Utah Gov. Cox faces scrutiny for using military cemetery photo with Trump in campaign email
SALT LAKE CITY — Republican governor of Utah. Spencer Cox was criticized on Wednesday for sending a campaign email that included a photo of himself and Donald Trump Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath laying ceremony.
Federal law prohibits campaign or election activities at Army National Military Cemeteries, a rule widely shared before Monday’s ceremony, Arlington National Cemetery said Wednesday.
Cox’s campaign apologized for using the photo and politicizing the funeral, which honored Utah Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, one of 13 killed in Afghanistan three years ago. The email solicited donations for his re-election bid.
“This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign,” the governor wrote in a message on X. “It did not go through proper channels and should not have been sent.”
Trump’s campaign also faced backlash after a conflict between his staff and cemetery workers. Trump’s campaign were warned not to take photos of the skirmish at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath-laying ceremony earlier this week honoring service members killed during the withdrawal from the war in Afghanistana defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Cox is expected to win re-election in the Republican-dominated state in November after on the road to victory in the primaries about a staunch Trump supporter, Phil Lyman, who made false allegations of election fraud after the 2020 presidential election.
The Republican governor recently surprised voters when he endorsed Trump after the July election. attempted murderdespite telling CNN days earlier that he had not voted for Trump in 2016 or 2020 and would not vote for him this year. Cox’s sudden embrace of Trump, who has not endorsed him back, represents a puzzling departure from his carefully crafted persona as a Mitt Romney-esque moderate.
In addition to criticism in the comments section of his social media accounts, Cox’s opponent in November, Democratic Rep. Brian King, said it was disrespectful for Trump and Cox to use a veterans memorial event as a campaign photo and called on the Republican governor to retract his endorsement of Trump.