A former staffer for former President Donald Trump has said that the video Trump posted on TikTok about his Monday visit to Arlington National Cemetery was “disgraceful and disparaging to veterans.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as press secretary for former Vice President Mike Pence and as an assistant to Trump in 2020, said on CNN that her former boss violated protocol at the cemetery.
Farah Griffin quit the Trump administration in December 2020 and publicly turned against the former president following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Her latest criticism comes after Trump attended a memorial event at the cemetery for the 13 American soldiers who died during an attack on Kabul Airport during the U.S. Military’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Despite federal law expressly prohibiting “partisan political activities” at military memorial services, Trump posted a video of himself at the memorial service on his TikTok account. The video shows Trump laying a wreath and smiling with other attendees. A guitar track plays in the background while Trump gives a voiceover attacking the Democratic Party for its handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“We didn’t lose one person in 18 months, and then they took over that disaster,” Trump said.
“It was deeply inappropriate,” Farah Griffin said about the TikTok post. “A professional team would have known that.”
“I did a number of these events at Arlington National Cemetery with Vice President Pence and there’s a process you go through, there’s protocol,” she said. “You work with Arlington National Cemetery, you work with officials from the Pentagon, and there are very strict rules of where you can be. You need certain permissions and photography is only allowed in certain places.
“There are so many ways to do that [to honor the soldiers who died] that is not disgraceful and disparaging to Veterans, the way that this was handled.”
Republican Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who has pledged his support to Trump, also attended the ceremony and posted a picture on X showing Trump smiling and giving a thumbs up standing over the grave of one of the slain soldiers.
There is no greater sacrifice than giving one’s life in defense of our country. It was my solemn privilege to stand alongside the family of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover at Arlington National Cemetery today as we paid tribute to his legacy and the 12 others who lost their lives… pic.twitter.com/tR6dhpMYsB
— Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) August 26, 2024
The 639-acre Arlington National Cemetery, one of the oldest national cemeteries, honors more than 14,000 service members.
An altercation between Trump’s campaign staff and an official allegedly occurred in Section 60, where service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest.
NPR reported that a “verbal and physical altercation” had taken place and the cemetery released a statement on Tuesday confirming that “an incident” had occurred and that a report was filed.
“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 statement read. “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
Title 32, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Section 553.32(c) states: “Memorial services and ceremonies at Army National Military Cemeteries will not include partisan political activities.”
Trump’s campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung denied that the campaign was prohibited from filming in Section 60, and posted a screenshot on his X account that stated Trump’s campaign had permission to bring a photographer or videographer, “outside the main media pool.”
Cheung insulted the Arlington staff member who “tried to physically block” the photographer from entering Section 60, saying they were “suffering from a mental health episode.”
Another campaign official Chris LaCivita called the staff member a “despicable individual” who “does not deserve to represent the [hallowed] grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.”
The New York Times reported that a woman who works at the cemetery filed an incident report with military authorities over the altercation. But the woman, who has not been identified, later declined to press charges. Military officials said she feared retaliation from Trump supporters.
Family members of two of the 13 soldiers who died released a statement stating that Trump’s campaign “conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members” at the cemetery.
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