Graves with flags for Memorial Day are seen in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Monday, May 27, 2024.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
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Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Former President Donald Trump shared a TikTok video including footage from Arlington National Cemetery that likely violates a federal law against using military cemeteries for campaigning purposes. NPR previously reported Trump campaign staffers had a physical altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery staffer on Monday over the restriction.
It’s not the first time Trump has been accused of politicizing the military, but the campaign is seeking to downplay what happened in the aftermath.
Trump was at Arlington Monday to commemorate the third anniversary of an attack in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. servicemembers amidst the disastrous withdrawal of troops. Trump and other Republicans have blamed President Biden and Vice President Harris for the chaos and loss of life.
The 21-second video shows Trump laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and several snippets of Trump joining Gold Star family members at gravesites of their loved ones in a part of the cemetery known as Section 60.
“We lost 13 great great people, what a horrible day it was,” Trump says over somber music. “We didn’t lose one person in 18 months and then they took over the disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan.”
But the Trump campaign was not authorized to film or photograph in Section 60, federal law prohibits the use of military cemeteries for campaign events and two campaign staffers got in a physical and verbal altercation with the Arlington staffer that tried to prevent the filming.
In a statement after NPR’s original story, family members present Monday said they invited Trump and gave approval for his photographer and videographer to document an emotional moment of remembrance.
Some of those family members also spoke at the Republican National Convention, bashing Biden and vocally endorsing Trump.
“Joe Biden may have forgotten that our children died, but we have not forgotten, Donald Trump has not forgotten,” said Cheryl Juels in Milwaukee at the RNC in July. Juels is the aunt of Sgt. Nicole Gee, one of the 13 killed at Abbey Gate in 2021.
“Joe Biden owes the men and women that served in Afghanistan a debt of gratitude and an apology. Donald Trump loves this country and will never forget the sacrifice and bravery of our service members,” she added. “Join us in putting him back in the White House.”
Though the loved ones said they were OK with the cameras present, the families do not have the power to suspend the rules.
NPR has also learned the family of a Green Beret who died by suicide, whose headstone is visible in pictures and videos posted by the campaign, did not give permission to be included.
The Trump campaign responds
In the aftermath of the visit to Arlington, the Trump campaign response has taken on a tone of nastiness. One spokesman said the cemetery staffer was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode,” promising to release footage of the encounter but so far declining to do so.
On the campaign trail in Pennsylvania Wednesday, Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, said Vice President Kamala Harris could “go to hell” over the Afghanistan withdrawal and blamed reporters for the campaign’s controversy that he called a “disagreement.”
“You guys in the media, you’re acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite,” Vance said. “He was there providing emotional support to a lot of brave Americans who lost loved ones they never should have lost. And there happened to be a camera there, and somebody gave him permission to have that camera there.”
Meanwhile, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who attended the Arlington events with Trump, apologized in a social media post for sending a campaign fundraising email with a photo of him and the former president in Section 60 with the family of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover.
Cox’s official gubernatorial X account posted a photo from the restricted area, and the post is still online.
This is not the first time Trump has been accused of politicizing the military for his personal gain. He’s allegedly called dead soldiers “suckers and losers,” insulted the late John McCain for being a prisoner of war and recently stoked controversy for saying civilian Medal of Freedom recipients are much better than those who received the Medal of Honor — the highest military award in the country, often given posthumously.