Maine, breaks with party to vote against Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary. Can he still get confirmed?

The Senate on Friday night voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary after Vice President JD Vance stepped in to cast the tiebreaking vote. Hegseth’s nomination had been hampered by allegations of misconduct.

A Princeton and Harvard-educated former combat veteran, Hegseth went on to make a career at Fox News, where he hosted a weekend show. Trump tapped him as the defense secretary to lead an organization with nearly 2.1 million service members, about 780,000 civilians and a budget of $850 billion.

On Jan. 21, before the Senate took Hegseth's confirmation to a vote, his former sister-in-law came forward with new allegations against him, claiming in an affidavit submitted to the Senate that his second wife, Samantha, feared for her safety and made escape plans, allegedly going so far as to develop a code word that she could use to get help.

The Senate’s 50-50 vote for Pete Hegseth marked the second time in history that a vice president was called upon to break the tie to confirm a Cabinet official.

Vance arrived to break the 50-50 tie, highly unusual for Cabinet nominees and particularly defense secretaries, who typically win wider bipartisan support.

Pete Hegseth was confirmed as defense secretary late Friday by the U.S. Senate after Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie as Senate president.

Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth narrowly earned enough Republican support to clear a key Senate hurdle and is now all but assured confirmation.

Pennsylvania's junior senator must show he is willing to put the Constitution first. His vote for Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense bodes ill.

The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth late Friday, swatting back questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon.