How Markwayne Mullin, Trump's DHS pick, made millions in Congress.

STILWELL, OK – In 2017, a company owned by then-U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin paid $99,000 for a half-acre empty lot along the highway that runs through Stilwell, a small city in far eastern Oklahoma near Mullin's hometown.

Mullin's family later built a two-story restaurant on the site, where they served a country-style menu of comfort food alongside fresh bakery goods and coffee bar. After just four years in business, however, the restaurant shuttered in 2024.

Mullin found an immediate buyer. About a week after the restaurant closed, the Cherokee Nation purchased the entire property for $1.5 million, which at the time was about $700,000 above the property's assessed value.

What prompted a sale price so much higher than the assessed value, even with a developed restaurant on it, is unclear. But it points to one of many ways Mullin has sharply increased his wealth since joining Congress in 2013. The land sale to the Cherokee Nation was one of several large financial gains made that year by Mullin, who reported making at least $9 million in 2024.

Mullin, who was recently picked by President Donald Trump to become the nation's next secretary of Homeland Security, is likely to face questions about his financial dealings during a confirmation hearing that starts Wednesday, March 18.

If confirmed, Mullin will leave his current position as Oklahoma's junior U.S. senator.

Through a combination of stock trades, property investments and the sale of large assets, Mullin has seen his net worth exponentially grow since becoming a public official, raising questions from ethics experts.

Trading on the stock market while a member of Congress creates a conflict of interest, said Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

"Unlike federal judges or most executive branch employees, members of Congress can't easily recuse from matters where they have these kinds of conflicts because it would deny their constituents representation in Congress," Sherman told The Oklahoman.

Markwayne Mullin's net worth includes stocks, property

An analysis by The Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY Network, of Mullin's most recent annual financial disclosure to the U.S. Senate shows that the assets held by Mullin and his close family could be as high as $96.7 million, or as low as $29.2 million.

A separate analysis of Mullin's net worth by analytics firm Quiver Quantitative suggests Mullin and his immediate family could be worth an estimated $66 million in 2026, based on financial disclosures and reports of stock purchases.

That's a far cry from the assets listed on his first financial disclosure in 2013 when he began serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Aside from his salary working for his family's plumbing company that year, he reported assets worth roughly between $3 million and $8 million, which mostly included the value of his stake in the plumbing business and his family's ranch near Westville.

These financial reports don't require a precise value, but only a range.

Over time, Mullin built a diverse portfolio of individual company stocks, investments with several mutual funds and multiple property holdings in Oklahoma; Washington, DC; Missouri; Florida and Louisiana. In total, he listed more than 180 assets in his most recent disclosure form filed in August 2025.

Much of his wealth comes from the sale of his plumbing business in 2021. While details of the transaction weren't publicly announced, Mullin reportedly moved between $25 million and $50 million into a cash management account on the same day as the sale, The New York Times has reported.

How Mullin earned millions in 2024

In 2024, Mullin disclosed selling three assets each worth at least $1 million but less than $5 million.

One large asset was Rowan's Restaurant, the family-owned eatery in Stilwell, Oklahoma. In February that year, one week after the restaurant served its final dinner, the Mullin family sold the property to the Cherokee Nation for $1.5 million, according to Adair County property records.

It is one of the largest and newest commercial properties in Stilwell.

Mullin is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. As a nation whose sovereignty is guaranteed by an act of Congress and is supported in part by federal funds, the Cherokee Nation frequently lobbies in Washington, DC, and has tried to seat its own delegate to Congress as provided for by treaty.

The tribe also frequently buys property within its northeast Oklahoma reservation, converting many of the sites into community hubs like wellness centers.

In 2023, the Cherokee Nation purchased a former grocery store building in another part of Stilwell, spending $448,000 on the land and 35-year-old structure. The assessed value of that building was $454,360 at the time of the sale.

Mullin's property had an assessed value of $802,612 before it was sold. The former restaurant now serves as the Cherokee Nation's Elder Nutrition Program site in Stilwell.

When asked for comment about the site and an explanation of how it had arrived at the $1.5 million purchase price, the tribe's communications arm sent a statement describing the value of the property.

"Cherokee Nation did acquire a centrally located building in Stilwell to serve as a gathering place that will benefit our elder citizens," Cherokee Nation Communications wrote in an email to The Oklahoman. "A former restaurant, the 6,000-square-foot building facility was equipped with the amenities to serve as the tribe’s Senior Nutrition Site, which opened in 2025."

The purchase came during a time when Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. boasted to the Tribal Council that the tribe was spending $1.2 billion on capital investment to "create a generational impact to the Cherokee people."

Hoskin has applauded Mullin's appointment to the president's Cabinet and lauded his work on behalf of Indian Country. "We are confident in Secretary Mullin's ability to lead with historic responsibility and look forward to the positive, unifying impact his unique perspective will bring to the nation," Hoskin said in a statement.

Mullin did not respond to The Oklahoman's request for comment about this article.

Overall, according to the report, Mullin, his wife and dependent children earned between $9 million and $28.7 million in 2024.

Mullin stock trades scrutinized

Mullin has bought stocks worth about $14.5 million since 2023, according to tracking by Quiver Quantitative. During that same time he's sold about $9.5 million worth of shares.

Mullin and his staff have repeatedly told reporters that he doesn't make individual decisions about stock trades, but instead uses an independent, third-party firm that manages his portfolio on his behalf. That hasn't stopped scrutiny of some trades that have been reported to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics.

In December, Mullin purchased shares of Chevron and Raytheon just days before the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Raytheon is a major U.S. defense contractor with significant Department of Defense missile and defense systems contracts. Chevron is one of the leading private oil companies operating in Venezuela.

Trump said members of Congress weren't notified of the raid before it happened, but people keeping a close eye on geopolitics knew that a major shakeup in Venezuela was possible as Trump built up a massive military presence in the Caribbean in the weeks leading up to the raid.

Sherman, the president of the DC ethics watchdog CREW, said that if members of Congress choose to engage in stock trading while serving in government, they should have a process in place to ensure full compliance with the law and aren't "passing the buck" off to third-party money managers when there are questions.

"But I think the more important obligation is one that the law has not yet caught up to, which is that members of Congress should not be buying, trading or owning stocks and bonds and individual assets like that," Sherman said.

Mullin has been criticized for late reporting of stock purchases. In 2025, he was more than two years late reporting seven stock purchases.

In 2017, Mullin faced questions about his investment in a little-known pharmaceutical company that was seeking FDA approval for a new drug; at the time, Mullin served on the Health Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which exercised “a great deal of influence” over the FDA.

So far in 2026, Mullin has purchased several hundred thousand dollars worth of stock in nine companies, according to his most recent reports. The companies represent a variety of industries, including chipmakers, financial services and a provider of online schooling programs.