Trump campaign was warned not to take photos at Arlington before altercation, defense official says
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign was warned not to take photos of a skirmish at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath laying ceremony earlier this week to honor soldiers killed in the withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan, a defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter surrounding Monday’s events. It came a day after NPR reported, citing a source with knowledge of the incident, that two Trump campaign staffers “verbally abused and shoved aside” a cemetery official who tried to block them from filming and photographing in Section 60, the cemetery for military personnel killed in fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The defense official told AP that the Trump campaign had been warned not to take photos in Section 60 before their arrival and the skirmish. Trump was in Arlington on Monday at the invitation of some of the families of the 13 service members who killed in Kabul airport bombing exactly three years ago.
Arlington National Cemetery said in a statement that “an incident” had occurred and that a report had been filed, but it did not go into details about what happened. Cemetery officials also declined to share the report.
“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities at Army National Military Cemeteries, including photographers, content creators, or other individuals present for purposes of, or in direct support of, the campaign of a partisan political candidate,” the statement from cemetery officials said. “Arlington National Cemetery has reinforced this law and its prohibitions and shared them broadly with all participants. We can confirm that an incident did occur and a report has been filed.”
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the Republican presidential candidate’s team had been given permission to have a photographer. He disputed allegations that a campaign worker pushed a cemetery official.
“The fact is that a private photographer was allowed onto the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, who clearly suffered from a mental illness, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team from a very solemn ceremony,” he said.
Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, noted that Trump was there at the invitation of the families of the service members killed in the airport bombing. The Trump campaign posted a message signed by family members of two of the service members killed in the bombing, saying that “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 unworthy of representing the hollow grounds of Arlington National Cemetery,” he said in a written statement, spelling the word sacred. “Whoever this individual is, by spreading these lies, we dishonor the men and women of our Armed Forces.”
Michael Tyler, a spokesman for Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harriscalled the reports “pretty sad when you add it all up.”
“This is what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team,” Tyler said on CNN. “Donald Trump is a person who wants to make everything about Donald Trump. He’s also someone who has a history of belittling and disparaging military personnel, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia has called on cemetery administrators to come forward publicly and provide more information about what happened Monday.
“It is sad to expect that Donald Trump would desecrate this hallowed ground and put campaign politics above honoring our heroes,” he said. “His behavior and that of his campaign is appalling and disgraceful.”
Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance, speaking at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, was asked about the incident and said that “apparently someone at Arlington Cemetery, a staff member, had a little disagreement with someone” and that “the media has made a national news story out of it.”
Instead, he tried to focus on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling Harris “disgraceful” for not firing anyone for the deaths of service members in the terrorist attack. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
A Pentagon investigation into deadly attack concluded that the suicide bomber acted alone and that the deaths of more than 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were unavoidable. But critics have lambasted the Biden administration for the catastrophic evacuation, saying it should have begun sooner than it did.
“Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even investigate what happened, and she wants to call Donald Trump names for showing up,” Vance said.
Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 400,000 military personnel, veterans and their families.
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in New York and Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.