Trump campaign staff had altercation with official at Arlington National Cemetery August 27, 20246:55 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By
Quil Lawrence
Tom Bowman
Two members of Donald Trump's campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation Monday with an official at Arlington National Cemetery, where the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony, NPR has learned.
A source with knowledge of the incident said the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried. The source said Arlington officials had made clear that only cemetery staff members would be authorized to take photographs or film in the area, known as Section 60.
When the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staff from entering Section 60, campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the official aside, according to the source.
Trump participated in an event to mark the third anniversary of a deadly attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan as U.S. forces withdrew from the country; 13 U.S. service members were killed in the attack. The Trump campaign has blamed President Biden and Vice President Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, for the chaotic withdrawal.
In a statement to NPR, Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign's spokesman, strongly rejected the notion of a physical altercation, adding: "We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.
"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," Cheung said in the statement.
The Trump campaign declined to make that footage immediately available.
In a statement to NPR, Arlington National Cemetery said it "can confirm there was an incident, and 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," according to the statement. "Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants."
Another link with someone from VoteVets explains the massive controversy with what happened, and why many veterans are upset about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiuM5tfvS5k
5 Things to Understand about Trump’s Visit to Arlington
The campaign has been confusing the issue. Here’s some clarity.
By Ben Kesling
09/03/2024 02:00 PM EDT
Ben Kesling is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal where he covered military and veterans issues for more than a decade. He served as a Marine Corps infantryman and deployed both to Afghanistan and Iraq. He is the author of Bravo Company, a book about an Army unit’s deployment to Afghanistan.
The debate around Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery has been confusing to many Americans. What’s the big deal with taking photos in a cemetery? Didn’t Trump have a right to pay a visit, especially accompanied by the family of someone buried there?
In this case there’s confusion over not only what happened, but what norms were upended.
A quick recap: Trump and his team were invited to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony by families of troops killed in the last days of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. His team included people who took photos and filmed at the cemetery in ways that violated Army regulations and federal law, including using the cemetery for political purposes. When an Arlington staffer tried to intervene, members of Trump’s team reportedly pushed the staffer aside and continued to photograph.
In the aftermath, Trump’s team released political material using the photos and footage and said it was acceptable because the families had invited him. Those families have defended Trump, with one saying “we invited him to be there.” (That statement was posted on Trump’s social media account along with footage gathered at Arlington which closes with the Trump-Vance campaign designation.)
Why does Arlington have those rules? How badly did Trump break them? And does the families’ defense matter?
Here are five facts about Arlington that can help provide some clarity.
1. Arlington is a special kind of cemetery — even more than you might think.
America has no national religion, but there are a few things in our country that the vast majority of Americans understand as sacred. If death in combat is considered the ultimate civic sacrament, then Arlington is our cathedral.
Visitors to Arlington are welcomed by signs noting the cemetery is “America’s most sacred shrine” and admonitions to “conduct yourselves with dignity and respect at all times.” Army directives say the cemetery aims to “represent the American people for past, present and future generations by laying to rest those few who served our nation with dignity and honor while immersing guests in the cemetery’s living history.”
That means the cemetery is governed by a broad mandate that’s bigger than anything happening in the current moment. The cemetery represents the American people as a whole, not just certain political factions. This unity of mission across the ages is conveyed by the simplicity and conformity of the headstones, showing how each individual sacrifice is part of a larger landscape that unites Americans who served their country from the Revolutionary War to the present.
Arlington isn’t just a monument to past wars. A visit to the cemetery’s 639 acres is an exercise in active remembrance. Though it commemorates the dead, Arlington is a living place that conducts about 30 funeral services and 12 wreath-laying ceremonies a day. That’s nearly 3,000 ceremonies each year that are conducted without incident, according to an Army spokesperson.
2. Arlington does not allow the grounds to be used for politics.
Long-established rules govern who can take photos and film at the cemetery. Those rules are written into federal law and Army directives.
Army regulations state: “Filming or photographing will not be permitted if it conveys the impression that cemetery officials or any visitor or family member is endorsing any product, service or organization. Additionally, ANC will not authorize any filming for partisan, political or fundraising purposes.”
