The incident reportedly involved pushing an employee and verbal abuse.

By Paul McLeary

08/28/2024 11:32 AM EDT

Updated: 08/28/2024 04:01 PM EDT

Members of the Trump campaign were involved in a confrontation with Army staff at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday while the former president took part in a photo session in a section for troops who have died in recent conflicts.

The incident, which reportedly involved pushing an employee and verbal abuse, came as former President Donald Trump visited the cemetery to mark the three-year anniversary of the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan, where 13 service members were killed in a bombing at the Kabul airport.

NPR first reported that families of two of the Marines killed at the airport invited Trump to Section 60 of the cemetery, where federal law prohibits political or campaign-related photography. NPR, citing a person with knowledge of the incident, said Trump’s team verbally abused and pushed a staffer when that person attempted to block the photographer who was with the campaign.

The photos came after Trump laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The cemetery released a statement confirming there was an “incident,” and added that “federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities” at any military cemetery, including photography “in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”

Trump adviser Chris LaCivita said in a statement to POLITICO that “for a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace.”

Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesperson, confirmed that an incident occurred but denied there was any altercation.

“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” Cheung said.

Cheung posted on X Wednesday what appeared to be communication between the campaign and Arlington staff that recommended against bringing additional photographers “outside the main media pool,” but allowed a Trump photographer to accompany him. The communication does not specify the photographer can follow Trump to the gravesite. Staff at the cemetery had worked for days to coordinate the visit with the Trump campaign.

Trump’s running mate JD Vance, speaking at an event in Wisconsin on Wednesday, said the media is “creating a story where I really don’t think there is one” and reiterated the campaign’s statement that they were allowed to have a photographer there.

“It is amazing to me that you have apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member had a little disagreement with somebody and the media has turned this into a national news story,” he said.

Appearing on CNN Wednesday, former Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the incident “should be investigated” and that the cemetery “has a lot of rules” for what people can or cannot do there. The “principle is that no person or party [on] either side should ever use Arlington National Cemetery or any of our cemeteries or battlefields for partisan political purposes, or break the so-called rules.”

The incident is the latest in a string of controversies involving Trump and veterans. On Aug. 15, he said the civilian President Medal of Freedom was “much better” than the military’s Medal of Honor because recipients of the military’s highest award for valor are “either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.”

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, which has 1.5 million members, called the comments “asinine” and said they not “only diminish the significance of our nation’s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty.”

Mia McCarthy contributed to this article.