Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on August 26 to commemorate 13 American servicemembers killed in Afghanistan during the pullout of U.S. forces three years ago. But reporting soon emerged about an altercation between his campaign staff and a cemetery official over photography in a restricted section, sparking a backlash. Although Trump’s team has cited the support of the Gold Star family members accompanying him on the visit, Kamala Harris has accused of Trump of politicizing sacred ground, while other critics allege that the Republican candidate has run afoul of federal law that forbids campaign activity at the site. Here, what we know so far.
Trump was at the cemetery to take part in a ceremony honoring the 13 U.S. servicemembers who were killed in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate outside the Kabul airport during the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan. During his visit, Trump laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and stopped by the burial sites of several servicemembers alongside their relatives and loved ones.
NPR reported that an altercation occurred between Trump campaign staff and an Arlington employee. It took place as members of Trump’s team attempted to take photographs and record videos in Section 60, an area of the cemetery largely reserved for members of the military who died while serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A source told NPR that a cemetery employee tried to prevent those staffers from entering that section but that they then “verbally abused and pushed the official aside.”
Arlington National Cemetery confirmed in a statement to NPR that the incident took place and that a report had been filed, indicating that the campaign’s actions might have been illegal. “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 statement said. “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
An Army spokesman issued a statement on Thursday, again confirming the incident without mentioning Trump or his campaign directly. They said that the people involved had been advised of the federal rules barring political activity at the cemetery. “An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption,” the statement read. The spokesman confirmed that a report was made to the police but that the employee opted against pressing charges. The employee reportedly feared retaliation from Trump’s supporters if she pursued charges, military officials told the New York Times.
Before the cemetery visit, Trump was already under increased scrutiny for his rhetoric about the military, following recent comments in which he said the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a civilian honor, was better than receiving the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award. In 2020, The Atlantic published a story alleging that then-President Trump had referred to American WWI veterans buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris as “losers” and “suckers” in 2018 when explaining his reasoning for canceling a trip to the site, citing sources familiar with the conversation.
Trump’s campaign immediately took a defensive posture after the incident was reported, largely blaming the individual cemetery official. In a statement to NPR, which first broke the story, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung denied that a physical altercation occurred and said Trump’s team was prepared to release its own footage to combat the “defamatory claims.”
“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” he said. Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita called the employee “a despicable individual” and accused them of lying about the incident.
The campaign circulated a statement by relatives of two of the fallen servicemembers, Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover and Sergeant Nicole Gee, saying they gave permission for Trump’s official photographer and videographer to attend the ceremony and that the Republican candidate and his team “conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity.”
Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, dismissed the controversy as a media-led creation during a Wednesday campaign stop and took a shot at Vice-President Kamala Harris, blaming her for the 2021 attack that occurred under the Biden administration. “Three years ago, 13 brave, innocent Americans died, and they died because Kamala Harris refused to do her job, and there hasn’t been a single investigation or a single firing,” he said.
Vance then accused Harris of trying to criticize Trump for the Arlington visit, though the vice-president herself had yet to comment publicly on the incident at that time. “And she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up? She can — she can go to hell,” he said.
Trump discussed the visit during a campaign stop Thursday, claiming that the relatives of the fallen service members invited him to Arlington and denounced the controversy as coming “from Washington.”
“So, I go there, they ask me to have a picture and they say I was campaigning,” he said. “The one thing I get is plenty of publicity. I don’t need that. I don’t need the publicity.”
On August 30, after Harris attacked Trump over the incident, the Trump campaign put out a statement from family members of seven of the servicemembers killed in the Abbey Gate attack which praised Trump and criticized Harris. “We, the families of the brave service members who were tragically killed in the Abbey Gate bombing, are appalled by Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent attempts to politicize President Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery,” the statement said. The campaign and Trump additionally posted videos on social media from the relatives making similar claims, and also featured their comments in a new political ad released on Sunday. Trump also thanked the family members “for saying you wanted me to stand with you at Arlington National Ceremony, and take pictures, that it was your request, not mine.”
On Saturday, Harris said in a statement that Arlington National Cemetery “is not a place for politics” and that Trump had “disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.” She also called attention to past instances in which Trump had disparaged fallen servicemembers. “I will always honor the service and sacrifice of all of America’s fallen heroes, who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our beloved nation and our cherished freedoms,” she said. “I mourn them and salute them. And I will never politicize them.”
The White House has also said that neither Harris nor President Biden were invited to the August 26 ceremony, after the Trump campaign and some of the servicemembers’ relatives suggested they had been.
Arlington National Cemetery is a frequent location for official visits by American leaders with presidents often marking Memorial Day and Veterans Day with remarks and a wreath-laying ceremony at the historic site. Generally, the cemetery allows photography by members of the public within its grounds with more specific rules for the media. But Trump’s visit might be in conflict with 32 CFR 553, a federal regulation that states, “Memorial services and ceremonies at Army National Military Cemeteries will not include partisan political activities.”
The campaign’s use of the footage taken on Monday so far appears to be political in nature. Dan Scavino Jr., a senior campaign adviser whose social-media feeds largely consist of ads and clips of campaign rallies, shared a video of Trump at the grave of one servicemember with members of their family.
Trump later shared a video on TikTok featuring footage taken from his Arlington visit, including him visiting graves located in Section 60 with Gold Star family members. The accompanying audio left no doubt that the video was intended as a political message. It featured a voice-over of Trump condemning the Biden administration for its handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal: “We didn’t lose one person in 18 months and then they took over that disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan.”
Although the legal questions surrounding the incident remain open, Trump’s visit has upset at least one Gold Star family. The Times reported that relatives of Master Sergeant Andrew Marckesano have expressed concerns that Trump filmed at his grave site without permission. Marckesano’s headstone can be seen in videos of Trump laying flowers in Section 60 next to the grave of Sergeant Hoover, whose family accompanied the former president to the site.
In a statement to the Times, Marckesano’s sister, Michele, said that their family supports Hoover’s family and others in their quest for more information surrounding the Afghanistan bombing. “However, according to our conversation with Arlington National Cemetery, the Trump campaign staffers did not adhere to the rules that were set in place for this visit to Staff Sergeant Hoover’s gravesite in Section 60, which lays directly next to my brother’s grave,” she said.
This post has been updated.
