Updated 7:05 p.m. | The Senate Armed Services Committee, in a closed-door meeting Thursday, is expected to approve the president’s choice for Defense secretary and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman and to discuss the embattled nomination of the Air Force general tapped to be the military’s No. 2 general, committee members and staff said Wednesday.
The committee will probably vote overwhelmingly to give its consent to Army Secretary Mark Esper becoming the next Pentagon chief, clearing the way for a Senate vote in the coming days to confirm him. The panel is also expected to send to the floor the nomination of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley to be the next Joint Chiefs chairman.
But the nomination of Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, for the job of Joint Chiefs vice chairman faces stiff headwinds after the disclosure this month that Hyten had been accused of sexual assault. A Defense Department probe of the allegation cleared Hyten of wrongdoing.