ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign on Sunday released a statement from the Gold Star military families who invited him to Arlington National Cemetery to defend the Republican presidential nominee, stressing that Vice President Kamala Harris is the candidate who is politicizing fallen American service members.
It is the latest in a long line of arguments in which Trump has tried to saddle Harris with the Biden administration’s handling of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which included a suicide bombing that killed 13 US service members.
Harris accused Trump on Saturday of pulling off a “political stunt” that disrespected “sacred ground” where many Afghan war dead are buried. Trump and the families of some of those killed in the bombing have blamed Harris, as did President Joe Biden before he ended his re-election bid, for the deaths of their loved ones. The families say the former president honored their loved ones when he came to Arlington.
His campaign team later released photos of the visit, despite a ban on partisan activities on the cemetery grounds.
“President Trump was invited by us, the Gold Star families, to attend the solemn ceremonies commemorating the three-year anniversary of the deaths of our children,” the joint statement from the families said. “He was there to honor their sacrifice, but Vice President Harris shamefully twisted this sacred moment into a political ploy.”
Gold Star families have lost a loved one during military service.
Trump laid wreaths Monday in honor of Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss. They were among 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans killed in a bombing on August 26, 2021, at Hamid Karzai International Airport as U.S. troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan.
Trump thanked the family members for their statement on social media. “Thank you for saying you wanted me to stand with you … and take pictures, that it was your request, not mine,” he wrote.
Over the weekend, Trump shared video testimonies from family members who signed the declaration on his social media accounts.
Christy Shamblin, Gee’s mother-in-law, said in a 90-second message that Trump and his aides were “respectful” and “a comfort” to the families gathered in Arlington. She then addressed her remarks directly to Harris.
“Why don’t you call back and explain how you call my daughter-in-law’s death a success?” Shamblin said. “Why would you use a day that we celebrate the death of our loved ones to smear not only them, but ourselves.”
Biden and first lady Jill Biden went to Dover Air Force Base in 2021 for the ceremony that brought the service members’ remains back to U.S. soil. The Bidens met privately with family members in Dover. The Bidens were joined at the ceremony by several top administration advisers, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Shamblin was among several family members who also spoke on Trump’s behalf at the Republican National Convention in July. Several family members joined Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, for a conference call with the media.
Trump’s appearance became a controversy after defense officials said his campaign was warned not to take photos and that there was an altercation between Trump aides and a cemetery worker. Officials have since said that an aide who was allegedly “verbally abused and shoved aside” by two Trump campaign staffers has declined to press charges.
The Trump campaign has since lashed out at Pentagon officials, with one of the campaign’s top advisers, Chris LaCivita, describing military spokespeople as “hacks.” Trump campaign officials say the campaign had permission to bring someone along to shoot videos.
Since Biden ended his reelection bid in July, Trump has focused on Harris and her role in foreign policy decisions, highlighting the vice president’s statements that she was the last person in the room before Biden decided to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The Biden administration followed a withdrawal commitment and timetable that the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban in 2020. A government-appointed special investigator concluded in 2022 that decisions by both Trump and Biden were key factors leading to the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and the Taliban’s rise to power.
During his campaign this year, Trump said that resigning was the right thing to do, but that the Biden administration’s execution was poor.
“We would do it with dignity and strength,” he said recently in a speech in Michigan.
