The US Army issued a blistering statement Thursday that claimed the Trump campaign flouted federal laws when he posed for a photo with Gold Star families at Arlington National Cemetery — allegedly leading to a physical altercation between campaign staff and a cemetery employee.
Online critics of the Army statement were quick to point out that President Biden had twice used Arlington National Cemetery: Once for a campaign video in June of this year; and once before the 2020 election, which apparently showed him standing over a grave in Section 60 — the same area Trump visited.
During a Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery in May, Biden, 81, also touted having signed into the law the PACT Act in 2022, which expanded veterans’ access to health care benefits — including for those exposed to toxic burn pits like his late son Beau Biden.
There’s no prohibition against taking photographs at the cemetery, but federal regulations bar “partisan political activities” from occurring at memorial services or other ceremonies held at National Military Cemeteries.
Section 60 holds the gravesites of the newest casualties to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, including three of the 13 US troops who were killed by an ISIS-K suicide bomber at the Kabul International Airport in August 2021.
“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,” an Army spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.
“An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the spokesperson added.
That employee chose not to press charges and an investigation by military police at the nearby Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall garrison has now been closed, the Army said.
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” the spokesperson also said.
“ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.”
Gold Star families of the 13 US service members who were killed during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal released a statement on Wednesday denying that they had trampled on Section 60 regulations, which is the portion of the cemetery reserved for fallen heroes of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“We would like to express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to President Donald J. Trump for his presence at the recent section 60 gathering, honoring our children and their fallen brothers and sisters,” the statement read.
“On the three-year anniversary of the Abbey Gate Bombing, the president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members, especially our beloved children,” they said.
Darin Hoover, the father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, one of the three fallen service members buried at the military cemetery, told The Post Wednesday that the Gold Star families had invited Trump for a solemn moment of remembrance, not a campaign event.
“We are the ones that invited Trump. He didn’t invite himself,” Hoover said. “We wanted the pictures to memorialize, you know, what President Trump had said and done and … that moment where he’s paying his respects to our children,” Hoover continued.
The grave of Hoover’s son sits next to the grave of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano, who died by suicide. Marckesano’s family said the Trump team did not “adhere to the rules” of the cemetery during their visit, according to the New York Times.
Another source familiar with the lead-up to the incident said it was an uphill battle for the families to even schedule their time at the cemetery — and they eventually had to ask for help from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
“Speaker Johnson had to call in” to secure the visit with Arlington National, the source said, “and eventually they just buckled.”
The Trump team claimed the cemetery employee who interfered to stop a photo opportunity by one of the graves was “suffering from a mental health episode” and that there was “no physical altercation as described,” according to communications director Steven Cheung.
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance exploded over the backlash to the Gold Star families and Trump over the incident during a Wednesday campaign event in Erie, Pa.
“The altercation at Arlington Cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think that there is one,” Vance said.
“We want to talk about a story out of those 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives? It’s that Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened. And she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up?” he added, before telling Harris to “go to hell.”
