WASHINGTON—The Republican-controlled Senate on Friday evening is expected to vote on whether to confirm Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick for defense secretary.
The voting will likely be extremely tight. On Thursday, Hegseth’s nomination narrowly cleared a key procedural hurdle 51 to 49, with two Republicans – moderate Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine – are voting with all Democrats against him.
It would take four Republicans voting against Hegseth to reject the nomination, although Trump allies in the Senate expressed confidence he would be confirmed, and no other Republicans have indicated they will vote against him on Friday.
“You take a man who has served 20 years and he’s in combat, he takes a warrior’s perspective. You don’t win battles with General Vecht,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., one of Hegseth’s leading defenders on Capitol Hill, told NBC News.
“He’s going to make the Defense Department focused again on the fighters” and shake things up, Mullin added. “That’s what the American people want and that’s what President Trump wants.”
Follow Live Politics Coverage
Trump told reporters Friday that he was “very surprised” that Collins and Murkowski opposed Hegseth and suggested that Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could vote against him, even though the former Senate Republican leader voted to advance his nomination .
Trump had said Thursday when asked about Collins and Murkowkksi’s opposition to Hegseth: “No excess there.”
Speaking to reporters Friday, Collins said she had informed Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., of her opposition to Hegseth and had not personally heard from Trump. She said she stood by her decision.
“I set the mood,” Collins said.
That Hegseth may be on the verge of confirmation marks a remarkable turnaround for the former Fox News anchor and Army combat veteran, whose nomination appeared on the verge of collapse last month after multiple news reports detailed allegations of alcohol abuse, a sexual assault, a sexual and financial mismanagement of organizations he led. Hegseth has denied all these allegations.
NBC News reported in early December that Trump was considering Hegseth as his choice to lead the Pentagon and replace him with his one-time rival, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis. But Trump publicly stood by his defense choice, telling Hegseth to “keep fighting” as he navigated a gauntlet of tough meetings with senators last month.
During his Jan. 14 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democrats took aim at his past controversies, as well as his past public comments opposing women serving in combat — a position he walked back during the hearing. The Armed Services Panel voted narrowly along party lines, 14 to 13, to advance his nomination on the floor.
Still, even as his nomination marched forward, Hegseth, 44, has continued to face intense scrutiny in the days leading up to the final vote.
On Thursday, NBC News obtained answers Hegseth provided to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as part of the confirmation process showing he paid $50,000 to the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting him in a California hotel room in 2017. ( (The Associated Press was first to report the settlement amount.)
Hegseth has said the encounter was consensual, and the district attorney declined to press charges in the case, saying “no charges were supported by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.”
His lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, has said that Hegseth “felt strongly that he was the victim of blackmail” and that he “ultimately decided to enter into a settlement for a significantly reduced amount” at the “height of the Metoo Movement”.
Earlier this week, NBC News reported that a former sister-in-law of Hegseth said in a sworn statement shared with senators that he had demonstrated “erratic and aggressive behavior over many years” and had made his ex-wife, Samantha, Samantha Hegseth, “feared for her safety” while they were married.
The affidavit was filed in response to a request for information from Senator Jack Reed, of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. The existence of the statement was first reported by NBC News.
The ex-sister, Danielle Hegseth, said she “did not personally witness any physical or sexual abuse by Hegseth.” Samantha Hegseth said in a previous ship that there was no physical abuse during the marriage. An attorney for his ex-wife did not respond to the previously unreported claim.
Parlatore wrote in an email: “As NBC is well aware, the actual contestant, Samantha, has denied these false allegations, but NBC continues to report irresponsible allegations by an uninvolved third party as if they were fact.”
In a speech from the floor before Friday’s vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asserted that Hegseth was not qualified to lead the 2.8 million-person organization and urged Republicans to join Democrats in opposition to Hegseth.
“The well-being of our troops stationed around the world is on the line with today’s vote, the safety of the American people, of our children and families and neighbors and friends is on the line with today’s vote, Schumer said. “In short, we shouldn’t, shouldn’t, shouldn’t let anyone be as erratic as Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, we can and must do better.”
Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill are trying to quickly put key members of his national security team in place. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio became the first Trump Cabinet pick to be confirmed by the Senate, where he had served for the past 14 years representing Florida. The vote was 99 to 0.
And on Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm John Ratcliffe as CIA director.
Thune has threatened to keep senators in Washington all weekend unless they can reach an agreement on a schedule for upcoming nominations.
After the Hegseth vote, the Senate will then consider the nominations of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noom, Trump’s pick to be Secretary of Homeland Security, and investor Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary nominee.
This article was originally published on nbcnews.com
