The Senate voted Friday night to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee Pat Hegseth as defense secretary after a bitter battle to sway lawmakers over allegations about his behavior. Almost derailed.
The final vote came down to the wire: three Republicans opposed, for a 50-50 vote. Vice President JD Vance needed to break the tie in the upper chamber, which put the final at 51-50.
“Congratulations to Pete Hegseth. He will make a great Secretary of Defense!” Trump wrote on Truth Social after Hegseth’s confirmation.
The Senate’s two moderate Republican women: Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, did not vote. As former GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Murkowski, a moderate Republican, would not support Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Higseth
Hegseth denied all allegations of sexual, physical or alcohol abuse. (Tom Williams)
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina was not endorsed, and did not make his position known until after voting was underway. He ultimately said he would support Trump’s election, giving him enough support to confirm Vance’s tie-breaking vote.
In his argument, Murkowski cited Hegseth’s previous comments on infidelity, “accusations of sexual abuse and excessive drinking” and women serving in the military.
The behaviors he admitted to alone, he said, “demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who leads our armed forces.”
Hegseth arrives at the Capitol for a confirmation vote. (Fox News)
Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), the nonprofit advocacy group at the center of many of the allegations made during Hegseth’s confirmation hearing, praised his confirmation in a statement.
“The confirmation of Pat Hegseth as Secretary of Defense presents a real opportunity to prioritize the safety and prosperity of our citizens, promote wisdom and effectiveness in our defense strategy, and our Department of Defense,” the statement said. “Defense focuses on America’s most important interests.”
gave The New Yorker reported. In December, Hegseth was kicked out of CVA, the group he once led, amid allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct and personal misconduct.
All Democrats opposed the confirmation, a far cry from the vote earlier this week, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confirmed unanimously, 99-0.
Hegseth will now lead the government’s largest agency, which has long promised to root out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in every branch.
Hegseth is a former Fox News weekend host. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Higgsett broke the Senate deadlock and moved toward a final confirmation vote
However, the Pentagon under Trump did not wait for a confirmed secretary.
This week, K Commander Air ForceThe 613th Air Operations Center in Hawaii, which had advocated for more women in similar roles, was removed from her post. Pacific Air Force Commander Gen. Kevin Schneider to Col. Julie Sposito-Salces Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hakim“due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command the organization.”
Shortly after Trump took office, Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fegan, the first woman in uniform to lead any military branch, was removed from her post.
Trump also this week nominated former Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier and former Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Schiller to top Defense Department posts — both men who have been staunch critics of the Biden administration’s policies at the Pentagon.
Lohmeier, who was nominated as Under Secretary of the Air Force. Fired as commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base, after he wrote a book and appeared on podcasts claiming that Marxism had infiltrated the armed forces and criticizing diversity policies.
The Trump administration has already taken action despite not having confirmed a secretary. (AP Photo/Evan Vokey)
Schiller made headlines for posting videos in uniform criticizing senior military leaders over the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Schiller, the Defense Department’s new senior adviser for personnel and readiness, was referred to Brig. and court-martialed over the clips.
Hegseth’s nomination hit a last-minute hurdle earlier this week after reports emerged that his ex-sister-in-law alleged he had abused his second wife.
On Tuesday, Fox News obtained an affidavit from Danielle Hegseth, Hegseth’s ex-brother-in-law, alleging that he had a drinking problem and sometimes made his ex-wife Samantha fear for his safety. used to Daniel Hegseth was previously married to Pete Hegseth’s brother and was unrelated to Samantha.
Key Senate chairman ‘criticizes unnamed sources with ulterior motives,’ favors Hegseth’s nomination
But Daniel Hegseth added that he never witnessed any physical or sexual abuse by Pete against Samantha himself.
Samantha Hegseth also denied any physical abuse in a statement to NBC News.
Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker said in a statement Wednesday night that “the reports I received last week about a classified briefing on the FBI’s background investigation of Pat Hegseth are completely and utterly false. are factually incorrect” and that they stand by Hegseth’s nomination.
Wicker was a supporter of Hegseth’s nomination. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Earlier Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. urged Republicans to support him in opposing the former Fox News host and Army National Guardsman.
Hegsett’s lawyer slammed the former brother-in-law’s ‘false and questionable affidavit’
“Sixty-seven is absolutely incompetent, he comes up there. [as] … One of the worst nominees that could be put forward,” Schumer said.
Hegseth, who has been married three times, has admitted he was a “serial cheater” before becoming a Christian and marrying his current wife Jenny.
Click to get the Fox News app.
44-year-old Army Veterans of the National Guard, who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is relatively younger and inexperienced than past defense secretaries, retiring as a major. But Republicans say they don’t want someone who has held a high office to join the Pentagon establishment.
