The new Trump foreign policy team has brought a dizzying message to European allies on A.I., Ukraine and more. It has already left many angered and chagrined.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and European defense ministers had expressed concern that they might not be present for talks between President Trump and Russia’s leader to end the war.
In his first trip abroad, the new U.S. defense secretary told Ukrainian and NATO officials that a durable peace could only come ‘with a realistic assessment of the battlefield.’
“Those who do not comply will no longer work here,” Pete Hegseth said in a handwritten notice saying diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were not welcome at the Pentagon.
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.
With two G.O.P. senators opposed, Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s pick for defense secretary, can afford to lose only one more. If he is confirmed, it is likely to be by the smallest margin for that post in modern times.
Samantha Hegseth is contractually obligated not to speak ill of him, according to the terms of their divorce. A former sister-in-law has said Pete Hegseth was threatening and abusive toward Samantha Hegseth.
For the last 50 years, almost every nominee to lead the Pentagon has been a consensus pick who drew lopsided margins of support in the Senate. Pete Hegseth’s nomination has been a notable exception.
The settlement’s existence after a 2017 accusation had been documented before the defense secretary nominee’s confirmation hearing this month, but the amount had not been known publicly.
The removal of a portrait of Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from a Pentagon hallway was among the president’s early actions.
All but two Republicans voted to advance Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of defense to a final vote, as Democrats raced to bolster fresh allegations about his personal conduct.
A woman once married to the brother of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee, submitted a sworn statement to the Senate in a late-hour complication to his confirmation. His lawyer denied her account.