President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were not invited to Arlington National Cemetery by Gold Star families to mark the third anniversary of last week’s Abbey Gate attack, a White House official and a Harris aide denied separate claims to NBC News on Sunday. . By GOP Sen. Tom Cotton and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
Both were talking about former President Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week, when he drew criticism for posing with Gold Star families in a section of the cemetery where photos are traditionally prohibited.
Last week, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said Trump’s visit was a “personal invitation of the families.”
“There are many ways we as a nation and our leaders can celebrate the third anniversary of Abbey Gate,” Kirby said. “Another way is to keep working, maybe not so loudly, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with TV cameras, but to work every day to make sure the victims and the families of the victims are reassured. wounded and wounded – not just at Abbey Gate, but over the nearly 20 years we’ve been in Afghanistan – have the support they need.
The US military also charged a member of Trump’s campaign staff “suddenly push[ing] aside” a cemetery employee trying to impose restrictions on taking photos and videos on the ground.
Asked about the incident on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday, Cotton told moderator Kristen Welker: “These families, Gold Star families whose children died because of the incompetence of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, were invited. [Trump] they went to the cemetery and asked him to take those pictures…Do you know who the families invited? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Where were they? Joe Biden was sitting on the beach. Kamala Harris was sitting in her mansion in Washington.
Cotton noted that he spoke with the parents of the master sergeant, Kelly Barnett and Darin Hoover. Darin Taylor Hoover, who died in Afghanistan three years ago. Cotton did not specify whether Barnett and Darin Hoover were the family members he claimed sent invitations to Biden and Harris.
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Gabbard said, “I heard President Biden and Harris were invited by some of these family members. Not only did they not show up, they didn’t even respond.”
Trump defended the photos and videos he took at the cemetery earlier this week, telling NBC News in Michigan on Thursday that a Gold Star family “asked me if I would stop to take pictures at the graves of their loved ones. they died.”
He said he did not initiate the photo and added: “I did not ask for a photo while I was there. When I was there, they said, “Sir, can we take a picture at the grave?”
Trump’s campaign has been published TikTok video Chris LaCivita, co-manager of the ceremony and Trump’s election campaign, released a video about the former president laying flowers on his grave.
The former president also defended it on Thursday, saying: “Well, we have a lot of people … TikTok people.”
“I don’t know who did it and it could have been them. It could have been parents. It could have been anybody,” he added.
“Joe Biden killed those young people because he was incompetent,” Trump said during a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday. Then they tell me that I am using their grave for public relations, which I did not do.”
Trump took X Several videos of family members of slain servicemen were released Saturday night criticizing Harris and Biden and defending the former president.
In one video, Darin Hoover addressed Harris directly, saying Trump had “the utmost respect” for the family and asked where the vice president and Biden were “on August 26, 2024,” adding, “We were nowhere near Arlington Cemetery. We couldn’t be bothered to be with us or say our child’s names.
In a statement accompanying the videos released by the Trump campaign on Sunday, members of Gold Star families said they were “appalled” by Harris’ attempts to “politicize” Trump’s visit to the cemetery.
“President Trump was invited by us, the Gold Star families, to participate in the commemoration of the third anniversary of the death of our children,” the statement said. “He was there to honor their sacrifice, but Vice President Harris shamefully turned this sacred moment into a political gimmick.”
The videos were released in response to Harris’ statement on Saturday that Trump “disrespect holy soil“While visiting Arlington National Cemetery.