GOP senator says he was joking when he floated using violence against journalists

A Republican senator on Sunday said he was only joking when he suggested a day earlier that there would be less “fake news” if people were allowed to use violence against journalists.

In a video posted to X on Saturday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma recounted the story of William Taulbee, a former congressman from Kentucky who was shot and killed by Charles Kincaid, a news reporter, in 1890.

“There’s a lot we can say about reporters of the stories they write, but I bet they would write a lot less false stories — as President Trump says, ‘fake news’ — if we could still handle our differences that way,” Mullin says in the nearly two-minute video.

On Feb. 28, 1890, Kincaid, a congressional reporter for The Louisville Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times, fatally shot Taulbee on the same U.S. Capitol staircase where Mullin stood in his video. The pair had a long-term feud arising from a report Kincaid published about Taulbee’s alleged extramarital affair. Kincaid was put on trial but acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.

After The Oklahoman published a story about Mullin's video on Sunday, Mullin downplayed his remarks and insisted he was joking.

“While you’re at it, don’t forget I also JOKED about bringing back caning to settle political disputes,” Mullin wrote in a post on X criticizing The Oklahoman. “Thanks for watching my videos.” Mullin also accused the outlet — the largest daily newspaper in the state — of being “out of touch” with Oklahomans.

This isn’t the first time Mullin, a former MMA fighter, has made references to violence from the U.S. Capitol. In 2023, the senator almost got into a physical altercation with the president of the Teamsters union, Sean O’Brien, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. After sharing a series of critical social media posts O’Brien made about Mullin in the past, the congressman told the Teamsters president to “stand your butt up” so they could settle their differences in the room.

“This is the time, this is the place,” Mullin said. “If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here.” Mullin eventually sat down, and the hearing continued without a physical fight.

Mullin is a loyal supporter of President Donald Trump, who has espoused violent rhetoric about journalists. Just days before the 2024 presidential election, Trump said he wouldn’t mind if members of the press were killed. (His spokesperson later told ABC News that the president had been joking.)

But those November comments were not an isolated incident. According to an analysis by Reporters Without Borders, Trump insulted, threatened or attacked members of the media more than 100 times in the run-up to the election.

Since retaking the White House, Trump has continued his attacks on the press. His administration has blocked reporters from covering news events at the White House, ousted some outlets from their working spaces inside the Pentagon, and called for investigations into public media companies.