It’s not just blatant partisan activity that is forbidden but anything that gives the impression of partisan or political activities. That means you can’t film an ad for your favorite cola, personal-injury lawyer or politician on those sacred grounds. It’s not just Army regulations that govern the matter, but the Hatch Act, which is federal law. And these rules and laws apply to everyone — including vice presidents and former presidents.
Those rules are drawn up with military exactitude. Every media engagement is coordinated with cemetery staff and officials well in advance, and the staff makes sure people know the rules before events begin.
Arlington officials said they informed all participants in Trump’s visit of the long-standing rules and regulations.
There is no greater sacrifice than giving one’s life in defense of our country. It was my solemn privilege to stand alongside the family of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover at Arlington National Cemetery today as we paid tribute to his legacy and the 12 others who lost their lives… pic.twitter.com/tR6dhpMYsB — Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) August 26, 2024
3. Trump’s team violated the rules.
Trump’s visit was part of a wreath-laying ceremony organized by the family of a service member killed by a suicide bomber during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Family members of those killed in war are known as Gold Star families. Family members of those serving in the military are known as Blue Star families.)
After the wreath-laying ceremony, Trump went with Gold Star families to a part of the cemetery called Section 60. At some point, according to Arlington officials, a cemetery staffer intervened to make sure Trump’s team was adhering to media rules. Neither the Army nor Trump’s team has made clear what prompted the intervention but Army officials have said a member of Trump’s team pushed the cemetery staffer aside when she attempted to “assure adherence to these rules.”
Rather than continue to actively enforce the rules, the staffer who’d been pushed chose to minimize disruption to the cemetery. Her mandate was to respect not only the families hosting the president, but also everyone else visiting the cemetery and the overall dignity of the place.
As a presidential candidate, Trump currently travels with a pool of press photographers. Those photographers did not take pictures of much of his visit in accordance with the cemetery’s rules. That’s why there’s no readily available video or photographs of the altercation.
Trump’s campaign also has its own photographer. In an email, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump’s photographer was authorized by Arlington officials to accompany Trump on the visit, and a post he published on X said Trump’s team could include a “photographer and/or videographer.”
Trump’s campaign has said it is prepared to release video that will exonerate it. However, Cheung did not respond to requests to provide video of the altercation and instead provided videos of military family members supporting Trump and a link to a Trump social media post with the former president saying there was “no conflict or ‘fighting’ at Arlington,” despite the campaign’s previous acknowledgment that some sort of incident took place.
Any argument the Trump team could have made that the campaign photographer wasn’t filming for political purposes was belied when the Trump campaign posted the photos and video on social media and other sites affiliated with his campaign after the event.
Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita insulted the Army further by sending out a social media post of footage from the ceremony with the note that he was “hoping to trigger the hacks” in the Army.
The Army spokesperson, who responded to emails on condition of anonymity, said the service considers the matter closed.
@realDonaldTrump speaks via phone to the family of SSG Ryan Knauss who couldn’t make it today, as he lays flowers at their boys grave … pic.twitter.com/uYuleGUyvH — LaCivita Chris (@LaCivita_C) August 26, 2024
4. Gold Star families can’t change the rules.
Nobody has the power to change or bend Arlington’s rules — not even the family members of the fallen.
Arlington is a place to honor those who have died — people who can no longer voice their beliefs, opinions or preferences. We can’t know whether those men and women buried at Arlington would support any particular political candidate. This is one of the reasons the rules are in place.
If a single family can grant permission for Trump to campaign today in the cemetery then there’s nothing to stop a family from giving permission for another candidate to do the same thing tomorrow. Who’s to stop a family from saying they give permission to do just about anything they want in the cemetery?
Gold Star families can bury their loved ones anywhere. When they choose Arlington they make an active decision to adhere to the rules, regulations and laws of the place. In fact, the reason families choose to bury their kin in Arlington is, in large part, because of those long-established rules and norms. To be interred in Arlington Cemetery is to become part of something larger than oneself and one’s family.
When a family chooses to break established regulations and to use their loved one’s headstone as part of a political exhibition, they’re betraying the very reasons they chose to have their service member buried in Arlington. They’re ignoring the graves to the left and right of their loved one. They’re disregarding all the other people who are visiting the cemetery.
5. These rules matter most in Section 60.
Section 60 is where the war dead from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. It’s the section in Arlington where the most recent generation of troops is memorialized.
