GOP Sen. Thom Tillis expressed skepticism over Pete Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon, telling CNN on Wednesday that the defense secretary appeared “out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organization.”
The North Carolina Republican said he voted for Hegseth during his confirmation process, despite the allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct against the former Fox News host, because there was “never an example of an eyewitness-corroborated account.” (Hegseth has repeatedly denied the allegations.)
Hegseth was confirmed in January, after Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate, with three Republicans — Sens. Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — joining all 47 Democrats in voting against him.
Hegseth has faced scandal after scandal since leading the Department of Defense, including the notorious Signal chat debacle in which he coordinated attack plans in Yemen in a group chat that mistakenly included a journalist. Tillis on Wednesday called the Signal chat scandal and Hegseth’s recent decision to pause weapon shipments to Ukraine (which Trump later reversed) “amateurish” moves.
“I don’t have a problem with President Trump,” Tillis later told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I got a problem with some of the people I consider to be amateurs advising him.”
Tillis said he doesn’t regret his vote to confirm Hegseth “based on the facts as I knew them then.” However, he said he believes the Senate Armed Services Committee was perhaps “a little bit generous with respect to their assessment of his capabilities as a manager of the world’s largest, most complex, and arguably consequential organization.” Asked if he would vote for Hegseth again, Tillis suggested he would not “based on the information I have today.” He said he would “certainly” vote for him again, however, if all he had was the information he had going into the vote in January. Tillis recently announced that he won’t seek re-election next year, after President Donald Trump berated him for his criticism of the GOP megabill signed into law earlier this month. It’s possible the Republican senator feels empowered to criticize Trump administration figures now that he’s not seeking another term. Asked for a response to Tillis’ comments, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told NBC News, “We wish him well in his upcoming retirement.”
Hayley Miller is the senior breaking news and blogs editor for MS NOW.
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