Trump Campaign Staff Involved in Altercation with Arlington Cemetery Official

Two members of Donald Trump’s campaign staff had an altercation with an Arlington cemetery official on Monday during a wreath-laying ceremony that the former president was attending. The event was held to mark the third anniversary of an attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan as U.S. forces withdrew from the country. The attack killed 13 U.S. service members.

According to campaign officials, the altercation was prompted by a photographer filming and photographing in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried, known as Section 60. The cemetery released a statement to NPR saying they had made it clear that political campaigning and “election-related activities” are prohibited in Army cemeteries by federal law and only cemetery staffers were authorized to photograph or film in the area. The Trump campaign posted multiple pictures and videos of Trump’s visit to the cemetery, including what appears to be Section 60.    

When a cemetery official tried to block Trump’s campaign staff from entering the section, campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the official to the side, according to a source with knowledge on the incident. 

In their statement to NPR, the Arlington Cemetery said they “can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.” Trump’s campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, also made a statement to NPR, saying that the Trump campaign is “prepared to release footage if defamatory claims are made,” and also stating that the cemetery official was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.” The campaign declined to make any footage immediately available.