GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin attacks Pete Buttigieg & Rachel Levine in defending Trump’s AG pick, Matt Gaetz

While President-elect Donald Trump is making good on his promise to burn down American institutions from the inside by making outrageous nominations to the highest levels of government, some Republicans are attacking President Joe Biden’s embrace of LGBTQ+ people in his administration as a way to justify Trump’s picks.

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Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin added his voice to the conversation on Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, where he defended Trump’s controversial cabinet nominees by targeting LGBTQ+ appointees in the Biden administration. In his remarks, Mullin criticized Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine, the first out transgender federal official confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and made light of her identity.

“You can talk about Rachel, the assistant secretary of HHS,” Mullin said. “I think that’s a pretty controversial pick from whatever pronoun he or she decides to use.” Mullin also questioned the qualifications of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the first out gay member of a presidential cabinet, and brought up Sam Brinton, a nonbinary former Energy Department official who was dismissed following legal issues.

“We didn’t see the same type of scrutiny [of Biden’s appointments],” Mullin claimed, attempting to deflect criticism of Trump’s picks for Attorney General and Secretary of Defense—former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Fox News commentator and weekend host Pete Hegseth, respectively—both of whom have faced serious ethical and professional concerns.

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“We scrutinized all of those picks robustly,” Welker responded.

Related: Republican Ron Johnson likens accused sex trafficker Matt Gaetz to trans official Rachel Levine

Gaetz resigned from Congress last week just as the House Ethics Committee was preparing to release findings of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. Hegseth, meanwhile, has been accused of sexual misconduct and has publicly stated his opposition to transgender people in the military and women serving in combat roles.

Mullin, however, defended Trump’s approach, claiming that his picks were being unfairly scrutinized compared to Biden’s. “President Trump has the ability to pick some really, really good people,” Mullin said. “You can see why he’s been successful in business—he surrounds himself with the right people.”

The White House did not respond to The Advocate’s request for comment about Mullins’ words.

LGBTQ+ advocates condemned Mullin’s remarks. Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, slammed Mullin for his comments.

“Senator Mullin is trying to use anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and attacks on Senate-confirmed, exceptionally qualified public servants like Admiral Levine and Secretary Buttigieg to distract from the truth: Donald Trump is nominating dangerous and unqualified people to powerful positions in the United States government,” Wolf told The Advocate. “But the American people can see through the smoke and mirrors, which is why the Trump cabinet picks have been met with the national alarm they deserve.”