Vice President Kamala Harris slammed former President Donald Trump for his controversial visit to the Arlington National Cemetery last week.
Trump visited the cemetery on August 26 for an event to commemorate the third anniversary of the attack on US troops withdrawing from Afghanistan.
But his visit drew flak after the cemetery said that Trump staffers had filmed sections of the burial grounds they weren’t authorized to record — and that Trump staff pushed a cemetery official who tried to stop the campaign from filming.
The family of a late Green Beret buried on the grounds also spoke out about being unhappy with Trump filming in the vicinity of the soldier’s grave.
As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times. It is a solemn place; a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation.
It is not a place for politics.
And…
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 31, 2024
Referencing the incident, Harris posted on X that Arlington is a “solemn” location and “not a place for politics.”
“And yet, as was reported this week, Donald Trump’s team chose to film a video there, resulting in an altercation with cemetery staff,” her post on Saturday said.
She added: “Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.”
In response to a request for comment, Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, directed BI to an X post on Trump’s campaign X account called “Trump War Room.” The post was captioned: “A Message to @KamalaHarris from Gold Star Families,”
Arlington issued a statement about the incident on Thursday.
“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 Army’s statement said.
“An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the statement added, saying that the cemetery employee “acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.”
But Trump, for his part, has maintained that he and his campaign did no wrong.
When asked about the incident in a Thursday interview with NBC News, Trump said that he didn’t know what “the rules and regulations” of filming in the cemetery were.
“All of a sudden, I hear that somebody, that I have no idea who it is — got into an argument with somebody else at the cemetery about pictures being taken,” Trump said. “I took them at the request of the families, and I’m very happy I did.”
His camp echoed his sentiments. His running mate Sen. JD Vance said at a Wisconsin campaign event on Wednesday that Trump was there at the cemetery to provide “emotional support to a lot of brave Americans who lost loved ones they never should have lost.””
“You guys in the media, you’re acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite,” Vance said.
Trump’s campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, posted a comment Thursday on X, along with a video of Trump at the wreath-laying ceremony.
“Reposting this hoping to trigger the hacks at @SecArmy,” he wrote.
Representatives for Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
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