WASHINGTON — An aide to Donald Trump “abruptly pushed aside” an Arlington National Cemetery employee on Monday when the former president attended a commemoration with family members of U.S. service members killed in the 2021 Kabul airport attack during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, an Army spokesperson said Thursday.
The Trump aide pushed the cemetery employee out of the way in order to take photos and video at Section 60, where service members killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried, two Defense Department officials said.
Military police were called and wrote up an incident report, but they are not expected to pursue the matter further. Although the police arrived at the scene while Trump’s motorcade was there, they didn’t obtain a formal statement from his team, the officials said.
The cemetery employee does not intend to press charges, and the Army considers the matter closed, the Army spokesperson said in a statement.
The cemetery conducts nearly 3,000 such public ceremonies a year without incident, the spokesperson said, adding that the participants in the commemoration on Monday “were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”
A cemetery employee “who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the spokesperson said. “Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.”
After the incident was reported to military police, “the employee subsequently decided not to press charges. Therefore, the Army considers this matter closed,” the spokesperson said, calling the incident “unfortunate.” The statement added that “it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.”
Asked for comment Thursday, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said that the reporting was not true.
“False. Not even remotely true and this person is a liar,” he said. “As someone who was there, this employee was the one who initiated physical contact that was unwarranted and unnecessary.”
Asked for comment on the Army’s statement, Cheung said, “This individual was the one who initiated physical contact and verbal harassment that was unwarranted and unnecessary.”
The cemetery confirmed Tuesday that an incident had occurred during Trump’s visit, in which he and victims’ family members marked the third anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate, which killed 13 service members.
NPR first reported that two Trump campaign staff members had a confrontation with a cemetery official who tried to prevent them from taking photos and filming, which typically is restricted in Section 60.
Cheung said earlier this week that the campaign was willing to release video to support its denial of some of the details in the report.
“There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said in a statement. “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 followed up in a statement on X saying Trump had permission to have a photographer there. Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita posted a video on X of Trump laying flowers at a grave, and Trump posted a TikTok video of the ceremony as well.
Federal regulations bar “partisan political activities ” at memorial services at Army cemeteries.
Arlington National Cemetery provided rules, obtained by NBC News, to Trump officials days ago, which outlined what they could and couldn’t do at the cemetery on Monday.
The rules said, for example, that gravesite visits by families and guests must follow the cemetery’s established policies for Section 60. Another rule provided to Trump aides also said, “Photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support, of a partisan political candidate’s campaign are NOT permitted on the [Arlington National Cemetery] installation.”
NBC News reported Wednesday that family members invited Trump to take part in the commemoration, where Trump posed for a photo beside the grave of Marine Staff Sgt. Darin “Taylor” Hoover. Hoover’s mother, Kelly Barnett, told NBC News that she gave permission for the visit to be documented.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
