WASHINGTON — The Army said Thursday that an aide to former President Donald Trump had “abruptly pushed aside” an Arlington National Cemetery employee who had sought to enforce restrictions on taking photos and video at part of the burial ground this week.
Trump and his campaign staff on Monday visited the cemetery, in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, with relatives of victims who died in the terrorist attack on Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The attack killed 13 U.S. service members and about 170 Afghan civilians.
An Army spokesperson defended the employee in a statement, saying the participants in the remembrance ceremony had been “made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”
The employee “who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the spokesperson said. “Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.”
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” the spokesperson added. “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 statement provided more details about what happened as the controversy continued into its third day. The Trump campaign has tried to dismiss the reporting about the confrontation, which could threaten to undermine Trump’s efforts to burnish his image as a champion of the military while criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
The Army spokesperson said that the incident was reported to military police but that the employee decided not to press charges and that the Army considered the matter closed. The statement noted that the cemetery routinely hosts wreath-laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for people and groups who submit requests in advance — nearly 3,000 such public ceremonies a year — “without incident.”
Asked for comment Thursday, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said reporting that an aide pushed the cemetery employee pushed wasn’t true.
“False. Not even remotely true, and this person is a liar,” he said. “As someone who was there, this employee was the one who initiated physical contact that was unwarranted and unnecessary.”
Asked about the Army’s statement, Cheung said, “This individual was the one who initiated physical contact and verbal harassment that was unwarranted and unnecessary.”
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump responded for the first time on camera to criticism of his cemetery visit, saying that a family “asked me whether or not I would stand for a picture at the grave of their loved one who should not have died.”
Trump said that he did not initiate the photo. “While I was there, I didn’t ask for a picture,” he said, “While I was there, they said, ‘Sir, could we have a picture at the grave?’”
At a campaign rally in Michigan on Thursday, Trump later said the event at Arlington National Cemetery was not for campaigning.
“I go there, they ask me to have a picture, and they say I was campaigning. The one thing I get is plenty of publicity. I don’t need that,” he said.
The cemetery confirmed Tuesday that an incident had occurred during Trump’s visit. Two Defense Department officials told NBC News that the Trump aide pushed the cemetery employee out of the way in order to take photos and video at Section 60, where service members killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried.
Although military police arrived while Trump’s motorcade was there, the police didn’t obtain a formal statement from his team, the defense officials said.
Federal regulations bar “partisan political activities” at memorial services at Army cemeteries.
Arlington National Cemetery provided Trump officials days ago with rules that outlined what they could and couldn’t do at the cemetery.
The rules, obtained by NBC News, said gravesite visits by families and guests must follow the cemetery’s established policies for Section 60. They also said, “Photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support, of a partisan political candidate’s campaign are NOT permitted on the [Arlington National Cemetery] installation.”
NPR first reported that two Trump campaign staff members had a confrontation with a cemetery official who tried to prevent them from filming and taking photos, which typically is restricted in Section 60.
Cheung said this week that the campaign was willing to release video to support its denial of some of the details in the reporting.
“There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said in a statement. “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 followed up in a statement on X saying Trump had permission to have a photographer there. Trump posted a TikTok video of the ceremony, and his campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita also posted a video on X of Trump laying flowers at a grave.
NBC News reported Wednesday that family members invited Trump to take part in the commemoration, where he posed for a photo beside the grave of Marine Staff Sgt. Darin “Taylor” Hoover. Hoover’s mother, Kelly Barnett, told NBC News that she gave permission for the visit to be documented.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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