Graves with Memorial Day flags are seen in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 27.
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The US Army said an Arlington National Cemetery employee was “brusquely pushed aside” as she tried to “ensure compliance” with rules prohibiting political activity at the cemetery. However, the employee chose not to press charges against the Trump campaign staffers who allegedly pushed her.
Thursday’s statement came in response to NPR’s coverage of former President Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington and an altercation between his staff and a cemetery worker.
“Participants in the August 26 ceremony and subsequent Section 60 visit were advised of federal law, Army regulations and DoD policies that clearly prohibit political activity on cemetery grounds,” the statement said. “An ANC employee attempting to enforce compliance with these rules was abruptly pushed aside. In keeping with the decorum expected at the ANC, this employee conducted himself professionally and avoided further disruption. The incident was reported to the JBM-HH Police Department, however, the employee subsequently chose not to press charges. Therefore, the Army considers this matter closed.”
The army described the incident as “regrettable” in its statement, adding: “It is also regrettable that the ANC employee and her professionalism were unfairly attacked.”
Because federal law prohibits military personnel from participating in political campaigns, cemetery officials did not negotiate directly with Trump’s campaign about his visit. A source familiar with the incident said cemetery officials worked with staff for Republican Congressman Brian Mast of Florida, who accompanied Trump in Arlington.
Arlington Cemetery officials contacted Mast’s chief of staff, James Langenderfer, directly and gave him a detailed account of the rules, which include no campaign events at the cemetery. They also reiterated that only an official Arlington National Cemetery photographer — not a campaign photographer — could be used in Section 60, the site of the most recent American war dead. The source said Langenderfer told them that the Trump campaign agreed to those rules.
NPR reached out to Mast’s staff to ask if Langenderfer had been informed and passed that information on to the Trump campaign. They did not respond to questions, but instead released a statement.
In the statement to NPR, Mast said, “President Trump did not play politics at Arlington National Cemetery.”
The statement comes a day after Trump shared a TikTok video containing footage from Arlington National Cemetery that likely violates a federal law prohibiting the use of military cemeteries for campaign purposes.
NPR reported that a physical altercation broke out on Monday between Trump campaign staff and an Arlington National Cemetery employee because of this restriction.
This is not the first time that Trump has been accused of politicizing the military, but his campaign team has tried to downplay the events since then.
Trump was in Arlington on Monday to commemorate the third anniversary of an attack in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. troops during the disastrous troop withdrawal. Trump and other Republicans have blamed President Biden and Vice President Harris for the chaos and loss of life.
The 21-second video, posted to Trump’s TikTok account, shows the former president laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and, in several clips, Trump joining members of the Gold Star family at the graves of their loved ones in a part of the cemetery known as Section 60.
“We lost 13 great people – what a terrible day that was,” Trump says to somber music. “We didn’t lose a single person for 18 months, and then they took over the disaster, the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
Trump has claimed for years that there were 18 months during his term with no military casualties, and that’s not true. There were no combat-related deaths in Afghanistan in the 18 months from February 2020 to August 2021, and some of that happened during Biden’s term.
The Trump campaign was barred from filming or taking photographs under Section 60, a federal law that prohibits the use of military cemeteries for campaign events, and two campaign staffers got into a physical and verbal altercation with the Arlington staffer who tried to prevent filming.
In a statement following NPR’s original story on Monday, family members in attendance said they invited Trump and gave permission for his photographer and videographer to document an emotional moment of remembrance.
Some of these family members also spoke at the Republican National Convention, where they sharply criticized Biden and loudly supported Trump.
“Joe Biden may have forgotten that our children died, but we haven’t forgotten – Donald Trump hasn’t forgotten,” Cheryl Juels said at the RNC in Milwaukee in July. Juels is the aunt of Sergeant Nicole Gee, one of the 13 U.S. soldiers killed at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan in 2021.
“Joe Biden owes gratitude and an apology to the men and women who served in Afghanistan. Donald Trump loves this country and will never forget the sacrifices and courage of our soldiers,” she added. “Help us put him back in the White House.”
Although relatives said they agreed with the presence of the cameras, the families have no way to override the rules.
The family of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano, a Green Beret who committed suicide after several combat missions and is buried in Section 60, said, according to conversations with the cemetery, “The Trump campaign staff did not follow the rules established for this visit.”
“We hope that visitors to this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and that these people will be honored, respected and treated accordingly,” it said in a statement.
The Trump campaign team reacts
After the visit to Arlington, the Trump campaign’s reaction took on a malicious tone. A spokesman said the cemetery worker was “obviously suffering from a mental health episode” and promised to release footage of the encounter, but has so far declined to do so.
Republican vice presidential candidate Senator JD Vance of Ohio said on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania on Wednesday that Harris could “go to hell” over the Afghanistan withdrawal and blamed reporters for the campaign controversy, which he described as a “difference of opinion.”
“You people in the media act like Donald Trump did a TV commercial at a grave,” Vance said. “He was there, providing emotional support to many brave Americans who lost loved ones they never should have lost. And there happened to be a camera there, and someone gave him permission to put that camera there.”
Trump repeated that argument on Thursday, doubling down on his attacks on Harris and Biden in a clip from a campaign rally in Michigan that he posted on his campaign’s Trump social media account.
“She doesn’t respect you. Ask the families of the 13 incredible heroes who died during the surrender of Afghanistan – which was surrendered by Kamala and ‘Sleepy Joe’ – whether or not Kamala Harris cares about our young people and our military,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who attended the Arlington events with Trump, apologized in a social media post for sending a campaign fundraiser email that included a photo of him and the former president in Section 60 with the family of Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover.
A photo from the restricted area was posted on Cox’s official Governor X account, and the post is still online.
This is not the first time Trump has been accused of politicizing the military for his personal gain. He has reportedly called dead soldiers “suckers” and “losers,” insulted the late Senator John McCain as a prisoner of war, and recently courted controversy when he said civilian recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom are much better than those who received the Medal of Honor – the nation’s highest military award, which is often awarded posthumously.
