Staff for the Donald Trump campaign reportedly shoved an employee at Arlington National Cemetery who was trying to stop them from filming their visit and potentially violating federal law earlier this week, reports say.
NPR reported on Wednesday that the cemetery staffer was trying to prevent the campaign from taking photos and filming at the site where U.S. soldiers are buried when Trump staff got in a verbal and physical altercation with her. The Army, in a rare statement, confirmed the incident and said that the employee was “abruptly pushed aside” by Trump aides.
That day, Trump was filming a campaign ad showing him participating in a wreath-laying ceremony. Text overlaid on the video criticizes President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, with a caption saying that it “should never have happened” — despite Trump’s support for the idea when he was in office.
The Trump campaign has been heavily criticized for using the cemetery for political purposes. The campaign distributed a photo and video of Trump next to the grave of a Green Beret, Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano, who died by suicide and whose family denied the campaign permission to film.
It is a violation of federal law to take photos and videos of the site for political purposes. The Army said that the Trump campaign was “made aware of federal laws … which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”
The Army also criticized the Trump campaign for attacking the employee in the press. Trump campaign officials have issued several inflammatory statements about the employee, saying that she is a “despicable individual” who was having a “mental health episode.”
The employee reportedly declined to press charges against the Trump campaign because she feared retaliation from Trump supporters, The New York Times reported. Trump has a penchant for exacting revenge on his enemies, often calling his followers to violence — and, if he were elected, he would also have an unlimited ability to abuse the law due to the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
Campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said on Wednesday that the employee’s fear of retaliation “is ridiculous and sounds like someone who has Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Trump’s vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, had brushed off criticisms on Wednesday, saying, “You’re acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite” — even though that is essentially precisely what he did.
The article from NPR detailing the altercation between Trump staff and the worker was censored on social media platform X on Thursday. Perhaps seeking to contain the fallout of the incident, the platform owned by far right billionaire Elon Musk served a warning page to those who clicked the link, saying that the link was “unsafe,” without evidence.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today during our fundraiser. We have 8 days to add 460 new monthly donors. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.