The U.S. Army is coming to the defense of an employee at Arlington Cemetery who reported a confrontation with the Trump campaign during a ceremony on Monday.
"Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds," the Army said in a statement to Scripps News. "An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption. The incident was reported to the JBM-HH police department, but the employee subsequently decided not to press charges. Therefore, the Army considers this matter closed.
"This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. "
There are strict federal laws about what can and can't be done at Arlington National Cemetery according to Tanya Marsh, a law professor at Wake Forest University who specializes in cemetery law.
"One of the very specific prohibitions in the code of federal regulations is that memorial services and ceremonies at cemeteries like Arlington will not include partisan political activities," Marsh told Scripps News. "That's not a prohibition that a family has the right to just give permission to for a political figure to ignore."
The Trump campaign has downplayed the incident. On Wednesday, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance called the altercation a "little disagreement," blaming the media for blowing it out of proportion.
"You guys in the media, you're acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a grave site," Vance said. "He was there providing emotional support to a lot of brave Americans who lost loved ones they never should have lost, and there happened to be a camera there, and somebody gave him permission to have that camera there. This is not a gross violation of federal law. This is a president who did what all presidents should do, show up and provide support to your own people."
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A Trump spokesman claimed that the cemetery officials were "clearly suffering from a mental health episode."
Trump's campaign later posted a TikTok video of Trump's visit to the cemetery.The campaign has also said it would release video of the incident that would prove its version of events, but so far has not.
Arlington National Cemetery said it would not release further details of what took place on Monday.
"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," a cemetery official said.
Trump was visiting the cemetery following a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to honor 13 U.S. military service members who were killed three years ago at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump has been publicly critical of how President Joe Biden’s administration handled the withdrawal from the country.
Trump continues to face criticism from some veterans over his visit there, including from the progressive political action committee, VoteVets, which called the campaign's actions nauseating.
Scripps News has filed an open records request for emails between the Arlington officials and the Trump campaign.
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