President-elect Donald Trump arrived at Arlington National Cemetery on Jan. 19 to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the eve of his second inauguration.
Trump’s motorcade arrived at Arlington National Cemetery at about 1:20 p.m. EDT on Jan. 19. Trump was accompanied by his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and son Donald Trump Jr. National security adviser Mike Waltz, secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth, secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations nominee Elise Stefanik, and director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard also joined the president-elect and his family.
Trump, his family, his Cabinet selections, and Vice President-elect JD Vance were joined by Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a wounded soldier who lost an arm and a leg after being wounded during the bombing of the Kabul airport in 2021.
Incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Trump legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, and Trump aide Natalie Harp also accompanied the group, who all stood in a row and paused in front of the tomb silently.
Trump and Vance each brought a wreath to lay at the tomb, along with a wreath walked out by three soldiers dressed in uniform. The president-elect saluted while Vance, a military veteran, put his hand over his heart.
After a drum roll at 1:39 p.m., a uniformed soldier played “Taps” on a bugle, while Vargas-Andrews wiped tears from his eyes. After the performance, Trump and Vance walked back up the steps away from the tomb.
The group then moved to Section 60 of the cemetery to visit the graves of three soldiers killed at Abbey Gate, where they spent nearly 30 minutes speaking with the soldiers’ families, including a fourth related to a deceased soldier who was not identified.
Trump, Vance, and their wives walked from gravesite to gravesite, with the president-elect placing what appeared to be a gold-colored challenge coin on top of each of the four headstones. Trump’s wife, Melania, placed lilies at each gravesite.
The group first visited the grave of the unidentified soldier, then the graves of Nicole Gee and Ryan Knauss. A woman wept while embracing one of the headstones.
The last gravesite they visited was Darin Taylor Hoover’s. Trump spoke with the deceased soldier’s family while an aide held an umbrella overhead. Finally, the group took a photo together while standing in a line behind Hoover’s headstone.
Before the ceremony on Jan. 19, Trump privately consulted with several Republican senators. The group met during a breakfast at Blair House, the president’s official guest residence across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. The meeting gave top Republican leaders a last-minute chance for discussions barely 24 hours before Trump is sworn-in as president for a second time.
“January 20th cannot come fast enough!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“Everybody, even those that initially opposed a Victory by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration, just want it to happen.”
After temperatures were forecasted to reach dangerous lows on Jan. 20 in Washington, Trump moved the inauguration ceremony indoors to the Capitol Rotunda.
