The family of a Green Beret who died by suicide after serving eight combat tours and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery expressed concern Wednesday that Donald Trump’s campaign had filmed his grave site without permission as Trump stood in an area where campaign photography isn’t allowed.
Relatives of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano issued their statement two days after Trump’s visit, which also included a confrontation between members of the Trump campaign and an Arlington employee. The former president’s campaign took video in a heavily restricted section of the cemetery known as Section 60, which is largely reserved for the fallen veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
A woman who works at the cemetery filed an incident report with the military authorities over the altercation. But the official, who has not been identified, later declined to press charges. Military officials said she feared Trump’s supporters pursuing retaliation.
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Marckesano died July 7, 2020, after moving to Washington to begin a job at the Pentagon. He had three children, and friends said he had chronic post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in combat. He earned Silver and Bronze Stars during his service. His grave site is adjacent to that of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, a Marine who was killed in the 2021 bombing at Abbey Gate outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.
The Hoover family granted permission to the Trump team to film and take photographs at the grave site; the Marckesano family did not, and filming and photographing at the grave site for political purposes is a violation of federal law, according to cemetery officials. Yet Marckesano’s grave was shown in photos from the visit that were published online. A video was posted to Trump’s TikTok account featuring footage from the Section 60 visit and the gravestones from behind, with narration criticizing the handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
In a statement from Marckesano’s relatives after being contacted by The New York Times, his sister, Michele, said, “We fully support Staff Sergeant Darin Hoover’s family and the other families in their quest for answers and accountability regarding the Afghanistan withdrawal and the tragedy at Abbey Gate.”
“However,” she added, “according to our conversation with Arlington National Cemetery, the Trump campaign staffers did not adhere to the rules that were set in place for this visit to Staff Sergeant Hoover’s grave site in Section 60, which lays directly next to my brother’s grave.”
Marckesano’s sister continued, “We hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and that they are honored and respected accordingly.”
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesperson, did not address the statement from the Marckesano family, saying when asked about the TikTok video only that “the campaign will continue to respect the wishes of the Gold Star family members who invited President Trump.”
Marckesano had served six tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and others in combat overseas, according to news accounts at the time of his death. His family is said to have sought privacy since his death.
In the aftermath of the Monday altercation, the Army has closed the matter, after the Arlington official declined to press charges. According to three U.S. military officials, some Trump campaign members confronted and eventually pushed past the cemetery official when she tried to stop them from taking photos in Section 60.
Two Trump campaign officials, Cheung and Chris LaCivita, had insulted the cemetery worker in public statements on Tuesday. Cheung asserted that she was “suffering from a mental health episode” while LaCivita said that she was a “despicable individual” who “does not deserve to represent the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.”
Military officials said the cemetery worker feared that pursuing the matter with the authorities at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia, which has jurisdiction over the cemetery, could subject her to retaliation from Trump supporters. Cheung said in a statement Wednesday that “that is ridiculous and sounds like someone who has Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The Trump team had said it was prepared to release footage of the altercation, but never did.
Several Army officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential aspects of the matter, on Wednesday sought to keep the politically charged issue from escalating. But at the same time, they defended the cemetery official and pushed back on attacks from the Trump campaign, with one official saying that the woman at the cemetery was just trying to do her job.
Since Monday, the former president’s cemetery visit has become increasingly scrutinized for its political nature.
He was there for a wreath-laying ceremony honoring 13 U.S. troops who were killed in the Abbey Gate bombing during the United States’ Afghanistan withdrawal three years ago. Trump has said President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris bear responsibility for the bombing and America’s chaotic withdrawal, and repeated his attacks on the subject in campaign events after his visit to the cemetery.
Trump had laid three wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknowns on Monday morning, the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing. Two of the wreaths were for Marines killed: Hoover and Sgt. Nicole Gee. A third was dedicated to all 13 troops killed.
Trump was accompanied there by family members of the two slain Marines, as well as Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews and Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart, two Marines who were injured in the Abbey Gate attack.
Trump then accompanied the families and Marine veterans to Section 60. That part of Trump’s visit was private and closed to the press, and resulted in the confrontation. In a statement, the cemetery said that federal law prohibited political campaigning or “election-related” activities within Army cemeteries, including by photographers, and that the prohibition was “widely shared” with those participating in the event.
For centuries the United States has tried to keep military might and partisan politics far from each other, to avoid the appearance of allegiances to a political party or ideology. Because of this, military members are forbidden from participating in partisan activities or endorsing candidates while in uniform and military bases are off-limits for political campaigns.
It was unclear Wednesday whether the Defense Department would pursue a legal claim related to the episode.
Campaigning in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s running mate, blamed “some staff member” at the cemetery for the incident and criticized the media for reporting on it.
“Apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member had a little disagreement with somebody,” Vance said. “And they have turned — the media has turned this into a national news story.”
Photos of Trump’s visit to Section 60 were later published online. Trump was photographed giving a “thumbs up” to the camera standing behind the grave of Hoover, with Marckesano’s grave clearly visible a few feet away. Trump posted the video on TikTok on Tuesday that also showed the two headstones from behind as Trump laid flowers.
Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah, who published one photo of himself and Trump standing behind the graves on social media, apologized Wednesday for including other photos of the visit to Section 60 in a campaign email that solicited donations.
“This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign,” Cox said on social media. “It did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent. My campaign will be sending out an apology.”
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