A U.S. veteran and former member of the Presidential Honor Guard defended former President Trump’s look at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery this week amid experiences of an altercation between Arlington workers and the Trump marketing campaign.
The veteran, Lucas O’Hara, stated on social media that he labored at Arlington for 3 years throughout his time within the navy, and he lauded Trump’s composure on the occasion. In the meantime, the Trump marketing campaign is going through criticism following experiences that cemetery workers warned them to not take pictures on the Monday occasion.
“I’ve witnessed over 75 wreath laying ceremonies carried out by politicians and carried out 524 funerals on this cemetery in the course of the time I served within the Presidential Honor Guard for 3 years. What I bought to witness yesterday was probably the most respectful and solemn ceremony I’ve seen,” O’Hara wrote.
“There have been no speeches, no angles, no bizarre picture ops simply our elected officers and the forty fifth President respectfully and solemnly honoring the fallen and their households,” he added.
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The Monday occasion honored the 13 U.S. service members who had been killed whereas defending the Kabul airport in the course of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. A number of mother and father of the service members launched a press release saying that they had accredited a Trump marketing campaign photographer to document the occasion.
A report from NPR says two Trump marketing campaign workers members “verbally abused and pushed” a cemetery official who tried to cease them from filming and taking pictures. A protection official additionally informed The Related Press that the marketing campaign was warned by cemetery workers to not take pictures on the occasion.
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“Federal regulation prohibits political marketing campaign or election-related actions inside Military Nationwide Army Cemeteries, to incorporate photographers, content material creators or some other individuals attending for functions, or in direct help of a partisan political candidate’s marketing campaign,” a cemetery official stated in a press release. “Arlington Nationwide Cemetery bolstered and extensively shared this regulation and its prohibitions with all members. We are able to verify there was an incident, and a report was filed.”
Trump marketing campaign spokesman Steven Cheung argued that the staffer who blocked the marketing campaign photographers gave the impression to be having a “psychological well being episode.” He additionally specified that the marketing campaign was granted approval to carry a photographer.
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“The actual fact is {that a} personal photographer was permitted on the premises and, for no matter cause, an unnamed particular person, clearly affected by a psychological well being episode, determined to bodily block members of President Trump’s group throughout a really solemn ceremony,” he stated.
Trump attended the occasion on the invitation of members of the family of the troopers who had been killed within the Kabul bombing.
“We’re deeply grateful to the president for taking the time to honor our youngsters and for standing alongside us in our grief, providing his unwavering help throughout such a tough time,” 5 of the members of the family wrote after the occasion. “His compassion and respect meant greater than phrases can specific.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.