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Arlington Cemetery official and Trump campaign staffer got into ‘incident’ during former president’s visit

An “incident” occurred earlier this week between an Arlington National Cemetery official and members of the Trump campaign team, apparently over the use of a photographer in one of the areas where recently fallen soldiers are buried.

A spokesman for the cemetery said in a statement: “Federal law prohibits political campaigning or election-related activities at Army military cemeteries, including photographers, content
Creators or other individuals attending for specific purposes or in direct support of a partisan political candidate's campaign. Arlington National Cemetery has underscored this law and its prohibitions and widely communicated it to all attendees. We can confirm that there was an incident and a report was filed.”

Trump visited the cemetery on Monday to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony and also visit the grave of Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover as part of a memorial service for the victims of an attack in Afghanistan in 2021 as the U.S. withdrew its troops from the region. In his presidential campaign, Trump has attacked the Biden administration for the chaotic withdrawal.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said they had permission to have a photographer at the event. The campaign also released a statement from families of fallen soldiers saying they had “given our consent to allow President Trump's official videographer and photographer to be present at the event to ensure this sacred moment of remembrance is respectfully captured and we can preserve these memories forever.”

NPR was the first to report on the incident. Cheung said in a statement to the news agency: “The fact is that a private photographer was allowed onto the premises and for some reason an unnamed individual, who was obviously suffering from a mental disorder, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony.”

He also told the outlet that they were willing to release footage of the incident, but that this had not happened yet.

NPR quoted a source as saying the cemetery official tried to prevent campaign staff from filling the area and that only cemetery staff were authorized to do so. The source told NPR that a verbal and physical altercation then ensued. Cheung denied that there was a physical altercation.

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