Democratic lawmakers with the House Oversight Committee despatched a letter Friday to the U.S. Army requesting a report into an altercation earlier this week involving an Arlington National Cemetery worker and Trump staff who introduced campaign photographers to the cemetery.
In the letter, the committee’s rating member, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, wrote to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth that he was “hopeful you can provide the Committee with a full account” of Monday’s incident.
Former President Donald Trump visited the cemetery to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate three years because the 2021 Kabul suicide bombing that killed 13 service members in the course of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The confrontation occurred when Trump’s campaign introduced its personal photographers to Section 60 of the cemetery, the place veterans of the latest Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried.
While the precise particulars stay unclear, an Army spokesperson stated in a press release to CBS News Thursday that the worker was “abruptly pushed aside,” calling it “unfortunate” that the “employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”
The cemetery stated in a press release this week that “federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”
In his letter, Raskin wrote that “it appears that the Trump campaign refused to abide by Arlington National Cemetery’s absolute prohibition,” and cited Arlington’s guidelines prohibiting “filming for partisan, political, or fundraising purposes” beneath the Hatch Act.
Defense officers beforehand instructed CBS News that some staff with the Trump campaign have been unprofessional and have been aggressive each verbally and bodily towards the cemetery official.
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“ANC conducts nearly 3,000 such public ceremonies a year without incident,” the Army spokesperson stated within the assertion. “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 Trump campaign, in the meantime, has insisted that it was given specific permission by Gold Star households to deliver “campaign designated media.” Messages reviewed by CBS News verified this declare.
A Trump campaign spokesperson additionally stated that “there was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”
Raskin additionally cited an apology issued by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who attended the ceremony with Trump and posted a number of photographs of the occasion to his official social media accounts.
“This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign,” Cox wrote in a social media submit Wednesday. “It did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent. My campaign will be sending out an apology.”
Raskin known as on the Army to offer an “incident report” and “a briefing,” and requested that Wormuth reply by Sept. 9.
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