Pete Hegseth was sworn in, despite a very tight vote in the Senate.
AFP
“It is the honor of a life,” he said during a ceremony under the auspices of vice-president JD Vance. Accusation of sexual assault, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of experience: despite criticism, Hegseth was approved Friday by senators after a very tight vote.
The American Constitution requires that the appointments of ministers and other senior officials be confirmed by the Senate. But despite a republican majority of 53 seats out of 100 in the upper Congress House, the new vice -president, JD Vance, had to – something rare – go there to lift a blocking of 50 votes against 50 with his decisive vote.
Because in his own camp, three elected officials voted against which, surprisingly, Mitch McConnell, former leader of the Republican Senators. 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 cited the opposition expressed by Pete Hegseth in the presence of women in the fighting troops. Since his statements in November, the former soldier said he returned to this opposition. During the oath of Mr. Hegseth on Saturday, JD Vance spun the sports metaphor to return to this ballot: “When you win the championship, you don’t care about the scoring,” he said.
“We have won the championship on this one, we have a great Minister of Defense,” added the vice-president, saying he was “proud” of him. Pete Hegseth became known to the Americans over the past ten years as a presenter at Fox News, the preservative’s favorite channel in the United States.
At 44, he had to head a ministry with a pharaonic budget of 850 billion dollars annually and employing some three million soldiers, reservists, and civilians.
“Warrior culture”
His main mission, said Pete Hegseth in mid-January during his confirmation hearing before a Senate commission, will be to “bring back the culture of the warrior” to the Pentagon.
-He ensured many occasions that he wanted 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 his appointment in November had raised an uplift in opposition. Faced with the Armed Forces Commission, the Democratic senators had notably questioned him about an accusation of sexual assault dating back to 2017, which had emerged after the announcement of this choice.
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.
Opposition elected officials had also disappeared during the hearing his lack of experience for such an important portfolio. “M. Hegseth, you are not qualified, “said senator Tammy Duckworth, a former combat helicopter pilot in the army, amputated with both legs after a rocket shooting against her device in Iraq in 2004.
Pete Hegseth is also suspected of regularly excessive alcohol consumption. “One of your colleagues said you were so drunk at an event in a bar that you sang” kill all Muslims, “said senator Elizabeth Warren during the hearing.
Despite the controversies, Donald Trump maintained his choice at all costs. On the other hand, he had to change candidate for the Ministry of Justice after the forced withdrawal of the cleavage Matt Gaetz, accused of sexual relations with a minor and lacking in legal experience.
(AFP)
