By Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Republican presidential rival Donald Trump on Saturday over a go to he made to troopers’ graves at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery that was later utilized in marketing campaign video footage.
“It is a solemn place; a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation. It is not a place for politics,” Harris wrote in an X put up.
The vp weighed in 5 days after Trump took half in a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday honoring the 13 servicemembers killed through the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
He additionally visited Part 60 of the Virginia cemetery, which the navy considers hallowed floor. Federal legislation and Pentagon insurance policies don’t enable political actions in that part, however Trump’s marketing campaign posted a TikTok video with footage from the cemetery as he battles Democrat Harris in a detailed race for the White Home.
Trump’s go to drew criticism from some veterans and troopers’ family members. The U.S. Military on Friday defended a cemetery worker who was pushed apart at Part 60, saying she acted professionally and was being unfairly attacked.
“Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt,” Harris wrote.
Throughout a speech in Pennsylvania on Friday, Trump stated households of service members who died in Afghanistan had requested him to go to Arlington Nationwide Cemetery.
“I got there and we had a ceremony,” Trump stated. The households requested if he might come to the graves, Trump stated, after which they sought a photograph. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’ So I was taking pictures at the grave,” he stated.
Trump launched a concerted pushback on Saturday posting movies on his Reality Social account, exhibiting family members of not less than seven of the 13 killed within the Afghanistan pullout defending his actions on the cemetery. Lots of them addressed Harris straight and disputed her acknowledged assist for navy households.
“Vice President Harris, why will you not express your condolences yourself? Why have we never heard from you?” asks Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of Sergeant Nicole Gee, who was amongst those that died within the 2021 withdrawal, in a single video.
Trump vice presidential choose JD (NASDAQ:) Vance and press secretary Karoline Leavitt every responded to Harris’ put up on Saturday with one which referenced the Afghanistan pullout and accused Harris of being insensitive to the servicemembers who died there.
Trump used the third anniversary on Monday of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to attempt to pin the chaotic pullout below President Joe Biden on his vp.
Harris, 59, grew to become the Democratic nominee within the Nov. 5 presidential election after Biden, 81, pulled out of the race in July.
The vp’s response to the Trump cemetery go to could give a clue to how she would deal with the subject of their Sept. 10 debate. She referred to Trump’s historical past of insulting navy veterans.
“This is nothing new from Donald Trump. This is a man who has called our fallen service members ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’ and disparaged Medal of Honor recipients,” she wrote.
Trump as soon as stated the late Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential candidate, was not a battle hero despite the fact that he spent years as a prisoner of battle in North Vietnam after being shot down whereas a Navy pilot.
Trump referred to fallen World Battle One veterans as “suckers” and “losers,” in keeping with his former White Home chief of employees, John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps common. Trump continues to dispute that report.
It was unclear whether or not such incidents would sway the veterans vote. In an April report, the Pew Analysis Heart discovered that navy veterans favor the Republican Get together.
