DHS Chief Mullin Lives Rent-Free With Friend Congressmen

Markwayne Mullin runs the Department of Homeland Security for 260,000 workers and billions of dollars in security spending. Yet this top official treats his Washington apartment like a college dorm. Sources say he prefers sharing space instead of living alone. He lives with Jason Smith, a Republican Congressman from Missouri who has no spouse. These men are best friends who served together in Congress before Mullin took the Homeland Security job. They have shared a house on Capitol Hill for three years now. The home belongs to Mullin.

Smith told the Daily Mail about this setup during an interview late last month. A representative for the DHS Secretary claims Mullin is Smith's landlord because he bought the property in 2023. Officials would not say how much rent the congressman pays if asked directly. The office of Smith did not reply to repeated requests for comment either. No public record exists for any rent deal between these two men.

This situation brings up serious ethics questions under current House rules. A member cannot accept a gift worth more than $100 from one source in a single year. Charging less than market rate for rent likely counts as such a gift. Scott Pruitt faced trouble during Trump's first term because he paid only $50 per night to stay in a Capitol Hill condo owned by an energy lobbyist's wife. He resigned months after that story broke.

Mullin's wife, Christie Mullin, usually stays back in Oklahoma but visits Washington occasionally. Photos show their shared living room and bedrooms inside the row home on Capitol Hill. Some people wonder why a cabinet secretary needs a roommate at all. One source familiar with the arrangement noted it looks strange for such a high-ranking official to fly home often while using DC merely as a crash pad. The friendship between Mullin and Smith clearly drives this unusual choice of housing.

Markwayne Mullin's home life has drawn fresh attention as The Daily Mail caught his security detail at their shared residence and saw four unidentified men in suits walking out on Wednesday afternoon. A source close to the former senator described the scene plainly. People pass in and out of that place constantly. They go there for work or fun. It feels more like a college dorm than a quiet home.

The property is a classic brick row house built in the 1890s. It sits just a short walk from the Capitol building. Zillow lists the address at $1.8 million. Inside, you find four bedrooms and three and a half baths. Original oak floors cover the ground floor. Twin fireplaces add warmth to the rooms. A private rear courtyard offers some quiet space. The listing also notes a fully finished one-bedroom English basement unit on the lower level. This space can operate as an income-producing rental.

Mullin's financial disclosures add another layer to this living arrangement. His reports under Mullin Realty LLC value residential real estate between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000. That portfolio generates roughly $50,000 to $100,000 in rental income each year. Specific rental funds do not always appear on Jason Smith's expense statements found in public House disclosure reports.

The political roommate pairing is unique for many reasons. The House Ways and Means Committee chairs the office of Jason Smith. That same committee oversees portions of the Department of Homeland Security. Markwayne Mullin leads that very department. While cabinet secretaries usually opt for solitude, Mullin decided to stay with Smith. This choice highlights their close personal friendship as well.

One source called him the only cabinet-level member with this kind of setup. Friends and colleagues describe the duo as virtually inseparable in DC. In an essay on his congressional site, Smith openly hailed Mullin as a man of God, a husband, and a father. Their friendship forged far away from Capitol Hill did not start in Washington. It did not rely on politics either. The bond grew because both men have roots in the Ozarks where people shoot you straight.

Insiders say the roommate dynamic is just one piece of a larger tight-knit MAGA-aligned crew. This group includes a rotating door of DHS staff and even cabinet members. The circle formed in the House, yet most of its members have long since left it. Alongside Mullin and Smith, insiders name former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They also point to Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii Democrat who turned Republican and became Trump's director of national intelligence. Aaron Schock from Illinois fits this list too. He resigned in 2015 amid scrutiny of his office spending. Schock was later indicted but charges dropped in 2019 under a deal with prosecutors.

He stood before the court claiming innocence, yet he did return the money as part of a deal with prosecutors. Mullin and Smith first crossed paths at the gym, where the head of Homeland Security would push through grueling sessions starting at 6:00am every morning. Their bond grew strong back in 2014 while both served as young lawmakers in the House alongside Schock and Gabbard. People close to them say Mullin and Gabbard became inseparable, with Mullin even pushing hard for her to join Trump's ticket as vice president. One source who knows about their talks at DHS noted that he told someone Tulsi would have been excellent on the ballot. That idea died quickly though. Trump agreed she could play a role but not that specific one. This shows just how tight their circle was and how much they relied on each other during those years.

Christie, his wife, usually spends her days back home in Oklahoma rather than staying in Washington. She does visit occasionally when he is there. Reports from The Daily Mail showed security details moving around their shared house on Tuesday and four unmarked cars leaving Wednesday afternoon. Yet neither Mullin nor Smith appeared publicly at those times. His family runs a life on a ranch deep in the Ozarks region of Oklahoma. They have six children total, all living back home with them. The oldest is Jim, followed by Jayce, Andrew, Larra, Lynette and Ivy. It has been 28 years since they tied the knot.

The couple owns a massive 1,600-acre spread near the Ozarks. The Daily Mail also found that the secretary flew home on his government jet worth $70 million to be with his family in Oklahoma. He would often leave on Thursday mornings and not come back until Monday afternoon afternoons. Multiple insiders at DHS confirmed these long absences were a regular occurrence for him.