Former President Donald Trump latest attempt to quell the controversy sparked when one of his campaign staffers pushed an Arlington National Cemetery worker is by calling it a “made up story” spread by Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies—even though the Army has confirmed the incident happened.
Donald Trump visits Arlington Cemetery to pay tribute to the 13 servicemembers killed during the ... [+]
Trump denied in a Truth Social post Tuesday there was any “conflict or ‘fighting’” at the cemetery during Trump’s visit there last Monday to commemorate the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, insisting “it was a made up story by Comrade Kamala and her misinformation squad.”
The Army said last week that a Trump staffer “abruptly pushed aside” a female Arlington worker attempting to stop his campaign from taking photos and video in a restricted area of the cemetery, known as Section 60, where service members killed in recent wars are buried, as federal law prohibits photography “for partisan, political or fundraising purposes” at Arlington.
The Army made the statement after NPR first reported on the alleged altercation shortly after Trump’s visit to the cemetery last Monday, citing a source familiar, and there is no indication Harris or her team were involved in the incident or subsequent reporting of its occurrence.
Trump also claimed Tuesday Harris and her allies “made up” the story to distract from the fact she didn’t visit the cemetery.
Despite Trump’s suggestion that Harris and President Joe Biden purposely avoided Arlington, an unnamed White House official and a Harris aide told NBC News neither Harris nor Biden were invited to commemorate the third anniversary of the attack by the families of service members killed.
Trump defended his visit to the cemetery in an interview later Tuesday, telling conservative podcast host Lex Fridman he was invited to the cemetery by families of service members killed in the Abbey Gate bombing, insisting he “did it for them.”
Trump’s visit prompted widespread backlash from veterans, Gold Star families and Harris after photos and video of him in Section 60 were made public, including an image of Trump standing behind a group of headstones giving a thumbs up to the camera. Harris on Saturday accused Trump of having “disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt” in a statement posted to her X account, adding Arlington is “not a place for politics.” Trump has sought to blame Harris and Biden for the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and has met and sympathized with the family members of troops killed at Abbey Gate who have also expressed disappointment and outrage about the Biden administration’s handling of the end of the war. Over the weekend, the Trump campaign published a statement signed by the families of seven of the 13 service members killed, alleging Harris “disgracefully twisted this sacred moment into a political ploy” and “bears responsibility for the deaths of our sons and daughters” in her role as vice president.
Trump Staffers Reportedly Had Physical Altercation With Arlington National Cemetery Official (Forbes)