The U.S. Army on Thursday said that an Arlington National Cemetery employee was "abruptly pushed aside" earlier this week during a dispute with members of the Trump campaign.
Former President Donald Trump visited the cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Monday to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He was with the families of the 13 American troops who were killed when the U.S. military pulled its troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
After the wreath-laying ceremony, Trump accompanied the families and two Marines who were injured in the attack, Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews and Corporal Kelsee Lainhart, to Section 60 of the cemetery. It’s an area that’s mostly reserved for U.S. veterans who have been killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The service members Trump was honoring were killed in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate at the airport in Kabul on Aug. 26, 2021.
Two members of Trump’s campaign staff reportedly had an altercation with a cemetery official who tried to prohibit the Trump staffers from filming and photographing in Section 60, NPR reported. At that point, Trump’s campaign staff allegedly verbally abused and pushed the official aside.
A defense official told the Associated Press that the Trump campaign was warned ahead of Monday’s visit that they could not film or take photographs in Section 60 due to the cemetery’s media policy.
“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,” the cemetery said in a statement.
Despite the federal law, the Trump campaign posted a video of Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery, including Section 60, to the former president’s TikTok account after the visit.
