Trump campaign involved in incident on Arlington National Cemetery grounds

Arlington National Cemetery said an “incident” occurred on Monday when former President Donald Trump visited the cemetery with Gold Star families whose fFamily members died during the 2021 retreat from Afghanistan.

Cemetery officials confirmed in a statement that it was an “incident” and that a report was filed after Trump visited the cemetery with members of his campaign team.

Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate the three-year-old suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 soldiers during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. He also visited Section 60, where veterans of the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest.

The Trump campaign said it had received explicit permission from the Gold Star families to bring “campaign-designated media” into Section 60 of the cemetery. Messages reviewed by CBS News confirmed that the campaign had received explicit permission from the families.

According to Arlington National Cemetery's media policy, the rules at Army National Cemetery are dictated by federal law, even when requests are made by families of the fallen.

According to several sources, a conversation took place in Section 60 between Trump campaign staff and a cemetery official.

In a statement, the cemetery said: “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election activities at U.S. Army military cemeteries, including photographers, content creators, or others who are there for that purpose or in direct support of the campaign of a partisan political candidate.”

The cemetery stated that it had “reinforced this law and its prohibitions and fully communicated them to all those involved.”

NPR reported that a verbal and physical altercation occurred at the cemetery between two members of the Trump campaign team and an official.

Defense Department officials told CBS News that some members of the Trump campaign team behaved unprofessionally and were both verbally and physically aggressive toward the cemetery official.

“There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Steven Cheung, communications director for Trump's campaign, said in a statement to CBS News. “The fact is that a private photographer was allowed onto the premises and for some reason an unnamed individual, who was clearly suffering from a mental disorder, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony.”

The campaign also sent CBS News a statement from Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Nicole Gee, one of the Marines killed by the ISIS-K suicide bomber, thanking Trump for appearing. “We absolutely welcomed and appreciated having video and photo footage there,” the statement said.

When asked by CBS News whether the incident was a physical altercation, Arlington National Cemetery said it was not releasing any further information to protect the identity of the person involved.

Trump has been criticized in the past for denigrating the military, including calling captured or killed soldiers “suckers and losers.” Trump's campaign has denied ever making such comments, but current and former U.S. military personnel have described several instances in which Trump has used such language.

This week, the campaign has held events to reach out to service members and their families, including a visit to Arlington National Cemetery and a speech directly to service members at the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Detroit on Monday.