The US Senate has confirmed Pete Hegseth as the country's defence secretary in a late-night vote on Friday, news agency The Associated Press reported.
Pete Hegseth was nominated by Donald Trump in November for the role of US defence secretary. He secured the win in which Vice President J.D. Vance cast a tie-breaking vote after Sen. Mitch McConell of Kentucky joined Sens. Lisa Murkoswski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine in voting against him.
Over the confirmation of Hegseth as the defence secretary, Trump said, “We have a great secretary of defense and we’re very happy", as reported by the AP. He added that he didn’t care about the dissent from the dissenting senators as the “important thing is winning."
Hegseth, a former Fox News host and National Guard veteran faced scrutiny over allegations of sexual assault and financial mismanagement at two non-profit organisations. A report from NPR stated that Hegseth was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a Republican conference in 2017. He ended up signing a non-disclosure agreement and paying a financial settlement. In addition, a former sister-in-law accused him of "abusive" behaviour toward his second wife, who denied any physical abuse.
In the financial mismanagements case, Hegseth called the allegations against him false, and the result of disgruntled employees or part of media smear campaigns against him.
According to the BBC, Vance is only the second Vice President in US history to break a tie to confirm a cabinet nominee. Earlier, Mike Pence, who was the Vice President during Trump's last Presidency, became the first when he broke the tie to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary in 2017.
Earlier, the Senate advanced the nomination of Hegseth despite misconduct allegations and objections from Democrats.
In coming week, the senators will be facing Donald Trump’s other cabinet choices. It includes Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.