cnn
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Pete Hegseth was officially sworn in as the next Secretary of Defense, after Vice President JD Vance cast a decisive vote in the Senate on Friday night.
“It turns out we couldn’t spare any of them,” Vance said at the swearing-in ceremony Saturday morning.
Three Republican senators opposed Hegseth’s nomination: Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Senator Susan Collins of Maine; and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
A reporter asked Hegseth, who previously said women should not serve in combat roles, why Army women should trust him.
But it was Vance who intervened.
“Let me answer that for the new secretary, everyone in the military should trust him, because he cares about them. He is going to fight for them,” he indicated.
“It will ensure that we have an Army that we can all be proud of, and, on the other hand, that when we send it to do a job, we do it well. That we do it quickly, that we can then help, and that’s what the secretary’s arrival will bring to the Department of Defense,” Vance said.
Hegseth was accompanied by his wife and seven children during the ceremony.
