On Monday, the former president and Republican candidate visited the cemetery, located near Virginia and the North American capital, to attend a ceremony honoring 13 soldiers killed in the removal, in the middle of the November presidential campaign. In 2021, he criticized the administration of Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan.
According to North American press, during the visit, a physical and verbal altercation broke out between Donald Trump’s entourage who tried to take photos of the event and the tomb, and cemetery workers who protested their use of the space.
“We can confirm that there was an incident, two US presidents, including John Fitzgerald Kennedy,” said an official at the cemetery, where some 400,000 veterans and their families are buried.
The cemetery released a statement saying that federal law prohibits political campaigning or “election-related” activities inside military funerals, including by photographers, and that the Republican candidate’s committee has been informed of the ban.
A source familiar with the incident told the US press: a cemetery worker tried to prevent Trump’s crew from filming and taking photos in a certain area of the cemetery.
When a cemetery employee tried to prevent Trump’s campaign team from entering the site, the source said the Republican verbally assaulted him and pushed the employee aside.
The Republican nominee’s entourage, who continue to criticize Democrats for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, responded by sharing a press release in which the soldiers’ families assured the photographer’s presence was indeed “adjusted” to their care.
A campaign spokeswoman for vice president and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris said the incident was “very sad” but “not surprising coming from the Trump team.”