When you go to Arlington you find all sorts of people visiting on a given day. You see tourists looking for history, visitors from other countries and Amercians who are just interested in seeing the famous cemetery.
But in Section 60 you find wives, husbands, mothers and fathers. You’ll find sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and comrades who fought in conflict alongside those who now lie beneath the white-marble headstones.
Arlington’s Section 60 is where you find people who come to the cemetery not to reconnect with a lost and distant memory, but to make sure their own recent memories remain alive.
In Section 60, any unauthorized photo op likely includes headstones of someone whose immediate relatives still remember them as a living, breathing person. It includes visitors and the headstones of troops who might not want to be in a political photo op.
For a former president who received multiple draft deferrals during a time of war, reverence for Arlington cemetery and the Americans buried there might not make sense, writes the author. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP
For this reason, in addition to the ban on using photos for political purposes Arlington regulations require organized media to get permission from the next of kin before photographing headstones. The family of at least one deceased service member has objected to his headstone appearing in the photos distributed by the Trump campaign.
Cheung did not respond to questions about whether the campaign sought or received authorization to film headstones, including in Section 60.
Confusion is a hallmark of the Trump campaign apparatus: Create a hubbub, raise questions about what actually happened and in the fog of it all get away with an unprecedented breaking of long-held norms. The confusion over Arlington isn’t a byproduct of that effort, it’s at the center of it.
For a former president who received multiple draft deferrals during a time of war, reverence for Arlington cemetery and the Americans buried there might not make sense. This is the man who reportedly referred to the war dead as “suckers and losers” and recently said the Medal of Honor, the nation’s top medal for combat valor, wasn’t as good as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a civilian honor that’s been turned into a bauble that any president can confer on his supporters.
The continued fallout from the Arlington visit shows that many Americans feel differently, that they want to ensure America’s war dead are honored and Arlington’s sancity preserved.
Trump calls Arlington cemetery incident ‘a made up story’ by Lauren Sforza - 09/03/24 11:57 AM ET Share Post
Former President Trump labeled the reported confrontation at Arlington National Cemetery last week as a “made up story.”
“There was no conflict or ‘fighting’ at Arlington National Cemetery last week. It was a made up story by Comrade Kamala and her misinformation squad,” he wrote Tuesday in a post on Truth Social. “She made it all up to make up for the fact that she and Sleepy Joe have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS for the INCOMPETENT AFGHANISTAN Withdrawal — THE MOST EMBARRASSING DAY IN U.S. HISTORY!!!”
NPR first reported that an official for the cemetery had a confrontation with Trump campaign staff members who were filming and taking photos in Section 60, a restricted area where recently killed soldiers who served in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried.
The Army said last week that the Arlington National Cemetery staffer was trying to enforce rules prohibiting political activities on cemetery grounds when they were pushed aside. The Trump campaign has pushed back on the reporting, saying no physical altercation took place and that they had permission to film there.
Trump said in the post that Vice President Harris and President Biden should have been at the cemetery as well.
“They should have been at Arlington, not on a beach or studying for a Debate. Thank you to my friends, the GREAT GOLD STAR FAMILIES, for revealing the TRUTH OF A BEAUTIFUL DAY OF HONOR,” he wrote, referring to the families of the 13 service members killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021. “Could not have been a nicer moment-And there were no fights or problems, only in the heads of those that are destroying our Country!”
NBC News reported, however, that the families did not invite Biden or Harris to the cemetery to commemorate the anniversary of the attack, citing a White House official and a Harris aide.
Trump also discussed his visit to the cemetery during a Friday campaign stop in Pennsylvania, saying he was not just trying to get publicity for his appearance marking the anniversary of the Kabul airport attack.
“I wasn’t doing it for publicity. I get a lot of publicity,” the former president said. “I would like to get a lot less publicity. I’m the only guy that would hire a public relations agency to get less publicity.”
He also noted he was invited to visit the cemetery and take photos with the families of those killed during the withdrawal.
The Trump campaign shared a statement last week from family members of two of the service members 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.”
Date: September 03, 2024 at 15:48:48 From: Redhart, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Trump campaign staff gets in physical fight With Arlington...
"such a lying turd..."
And only cares about himself. You'll get no argument from me on that point.
