Donald Trump tried to shift blame for the scandal surrounding his recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery onto Gold Star parents as he continues to face criticism for using photos and videos from the visit as campaign material.
On Thursday, NBC News’ Dasha Burns asked the Republican presidential nominee if his campaign should have put out those videos and photo taken at Section 60 of the cemetery, one of the most hallowed areas in Arlington National Cemetery where recent US casualties are buried and where the taking of photos and videos are prohibited.
“Well, we have a lot of people, you know, we have people, TikTok people, you know, we’re leading the internet. That was the other thing. We’re so far above her on the internet,” Trump responded.
“I don’t know what the rules and regulations are,” he continued. “I don’t know who did it. And it could have been them. It could have been the parents,” Trump said referring to the two Gold Star families that invited him to the cemetery for the wreath laying to honor 13 US military service members who were killed at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan three years go.
When Burns pointed out that the video was posted to the Trump campaign’s official TikTok account, the former president then tried to shift blame to the Biden administration, claiming that the entire thing was a “setup”.
“I really don’t know anything about it. All I do is I stood there and I said, if you’d like to have a picture, we can have a picture if somebody did,” Trump said. “If this was a set up by the people in the administration that, oh, Trump is coming to Arlington, that looks so bad for us.”
A video of the visit posted by the Trump campaign on TikTok showed the former president walking through Arlington and visiting grave sites, with audio of him criticizing the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
NPR first reported this week that there had been a “verbal and physical altercation” during the cemetery visit.
A source with knowledge of the incident told the outlet that a cemetery official attempted to prevent Trump’s team from taking photographs and filming in Section 60. In response, Trump campaign staff “verbally abused and pushed the official aside,” according to NPR.
The Trump campaign fired back, calling the Arlington Cemetery employee “mentally ill” and a “disgrace” to the “hollowed [sic]” military burial site.
The Trump campaign also insisted there were no violations of the law.
But according to a statement from Arlington National Cemetery, federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries
“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” the cemetery said. “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
The Army has also released a rare statement defending the cemetery official’s professionalism amid attacks from the Trump campaign, writing: “Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.”
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” the statement continued.
“ANC 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,” it added.
