The United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, traded his suit for athletic wear and engaged in a demanding workout routine alongside members of the Coast Guard in Washington D.C. During the session, he made a remark that quickly caught attention: "We need to look intimidating."
The training took place last week at the headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and featured the participation of Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of President Donald Trump and host of the show My View with Lara Trump on Fox News.
The event was part of the celebrations for the 236th anniversary of the United States Coast Guard, founded on August 4, 1790.
Mullin shared images from the moment on his official X account with the message "236 years strong," and explained that Lara Trump had been invited to train alongside the men and women of the Coast Guard at the DHS headquarters to commemorate the anniversary.
The session included push-ups, squats, burpees, thrusters, mountain climbers, and sumo squats.
According to a report by Mediaite, the secretary was impressed with Lara Trump's performance and stated that "he didn't miss a single repetition" during the workout routine.
She responded with a phrase that matched the competitive tone of the training: "I didn't come here to lose."
The images were later shown on My View with Lara Trump, where Mullin linked physical preparation with the image that, in his opinion, members of the Department of Homeland Security should project.
The secretary also stated that within the DHS, there is "not a day of rest" nor "a day of peace," highlighting the role of the Coast Guard in the department's security missions.
The official DHS account later amplified the segment with a clip in which Mullin highlighted the coordination among the various agencies under his command.
"The men and women of ALL DHS: Coast Guard, ICE, CBP... they all work together to secure our borders, north and south," he stated.
The training also allowed Mullin to publicly showcase an aspect that sets him apart from many other members of the cabinet.
The secretary, who assumed the leadership of the DHS in March, has experience in combat sports. Before taking on this role, he was a Republican senator from Oklahoma and a mixed martial arts practitioner.
Mullin was confirmed by the Senate with 54 votes in favor to replace Kristi Noem at the head of the Department of Homeland Security.
The images of the official training with uniformed personnel are part of a visual strategy that has become common among high-profile figures of the Trump administration: using physical exercise and military or security settings to project discipline, resilience, and strength.
One of the most recent examples was led by the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who in June trained alongside U.S. troops at Guantánamo Naval Base.
Hegseth completed 44 bench press repetitions there in images that surpassed 1.4 million views in less than 24 hours and provoked numerous reactions on social media.
Also, last week, FBI Director Kash Patel shared some photos of himself leading a race with agents.
Now it was Mullin who brought the cameras directly to the gym.
Lara Trump closed the segment by praising him for "getting everyone fit at the DHS," after a session in which the secretary made physical fitness a part of the public message of the agency he leads.
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