Trump campaign team involved in incident at Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery said an “incident” took place Monday when former President Donald Trump visited the cemetery with Gold Star families whosefamily members died during 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Cemetery officials confirmed in a statement that there had been an “incident” and a report was subsequently filed after Trump, accompanied by members of his campaign, visited the cemetery.

Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark three years since the suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 service members during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. He also toured Section 60, the final resting place for veterans of the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Trump campaign said it received explicit permission from the Gold Star families to bring “campaign-designated media” into Section 60 of the cemetery. Messages reviewed by CBS News confirmed that the campaign received explicit permission from the families.

Rules at Army National Military Cemeteries are dictated by federal law, consistent with Arlington National Cemetery’s media policies, even if there are requests from family members of the dead.

It was in Section 60 that an interaction took place between members of the Trump campaign and a cemetery official, according to multiple sources.

The cemetery said in a statement that “federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities at Army National Military Cemeteries, including photographers, content creators or any other person present for the purpose of or in direct support of the campaign of a partisan political candidate.”

The cemetery said it had “reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”

NPR reported that two members of the Trump campaign got into a verbal and physical altercation with a cemetery official.

Defense officials told CBS News that some Trump campaign staffers were unprofessional and verbally and physically aggressive toward the cemetery official.

“There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory allegations are made,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to CBS News. “The fact is that a private photographer was allowed on the premises and for some reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health issue, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team from a very solemn ceremony.”

The campaign also sent CBS News a statement from Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Nicole Gee, one of the Marines killed in the ISIS-K suicide bombing, thanking Trump for his presence. “We really appreciated having the videos and photos with us,” the statement read.

When asked by CBS News to clarify whether the incident was a physical altercation, Arlington National Cemetery said it would not release further information to protect the identity of the person involved.

Trump has previously been criticized for denigrating military service, including calling service members who are captured or killed “idiots and losers.” Trump’s campaign has denied that he ever made those comments, but current and former U.S. military personnel have described several instances where Trump has used such language.

This week, the campaign held events aimed at members of the military and their families, including a visit to Arlington National Cemetery and a speech directly addressing service members at the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Detroit on Monday.