Three Republican members of the U.S. Senate voted against the confirmation of Pete Hegseth. 

These three Republicans, according to Fox News, are U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Susan Collins (R-ME).

This is, perhaps, something to watch out for as Trump tries to get his agenda through Congress, in the coming years.

President Donald Trump, who nominated Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense (DOD), is, as we will see, not too worried about the defections.

It's a "yes," but just barely

Despite the opposition of McConnell, Murkowski, and Collins, Hegseth did still manage to get confirmed to the DOD leadership position by the U.S. Senate.

Republicans currently only have a 53-47 lead in the Senate, so it took every other Republican vote - plus an extra one - to get Hegseth over the line.

With the opposition of McConnell Murkowski, and Collins, the initial vote was a tie - 50 to 50. It was then up to Vice President J.D. Vance - a former member of the upper chamber - to break the tie.

Vance did so given Hegseth - one of Trump's more controversial nominations - a confirmation victory.

As Breitbart News put it:

It was a long, hard-won fight against Democrats and a coordinated smear campaign facilitated by mainstream media outlets. At one point early on, his nomination appeared doomed, with several key Republicans expressing doubts. However, the combat veteran and former Fox News host launched his own campaign, spending weeks on Capitol Hill meeting with Republican senators and discussing their concerns . . .

Trump weighs in

Trump, of course, was very happy that Hegseth made it over the line. The president stood by Hegseth throughout the entire confirmation process, even when things got ugly.

Trump was subsequently asked about McConnell's defection. This is because his "no" vote was less expected than that of Murkowski and Collins, who tend to oppose Trump-led efforts.

Trump, however, played the whole situation off.

When asked whether he was "disappointed" in McConnell, he said, "I didn’t even know that. No, I don’t know that. I just heard that we won. Winning is what matters, right?"

It is hard to believe that Trump did not know about McConnell's vote against Hegseth - but it is not outside the realm of possibility considering that he has been in North Carolina and California. Whatever the case may be, as Trump said, it really does not matter. What matters is that his nominees are getting through the Senate.