US Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump.
Brendan Mcdermid | Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
Vice president Kamala Harris on Saturday criticized former President Donald Trump to film at Arlington National Cemeteryaccused him of using his visit for political purposes, which is strictly prohibited.
“Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for political purposes,” Harris wrote in a lengthy post on X. “This is a man who cannot understand anything other than serving himself.”
Half an hour later, Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vancefired back at Harris in her social media post: “President Trump was there at the invitation of families whose loved ones died because of your incompetence.”
“Why don’t you get off social media and go investigate their untimely deaths?” Vance added.
The Trump campaign has echoed that defensive stance on its social media. parcelHarris replied: “You have NEVER taken responsibility for the 13 heroes who died under your command — while you brag that you were the last man in the room.”
Trump has faced criticism over the past week for a visit to Arlington Cemetery on Monday, during which his campaign staff “abruptly pushed” a cemetery employee who was trying to enforce a federal law prohibiting “political activities” on military cemetery grounds, according to a US Army spokesperson.
Trump made the trip to the cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the 13 US servicemen killed in a bombing at Kabul Airport during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, an incident he has repeatedly blamed on President Joe Biden and Harris.
While Trump met with the victims’ families, his campaign staff took numerous photos and videos, some of which were posted to his website. social media foundation.
Arlington Cemetery issued a statement confirming the incident between the campaign and cemetery staff, and NPR was first to report it.
“Federal law prohibits activities related to political campaigns or elections at the National Military Cemetery, including photographers, content creators, or any other person attending for that purpose or directly supporting the campaign of a partisan political candidate,” the cemetery said.
The Trump campaign has repeatedly denied any altercation, saying it had permission to have a photographer and videographer on the premises. A Trump campaign spokesman said the incident was the result of a cemetery employee suffering a “mental health episode.”
On Friday, Trump said he only took photos at the scene because the victims’ families wanted it.
“I stood with different people on different graves and took pictures of them. I didn’t want to take pictures, but I wanted to take pictures if they wanted to take pictures,” he shared in a conversation moderated by Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty.
Harris’ campaign has seized on the controversy, criticizing Trump for disrespecting the US military and pointing to several other incidents in which the former president faced backlash for allegedly making disparaging comments about veterans, which he has denied.
“This is nothing new from Donald Trump,” Harris wrote in a post on Saturday. “I believe that a man who cannot fulfill this simple, sacred duty should never again be allowed to stand behind the seal of the President of the United States.”
