Trump campaign was warned not to take photos at Arlington before altercation, defense official says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign was warned not to take photos before an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath laying ceremony earlier this week to honor service members killed during the withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan, a defense official told The Associated Press Wednesday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic about Monday’s events. It came a day after NPR reported, citing a source familiar with the incident, that two members of Trump’s campaign “verbally abused and shoved” a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in Section 60, the burial site of military personnel killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The defense official told the AP that Trump’s campaign team had been warned not to take photos in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation. Trump was in Arlington Monday at the invitation of some of the families of the 13 service members who were killed in Kabul airport bombing exactly three years before.

Arlington National Cemetery is home to more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their families. Cemetery officials said in a statement that an “incident” had occurred and a report had been prepared, but they did not provide details on what happened. They declined to share the report.

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities at Army National Military Cemeteries, including photographers, content creators, or any other person who participates for the purpose of or to directly support the campaign of a partisan political candidate,” cemetery officials said in their statement. “Arlington National Cemetery has reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm that an incident occurred and a report was filed.”

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the Republican presidential candidate’s team had access to a photographer. He disputed the accusation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official.

“The fact is that a private photographer was allowed into the premises and for some reason an anonymous individual, clearly suffering from a mental health issue, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team from a very solemn ceremony,” he said.

Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, noted that Trump was there at the invitation of the families of the service members killed in the airport attack. Trump’s campaign released a message signed by the relatives of two of the service members killed in the attack, which read: “The president and his team have conducted themselves with the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members, especially our beloved children.”

“For a despicable individual to physically block President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollow ground of Arlington National Cemetery,” he said in a written statement, misspelling the word “hallowed.” “Whoever this individual is, spreading these lies dishonors the men and women of our armed forces.”

Michael Tyler, spokesman for the vice president, Trump’s Democratic opponent Kamala Harriscalled the reports “rather sad, ultimately.”

“That’s what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team,” Tyler told CNN. “Donald Trump is a person who wants everything to be about Donald Trump. He’s also someone who has a history of denigrating and degrading military personnel, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia called on cemetery officials to release more information about what happened Monday.

“It is sad but entirely predictable that Donald Trump would desecrate this sacred place and put campaign politics ahead of honoring our heroes,” he said. “His behavior and that of his campaign are abhorrent and shameful.”

Trump’s running mate JD Vance was asked about the incident Wednesday at a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, and said that “apparently someone at Arlington Cemetery, a staffer, had a little disagreement with someone” and that “the media turned it into national news.”

He instead tried to focus on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling Harris a “disgrace” for not firing anyone over the deaths of service members in the terrorist attack. “She can go to hell,” Vance said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

A Pentagon investigates deadly attack Investigators concluded that the bomber acted alone and that the deaths of more than 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members could not have been prevented. But critics have blasted the Biden administration for the disastrous evacuation, saying it should have started sooner.

Spencer Cox, Republican Governor of Utah facing criticism Wednesday for including a photo of himself and Trump at the Arlington ceremony in a campaign email soliciting donations for his re-election campaign. One of the victims of the suicide bombing was Utah resident Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover.

Cox’s campaign apologized for using the photo and politicizing the graveside ceremony.

“This was not a campaign event and was not intended to be used by the campaign,” the governor wrote in a message on X. “This was not sent through the proper channels and should not have been sent.”

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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City. Michelle L. Price, a reporter in New York, and Farnoush Amiri, a reporter in Washington, contributed to this report.