Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, faces a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Thursday on advancing his nomination. The vote will occur after lawmakers consider the nomination of John Ratcliffe for CIA director.

Washington — The Senate confirmed John Ratcliffe as CIA director on Thursday as Republicans work to approve officials to the top posts in President Trump's administration amid delays by Democrats.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday confirmed John Ratcliffe as CIA director, giving President Donald Trump the second member of his new Cabinet. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence ...

John Ratcliffe was confirmed to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Thursday, making him the second of President Donald Trump's cabinet picks to secure their position. By a vote of 74-25, Ratcliffe was confirmed. The Senate's ...

Mr. Ratcliffe was known as a loyalist to the president when he served as director of national intelligence in the final year of the first Trump administration. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, he promised to lead a more aggressive spy agency.

FILE - Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe waits to board Marine One with President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Dec. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick ...

Three Republicans voted with every Democrat against Trump’s controversial pick to lead the Pentagon, forcing Vance to step in and put Hegseth over the top.

JD Vance forced to break Senate nail-biter tie in Pete Hegseth’s confirmation as Defense Secretary - Surprise third Republican Mitch McConnell opposed Hegseth’s confirmation after a series of revelati

The Senate confirmation of Pete Hegseth as Donald Trump’s next Secretary of Defense was hung up late Friday evening in a last-minute nail-biter vote following several misconduct allegations that threatened to tank his nomination.

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.

While President Donald Trump starts his second term many of his cabinet nominees are still awaiting confirmation in the Senate.

Trump’s pick to be director of the FBI, loyalist KASH PATEL, was already expected to have a much easier path to confirmation than director of national intelligence nominee TULSI GABBARD. Gabbard has faced a barrage of bad headlines in recent weeks, along with open expressions of doubt from Senate Republicans.