American Oversight Files Lawsuit for Reports Regarding August Incident at Arlington National Cemetery

On Tuesday, American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army seeking the expedited release of reports regarding an incident reportedly involving members of former President Donald Trump’s campaign and staff at Arlington National Cemetery. 

According to news reports, the incident occurred when cemetery staff attempted to prevent members of Trump’s campaign from filming and taking pictures while visiting a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried — something prohibited by federal law to guard against gravesites being used for partisan political purposes. 

While in office, the former president repeatedly sought to politicize the military, and his administration frequently violated the Hatch Act, the federal law prohibiting government officials from using their positions to advance partisan political activity. American Oversight’s lawsuit aims to provide the public with the full, official account of the alleged incident and the Army’s response.

The “altercation” reportedly occurred during an Aug. 26 visit by Trump to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony, after which he visited individual soldiers’ gravesites. Before the visit, cemetery staff reportedly imposed certain conditions on the visits to the individual gravesites: The former president could not bring campaign staff with him, and no photography was permitted. According to reports, a campaign photographer and a videographer tried to accompany the former president to the individual gravesites, and a member of cemetery staff tried to stop them.

The Trump campaign has disputed media accounts of the incident, and the former president has even suggested that the incident did not happen at all. Arlington National Cemetery has confirmed that there was an incident and that a report was filed.

American Oversight submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of any such reports on Aug. 30, and on Sept. 25 requested that Arlington expedite the processing of its request. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, has also asked for the incident report, having sent a letter to the Secretary of the Army on Aug. 30.

To date, the Department of Defense, Army, and Arlington National Cemetery have not publicly released any official reports. American Oversight’s lawsuit asks the court to grant a preliminary injunction and to order the Army to produce all non-exempt, responsive records.