Senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell voted against confirming Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary. To Capitol insiders, their decisions weren’t surprising.

Statements from Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine set the stage for a close vote on Friday.

Donald Trump nominee Pete Hegseth — despite being inundated with controversy — was narrowly confirmed as defense secretary in the U.S. Senate. The vote was extremely close. In contrast to Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who enjoyed strong bipartisan support in a confirmation vote — Hegseth was universally opposed by

Even as handicappers adjudged Pete Hegseth ’s confirmation as secretary of Defense to be all but certain, not one but two Republican senators indicated a hard pass on the poorly qualified bad boy from Fox News.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted against President Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth.

Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Thursday that she would vote against confirming Pete Hegseth to lead the U.S. Department of Defense. The state's other senator, Dan Sullivan, said he supports Hegseth.

Pete Hegseth has vowed to bring his “warrior” ethos to the Pentagon. Democrats had assailed him as unfit for the job, and his confirmation came down to Vice President JD Vance serving as tiebreaker.

Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Defense Department will support "mass deportations in support of the president's objective."