What to Know About the Controversy Over Trump’s Visit to Arlington National Cemetery

By Koh Ewe
Updated: August 29, 2024 10:40 PM EDT | Originally published: August 29, 2024 1:40 AM EDT

The Trump campaign on Tuesday posted a TikTok video of the former President and Republican nominee for President visiting Arlington National Cemetery. “We lost 13 great, great people,” Trump said in the video, over a montage of his visit. “What a horrible day it was.”

But Trump’s visit to the cemetery to commemorate the American troops who died in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021—deaths which Trump has blamed the Biden-Harris Administration for—has become the subject of controversy over reports that Trump campaign staff tussled with cemetery staff and were intent on politicizing the event at the nonpartisan burial ground.

To some, the incident reflects a pattern of insincerity and disrespect from Trump toward those who serve the country, while the Trump campaign has insisted that the story has been mischaracterized and blown out of proportion by the media.

Here’s what to know.

On Tuesday, one day after Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony with other Republicans and family members of the fallen soldiers, NPR reported that two of his campaign staff verbally abused and pushed a cemetery official who tried to stop them from bringing in an external photographer to Section 60, an area where the recently deceased are buried. 

“At that point, the cemetery official decided not to escalate things out of respect for the Gold Star families,” NPR reporter Quil Lawrence said on air on Wednesday. “These staff are quite used to guiding visitors of all kinds around what they consider hallowed ground,” he added. “But our source told me that they have never seen this level of disrespectful behavior at Arlington, ever.”

The source told NPR that Arlington officials had made clear that only cemetery staff were authorized to take photos or film in Section 60. A defense official also told the Associated Press on Wednesday that, before the alleged altercation happened, Trump’s campaign staff had been warned to not take photos. 

Arlington National Cemetery confirmed to NPR that “there was an incident, and a report was filed,” though it declined to share more details.

The cemetery also said that according to federal law, “political campaign or election-related activities” are prohibited in military cemeteries. This includes “photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”

According to the National Cemetery Administration, “political or partisan activities of any nature, including filming of campaign ads, are not permitted on cemetery grounds.”

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing defense officials and internal messages, that Pentagon officials had been “deeply concerned” that Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery would become a “campaign stop,” but they “also didn’t want to block him from coming” out of respect of veterans’ family members who wanted Trump there.

An Army spokesperson said on Thursday in a statement to the media that the visitors to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday were made aware of the laws and regulations that prohibit political activities at the site.

“An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption,” the statement said. “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”

The statement also said that the incident was reported to the police but the cemetery official “subsequently decided not to press charges,” and so “the Army considers this matter closed.”

The progressive group VoteVets called on Trump to fire the members of his staff involved in the reported confrontation with cemetery staff and said: “This whole episode is sickening and [an] affront to all those hundreds of thousands of families who never agreed to allow their deceased loved ones to be dragged into politics.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung denied that there was a physical altercation, telling NPR in a statement that the campaign was “prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.” He also posted on X that the team was given permission to record media during the visit, including a screenshot of what appears to be guidance that said Trump could have an “official photographer and/or videographer.”

"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 to NPR. 

Trump and his allies have decried reports of the incident at Arlington National Cemetery as sensationalized. Trump’s running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance said on Wednesday at a campaign event in Pennsylvania that “the altercation at Arlington Cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think that there is one.” He characterized what happened as “a little disagreement” that “the media has turned…into a national news story.”

In a statement shared by the Trump campaign, family members of the deceased veterans who accompanied Trump at the ceremony said that the former President and his team “conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members.” According to the statement, the family members had given approval for Trump’s videographer and photographer to attend the event, “ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever.”

Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump campaign adviser, who had posted videos on X of the wreath-laying ceremony, said in a statement: “For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed [sic] grounds of Arlington National Cemetery,” the AP reported.

However, allegations that Trump and his allies were using the cemetery visit for political purposes were stoked further after a campaign fundraising email by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox included a photo from the visit, showing Cox and Trump at the wreath-laying ceremony. 

Cox, who had posted the same photo on X on Monday, said Wednesday on X that it “was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign.” The photo’s inclusion in the fundraising email “did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent,” he said, adding that his campaign would be “sending out an apology.”

Michael Tyler, spokesperson for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris—who similarly visited Arlington National Cemetery in May—said in a CNN interview that the reports were “pretty sad when it’s all said and done,” and pointed to Trump’s “history of demeaning and degrading military service members.”

During his presidency, Trump had stirred controversy on multiple occasions for his leaked remarks on veterans to his staffers, including reportedly calling soldiers who died in battle “suckers” and “losers” and asking that wounded veterans be kept out of his military parade.

And earlier this month, Trump was criticized for seemingly comparing the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he gave to a campaign donor, with the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to service members who have distinguished themselves through acts of valor. “It’s actually much better because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor,” Trump said of the Medal of Freedom. “They’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.” Harris’ campaign said at the time that Trump “knows nothing about service to anyone or anything but himself.”