Kamala Harris on Saturday accused Donald Trump, her Republican rival, of having “disrespected” the “sacred ground” of the Arlington military cemetery.
The former president visited Arlington National Cemetery near Washington on Monday to attend a ceremony honoring the 13 soldiers killed during the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021.
An altercation took place during this visit between Donald Trump’s team, who were seeking to take photos of the event, and that of the cemetery, Arlington Cemetery announced on Wednesday.
Mutual accusations
“Donald Trump chose to film a video there, which resulted in an altercation with cemetery staff. Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for a political stunt,” the American vice president said on X.
Some 400,000 veterans and their families and two U.S. presidents, including John Fitzgerald Kennedy, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
The entourage of the Republican candidate, who has continued to criticize Democrats over the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, responded to the cemetery on Wednesday by sharing a statement in which the soldiers’ families assured that the presence of photographers had been “validated” by them.
Army attacks Trump team
The U.S. Army confirmed Thursday that an Arlington employee was “shoved roughly” during Trump’s visit as she tried to enforce a federal law that prohibits political activity within the cemetery grounds.
“This was an unfortunate incident, and it is also unfortunate that the (cemetery) worker and her professionalism were unfairly called into question,” a U.S. military spokesman said in a statement.
Kamala Harris insists
Kamala Harris on Saturday slammed Donald Trump’s attitude, saying the cemetery was “not a place to play politics.”
“If there is one thing we as Americans can agree on, it is that our veterans, military families and service members should be celebrated, never denigrated and treated with nothing less than our highest respect and gratitude,” she wrote.
“It is my conviction that a person who is incapable of fulfilling this simple and sacred duty should never again” be president of the United States, the Democrat added.
Trump pleads ignorance
Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance responded to the vice president on Saturday, saying: “President Trump was there at the invitation of families whose loved ones lost their lives because of your incompetence.”
“Why don’t you get off social media and start an investigation into these unnecessary deaths?” the senator said on the X network.
Asked by MSNBC whether it was appropriate to post a campaign video in the cemetery, Trump pleaded ignorance on Friday.
“I don’t know who did it. Maybe it was (the campaign team), maybe it was (the deceased soldier’s) parents,” he said.
Pressed by the MSNBC journalist who confirmed that the video on TikTok had been published by his campaign team, the Republican billionaire persisted, saying he “didn’t know anything about it.”
“All I did was stand there and say (to the family), ‘If you want a picture, we can take a picture,'” he added, accusing the Biden administration of “engineering” to create controversy.