Kamala Harris says Trump ‘disrespected sacred ground’ on cemetery visit

Kamala Harris – the Democratic nominee for November’s White House race – has accused Donald Trump of “disrespecting sacred ground” on his recent visit to Arlington national cemetery, as the controversy over an apparent altercation between workers of his campaign and cemetery staff continued to build.

The vice-president on Saturday accused the former president and Republican nominee of staging a “political stunt” after the US army accused the Trump campaign of turning a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday to mark the deaths of US soldiers in Afghanistan into a photo opportunity. The army also accused two campaign workers representing Trump – who said he was invited to the ceremony by the family of one of the honored soldiers – of pushing aside an official who told them it was forbidden to take pictures at the graves of military members who had recently died.

Harris wrote in a lengthy statement on X that the cemetery – the resting place of more than 400,000 military veterans and their eligible dependents, dating back to the civil war – was “not a place for politics”.

She said: “Donald Trump’s team chose to film a video there, resulting in an altercation with cemetery staff. Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have called for a US army report into an apparent altercation between campaign staff and cemetery officials.

In her statement, Harris said: “If there is one thing on which we as Americans can all agree, it is that our veterans, military families, and service members should be honored, never disparaged, and treated with nothing less than our highest respect and gratitude.

“And it is my belief that someone who cannot meet this simple, sacred duty should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States of America.”

At a rally on Friday, Trump said he only posed for photographs at the invitation of the families – even though they did not have the authority to approve such pictures.

He said in Johnstown, Pennsylvania: “I don’t need publicity. I get a lot of publicity. I would like to get a lot less publicity … I would hire a public relations agent to get less publicity.”

In a final rebuke of Trump, Harris wrote of fallen soldiers: “I mourn them and salute them. And I will never politicize them.”

In a letter to the US army secretary, Christine Wormuth, Democrats with the House oversight committee requested a report by Monday into the reported showdown, including whether the Republican nominee’s “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”, as CBS reported.

Related: Trump denies exploiting visit to US soldiers’ graves: ‘I don’t need publicity’

The cemetery is considered a politics-free zone. But on Monday, on the invitation of relatives of the soldiers killed in Kabul, Trump brought campaign photographers to document the visit.

An army spokesperson said on Thursday that a female Arlington national cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” during an argument with Trump aides over photos and filming on the grounds for partisan, political or fundraising purposes.

A spokesperson for the military said the episode was “unfortunate”, and it was “also unfortunate” that the cemetery “employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked”. The employee is not pressing charges.

The army said Arlington national cemetery conducts nearly 3,000 such public ceremonies annually “without incident”, and visitors to the ceremony Trump attended had been made aware of laws that prohibit political activity.

The Trump campaign said it had been granted explicit permission to bring “campaign-designated media” to the section of the cemetery for the slain soldiers’ – or Gold Star – families. The campaign denied an altercation had taken place and said: “There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”

Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin said in the letter that “it appears that the Trump campaign – which arrived at the cemetery with a photographer and videographer – completely flouted the laws and rules they were informed of and filmed footage in the restricted area for use in a political TikTok video”.

Raskin also cited an apology issued by the Utah governor, Spencer Cox, who had attended the ceremony with Trump and posted photos of the event to his official social media accounts.

“This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign,” Cox wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. “It did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent. My campaign will be sending out an apology.”

Republicans have trying to make the US withdrawal from Afghanistan a campaign issue through which to attack Harris.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Harris confirmed she was the last person in the room before Joe Biden made the decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan. Asked if she felt comfortable with the president’s decision, Harris responded: “I do.”

• This article was amended on 1 September 2024. Arlington national cemetery dates back to the US civil war, not to the revolutionary war as an earlier version said.