April 28, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, filling the position almost two months after President Donald Trump fired his predecessor.
Trump nominated Caine to become the top U.S. military officer in February after abruptly firing Gen. CQ Brown Jr. The Senate confirmed Caine 60-25 in an overnight vote before heading home for a two-week recess.
Caine is a decorated F-16 combat pilot who served in leadership in multiple special operations commands, in some of the Pentagon’s most classified programs, and in the CIA. But he does not meet prerequisites for the job set out in a 1986 law, such as being a combatant commander or service chief. Those requirements can be waived by the president if there is a determination that “such action is necessary in the national interest."
Caine’s confirmation comes as Republicans have been quickly advancing Trump’s nominees and as Democrats have been trying to delay the process and show that they are fighting Trump’s policies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., set up the early morning vote after Democrats objected to speeding up procedural votes on the nomination.
The vote was bipartisan, with 15 Democrats and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine voting in support of Caine's nomination.
At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Caine said he would be candid in his advice to Trump and vowed to be apolitical. Caine disputed Trump’s story that Caine wore a “Make America Great Again” hat when the two first met.
“I have never worn any political merchandise,” he said.
Asked how he would react if ordered to direct the military to do something potentially illegal, such as being used against civilians in domestic law enforcement, he told senators that it is “the duty and the job that I have” to push back.
Trump’s relationship with Caine dates to his first administration. They met during a trip to Iraq, as Trump recounted in a 2019 speech. He has said Caine is “a real general, not a television general.”
