Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), a Trump running mate and Iraq War veteran, criticized Kamala Harris for her campaign’s remarks against President Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, where he commemorated the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate terror attack in Afghanistan by honoring the fallen servicemembers and meeting with their families.
Trump participated in three wreath-laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, paying tribute to the servicemembers killed in the attack, and then joined the families and survivors at Section 60 to honor the fallen at their gravesites.
During a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Vance responded to Harris’s criticism, saying, “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!”
Earlier reports from The Gateway Pundit detailed how NPR claimed a cemetery staff member had a physical altercation with Trump campaign staffers while attempting to block them from taking photos and videos of Trump with the families and survivors in Section 60. A report was filed with Arlington Cemetery, though the Trump campaign stated it had permission from both Arlington Cemetery and the families to have a photographer present. The media and Harris’s campaign turned the incident into a national story to divert attention from Trump’s appearance at Arlington, while Biden and Harris were on vacation and merely issued written statements on the anniversary of the attack.
Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler appeared on CNN on Wednesday, where he criticized Trump for visiting Arlington, saying, “This is what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team… Arlington cemetery confirmed 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.”
Trump campaign senior advisor Chris LaCivita, a Gulf War Marine veteran and Purple Heart recipient, pushed back, saying, “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.” LaCivita further criticized Harris’s campaign for focusing on the incident, arguing that they were trying to “muddle the fact that there was only one commander in chief in Arlington on August 26th.”
Vance also addressed the alleged altercation at Arlington during his speech, dismissing it as a media creation. He noted that there was verifiable evidence that the Trump campaign had permission from Arlington Cemetery and the families to have a photographer present. Vance asserted that veterans care more about Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, allegedly lying about his military service record, and that the media’s focus on the Arlington incident was an attempt to deflect from more significant issues.
Vance concluded by reiterating his criticism of Harris, saying, “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 go to hell!
