Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, who President Donald Trump plucked out of retirement to replace the Black general he fired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been confirmed by the Senate to become the nation's top general.
In the predawn hours Friday morning, the Senate voted 60-25 to approve Caine to get a fourth star and become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
The approval will make Caine, who required a presidential waiver to bypass the statutory qualifications for the job, the first chairman who has not previously been a four-star general or admiral.
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Throughout his confirmation process, Caine faced questions about his lack of qualifications, as well as his ability to remain an apolitical military adviser to a president who values loyalty and has indicated he sees Caine as a political supporter.
At his confirmation hearing last week, Caine vowed to remain apolitical and provide the president with candid military advice.
"For 34 years, I've upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission, and I have never worn any political merchandise," Caine told the Senate Armed Services Committee when asked about a story Trump has told in the past about Caine wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat.
The assurances were enough to win over the support of 16 Democrats who voted with Republicans to confirm Caine as Joint Chiefs chairman.
Still, all 25 "no" votes came from Democrats. And in protest of Trump's firing of Caine's predecessor as chairman, Democrats refused to allow Caine's confirmation vote to be sped up to Thursday afternoon.
Caine was nominated by Trump after the president fired Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown without explanation. While Trump didn't offer a reason, Brown had come under fire from conservatives for speaking positively about diversity. Among those who called for his firing was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before he became Pentagon leader.
"It's clear Gen. Brown's dismissal was purely political, which leaves me deeply skeptical of the president's intentions for this important position," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who voted against Caine, said in a statement after the vote. "Gen. Caine has served our nation with distinction in the Air Force and Air National Guard, including over multiple combat deployments. Now, as our nation's top military adviser, I hope he will continue to fight for the needs of our service members, speak truth to power, and resist Donald Trump when he's wrong."
In response to the Democratic delays, Republicans scheduled the vote on Caine for 1 a.m. Friday, the earliest it could have happened based on Senate rules and the timing of when he was first teed up for a vote.
Republicans argued it was imperative to confirm Caine prior to a two-week break the Senate is now on for the Passover and Easter holidays and that there was no reason to delay the approval of a nominee who advanced to the floor in a bipartisan 23-4 vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"The Chinese Communist Party continues an expansive military buildup, and our adversaries continue to band together against the United States," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said in a statement Wednesday. "President Trump should have the expertise of the highest-ranking military officer in place without any delays."
Fifteen senators, including nine Republicans, missed the overnight votes on Caine.
In addition to confirming Caine as chairman, the Senate also needed to vote on returning Caine to active duty since he retired from service last year. That vote was approved 59-26.
Caine, who goes by the call sign "Razin," was first commissioned through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at the Virginia Military Institute. He started as an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot and held numerous National Guard assignments throughout his three-decade career, according to a copy of his service biography. His last assignment before retiring was as the associate director for military affairs at the CIA.
Caine got on Trump's radar around 2018 when he was serving as deputy commander of a special operations task force fighting the Islamic State terrorist group. By Trump's telling, Caine gave the president a plan to quickly defeat the group as other military officers gave him more cautious advice.
Since his retirement last year, Caine has been a partner at several venture capital firms. One of the firms he was a partner at, Thrive Capital, is run by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and onetime adviser.
Caine was not questioned about his business ties during his confirmation hearing.
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