Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who stepped down from the leadership at the end of last year, cast a surprise vote Friday night against Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s controversial nominee to head the Department of Defense.
His vote came as a surprise after he voted Thursday night to advance Hegseth’s nomination to a final vote.
McConnell said that he did not have confidence in Hegseth’s ability to lead the Pentagon at a time of escalating national security threats posed by Russia, China, Iran and their proxies.
“Effective management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests,” he said in a statement.
“Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test. But as he assumes office, the consequences of failure are as high as they have ever been,” he said.
McConnell said that Hegseth during his confirmation hearing “provided no substantial observations on how to defend Taiwan or the Philippines against a Chinese attack, or even whether he believes the United States.”
He said that Hegseth also “failed” to articulate in any detail a strategic vision for countering rising Chinese aggression in the Far East.
“Absent, too, was any substantive discussion of countering our adversaries’ alignment with deep alliance relationships and more extensive defense industrial cooperation of our own,” he said.
The veteran Kentucky lawmaker had played his cards close to the vest and didn’t say anything as he walked into the chamber.
Asked by reporters whether he would support Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, he only raised his eyebrows in a mysterious gesture.
McConnell joined fellow Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in opposing Hegseth on the final vote — forcing Vice President Vance to show up at the Senate chamber to cast the tie-breaking vote to get the embattled nominee across the finish line.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) hinted before the vote that there might be some late-night drama.
Asked if Hegseth had the votes, Wicker said: “I think we’ll probably need to see the vice president.”
Hegseth’s nomination met with objections from Collins and Murkowski as well as many senior Democrats about his lack of managerial experience.
Collins said in a statement Thursday that she was “concerned that Mr. Hegseth does not have the management experience and background that he will need in order to tackle” the “difficulties” facing the military at a time of conflicts in the Middle East and Europe and “escalating threats” in the Pacific.
Hegseth had faced allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman at a Republican conference in Monterery, California, in 2017, that he mismanaged the finances of two veterans’ groups that he led, and that he would get drunk at work events and while wearing a military uniform.
Hegseth has promised Republican senators he would stop drinking if confirmed as secretary of Defense.
Updated at 10:01 p.m.