Responses:
None
440531
Date: August 31, 2024 at 19:10:56 From: ryan, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Trump campaign staff gets in physical fight With Arlington...
not sure what got set straight by that...he did not have any right to ask rump's people to take pictures and videos, especially pictures and videos that would be used by the rump campaign team in a political ad...and he did not personally see any altercation...so he cannot speak to that...i did see that he is upset and probably needs some maalox or something...rump's people knew what they were doing was wrong and illegal and should have made that clear to those he was there with...
Responses:
None
440529
Date: August 31, 2024 at 18:25:22 From: Redhart, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Trump campaign staff gets in physical fight With Arlington...
My heart goes out to this father and family, and they have every right to invite whoever they wish to honor their loved one that served. No one denied them that.
If he wanted photos and a video of it, Arlington has staff specially trained to take those "respectfully" and within the rules, being cautious about the others buried there and their families who may not want to be disturbed or have their loved one's graves in the shot.
This family has a right to their own political beliefs. They have sacrificed for their country and, even more so, have a right to their opinion.
I will not condemn them or argue with any of this.
What veterans and families are upset about is:
A) The Trump campaign wants to use it in a political campaign advertising. Not okay...that is forbidden by Arlington.
B) That the Trump campaign were offered staff for photos and videos, and declined them. Then pushed an Arlington worker (back, or to the ground..witnesses vary) and didn't give a shit about the rules or why the rules were there.
These buried military men and women do not get to consent or not consent, to being used as political props.
Any gold star family has a right to bring any guests they like to honor their fallen loved one. Again, a well trained staff photographer can even set up a photo of it within the rules of the Cemetary.
Again, my heart goes out to the family and that they were caught up in all of this.
Responses:
None
440528
Date: August 31, 2024 at 18:20:00 From: JFF, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Trump campaign staff gets in physical fight With Arlington...
Date: August 31, 2024 at 18:33:14 From: Redhart, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Trump campaign staff gets in physical fight With Arlington...
I will never disparage a Father's greaving blame, but I personally have a differing opinion. But that's just my opinion. He's earned the right to his.
I hope their hearts heal and honor their son's and their family's sacrifice. I would never invalidate their pain.
I also have a son who fought in Afghanistan. He came back with PTSD from what he saw and went through over there. I've lost a beloved Uncle in Vietnam. I know the pain my family went through with that.
Prayers going out to these families.
I truly hope they are doing this of their own free will and not being used by political actors with other agendas.
Responses:
None
440403
Date: August 29, 2024 at 12:23:52 From: ryan, [DNS_Address] Subject: Re: Trump campaign staff gets in physical fight With Arlington...
X flags NPR story on Trump, Arlington as unsafe by Dominick Mastrangelo - 08/29/24 12:22 PM ET Share Post
The social platform X flagged a story from NPR that outlined the fallout of a reported clash between Trump campaign staffers and Arlington National Cemetery officials earlier this week as potentially “unsafe.”
The story, first reported by the outlet citing anonymous sources, was focused on a reported confrontation between the campaign and cemetery officials after a photographer with former President Trump’s team tried to access a restricted area.
Trump was at the cemetery Monday to mark the anniversary of the Kabul airport attack that killed 13 U.S. service members amid the withdrawal from Afghanistan. His campaign disputed NPR’s account of the incident, denying there was any physical altercation “as described.”
The Army defended the cemetery official after the incident, saying the employee was only trying to enforce the rules that prohibit political activity on the cemetery grounds when they were reportedly shoved aside.
Users who attempted to view the story through a link on X on Thursday were redirected by the platform to a warning page that reads “this may be unsafe.”
“The link you are trying to access has been identified by X or our partners as being potentially spammy or unsafe,” it continues.
The page gives users an option to ignore the warning and continue to the article.
NPR has been a frequent target of Republicans and other conservative critics for years. The public broadcaster recently faced a slew of internal turmoil and external backlash after a top editor at the outlet publicly criticized its editorial practices, accusing it of left-leaning bias.
The outlet stopped posting on X last year after billionaire mogul Elon Musk purchased the platform, previously known as Twitter, months earlier.
A representative for NPR told The Hill Thursday afternoon the outlet had changed the story’s URL when it noticed the blockage. The company said Bobby Allyn, one of its Tech reporters, had received a response from X saying the link’s blockage was a “false positive,” and the issue had been corrected.
The Hill has separately reached out to the social platform for further clarification.