Elbridge Colby will now assume the Pentagon’s number three post after a contentious Senate battle ended in a vote to confirm him to the role. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
He has long argued the U.S. military needs to limit its resources in the Middle East to pivot to the Indo-Pacific region. Colby had staunch backing from Trump’s inner circle, which turned up the heat on Senate Republicans to get behind his confirmation.
Colby had tempered some of his earlier statements, including one that suggested living with a nuclear Iran was safer than bombing Iran’s nuclear sites, and one that suggested the U.S. could "live without" Taiwan.
Pressed by Cotton during his confirmation hearing, Colby said he believes Iran to be an "existential" threat to the U.S.
"Yes, a nuclear-armed Iran – especially, Senator, given that… we know they’ve worked on ICBM-range capabilities and other capabilities that would pose an existential danger to the United States," Colby said.
Sen. Tom Cotton pressed Colby on his past comments on Iran. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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"Your views on Taiwan’s importance to the United States seems to have softened considerably," Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Colby at one point during the hearing.
"What I have been trying to shoot a signal flare over is that it is vital for us to focus and enable our own forces for an effective and reasonable defense of Taiwan and for the Taiwanese, as well as the Japanese, to do more," said Colby.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/elbridge-colby-confirmed-top-pentagon-policy-post-after-hesitation-from-gop-hawks