Army releases redacted police report on altercation during Trump’s Arlington cemetery visit
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army has released an almost entirely redacted version of the police report describing when a staffer for Donald Trump’s campaign reportedly shoved an Arlington National Cemetery employee who was trying to prevent them from photographing a ceremony to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal.
Federal law prohibits campaign or election-related activities within Army national military cemeteries. The four sentences visible in the executive summary of the report released under court order Friday block out a key word that appears to describe the Trump campaign staffer shoving the cemetery employee out of the way.
It does say the Trump staffer used both hands while trying to move past the cemetery employee. Both the names are redacted, and the sworn statement the cemetery worker gave to police is completely blacked out.
Officials previously said the former president’s staffer pushed the cemetery worker when she was trying to prevent two people from filming and photographing Trump’s visit in August to gravesites in Section 60, a hallowed section where U.S. forces killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried.
The report says the cemetery worker declined medical treatment and said she did not want to press charges.
A lawsuit demanding the release of the police report was filed by Washington-based government transparency group American Oversight, and a federal judge ordered it be made public by Friday. The group posted the report on its website.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is in a tight race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and the altercation raised questions about the politicization of the military by his campaign.
Trump was at the cemetery at the invitation of service members’ families and brought staff to document the visit. He later shared a video from it on TikTok. The video showed scenes of him at the cemetery and includes a voiceover of the Republican presidential nominee blaming the Biden administration for the “disaster” of the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement that the group is pleased it was able to get the report released so that the public can see “that there is still an ongoing federal law enforcement investigation into the August incident at Arlington National Cemetery.”
Chukwu said the conduct of Trump and his staff “aligns with his history of politicizing the military and violating clear ethical boundaries, and it’s time for the public to have all the facts.”
In a letter accompanying the report, Army senior counsel Paul DeAgostino said the redactions were done to protect personal privacy and information compiled for law enforcement purposes. He said the records are part of an ongoing investigation and their release “could reasonably be expected to interfere with ongoing enforcement proceedings.”
The Army echoed DeAgostino’s comment, saying in a statement that it released the report to comply with the court order, adding that the police investigation “remains open and we are therefore unable to provide further information at this time.”
The employee declined to press charges, so it is unclear what law enforcement proceedings are ongoing.
Families of three of the service members killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal had invited Trump to a ceremony marking the third anniversary of the attack. They said the former president knew their children’s stories and have blamed the Biden administration for their deaths.
Some of the families of those service members spoke out in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, in part to blunt criticism that Trump wasn’t supportive enough of veterans.
In previous comments, the Trump campaign has claimed the Republican presidential nominee’s team was granted access to have a photographer, contested the allegation that a campaign staffer had pushed the cemetery official and pushed back on any notion that the cemetery official had been unfairly targeted.
A defense official previously said the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation.
During a campaign event in Michigan several days after the incident, Trump said family members had asked to take a photo with him at the cemetery.
“They ask me to have a picture, and they say I was campaigning,” he complained without addressing the TikTok video.