Arlington cemetery official ‘abruptly pushed aside’ in Trump staff altercation won’t press charges
An Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” during an altercation with former President Trump’s staff but declined to press charges, an Army spokesman said Thursday.
A statement said the cemetery employee was trying to make sure those participating in the wreath-laying ceremony earlier this week were following the rules.
“This employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption,” the statement said. The incident was reported to the police, but the employee decided not to press charges. The Army said it considered the matter closed.
Trump’s campaign had been warned about not taking photographs before the altercation at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, a Defense Department official told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said that the Trump campaign had been warned before its arrival and the altercation about not taking photographs in Section 60 of the cemetery. Section 60 is the burial site for military personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Trump was at Arlington on Monday at the invitation of some of the families of the 13 service members who were killed in the Kabul airport bombing exactly three years prior. He was photographed smiling and giving a thumbs gesture with family members at gravesites, with the markers of other fallen servicemembers distinguishable in the images and mourners at other sites visible in the background.
The deadly bombings came hours after Western intelligence agencies warned of a potential attack.
Cemetery officials had previously acknowledged that “an incident” had occurred and a report had been filed, but it did not address details of what had happened. They declined to share the report.
“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 officials’ statement said. “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.”
Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung said the Republican presidential candidate’s team was granted access to have a photographer. He contested the allegation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official and disparaged the official.
“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.
Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign advisor, said Trump was there at the invitation of the families of the service members killed in the airport bombing. The Trump campaign posted a message signed by relatives of two of the service members that said “the president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity.”
“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 grounds of Arlington National Cemetery,” LaCivita said in a written statement, misspelling the word hallowed, and saying the cemetery official was lying.
The Army statement noted the attacks against the Arlington National Cemetery, or ANC, staff member.
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” it said. “ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.”
In Afghanistan, Taliban militants could threaten major cities unless President Biden’s administration can progress on a peace deal by May, top U.S. commanders said.
Michael Tyler, a spokesperson for Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, said the reports of the altercation were “what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team.”
“Donald Trump is a person who wants to make everything all about Donald Trump,” Tyler said on CNN on Wednesday. “He’s also somebody who has a history of demeaning and degrading military service members, those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.”
Democrats have questioned Trump’s attitudees toward service members for years, particularly after he said of former prisoner of war and then-Sen. John McCain in 2015: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
A Pentagon investigation into the deadly attack at the Kabul airport concluded that the suicide bomber acted alone and that the deaths of more than 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were not preventable.
The military withdrawal from Afghanistan was set in motion by Trump before he left office. His administration made a deal with the Taliban in negotiations that did not include the Afghan government.
Gomez Licon and Copp write for the Associated Press. Los Angeles Times staff contributed to this report.
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