The US Senate on Friday narrowly confirmed former Fox News cohost Pete Hegseth as Pentagon chief, despite allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct and other fears about his ability to lead the world’s most powerful military.
Three Republican senators voted against US President Donald Trump’s pick as secretary of defense, resulting in a 50-50 tie that required US Vice President J.D. Vance to cast the deciding ballot — only the second time in history a vice president has had to intervene to save a cabinet nominee.
The razor-edged result underscored concerns about Hegseth, who would take over the Pentagon with war raging in Ukraine, the Middle East volatile despite ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza, and as Trump expands the military’s role in security on the US-Mexico border.
Photo: Bloomberg
The 44-year-old is a former US Army National Guard officer who until recently worked as a cohost for Fox News — one of Trump’s favored television channels.
He has pledged to focus the military on “lethality” and to bring back “warrior culture” to the Pentagon.
In confirming him, Republicans brushed aside his lack of experience leading an organization anywhere near the size of the US Department of Defense — the country’s largest employer with about 3 million personnel. They also approved Hegseth despite allegations of financial mismanagement at veterans’ nonprofits where he previously worked, reports of excessive drinking, and allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in California.
During his confirmation hearing last week Hegseth said there was a “coordinated smear campaign” against him.
Three Republicans — US Senators Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell and Lisa Murkowski — voted against him.
On Thursday, Murkowski wrote on X that “past behaviors Mr Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces.”
Prior to his approval by the full US Senate, lawmakers received an affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law Danielle Hegseth that added to the allegations against him.
“I believe [Pete] Hegseth has an alcohol abuse problem and was abusive to his ex-wife Samantha,” the affidavit said, although it added that Danielle Hegseth did not personally witness physical or sexual abuse by the incoming defense secretary.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS