Forest Lake reacts to Pete Hegseth’s defense secretary confirmation

Senate confirms Pete Hegseth as defense secretary

The U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Hegseth is from Forest Lake, Minnesota and locals support his new position. FOX 9’s Babs Santos has more.

FOREST LAKE, Minn. (FOX 9) – Forest Lake native Pete Hegseth has now been sworn in as President Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary.

Late on Friday night, the United States Senate voted to give Hegseth the job.

The 44-year-old graduated from Forest Lake High School, before continuing his education at Princeton and Harvard. Hegseth is a combat veteran who found continued success on television for Fox News.

Now, he will lead an organization with nearly 2.1 million service members, about 780,000 civilians and a budget of $850 billion.

“It kind of put us on the map,” local John Bredemus told FOX 9 on Saturday.

Hegseth survives allegations during confirmation process

The Other Side:

Recently, numerous allegations of excessive drinking and aggression towards women have been leveled against Hegseth.

Vice President J.D. Vance needed to break a 50-50 split among senators, after Sen. Mitch McConnell joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in voting against Hegseth.

Only once before has the vice president had to break a tie on a Cabinet nominee — during Trump’s first term, when Vice President Mike Pence cast the vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary.

Forest Lake mayor weighs in

Local perspective:

 Forest Lake Mayor Blake Roberts knew Hegseth as a young man.

“Knowing his parents and what a great family that is, it doesn’t surprise me that he’s aspired to be where he’s at today,” Roberts said.

“There was some excitement at city hall that one of our own sons had gone to that level… this town has always been proud of Pete Hegseth,” Roberts continued.

“We would welcome him [back] with open arms and I’m sure with his parents still living here, if he plans on coming back, we’d love to host a gathering for him and celebrate this accomplishment,” Roberts finished.

PoliticsDonald J. TrumpForest Lake



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