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Donald Trump’s involvement in an event honoring fallen veterans at Arlington National Ceremony came with reports of his campaign team getting physical with a cemetery official.

On Monday (Aug. 26), Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and members of his campaign team caused controversy after two members got into a verbal and physical altercation with an official at Arlington National Cemetery. Trump was at the cemetery to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony honoring the deadly attack on U.S. military forces in Afghanistan as they were withdrawing from the country in 2021. When an attempt was made to prevent his staff from entering Section 60 of the cemetery to film and take photographs by an official, they were verbally abused and pushed aside, according to a source.

Trump would take a photograph next to the gravesite of one of the soldiers killed in the withdrawal, giving a thumbs-up gesture. He was surrounded by Gold Star families, whom he thanked for inviting him. The rules of the cemetery prohibit “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 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 [former]President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. In a press release, Arlington National Cemetery said it “can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.” They opted not to share further details to protect the official’s identity. Vice presidential candidate and Ohio Senator JD Vance, who spoke at a campaign event on Wednesday, dismissed the situation: “The altercation at Arlington Cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think that there is one.”
The incident is another low point for Trump, who had not participated in the anniversary event in 2022 or 2023 and had enlisted House Speaker Mike Johnson to intervene to allow him at the event this year. Veterans have been increasingly vocal about the incident, expressing outrage at the callous behavior. The Army would issue a statement about the incident on Thursday (Aug. 29), saying: “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the A.N.C. employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”