It was closer than it needed to be but Pete Hegseth was confirmed as the new Secretary of Defense, surviving the betrayal of three Republican senators to eke out a 51-50 confirmation vote win on Friday night.
The late media hit job that used unprovable allegations from a former sister-in-law who claimed that he drunkenly menaced his ex-wife may have given cover for the usual RINO suspects to stab President Donald J. Trump in the back but failed to sway a critical fourth GOP senator who would have sunk Hegseth and kept the Pentagon status quo in place.
As president of the Senate, Vice President J.D. Vance cast the deciding vote to break the tie after Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined Democrats who were, in their usual lockstep, voting unanimously to reject Hegseth.
BREAKING
The U.S. Senate has confirmed the nomination of Pete Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Defense.
The vote was 50–50, with Senator Susan Collins, Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Senator Mitch McConnell voting against Hegseth from the Republican side.
VP JD Vance cast the… pic.twitter.com/doKHS1yRIK
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) January 25, 2025
“Congratulations to Pete Hegseth. He will make a great Secretary of Defense!” President Trump wrote on Truth Social after the nail-biting final vote to confirm.
The new Defense Secretary thanked Trump, Vance, and the 50 GOP senators who supported him.
Thank you for your confidence Mr. President.
Thank you for the tie-breaker Mr. Vice President.
Thank you Senators for 50 votes.
This is for the troops. For the warriors. For our country.
America First. Every day. We will never back down.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 25, 2025
Trump’s enemies were counting on Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to be the fourth renegade GOP vote but it never came to fruition, dashing their hopes of landing a big blow on the new president’s agenda right off the bat.
Hegseth posted a copy of his responses to Tillis’ questions about the allegations from the NBC News smear job that fueled the late push to torpedo him.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 25, 2025
Whether it was the deciding factor isn’t known, but Tillis ultimately chose to honor his constituents in a state that was won by Trump instead of saddling up with the McConnell bunch.
“From the beginning, I have been clear about my position: if President Trump’s nominees were reported favorably out of the relevant committees, I would support their confirmation on the Senate floor absent new material information about their qualifications. Once Pete Hegseth’s nomination was sent to the floor by my colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee, I conducted my own due diligence, including asking tough questions of Pete and I appreciated his candor and openness in answering them,” Tillis wrote in a post to X.
After the vote went down, McConnell was caught on video going over to shake hands with his Democrat friends, a clip that has gone viral on X.
Mitch McConnell just voted NO on President Trump’s secretary of defense nominee
This led to VP Vance having to rush down to cast a tie-breaking vote, only the 2nd such vote in U.S. history
As Republican Senators gather around to congratulate Vance, notice McConnell walk over… pic.twitter.com/jPGxgJMTRR
— Zach Henry (@zhenryaz) January 25, 2025
Republicans reacted to the vote, as well as the three GOP senators who nearly succeeded in flipping it the other way.
Mitch McConnell doesn’t support @realDonaldTrump and he doesn’t support an America First agenda. He never has.
It’s why I ran against him for Leader and why I’ll continue to fight for President Trump and his agenda. https://t.co/JcRo6Yjpbq
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) January 25, 2025
Tonight, I was proud to vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
He is the change agent that the DOD desperately needs.
Let’s get to work.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) January 25, 2025
We did it, America.
It was an honor to be in the fight with my friend, and your SecDef: @PeteHegseth.
The Hegseth family is the best!! pic.twitter.com/b3P54fOCRC
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) January 25, 2025
In what has to be seen as a disappointment, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) joined all the other Democrats despite encouraging signs that he would be the lone wolf to lead the party out of the wilderness.
This slob did not vote for Pete Hegseth.
Keep that in mind every time he tries to look like a moderate because he knows @ScottPresler flipped PA red.
pic.twitter.com/vb5TKJ6S16— C3 (@C_3C_3) January 25, 2025
Hegseth replaces “woke” incompetent Lloyd Austin, the diverse Raytheon lobbyist tapped by Joe Biden to implement his sweeping left-wing social agenda in the military ranks which were then depleted by a purge of Trump supporters, discharges over the COVID vaccine and retention problems due to poor morale. He will get right to work implementing badly needed reforms to restore the longtime mission of protecting America as the top priority.
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