A U.S. Army spokesperson says an employee at Arlington National Cemetary was “pushed” during former President Donald Trump’s visit.
In a statement on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Army said, “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,” it continued.
Finally, the statement said, “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. 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.”
On Monday, Trump visited Arlington to lay a wreath in honor of the service members who were killed in a suicide bombing during the evacuation from Afghanistan.
However, the trip has been marred by a report that two members of Trump’s campaign were involved in some sort of physical altercation. The incident began when photographers tried to record the former president’s visit to the area where military casualties are buried.
NPR reported the incident was caused by a staffer trying to prevent “filming and photographing in the section.”
As the cemetery notes, “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… Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
Trump campaign Steven Cheung told a different story in a statement, saying, “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.”
Still, Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler called the incident “pretty sad.”
“Listen, this is what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team,” Tyler told CNN.
He added, “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.”
