Jeffrey Wright, MGM’s James Bond actor, has claimed that former President Donald Trump began a fight this week at Arlington National Cemetery while the Republican nominee for president was attending a service to honor 13 American servicemen who died during the disastrous Biden-Harris withdrawal from Afghanistan 2021.
Verdict: False. The former president Donald Trump did not start a fight in Arlington.
Jeffrey Wright’s claim appears to be based on an incorrect interpretation of an NPR report that claimed Trump campaign staff had gotten into an “altercation with a cemetery employee who prevented them from taking photos in an off-limits area.
The Trump campaign disputes NPR’s report.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said that there was no physical altercation. We are ready to release video footage if defamatory allegations are made. The fact is a private photographer had been allowed on the premises, and an individual who was experiencing a mental illness decided to physically block President Trump’s staff during a solemn ceremony.
Let’s please just have a POTUS who doesn’t start a fight in a cemetery. That’d be nice. Small things.
— Jeffrey Wright 🥜 (@jfreewright) August 29, 2024
We reported that Trump participated in a wreath-laying at Arlington Cemetery on Monday, to honor the 13 servicemen who will lose their lives due to the Biden and Harris’ botched Afghanistan withdrawal on August 26th, 2021.
Cheryl Juels is the aunt of Marine Corps Sergeant. Nicole L. Gee was one of the soldiers who died. She released a statement saying that she “absolutely appreciated and welcomed having video and photographic equipment there.”
Joe Biden was on vacation in Delaware, while Kamala Harris’ staff issued a press release. Biden was in Delaware on vacation, and it is unclear what Harris did, although her staff issued a press statement.
Kamala Harris avoided mentioning the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal while on the campaign. The establishment news media has also avoided the topic, even though Kamala Harris reportedly spoke with President Biden the last time before the administration began the deadly withdrawal.