Pete Hegseth Confirmed As Defense Secretary After Historic Senate Tie-Break By VP Vance

Former Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Defense on Friday after Vice President JD Vance broke the tie in the Senate with his vote.

Independents, democrats, as well as Republicans including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine, opposed Hegseth’s nomination, creating a tie and leaving it to Vance to make the tie-breaking vote, The New York Times reported. The final vote stood at 51 to 50.

This is the second time in history that a vice president has broken a tie for a Cabinet nominee, the newspaper noted while adding that the last time it happened was in 2017 during Betsy DeVos’ confirmation to lead the Education Department. The tie was broken by former Vice President Mike Pence then.

Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement of organizations he led previously. However, he has denied the allegations.

Hegseth, an Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran, has not held a government position previously.

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