Army defends Arlington National Cemetery staffer ‘abruptly pushed aside’ by Trump aides

WASHINGTON — An Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” in an altercation with former President Donald Trump’s staff during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, but she declined to press charges, an Army spokesman said Thursday.

The Army spokesman said the cemetery employee was trying to make sure those participating in Monday’s wreath-laying ceremony to mark the third anniversary of the attack were following the rules, which “clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”

A TikTok video of the visit that was later shared by Trump shows scenes of him at the cemetery and includes a voiceover of the Republican presidential nominee blaming the Biden administration for the “disaster” of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

“This employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption,” the Army spokesman’s statement said. “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”

The incident was reported to the police, but because the employee decided not to press charges, the Army said it considered the matter closed.

The controversy comes as Trump has been working to tie his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, to the chaos of the Afghanistan War withdrawal with just over two months until Election Day. The suicide bombing at the Kabul airport, which killed 13 American service members and more than 170 Afghans on Aug. 26, 2021, was one of the lowest points of the Biden administration and followed a withdrawal commitment and timeline that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban the previous year.

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Families of three of the slain service members had invited Trump to the ceremony, saying the former president knew their children’s stories and blaming the Biden administration for their deaths. Some of the families of these service members spoke out in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, in part to blunt criticism that Trump wasn’t supportive enough of veterans.

The family members initially struggled to arrange Trump’s visit to the cemetery, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The families had reached out to McCaul because the cemetery had been giving them “a hard time” about coordinating the ceremony with Trump, McCaul’s spokesperson Leslie Shedd said Thursday.

The families said the Army would only allow the ceremony at a specific time that did not work for everyone’s schedule, among other conditions, Shedd said. McCaul then reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson for assistance and tracked the matter until it was resolved, Shedd said.

“I was furious to hear their request to have President Trump join them to commemorate the anniversary of Taylor’s death was being stymied, along with several of the other family members of U.S. servicemembers killed at Abbey Gate,” said McCaul in a statement. “Gold Star families have already suffered enough.”

The Trump campaign has been facing blowback since an NPR report said that two Trump campaign staff members on Monday had “verbally abused and pushed” aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Federal law prohibits campaign or election-related activities within Army national military cemeteries.

The Trump campaign has claimed the Republican presidential nominee’s team was granted access to have a photographer and has contested the allegation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official.

Photos of the cemetery visit showed Trump standing by the graves and flashing a thumbs-up sign next to relatives of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover and Sgt. Nicole Gee. He also laid wreaths for Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, whose family was not present.

After leaving Arlington on Monday, Trump traveled to Michigan and told an audience of National Guard members and their families in Detroit that the deadly attack was “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.”

“Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world,” Trump said that day.

The family of a decorated Green Beret whose grave appeared in the photos of Trump’s visit issued a statement expressing support for the families who lost loved ones in the Kabul airport bombing, but asking for understanding for the concerns from relatives of service members whose graves were near them.

“We hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and that they are honored and respected accordingly,” said the statement, which was sent by the sister of Silver Star recipient Master Sgt. Andrew C. Marckesano on behalf of the family.

Master Sgt. Marckesano was deployed overseas six times and died in 2020.

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The TikTok video shared by Trump shows several clips of his visit to the cemetery. As a guitar strums in the background, there is a voiceover of him saying, “We lost great, great people. What a horrible day it was. We didn’t lose one person in 18 months, and then they took over. That disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan.”

There was an 18-month stretch that saw no combat, or “hostile,” deaths in Afghanistan, but it included about six months of the Biden administration.

A defense official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said that the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation.

The Trump campaign pushed back on any notion that the cemetery official had been unfairly targeted.

“This individual was the one who initiated physical contact and verbal harassment that was unwarranted and unnecessary,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung. “As the Army has said, they consider this matter closed. President Trump was there to support the Gold Star families and honor the sacrifices their loved ones made. Where was Kamala Harris?”

Cheung had earlier said the team had gotten permission for a photographer and disparaged the cemetery official as having been “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.”

The Trump campaign also posted a message signed by relatives of two of the service members killed in the bombing that said “the president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members, especially our beloved children.”

Fred Wellman, a 22-year Army veteran who served in Iraq and who is supporting Harris for president, said the Army should not have put all of the weight on the Arlington National Cemetery staffer and let the issue go after the staffer decided not to press charges.

“Everyone who is a veteran who served since 9/11 is one to two degrees of separation from someone buried in Section 60,” he said. “The Army is the keeper of that place for us.”

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, dismissed the controversy as “somebody at Arlington Cemetery” having “had a little disagreement with somebody.” He instead tried to focus on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling Harris “disgraceful” for not firing anyone for the deaths of service members in the Islamic State terror attack. “She can go to hell,” Vance said.

A Pentagon investigation into the deadly attack concluded that the suicide bomber acted alone and that those killings were not preventable. But critics have slammed the Biden administration for the catastrophic evacuation, saying it should have started earlier than it did.

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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.