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Army releases report about Trump campaign incident at Arlington National Cemetery
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The Army has released the police report from an August altercation at Arlington National Cemetery involving two campaign staffers for former President Donald Trump and a cemetery employee.
The report, which is almost fully redacted, was made public Friday after a lawsuit filed by the government watchdog American Oversight.
The incident, first reported by NPR, occurred in August, after Trump participated in a wreath laying ceremony on the third anniversary of the deadly bombing at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. service members. Trump then visited Section 60, where U.S. casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried, at the invitation of some family members and friends of the fallen soldiers.
NPR previously identified two staffers involved in the incident as deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team, according to a source with knowledge of the incident.
Arlington National Cemetery rules communicated to the campaign in advance of the visit prohibit photography or videography other than that from an official Arlington photographer.
When a cemetery employee tried to enforce the rules, she was verbally abused by the two Trump campaign operatives, according to a source with knowledge of the incident. Picard then pushed her out of the way, according to two Pentagon officials.
The report released Friday is dated August 29th. It is heavily redacted, with names removed and it does not say whether the Trump staffers were interviewed by police.
The report includes words that appear to describe what took place, reading in part, "with both of [redacted] hands while attempting to move past." It also notes that the staffer did not press charges.
After NPR reported the altercation, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said they were “prepared to release footage” of the incident, and attacked the Arlington employee as someone “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.”
No video footage related to the altercation has been released, but Trump’s campaign later posted video from Section 60 on social media, and Trump himself insisted the incident was a "made up story."
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