Hegseth awards medal to soldier who chastised him

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, and his wife Jennifer Rauchet attend a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on National Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026.

Coming out of the bruising the Republicans suffered in the midterms, this week was bearing up to be a bad one for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Many thought he'd be the first in the administration to be fired for his support of the Iran war, which proved unpopular with voters.

Then a member of his own party called for a vote to impeach him and, in an embarrassing incident that went viral, he also got chastised for poor decorum when visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Still, he managed to survive the former – except for Thomas Massie, who sponsored the resolution to impeach him, all other Republicans in the House voted against it – and sought to turn the latter into a PR opportunity.

The day after the impeachment effort, an incident occurred at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, one of America's most sacred military sites. It happened when Hegseth, his wife, and staffers went to lay a wreath at the memorial just outside Washington D.C., to mark Veteran's Day on Wednesday.

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