Reuters
The newspaper La Jornada
Friday, August 30, 2024, p. 30
Washington. Two members of the campaign team of the Republican presidential candidate of the United States Donald Trump had a verbal and physical altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery worker during a visit by the tycoon this week, NPR reported yesterday.
Trump on Monday participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington Cemetery to honor the 13 soldiers killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Later in Detroit, Trump blamed Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival for the White House, and President Joe Biden for the withdrawal. catastrophic from the Asian country.
Citing an unnamed source, NPR reported that when a cemetery employee tried to prevent members of the Republican campaign’s staff from filming and photographing in the area where the service members are buried, the candidate’s staff He insulted and pushed the worker aside.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denied the report. There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release images if such defamatory claims are made.Cheung said.
The fact is that a private photographer was allowed into the premises and for whatever reason, an anonymous individual, clearly suffering from a mental breakdown, decided to physically block members of former President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.he added.
Arlington National Cemetery confirmed in a statement that an incident occurred and a complaint was filed. Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within the military’s national military cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators, or anyone else assisting for these purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.said the cemetery.
However, officials who oversee and manage the cemetery itself did not respond to requests for a copy of the complaint or an explanation of why Trump and his supporters were allowed to visit the cemetery as part of their campaign.