Former President Donald TrumpHis behavior after his visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week only “fuels this fire” and shows he doesn’t “respect” service members who made the ultimate sacrifice, former Trump White House aide Alyssa Farah Griffin said Tuesday.
Reports swirled on Trump’s team last week that members of his staff got into a physical altercation with officials at Arlington National Cemetery after the former president’s campaign demanded to film and take photographs in Section 60, the burial site for soldiers killed during combat in Afghanistan. and Iraq.
The incident was first reported by NPR, and US Army officials said in a statement a few days later that a cemetery employee was “suddenly pushed aside” by a member of Trump’s campaign during a visit by the former president.
The incident occurred while Trump was attending a wreath-laying ceremony honoring 13 American soldiers killed in a bombing at Kabul airport on August 26, 2021, amid the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump was invited by several family members of the fallen soldiers to attend the ceremony.
His campaign has maintained that there was no physical altercation during the ceremony, and Trump called reports of the incident “a made-up story” by the Biden administration. A post on his Truth social account on Tuesday morning.
speaking together CNNOf Caitlan Collins, Griffin criticized how the Trump campaign handled the incident, saying his former boss “never understood service and sacrifice as it applies to this. US Army“
“And the other thing is, when you make a mistake, just own up to it,” continued Griffin, who served as Trump’s White House strategic communications director in 2020.
“If those families asked for it and he took that picture … just own it and don’t let this become a week-long story that really continues to fuel this fire that you’re not honoring the people who made the ultimate sacrifice for us. nation,” Griffin added. But that is classic ‘Trumpism’. You just have to double down, you can’t admit fault, and the way his staff has handled it is almost worse than the crime in some ways.
During the visit, Trump posed for a photo with the family of Staff Sergeant Darrin Taylor Hoover, who was killed in the Kabul airport bombing. Hoover’s family rwas expressly permitted to Trump’s team to take photographs.
Newsweek The Trump campaign was reached by email for comment on Tuesday.
Trump has faced attacks for his behavior Retirement Groups and political figures viz Jimmy McCannSon of the late GOP senator John McCainwho told CNN on Tuesday that he plans to vote for vice president Kamala Harris In November.
The former president said in his post on Truth Social that there was “no conflict or ‘battle'” at the ceremony, adding, “It was a story created by Comrade Kamala and her disinformation squad.” Trump also repeated his attacks against the president Joe BidenThe administration called it “the most shameful day in US history” for the “failed” 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan!!
Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said Newsweek Last week the former president’s team was allowed to have a private photographer on the cemetery grounds and said the Arlington National Cemetery employee involved in the incident was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.”
An Army statement on the matter said that under federal law, candidates are prohibited from political activities at cemeteries.
“Participants at the August 26th ceremony and subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD. [Department of Defense] policies, which expressly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds,” the statement read. “An ANC [Arlington National Cemetery] An employee who tried to ensure compliance with these rules was suddenly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected in the ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.”
The Army said the case is closed and there are no plans to press charges. Some members of CongressIncluding Democratic representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Tim Cainof Virginia, has asked the Army to release additional details of its report.
Harris wrote in a statement to X, earlier TwitterLast week Trump disrespected “holy land, for the sake of a political stunt”.
Democratic Presidential “If there is one thing we as Americans can all agree on, it is that our veterans, military families and service members should be honored, never disrespected and treated with less than our highest respect and gratitude.” Shouldn’t,” added the Democratic presidential nominee.
Post Donald Trump ‘fired’ after Arlington controversy: Former aide appeared first Newsweek.