Trump campaign violates federal law which forbids politicizing military cemeteries

Plus, the Trump-Vance ticket flip-flops on IVF.

While attempting to take a photo-op at Arlington National Cemetery, staffers of former President Donald Trump got into a physical altercation with a cemetery employee. 

Trump and his campaign were at the cemetery meeting with the families of soldiers who had died during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. However it became clear that Trump was using the event to promote his presidential run, which violates a federal law “prohibits political campaign or election-related activities” at military cemeteries. 

As such, the Arlington liaison tried to prevent campaign photographers from capturing Trump’s meeting with the Gold Star families. 

"Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds," the U.S. Army said in a statement. "An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.” 

"It is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked," the press release added. 

Family members present at Arlington told NPR that they approved of Trump and his media team attending — including those who had also spoken at the Republican National Convention last month.

The Trump campaign, in a statement released by spokesman Steven Cheung, also maligned the U.S. Army’s description of the incident, claiming that an employee suffered a mental break.

"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," Cheung said. 

And after telling Vice President Kamala Harris that she could “go to hell” for her handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) lambasted coverage of the episode. 

"You guys in the media, you're acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a grave site," Vance said at a Wednesday rally in Pennsylvania. 

"He was there providing emotional support to a lot of brave Americans who lost loved ones they never should have lost. And there happened to be a camera there, and somebody gave him permission to have that camera there.” 

In other Trump campaign news, the Republican nominee on Thursday made remarks about in-vitro fertilization (IVF) that contradicted efforts by some of his party to undermine access to fertility treatment. 

“I’m announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for, or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for, all costs associated with IVF treatment,” Trump said at a campaign event in Potterville, Mich.

“Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely. For this same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes so that parents that have a beautiful baby will be able to do so. We’re pro-family,” Trump said.

But such statements run up against a state Supreme Court ruling in Alabama, wherein state Republicans sought to limit access to the treatment. That campaign was a direct outcome of the fall of Roe, an achievement Trump frequently boasts. It also contradicts the record of Vance and the majority of Senate Republicans, who voted recently against a bill that would have provided national-level protections for the IVF procedure. 

But when asked about his record during a CNN interview today with John Berman, Vance tried to rewrite the narrative. 

“Well, no, two things John: First of all, yes, a court made that decision in Alabama and like the next second, the Alabama state legislature fixed that problem and ensured women had access to these fertility treatments,” Vance said. “And all that I voted on, John, was for religious liberty.”

“I don’t want Christian hospitals or Christian charities to be forced to do something that they don’t want to do,” Vance continued. “We have multiple Republican measures that support fertility treatments, support IVF, but don’t require Christian hospitals or other religious organizations to violate their conscience.”