Trump’s DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin shares Washington ‘crash pad’ with best friend congressman in unusual arrangement: ‘It’s strange’

He commands a federal department of 260,000 employees and a multi-billion-dollar security apparatus, but Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin still prefers a shared living arrangement akin to a ‘college dorm,’ according to insiders.

Sources close to Mullin say the married 49-year-old former Oklahoma senator and MMA fighter lives with Republican Congressman Jason Smith, 46, who is unmarried.

The two close friends served together in Congress before Mullin became Secretary of Homeland Security and have roomed together for three years, holding down a shared house on Capitol Hill that Mullin owns. 

Smith confirmed his living arrangement to the Daily Mail during an interview in late July. 

A representative for Mullin claims that the secretary is Smith’s ‘landlord,’ having bought the house in 2023, but they would not respond when pressed over the amount the congressman allegedly pays per month. 

Smith’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

There is no public documentation of any rent transaction.

The arrangement raises an ethics question. Under a House rule, a member may not accept a gift worth more than $100 from a single source in a year. Rent charged below market would likely qualify as a gift. 

Environmental Protection Administrator Scott Pruitt got into hot water during Trump’s first term when it was revealed he paid just $50 a night for a Capitol Hill condo owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist. Pruitt resigned from his position months later. 

‘It’s strange that a cabinet secretary still has a roommate. Maybe it’s because he is so rarely in DC since he flies home so often. He literally uses it as a crash pad,’ one source familiar with their living situation revealed. ‘People pass in and out.’

The Daily Mail spotted Mullin’s security detail at their shared home and four unidentified individuals in suits leaving the house on Wednesday afternoon.

‘People are all always going in and out of that place, for work, for fun, it’s like a college dorm,’ a source close to Mullin explained. 

The duo’s shared residence is a classic brick row house situated a short walk from the Capitol priced at $1.8 million.

The 1890s brick townhouse listed on Zillow has four bedrooms, three and a half baths, original oak floors, twin fireplaces and a private rear courtyard.

The property also features a fully finished one-bedroom English basement unit on its lower level that can operate as an income-producing rental, according to the real-estate listing.

Financial disclosures potentially add another intriguing layer to the living setup.

Inside Mullin’s financial reports under Mullin Realty LLC, his residential real estate is valued between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000, which generates $50,000 to $100,000 in rental income.

Mullin Realty LLC owns over 40 properties across Washington, DC, Oklahoma and Missouri. 

Specific rental funds are not listed on Smith’s expense statements on public house disclosure reports.

The political roommate pairing is unique as the House Ways and Means Committee, which Smith chairs, oversees portions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which Mullin leads.

While cabinet secretaries usually opt for solitude, Mullin’s decision to stay with Smith also highlights their close personal friendship. 

‘I think he is the only cabinet-level member with this kind of setup,’ another source close to the pair remarked.

Friends and colleagues describe the duo as virtually inseparable in DC.

In an essay published on his congressional site, Smith has openly hailed Mullin as a ‘man of God, a husband, and a father’ whose friendship was forged far away from Capitol Hill, noting that their bond did not start in Washington or rely on politics, but grew from both having 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 – including a rotating door of DHS staff and even cabinet members. 

The circle formed in the House, and most of its members have long since left it. 

Alongside Mullin and Smith, insiders name former Speaker Kevin McCarthy; Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii Democrat turned Republican who became Trump’s director of national intelligence; and former Illinois congressman Aaron Schock, who resigned in 2015 amid scrutiny of his office spending. 

Schock was later indicted, but the charges were dropped in 2019 under a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded not guilty but he repaid funds under an agreement with prosecutors.

Mullin and Smith first met and bonded with each other at the gym, where the DHS chief would run intense workouts at 6.00am.

Their friendship formed as young lawmakers in the House of Representatives in 2014, along with Schock and Gabbard. 

Insiders say Mullin and Gabbard’s relationship became so close that he had even lobbied for Gabbard, a former Democrat turned Republican, to become Trump’s vice presidential running mate.

‘He said, listen, I think that Tulsi would be excellent on the ticket. But that was shot down. Trump agreed she would be good for a role, just not that one,’ one source familiar with the conversation at DHS said. ‘That’s how close they were. They have each other’s backs.’

Sources say Mullin’s wife Christie spends most of her time back home in Oklahoma, but will stay with her husband occasionally when she is in Washington. 

The couple, married for 28 years, share six children. The eldest is Jim, and the others are named Jayce, Andrew, Larra, Lynette and Ivy.

They own a 1,600 sprawling ranch near the Ozarks. 

The Daily Mail has reported that the secretary has travelled on his $70 million government jet to fly home to his family in Oklahoma, at times leaving on Thursday mornings and not returning until the following Monday afternoon, according to multiple DHS insiders.