BREAKING: Results Of The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Vote Are In
The results of the confirmation vote for Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, came in late Friday night after a weeks-long, contentious process.
All 47 Democrats joined three Republicans, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in voting against Hegseth, citing a series of unsubstantiated allegations made against him. This forced Vice President J.D. Vance, who was seen entering the Capitol Building late Friday evening, to serve as the tie-breaking vote.
Vance first asked if any senators wished to change their vote, which none of them did. “If not, on this vote, the yea’s are 50 and the nay’s are 50. The Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative, and the nomination is confirmed,” Vance continued, making Hegseth the 29th United States Secretary of Defense.
Senate Republicans erupted into applause once Hegseth officially became secretary designate.
The vote comes after a weeks-long, oftentimes uncertain confirmation process, throughout which Hegseth was relentlessly attacked by mainstream media outlets and Senate Democrats over unsubstantiated allegations.
In one instance, an unnamed woman accused Hegseth of sexually assaulting her during a conservative conference. The accuser — whose identity is redacted — claimed Hegseth raped her in 2017 during a Republican women’s conference at a hotel in Monterey, California. According to the accuser, the alleged assault happened after conference organizers went to the hotel bar following an after-party towards the end of the conference.
A police report casts severe doubt on the claim, however, as several eyewitness accounts and surveillance videos suggest the two had a consensual sexual encounter. The accuser is married, and the report suggests the accusation was made in an attempt to hide infidelity from her husband, who was staying in the hotel at the time of the incident.
A separate report from NBC News — which quoted several ‘anonymous sources’ from Fox News — claimed that Hegseth struggled with heavy drinking during his time at the network. Without evidence, the report claimed that Hegseth would often show up to work smelling of alcohol and created an unsafe work environment for his co-workers. The report has been soundly rejected by dozens of Fox News employees, many of whom have referred to the report as “utter bull**it.”
Despite the fact that all of the allegations against Hegseth have either been thoroughly disproven or made without any evidence, the Trump nominee was berated by numerous Senate Democrats during his confirmation hearing earlier this month. Hegseth referred to the allegations as a “smear campaign” in a fiery defense of his character in his opening statement.
“The media in America today, sadly, doesn’t care about the truth. All they’re out to do, Mr. Chairman, is to destroy me. And why do they want to destroy me? Because I’m a change agent and a threat to them because Donald Trump was willing to choose me, to empower me, to bring the Defense Department back to what it really should be, which is war-fighting,” Hegseth told U.S. Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS).
Hegseth’s confirmation hearing appeared to have gone very well, as multiple senators who had previously signaled opposition to his candidacy offered their endorsements in the following days. This included Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and John Curtis (R-UT).
Three Republicans did hold out, however. Lisa Murkowski — who voted to confirm President Biden’s most radical nominees — claimed she could not support Hegseth due to the unproven allegations. She also took issue with Hegseth’s resume, suggesting that he did not have the necessary experience to run the Department of Defense despite serving multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Murkowski’s sentiments were echoed by Senator Susan Collins, while former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell emerged as a surprise vote against Hegseth during the full floor vote. McConnell — 82 — has become increasingly open about his disdain for President Trump in recent months.