Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Wednesday dismissed reports of an altercation this week between two members of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and an official at Arlington National Cemetery.
Vance minimized the incident during a campaign event on Wednesday in Erie, Pennsylvania, blaming the media for blowing it out of proportion. He said that “apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member, had a little disagreement with somebody” and “the media has turned this into a national news story,” per The Associated Press.
“The altercation at Arlington cemetery is the media creating a story where I don’t really think there is one,” the Ohio senator said.
Earlier this week, Trump held a wreath-laying ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery, the resting place of more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their families, to honor 13 service members who were killed in an attack at an airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, three years ago.
NPR first reported that Trump staffers tried to take photos in Section 60, where recent U.S. veterans are buried — even though they were reportedly told that only cemetery officials could do so. Under federal law, “political campaign or election-related activities, including photographs, within Army National Military Cemeteries” are prohibited, according to a statement from the cemetery.
“Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed,” the statement read.
After an official tried to stop them from photographing the gravesite, the two Trump staffers reportedly “verbally abused and pushed the official aside,” a source told NPR.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung denied that a physical altercation occurred and told NPR that the campaign is “prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”
Trump’s campaign also released a TikTok on Wednesday of the former president at Arlington National Cemetery, taking photos with the late service members’ families and visiting Section 60.
A retired major general, Paul Eaton, called the incident “nauseating,” and brought up how Trump had said that American service members who died in World War I were “suckers” and “losers.” (Trump has denied making those statements.)
“They see no issue bringing partisan politics there, even if it means getting into physical altercations with cemetery staff,” Eaton told USA Today on Wednesday. “I truly cannot think of something more repugnant than starting a political fracas on land where Gold Star families mourn. Someone who would do that should never be Commander in Chief.”
