home to his Oklahoma ranch within hours of it.
The insiders who spoke to the Daily Mail painted a picture of an agency adrift under Mullin's watch. ICE, they said, "has no direction" and lacks permanent leadership. One insider described the agency as "overrun by leftist mobs." The characterization, taken together, suggests an enforcement arm of the federal government that is neither being purged of resistance nor given clear marching orders.
The recent departure of ICE Director Todd Lyons only deepens questions about who is actually steering day-to-day operations at the agency. Insiders described a "fierce internal mutiny" within DHS, though neither the scope nor the specific grievances beyond the wife-hiring and travel issues were detailed.
White House Border Czar Tom Homan offered a defense of Mullin's engagement:
"Secretary Mullin is very engaged with the work they do on a daily basis and works closely with the President's entire team to make sure his agenda is being enacted."
A DHS spokesperson echoed that line, saying Mullin "is completely engaged" and "deeply involved in all aspects of DHS from securing our border, arresting illegal aliens, ensuring FEMA is ready for Hurricane season, and helping prepare for the FIFA World Cup."
Engagement is easy to claim. Flight logs tell a different story about where the secretary spends his weekends.
The aircraft controversy extends well beyond Mullin's personal travel. The White House pushed ahead with the purchase of ten aircraft using ICE funds, not just the two Gulfstream G700s originally tied to Noem, but also two Gulfstream G650ERs, one Boeing 737-800, and four additional 737s. The purchases proceeded even after Noem was fired and the original jet controversy had already drawn congressional scrutiny.
The inspector general is now investigating the contracts behind those purchases. The rapid turnover in DHS communications staff has not helped the department's ability to get ahead of the story.
The Mullins have six children, Jim, Jayce, Andrew, Larra, Lynette, and Ivy, and maintain a 1,600-acre ranch near the Ozarks in Oklahoma. The secretary's attachment to home is understandable. The question is whether taxpayers should be funding his commute on a luxury aircraft while he simultaneously explores ways to put his wife on the federal payroll.
This is now the second consecutive DHS secretary to face serious questions about the personal use of government resources. Noem's downfall centered on the same Gulfstream jet Mullin now flies. The lesson from that episode was clear: cabinet secretaries who treat government aircraft and staffing as personal perks do not last long in this administration.
Mullin was supposed to be the steady hand, a former senator and mixed martial arts fighter who could bring discipline to a sprawling, troubled department. Two months in, insiders describe an agency without direction, a secretary who flies home every weekend, and a spouse potentially being lined up for a government paycheck.
The string of security incidents near the White House has only raised the stakes for DHS leadership. The department needs a full-time secretary, not one who treats Washington like a weekday posting.
None of the allegations have resulted in formal charges or official findings. The inspector general investigation into aircraft contracts remains ongoing. And Mullin's team insists he follows all ethics rules. But the gap between those assurances and the flight logs, the insider accounts, and the wife-hiring inquiry is wide enough to fly a Gulfstream through.
Voters who sent this administration to Washington expected it to drain the swamp, not furnish it with a queen bed and a government salary for the family.