Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted not to confirm Pete Hegseth as secretary for Department of Defense because he isn’t confident he is prepared to safeguard the country’s national security interests.
In a lengthy, and at times scathing, statement Friday night, McConnell explained his reasoning for shocking Republicans and leveling his most official rebuke of President Donald Trump yet by rejecting his nominee to lead the Pentagon.
“The most consequential cabinet official in any Administration is the Secretary of Defense,” McConnell said. “In the face of the gravest threats to U.S. national security interests since World War II, this position is even more important today.”
Given the importance and difficulty of the job, McConnell said he wasn’t convinced that Hegseth had proved himself to be up to the task of following in the footsteps of men such as George Marshall, Caspar Weinberger, or Robert Gates.
“Mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough to fill these shoes,” McConnell said. “And ‘dust on boots’ fails even to distinguish this nominee from multiple predecessors of the last decade. Nor is it a precondition for success.”
McConnell said Hegseth “failed” to show he was capable of managing 3 million military and civilian a $1 trillion budget.
“Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test,” McConnell wrote. “But as he assumes office, the consequences of failure are as high as they have ever been.”
McConnell was a regular critic of former President Joe Biden’s foreign policy plans that led to the United States’s pseudo involvement in the war between Ukraine and Russia. While U.S. troops have not been deployed to fight in Ukraine, the country has spent vast resources arming Ukraine in its fight — one that arguably broke out as a result of Russia viewing America as withdrawing from the world stage following its disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
As Russia continues to try to prop itself up on the world stage it is leaning heavily on China for assistance. The two drawing closer together poses a threat to the U.S., and McConnell was skeptical Hegseth is prepared to harness America’s military to confront that challenge.
“The United States faces coordinated aggression from adversaries bent on shattering the order underpinning American security and prosperity,” he said. “In public comments and testimony before the Armed Services Committee, Mr. Hegseth did not reckon with this reality.”
McConnell was joined by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in opposing Hegseth on the final vote — prompting Vice President JD Vance to deliver the tie breaking vote.
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None the less, McConnell wished Hegseth success.
“I wish Secretary Hegseth great success, and I look forward to working closely with him to restore American hard power,” he said. “Every member of the uniformed services will be looking to him for decisive, principled, and nonpartisan leadership.”
