Vice President JD Vance broke the 50-50 tie in the 100-member Senate, casting the deciding vote. It is only the second time in US history that a vice president, who is president of the Senate, had to break a tie in favor of a candidate.
Pete Hegseth was sworn in Saturday as the nation's 29th Secretary of Defense, quickly joining President Trump's Cabinet after a dramatic late-night vote in the Senate that installed him as Pentagon leader.
Hegseth was sworn in by Vice President JD Vance in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with Hegseth's wife, Jennifer Rauchet, at his side and Republican senators watching.
The ceremony came less than 12 hours after Vance broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate to narrowly seal Hegseth's confirmation.
In brief remarks, Hegseth outlined what he said were his guiding principles: “Restore the warrior spirit in everything we do, rebuild our military and restore deterrence.”
“We don't want to fight wars,” he added. “We want to deter them… and we want to take them down responsibly. But if we have to fight them, we are going to use overwhelming and decisive force to take down the enemy and destroy them and bring our children home.”
He thanked Vance for his deciding vote and joked that his children were happy that their father “won in overtime.”
“It is the honor of a lifetime, sir, to serve under you,” Hegseth said, thanking Trump, who was in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Later, in an email message to the US military, he said that “we will remain the strongest and most lethal force in the world” and stressed the need to “deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific by communist China.” . and refocus on key threats. We will support our allies, and our enemies are on alert.”
The unusually close confirmation for a defense secretary came after questions from members of both parties about Hegseth's qualifications to lead the military, especially amid accusations of excessive alcohol consumption and aggressive behavior toward women.
For Hegseth, the challenges ahead are enormous, as he takes charge of a sprawling bureaucracy at a time of grave challenges around the world.
He enters the job with far less experience than the modern defense secretaries who preceded him, and he acknowledged during his confirmation hearing that he will need to build an experienced team as he settles into the job. “I want smarter and more capable people around me than me, and they will get that in the department,” he said in his testimony.
Hegseth also lacks the broad bipartisan support that most have brought to the office. All Senate Democrats voted against Hegseth's confirmation, as did three Republicans deeply skeptical of his qualifications for the job.
Hegseth refused to meet with any Democrats before confirmation, breaking with tradition.
Rarely has a Cabinet candidate faced such broad concerns about his background (having been a war veteran, veterans advocate and Fox News host) and behavior as Hegseth, particularly for such a prominent role at the top of the Cabinet. US Army.
But the Republican-led Senate was determined to confirm Hegseth and fill out Trump's national security team.
Democrats, the minority in the Senate, had helped confirm Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe in bipartisan votes. But they fiercely opposed Hegseth, and even the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee refused to support him.
Reacting to the vote, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York said Republicans have “entrusted the most powerful military in the world to someone with no experience, terrible judgment and serious character defects.”
“I hope for the sake of our troops and the sake of our country that I can eventually grow on the job,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Three Republicans — Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — also voted against Hegseth, questioning his qualifications for the job.
Hegseth faced accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman at a Republican conference in California, although he has denied the allegations and said the encounter was consensual. He later paid $50,000 to the woman.
Earlier this week, senators received an affidavit from Danielle Hegseth, Hegseth's former sister-in-law, alleging that Hegseth had abused his second ex-wife, Samantha Hegseth. She did not describe the abuse and said she had not witnessed it. In a statement to NBC News, which first reported the story, Samantha Hegseth said, “There was no physical abuse in my marriage.”
Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that he was dissatisfied with Hegseth's answers to his questions about reports that the Trump administration would implement a board to evaluate top military officers. to determine your aptitude to lead.
“We have seen this happen in other places around the world, where armies are undermined and subjugated by political leaders who have a particular political point of view and passion, and become, in essence, not an army but an extension of the Great Leader's political aspirations. We can't see that here in the United States,” Reed said.
Hegseth, a former Fox News television host, also served as an Army National Guard officer in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay and is the author of several books.
“I don't have a biography similar to that of the defense secretaries of the last 30 years,” Hegseth told senators in his opening statement, “but as President Trump also told me, we have repeatedly placed people at the top of the “Pentagon with the supposed right to credentials, whether retired generals, academics or defense contractor executives. And where has that led us?”
Republican senators praised Hegseth for his fresh perspective.
“Mr. Hegseth will bring fresh energy and ideas to shake up the bureaucracy. He will relentlessly focus on the warfighter and the Army's core missions, deterring wars and winning the ones we must fight,” Wicker said during confirmation hearings.
Hegseth said his priorities would focus on the threat posed by China and defending the United States, while reorienting the country away from becoming entangled in the Middle East. He also pledged to restore morale and end diversity initiatives that he believes are detrimental to the establishment of a merit-based military.
When asked how he sees his role, Hegseth responded: “Remove anything that doesn't contribute to our democracy from the way decisions are made within the Pentagon. What gender are you. What race are you. Your views on change Your conscience and your faith should have no influence on whether you get promoted or selected to go to West Point or what school you go to. The only thing that should matter is: 'How capable are you at your job?' excellent you are in your job?'”
Hegseth will be the first Secretary of Defense to have served as a junior officer on the front lines, and the first Secretary of the generation who fought in the post-9/11 wars.
Senate Democrats said Hegseth's experience running two nonprofits benefiting military veterans, with fewer than 100 employees, was not enough to run the massive Defense Department.
“We're hiring you to be the CEO of one of the largest, most complex organizations in the world. We're the board of directors here. I don't know of any corporate board that hires a CEO that says, you know, 'I already supervised 100 people before,'” said Democratic Senator Gary Peters.
The Department of Defense oversees more than 3 million military personnel and a budget of $857 billion.
Hegseth also faced accusations of sexual assault and public drunkenness during his time at Fox News. Reed said the FBI's background investigation into Hegseth was insufficient.
“He lacks character, composure and competence to hold defense positions,” Reed said, noting that he voted for all nine previous nominees for defense secretary, including those nominated during Trump's first term.
All Cabinet candidates undergo a background check and ethics review.
Hegseth faced accusations of financial mismanagement from the two nonprofits he served as executive director: Vets for Freedom and Concerned Vets for America. After an audit of Vets for Freedom in 2009, Hegseth admitted the organization was half a million dollars in debt and was demoted.
During his time at Concerned Vets for America, Hegseth faced whistleblower allegations of personal misconduct and financial mismanagement.
Hegseth said the accusations were part of a smear campaign coordinated by left-wing media and came largely from anonymous sources.
“We assume this responsibility with the obligation to do the right thing for the troops, for our fighters. And what became very evident to us from the beginning was that there was a coordinated and orchestrated smear campaign in the media against us that was clear from the beginning. first moment. And it wasn't about me. Most of it was about President Donald Trump, who has had to endure exactly the same thing for much longer, and has endured it – admittedly – in incredibly strong ways,” Hegseth said. during your confirmation.
Hegseth has also faced criticism for past comments about diversity in the US military.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Hegseth had made “a big turnaround in a short period of time” because of his nomination by Trump to be defense secretary.
Warren said last week: “For 12 years, you were pretty open about your views, and your views were always the same: Women are soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and lower guardians. Then the “November 9, 2024, just 32 days after your last public comments saying that women should not participate in combat, you declare that 'some of our greatest warriors are women.'”
Five women who served in combat wrote letters supporting Hegseth's nomination.
Hegseth promised that women would have access to ground combat roles during his tenure as secretary.
“Standards remain high and we will do a review to ensure they have not been eroded in any of these cases,” he said.
(With information from AP and Reuters)