Father of veteran killed in Iraq slams Trump for 'exploiting' Arlington 'for political gain'

29 August 2024

Donald Trump's reelection campaign suffered yet another controversy when, on Monday, August 26, members of the GOP presidential nominee's team, according to the New York Times, got into an "altercation" with an employee of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The incident, the Times reported, occurred when the employee objected to Trump campaign members shooting video in Section 60 — a heavily restricted area of the cemetery where photos and videos are strictly prohibited.

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), two days later, accused reporters of exaggerating the incident and claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign was exploiting it. Trump's embattled running mate said of Harris, "And she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up? She can — she can go to hell."

As the week progressed, the controversy over the Trump campaign's Arlington Cemetery visit raged on. And some of the criticism of Trump and his campaign team is coming from Khizr Khan, father of the late U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan — who was 27 when, in 2004, he was killed during the Iraq War. The younger Khan is now buried in Section 60.

The Daily Beast's Michael Daly, in an article published on August 29, explains, "(Khizr) Khan's only conclusion is that Trump visited the cemetery on Monday primarily for personal political gain — something prohibited by federal law."

Khan, Daly adds, "remembers reports of a question Trump asked on Memorial Day of 2017 in Section 60, the burial place for those who died in Afghanistan and Iraq. Trump was standing next to retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, at the time his homeland security secretary and subsequently the White House chief of staff."

Trump reportedly said of the veterans, "I don't get it. What was in it for them?" And Kelly has confirmed that reporting.

Khan, on August 28, lamented, "(Trump) has proven his disrespect. Somebody needs to ask him, 'You have shown that contempt multiple times, and yet again, you go there.'"

Khan called out the Trump campaign's visit to Section 60 as wildly inappropriate, saying that he "disrespected the rules and regulations of the entire Arlington Cemetery" and "went there to exploit the sentiments of the people for political gain."

Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).

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