The Gold Star families who invited former President Donald Trump to Arlington National Cemetery issued a statement defending the Republican nominee’s controversial visit and claiming it is Vice President Kamala Harris, not Trump, who is politicizing fallen members of the U.S. military.
On Sunday, the Trump campaign released the statement made by relatives of some of the 13 American military service members who were killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The statement is the latest in what has now been a weeklong spat between Trump and Harris in relation to the former president’s conduct at the cemetery.
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“President Trump was invited by us, the Gold Star families, to attend the solemn ceremonies commemorating the three-year anniversary of our children’s deaths,” the statement read. “He was there to honor their sacrifice, yet Vice President Harris has disgracefully twisted this sacred moment into a political ploy.”
The Republican faced public backlash on Monday after NPR reported that his campaign staff “verbally abused and pushed” a cemetery official who was trying to stop them from filming and taking photographs at the gravesite while the candidate participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the personal invitation of some Gold Star families. The cemetery official has reportedly declined to press charges over the matter.
Harris accused Trump on Saturday of staging a “political stunt” at the cemetery that “disrespected sacred ground” where hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members, veterans and their families are buried. She also mentioned the many examples of her 2024 opponent, who himself evaded the military draft, disparaging service members, including those who are dead.
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On Sunday shows, GOP Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) claimed that Harris and President Joe Biden were also invited to the ceremony but decided against attending. A White House official and a Harris aide refuted those claims, telling NBC News that neither Harris nor Biden were invited by those families.
“There are many ways that we as a nation and our leaders can observe the third anniversary of Abbey Gate,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said last week. “Another way is to continue to work, maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with TV cameras, but to work every single day to make sure that the families of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded ― not just at Abbey Gate but over the course of the 20-some-odd years that we were in Afghanistan ― have the support that they need.”
Federal law prohibits “political campaign or election-related activities” within Army National Military Cemeteries, according to a statement from ANC. Defense officials also maintained that Trump’s campaign team was informed of those rules, which include no photo or video around a section specifically reserved for those recently killed.
Kevin Carter via Getty Images
Despite those rules, Trump’s campaign still distributed photos and video from the visit, including a TikTok video of the ceremony that shows the former president making clear political statements. Trump also posted video testimonials on social media from some of the Gold Star relatives who signed the Sunday statement.
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“Disgusting. Donald Trump, the grave markers veterans and military families drop a knee to are not your political props,” the narrator in a fiery ad by progressive veterans group VoteVets said. “They represent the heroes we’ve served alongside, men and women you could never measure up to, friends who lived and died by the oath we all swore to uphold.”
In a post on Sunday, the former president thanked the families for thanking him and wanting to “take pictures, that it was your request, not mine, but it was my Great Honor to do. I WILL NEVER FORGET!” He also inserted politics into the post by saying that the families’ service member relatives are dead because of Harris and Biden.
As president, Trump negotiated with Taliban leaders about the withdrawal he continues to blame Biden for, excluding the Afghan army from discussions. He also ordered the reduction in U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan that by January 2021 dwindled down to 2,500 from 13,000, while shutting down every airbase in the country but one.
The Biden administration’s chaotic and deadly withdrawal process was following the Trump administration’s pre-negotiated commitment and timeline. A 2022 review by a government-appointed special investigator found that decisions made by both Trump and Biden were major factors in the Afghanistan military’s swift collapse and the Taliban’s subsequent takeover.
