Trump campaign, Arlington National Cemetery staff clash at event (2024)

An Arlington National Cemetery employee was "abruptly pushed aside" by a member of Donald Trump's campaign staff while trying to warn them about filming at the burial site for military members, the US Army said.

The official was attempting to ensure Trump and campaign staff participating in a wreath-laying ceremony were adhering to rules, "which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds".

"This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked," a US Army spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.

The Trump campaign denied the allegations and said it received permission from families of fallen service members to film. Federal law prevents use of the cemetery for political campaigning and the US Army said participants were warned of the rules in advance.

Though the incident was reported to the police, the employee decided not to pursue charges, according to the statement. The Army said it considered the matter closed.

Trump was at the memorial to honour the 13 US military service members who were killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago Monday.

The event took place in what’s known as Section 60 where troops killed fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried

Trump alleged at a campaign rally in Michigan on Thursday that he had been asked to pose for a photo at the site after the memorial by family members of the soldiers who had died.

He said that he then read later that night "that I was using the site to politic".

"I go there, they ask me to have a picture and they say I was campaigning," he said. "The one thing I get plenty of is publicity. I don't need that. I don't need the publicity."

NPR reported earlier that two members of Trump’s campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the worker aside when she tried to prevent filming or photographing.

Defence officials told CBS, the BBC's US news partner, that some Trump campaign staff were unprofessional and both verbally and physically aggressive towards the cemetery official.

Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, disputed that there was a physical altercation and said the campaign was prepared to release video to confirm its account.

The campaign did share some footage of the visit on social media on Tuesday, but the alleged altercation was not included.

In his statement, Mr Cheung said: "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."

The tone of that statement, and further attacks by Trump’s running mate JD Vance criticising coverage of the episode, have added further fuel to the row.

Some veterans’ groups have accused Trump of using the graves of fallen soldiers as a campaign stunt at America’s most hallowed ground to its war dead.

While the families of two soldiers killed in Afghanistan accompanied Trump at the ceremony and said they approved of the photos, the rules do not allow families to give permission for filming in the cemetery.

Trump has repeatedly campaigned on his claim that the Biden-Harris administration lost control in Afghanistan, blaming them for the deaths of the soldiers and their families' heartache.

He returned to this allegation at his Michigan rally on Thursday: "Joe Biden killed their children by incompetence - should have never happened. Kamala killed their children."

In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared a statement from family members of the fallen soldiers honoured at the event, expressing their approval.

“We 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,” the families said in Trump's post.

But that goes against federal policy, an Arlington National Cemetery spokesperson told the BBC.

US law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities on the grounds of military cemeteries, including photographers, content creators or anyone directly supporting a partisan political candidate's campaign, the cemetery spokesperson said.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who is running for re-election, also attended the ceremony and posted a photo on X of himself with Trump and the family of Staff Sgt Darin Hoover, of Utah, who was killed during the withdrawal.

But he later came under fire for using the photo in a campaign email, forcing an apology post via X on Wednesday that acknowledged it should not have been sent: "This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign."

Sgt Hoover's grave is next to that of Master Sgt Andrew Marckesano, who died by suicide after six tours in Afghanistan in 2020.

Sgt Marckesano's sister said that despite her family's support for the Hoover family, Trump campaign staff "did not adhere to the rules that were set in place for this visit".

She urged visitors to remember that those buried there were "real people" who should be "honoured and respected".