Pete Hegseth confirmed as Donald Trump's defence secretary after JD Vance casts tie-breaking vote

Sky News
Updated ·2-min read

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's controversial choice for US defence secretary, has been confirmed for the job.

The 44-year-old ex-veteran and former Fox News host narrowly secured the top Pentagon post with vice president JD Vance casting the 51-50 tie-breaking vote.

Three Republican senators - Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - joined Democrats to oppose his nomination.

It is the second time in history a vice president has broken a tie for a cabinet nominee. In 2017, then vice president Mike Pence was called in to break a tie to confirm Mr Trump's previous pick of Betsy DeVos as education secretary.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mr Trump praised Mr Hegseth shortly after the vote, saying he would make a "great secretary of defence" in a post on Truth Social.

However, during the confirmation hearing, which was disrupted by three protesters, Mr Hegseth was accused of lacking the competence for the job.

Hours before the vote, Democrat after Democrat took to the Senate floor to object.

Senator Chris Murphy said during the debate there are few Trump nominees as "dangerously and woefully unqualified as Hegseth".

👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈

Mr Hegseth is the most divisive candidate to clinch the US military's top job.

He is a controversial choice because of past statements and actions, including allegations of sexual assault - which he has denied - excessive drinking, and derisive views about women in military combat roles.

ADVERTISEMENT

But most Senate Republicans fell into line to defend Mr Hegseth.

Senate majority leader John Thune said Mr Hegseth, as a veteran of the Army National Guard who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, "will bring a warrior's perspective" to the post.

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the armed services committee, however, said in a statement he would watch the new defence secretary "like a hawk" and "demand accountability".

Read more:
Migrants in shackles led on to US military plane
Nearly all US aid programmes worldwide frozen
Trump threatens to 'get rid' of US emergency agency

Mr Hegseth steps into the role as the new Trump administration has said border security and immigration will be a focus for the US military.

Little is known about his views on key foreign policy issues such as arming Ukraine, preparing the US military for a potential conflict with China, and whether he would seek to scale back the country's footprint in places including Syria and Iraq.

Former president Joe Biden's defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, was confirmed by a 93-2 vote in 2021, and Jim Mattis, Mr Trump's first defence secretary in his last administration, was confirmed by a 98-1 vote in 2017.

Latest stories

  • Pete Hegseth confirmed as defence secretary after JD Vance casts deciding vote

    Pete Hegseth has been narrowly confirmed as US defence secretary after Vice President JD Vance was forced to break a tied vote in the Senate.

  • Pete Hegseth is only the beginning of Trump’s confirmation headaches

    ANALYSIS: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel all have their hearings next week, Eric Garcia reports

  • Vance breaks tie to confirm Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary

    Vice President Vance on Friday broke a Senate tie to confirm Pete Hegseth as President Trump’s secretary of Defense, capping a bruising two-month fight over the nominee, who faced a litany of allegations that included sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and excessive drinking. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.) voted…

  • Former Fox News Host Pete Hegseth Confirmed As Defense Secretary After Vice President JD Vance Breaks Senate Tie Vote

    Pete Hegseth, the former co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, will be the next secretary of defense, after he squeaked by Senate confirmation with Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie 50-50 vote. It was an unusually close call for a cabinet nominee, reflecting concerns over Hegseth’s experience and allegations of sexual assault and heavy …

  • Kristi Noem confirmed as secretary of homeland security

    Noem won confirmation in a 59-34 vote, making her the fourth person confirmed to Trump's cabinet. Pete Hegseth was confirmed as defense secretary just hours earlier. In a statement released by the department, Secretary Noem said she will work "every day" to keep Americans "safe and secure."

  • Senate confirms Kristi Noem as Trump's homeland security secretary

    U.S. Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Saturday, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Donald Trump's plans to clamp down on illegal immigration.

  • Council admits ‘error’ over leaflets with education centres already removed

    Adult education centres proposed for closure were already removed from a map before talks on the decision have been completed.

