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Members of Donald Trump's campaign were involved in a physical and verbal altercation at Arlington Nation Cemetery on Monday during a ceremony to honor 13 Americans who died three years ago during the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, according to accounts from multiple news outlets. The altercation apparently involved members of the cemetery staff.
From a report at CNN, under the headline "Fresh controversy brews over Trump’s Arlington National Cemetery visit," Colin McCullough writes:
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign stirred new controversy this week during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery that was intended to draw attention to the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
An individual physically blocked Trump’s team from accompanying him during the Monday visit, two Trump campaign officials said. A cemetery spokesperson confirmed to CNN “there was an incident” and a “report was filed” but didn’t provide additional details.
Trump was visiting the cemetery following a wreath laying to honor 13 US military service members who were killed at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate. The Trump campaign posted a video on TikTok of the former president’s visit, which marked three years since the tragedy.
Trump indicated on social media that family members of fallen solders had asked for him to attend the event. It's not clear that members of his campaign staff had permission to be present, or that family members had authority to invite them. McCullough writes:
In a post on Truth Social, Trump appeared to suggest the incident stemmed from his campaign’s use of photography, sharing a statement from the family members of the fallen soldiers expressing their approval.
“We had given our approval for President Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event, ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever,” the families said.
But according to a statement from Arlington National Cemetery obtained by CNN, federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries.
The cemetery said it “reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants,” which includes “photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”
Trump’s post came after a report from NPR about a “verbal and physical altercation.” A source with knowledge of the incident told the outlet that a cemetery official attempted to prevent Trump’s team from photographing and filming in the area where recent US casualties are buried. In response, Trump campaign staff “verbally abused and pushed the official aside,” according to NPR.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung disputed claims of a physical altercation, but said an unnamed individual decided to “physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.” Cheung suggested that Trump’s team has video to back up the claim.Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita shared a similar account with CNN, saying in a statement that “President Trump was there on the invitation of the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families to honor their loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.”
“For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed [sic] grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. Whoever this individual is spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces, and they are disrespecting everyone who paid the price for defending our country,” LaCivita continued.
Members of Team Trump presented varying accounts, coming from a number of different sources. That seems to have added to confusion about what actually happened. From the CNN report:
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, dismissed the incident as a “little disagreement” and said the families had “invited (Trump) to be there and to support them.”
“There’s verifiable evidence that the campaign was allowed to have a photographer there,” Vance told reporters Wednesday in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he was campaigning. “There’s verifiable evidence that the families of these poor people who had their loved ones die three years ago at Abbey Road – excuse me, Abbey Gate. Those 13 Americans, a lot of them were there with the president.”
How does Vance know what happened when he was almost 400 miles away at the time. His reliability as a source of information seems dubious at best.
This story, however, might not go away quickly. A member of Virginia's U.S. House delegation made it clear he stands behind the cemetery staff. McCullough writes:
Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly called for Arlington Cemetery leadership to publicly release the report on the incident at the visit, casting doubt on Trump’s intentions and calling his team’s behavior “abhorrent and shameful.”
“I urge Arlington Cemetery to publicly release all that transpired yesterday so the American people can ensure the ground in which our nation’s heroes are buried is not being debased by a man who has no concept of service and sacrifice,” the congressman said.
That was a clear shot at Trump and his record of misbehavior, even at military cemeteries. From a separate report at CNN:
Donald Trump’s campaign is co-managed by the man who engineered the “swift boating” of John Kerry in 2004, so it should come as no surprise that 20 years later, military service and treatment of veterans are turning into uncomfortable political issues.
Trump pivoted from a visit to Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week to an attack on President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan policy – a turn that apparently followed a dustup with an official at the cemetery over the campaign’s attempt to use cameras in Section 60, an area where American troops who were killed in recent wars are buried. The story was first reported by NPR, but both Trump’s campaign and the cemetery have since issued statements.
Donald Trump’s campaign is co-managed by the man who engineered the “swift boating” of John Kerry in 2004, so it should come as no surprise that 20 years later, military service and treatment of veterans are turning into uncomfortable political issues.
Trump pivoted from a visit to Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week to an attack on President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan policy – a turn that apparently followed a dustup with an official at the cemetery over the campaign’s attempt to use cameras in Section 60, an area where American troops who were killed in recent wars are buried. The story was first reported by NPR, but both Trump’s campaign and the cemetery have since issued statements.
The cemetery’s statement, according to CNN’s report, noted that federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries. Trump’s campaign noted that he was invited into Section 60 by Gold Star families.
There was a moving moment earlier in the summer when Gold Star families whose loved ones died in the Abbey Gate attack in Afghanistan gathered on stage at the Republican National Convention and condemned the Biden administration.
Setting aside the unknown details of what exactly transpired at the cemetery, Trump’s trip to Arlington certainly played into a political context since it was woven into a day of campaigning focused on the military and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021:
► The cemetery trip coincided with the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 American service members in Afghanistan.
► On social media and later during a speech to a National Guard conference in Detroit, Trump criticized Biden’s decision to finalize the military withdrawal from Afghanistan – although Trump didn’t mention he had accelerated that withdrawal during his final months in the White House.
► Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard endorsed Trump at that speech.
Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, has been a vocal critic of US military
policy.
Trump’s previous visit to Section 60 also led to criticism
It’s notable that the summer is ending with controversy over Trump’s decision to visit Section 60 as a candidate, since the summer began with Biden’s look back at criticism of Trump’s decision as president not to visit a US military cemetery in France in 2018 and comments he reportedly made during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery’s Section 60 in 2017.
At the CNN presidential debate in June that was the beginning of the end of Biden’s presidential campaign, the president recalled a 2020 report in The Atlantic that Trump refused to visit a cemetery near Paris honoring Americans who died in World War I because they were “losers.”
Trump denied using that term, which came from a recounting of the incident by retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, his former White House chief of staff. Kelly later confirmed elements of the Atlantic story to CNN’s Jake Tapper and also discussed a Memorial Day ceremony in 2017 when the two were in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Trump said at the time, according to Kelly’s recollection, which Trump denies.
Kelly also had choice words for Trump recently when the former president tried to compare the Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded to war heroes, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which honors civilians and which Trump gave to a Republican megadonor.
“Not even close,” Kelly told Tapper.
Trump has a history of mocking or verbally attacking veterans. He repeatedly criticized the late Sen. John McCain for being taken as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, including in remarks this year. He tried to start rumors about the absence of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s husband from the campaign trail during the Republican primary this year even though Haley’s husband was deployed overseas.
Haley condemned Trump’s comments at the time, while she was still in the race, but she later spoke on his behalf at the RNC in July.
Attacks on Walz
Military service had already emerged as a campaign issue after Trump’s campaign engaged in a concerted effort to question the 24-year military service of Democrats’ candidate for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The public face of that effort is Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who was enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Iraq. See CNN’s fact check of Vance’s claims.
Asked Wednesday about the Arlington controversy, Vance deflected back to his criticism of Walz’s military record and said Vice President Kamala Harris can “go to hell” for the Biden administration’s Afghanistan policy.
For comparison, every president, Republican or Democrat, from Dwight D. Eisenhower through Richard Nixon, served in World War II. So did George H.W. Bush. Carter enrolled at the Naval Academy during the war.
A slew of Vietnam War veterans, including McCain, Kerry and Gore, were on the losing end of presidential campaigns.
A rising generation of veterans in office
There are signs of a resurgence of lawmakers who served. Both parties today are showcasing their rising stars who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Democrats have Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and a host of House members, many of whom gathered on stage at the DNC last week.
Republicans have Vance, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas and many, many others.
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