Arlington Official ‘Pushed Aside’ in Trump Staff Altercation: Army

An Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” in an alternation involving former President Donald Trump‘s campaign staff on Monday, the U.S. Amry said on Thursday.

Trump, the GOP presidential nominee in November’s election, was invited to Arlington—the resting place of over 400,000 U.S. service members, veterans and their families—for a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday to honor the 13 service members killed during the Afghanistan War withdrawal in 2021. His invitation was given by some of the families of the deceased service members.

There were reports that Trump’s staff shoved a cemetery official who was trying to prevent them from using photography while at Arlington, which they reportedly knew was off-limits. The Trump campaign has denied receiving any warnings about taking photographs at the site.

On Thursday, an Army spokesperson said in a statement that participants in the wreath-laying ceremony and the subsequent visit to Section 60—the burial site for service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq—”were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DOD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”

The spokesperson continued: “An ANC [Arlington National Cemetery] employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” adding that it was “unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”

The incident was reported to the police, but the employee decided not to press charges, the spokesperson said, adding that the Army “considers this matter closed.”

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s communications director via email on Thursday afternoon for comment.

What Did the Reports Say?

On Tuesday, NPR reported that two Trump campaign staff members “verbally abused and pushed” aside a cemetery official who attempted to prevent them from filming and photographing Section 60. NPR cited a source with knowledge of the incident.

A defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, then told the Associated Press (AP) on Wednesday that Trump’s campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 ahead of time.

What Has Trump’s Team Said?

Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, told the AP that Trump’s team was allowed to have a photographer and denied the claim that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official.

“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,” Cheung said.

For this part, Trump shared a letter signed by five family members of two of the deceased service members that said “the president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members, especially our beloved children.”

“For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed [sic] grounds of Arlington National Cemetery,” Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, said in a statement. “Whoever this individual is, spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces.”

What Are the Rules?

Cemetery officials explained Arlington’s policy when it comes to campaigning on its hallowed grounds in a recent statement.

“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,” cemetery officials said. “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.”