Former Fox News personality, military veteran and conspiracy theorist Pete Hegseth has been narrowly confirmed as the next US defence secretary in a 50-to-50 vote in the Senate that was broken by a tiebreaker cast by Vice President JD Vance, reports Al Jazeera.
During confirmation hearings earlier in January, Hegseth was asked whether he supported Israel’s war on Gaza.
Last month, The New Yorker magazine published the details of a previously undisclosed whistleblower report on Hegseth’s tenure as the president of Concerned Veterans for America from 2013 to 2016.
In addition to accusations of sexual misconduct, creating a toxic work environment, and being intoxicated while performing official duties, Hegseth is also accused of drunkenly chanting “Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!” while at a bar in Ohio during the early hours of May 29, 2015.
When confronted during a Senate Committee on Armed Services confirmation hearing on January 14, Hegseth labelled the accusations “anonymous false claims”. US Democratic Senator Tim Kaine highlighted in response that many of the accusations were not in fact made anonymously.
During that same hearing, Hegseth was also asked whether he supported Israel’s war on Gaza.
“I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” said Hegseth, whose 2020 book, American Crusade, depicts Islam as the historic enemy of the West.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
