Watch: What Hegseth’s Entourage Did At The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier That Made A Sentinel Shout

A US Army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier reprimanded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, his wife and a group of his senior advisers on Wednesday after some in the party laughed and chatted beside the memorial following the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

“All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times,” the sentinel called out across the plaza, in footage CNN aired live Wednesday afternoon.

Hegseth had been posing for photos in front of the tomb with his wife, Jennifer, chief of staff Ricky Buria, deputy chief of staff Patrick Weaver and senior adviser Tami Radabaugh when the laughter started, according to CNN. The footage doesn’t show who in the group laughed, or whether Hegseth was one of them.

The group had spent the morning at the wreath-laying with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, a day after the House voted Tuesday night to send Rep. Thomas Massie’s eight articles of impeachment against him back to the Judiciary Committee, which effectively shelves the effort until Democrats take over the chamber in January, as we reported.

“Now, we should be clear, this is something that happens if people are at the tomb,” CNN anchor Brianna Keilar told viewers, and CNN’s Zachary Cohen added that anyone who breaks the silence “will get similarly reprimanded by the Army Sentinel who is guarding the tomb at the time.”

At each changing of the guard, the relief commander “faces the spectators and asks them to stand and remain silent during the ceremony,” according to the cemetery’s own description of the ritual.

Soldiers of the 3rd US Infantry Regiment, The Old Guard, have stood watch over the tomb since April 6, 1948, and it has been guarded around the clock since 1937. Its earliest guards were there to keep visitors from climbing or stepping on the tomb, according to the cemetery’s history of the memorial. The tomb holds an unknown American killed in World War I.

The Army said an Arlington employee who tried to stop Trump campaign staff from filming in Section 60 in August 2024 was pushed aside, in the part of the cemetery where troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. The campaign disputed that account, and the Army later released a heavily redacted report on the incident, as we noted at the time.

When a sentinel shoulders arms, the rifle goes on the shoulder closest to the visitors, which Arlington says signifies that the guard “stands between the Tomb and any possible threat.”