Army supports Arlington Cemetery worker involved in Trump visit

Trump was at the cemetery Monday to mark the third anniversary of the deaths of 13 American soldiers in the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing, as the war in Afghanistan was set to end in days when an employee got into a now-contentious confrontation with Trump’s staff. Trump and Gold Star families have been briefed on the rules and regulations, apparently regarding a ban on political activity at the cemetery.

According to a statement from an Army spokesman on Thursday, the cemetery employee tried to ensure Trump and his staff were complying with federal regulations, Army regulations and Defense Department rules prohibiting political activity on cemetery grounds but was “abruptly sidelined.”

The employee avoided further disruption and reported the incident to the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Police Department but decided not to pursue charges. The Army considers the “matter closed,” its statement said.

“This incident was unfortunate and it is also unfortunate that an ANC employee and her professionalism were unfairly attacked,” the army statement continued. “The ANC is the national shrine to the deceased service members of the Armed Forces and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure that public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect that the country’s fallen deserve.”

Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said: Washington Examiner earlier this week that the unnamed employee was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode,” adding, “The fact is, a private photographer had permission to enter the premises, and for some reason, an unnamed individual… decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.”

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The Trump campaign released a six-minute video Monday with brief interviews with several Gold Star family members criticizing President Joe Biden’s response to the bombing and his treatment of them since. Biden released a written statement this morning, on the anniversary, honoring the sacrifice of his loved ones.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Biden administration over the 2021 Afghan withdrawal and the Abbey Gate bombing that killed about 170 Afghans in addition to 13 U.S. troops. Many families have expressed anger at Biden for the deaths of their loved ones and have reached out to a sympathetic Trump, prompting some to speak out at the Republican National Convention last month.

The families of some of them said after Monday’s incident that they had invited Trump to the memorial service.

Trump and his presidential candidate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), have addressed the chaotic drawdown during the election campaign in recent weeks as the anniversary of the withdrawal approaches.

“We’re going to tell the story of 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives. It’s about Kamala Harris being so sleepy at the wheel that she doesn’t even want to investigate what happened and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up. He can go to hell,” Vance told a crowd at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, earlier this week.

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Trump, while president, also wanted to end U.S. involvement in the war in Afghanistan and agreed to a deal with the Taliban, excluding the Afghan government in 2020, to do so if certain conditions were met, starting a process that Biden would eventually complete. One of the few foreign policy decisions that Trump and Biden shared was the desire to end the war.

Biden has defied advice from senior military commanders who said the United States should keep a small force in Afghanistan for counterterrorism purposes.