After three Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnel of Kentucky voted against Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance had to step in and vote to get Hegseth confirmed by the Senate as the defense secretary of the new Trump administration. The final vote, 51-50, was the smaller margin for a defense secretary’s confirmation since the position was created in 1947. JD Vance was the Ohio senator before he became the vice president and he was forced to cast a tie-breaking vote — being only the second vice president in US history to cast a tie-breaking vote for a cabinet official. Former vice president Mike Pence helped confirm education secretary Betsy Devos by offering the final vote in 2017.
“I though I was done voting in the senate,” JD Vance wrote as he had to again do a senator’s job for Hegseth. Elon Musk reacted to JD Vance’s statement with a ‘tears of joy’ smiley.
“This is for the troops. For the warriors. For our country,” Hegseth wrote in his first comment after getting confirmed. “America First. Every day. We will never back down.”
Hegseth became Trump’s most controversial pick
After Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination, Pete Hegseth became the most controversial pick of Donald Trump though Trump defended his choice. A former military person, a former anchor of Fox News, Pete Hegseth was accused of sexual assault, alcohol abuse. Hegseth refuted the allegations and said the sex was consensual but he was later blackmailed into paying the woman. On alcohol abuse, Hegseth said he never had a drinking problem but he’s ready to quit drinking once he becomes the defense secretary.
Ahead of the confirmation, Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, ex-wife of his brother, claimed that he was abusive in his marriage with his second wife and Samantha Hegseth feared for her life. But Samantha issued a statement saying that there was never any physical abuse.
None of the three Republicans who voted against confirmation cited the affidavit or the allegations of personal misconduct as a reason for a decision to oppose Hegseth, though Murkowski said they “do nothing to quiet my concerns.” Opponents of Hegseth’s confirmation had hoped to win over a fourth Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina who finally voted in favor of Hegseth.
