BREAKING: Pete Hegseth CONFIRMED by Senate as defense secretary
Vice President JD Vance was called up to cast the tie-breaking vote.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was confirmed with 51 votes on Friday evening after a confirmation hearing last week. Vice President JD Vance was called upon to cast the tie-breaking vote.
“I thought I was done voting in the senate,” Vance joked in a post.
President Trump congratulated Hegseth in a post on Truth late Friday night.
Hegseth, who was one of the more hotly debated Cabinet nominees, had expressed confidence along with Trump that he would be confirmed by the GOP-majority Senate. On Thursday, two GOP Senators said that they would not be voting Hegseth: Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
Both Collins and Murkowski voted against Hegseth as did former majority leader Mitch McConnell. Both Collins and Murkowski took issue with Hegseth’s postition that women should not be in combat roles in the military.
GOP Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), a veteran, although previously opposed to Hegseth, later reversed her position and said she would support him. Many other veterans signed a letter in support of Hegseth’s nomination leading up to the hearings.
Thom Tillis voted yes, releasing a statement on X about the vote. “From the beginning,” he said, “I have been clear about my position: if President Trump’s nominees were reported favorably out of the relevant committees, I would support their confirmation on the Senate floor absent new material information about their qualifications. Once Pete Hegseth’s nomination was sent to the floor by my colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee, I conducted my own due diligence, including asking tough questions of Pete and I appreciated his candor and openness in answering them. Pete has a unique perspective as a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is unquestionably passionate about modernizing our military and supporting the brave patriots like himself who serve our nation. I will support his confirmation and look forward to working with him to rebuild our military and advance President Trump’s peace through strength agenda.”
On Thursday, the Senate voted in favor of cloture 51-49 for Hegseth’s confirmation vote, meaning that senators would get up to 30 hours to debate the topic, but would not be able to filibuster the nomination.
Hegseth had been under heavy scrutiny leading up to the Senate vote. Corporate media outlets had pushed debunked sexual assault allegations from 2017, which he has vehemently denied, calling them false. He was never charged with a crime.
Additionally, there have been claims made about his drinking habits, though both he and his colleagues have rejected these accusations. Hegseth is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard and is a veteran with a 20-year military career, earning two Bronze Stars.