Veterans Groups Condemn Trump’s Arlington National Cemetery Photo Op
Donald Trump’s photographed visit to Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week has drawn widespread criticism from many veterans’ groups, members of Congress who served, and even an official who served in the former president’s Cabinet.
Staffers for the 2024 Republican nominee reportedly verbally abused and shoved an Arlington official who tried to prevent his photographers from taking pictures of Section 60—the part of the cemetery dedicated to veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, NPR first reported on Tuesday.
The Trump campaign later used footage from Section 60 in a video posted on TikTok. Federal law prevents political candidates from using the cemetery for election-related activities.
The Trump campaign countered by claiming they had permission to bring in their own photographer, and denied the reports of a physical altercation.
Arlington Cemetery confirmed to NPR that an incident took place and a report had been filed.
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Trump was also criticized for flashing a thumbs-up and a wide grin during a graveside photo op while at the cemetery.
The visit has since drawn widespread criticism from across the political spectrum, including several veterans groups.
“Trump only cares about the fallen when he can exploit their sacrifice for his own gain,” the progressive organization VoteVets said on Wednesday in a statement on social media. “To him, they’re just ‘suckers and losers.’ He’s proven time and again that respect and honor mean nothing to him.”
Former Rep. Max Rose (D-NY), who serves as an advisor for the group, also condemned the events as “sick and tragic.”
Retired Maj. General Paul Eaton, another VoteVets advisor, told USA Today he “truly cannot think of something more repugnant than starting a political fracas on land where Gold Star families mourn. Someone who would do that should never be Commander in Chief.”
The group also criticized Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance, who defended the campaign’s actions Wednesday and blamed “the media creating a story where I really don’t think there is one” at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.
“Political activity is and was always illegal” the group wrote in a post on X, labelling Vance a “gutless fraud.” The statement added: “Trump’s campaign got physical with cemetery staff who were upholding the law and protecting the solemnity of all the graves. Rather than stand up for them, JD Vance betrays them.”
Veterans for Responsible Leadership, a non-partisan veterans’ organization, accused the former president of violating both the “sanctity of Arlington” as well as the “code of conduct for national military cemeteries.”
The Trump campaign was quick to highlight support from the Marine veterans who invited the former president to the event commemorating the deaths of 13 Marines during a 2021 bombing at the Kabul airport.
Trump appears alongside Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart (Ret.) and and U.S. Marine Corps. Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews (Ret.), two of the marines injured during the Kabul bombing.
“On the three-year anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing, 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,” the group said in a statement posted on the campaign’s social media accounts.
The group said they had given the Trump campaign permission to photograph and record the event “ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured.”
Former President Trump lays a wreath alongside the sister of Sgt. Nicole Gee, one of the Marines killed during a Kabul bombing in 2021.
The campaign was also openly criticized by one major Trump cabinet official.
“I think it’s important that the report was filed. I think it should be investigated,” said former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who served in the Trump administration from 2019 to 2020. “There is no more hallowed ground in this nation than Arlington Cemetery, where we have been burying our heroes, our veterans, since the Civil War.”
“Bottom line, I think the principle is no person or party should ever use Arlington National Cemetery or any of our cemeteries or battlefields for partisan political purposes,” the former Trump admin official told CNN.
Some veterans serving as members of Congress joined in the criticism.
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Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), who served in the Marines, said the event was “part of a pattern,” and called the former president out for past controversies including avoiding the draft during the Vietnam War and insulting a Gold Star family.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), an outspoken Trump critic who spoke at the DNC earlier this month, called the former president a “disgrace to our nation.” Kinzinger served in the Air National Guard.
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