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Trump Staffer ‘Abruptly Pushed’ Arlington Cemetery Employee, Army Confirms
The U.S. Army has disputed a claim from Donald Trump’s campaign that nobody on his staff got physical with an employee of Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.
Instead, the military branch confirmed Thursday that a member of Trump’s staff “abruptly pushed” a woman employee after she sought to “ensure adherence” to cemetery rules that bars recording for political purposes.
The Army said the woman reported the incident to local cops but ultimately decided against pressing charges. It remains unclear who in Trump’s orbit did the alleged pushing.
“The ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” the Army said in a statement. “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.”
The Army, which oversees the country’s national cemeteries, said it considers the matter closed.
Trump’s visit to Arlington has proved to be quite the headache for the former president this week. He was first criticized for smiling and giving a thumbs up next to fallen soldiers’ graves, but the criticisms went into overdrive after allegations emerged about a “physical altercation.”
Trump’s campaign had confirmed that an incident occurred between staff and a cemetery employee but claimed it did not involve anything physical.
A spokesperson for Trump, Steven Cheung, told The Daily Beast in a statement Wednesday that “there was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.” He did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request to share that footage, however.
Cheung also made a point of disparaging the worker, who the Army says was just doing her job to protect the sanctity of Arlington—the largest resting place for U.S. veterans and soldiers killed in action.
“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” Cheung said.
Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump, took the nastiness to another level and called the woman a “a despicable individual.”
Arlington has long had a strict rule in place against politicians politicizing their visits to the sacred site. Yet Trump’s campaign quickly turned his visit into a TikTok this week in which a voiceover, narrated by the former president, took subtle jabs at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as footage of Trump at Arlington was played.
“We lost 13 great, great people,” Trump says in the clip. “What a horrible day it was. We didn’t lose one person in 18 months and then they took over that disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump...gton-cemetery-employee-army-confirms?ref=wrap
The U.S. Army has disputed a claim from Donald Trump’s campaign that nobody on his staff got physical with an employee of Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.
Instead, the military branch confirmed Thursday that a member of Trump’s staff “abruptly pushed” a woman employee after she sought to “ensure adherence” to cemetery rules that bars recording for political purposes.
The Army said the woman reported the incident to local cops but ultimately decided against pressing charges. It remains unclear who in Trump’s orbit did the alleged pushing.
“The ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” the Army said in a statement. “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.”
The Army, which oversees the country’s national cemeteries, said it considers the matter closed.
Trump’s visit to Arlington has proved to be quite the headache for the former president this week. He was first criticized for smiling and giving a thumbs up next to fallen soldiers’ graves, but the criticisms went into overdrive after allegations emerged about a “physical altercation.”
Trump’s campaign had confirmed that an incident occurred between staff and a cemetery employee but claimed it did not involve anything physical.
A spokesperson for Trump, Steven Cheung, told The Daily Beast in a statement Wednesday that “there was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.” He did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request to share that footage, however.
Cheung also made a point of disparaging the worker, who the Army says was just doing her job to protect the sanctity of Arlington—the largest resting place for U.S. veterans and soldiers killed in action.
“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” Cheung said.
Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump, took the nastiness to another level and called the woman a “a despicable individual.”
Arlington has long had a strict rule in place against politicians politicizing their visits to the sacred site. Yet Trump’s campaign quickly turned his visit into a TikTok this week in which a voiceover, narrated by the former president, took subtle jabs at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as footage of Trump at Arlington was played.
“We lost 13 great, great people,” Trump says in the clip. “What a horrible day it was. We didn’t lose one person in 18 months and then they took over that disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump...gton-cemetery-employee-army-confirms?ref=wrap