  • Trump Zeroes in on Country to Dump Migrants From All Over

    President Donald Trump seems to have finally found a country that won’t rebuff his plan to send it hordes of undocumented immigrants who don’t hail from that nation. The Trump administration is working on a plan with El Salvador that would allow the Latin American country to accept immigrants from the U.S. even if they are not El Salvadorian, according to CBS News. The plan would designate El Salvador as a “Safe Third Country” as part of the agreement, pushing the migrants to seek asylum there i

  • Trump Picks Sides in Elon Musk Feud—And It’s Not With the ‘First Buddy’

    President Donald Trump has praised U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, striking the complete opposite tone of his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who has called for the British leader’s ouster. Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said the prime minister was “doing a very good job” and that the two have a “very good relationship.” “I get along with him well,” he said of Starmer, who shared a two hour dinner with the president at Trump Tower in New York City in September. “I

  • ‘We’re watching mass delusion happen’: Trump’s return to White House brings cascade of lies

    In first week in office, president has made false claims on topics from immigration and economy to Panama canal

  • Denmark in ‘crisis mode’ after ‘horrendous’ phone call from Trump demanding to buy Greenland

    Denmark is in “crisis mode” after Donald Trump made a direct play for Greenland in a “horrendous” phone call with the country’s prime minister.

  • U.K. Magazine Expertly Trolls Donald Trump With Front Page ‘Apology’ For The Ages

    Private Eye apologized “unreservedly” for its previous critical coverage of the president. But then came an utterly brutal twist.

  • Israel ‘sends weapons captured in Lebanon to Ukraine’

    Israel is considering sending Soviet and Russian-made weapons captured in Lebanon to Ukraine, with signs transfers may be under way.

  • The Left are turning on Starmer – and it could be his undoing

    There was a time, not very long ago, when even Sir Keir Starmer’s harshest critics privately admitted he had done a brilliant job of purging the far Left from the Labour Party, and in doing so making Labour electable again.

  • Trump’s plan to crush Irish economic miracle

    Donald Trump was surrounded by a coterie of billionaires at his inauguration, basking in the adoration of the technology elite that swung behind his campaign to win the White House.

  • Brazil outraged after US deportees arrive handcuffed, Colombia to refuse US deportation flights

    Brazil has reacted with outrage after 88 of its nationals arrived in their homeland handcuffed following their deportation from the United States. Brazil blasted Washington over its “degrading treatment” of the passengers and its “flagrant disregard” for their rights, demanding an explanation. Colombia, meanwhile, said it will not allow US deportation flights to land in the country. Brazil’s government expressed outrage on Saturday after dozens of immigrants deported from the United States arriv

  • California secession proponents get green light to take next steps toward ‘Calexit’

    “People think if you’re a secessionist, you’re crazy,” Calexit leader Marcus Ruiz Evans told The Independent

  • Liz Truss told to ‘take a holiday’ as ex-PM’s Maga reinvention alarms Tories

    Exclusive: Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is not the only senior Conservative alarmed by Liz Truss’s attempts to reinvent herself as a Trumpian Brit

  • The curious spate of arson attacks by Russian pensioners

    A Russian pensioner takes a box of matches into a bank and douses a row of cash machines with flammable liquid.

  • Mexico refuses US military flights deporting migrants, officials say

    STORY: :: FileMexico refused a request from President Donald Trump’s administration to allow a U.S. military aircraft deporting migrants to land in the country, said U.S. and Mexican officials.:: Guatemala City, GuatemalaOn Friday, two U.S. military flights and a commercial chartered flight transported about 80 migrants each to Guatemala.But the plan to have a C-17 transport aircraft land in Mexico did not move ahead, after the country denied permission. The U.S. State Department and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.In a statement on Friday, Mexico’s foreign ministry said it had a (quote) “very great relationship” with the U.S. and cooperated on issues such as immigration. “When it comes to repatriations, we will always accept the arrival of Mexicans to our territory with open arms,” it said. A Mexican official did not give a reason for the denial. Trump’s administration announced earlier this week it was re-launching the “Remain in Mexico” program.It forces non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their U.S. cases are resolved. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that such a move would require the country receiving the asylum seekers to agree, but that Mexico had not done so. Sheinbaum has expressed openness towards accommodating Mexican nationals who are returned.But the leftist leader also said she does not agree with mass deportations and that Mexican immigrants are vital to the U.S. economy.U.S.-Mexico relations have come into sharp focus since Trump started his second term with the declaration of a national emergency along the two nations' shared border.The Pentagon said the U.S. military would provide flights to deport more than 5,000 immigrants held by U.S. authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.