The family of a late Green Beret buried in Arlington National Cemetery is not happy that former President Donald Trump took photographs and filmed a TikTok in the section of the cemetery where the soldier was buried.
Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington on Monday for the third anniversary of the attack on US troops withdrawing from Afghanistan. Trump and the GOP have often used the 2021 Kabul attack — in which 13 US service members were killed — to slam the Biden administration.
Trump’s campaign also filmed a TikTok video in the cemetery, which showed him laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The video later showed him laying a bouquet on the gravestone of a soldier in Section 60, where many troops who died in Iraq or Afghanistan are buried.
The New York Times reported that Trump laid a wreath on the grave of Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover, who was killed in the Kabul attack. His family had granted Trump and his campaign permission to film at his grave.
But the family of Master Sergeant Andrew Marckesano, who was buried next to Hoover, had not given Trump the go-ahead.
In a statement to The Times, Marckesano’s sister, Michele, said, “We fully support Staff Sergeant Darin Hoover’s family and the other families in their quest for answers and accountability regarding the Afghanistan withdrawal and the tragedy at Abbey Gate.”
“However,” she told The Times, “according to our conversation with Arlington National Cemetery, the Trump campaign staffers did not adhere to the rules that were set in place for this visit to Staff Sergeant Hoover’s gravesite in Section 60, which lays directly next to my brother’s grave.”
“We hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and that they are honored and respected accordingly,” she added.
Marckesano did multiple tours in Afghanistan but lost his life to suicide in July 2020. The Green Beret Foundation has since set up the “MSG Andrew Marckesano Suicide Prevention Fund” to honor his life and raise funds to support the mental health needs of Green Berets and their families.
Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, directed Business Insider to a segment of the Times’ reporting, and highlighted a section of the statement from Marckesano’s sister. Cheung did not address the query of whether the campaign was allowed to film at Marckesano’s grave.
An earlier NPR report said that two of Trump’s staffers had been involved in a physical altercation with a cemetery official, who had tried to stop the campaign from filming and taking photos in Section 60.
The cemetery confirmed to BI on Wednesday that there had been an “incident” at the cemetery, and “a report was filed.”
“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,” the statement said.
It added: “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”
Trump’s camp has denied that there was a physical fight at the cemetery.
“There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, told BI on Tuesday.
The Trump campaign has not released footage of the event, as of press time.
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