Pete Hegseth Confirmed As US Defense Secretary While Trump Tours LA

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary in a nail-biting-vote following fierce opposition from Democrats and even some Republicans toward him after allegations of misconduct.

Hegseth was confirmed in a 50-50 vote when Vice President JD Vance came to the chamber to break the tie in his role as president of the Senate. Vance’s crucial move came after three Republicans joined every Democrat and independent in voting “no.”

At the same time, U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Los Angeles to tour the wildfire devastation as fires once again threatened the nation’s second-largest city, where thousands have been told to evacuate.

Earlier in the day, during North Carolina’s hurricane recovery, Trump pledged to sign an “executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of them.”

He later added of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s future: “We’re going to recommend that FEMA go away” as part of his broader plan to make the government more efficient and effective.

Trump expects similar policies from the U.S. defense secretary.

MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS

Yet his appointment was rocked by a series of misconduct accusations.

The latest came this week from his former sister-in-law, who claimed he abused his second wife to the extent that she hid in a closet.

She allegedly had “a code word to use”’ with friends if she had to be rescued.

Hegseth has vehemently denied the accusations, and even his wife had previously denied any physical abuse.

The 44-year-old former Fox News television host’s appointment as defense secretary marks a dramatic political shift in the United States national security policy and leadership.

Hegseth will lead 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the U.S. military, which has an almost $1 trillion annual budget, more than any other nation.

CRITICAL REPUBLICANS

Critics say Hegseth admitted to lawmakers that so far, the largest group he had managed was 100 people, and the largest budget was $16 million.

Among the critics were three Republican senators who voted against Hegseth, including Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitch McConnell, who was the party’s Senate leader until this month.

McConnell said Hegseth “had failed” to demonstrate he could effectively manage an organization as large and complex as the military. “Mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough to fill these shoes,” McConnell said in a statement

It was only the second time in recorded history that a cabinet nominee needed a tie-break to be confirmed. The first was Betsy DeVos, a Trump nominee who became secretary of education in 2017.

Yet his supporters also praise his military experience, including his service as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard from 2003 to 2014 and again from 2019 to 2021, when he attained the rank of Major.

He received the Bronze Star in recognition of his work during a combat deployment to Iraq in 2005. In 2014, he voluntarily deployed to war-torn Afghanistan to train the Afghan security forces.

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