Donald Trump's campaign was warned about not taking photographs before an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath-laying ceremony earlier this week to honour service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, a defence official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter concerning Monday's events. It came a day after NPR reported, citing a source with knowledge of the incident, that two Trump campaign staff members "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.
The defence official told the AP that the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation. 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.
Arlington National Cemetery is the resting place for more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their families. Cemetery officials said in a statement 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.
"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 adviser, noted that Trump was there at the invitation of the families of the service members who were killed in the airport bombing. The Trump campaign 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."
"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," he said in a written statement, misspelling the word hallowed. "Whoever this individual is, spreading these lies are dishonouring the men and women of our armed forces."
Michael Tyler, a spokesperson for Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris, called the reports "pretty sad when it's all said and done."
"This is what we've come to expect from Donald Trump and his team," Tyler said on CNN. "Donald Trump is a person who wants to make everything all about Donald Trump. He's also somebody who has a history of demeaning and degrading military service members, those who have given the ultimate sacrifice."
Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia has called on cemetery officials to release more information about what happened Monday.
"It's sad but all too expected that Donald Trump would desecrate this hallowed ground and put campaign politics ahead of honouring our heroes," he said. "His behaviour and that of his campaign is abhorrent and shameful."
Trump's running mate JD Vance was asked about the incident Wednesday at a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, and said that "apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member, had a little disagreement with somebody" and "the media has turned this into a national news story."
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 terror attack. "She can go to hell," Vance said.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
A Pentagon investigation into the deadly attack 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. But critics have slammed the Biden administration for the catastrophic evacuation, saying it should have started earlier than it did.
Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox faced criticism Wednesday for including a photo of him and Trump at the Arlington ceremony in a campaign email soliciting donations for his reelection bid. One of the victims in the suicide bombing was Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, a Utah resident.
Cox's campaign has apologized for using the photo and politicizing the graveside ceremony.
"This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign," the governor wrote in a post on X. "It did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent."
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in New York and Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.
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