Pete Hegseth moves a step closer to being Trump's Defense secretary, despite allegations

WASHINGTON – Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Pentagon, moved an important step closer on Thursday to Senate confirmation despite an 8-year-old rape allegation and concerns about drinking, domestic abuse and mismanagement.

The Senate's 51-49 vote officially begins a countdown clock toward what's expected to be a final confirmation vote by Friday night for Hegseth, 44, to be the nation's top civilian military official. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined all Senate Democrats against Hegseth, but they still fell short of the simple majority needed to stymie the Trump nomination.

Hegseth's path to becoming Defense secretary has been controversial from the start and during his confirmation hearing last week Democratic senators expressed doubts about his past comments regarding women in the military and allegations of serious impropriety.

The former Fox and Friends co-host sidestepped questions over the 2017 rape complaint that resulted in no charges and allegations of mismanagement and drinking on the job and said he was the victim of a coordinated smear campaign.

Hegseth paid a $50,000 settlement to the woman who accused him of the 2017 sexual assault, according to a written response that Hegseth provided to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. A copy of the document, first reported by the Associated Press, was obtained by USA TODAY.

Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had asked Hegseth a series of questions in advance of his confirmation hearing. The committee voted 14-13 in favor of Hegseth. On Thursday, he won Senate approval that sets up a final vote Friday.

Thursday's Senate vote came after Hegseth's former sister-in-law sent the Senate Armed Services Committee a signed statement alleging he had threatened his ex-wife, forcing her to seek refuge in a closet, disparaged women, Muslims and Mexican-Americans and drank to excess, passing out and vomiting.

In one instance, Hegseth had to be hauled from a strip club in Minneapolis where he was in uniform receiving a lap dance.

Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, categorically denied the allegations as false, noting that Hegseth’s ex-wife has stated in court filings that there was no physical abuse in their marriage.

His ex-wife recently gave a new statement to the FBI about Hegseth's alcohol abuse, CNN reported on Thursday.

Sens. Roger Wicker and Jack Reed, the committee's Republican chairman and top Democratic member, were briefed on the statement two days after Hegseth's confirmation hearing before the committee, according to the report.

Reed said the FBI report was "true and accurate," adding that "the FBI has never before needed to deliver multiple briefings on a Defense Secretary nominee" in his time in the Senate.

But Wicker called it "starkly and factually inaccurate," and said "the allegations unfairly impugning his character do not pass scrutiny."

Following reports this week, Senate Democrats demanded Hegseth meet privately with every member of the committee before a final vote. "It would be irresponsible and contrary to our constitutional duty for the Senate to vote to confirm this nomination" not to do so, they said in a statement on Wednesday.

Minutes before she voted on Thursday against Hegseth, Murkowski explained her reasoning in a post on X, "After thorough evaluation, I must conclude that I cannot in good conscience support his nomination for Secretary of Defense."

"While the allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking do nothing to quiet my concerns, the 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," Murkowski wrote.

Hegseth's lack of experience and past opposition to women in combat, Murkowski said, also factored into her vote. Just off the Senate floor, Murkowski told reporters after she voted no that she was "absolutely at peace" with her decision.

Hegseth says he is change agent poised to shake up military

Hegseth is a combat veteran and former Fox News host who spent his years as a conservative media pundit criticizing the military for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, in line with Trump's assault on DEI programs in government.

At his hearing confirmation hearing last week, Hegseth characterized himself as a change agent who would overhaul a military immobilized by "woke" policies and bureaucracy. He admitted that he had managed, at most, a few hundred employees, a far cry from the 3 million troops and civilians and $850-billion budget under the Pentagon's purview.

Democrats on the committee zeroed in on allegations against Hegseth of public intoxication, financial mismanagement of the nonprofit veterans' organizations he headed, and the 2017 allegation of alcohol-involved sexual assault. Hegseth later paid the accuser to stay silent about the allegation, claiming that, although false, it would damage his position as a Fox News host.

The assault was part of a pattern pointed to by Democrats of Hegseth's concerning behavior towards women. The year after it happened, Hegseth’s mother, Penelope wrote Hegseth an email calling him “an abuser of women,” and said that she had “no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego,” the New York Times reported. His mother appeared on Fox News to take back her statements after Trump nominated Hegseth.

More: Pete Hegseth sister-in-law, in new signed testimony, says he raged at ex-wife

Republicans on the committee, many of whom have echoed his criticisms of the Pentagon's leadership, concurred with Hegseth that the allegations were "anonymous smears" and that Hegseth was a changed man after his past infidelities and problematic drinking.

Sen. Wicker said Hegseth's past inexperience would be a help, not a hindrance, in the job. "I think he's got a lot of knowledge – and frankly, we need to shake things up in the Pentagon."

But Democrats on the committee were not satisfied, contending that Hegseth severely lacked the qualifications to run the military.

"He spent a big part of the hearing talking about how he doesn't want to lower the standards for other people to do their jobs, whether it's women or minorities. And yet that whole hearing was about us being asked to lower the standards so he can do the job," Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-IL., told USA TODAY.

Democrats also ripped into Hegseth for his past statements opposing women serving in military combat roles. Hegseth said in a podcast interview less than a week before Trump nominated him for the position, "I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles," only to walk the statement back in the run-up to the hearing.

After a cordial exchange with Hegseth at the hearing, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a military veteran, said she would support his confirmation, ending speculation that she would be one of few Republican holdouts.

In the interim before a new secretary of Defense is confirmed, Trump delegated Robert Salesses, a retired Marine Corps officer, to hold down the position's duties.

Savannah Kuchar and Sudiksha Kochi contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pete Hegseth moves a step closer to being Trump's Defense secretary