James Lankford: “2 hours ago, Markwayne Mullin was sworn in as the Secretary of Homeland Security. I am grateful that he is there and is…”

“2 hours ago, Markwayne Mullin was sworn in as the Secretary of Homeland Security. I am grateful that he is there and is taking on that role. We finished that vote last night, and at the end of that vote last night, he walked over to his desk, which is right over there, and signed paperwork to resign from the U.S. Senate. This morning, the Governor of Oklahoma announced his selection for the interim Senator to be able to come in. It is solely the Governor's decision to be able to make this decision, and I think he has made a great decision on this. The Governor signed paperwork this morning in Oklahoma and announced that he was appointing Alan Armstrong, who is the just-past president and CEO of the Williams Companies, a third-generation Oklahoman and Tulsan to be our next Senator for the State of Oklahoma. He and his wife Shelly have been married for 40 years. They have four grown children. They have three grandchildren. He has just stepped down and retired from his position in leadership at Williams and was looking forward to spending a lot more time with grandchildren, and the Governor contacted him and said: Hey, would you, instead, consider giving the next 9 months to the United States of America and to the State of Oklahoma to be able to serve as the junior Senator for Oklahoma. I am grateful that he said yes because I think he will do a terrific job in this role.”