Trump's TikTok shows a cemetery video shot after the confrontation between campaign staff in Arlington: NPR

Former President Donald Trump shared a TikTok video featuring footage from Arlington National Cemetery that likely violates a federal law prohibiting the use of military cemeteries for campaign purposes. NPR previously reported that Trump campaign staffers had a physical altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery employee on Monday over that restriction.

This is not the first time that Trump has been accused of politicizing the military, but his campaign team has tried to downplay the events since then.

Trump was in Arlington on Monday to commemorate the third anniversary of an attack in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. troops during the disastrous troop withdrawal. Trump and other Republicans have blamed President Biden and Vice President Harris for the chaos and loss of life.

The 21-second video shows Trump laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and several clips show Trump joining Gold Star family members at the graves of their loved ones in a part of the cemetery known as Section 60.

“We lost 13 great people, what a terrible day that was,” Trump says over somber music. “We didn't lose a single person for 18 months, and then they took over the disaster, the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

However, the Trump campaign did not have permission to film or photograph under Section 60; federal law prohibits the use of military cemeteries for campaign events, and two campaign staffers got into a physical and verbal altercation with the Arlington staffer who tried to prevent filming.

In a statement following NPR's original story on Monday, family members in attendance said they invited Trump and gave permission for his photographer and videographer to document an emotional moment of remembrance.

Some of these family members also spoke at the Republican National Convention, where they sharply criticized Biden and loudly supported Trump.

“Joe Biden may have forgotten that our children died, but we haven't forgotten, Donald Trump hasn't forgotten,” Cheryl Juels said at the RNC in Milwaukee in July. Juels is the aunt of Sergeant Nicole Gee, one of the 13 people killed at Abbey Gate in 2021.

“Joe Biden owes gratitude and an apology to the men and women who served in Afghanistan. Donald Trump loves this country and will never forget the sacrifices and courage of our soldiers,” she added. “Help us put him back in the White House.”

Although relatives said they agreed with the presence of the cameras, the families have no way to override the rules.

NPR has also learned that the family of a Green Beret who committed suicide and whose gravestone appears in images and videos posted by the campaign did not give permission to be photographed.

The Trump campaign team reacts

After the visit to Arlington, the Trump campaign's reaction took on a malicious tone. A spokesman said the cemetery worker was “obviously suffering from a mental disorder” and promised to release footage of the encounter, but has so far declined to do so.

While campaigning in Pennsylvania, Republican vice presidential candidate and Ohio Senator JD Vance said Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris could “go to hell” over the Afghanistan withdrawal and blamed reporters for the campaign controversy, which he called a “difference of opinion.”

“You people in the media act like Donald Trump did a TV commercial at a grave,” Vance said. “He was there, providing emotional support to many brave Americans who lost loved ones they never should have lost. And there happened to be a camera there, and someone gave him permission to put that camera there.”

Meanwhile, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who attended the Arlington events with Trump, apologized in a social media post for sending a campaign fundraiser email that included a photo of him and the former president in Section 60 with the family of Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover.

A photo from the restricted area was posted on Cox's official Governor X account, and the post is still online.

This is not the first time Trump has been accused of politicizing the military for his own personal gain. He has referred to dead soldiers as “suckers and losers,” insulted the late John McCain as a prisoner of war, and recently sparked controversy by saying civilian recipients of the Medal of Freedom are much better than those who receive the Medal of Honor – the nation's highest military award, which is often awarded posthumously.