The Army came out in defense of Arlington National Cemetery over an incident involving the Trump campaign this week where an official was “abruptly pushed aside” at a wreath-laying ceremony.
“An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” an Army spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. “Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.”
The spokesperson said the unnamed female employee decided not to press charges, so the Army “considers this matter closed.”
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism [have] been unfairly attacked,” the statement said.
NPR reported this week that two Trump campaign staffers “verbally abused and pushed” aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them from using cameras in Section 60, the site at the Virginia burial grounds for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A defense official told The Associated Press that the Trump campaign was warned about not taking pictures in the section before the incident happened. Former President Donald Trump was invited to the cemetery Monday by some of the families of the 13 service members who died in the airport bombing in Kabul three years ago as U.S. forces were leaving Afghanistan.
Cemetery officials said in a statement, “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 statement added, “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.”
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung maintains they were given permission to have a photographer. He bashed the worker who tried to stop the photography as “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.”
Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita also defended the GOP nominee’s team.
“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 [hallowed] grounds of Arlington National Cemetery,” Mr. LaCivita said.
He added, “Whoever … is spreading these lies [is] dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces and [is] disrespecting everyone who paid the price for defending our country.”
The campaign told Axios on Thursday that it was “weighing options” on whether to release footage of the incident.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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