Trump campaign, Arlington National Cemetery staff clash at event

A wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery turned contentious when former President Donald Trump’s campaign staff got into an “altercation” with cemetery staff over filming at the burial site for military members.

Cemetery officials publicly offered few details beyond saying “there was an incident” and a “report was filed”.

The incident, first reported by NPR, occurred when a campaign staffer attempted to film in a restricted area and a cemetery employee tried to stop them.

The Trump campaign denied the allegations and said they received permission from families of fallen service members to film, though federal law prohibits political campaign activity on the grounds of military cemeteries.

Trump was at the memorial to honour the 13 US military service members who were killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago Monday.

An unnamed source told NPR that Trump staffers were attempting to film and photograph a section of the cemetery where the recent US casualties are buried.

Federal law restricts recording there. Trump staffers were told beforehand that they could not photograph or film that part of the grounds, cemetery officials said.

When the cemetery employee tried to stop the campaign from entering that section, campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the official aside, the unnamed source told NPR.

Defence officials told CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, that some Trump campaign staff were unprofessional and both verbally and physically aggressive towards the cemetery official.

Trump’s campaign has denied NPR’s version of the story.

Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, disputed that there was a physical altercation and said the campaign is prepared to release video to confirm their account.

“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” he said in a statement.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared a statement from family members of the fallen soldiers honoured at the event, expressing their approval.

“We had given our approval for President Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event, ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever,” the families said in Trump’s Truth Social post.

But that goes against federal policy, an Arlington National Cemetery spokesperson told the BBC.

Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities on the grounds of military cemeteries, including photographers, content creators or anyone directly supporting a partisan political candidate’s campaign, the cemetery spokesperson said.

Arlington National Cemetery said it would not be releasing further information or the identity of the worker involved in order to protect the person.

The Trump campaign shared some footage of the visit on social media on Tuesday, but the alleged “altercation” was not included in the video.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who is running for reelection, also attended the ceremony and posted a photo on X of himself with Trump and the family of Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover, of Utah, who was killed during the withdrawal.

But he later came under fire for using the photo in a campaign email, forcing an apology post via X on Wednesday that acknowledged it should not have been sent: “This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign.”

Sgt. Hoover’s grave is next to that of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano, who died by suicide after six tours in Afghanistan in 2020.

His sister, Michele Marckesano, issued a statement Wednesday on behalf of her family to CBS, the BBC’s news partner, saying they fully support the Hoover family.

However, she said that according to a “conversation with Arlington National Cemetery”, Trump campaign staffers “did not adhere to the rules that were set in place for this visit”.

She urged visitors to remember those buried there “real people” who should be “honored and respected”.