On Wednesday’s “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer,” CNN’s Scott Jennings pushed back against claims that a Trump campaign staff member harassed an Arlington National Cemetery official during their visit. Former President Donald Trump and his team attended a ceremony on Monday to mark the third anniversary of the deaths of 13 servicemembers killed in the Kabul airport attack during the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Jennings addressed allegations of a verbal and physical altercation between a Trump staffer and a cemetery official, using the opportunity to criticize President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their handling of Gold Star families. “I don’t know whether it‘s true or not, I wasn‘t there. The Trump campaign says it wasn‘t true. I assume we‘ll find out more about it. I mean, honestly, the way Biden and Harris have treated these families and ignored them and disrespected them after one of the most disastrous decisions that they made in this White House to me is the most despicable part of this,” Jennings said.
“Look, there‘s a lot of opinions about this and everybody‘s got comments. But the only opinion I really care about are the families in question. And they said as J.D. Vance reported, ‘We had given our approval for Trump‘s official videographer and photographer to attend,” Jennings continued. “We cherish these memories forever. We’re deeply grateful for the president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief.’” He then noted how Trump has given the service member families “more than the time of day” compared to Biden and Harris.
“I mean, they put out a long statement saying they could not have been happier to have Donald Trump there at Arlington with them. He‘s given them more than the time of day, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can‘t even do that,” Jennings said. CNN’s host challenged Jennings by asking whether the Trump campaign should have obtained approval from the cemetery if they hadn’t already. Jennings dismissed the question as a “political garbage attack” and emphasized that the families were “happy” to have Trump at the ceremony.
“You know what I think? Only people who are so craven about this could try to turn something positive, which is Donald Trump‘s spending time with gold-star families into some political garbage attack. That‘s what I think,” Jennings responded. “The only people who matter are gold-star families, they invited Trump. He went, and they’re happy he was there. And if that’s not good enough for the Democrats, you know what, I don’t know what to tell you.”
WATCH:
After the visit, allegations surfaced that a cemetery official tried to stop Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section reserved for recent U.S. casualties, where only cemetery officials are permitted to take photos, according to NPR. The official allegedly faced verbal abuse and was pushed aside by a Trump staffer as they attempted to intervene. The Trump campaign has since denied the allegations, with Trump’s campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, telling NPR in a statement that a private photographer “was permitted on the premises.”
“We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said. “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.”