Officials with former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign are denying reports that they sparred with staff at Arlington National Cemetery during an event Monday, insisting they had permission for photo ops and meetings at the memorial site.
The Republican presidential nominee visited the Virginia cemetery to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony and meet with family members of troops killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.
He also posed for photos with those individuals in Section 60 of the cemetery, where many troops killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried. Shots of Trump smiling and giving a thumbs-up sign alongside service members’ tombstones drew criticism from opponents who accused him of politicking at the hallowed site.
NPR reported on Tuesday that during the visit, a cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in Section 60, but the individual was verbally abused and shoved aside.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung wrote on social media that the NPR account was untrue and that “we were granted access to have a photographer there.”
Republican staffers also posted a message from five family members of fallen troops who said they had given approval for photos to be taken with them and “we are deeply grateful to the [former] president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief.”
In a statement, Arlington National Cemetery confirmed that a report had been filed on the altercation, but offered no further details.
“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.”
Trump’s appearance at Arlington came on the three-year anniversary of the killing of 13 U.S. service members at Hamid Karzai International Airport, during the final days of the American military presence in Afghanistan. Republican officials and family members of the fallen troops have repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden for his decisions leading up to the suicide bombing that killed the service members as well as 170 Afghan civilians.
Shortly after Trump’s visit to Arlington, family members joined Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance on a media call accusing Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — the Democratic nominee for president — of abandoning military families and Afghan civilians by too quickly pulling troops out of Afghanistan.
The cemetery fight is the latest in a series of military controversies on the presidential campaign trail.
Last week, Trump backtracked on comments he made during a New Jersey speech where he said the civilian Presidential Medal of Freedom is “better” than the military’s Medal of Honor, awarded for battlefield valor. The former president clarified that both medals are prestigious, but that the military award, which requires an individual’s life to be in danger, is “the ultimate” honor.
GOP officials have spent the last several weeks attacking Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for a series of questions surrounding his 24 years in the National Guard. They have accused him of using the wrong rank in public speeches and leaving his unit ahead of a deployment to Iraq.
Officials with the Harris campaign have denied those charges, and Walz spoke proudly of his military service during the Democratic National Convention last week.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
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