Cemetery worker 'pushed aside' by Donald Trump's staff not seeking charges
Trump's campaign has faced backlash since the incident by the cemetery worker will not press charges, ITV News Correspondent Rachel Townsend reports.
A cemetery worker "abruptly pushed aside" by Donald Trump's staff during a wreath-laying ceremony for service members killed in the Afghanistan war withdrawal has declined to press charges.
An Army spokesman said the Arlington National Cemetery official was trying to make sure those in attendance were following the rules - which "clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds."
“This employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption," they said in a statement.
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”
The incident was reported to the police, but because the employee decided not to press charges, the Army said it considered the matter closed.
Trump's campaign has faced blowback since the incident where the cemetery worker was "verbally abused and pushed".
The Trump campaign has claimed the Republican presidential nominee’s team was granted access to have a photographer and has contested the allegation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official.
A video shared by Trump on TikTok also shows several clips of his visit to the cemetery.
As a guitar strums in the background, there is a voiceover of Trump saying, “We lost great, great people. What a horrible day it was.
"We didn’t lose one person in 18 months, and then they took over. That disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan.”
Trump visited the ceremony at the invitation of surviving family members to mark the third anniversary of the suicide bombing at Kabul airport. The bombing killed 13 American service members and more than 170 Afghans.
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A defence official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said that the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation.
Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung said the team had gotten permission for a photographer and disparaged the cemetery official as having clearly been “suffering from a mental health episode”.
“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason, an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” he said.
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