Arlington cemetery official declines to pursue charges against Trump fearing backlash from supporters

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA: An apparent "altercation" at Arlington National Cemetery has stirred controversy around former president Donald Trump's campaign team.

The issue centers around an incident between Trump staffers and an official at the cemetery, who later chose not to press charges due to fears of retaliation from supporters of the former president.

The incident and subsequent fallout

Maggie Haberman, a reporter for The New York Times, discussed the incident on CNN's The Source. Haberman claimed that the family of a Green Beret soldier was "clearly displeased" after his gravesite appeared in a TikTok video posted on Trump's account.

The soldier's gravesite is located in Section 60, a part of the cemetery reserved for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are concerns that Trump's video may have violated federal laws that prohibit campaign photos and videos in specific areas of the cemetery, including Section 60. During her conversation on CNN, Haberman revealed a crucial detail about the incident: the official at Arlington National Cemetery who filed the initial report did not press charges.

"Military officials said that she was afraid that she was going to be retaliated against by Trump supporters," said Haberman. "It's worth noting that the Trump campaign targeted her, suggesting she was having a mental health episode."

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, denied any physical altercation occurred. "We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made," he said.

"The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of president Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony," Cheung added.

Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for over 400,000 service members, veterans, and their families. It is considered hallowed ground and strict regulations govern its use, especially concerning political activities.

The cemetery officials confirmed that "an incident" occurred and a report was filed, but they did not disclose any further details.

“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,” they said in a statement.

“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.”

Defense from Trump campaign

The Trump campaign's senior adviser Chris LaCivita noted that the former president had been at the cemetery at the invitation of the families of service members who were killed in a bombing at the Kabul airport in 2021.

The campaign posted a message signed by relatives of two of the service members who died in the tragedy: "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."

“For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery,” LaCivita said in a statement. “Whoever this individual is, spreading these lies is dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces.”

When Trump’s running mate JD Vance was asked about the incident Wednesday at a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, he lashed out at Harris and the Democrats.

The Ohio Senator blasted the Vice President for not holding anyone accountable for the Afghanistan withdrawal. “The other thing that our veterans care more about is that three years ago, 13 brave innocent Americans died. And they died because Kamala Harris refused to do her job and there hasn’t been a single investigation or a single firing,” he said.

“Kamala Harris is disgraceful. 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?”

Vance asked before declaring, “She can go to hell.”