GOP senator fumbles on live TV when CNN rolls tape of Trump officials contradicting him

President Donald Trump has the loyal support of Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okl.), but in order to get it, Mullin has to say blatantly untrue things in public — and get called out for it.

Appearing on CNN with host Kasie Hunt on Monday, Mullin found himself on the defensive after insisting Trump’s invasion of Iran is not a war, only to be corrected by Trump’s own defense secretary.

“This isn't a war, we haven't declared war. Everybody wants to say,” Mullin told Hunt, prompting Hunt to play a clip of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying earlier on Monday that “we set the terms of this war from start to finish. We didn't start this war. But under President Trump, we are finishing it.”

Hunt then asked Mullin if stood by his earlier statement that this is not a war.

“What he declared on us was war — meaning the Ayatollah declared war on us,” Mullin replied. “We are not at war with the Iranian people. The Ayatollah declared war on us, we've already taken him out, and now we're eliminating the threat."

"[T]his isn't Iraq," Mullin later said. "We made that very clear. Pete Hegseth — Secretary Hegseth — made that very clear. This isn't the same approach. Keep in mind, we took out the leader within an hour.”

“After 9/11, Kasie, we said never again, never again will we be caught flat-footed, never again will we ignore someone like Osama bin Laden when we knew what his intentions were but didn't take him out,” Mullin continued. “We knew what the Ayatollah's intentions were. They had been chanting ‘Death to America’ for 47 years. We gave them that opportunity. Not a war of choice.”

Although Mullin told Hunt that Trump’s Iran war strategy is radically different than Bush’s Iraq war strategy, he has in fact given contradictory ideas about his vision for Iran. New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel wrote on Monday that Trump “said he hoped the military and Guard Corps would surrender their weapons to the people, even though the same hardened forces killed thousands in the streets in January,” which was part of the reason Trump cited for invading Iran in the first place. He has said that his goal is "freedom for the people" of Iran, but then said he has “three very good choices” in mind as to who he will install to take over the country, although he later said “actually, nevermind, we killed those choices."

Similarly, although Trump has downplayed the severity of America’s invasion of Iran, he also told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday that “we haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't even happened. The big one is coming soon.”