Donald Trump’s photographed visit to Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week has drawn massive criticism from many veterans groups, former members of Congress, and even an official in the former president’s cabinet.
As NPR first reported on Tuesday, staffers of the 2024 Republican presidential candidate verbally abused and shoved an Arlington official who tried to stop the former president’s photographers from taking pictures of Section 60, the part of the cemetery dedicated to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Trump campaign later used footage from Section 60 in a video posted on TikTok. Federal law prohibits political candidates from using the cemetery for election-related activities.
The Trump team countered by claiming it had permission to bring its own photographer and denied reports of a physical altercation.
Arlington Cemetery confirmed to NPR that an incident occurred and a report was filed.
Trump was also criticized for giving a thumbs up and grinning broadly during a photo op at the grave at the cemetery.
The visit has since been criticized by numerous politicians from across the political spectrum, including several veterans’ groups.
“Trump only cares about the fallen when he can exploit their sacrifice for his own benefit,” the progressive organization VoteVets said in a statement on social media on Wednesday. “To him, they are simply ‘suckers and losers.’ He has proven time and time again that respect and honor mean nothing to him.”
Former Rep. Max Rose (D-NY), who advises the group, also condemned the events, calling them “sick and tragic.”
Retired Major General Paul Eaton, another VoteVets adviser, told USA Today he “really couldn’t think of anything more heinous than starting a political tumult on land where Gold Star families are grieving. Someone who would do something like that should never be commander in chief.”
Veterans for Responsible Leadership, a nonpartisan veterans organization, accused the former president of violating both the “sanctity of Arlington” and the “Code of Conduct for National Military Cemeteries.”
The Trump campaign team immediately emphasized the support of Marine veterans who invited the former president to the event commemorating the deaths of 13 Marines in a bombing at Kabul airport in 2021.
Trump appears alongside Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart (retired) and Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews (retired), two of the Marines injured in the Kabul bombing.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“On the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing, the President and his team behaved with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity towards all our soldiers, especially our beloved children,” the group said in a statement posted on the campaign’s social media accounts.
The group said it had given the Trump campaign permission to photograph and record the event “to ensure that these sacred moments of remembrance are respectfully captured.”
Former President Trump lays a wreath next to the sister of Sergeant Nicole Gee, one of the Marines killed in a bombing in Kabul in 2021.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
A senior official in Trump’s cabinet also openly criticized the campaign.
“I think it’s important that the report was submitted. I think it should be investigated,” said former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who served in the Trump administration from 2019 to 2020. “There is no more sacred place in this nation than Arlington Cemetery, where we have buried our heroes, our veterans, since the Civil War.”
“The bottom line is that I believe the fundamental point is that no person or party should ever use Arlington National Cemetery or any of our other cemeteries or battlefields for partisan political purposes,” the former Trump administration official told CNN.
Some veterans who serve as members of Congress joined in the criticism.
Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, who served in the Marines, said the incident was “part of a pattern” and called out the former president for past controversies, including conscientious objection during the Vietnam War and insulting a Gold Star family.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), an outspoken Trump critic who spoke at the DNC earlier this month, called the former president a “disgrace to our nation.” Kinzinger served in the Air National Guard.
