Families of Fallen Soldiers Defend Trump After Arlington Cemetery Visit Fallout

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump lays a wreath alongside Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart (Ret.) and U.S. Marine Corps. Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews (Ret.), who were injured at the Abbey Gate Bombing, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Va., on Aug. 26, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump posted videos of family members of fallen soldiers responding to Vice President Kamala Harris’s criticism of his recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

On Aug. 26, President Trump laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. During the event, Trump was joined by family members of fallen servicemembers.

Vice President Kamala Harris wrote a lengthy post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Aug. 31, accusing the former president of playing politics at the venue.

“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,” Harris wrote. “The former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.”

Responding to the criticism, Trump on Sept. 1 uploaded videos of eight family members of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

“Former President Trump has been there for us from the very beginning when our son and the other 12 of his brothers and sisters in arms were murdered due to your negligence and uncaring attitude towards our military,” Darin Hoover, father of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, said in a video.

Taylor Hoover was among the 13 servicemembers killed on Aug. 26, 2021, in an ISIS terrorist attack outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul amid the military withdrawal.

“Our sons and daughters made the best of a difficult situation, as they had been trained to do,” Darin Hoover said.

He refuted claims that the Trump team entered into an altercation with the cemetery staff.

“There was also not an assault that we observed take place, nor did we hear it,“ Darin Hoover said. ”I don’t know where this is coming from.”

Mark Schmitz, father of Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz who also died in the 2021 attack, said Harris’s post was “trying to incite those that don’t follow the truth.”

“Shows you how much you know about the 13 families,” he said.

“We invited him to be there. Why did we want Trump there? That wasn’t to help his political campaign. We wanted a leader.”

Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of slain Sgt. Nicole Gee, said that Trump and his team were respectful at the event and listened to the parents’ stories.

“We welcomed them that day, and they were a comfort to our family,” she said.

Herman Lopez, father of Cpl. Hunter Lopez, criticized Harris for saying she supports the military and military families.

“It’s been three years since my son was killed in action,” he said, noting that he hasn’t seen “any support” from Harris or the Biden administration.

A U.S. Marine helps an infant over a barbed-wire fence during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 19, 2021. Courtesy of Omar Haidiri/AFP via Getty Images

Jim McCollum, father of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, said of Harris: “[You have] failed for three years and eight months to acknowledge our kids, to acknowledge me. You don’t know me, you’ve never spoken to me, you’ve never reached out to me.”

Steve Nikoui, father of Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, accused the Biden–Harris administration of “political theatrics” so that they could have a final day of the evacuation coincide with Sept. 11.

Jaclyn Schmitz, mother of Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, said that in more than three years, the families have “gotten nothing but more and more lies” on the Kabul incident. She also said Trump was invited to the cemetery to hear the families’ stories.

Coral Doolittle, mother of Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, said the Biden administration has not met with them to give them “an explanation of what happened.”

Disputed Incident

A spokesperson from the Arlington National Cemetery told The Epoch Times that there was an “incident” during the Aug. 26 event.

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” the spokesperson said.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, told The Epoch Times that there was “no physical altercation as described.”

“We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” he said.

A private photographer was permitted on the cemetery premises, but an unnamed individual physically blocked members of the Trump team, he said. He also said that the person was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.”

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), also criticized Harris’s post.

“President Trump was there at the invitation of families whose loved ones died because of your incompetence,” he said in an X post. “Why don’t you get off social media and go launch an investigation into their unnecessary deaths?”

On Aug. 26, Harris issued a statement defending the administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that Biden “made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war.”

“Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones,“ she said. ”I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland.”

In August 2023, representatives of eight of the 13 servicemembers who died in the Kabul attack took part in a discussion hosted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, calling for accountability on the issue. They had also called for resignations from the Biden administration.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.