Judge orders Army to release incident report on infamous Trump Arlington cemetery visit
The United States Army has been ordered to release records from former President Donald Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery in which an official at the cemetery was allegedly pushed aside by a Trump aide when she tried to prevent the campaign from taking photographs there.
Military Times reports that Senior Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the release of the records after a request for them was made by the American Oversight government watchdog group.
Trump had visited the cemetery this past August for an event to commemorate the deaths of 13 servicemembers who died after a terrorist attack in Kabul during the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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Trump's campaign took photos of him smiling and putting his thumbs up in front of the graves of the slain soldiers, despite the fact that such campaign photographs are barred by cemetery rules.
"An employee who attempted to stop campaign workers from filming in the area 'was abruptly pushed aside' by a Trump campaign staffer," notes Military Times. "That individual — who has not been publicly identified — opted not to press charges. Army officials decried the incident, since Trump was warned that “federal laws, Army regulations and DOD policies... clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”