The Trump team is reportedly not afraid to engage in a fight to ensure that Trump remains in the spotlight even when supposedly honoring fallen soldiers.Mother Jones; Andrew Harnik/AP; Jasper Jacobs/Belga/ZUMA
Two Trump campaigns Staff members reportedly got into an argument with an officer during a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to honor soldiers killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. (NPR first reported on the incident on Tuesday.)
The reason? Trump’s aides reportedly wanted to ensure he would be photographed honoring the troops, even though federal law prohibits “political campaign or election activities” at the cemetery, including photographers, according to an Arlington National Cemetery spokesman.
Still, Trump’s team managed to turn the event into a content opportunity: They produced and posted a video on their TikTok account, set to somber music, suggesting that President Joe Biden was responsible for the soldiers’ deaths. As of Wednesday afternoon, it had more than 6.6 million views. (The video was also posted to Trump’s Instagram page, which also featured other footage from the event; Trump’s senior adviser Dan Scavino also shared videos on his X page.)
“We can confirm there was an incident and a report was filed,” a spokesperson for the cemetery said. They declined to elaborate on who was involved in the alleged incident or which agency the report was filed with “to protect the identity of the individual involved.” They did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the TikTok video violates the federal law in question.
The Trump team attempted to deny the claims. Communications Director Steven Cheung denied that a “physical altercation” occurred and claimed the team had permission to have a photographer present. “The fact is that a private photographer was allowed onto the grounds and for some reason an unnamed individual who was obviously suffering from a mental disorder decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” Cheung added. He did not immediately respond to further questions, and the Arlington National Cemetery spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on Cheung’s claims.
Cheung also pointed to a post by Trump War Room – an X-account run by the campaign – with a statement from the families of the fallen soldiers expressing their “heartfelt thanks and appreciation” to the former president for his presence at the cemetery.
Trump has not always been respectful of the military. He reportedly referred to Americans killed in war as “suckers” and “losers.” (Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly confirmed the truth of that statement last year.) Trump famously attacked the late Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), a Purple Heart recipient who served in the Navy and spent several years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said of McCain. “I like people who weren’t captured.”
Following the latest incident, Trump’s former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper could not hide his feelings over the former president’s recent alleged disrespect for fallen soldiers. “There is no more sacred place in this nation than Arlington Cemetery,” Esper told CNN. “The bottom line is that no person or party on either side should ever use Arlington National Cemetery or any of our cemeteries or battlefields for partisan political purposes.”
