Harris Says Trump ‘Disrespected Sacred Ground’ In Arlington Altercation
Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday condemned the altercation that occurred this week at Arlington National Cemetery between Donald Trump campaign staffers and cemetery officials.
“Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt,” she wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The alleged incident occurred during a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday to honor U.S. troops killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago. NPR reported that two Trump staffers on Monday “verbally abused” and pushed aside an official who told them to stop photographing a part of the cemetery where recently fallen U.S. service members are buried.
Federal law prohibits “political campaign or election-related activities, including photographs, within Army National Military Cemeteries,” according to a statement from cemetery officials. Sources told NPR that staffers were informed ahead of time that they couldn’t take photos at the gravesite.
A few days later, Trump’s campaign posted a video to TikTok that featured a montage of the former president participating in the ceremony and making clearly political statements, like boasting about how his administration “didn’t lose one person in 18 months” in Afghanistan and describing the Biden administration’s pullout as a “disaster.”
The cemetery, which is the resting place of over 400,000 service members, veterans and their families, is “not a place for politics,” Harris said. But the incident is not surprising coming from Trump, she added, given the disparaging comments the former president has made about service members.
“This is a man who has called our fallen service members ‘suckers” and ‘losers’ and disparaged Medal of Honor recipients,” she wrote, referring to comments the former president made in 2018 about Americans killed in World War I and a remark he made this month.
“A man who, during a previous visit to the cemetery, reportedly said of fallen service members, ‘I don’t get it. What was in it for them?’ This is a man who is unable to comprehend anything other than service to himself,” Harris went on.
Trump’s campaign spokesperson has denied that a physical altercation occurred. But Arlington National Cemetery confirmed that the incident happened, as did the cemetery official who was allegedly pushed aside, though the official declined to press charges.
Several veterans condemned Trump’s actions, while his running mate JD Vance brushed it off as a “little disagreement” that the media spun into something bigger than it actually was.
“If there is one thing on which we as Americans can all agree, it is that our veterans, military families, and service members should be honored, never disparaged, and treated with nothing less than our highest respect and gratitude,” Harris wrote.
“And it is my belief that someone who cannot meet this simple, sacred duty should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States of America.”
