Charlotte Clymer, a veteran formerly stationed at Arlington National Cemetery, criticized Donald Trump after recent accusations that his staff had an altercation with a cemetery official earlier this week.
In a Wednesday blog post, Clymer detailed her experience in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “the Old Guard,” before heavily criticizing the former president and saying that “he cannot extend proper respect to our military.”
The 639-acre military cemetery, one of the oldest national cemeteries, honors more than 14,000 service members. An altercation between Trump’s campaign staff and an official allegedly occurred in Section 60, which is where service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest.
President Donald Trump lays a wreath during a ceremony on Monday at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Members of Trump’s campaign staff had an altercation with a cemetery official during the ceremony.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Two members of Trump’s campaign staff “had a verbal and physical altercation” at the cemetery on Monday, according to NPR. Trump was participating in a wreath-laying ceremony commemorating the third anniversary of the deadly attack on American troops in Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
The altercation occurred after a cemetery official attempted to prevent Trump’s staff from filming and photographing in the section, where only Arlington personnel are permitted to do so, according to NPR’s report.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign communication director, told Newsweek, “There was no physical altercation as described, and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”
He continued, “The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Tuesday night, Cheung shared what appears to be a screenshot of an email related to the event, with the caption: “We were granted access to have a photographer there.”
The screenshot reads, “Only former President Trump may have an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool.” The details of the email, who sent it, when it was sent and where that photographer could enter are not available from the screenshot.
Family members of five fallen service members wrote in a statement: “The [former] president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members.”
The statement added, “We had given our approval for [former] president Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event.”
In a statement obtained by Newsweek on Wednesday, Arlington National Cemetery said that it “can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.”
The statement also noted, “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
It concluded, “To protect the identity of the individual involved, no further information about the incident is being released at this time.”
In her blog post, Clymer said cemetery officials, like the one in the alleged altercation, have the “hardest job” in the cemetery.
Over several paragraphs, Clymer criticized and recited previously reported controversial comments by Trump regarding service members. For instance, he said the late Senator John McCain, who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than five years, was “not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Clymer wrote, “I fully admit to being a partisan, but for me, none of this is about politics because none of the Republicans or conservatives I have ever known would so much as consider showing anything but respect and admiration for our service members, our veterans, and their families.”
She went on, “This is not about favor for any party or campaign because the moment you enter Arlington, politics are to be left at the gate.
“But Donald Trump is unwilling or unable to understand that because he cannot conceive of offering the highest degree of selfless service to our nation…and therefore, he cannot extend proper respect to our military,” she said.
Clymer shared parts of her blog post on her X account and has received 3 million views as of Wednesday.
