Army defends Arlington National Cemetery employee in Trump campaign incident

The US Army defended an Arlington National Cemetery employee who was pushed aside during a visit by former President Donald Trump, saying that she acted professionally and was being unfairly attacked.

The military rarely comments on political matters and while its statement on Thursday did not explicitly mention Trump or his campaign, it made reference to a Monday ceremony.

On that day Trump, the Republican candidate in the November 5 presidential election, visited the cemetery and took part in a wreath-laying ceremony honouring the 13 servicemembers killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

He also visited Section 60 of the cemetery, where troops are buried and is considered hallowed ground in the military.

Federal law and Pentagon policies do not allow political activities in that section of the cemetery, but videos were taken by Trump's campaign and used in advertisements.

"An ANC (Arlington National Cemetery) employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside," the Army statement said.

"This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked," it added.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung had said: "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."

Trump's vice presidential running mate JD Vance, at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, brushed off the criticism and said the Trump campaign had permission to have a photographer present during Trump's stop at the cemetery.

The US military is meant to be apolitical, loyal to the US Constitution and independent of any party or political movement.

But critics accused Trump of using the military as prop and undermining Pentagon efforts to keep out of politics during his four years in office from 2017-2021.

While in office, Trump intervened and restored the rank of a Navy SEAL convicted of posing with the corpse of an Islamic State detainee and threatened to use US troops to put down protests around the country.

Since leaving office Trump has berated some military officials.

The Arlington cemetery incident has revived fears among some officials and experts that Trump could use the military for political purposes if he wins a second term.