Accusation of sexual assault, excessive consumption of alcohol, lack of experience… Despite criticism, Donald Trump's choice as head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, was narrowly approved on Friday January 24 by the US Senate. During this particularly close vote, the new vice-president, JD Vance, had to go there to decide a count of 50 votes against 50, with his decisive vote.
While the Republican Party holds a majority of 53 seats out of 100 in the upper house of Congress, three elected officials from the party voted against this appointment of Pete Hegseth, a 44-year-old former soldier who has been a presenter on the conservative Fox News channel for 10 years. : among them are former Republican official Mitch McConnell, but also Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who had earlier affirmed that this nomination aroused “considerable concerns” on which she could not “close your eyes”.
“Congratulations to Pete Hegseth. He will make a great Secretary of Defense,” reacted the President of the United States on his social network, Truth Social, shortly after the Senate vote.
Pete Hegseth has repeatedly assured that he wants to reform the Pentagon from top to bottom, which has become too “woke” and acquired an ideology that is too left-wing, according to him. In November, he expressed his opposition to the presence of women in combat troops, before returning to his remarks. Pete Hegseth must take the helm of a ministry with a colossal budget of 850 billion dollars annually and employing some three million soldiers, reservists, and civilians. His main mission, he declared in mid-January during his confirmation hearing before a Senate committee, will be to “bring back the warrior culture” at the Pentagon.
-Before the Armed Services Committee, Democratic senators questioned him in particular about an accusation of sexual assault. Dating from 2017 in California, it emerged after the announcement of his appointment. The former soldier, who denies any non-consensual relationship, reached a financial agreement of $50,000 a few years later with the woman who accused him, to prevent prosecution.
Opposition elected officials also decried during the hearing his lack of experience to lead such an important portfolio. “You are not qualified”, said Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former combat helicopter pilot in the army, who had both legs amputated after her plane was targeted by a rocket in Iraq in 2004. Pete Hegseth is also suspected of drinking alcohol. regularly excessive. “One of your co-workers said you got so drunk at a bar event that you sang 'Kill all the Muslims'”asserted Senator Elizabeth Warren during the hearing.
