The Army said the employee was trying to enforce rules prohibiting the cemetery grounds from being politicized when the altercation ensued.
But the employee was “abruptly pushed aside” during the ceremony, the Army said.
While a police report was filed, the Army said the employee did not want to press charges, and the case was closed.
However, the Army said the incident was “unfortunate” and the staffer’s “professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”
The cemetery is “a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve,” the spokesperson said.
NPR first reported Tuesday that two members of Trump’s campaign staff had gotten into an altercation with an employee at Arlington National Cemetery.
Trump was there on the three-year anniversary of the Kabul airport bombing with Gold Star relatives of the 13 U.S. servicemembers who died in the 2021 attack amid the U.S. exit from Afghanistan.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement this week that they were given permission to film and disputed that a staffer had been pushed.
Cheung said the staffer was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode,” while another Trump campaign official called the person a “despicable individual.”
Trump’s running mate and vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, also claimed there was “verifiable evidence” that a photographer was allowed at the ceremony.
Richard Kohn, a civil-military relations expert and professor at the University of North Carolina, told The Hill that Arlington National Cemetery is the “crown jewel” of the military cemetery system. He called the Trump team’s conduct “disturbing” and “disgraceful.”
Trump “has no inherent understanding of the military, of its historic effort to avoid being associated with domestic and partisan politics, and he doesn’t care,” Kohn said.
Several veterans groups, mostly Democratic-leaning ones, also slammed Trump for the move, which centered on Section 60 of the cemetery. That section hosts the remains of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and is considered a sacred and solemn ground.
Allison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said her visitation of Section 60 is to pay respects to the fallen and “to also humbly remind myself that I am one of the lucky ones who made it home from war.”
“There are plenty of places appropriate for politics – Arlington is not one of them,” she said in a statement.
The full story will be available later at TheHill.com.
