Pete
Hegseth Is Sworn In as Defense Secretary After Being Confirmed by Slim Margin
Pete
Hegseth has vowed to bring his “warrior” ethos to the Pentagon. Democrats had
assailed him as unfit for the job, and his confirmation came down to Vice
President JD Vance serving as tiebreaker.
Published
Jan. 24, 2025
Updated Jan.
25, 2025, 11:06 a.m. ET
Vice
President JD Vance voted to break the tie.
Pinned
Helene
Cooper
Karoun
Demirjian
Helene
Cooper and Karoun DemirjianReporting from Washington
Vice
President JD Vance had to cast the tiebreaking vote.
Pete Hegseth
was sworn in as the defense secretary on Saturday morning by Vice President JD
Vance after the Senate narrowly confirmed Mr. Hegseth the night before. The
Trump pick survived a bruising struggle with Democrats who decried him as
unqualified and unfit to oversee the country’s 1.3 million active duty troops
and the Pentagon’s nearly $850 billion budget.
Vice
President Vance had to cast a tiebreaking vote to confirm Mr. Hegseth, after
three Republicans — Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — joined all Democrats in opposition.
The final
vote, 51 to 50, was the smallest margin for a defense secretary’s confirmation
since the position was created in 1947, according to Senate records.
Mr. Hegseth,
a military veteran and a former Fox News host, has vowed to bring his
self-described “warrior” ethos to the Defense Department, which he says has
been made weak by “woke” generals and diversity programs.
Republican
leaders embraced that outlook as they cheered his confirmation.
“Peace
through strength is back under President Trump and Pete Hegseth,” Senator Roger
Wicker, Republican of Mississippi and the chairman of the armed services panel,
said in a statement after Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation, adding: “We cannot wait
another minute to rebuild our military might and put the war-fighter first.”
But
Democrats, who unanimously opposed Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation, promised to
continue their scrutiny of him.
“I am going
to watch him like a hawk,” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat
on the armed services panel, said in a statement, adding: “I will point out
where we disagree. I will demand accountability.”
Mr.
Hegseth’s selection by President Trump and the confirmation process were
complicated by a claim of sexual assault and accusations of abusive behavior,
public drunkenness and fiscal mismanagement of two nonprofit veterans groups.
In a sworn
statement submitted to the Senate on Tuesday, a former sister-in-law of Mr.
Hegseth’s described him as frequently intoxicated and “abusive” toward his
second wife. Mr. Hegseth, 44, has denied the account, along with other
allegations that have dogged his nomination.
And on
Thursday, the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts,
shared written answers to questions she put to Mr. Hegseth, in which he
disclosed that he paid $50,000 to a woman who accused him of sexual assault in
2017.
He has said
that encounter was consensual, and he was never charged with a crime.
A handful of
Republicans had said privately that the new allegations in the affidavit from
Danielle Diettrich Hegseth, the former wife of Mr. Hegseth’s brother, were
concerning. But in the end, only Ms. Collins, Ms. Murkowski and Mr. McConnell
voted with Democrats against his confirmation.
Ms. Hegseth
said after the vote that she had submitted her affidavit only because she had
been assured that it would sway key votes. “There are many reasons women are
reluctant to come forward, by name, and tell the truth about a powerful man
like him,” she said. “What happened today will make women who have experienced
abuse and mistreatment even less forthcoming.”
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 Mr.
Hegseth, though Ms. Murkowski said they “do nothing to quiet my concerns.”
Mr.
McConnell stressed that in his estimation, Mr. Hegseth had not demonstrated a
sufficient understanding of national security challenges to handle the job of
defense secretary, which he called “the most consequential cabinet official in
any administration.”
“Effective
management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual
budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world
is a daily test with staggering consequences,” Mr. McConnell said in a
statement explaining his vote. He added: “Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to
demonstrate that he will pass this test.”
Opponents of
Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation had fervently hoped to win over a fourth Republican,
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Mr. Tillis had pledged to conduct “due
diligence” on the allegations against Mr. Hegseth, including those in the
affidavit from his former sister-in-law. He appeared to waver, then voted in
favor of confirmation.
“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,” he said in a statement
explaining his choice. He added that he would “look forward to working with him
to rebuild our military and advance President Trump’s peace through strength
agenda.”
Nearly all
recent defense secretaries have sailed through their final votes. President
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, was confirmed on
a 93-to-2 vote. The Senate voted 98 to 1 to confirm Jim Mattis, President
Trump’s first Pentagon chief, and 90 to 8 for his successor, Mark Esper.
There have
been exceptions. Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator, won a narrow victory
in 2013 despite opposition from 41 members of his own party over his skeptical
views on the Iraq war. John G. Tower, the nominee of President George H.W.
Bush, was defeated in a 47-to-53 vote in 1989 amid allegations of alcohol abuse
and womanizing.
Mr. Hegseth
had similar allegations to contend with, but that was a different time and a
different Senate.
Mr. Hagel
never really recovered from his Senate bruising and resigned under pressure two
years into his term. Mr. Mattis resigned after two years in a rebuke of Mr.
Trump’s worldviews and treatment of allies, and Mr. Esper was fired by Mr.
Trump via a social media post after a year and a half on the job.
Mr. Trump
briefly considered dropping Mr. Hegseth amid resistance from senators in both
parties. But Mr. Trump dug in. During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Hegseth
called the allegations against him “anonymous smears.”
Samantha
Hegseth, Mr. Hegseth’s second wife, has said publicly that he never physically
abused her. But a Trump transition official informed the leaders of the Armed
Services Committee last week that she had told the F.B.I. during a background
interview that Mr. Hegseth drank to excess and continues to do so, according to
a person with knowledge of the findings.
Senator Jack
Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the armed services panel, who was
briefed on the findings, said reporters’ characterizations of the findings were
“true and accurate.” Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi and the
panel’s chairman, who was also briefed, called those characterizations “starkly
and factually inaccurate.”
Sharon
LaFraniere contributed reporting.
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