The Senate of USA confirmed this Friday to the former Fox News anchor and member of the Army National Guard Pete Hegseth as the new Secretary of Defense, a confirmation achieved thanks to the casting vote of Vice President JD Vance.
After the vote ended tied, with 50 votes in favor and 50 against, the session in the plenary session of the Upper House was suspended momentarily so that the American vice president could go to the room to break the equality with his favorable vote.
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In addition to the Democratic caucus, Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who had already advanced their decision, as well as the veteran Mitch McConnellwho was leader of the Upper House.
Hegseth thus becomes the new head of the Defense portfolio despite the controversy surrounding his nomination by the US president. donald trumpeven punctuated by accusations of sexual abuse.
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Just this week, a former sister-in-law offered a sworn statement in Congress in which she accused Hegseth of having been “abusive” with his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, and having been “intoxicated” in private and in public.
The now Secretary of Defense, who will be the main manager of 1.3 million military personnel in service, rejected those accusations, as well as previous ones related to cases of sexual abuse, which led a few Republicans to vote against.
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Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski had confirmed that they would oppose his confirmation, a decision that surprised Trump himself, as he confessed this Friday to reporters at the White House.
Hegseth noted that all of these accusations, which led Democrats to call for a new nominee, constituted political persecution.
Pete Hegseth is a former Fox News anchor and member of the Army National Guard. He faced accusations of sexual abuse. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
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“Why do they want to destroy me? Because I am an agent of change and a threat to them, because Donald Trump was willing to elect me to empower me and take the Department of Defense back to what it really should be, which is fighting war.”he noted weeks ago during a hearing in the Upper House.
Hegseth, who spent a year stationed at the Guantánamo Naval Base, where prisoners are being held for the attacks of September 11, 2001, admitted in that hearing that he is an atypical candidate but did not see it as an obstacle.
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At today’s hearing, Democratic Senator Patty Murrayvice president of the Appropriations Committee, highlighted other criticisms that Hegseth has faced, such as the mismanagement of pro-veterans organizations that ended up in bankruptcy.
“I don’t see how bankrupting a veterans nonprofit through wasteful spending qualifies it to manage a nearly $900 billion budget.” of dollars, he noted, referring to the Pentagon budget.
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Had the Senate voted against this nomination, Hegseth would have become the first Defense Secretary nominee to be rejected since 1989, when John Towernominated by President George HW Bush, fell short by six votes.
