On Friday night, The Senate voted 51-50 to confirm Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary. Vice President J.D. Vance cast the deciding vote. There was no room for error after Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaled they would not support Hegseth’s nomination ahead of the vote.
The real wildcard of the night was Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who had expressed deep reservations about Hegseth after senators received an affidavit from Danielle Hegseth, his former sister-in-law, on Tuesday. In it, she alleged Pete Hegseth had abused both alcohol and his ex-wife.
The affidavit, first reported by NBC News, was solicited in a letter written by Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Jan. 18. Reed wrote that he was seeking “a statement attesting to your personal knowledge about Mr. Hegseth’s fitness to occupy this important position.” He asked her to discuss “instances of abuse, or threats of abuse, perpetrated against any other person” and “mistreatment of a spouse, former spouse, or other members of his family.”
Hegseth’s ex-wife denied the allegations, satisfying most Republican senators, except for Tillis. However, on Friday, Hegseth sent a letter to Tillis, and the pair met for two hours later that day. By the time the vote took place, Hegseth had won the senator’s support.
Hegseth was among the most controversial of President Trump’s cabinet picks. His announcement of Hegseth as the nominee on Nov. 12 was met with shock by Democratic lawmakers and even by some on the Right side of the aisle. Known primarily for his years as the popular weekend co-host of Fox News’s morning show, Fox & Friends, he was considered unqualified by some to lead the Pentagon.
Unfortunately, days after Hegseth’s nomination, reports emerged that a woman, “Jane Doe,” had accused Hegseth of sexual assault following an incident that occurred in a Monterey, California, hotel room in 2017. Although Hegseth was not charged with any crime, he paid the woman an undisclosed sum of money to remain quiet.
These reports were compounded by allegations of alcohol abuse. By early December, Hegseth’s nomination was on life support. There was talk that Trump was considering replacing Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
According to Axios, an anonymous transition official revealed that, in December, Vance remarked, “Pete isn’t 100% dead. But he might be 90% dead.”
But Trump, who has been the target of numerous media firestorms himself, stood firmly behind Hegseth and urged him to fight. Which he did. And obviously, he won that fight on Friday night.
But the most concerning aspect of this vote is what it might mean for Trump’s other “controversial” picks, namely former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee for Director of National Intelligence; Kash Patel, the nominee for FBI Director, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary.
While there is no scandal surrounding these three nominees, each is provocative in their own way. The most vulnerable nomination is that of Tulsi Gabbard whose previous statements and positions on foreign affairs will face intense scrutiny during her Jan. 30th confirmation hearing.
Like Hegseth, there will likely be little or no support from Democratic senators for any of these three nominees. And if Collins, Murkowski, and McConnell oppose their nominations, they can’t afford to lose a single additional Republican vote or they don’t get through.
This sets the stage for high-stakes confirmation hearings, where even a single Republican defection could derail their paths to confirmation.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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