Trump Staffers Accused of Altercation at Arlington

While Donald Trump was at Arlington National Cemetery participating in a wreath-laying ceremony Monday, members of his campaign staff allegedly got into a tussle with an official at the cemetery. A source tells NPR the official was attempting to stop campaign staffers from entering an area known as Section 60, where recent American casualties are buried. The source says the campaign had been told in advance that only cemetery staff members can take photos or videos in that area, but that when a cemetery official tried to bar them from entering, campaign staffers pushed the official out of the way and were also verbally abusive.

A Trump campaign spokesperson says there was no physical altercation and that the campaign has footage of the incident to prove it. "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," the rep says. Per Axios, a spokesperson for the cemetery confirms there was an "incident" during Trump's visit and that a report was filed, though the rep gave no further details on the specifics of what happened. Rather, they offered this quote:

• "Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators, or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate's campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants."

(More Arlington National Cemetery stories.)