At Arlington National Cemetery, an argument broke out between Trump campaign employees and an official.
At Arlington National Cemetery, where the former president took part in a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday, two members of Donald Trump’s campaign crew got into a verbal and physical argument with an official, NPR has discovered.
According to a source with direct knowledge of the occurrence, a cemetery official made an attempt to stop Trump team members from taking pictures and videos in a location designated for the interment of recent American casualties.According to the source, Arlington officials had made it plain that only employees of the cemetery would be permitted to take pictures or videos in Section 60.
The source claims that Trump campaign workers physically and verbally assaulted the cemetery administrator when he attempted to bar them from accessing Section 60.Trump took part in an event remembering the third anniversary of a devastating attack that killed 13 American service members and injured American forces in Afghanistan as they were leaving the nation.
The messy retreat has been attributed by the Trump team to Vice President Harris and President Biden, who is currently the Democratic presidential nominee.
The Trump campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, disputed the idea of a physical altercation in a statement to NPR, saying, “We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”
“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,” Cheung said in a statement.
The Trump administration chose not to release the video right away. Trump’s Section 60 visit is included in a video that the campaign posted on TikTok on Wednesday.
President Trump shared a picture of the Gold Star family he had invited on social media late on Tuesday night. The families thanked the president in the post and stated that they had extended an invitation to the campaign to film in Section 60. However, filming there would still be against federal law, which forbids activity related to political campaigns or elections within graves.
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance refuted the report during a campaign event on Wednesday, saying, “The altercation at Arlington Cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think that there is one.” “Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance refuted the report during a campaign event on Wednesday, saying, “The altercation at Arlington Cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think that there is one.”
“It appears that a staff member at Arlington Cemetery had a minor argument with somebody,” Vance continued, “and they turned, the media has turned this into a national news story.
” Arlington National Cemetery said in a statement to NPR on Tuesday that it “can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.“It appears that a staff member at Arlington Cemetery had a minor argument with somebody,” Vance continued, “and they turned, the media has turned this into a national news story.
” Arlington National Cemetery said in a statement to NPR on Tuesday that it “can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.”“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,” according to the press release.
“Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.” “To protect the identity of the individual involved, no further information about the incident is being released at this time,” Arlington officials revised the statement on Wednesday.