Trump running mate and Iraq war veteran Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) blasted Kamala Harris for her campaign’s criticism of President Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to mark the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate terror attack in Afghanistan family members of the fallen and survivors.
Trump participated in three wreath-laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for three servicemembers killed in the attack and then joined the families and survivors at Section 60 to honor the fallen at their gravesites.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania on Wednesday Vance responded to Harris, “But to have those thirteen Americans lose their lives and not fire a single person is disgraceful. Kamala Harris is disgraceful. If we want to talk about a story out of those thirteen brave innocent Americans who lost their lives, it’s that Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened but wants to yell at Donald Trump for showing up? She can, she can go to hell!”
TGP reported earlier Wednesday how NPR reported a cemetery staffer got into a physical altercation with Trump campaign staffers, trying to block them from taking photos and video of Trump with the families and survivors in Section 60, and that a report had been filed with Arlington Cemetery. The Trump campaign said it had permission from Arlington Cemetery and the families to have a photographer present. The media and the Harris campaign have made the incident a national story to try to deflect from the optics of Trump showing up at Arlington on Monday while Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were on vacation and just issued written statements on the anniversary of the attack that killed thirteen servicemembers and over one hundred-fifty Afghans during Biden’s chaotic retreat from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler appeared on CNN Wednesday morning where he trashed Trump for visiting Arlington (CNBC excerpt):
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign said a reported physical confrontation between former President Donald Trump’s campaign aides and an official at Arlington National Cemetery was “pretty sad,” but “it’s not surprising coming from the Trump team.”
“Listen, this is what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team,” Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in a CNN interview Wednesday. Arlington cemetery confirmed late Tuesday that an “incident” had occurred, and reiterated that federal law bars candidates and campaigns from conducting political campaign activities in national military cemeteries.
…“Donald Trump is a person who wants to make everything all about Donald Trump. He’s also somebody who has a history of demeaning and degrading military service members, those who have given the ultimate sacrifice,” Tyler said Wednesday on CNN.
“I think it’s part of what the American people have come to reject when it comes to Donald Trump. They’re sick of the toxic brand of politics,” Tyler said.
“They’re sick of the MAGA extremism, and they’re sick of a person who, no matter what the issue is, is frankly just trying to serve himself rather than doing what one should be doing as a leader, which is fighting for the American people.”
…Trump campaign senior advisor Chris LaCivita said Wednesday, “A nameless bureaucrat at Arlington whose job it is to preserve the dignity of the cemetery is doing the complete opposite in trying to make what was a very solemn and respectful event into something it was not.”
Speaking to NBC News, LaCivita also said Harris’ campaign and other Trump critics, by talking about the incident, are “trying to muddle the fact that there was only one commander in chief in Arlington on August 26th.”
LaCivita is a Marine veteran of the Gulf War who earned a Purple Heart.
Longer clip where Vance says the ‘altercation’ at Arlington is a media creation, noting Trump had permission from Arlington Cemetery and the families to have a photographer present, and that a cemetery staff member had a disagreement that the media blew up into a national story. Vance said veterans care more that Harris’ running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) lied about his military service record.
Reporter: One, could you tell us more about the altercation that happened at the Arlington Cemetery, um, and two, uh, what does debate prep look like for yourself and for Trump at this time?
Vance: Well I, I think first of all the altercation at Arlington Cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think that
there is one. There is verifiable evidence, there is there is verifiable evidence that the campaign was allowed to have a photographer there. There’s verifiable, they were were invited to have a photographer there. There’s verifiable evidence that the families of these poor
people who had their loved ones die three years ago at Abbey Road (sic) they had, excuse me, Abbey Gate, those thirteen Americans, a lot of
them were there with the President, they invited him to be there and to support them. That’s not an insult to the memories of their loved ones. They wanted Donald Trump there and thank God that we have a President who stands with our veterans instead of one who runs away from them. (Applause.)Vance: Now we (pause for applause), now, yeah, I mean it is, it is amazing to me that you have apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member had a little disagreement with somebody and they have turned, the media has turned this into a national news story. You know what I think our veterans care a lot more about that Kamala Harris’s VP nominee lied about his military service. I think that our veterans care a lot more about that. And the other thing that our veterans care, the other thing our veterans care a lot more about is that three years ago thirteen brave innocent Americans died and they died because Kamala Harris refused to do her job and there hasn’t been a
single investigation or a single firing. I, I don’t, I don’t, look, sometimes mistakes happen. That’s just the nature of government, the nature of military service. But to have those thirteen Americans lose their lives and not fire a single person is disgraceful. Kamala Harris is disgraceful. If we’re going to talk about a story out of those thirteen brave innocent Americans who lost their lives, it’s that
Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up? She can she can go to hell!”
Transcribed by TGP.
Tuesday night the Trump campaign posted a copy of the permission slip from Arlington and a statement from the families:
Trump posted a TikTok video on Wednesday about the visit to Arlington that garnered over six million views in a matter of hours and triggered his opponents:
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