An Arlington National Cemetery official and Trump campaign staffers had an “incident” earlier this week, apparently over the use of a photographer in one of the areas where recent fallen soldiers are buried.
A spokesperson for the cemetery said in a statement, “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. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.”
Trump visited the cemetery on Monday to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony and also to visit the gravesite of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover as part of a tribute to those killed in a 2021 attack in Afghanistan as the U.S. was withdrawing forces from the region. In his presidential campaign, Trump has attacked the Biden administration for the chaotic exit.
Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said that they had permission to have a photographer at the event. The campaign also posted a statement from family members of fallen soldiers, in which they said that they “had given our approval for President Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event, ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever.”
NPR first reported on the incident. Cheung said in a statement to the outlet that “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 also told the outlet that they were prepared to release footage of what happened, but has not done so yet.
NPR cited a source who said that the cemetery official tried to prevent campaign staffers from filling in the area, and that only cemetery staff members were authorized to do so. The source told NPR that a verbal and physical altercation then ensued. Cheung denied there was a physical altercation.
