JD Vance tells Kamala Harris to 'go to hell' after her campaign targets Trump over Arlington incident

ERIE, Pennsylvania – Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) told Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday that she could “go to hell” if she wanted to criticize former President Donald Trump for his participation in a ceremony honoring the 13 soldiers killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal.

The dig came after the Trump campaign reportedly clashed with a cemetery official at Arlington National Cemetery after he tried to prevent them from filming and taking photographs in Section 60, the burial site for service members killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In an interview with CNN, Harris' spokesman Michael Tyler called the incident “quite sad” and “not surprising.”

The vice president-elect was asked to comment on the incident at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. He reacted with visible frustration and ranted that the Democratic presidential candidate could “go to hell” if her team wanted to use this as an opportunity to attack Trump.

He then hit back because Harris had not fired anyone responsible for the withdrawal, which took place under her watch.

“Our veterans are also even more concerned because three years ago, 13 brave, innocent Americans died. And they died because Kamala Harris refused to do her job and there was not a single investigation or discharge,” he said.

“Kamala Harris is a disgrace. We want to talk about the story of those 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives? It's about Kamala Harris being so asleep that she doesn't even want to conduct an investigation into what happened. And she wants to yell at Donald Trump for showing up?”

She “can go to hell,” he scoffed.

Vance also insisted that the incident had been exaggerated by the media.

“In the confrontation at Arlington Cemetery, the media is making up a story that I really don't believe exists,” he said, adding that Gold Star families wanted Trump there and that the incident was not an “insult” to the memory of the fallen soldiers.

The Ohio senator said an Arlington National Cemetery employee had “a little disagreement with somebody,” but the media seized on it to make it a “national news story.”

On Tuesday, NPR reported that two Trump campaign staffers “verbally abused and pushed aside” a cemetery official when he tried to prevent the staff from filming and taking photographs while the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony.

A spokesperson for Arlington National Cemetery told the Washington Post that there had been an “incident,” that a “report had been filed,” and that “federal law prohibits political campaign or election activities at Army National Guard military cemeteries. This also applies to photographers, content creators, or others who are there for specific purposes or to directly support the campaign of a partisan political candidate.”

The Trump team insisted that the person who confronted the campaign about the photos was “suffering from a mental health episode” and that there was “no physical altercation as described,” said communications director Steven Cheung.

A Gold Star family member who was with Trump at the cemetery confirmed the campaign's account of events and claimed that cemetery staff were “lying.”

“We are the ones who invited Trump. He did not invite himself,” Darin Hoover, the father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, told The Post in a phone interview Wednesday.

“We invited him because we knew that he was behind us, that he supported us. He cares about us.”

“While I was there, I never witnessed any physical altercation or anything like that. And quite frankly, the staff at Arlington is lying. I mean, it's just a blatant lie,” Hoover replied.

“We wanted to use the images to commemorate what President Trump said and did and … the moment he paid his last respects to our children,” Hoover continued.

The Gold Star family member also said that Trump's support was “far more than what the current administration has done” – namely, “absolutely nothing.”

“The current administration wants to sweep this issue under the rug and keep it buried,” Hoover said.

Meanwhile, attendees at the Erie rally told the Washington Post that Vance's military experience and the fact that he is a Marine veteran had a positive impact on the Republican list.

Gene Seip, 69, an entrepreneur born and raised in Erie, said that “one of the demographics he is targeting is military personnel.”

Chris Knight, 68, is a head chef at a school in Corry, Pennsylvania. She brought a printed copy of Vance's memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and said she is a fan of the senator, not just Trump.

Vance “is one of the veterans,” she said, pointing out that her son was in the military and that “it's important that we keep our children here and only send them away when we absolutely have to.”

Additional reporting by Ethan Dodd