The pentagon appointment of this former 44 -year -old former army major, who became a presenter of Fox News, had been strongly challenged on the left due in particular to an accusation of sexual assault, dating from 2017, his lack of experience And suspicion of excessive alcohol consumption.
Due to the three republican defections, the new vice-president of the United States of America, JD Vance, had to, rare, go to the upper chamber of the Congress to decrease a downside of 50 with his decisive voice .
Among the three Republican elected officials who voted against figure, with a certain surprise, Mitch McConnell, former party official. Lisa Murkowski, who also voted against it, said earlier that this appointment aroused “considerable concerns” on which she could not “close her eyes”.
She also quotes the opposition expressed by Pete Hegseth to the presence of women in the fighting troops. Since his statements in November, the former soldier said he returned to this opposition.
Army too “woke”
Pete Hegseth became known to the Americans over the past ten years as a presenter at Fox News, the preservative’s favorite television channel in the United States. At 44, he had to take the lead of a ministry with an annual pharaonic budget of $ 850 billion and employing some three million soldiers, reservists and civilians.
His main mission, he declared in mid-January during his confirmation hearing before a Senate commission, will be to “bring back the culture of the warrior” to the Pentagon. Pete Hegseth has repeatedly assured that they want to reform the pentagon from top to bottom, which has become too “woke” and acquired to an ideology too on the left, according to him.
The announcement of the appointment of Pete Hegseth in November had aroused an outcry in opposition. Faced with the Armed Forces Commission, the Democratic senators had notably questioned him on an accusation of sexual assault.
-Dating from 2017 in California, she emerged after the announcement of her appointment. The former soldier, who denies any unconted relationship, had reached a financial agreement of $ 50,000 a few years later with the one who accused him, to prevent prosecution.
“Not qualified”
Opposition elected officials had also disappeared during the hearing his lack of experience to direct such an important portfolio. “Mr. Hegseth, you are not qualified,” said senator Tammy Duckworth.
This former combat helicopter pilot in the army, amputated by both legs after its apparatus was targeted by a rocket in Iraq in 2004, criticized in a statement on Wednesday its opposition to the presence of women in the fighting troops.
Pete Hegseth is also suspected of having regularly excessive alcohol consumption. “One of your colleagues said you were so drunk at an event in a bar that you sang ‘Kill all the Muslims’,” said senator Elizabeth Warren during the hearing.
Despite the controversies, American president Donald Trump maintained his choice. Still Friday, he described it as “good man”.
