President-elect Donald Trump plans to visit Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday ahead of Inauguration Day to meet with the Gold Star families of 13 soldiers killed in the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump reports. A government official confirmed this to the Daily Caller.
Trump and his Gold Star family will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 19, and then attend a pre-inauguration party later that day, The Washington Reporter first reported. reported.
The newspaper reported that President Trump will be accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, vice president-elect J.D. Vance, and second lady Usha Vance. President Trump’s press secretary confirmed to the Caller that the president-elect has also invited members of the Gold Star family to his inauguration.
President Trump visited the cemetery with his family in August to honor the anniversary of the deaths of 13 soldiers killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal. The event came under fire after NPR reported A physical altercation reportedly occurred between campaign workers and Arlington National Cemetery staff over restrictions on taking photos in Section 60, where soldiers killed in recent American wars are buried. Amid backlash, the Trump campaign denied the story, but a person familiar with the conversations at the ceremony told the Caller that the families had agreed to allow a campaign photographer to take pictures of the ceremony.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump (R) holds his hand over his chest alongside Marine Corporal Marlon Bateman (R). Kelsey Reinhart (ret.) and the U.S. Marine Corps. Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews (retired) attends a wreath-laying ceremony in memory of those killed in the Monastery Gate bombing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on August 26, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris will participate in a public event on Aug. 26, 2024, to honor the 13 fallen soldiers who died during their administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, instead marking the anniversary. issued a statement.
Before President Trump and his family visit Arlington National Cemetery in August, Gold Star families say the cemetery is trying to place restrictions on the event to prevent the president-elect from attending, despite the family’s requests. he told Caller. The situation escalated enough that House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to intervene to help Trump attend the ceremony, Gold Star family members told the Caller. (Related: Exclusive: Gold Star families struggled to get President Trump to Arlington until the Speaker of the House intervened)
Harris decided to weigh in on the situation in a tweet, criticizing Trump for filming a video while honoring fallen soldiers. He added that, unlike Trump, he will “always honor the service and sacrifice of all of America’s fallen heroes.”
As Vice President, I have had the opportunity to visit Arlington National Cemetery several times. It’s a solemn place. It’s where we come together to honor the American heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country.
This is not a place for politics.
and…
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 31, 2024
Eight Gold Star families released a video in response to Harris’ tweet criticizing the vice president for not contacting their families in the three years after their children were killed in the Harris administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“Thirteen families have been waiting for the phone call for more than three years to hear their children’s names called out loud at the Capitol, the State of the Union, and elsewhere. Our military and veterans, Jared’s comrades in arms. , the remaining 12, and their comrades. The sarcasm behind your post that you are saying such terrible things is a blatant lie,” Gold Star Marine Corporal Jared Schmitz’s father said in a video posted on Twitter. “We are living proof of that. You are despicable. You have no business running this country at all. And I pray to God, the American people wake up and get you all out of office.” . You spit in our faces until the end.”
Mark Schmitz, father of Corporal Jared M. Schmitz… https://t.co/CHNRzcTa0J pic.twitter.com/pRLF9tS7Jn
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2024
“Never.”
Abbey Gate survivor Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews said he never heard from Kamala Harris.
Was it enough for Biden and Harris to tweet the names of fallen soldiers?
“That will never happen…At that time, Joe Biden was on the beach. I was standing over the graves of my friends.” pic.twitter.com/6UROj9st7E
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 19, 2024
Marine Petty Officer Tyler Vargas Andrews, who was seriously injured in the Afghanistan evacuation, was on President Trump’s visit to Arlington in August. He stood next to the former president during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and visited Section 60 with President Trump and his family. (Related: Exclusive: ‘There’s blood on their hands’: Abbey Gate survivor talks about facing Joe Biden)
Vargas Andrews spoke with the caller for nearly an hour after the visit, explaining that there was no altercation and that the family wanted Trump to attend.
“It’s a joke that Kamala Harris keeps saying everything she can to give these families closure,” Vargas Andrews told the caller about the vice president’s tweet.
“At the end of the day, that’s what it is, when you do that, you’re giving closure to these families, you’re giving closure to 13 Americans who were murdered on your watch,” he said. “We’re giving closure to the 13 Americans who have been killed under the law,” the Biden administration, “and all of the active-duty soldiers who are still in combat zones around the world,” he added.
