Washington, Jan 24 (EFE).- The United States senate confirmed former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as the new defense secretary Friday, a confirmation achieved thanks to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President James D. Vance.
After the vote ended in a tie, with 50 votes in favor and 50 against, the session in the plenary session of the Upper House was temporarily suspended so that the US vice president could go to the floor to break the tie with his favorable vote.
In addition to the Democratic bench, Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who had already announced their decision, as well as veteran Mitch McConnell, who was leader of the Upper House, voted against this nomination.
Hegseth becomes the new head of the defense portfolio despite the controversy sparked over his nomination by US President Donald Trump, including accusations of sexual abuse.
This same 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 of having been intoxicated in private and in public.
Hegseth, who will now manage the 1.3 million military personnel in service, rejected these accusations, as well as other previous ones related to cases of sexual abuse, which led a few Republicans to vote against.
Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski had confirmed they would oppose his confirmation, a decision that surprised Trump himself, as he confessed to reporters Friday at the White House.
Hegseth dismissed the accusations, which led the Democrats to ask for a new nominee, as political persecution.
“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 choose me to empower me and take the Department of Defense back to what it really should be, which is the fight against war,” he said weeks ago during a hearing in the Upper House.
Hegseth, who spent a year stationed at the Guantanamo Naval Base, which holds prisoners from the 9/11 attacks, said at that hearing that he is an atypical candidate but did not see him as an obstacle.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray, vice-chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, spoke at the hearing of other criticisms that Hegseth has faced, such as his mismanagement of veterans’ organizations that ended up bankrupt.
“I don’t see how bankrupting a nonprofit veterans’ organization through wasteful spending qualifies him to manage a budget of almost $900 billion,” she said, referring to the Pentagon’s budget.
If the senate had voted against this nomination, Hegseth would have become the first nominee for defense secretary to be rejected since 1989, when John Tower, nominated by President George H.W. Bush fell short by six votes. EFE
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