‘Clear and compelling interest’: Judge orders Army to expedite records about Trump’s controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Army to release records by Friday documenting former President Donald Trump’s contentious August visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where an employee trying to stop Trump staffers from taking pictures and filming was “abruptly pushed aside.”

On Tuesday, Senior Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the request that Army officials make public any “responsive, non-exempt records” about the Aug. 26 visit. The order is part of a lawsuit brought by American Oversight, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group fighting to get records.

“With the election just two weeks away, the American people have a clear and compelling interest in knowing how the government responded to an alleged incident involving a major presidential candidate who has a history of politicizing the military,” Chioma Chukwu, American Oversight Interim Executive Director, said in a statement. “These records belong to the public, and we’re pleased the court agreed on the need to expedite our request. We look forward to receiving the incident report and making it available to the public.”

Trump’s campaign went to the cemetery for an event commemorating the anniversary of the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in a terrorist bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in 2021. At one point, a cemetery staff member who tried to stop Trump staffers from filming was “abruptly pushed aside” and contacted police but did not press criminal charges, officials said.

“The incident was reported to the JBM-HH police department, but the employee subsequently decided not to press charges. Therefore, the Army considers this matter closed,” an Army spokesperson said on Aug. 29. “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the (Arlington National Cemetery) employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”

A video of Trump at the cemetery was later posted on his campaign TikTok page, with him smiling and showing a thumbs-up sign while posing for photos. The video is overlaid with text talking about his record as president and taking a swipe at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The cemetery directly prohibits political campaigns from filming videos.

Harris, the Democratic nominee, reacted to the video, saying Trump “disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.”

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said the Republican presidential candidate’s team was allowed to have a photographer and contested the allegation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official, The Associated Press reported.

“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,” he said.

Regardless, calls were made for documents seeking information about the events of that day, and American Oversight made a Freedom of Information Act request seeking documentation on the visit on Aug. 30.

The U.S. House Oversight Committee also took an interest in documents related to the incident.

“It appears that the Trump campaign refused to abide by Arlington National Cemetery’s absolute prohibition on ‘filming for partisan, political, or fundraising purposes’ and ‘abruptly pushed aside’ Cemetery staff trying to “ensure adherence” to these rules,” Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, wrote to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth. “Accordingly, I ask you to provide the Committee with the incident report and a briefing to Committee staff on the facts of this incident, including whether Trump campaign staff violated federal law or Cemetery rules and whether the Trump campaign informed the families of service members buried at the Cemetery that their gravestones would be used in Mr. Trump’s political campaign ads.”

“Although the incident was reported to the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall police department, reporting indicates the employee declined to press charges for fear that Trump supporters would retaliate against her,” he added.

The court order gives the Army until Friday to release the nonexempt portions of the incident report.

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