Markwayne Mullin’s textbook conflict of interest
- Mon, Jun 29 2026 at 1:03 PM
Mark,
What do gas station drugs, conflicts of interest and the Trump administration have in common?
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
A New York Times report revealed the significant role Mullin has played in an influence campaign advocating for kratom.
Kratom is a supplement commonly sold at gas stations that allegedly relieves pain or boosts energy, but is linked to risk of liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder. It has been found in the systems of thousands of people who died of drug overdoses.
As a senator from Oklahoma, Mullin endorsed proposed federal restrictions on kratom’s more potent competitors. He also reportedly urged officials in the Department of Health and Human Services to remove language from the Food and Drug Administration website about the possible dangers of using kratom, both as a senator and as DHS secretary.
As CREW President Donald Sherman wrote in an op-ed for MSNOW, it is unclear why the homeland security secretary would be involved in such decisions. But it is clear that Mullin holds as much as $1 million in a kratom company, Botanic Tonics.
It’s unclear when he acquired this stake, but he has not filed paperwork indicating that he divested it.
Mullin said in March that he would divest from dozens of potentially conflicting investments should he be confirmed as DHS secretary. Botanic Tonics does not appear to have been part of that list at the time.Mullin’s history doesn’t inspire much confidence. He did not come to DHS with an ethically clean slate, having violated the STOCK Act by failing to properly report years of stock and bond trades. Not to mention some of his activities involved stock trading closely tied to industries he regulated and may have had sensitive knowledge of.
Even if Mullin has a third party managing his portfolio, as he claims, he is, as an officeholder, legally responsible for avoiding and remediating his own conflicts of interest.
Mullin’s conduct is particularly galling because President Trump fired his predecessor at DHS, Kristi Noem, after she faced serious ethics issues that often distracted from her critical government role.
While this seemed like a rare moment of accountability and possibly correcting course, appointing and confirming Mullin appears to be more of the same.
Reports suggest that Mullin has gone out of his way to advocate for a supplement that is not regulated by the FDA and whose effects on the body are not well understood. As part of this effort, he has reportedly tried to downplay health concerns about kratom.
All of this raises the question: How can Mullin ethically lead a massive agency covering everything from aviation, election and border security, to emergency response?
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