Former US president and the Republican Party’s presidential candidate Donald Trump was embroiled in controversy on Wednesday after a report that his entourage shoved staff during a politicized visit to the US’ most hallowed resting place for its war dead.
US National Public Radio reported late the previous day that an Arlington National Cemetery official tried to prevent the Republican’s aides from filming and photographing in a section where those killed in recent wars are buried — and where filming is banned.
Trump staffers responded by shoving and verbally abusing the employee, the report said.
Photo: AFP
Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday confirmed there had been an “incident” at the location, after the 78-year-old Republican presidential candidate’s visit on Monday.
Accompanied by top election aides, Trump was taking part in a wreath-laying with family members of some of the 13 service members killed in Kabul in 2021 during the desperate last hours of the US pullout from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year war against the Taliban.
Trump was invited to the ceremony by the families. He has made criticism of US President Joe Biden’s handling of the final US retreat from Afghanistan a keynote of his re-election campaign, arguing that he would have managed the withdrawal in the face of a sudden and complete Taliban victory better.
The withdrawal was made as part of a peace deal signed by the Trump administration with the Taliban in Doha in February 2020.
After the visit to Arlington cemetery, Trump’s campaign posted a photo of the former president standing with the relatives and giving a thumbs-up gesture.
Arlington National Cemetery, just outside Washington, said “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.”
The cemetery “reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants,” it said.
Trump’s campaign comanager Chris LaCivita issued a very different interpretation of the dispute, saying a “despicable individual” had blocked the former president’s team.
It is “a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery,” he said.
Trump’s running mate, US Senator J.D. Vance, accused the media of “creating a story where I really don’t think that there is one.”
“There is verifiable evidence that the campaign was allowed to have a photographer there,” Vance said in Pennsylvania.
Trump also posted a statement on social media attributed to relatives of victims of the 2021 bombing in Kabul, which said they had approved having Trump’s media team present.
The Abbey Gate suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport killed scores of Afghans and 13 US troops — the last US troops to die in that war.
The uproar over the Arlington incident is the latest in a long line of controversies over Trump’s relationship with the military.
While often touting his support for the armed forces, he privately mocked the war dead while president and did not want to be seen near military amputees, according to his former chief of staff.
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