Sunday 26 / January / 2025
Washington DC: The US Senate is slated to confirm Pete Hegseth as the next Secretary of Defence.
Hegseth faces allegations of heavy alcohol use. He has said he would quit drinking if he is in charge of the Pentagon.
However, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Susan Collins of Maine have indicated they will vote no, meaning the Republicans can only afford to lose one more objection. Vice President JD Vance could be called in to break a tie.
President Donald Trump backed his nominee as he departed the White House to visit disaster-hit North Carolina and Los Angeles, saying: "He's a good man. I hope he makes it."
However, Trump criticized Senator Murkowski and Senator Collins, adding: "I was surprised that Collins and Murkowski would do that."
While Senator Mitch McConnell has not announced how he would vote, Trump seemed to indicate the Republican may vote no.
US President Donald Trump gave a prerecorded address to anti-abortion protesters at the March for Life event in Washington D.C.
"We will again stand proudly for families and for life," Trump told the crowd in the video speech.
US Vice President JD Vance attended the rally in person, telling those present: "Our country faces the return of the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes."
He added that Trump had "delivered on his promise of ending Roe," while also having appointed hundreds of anti-abortion judges and pardoning anti-abortion activists he says were "unjustly imprisoned."
In 2022, the conservative-majority US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which protected the right to an abortion.
Soon thereafter, some mostly Republican-controlled US states began enacting either abortion bans or restrictions.
President Trump's filmed speech called six of the Supreme Court justices "courageous" and urged those who had gathered at the March for Life to "stand up for precious little babies who can't stand up for themselves. Thank you for turning out once again to show your extraordinary love and compassion for the unborn."
Six of the nine Supreme Court justices voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, with three of them having been appointed by Trump during his first term from 2017 to 2021.
