Trump team pushes back on reported confrontation at Arlington Cemetery

The Trump campaign is blaming an Arlington National Cemetery official for a reported confrontation during the former president's visit there on Monday to mark the anniversary of the Kabul airport attack that killed 13 U.S. service members amid the Afghanistan withdrawal.

The incident, first reported by NPR, stemmed from the presence of a photographer with Trump’s camp and broader concerns about election-related activities in a military cemetery. 

Arlington National Cemetery confirmed an incident took place and a report was filed, but provided no other details.

“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,” the cemetery said in a statement. “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.”

NPR, citing an anonymous source, reported that a cemetery official tried to stop Trump staffers from filming and photographing in an area of the cemetery where soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried, known as Section 60. The source told NPR that Trump staffers pushed the official aside when they tried to stop campaign officials from entering the area.

Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, denied there was any physical altercation "as described."

“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 a statement.

Cheung shared a screenshot on social media of a message that he said was confirmation that Trump was allowed to have “an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool.”

In a separate statement, senior Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita, who served in the Marines, claimed an individual tried to “physically prevent” Trump’s team from accompanying him on Monday.

“Whoever this individual is spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces, and they are disrespecting everyone who paid the price for defending our country,” LaCivita said.

The Trump campaign also shared a statement from family members of Darin Taylor Hoover and Nicole Gee, who were among those killed in the Abbey Gate bombing, which also killed an estimated 170 Afghan civilians.

“The president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members, especially our beloved children,” the five family members said.

Trump on Monday attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark the third anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and was joined by family members of some of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed at the Kabul airport.

Following the wreath-laying ceremony, Trump walked to Section 60 with some of the family members. That portion was closed to the press, although Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R), who was there on Monday, posted a photo with Trump and some family members giving a thumbs up in the cemetery.

Trump and his campaign have repeatedly attacked President Biden over the Afghanistan withdrawal, referring to it as the most “embarrassing moment” in the nation’s history and seeking to turn it into a campaign issue. Trump and his allies have continued those attacks since Vice President Harris replaced Biden atop the Democratic ticket, pointing to Harris’s own comments that she was the last person in the room with Biden as he finalized his decision on the withdrawal.

Family members of the 13 service members killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal spoke on stage at the Republican National Convention, where they criticized Biden and said Trump had shown more sympathy for their loss.

Tara Suter contributed