Harris says Trump 'disrespected sacred ground' at US military cemetery

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dances to a song as he leaves a rally at 1st Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on August 30, 2024. [AFP]

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Saturday that her Republican rival Donald Trump "disrespected sacred ground" at a US military cemetery after reports that his campaign team pushed a staff member during a politicized visit.

Trump's cemetery visit -- intended to provide a campaign boost ahead of November's election -- has instead mushroomed into a public dispute between the former president and the military.

"Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt," Harris said of Monday's incident at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, where Trump was accompanying relatives of US service members killed in Afghanistan.

"If there is one thing on which we as Americans can all agree, it is that our veterans, military families, and service members should be honored, never disparaged, and treated with nothing less than our highest respect and gratitude," Harris wrote on X.

On Thursday, the US Army confirmed that a cemetery staff member had been pushed aside after asking Trump's team to stop filming in a burial section for those killed in recent wars, where photography is banned.

The military condemned the incident as "unfortunate."

Meanwhile, Trump's campaign team has gone on the offensive by describing the employee as a "despicable individual" and claiming she was suffering a mental health episode.

Trump has made criticism of Biden's handling of the retreat from Afghanistan a keynote of his campaign, arguing that he would have managed it better.

He attended the cemetery with families of some of the 13 service members killed in a 2021 bombing in Kabul during the last hours of the US withdrawal.

After the visit to the Arlington cemetery, Trump's campaign posted a photo of the former president standing with the relatives and giving a thumbs-up gesture.

The uproar over the incident is the latest in a long line of controversies over Trump's relationship with the military.

While often touting his support for the armed forces, he privately mocked the war dead while he was president and did not want to be seen near military amputees, according to his former chief of staff.