Trump’s Arlington Cemetery Fight Has Now Angered the Military
The Army has weighed in on the Trump campaign’s Arlington National Cemetery dispute, and it’s siding with the gravesite official.
A spokesperson for the Army said in a statement Thursday that the military organization believed the official had been “abruptly pushed aside” and “unfairly attacked” by Trump staffers.
“Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the Army spokesperson said.
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” they continued. “ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.”
The Arlington National Cemetery official who confronted the campaign filed a report over the potentially felonious behavior but declined to press charges, reportedly fearing possible retaliation from Trump’s rabid supporters, according to The New York Times’s Maggie Haberman. The army said it considers the matter closed.
The military’s judgment follows a multiday scandal for the Republican presidential nominee after he was caught red-handed Tuesday filming video in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, where recent military casualties are buried. Campaign staffers reportedly launched into a verbal and physical fight with cemetery officials, who had asked the campaign to stop videotaping. Federal law prohibits politically related activities in the cemetery, including taking photos and videos in support of a political campaign.
The Trump campaign claimed that they had been given permission to videotape by the families of fallen service members, but unfortunately for Trump, that doesn’t change federal law.
Instead, the footage was immediately transformed into a social media–oriented campaign video, where Trump can be seen laying flowers down at a grave and taking photos with people while giving a thumbs-up to the camera.
Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita torched the cemetery official after the incident was first reported, referring to her in a statement as a “despicable individual” and questioning her mental health.
Trump’s anti-military rhetoric has been a point of contention for the MAGA candidate in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the reputed Vietnam-era draft dodger came under fire for arguing that the Presidential Medal of Freedom he awarded to one of his billionaire donors was “much better” than the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor. That comment rubbed veterans the wrong way, who connected Trump’s disrespectful rhetoric to a 2020 Atlantic report that caught the former president repeatedly referring to fallen soldiers as “suckers and losers.”
This story has been updated.