Donald Trump lays a wreath alongside Marine Corporal Kelsee Lainhart (Ret.) and and US Marine Corps’ Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews (Ret.) at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on August 26, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia.
Photo: AFP
Two members of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign staff had a “verbal and physical altercation” with an Arlington National Cemetery official during a visit by Trump this week, NPR reported on Tuesday.
Trump on Monday participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery honouring the 13 service members killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Later in Detroit, Trump blamed Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival for the White House, and President Joe Biden for what he termed a “catastrophic” withdrawal.
Photo: AFP
Citing an unnamed source, NPR reported that when a cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staffers from filming and photographing in an area where service members are buried, the Trump staff “verbally abused and pushed the official aside”.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung disputed the report. “There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said.
“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.”
Arlington National Cemetery confirmed in a statement that an incident had occurred and that 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,” the cemetery said.
It did not respond to requests for a copy of the report or an explanation of why the Trump campaign was allowed to visit the cemetery as part of his campaign.
-Reuters