Trump continued to defend his trip to Arlington National Cemetery this week on Saturday, even though he was getting more and more negative feedback, including from Vice President Kamala Harris, who said the former president “cannot understand anything other than service to himself.”
In a long post on social media on Saturday, Harris said that veterans, service members, and their families “should be honored, never put down, and treated with nothing less than our highest respect and gratitude.” “And I believe that no one should ever again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States of America if they can’t do this simple, holy duty.”
As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times. It is a solemn place; a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 31, 2024
It is not a place for politics.
And…
On Monday, Trump went to the cemetery after placing a wreath to remember the 13 US soldiers who died in the 2021 bombing at Kabul International Airport. This caused a lot of controversy. The Army reprimanded Trump for using video and pictures from the visit in his campaign, which some say broke the rules that say you can’t do political things on holy ground.
The Army said that people at the ceremony were “made aware of federal laws” about political action and that a cemetery worker who “attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside.”
After Harris’s speech, the former president talked about how much the parents of service members killed in the airport bombing appreciated their help. In videos shared with Truth Social, the parents said bad things about Harris and President Joe Biden but good things about Trump.
Mother of Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, Jaclyn Schmitz, said in her video, “Kamala, your statement is nothing more than a political spin to help you look better in your race for president against Donald Trump.” You’ve never been in our shoes for a day. Our children were killed because of how you ran the government, and you are partly to blame.
Trump's Arlington Cemetery Controversy: Gold Star Families Stand By Him Amid Harris' Criticismhttps://t.co/NcsaIN2iGK
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 2, 2024
In the same way, Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez’s mother, Coral Doolittle, called Harris and Biden the ones who “murdered our kids.”
As Doolittle said, “They called the withdrawal in Afghanistan a success, but for us it was just sad and a shame.”
In a different video, Darin Hoover, Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover’s father, said, “The events that happened on August 26, 2024, with President Trump at Arlington National Cemetery, were solemn and in keeping with the reverence and respect that is given to all members of our military that are buried there.”
That day, Hoover said, “We asked the Trump team to take videos and pictures of our time there.”
The vice president’s statement on Saturday is the first time she has directly addressed the issue. She is doing this to show how different she is from her opponent before their September 10 debate. In an earlier interview on CNN, Michael Tyler, who is in charge of communications for the Harris campaign, called the event “pretty sad” but said that it was something that people had “come to expect from Donald Trump and his team.”
On Saturday, Trump’s campaign also sent out a message from Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who is an Army veteran and a supporter of the candidate. In it, Cotton defended Trump and attacked Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.
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While Cotton wasn’t at the cemetery when Trump went there, he said, “Neither the families nor President Trump violated cemetery regulations or policies.” He also said, “Political apparatchiks working for the incompetent secretary of the Army disrespected the wishes of these Gold Star families.”
Different stories have been told about what happened on Monday. Trump campaign officials said that someone physically stopped the former president’s team from going with him on the visit. A spokesperson for the cemetery told CNN that “there was an incident” and that a “report was filed.”
The campaign has said that no laws were broken, but the cemetery has said that Trump’s team was told ahead of time to stay out of politics. A statement from Arlington National Cemetery that CNN got from the cemetery says that federal law doesn’t allow political campaigning or activities linked to elections in Army National Military Cemeteries.
The Trump campaign shared a video of the visit on TikTok earlier this week. It showed the former president walking through Arlington and visiting graves. There was also audio of him criticizing how the Biden administration handled the US leaving Afghanistan.
NPR was the first to report that there had been a “verbal and physical altercation” at the cemetery. A person who knew about what happened told the news outlet that a cemetery worker tried to stop Trump’s team from taking pictures and videos in the area where recent US deaths are buried. NPR says that in response, Trump campaign staff “verbally abused and pushed the official aside.”
Arlington cemetery controversy shines spotlight on Utah Gov. Spencer Cox's sudden embrace of Trump https://t.co/tDK94dHk8N
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 1, 2024
Army spokeswoman said that the event was reported to the police at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, but the worker “decided not to press charges,” so the Army “considers this matter closed.”
