news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

[text/observer network xiong chaoran] on august 26, local time, during the visit of former us president and republican presidential candidate trump to arlington national cemetery in the united states, his staff wanted to take illegal photos on the spot and had a physical conflict with the cemetery staff, which caused controversy.

on august 31, local time, us vice president harris posted on her social media account, saying that military cemeteries are "not political places", pointing the finger at trump and criticizing him for "disrespecting sacred places and doing everything for political gimmicks". this post marks the first time harris, as a democratic presidential candidate, has commented on this controversial incident.

harris wrote on x platform that day that during her tenure as vice president, she had visited arlington national cemetery in virginia many times and she would never use this place for political gain.

"if there is one thing we all americans can agree on, it is that our veterans, military families and service members should be respected, not despised, and they deserve our highest respect and gratitude." harris said: "i believe that anyone who cannot fulfill this simple and sacred duty should never stand behind the seal of the president of the united states of america again."

harris also mentioned the reports on the day's events in her post and named trump, describing him as a "person who calls our fallen soldiers 'fools' and 'losers' and belittles medal of honor recipients."

"one man, during a previous visit to the cemetery, reportedly said of the fallen service members, 'i don't understand, what good is this for them?' this is a man who knows nothing about anything except serving himself," harris said bluntly when talking about trump.

data map: us vice president harris pengpai image

on august 26, local time, on the third anniversary of the bombing at kabul airport in afghanistan, trump visited arlington national cemetery in the united states to mourn the american soldiers who died in the attack. on the same day, trump once again criticized the biden administration, calling what happened in afghanistan a "shame."

according to the new york times, after visiting arlington national cemetery, trump gave a speech to the national guard association in detroit. he accused us president biden and vice president harris of being responsible for the chaotic withdrawal and attack. "the shame in afghanistan caused by kamala harris and joe biden has led to the collapse of america's credibility and respect around the world," trump said. he believes that it was because of this incident that the united states lost the "respect" of various countries, which led to the subsequent russia-ukraine conflict and the israeli-palestinian conflict.

however, trump's attack on his opponents was quickly overshadowed by an episode exposed by the us media.

national public radio (npr) reported on august 27 that during trump's visit to arlington national cemetery, two members of his campaign team insisted on filming despite dissuasion, and had an argument with cemetery staff that escalated into a physical conflict. a person familiar with the matter told npr that cemetery staff tried to prevent members of trump's campaign team from "filming in the area where the recent us military casualties are buried."

the report said that the area was called "area 60". although the cemetery staff made it clear that only they had the right to film there, members of the trump campaign team still tried to enter the area to film, and when the cemetery staff tried to stop them, they verbally insulted them and pushed them aside.

on august 26, local time, former us president trump attended the wreath-laying ceremony at arlington national cemetery visual china

arlington national cemetery sent a statement to npr confirming that "an incident" had occurred and that a report had been filed. "federal law prohibits political campaigning or election-related activities at army national cemeteries, including photographers, content creators, or any other person acting for the purpose of or in direct support of a partisan candidate's campaign," the statement said.

steven cheung, a spokesman for the trump campaign, also issued a statement on august 27 in response to the incident. he strongly denied the claim that there was a physical conflict between the two sides and added: "if someone makes such defamatory claims, we are ready to release the video." however, npr stated that the trump campaign refused to release the video immediately.

"the facts are that a private photographer was allowed into the venue, but for unknown reasons, an unnamed individual who is clearly mentally ill decided to block members of president trump's team from attending a very solemn ceremony," steven chang said in a statement.

afterwards, democrats in the u.s. house of representatives asked the u.s. army to submit a report on the incident, asking for a "full account" of what happened. it is worth mentioning that the new york times said that republican utah governor spencer j. cox accompanied trump to visit the cemetery that day. he shared photos taken in the "60th area" of the cemetery on social media, showing trump smiling and taking photos with the families of u.s. soldiers and giving a thumbs up.

trump took a photo with american military families at the cemetery spencer cox x account

according to the bbc, trump, who was attending a campaign rally in michigan on august 29, also responded to those who criticized him. he said that it was the families of the fallen soldiers who asked him to take a photo there after the memorial service.

"when i went there, they asked me to take a picture and they said i was campaigning," trump said. "i get a lot of publicity and i don't need that. i don't need publicity."

this article is an exclusive article of observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.