House Democrats ask Army for report on Arlington incident involving Trump campaign staff

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House Democrats ask Army for report on Arlington incident involving Trump campaign staff

Democratic lawmakers with the House Oversight Committee sent a letter Friday to the U.S. Army requesting a report into an altercation earlier this week involving an Arlington National ********* employee and Trump staff who brought campaign photographers to the *********.

In the letter, the committee’s ranking member, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, wrote to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth that he was “hopeful you can provide the Committee with a full account” of Monday’s incident.

Former President Donald Trump visited the ********* to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate three years since the 2021 Kabul ******** ******** that ******* 13 service members during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The confrontation occurred when Trump’s campaign brought its own photographers to Section 60 of the *********, where veterans of the recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars are *******.

While the exact details remain unclear, an Army spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News Thursday that the employee was “abruptly pushed aside,” calling it “unfortunate” that the “employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”

The ********* said in a statement this week that “federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”

In his letter, Raskin wrote that “it appears that the Trump campaign refused to abide by Arlington National *********’s absolute prohibition,” and

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prohibiting “filming for partisan, political, or fundraising purposes” under the Hatch Act.  

Defense officials previously told CBS News that some staff with the Trump campaign were unprofessional and were aggressive both verbally and physically toward the ********* official. 

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Former President Donald Trump leaves Section 60 of Arlington National ********* on Aug. 26, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. That day marked the three year anniversary of the ******** at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, which ******* 13 ********* service members in 2021.

Getty Images

“ANC conducts nearly 3,000 such public ceremonies a year without incident,” the Army spokesperson said in the statement. “Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on ********* grounds.” 

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, has insisted that it was given express permission by Gold Star families to bring “campaign designated media.” Messages reviewed by CBS News verified this claim.

A Trump campaign spokesperson also said that “there was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”

Raskin also cited an

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issued by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who attended the ceremony with Trump and posted several photos of the event to his official social media accounts.

“This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign,” Cox wrote in a social media post Wednesday. “It did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent. My campaign will be sending out an apology.”

Raskin called on the Army to provide an “incident report” and “a briefing,” and requested that Wormuth respond by Sept. 9. 

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Scott MacFarlane,

Kathryn Watson,

Eleanor Watson,

Jacob Rosen and

Olivia Rinaldi

contributed to this report.

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Faris Tanyos

Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.

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