EGN NEWS DESK
ATLANTA — Donald Trump’s marketing campaign issued a press release Sunday from the Gold Star army households who invited him to Arlington National Cemetery as they defended the Republican presidential nominee and insisted that Vice President Kamala Harris is the candidate politicizing fallen U.S. service members.
It’s the newest volley in an prolonged backwards and forwards as Trump tries to saddle Harris with the Biden administration’s dealing with of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, together with a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members.
Harris on Saturday accused Trump of staging a “political stunt” that “disrespected sacred floor” the place many Afghanistan warfare dead are buried. Trump and the households of a few of these killed within the bombing blame Harris, as they did President Joe Biden earlier than he ended his reelection bid, for his or her family members’ deaths. The households say the previous president was honoring their family members when he got here to Arlington.
His marketing campaign later distributed photographs of the go to regardless of the cemetery’s prohibition on partisan exercise on the grounds.
“President Trump was invited by us, the Gold Star households, to attend the solemn ceremonies commemorating the three-year anniversary of our kids’s deaths,” mentioned the kinfolk’ joint assertion. “He was there to honor their sacrifice, but Vice President Harris has disgracefully twisted this sacred second right into a political ploy.”
Gold Star households have misplaced a cherished one in army service.
Read More: Harris Calls Trump’s Appearance at Arlington a ‘Political Stunt’ that ‘Disrespected Sacred Ground’
Trump laid wreaths final Monday in honor of Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss. They had been amongst 13 U.S. service members and greater than 100 Afghans who died in an Aug. 26, 2021, bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport as U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan.
Trump thanked the members of the family for his or her assertion by way of social media. “Thank you for saying you needed me to face with you … and take photos, that it was your request, not mine,” he wrote.
Throughout the weekend, Trump has used his social media accounts to distribute video testimonials from some kinfolk who signed the assertion.
Christy Shamblin, Gee’s mother-in-law, mentioned in a 90-second message that Trump and his aides had been “respectful” and a “a consolation” to the households who gathered at Arlington. Then she straight addressed her remarks to Harris.
“Why will not you come back a name and clarify the way you name my daughter-in-law’s demise successful?” Shamblin mentioned. “Why would you’re taking a day the place we celebrated the deaths of our family members and use it to disparage not solely them, however us.”
Biden and first woman Jill Biden went to Dover Air Force Base in 2021 for the ceremony returning the service members’ stays to U.S. soil. The Bidens met privately with members of the family at Dover. The Bidens had been joined on the ceremony by a number of high aides within the administration, together with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Shamblin was among the many a number of members of the family who additionally spoke on the Republican National Convention in July on Trump’s behalf. Several members of the family have joined Trump’s working mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, on a convention name with media.
Trump’s look ballooned into controversy after protection officers mentioned his marketing campaign was warned about not taking images and that there was an altercation between Trump aides and a cemetery worker. Officials have mentioned since that an worker whom two Trump marketing campaign employees members allegedly “verbally abused and pushed” apart has declined to press prices.
The Trump marketing campaign has since lashed out at Pentagon officers, with a high marketing campaign adviser, Chris LaCivita, referring to army spokespersons as “hacks.” Trump marketing campaign officers say the marketing campaign had permission to deliver somebody to take video.
Since Biden ended his reelection bid in July, Trump has been zeroing in on Harris and her roles in overseas coverage choices. He has highlighted the vice chairman’s statements that she was the final particular person within the room earlier than Biden made the choice to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Biden’s administration was following a withdrawal dedication and timeline that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban in 2020. A 2022 evaluation by a government-appointed particular investigator concluded choices made by each Trump and Biden had been the important thing components resulting in the fast collapse of Afghanistan’s army and the Taliban takeover.
Campaigning this yr, Trump has mentioned that leaving was the suitable factor to do however that the Biden administration’s execution was poor.
“We had been going to do it with dignity and power,” he mentioned in a current speech in Michigan.
