The matter has reached the Pentagon, in the middle of the presidential campaign. The American army castigated Donald Trump’s team on Thursday, August 29, for the altercation it had with an employee of the Arlington National Cemetery, during a trip by the Republican candidate earlier this week.
The former president visited the cemetery near the capital Washington on Monday to take part in a ceremony honoring the 13 soldiers killed during the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021.
An altercation took place during this visit between Donald Trump’s team, who were trying to take photos of the event, and those of the cemetery, Arlington Cemetery announced on Wednesday. The entourage of the Republican candidate, who has constantly criticized Democrats over the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, responded by sharing a statement in which the soldiers’ families assured that the presence of photographers had indeed been “validated” by them.
“An unfortunate incident”
Not enough to calm the controversy. The Army confirmed Thursday that an Arlington employee was “abruptly removed” during Donald Trump’s visit, while she was trying to enforce a federal law that prohibits political activity on the cemetery grounds. “This was an unfortunate incident, and it is also unfortunate that the (cemetery) employee and her professionalism were unfairly called into question,” an Army spokesperson said in a statement.
Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance on Wednesday accused “the media of making up a story” about the incident at Arlington. He then went on to confuse the location of the August 2021 attack in Kabul, “Abbey Gate,” with the Beatles’ iconic album, “Abbey Road.” Some 400,000 veterans and their families and two U.S. presidents, including John Fitzgerald Kennedy, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.