WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., bucked both his party and President Donald Trump on Friday, opposing Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, along with two other Republicans.
McConnell didn’t stop there.
He issued a withering statement that, while wishing Hegseth success, pronounced him unqualified. He wrote, "Effective management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests. Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test.”
Vice President JD Vance had to cast a tiebreaking vote to confirm Hegseth.
McConnell and Trump have long had a frosty relationship. A recent biography of McConnell said he had referred to Trump as a “‘despicable human being.’”
But as the Senate majority leader during Trump’s first term, McConnell put party unity ahead of his personal feelings. He endorsed Trump for president last year, although Trump later mocked him for doing so.
After McConnell’s "no" vote on Hegseth, Louisville Courier Journal columnist Joseph Gerth congratulated McConnell on what he called the “implantation of a new spine.”
McConnell’s "no" vote reflects the additional freedom provided to him as a rank-and-file member, after stepping down from leadership, said Republican strategist Tres Watson.
“Now that he's just Sen. McConnell, the senior senator from the commonwealth of Kentucky, he's more free to speak his mind,” Watson said. “He's more free to take more concrete positions on things, and he's more free to kind of go out and speak his voice beyond just being the leader of the caucus.”
The vote also points to McConnell's interest in leading on foreign policy and his view of the role of the Senate, Watson said.
“He is a true institutionalist,” Watson said. “That's what you can read from it, is that he feels a responsibility to do his due diligence. And if he feels like it's not the right person for the job, then he's going to vote his mind, because that's not the job of the Senate in this instance, to just rubber stamp a presidential appointee.”
It’s not clear how McConnell will vote on other controversial nominees appearing before the Senate this week, like Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
After a New York Times report that an adviser to Kennedy filed a petition to revoke approval of the polio vaccine, McConnell, a polio survivor, issued a statement that appeared to be a warning for Kennedy.