Report: Arlington cemetery worker was ‘pushed aside’

WASHINGTON

Employee won’t press charges in dispute with Trump staff

Bill Barnett, left, grandfather of Darin Taylor Hoover, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honor of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. ALEX BRANDON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Adriana Gomez Licon and Tara Copp

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON >> An Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” in an altercation with former President Donald Trump’s staff during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, but she declined to press charges, an Army spokesman said Thursday.

The Army spokesman said the cemetery employee was trying to make sure those participating in Monday’s wreath-laying ceremony to mark the third anniversary of the attack were following the rules, which “clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”

A TikTok video of the visit that was later shared by Trump shows scenes of him at the cemetery and includes a voiceover of the Republican presidential nominee blaming the Biden administration for the “disaster” of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

“This employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption,” the Army spokesman’s statement said. “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”

The incident was reported to the police, but because the employee decided not to press charges, the Army said it considered the matter closed. In response, Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, re-sent a video of Trump at Arlington that he had first put up on X three days ago, adding the message, “Reposting this hoping to trigger the hacks at @SecArmy.”

The controversy comes as Trump has been working to tie his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, to the chaos of the Afghanistan War withdrawal with just over two months until Election Day. The suicide bombing at the Kabul airport, which killed 13 American service members and more than 170 Afghans on Aug. 26, 2021, was one of the lowest points of the Biden administration and followed a withdrawal commitment.

Families of three of the slain service members had invited Trump to the ceremony, saying the former president knew their children’s stories and blaming the Biden administration for their deaths. Some of the families of these service members spoke out in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, in part to blunt criticism that Trump wasn’t supportive enough of veterans.

The family members initially struggled to arrange Trump’s visit to the cemetery, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The families had reached out to McCaul because the cemetery had been giving them “a hard time” about coordinating the ceremony with Trump, McCaul’s spokesperson Leslie Shedd said Thursday.

The families said the Army would only allow the ceremony at a specific time that did not work for everyone’s schedule, among other conditions, Shedd said. McCaul then reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson for assistance and tracked the matter until it was resolved, Shedd said.

“I was furious to hear their request to have President Trump join them to commemorate the anniversary of Taylor’s death was being stymied, along with several of the other family members of U.S. servicemembers killed at Abbey Gate,” McCaul said in a statement. “Gold Star families have already suffered enough.”

The Trump campaign has been facing blowback since an NPR report said that two Trump campaign staff members on Monday had “verbally abused and pushed” aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Federal law prohibits campaign or election-related activities within Army national military cemeteries. A defense official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation. The Trump campaign has claimed the Republican presidential nominee’s team was granted access to have a photographer, contested the allegation that a campaign staffer had pushed the cemetery official and pushed back on any notion that the cemetery official had been unfairly targeted.