Trump Staff Accused of Getting Physical With Arlington National Cemetery Official
The Trump campaign has denied a report that claims two aides on Donald Trump’s team verbally abused and shoved an official at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday.
A source with knowledge of the incident told NPR on Tuesday that the Trump staffers became verbally and physically belligerent after a cemetery official tried to prevent them from filming in Section 60, a 14-acre area where U.S. service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest.
Trump was at Arlington to observe the anniversary of the 2021 Kabul airport attack, a suicide bombing that killed 13 American service members and more than 150 Afghans amid the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
NPR’s source said that it had been made clear to the Trump team that only cemetery officials were allowed to take photographs inside the plot.
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The Trump campaign refuted the source’s characterization of events in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said. He did not respond to the Daily Beast or NPR’s request to share the footage.
“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.
Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump, called the cemetery official “a despicable individual” who did not deserve to represent the “hollowed grounds [sic]” of the cemetery.
“Whoever this individual is spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces,” he added of NPR’s source in the statement, “and they are disrespecting everyone who paid the price for defending our country.”
In a statement to NPR, Arlington National Cemetery said it could “confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.”
“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,” it said.
“Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
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Cheung claimed in a Tuesday night tweet that the campaign had been explicitly granted permission to bring a photographer to the site. He shared a cropped screenshot that appeared to show an unattributed email instructing the campaign that Trump was allowed “an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool.”
The Republican presidential nominee helped lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknowns and spoke with families of the Kabul victims. He was criticized for flashing a thumbs-up and smiling during a graveside photo op while there.
Trump has attracted scrutiny in the past for his remarks on veterans, including an alleged incident in which he, according to his former chief of staff, referred to American war casualties as “suckers” and “losers.” He has strongly denied this.
Earlier this month, veterans slammed the former president for describing the civilian-focused Presidential Medal of Freedom as being “much better” than the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor.
After his Arlington visit, Trump traveled on to Detroit, Michigan, where he placed “the humiliation in Afghanistan” squarely on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the Associated Press. Speaking to a crowd of National Guard members and their relatives, Trump characterized the withdrawal as “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.”
In her own statement commemorating the anniversary, Harris said that the “13 devoted patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe.”
She also praised Biden for his “courageous and right decision” to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
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