WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee voted Monday along party lines to send Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be defense secretary to the Senate floor as President Donald Trump tries to move quickly to get critical members of his Cabinet in place.
All 14 Republicans on the committee voted in favor of Hegseth, while all 13 Democrats voted against him. Despite initial concerns about allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement — all of which Hegseth has denied — not a single Republican senator has said so far that he or she will vote no, meaning he is most likely on track to be confirmed by the Senate.
Thursday is the soonest that vote would occur in the full Senate unless all 100 members agree to move things along more quickly.
Trump’s decision in November to choose Hegseth, 44, a former Fox News host who served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars with the Army National Guard, stunned many in Washington given that he had limited military command or significant management experience. And in the weeks that followed, Hegseth’s nomination appeared on the verge of collapse amid reports that he paid a settlement to a woman who had accused him of sexual assault in a hotel room in 2017 and that he had a history of excessive drinking on the job, including at Fox News.
Hegseth denied all of the allegations, vowed that he wouldn’t touch alcohol if he were confirmed to lead the Pentagon and said Trump had told him to “keep going, keep fighting.”
Asked after Monday's vote whether he had concerns about Hegseth's inexperience, Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., replied: "I do not have those concerns and I don’t think the majority of the Senate has those concerns, nor the majority of Americans."
"I think he’s got a lot of knowledge and, frankly, we need to shake things up in the Pentagon," Wicker continued. "There’s too much red tape, there are too many stumbling blocks, there are too many boxes to check, and the bureaucracy has become creaky over time. And so, this is part of the Trump administration’s mandate to shake things up and do things differently."
At his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing last Tuesday, Hegseth faced fierce questions from Democrats about his drinking issues, allegations of infidelity, workplace misconduct and experience. Multiple senators questioned him about his public comments that women should not serve in combat roles. He replied that he now believes women should have access to combat roles as long as "standards remain high."
But the most pointed questions came from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who zeroed in on the allegation of an assault in a hotel in Monterrey, California. Local police investigated the incident, and prosecutors did not file charges.
“So you think you are completely cleared because you committed no crime. That’s your definition of cleared. You had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife,” Kaine told Hegseth in a testy exchange. “I am shocked that you would stand here and say you’re completely cleared.”
“I was completely cleared,” Hegseth replied.
“The incident in Monterey led to a criminal charge, a criminal investigation, a private settlement and a cash payment to the woman who filed the complaint. And there was also a nondisclosure agreement, correct?” Kaine went on. “Why didn’t you inform the commander in chief and the transition team of this very relevant event?”
Just four GOP senators could team with all 47 Democratic senators to derail Hegseth’s nomination. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, an Iraq war veteran and sexual assault survivor, was seen as a possible defection, along with a pair of moderate GOP senators who have broken with Trump in the past, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
But after Tuesday’s hearing, Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee who faces re-election in 2026, said she would support Hegseth’s nomination.
“Our next commander in chief selected Pete Hegseth to serve in this role, and after our conversations, hearing from Iowans, and doing my job as a United States Senator, I will support President Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense,” Ernst said in a statement.
“As I serve on the Armed Services Committee,” she said, “I will work with Pete to create the most lethal fighting force and hold him to his commitments of auditing the Pentagon, ensuring opportunity for women in combat while maintaining high standards, and selecting a senior official to address and prevent sexual assault in the ranks.”
