Key Trump defense pick Elbridge Colby confirmed despite GOP opposition – as JD Vance rips McConnell for ‘political pettiness’

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s nominee for a top Pentagon position, Elbridge Colby, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday in a bipartisan vote, despite concerns among some Republicans over his dovish views on Iran and lukewarm support for Ukraine.

Colby, 45, was confirmed in a 54-45 vote to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, with three Democrats crossing the aisle in support and Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky the only member of his party to oppose.

Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), along with Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed (D-RI), backed Colby, who cleared the Armed Services panel in a closed-door vote last week.

A close friend of Vice President JD Vance, the new third-ranking Pentagon official will now be tasked with briefing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, implementing Trump’s National Security Strategy and developing Defense Planning Guidance for military programs, budget requests and other policy matters.

During Trump’s first administration, Colby had been the architect of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which played a role in shifting the US military focus toward China.

“Abandoning Ukraine and Europe and downplaying the Middle East to prioritize the Indo-Pacific is not a clever geopolitical chess move,” McConnell said in a statement following the vote.

“It is geostrategic self-harm that emboldens our adversaries and drives wedges between America and our allies for them to exploit.”

Vance ripped the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in US history shortly after.

“Mitch’s vote today—like so much of the last few years of his career—is one of the great acts of political pettiness I’ve ever seen,” the vice president posted on X.

During Colby’s confirmation hearing last month, other Senate Republicans had questioned whether defense pick was downplaying the “existential” threat from Iran as a result of his primary focus on China.

“Let’s talk about a nuclear Iran,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee and also sits on the Armed Services panel. “I have some concerns about what you’ve said in the past.”

Colby responded that “a nuclear-armed Iran” posed an existential danger given Tehran’s nearness to producing atomic weapons — and affirmed that he would advise Hegseth and Trump to use “credible and realistic” military alternatives to stop the theocracy.

“We know they’ve worked on [Intercontinental Ballistic Missile]-range capabilities and other capabilities that would pose an existential danger to the United States,” Colby answered Cotton during his hearing.

Trump has announced a “very big meeting” to be held Saturday between US and Iran officials in hopes of avoiding what he called “the obvious” military alternative.

“Trump wants a new deal: End Iran’s regional influence, dismantle its nuclear program and halt its missile work. These are unacceptable to Tehran,” one senior Iranian official fired back on Tuesday.

Colby has also called in the past for lessening US military aid shipments to Ukraine to prioritize the growing threats from China.

McConnell, who advanced Colby in a procedural vote before opposing him on final confirmation, accepted the “Star of Ukraine” award in late March from the US-Ukraine Foundation — and criticized Trump in all but name for seeking an “illusory peace” with Russia in negotiations to wind down its war with Kyiv.

“When American officials court the favor of an adversary at the expense of allies … when they mock our friends to impress an enemy … they reveal their embarrassing naivete,” the 83-year-old said at the time.