Trump's team downplays “incident” in Arlington to minimize political consequences

NPR first reported on Tuesday that an altercation had broken out between two members of the Trump campaign team and a cemetery official who tried to prevent them from filming.

“We can confirm that an incident occurred and a report was filed,” the cemetery said in a statement.

Whatever happened, Barnett and another attendee – who asked to remain anonymous and was not authorized to speak for the families – said they did not notice anything unusual.

“We didn’t find out about it until the next day,” said the second participant, who did not consider Trump’s participation to be a campaign activity.

“It wasn’t politicized,” this person said.

Trump posted a video on his TikTok account with excerpts from Monday's ceremony, blaming Biden and Harris for the deaths at Kabul airport.

Like most Republican presidential candidates in recent decades, Trump won a majority of voters who have served in the military, according to polls. But his margin of victory in his 2020 election defeat – 54% to 44% – was smaller than in his 2016 election defeat, when he won that portion of the electorate 61% to 34%.

His aides have publicly denied the report of a physical altercation at the cemetery and accused Democrats of ignoring the anniversary that represents the most poignant reminder of a retreat that damaged Biden politically.

“They are trying to obscure the fact that there was only one commander in chief in Arlington on August 26,” LaCivita said, noting that Biden was on vacation and Harris did not visit Arlington on the anniversary. Both issued statements.

Neither Trump nor Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, wore uniforms. Their running mates, Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Governor Tim Walz (D-Minn.), did.

Harris' campaign declined to comment on the report of the clash in Arlington, but her communications director Michael Tyler addressed the issue in a CNN interview on Wednesday.

“Frankly, I think this episode is ultimately pretty sad,” Tyler said. “Look, this is what we expect from Donald Trump and his team. Donald Trump is a person who wants to make everything Donald Trump's. He's also someone who has a history of demeaning and degrading military personnel who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”

A Trump adviser who spoke to NBC News pointed to a statement signed by five Gold Star family members and two Purple Heart recipients who supported Trump on Monday amid the firestorm. The statement said they gave Trump's videographers and photographers permission to capture those moments so they could “preserve these memories forever.”

“Everything that happened that day was at their invitation,” this person said. “It was not a campaign event. It was an event for the families of these people, and they invited the commander in chief, who has always shown strong and unwavering support to them and to all soldiers and their families.”

This person said Trump was “grateful” for the invitation and would show “how committed he will be when he returns to the White House to holding the people who ordered this insane and disastrous withdrawal accountable.”

The Trump campaign's handling of the incident after details were leaked to the media caused consternation among Republicans. In particular, a statement from communications director Steven Cheung said that “an unnamed individual, who appears to be suffering from a mental health disorder, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony.”

A Republican aide who asked not to be identified called the statement “so unprofessional.” A Trump ally, meanwhile, said the “behavior” described at the cemetery was “really out of character” for the campaign.

Trump has been accused for years of showing no respect for veterans and military personnel.

Earlier this year, he mocked the late Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) for not being able to raise his arms due to injuries he sustained as a prisoner of war. In 2015, he also said McCain was not a “war hero” because he was “taken prisoner.”

“I like people who were not captured,” he said at the time.

McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, gained national notoriety for his time as a prisoner of war in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, where he was tortured.

During this election campaign, Trump also questioned why Nikki Haley's husband did not accompany her on the campaign trail during the Republican primaries. Major Michael Haley was deployed overseas at the time.

Just this month, Trump described the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a civilian award, as “much better” than the Medal of Honor, a military award, because recipients of the latter are often dead or seriously injured.

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said last year that his former boss had denigrated veterans and military personnel as “suckers” and “losers,” echoing comments published years earlier in the Atlantic. Trump has vehemently and repeatedly denied making such comments.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat and Army veteran, pointed to Trump's comments on the Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, adding that the incident at Arlington National Cemetery appeared to be a “continuation of something that I just find really problematic.”

“There are these attacks on those who have served in the military and this increasing politicization and disrespect for those who have chosen to serve this country,” he said, adding that he still wants to know more details about what happened between Trump's staff and the cemetery official.

At their convention last week, Democrats criticized Trump on military issues, emphasizing patriotism in particular. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Trump “does not understand the service and sacrifice of our military” and that he is the only president since World War II who has “failed to honor our veterans and their sacrifices.”

For Republicans, however, the incident served to shine a light on what they see as one of the Biden administration's biggest failures in Afghanistan, a central part of its message on global instability over the past four years.

“The veterans I speak to feel disrespected and disappointed, especially by their commander in chief, in terms of the military leadership of the United States,” said Pennsylvania state Rep. Rob Mercuri, a veteran and congressional candidate in the 17th District, a swing district with a large veteran population. “The only thing I can say about President Trump is that his plan is to demonstrate strength. I think it's really important to return to the Reagan doctrine of peace through strength.”