Former President Donald Trump‘s 2024 presidential campaign received a warning about taking photos at Arlington National Cemetery before an altercation ensued, according to an Associated Press (AP) report on Wednesday.
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.
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 the burial site for service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, known as Section 60. NPR cited a source with knowledge of the incident.
A defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, then told the AP on Wednesday that Trump’s campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 ahead of time.
Former President Donald Trump (right) during a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on August 26, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia. Trump’s campaign received a warning about taking photos at Arlington before an altercation ensued, according to an Associated Press (AP) report on Wednesday.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Meanwhile, 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.”
Arlington did acknowledge that “an incident” did happen and that a report was filed in a statement but did not give details about the occurrence.
Cemetery officials explained Arlington’s policy when it comes to campaigning on its hallowed grounds.
“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 in a statement. “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.”
Michael Tyler, a spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, called the reports of the incident “pretty sad when it’s all said and done” during a recent appearance on CNN.
“This is what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team,” Tyler said. “Donald Trump is a person who wants to make everything all about Donald Trump. He’s also somebody who has a history of demeaning and degrading military service members, those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.”
U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, meanwhile, urged Arlington to release more information about Monday’s incident.
In late August 2021, a suicide bomber attacked Kabul’s airport as U.S. troops and Afghans desperately tried to evacuate the country. Over 170 Afghans were killed alongside the 13 U.S. service members. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
While the Pentagon concluded that the deaths at Kabul’s airport were not preventable, some blamed the Biden administration for a chaotic evacuation that should have started earlier than it did.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
