The Army on Thursday defended an official at Arlington National Cemetery who was physically pushed by a member of former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign after the official sought to stop the campaign from filming in a heavily restricted area of the cemetery.
A statement from the Army’s public affairs office said that the Trump campaign had been made aware that federal law prohibits filming for political purposes in that part of the cemetery, and it criticized the campaign for publicly insulting the official in a statement after the fact.
“Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds,” the statement said.
It continued: “An A.N.C. employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at A.N.C., this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.”
The statement is the most detailed description so far of the incident that took place on Monday, as Mr. Trump appeared for a wreath-laying ceremony honoring 13 U.S. troops killed in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate outside the Kabul airport during the withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago.
He later visited Section 60 of the cemetery with families of two Marines killed at Abbey Gate, as well as two other Marines who were severely injured in the bombing. Section 60 is largely reserved for service members who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and federal law prohibits filming or photography there for campaign purposes.
The Trump team had earlier contested that the incident was a “physical altercation” and said it was prepared to release footage of the incident, but it has not done so.
The official who was pushed filed a report, but declined to press charges. Military officials later said they feared that the employee would face retaliation from Trump supporters if her identity became known as part of any formal investigation.
“As the Army has said, they consider this matter closed,” Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.
When the incident was first made public by NPR on Tuesday, Mr. Cheung accused the woman — who has not been identified but was described as a seasoned official at the cemetery — of suffering a “mental health episode.” Chris LaCivita, a top adviser for the Trump campaign, said in his own statement on Tuesday that the cemetery official was a “despicable individual” who was spreading lies and “dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces.”
Corey Lewandowski, a senior adviser for the Trump campaign, had posted photos of Mr. Trump’s visit to Section 60 — including one photo where the former president flashed a “thumbs up” pose behind the grave of Sgt. Nicole Gee, a Marine who was killed at Abbey Gate.
Mr. Trump also posted a video with footage from the visit on TikTok; the narration over the video implicitly criticized the Biden administration for the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The footage included the back of a gravestone of Master Sergeant Andrew Marckesano, who died by suicide in 2020 and whose family did not know his grave would appear in a video.
The family said in a statement to The New York Times that it was told by cemetery officials that the Trump team did not adhere to the rules in place for the visit.
Mr. Cheung did not address questions about whether the Trump campaign knew if campaign activities were illegal on the cemetery grounds, or if the campaign would continue to use footage from the cemetery for campaign materials.
He instead pointed to a campaign ad that President Biden published for Memorial Day during his 2020 campaign, which included a photo from 2010 where Mr. Biden, then the vice president, stood over a grave in Section 60 with his head bowed.
That photo most likely would not have fallen under the political activities prohibition, as President Barack Obama and Mr. Biden were not actively campaigning for re-election in May 2010 and would not have been accompanied by photographers working for a political campaign. The video also included a disclaimer that “the use of U.S. Department of Defense visual information does not imply or constitute endorsement of the U.S. military.”
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