US Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump.
Brendan McDiarmid | Elisabeth Franz | Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday harshly criticized former President Donald Trump for taking photos at Arlington National Cemetery, accusing him of using his visit for political purposes, which is prohibited.
“Let me be clear: the former president desecrated a sacred site for political stunts.” Harris “This is a man who cannot understand anything other than service to himself,” X wrote in a lengthy post.
Thirty minutes later, Trump’s running mate, the Ohio senator, J.D. Vancefired back at Harris in a social media post of his own, saying, “President Trump was there at the invitation of the families who lost loved ones due to your incompetence.”
“Why don’t you get off social media and start investigating their unnecessary deaths?” Vance added.
The Trump campaign repeated that defensive line on social media. postHe responded to Harris: “You have never taken responsibility for the 13 heroes killed on your watch, yet you bragged about being the last one left in the room.”
Over the past week, President Trump has faced criticism for his visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, when, according to a U.S. Army spokesman, Trump campaign staff “abruptly shoved” cemetery officials who were enforcing a federal law that prohibits “political activity” on military cemetery grounds.
Trump’s visit to the cemetery was to mark three years since 13 US soldiers were killed in a bomb attack at Kabul airport during the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan – an incident he has repeatedly blamed on President Joe Biden and Ms Harris.
While Trump met with the victims’ families, campaign staff took various photos and videos, some of which were of his Social Media Platform.
Arlington Cemetery released a statement acknowledging the incident between the campaign and cemetery officials, first reported by NPR.
“Federal law prohibits political campaigning or election-related activity on Army National Military Cemeteries, including photographers, content creators and others visiting in direct support of the campaigns of partisan political candidates,” the cemetery said.
The Trump campaign has repeatedly denied that any physical confrontation occurred and has maintained it had permission to have photographers and videographers on the grounds. A Trump campaign spokesman said the incident was caused by a cemetery employee’s “mental illness.”
President Trump said Friday that he posed for photos at the scene only because that was what the victims’ families wanted.
“I stood in front of different graves with different people and took photos. I didn’t want to take their photo, but if they wanted to take their photo, I would,” he said during a moderated conversation with Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice.
The Harris campaign jumped on the controversy, accusing Trump of disrespecting the U.S. military and pointing to several other incidents in which she faced criticism for reportedly making derogatory remarks about veterans, which Harris denies.
“This is nothing new for Donald Trump,” Harris said in a post Saturday. “I believe that someone who cannot fulfill this simple and sacred duty should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States.”
