An alleged fight between an Arlington National Cemetery official and staffers from former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is sparking fresh controversy over Trump’s relationship with the veterans community.
NPR, citing an unnamed source, first reported Tuesday night that two members of Trump’s campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation with a cemetery official Monday when Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony and visited graves of some of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the Abbey Gate bombing during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The cemetery confirmed in a statement Wednesday that an “incident” occurred during Trump’s visit and that a “report was filed” about it, but did not elaborate on the nature of the incident.
The cemetery suggested the incident revolved around federal laws against political activities on its grounds.
“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” the cemetery’s statement said. “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
The Trump campaign has pushed back on the allegation of a fight, with campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung saying in a statement that there “was no physical altercation as described.”
“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,” Cheung added.
Cheung also said the campaign was “prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” but it has so far not provided any footage to news outlets that requested it, including Military.com.
Family members of Sgt. Nicole Gee and Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, two of the service members killed in the Abbey Gate bombing on Aug. 26, 2021, also said in a statement released by the Trump campaign that they had approved of the campaign filming and photographing the visit.
In a phone interview with Military.com, Christy Shamblin, Gee’s mother-in-law, said she did not witness any altercation between campaign and cemetery staff and was surprised when she saw news reports about one.
“I kind of find it to be sad that somewhere out there there’s somebody who took what was really an honorable event on the death anniversary of our heroes and has come out with something that was obviously insignificant at the time, but made such press about it that, really, the honoring of the day gets sullied,” Shamblin said.
Despite outrage and mockery on social media about pictures of Trump smiling and giving a thumbs-up at the graves, Shamblin also said she was not offended by his pose.
“I think I have a picture giving the thumbs-up with him,” she said. “The intention was to have a celebratory day. We’ve had a lot of somber moments, and to have someone celebrate the sacrifice that our heroes made has been absent from a large part of our experience. So, it’s nice to have it from somebody who knows what we sacrificed.”
Shamblin is one of several family members of troops killed in the Abbey Gate bombing who endorsed Trump at the Republican National Convention last month.
The incident at Arlington is the latest controversy over Trump’s relationship with veterans and comes as both he and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, vie for the mantle of top military supporter as November’s presidential election nears.
Earlier this month, Trump stoked controversy when he argued that the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the country, is “much better” than the Medal of Honor, the highest military award, because most of those who received the military award are killed or wounded in combat. In a rare politics-related statement from a veterans service organization, the Veterans of Foreign Wars called Trump’s comments on the Medal of Honor “asinine.”
Trump’s fraught relationship with veterans dates back to his first presidential campaign, when he disparaged Sen. John McCain for being a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, and continued in his 2020 campaign when it was reported that he privately called U.S. war casualties “suckers” and “losers.”
Still, Trump has cast himself as a champion of veterans, pointing to exit polls from past elections that show he received more support from veterans than his Democratic opponents.
Republicans also see the chaos of the Afghanistan withdrawal as a potent campaign issue against Democrats since President Joe Biden’s approval rating first went underwater in 2021 amid the withdrawal. Monday marked the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing, and Trump, who set the withdrawal in motion with a 2020 deal with the Taliban, used the anniversary to blame Biden and Harris for overseeing “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have sought to gain advantage over Trump with veterans by highlighting his reported disparaging remarks. Harris, in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, promised service members that she “will always honor, and never disparage, their service and their sacrifice.”
Democrats are also now seizing on the alleged incident at Arlington.
“Arlington National Cemetery isn’t a place for campaign photo ops. It’s a sacred resting place for American patriots,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., a former Navy pilot, posted on social media. “But for Donald Trump, disrespecting military veterans is just par for the course. It’s an absolute disgrace. We’re not going back.”
Related: Trump Rebukes Harris and Biden on Anniversary of Afghanistan Bombing that Killed 13 Service Members