For the past few weeks, the country has been following the dramatic saga of Donald Trump’s staff members getting into a heated exchange with officials at Arlington National Cemetery. In the latest update, the staff members have been identified.
Justin Caporale, the GOP nominee’s Deputy Campaign Manager, and Michel Picard, who worked on Trump’s advancement team are the two people involved in the story, according to “a source with knowledge of the incident.” When the media contacted the two staffers for comment, a response was given by Steven Cheung, the former president’s campaign spokesman.
The communications official casually noted that NPR had been “emailing some of our team members,” to which he added that the United States Army has already labeled the matter as “closed.” Cheung also emphasized that Trump had been at the cemetery last week to “support the Gold Star families” and thank them for sacrifices made by deceased family members.
The incident occurred on Monday August 26, when Trump’s campaign team met with family members of the 13 soldiers killed in the country’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. According to cemetery sources, one worker tried to stop the political group from taking photos in a section of the cemetery where no one is permitted to film.
The United States Army takes care of the cemetery and said in previous statements that the female employee was “abruptly pushed aside.” However, as she was not interested in pressing charges against the Trump staffers, the military branch said they are no longer discussing the incident, describing it as “closed.” Trump’s team later released a video ad showcasing the former president at the national cemetery.
Despite evidence that there was, in fact, an altercation between campaign staffers and a cemetery official, Trump has denied all claims that “fighting” occurred, belittling such reports as “made up.” In a recent, fiery post on Truth Social, the controversial Republican accused his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, of drumming up the false story with her “misinformation squad.”
He further claimed that she had “made it all up” because she and President Joe Biden “have blood on their hands” related to the deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he described as the “most embarrassing day in U.S. history.”
