Senators voted 51-49 to advance Hegseth's defense secretary bid, which has been mired in several controversies. Two Republicans oppose him.

Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Thursday announced on social media that she would vote against confirming Pete Hegseth to lead the U.S. Department of Defense. Republicans have a 53-seat majority in the U.

A Princeton and Harvard-educated former combat veteran, Hegseth went on to make a career at Fox News, where he hosted a weekend show. Trump tapped him as the defense secretary to lead an organization with nearly 2.1 million service members, about 780,000 civilians and a budget of $850 billion.