Army says cemetery staffer was ‘abruptly pushed aside’ in Trump campaign incident

The Army on Thursday defended the Arlington National Cemetery staffer at the center of the controversy involving former President Trump’s visit for a wreath-laying ceremony earlier this week.

An Army spokesperson said the employee was trying to enforce rules prohibiting political activities on cemetery grounds when they were pushed aside.

“Consistent with the decorum expected at [the cemetery], this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption,” the official said, adding the incident was reported to police but “the employee subsequently decided not to press charges.”

The Army said it now “considers this matter closed.”

The official added that the incident was “unfortunate,” and the employee’s “professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”

The cemetery is “a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve,” the spokesperson added.

The controversy was first highlighted Tuesday by an NPR story that reported an altercation between two members of Trump’s campaign staff and an Arlington National Cemetery employee. 

A cemetery official was trying to prevent filming and photography in an area known as Section 60, a solemn area for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, to ensure the federal law against politicizing cemetery grounds was respected.

Trump appeared there Monday with some Gold Star relatives of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in the Kabul airport bombing in 2021 during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Monday marked the three-year anniversary of the bombing. 

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the team was given permission to have a photographer and contested that a cemetery staffer was pushed.

“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 told several outlets in a statement.

But The Associated Press reported that his campaign team was warned against taking photographs inside of Section 60.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), said at a rally in Erie, Pa., that there was “verifiable evidence” the campaign was allowed to have a photographer there.

He also said Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, “can go to hell” if “she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up” at the cemetery. Vance, a Marine veteran, later told NBC News that he made the comments because he was frustrated.

Updated at 12:16 p.m. ET