Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and members of his team were reprimanded at Arlington National Cemetery during Veterans Day commemorations, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian. The incident occurred at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and was captured on video by the TV pool.
Hegseth had earlier posed for a photo with his team in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during the Veterans Day commemoration. After some members of the group were seen talking and laughing, a guard called out: "All visitors are to maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times." According to CNN, Hegseth was accompanied by his wife Jennifer, Chief of Staff Ricky Buria, Deputy Chief of Staff Patrick Weaver, and senior adviser and deputy assistant Tami Radabaugh.
A Pentagon spokesperson told the Guardian that the defence secretary and the entire Department of Defence "have always paid tribute – and will always pay tribute – to the sacrifices of our men and women for the security of America". He added that the soldier, "while observing this solemn day, correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum".
The incident took place one day after House Republicans killed an effort to impeach Hegseth for initiating war in Iran without Congressional approval, among other alleged violations. In a vote of 211-204, Republicans referred the articles of impeachment to the judiciary committee, effectively killing the effort to remove Hegseth.
Some Democrats, among the 11 who missed the key procedural vote on Tuesday regarding the impeachment of Pete Hegseth, blamed traffic congestion in Washington DC for their inability to reach the US Capitol on time. At a whip meeting on Wednesday, Representative Katherine Clark, House minority whip, reportedly said that Democrats had disappointed the American people after 11 representatives missed the vote, according to MS Now.
In a separate political development, the Associated Press projected that Democrat Scott Colom was elected to the US Senate to represent Mississippi, defeating incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. AP made the projection after Colom's lead grew to 4,669 votes on Wednesday, with him currently leading with 49.2 per cent of the vote compared to Hyde-Smith's 48.7 per cent.
Colom, a local prosecutor, will be the first Black senator from Mississippi since 1881, when Blanche Kelso Bruce, born into slavery, served during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. Hyde-Smith, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, was seeking her second full term; she was first appointed to fill a vacancy and then won a special election in 2018.
Mississippi does not have a state law mandating a recount. According to the Mississippi Free Press, the largest county in Mississippi, Hinds County, reported on Wednesday that it had completed its review of so-called affidavit ballots, accepting 817 ballots and rejecting 1,609 others. Brandon Presley, the 2023 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, posted on social media on Tuesday that watching provisional ballots be rejected one by one because a poll worker, rather than the voter, did not initialize the ballot, makes him sick, and on Wednesday he called on AP to call the race because, as he said, it is almost, almost, almost over, and delaying that call only erodes credibility.
