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The US Army on Friday disclosed a almost entirely redacted police report detailing an incident in which a member of Donald Trump’s campaign staff allegedly pushed an Arlington National Cemetery employee.
The report released under a court order, obscures a crucial word that seems to describe the Trump campaign staffer shoving the cemetery worker aside.
According to the visible portions of the report, the Trump staffer used both hands while trying to get past the cemetery employee. The names of both individuals are redacted, and the cemetery worker’s sworn statement to the police is entirely blacked out. Officials had previously stated that the former president’s staffer pushed the cemetery worker when she was trying to prevent two people from filming and photographing Trump’s visit to gravesites in Section 60, a sacred area where US forces killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried.
The report indicates that the cemetery worker declined medical treatment and did not wish to press charges. American Oversight, a Washington-based government transparency group, filed a lawsuit demanding the release of the police report, and a federal judge ordered it to be made public by Friday. The group has posted the report on its website.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is in a close race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, and the altercation raised concerns about his campaign’s politicization of the military. Trump was at the cemetery at the invitation of service members’ families and brought staff to document the visit. He later shared a video from the visit on TikTok, which included scenes of him at the cemetery and a voiceover blaming the Biden administration for the “disaster” of the Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.
Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of American Oversight, expressed satisfaction that the report was released, allowing the public to see “that there is still an ongoing federal law enforcement investigation into the August incident at Arlington National Cemetery.” Chukwu emphasized that Trump and his staff’s conduct “aligns with his history of politicizing the military and violating clear ethical boundaries, and it’s time for the public to have all the facts.”
In a letter accompanying the report, Army senior counsel Paul DeAgostino explained that the redactions were made to protect personal privacy and information compiled for law enforcement purposes.
He said that the records are part of an ongoing investigation and their release “could reasonably be expected to interfere with ongoing enforcement proceedings.”
The Army reiterated DeAgostino’s comment, stating that it released the report to comply with the court order and that the police investigation “remains open and we are therefore unable to provide further information at this time.”
It is unclear what law enforcement proceedings are ongoing, as the employee declined to press charges. Families of three service members killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal had invited Trump to a ceremony marking the third anniversary of the attack. They said the former president knew their children’s stories and have blamed the Biden administration for their deaths.
A defense official had previously stated that the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation. During a campaign event in Michigan several days after the incident, Trump complained that family members had asked to take a photo with him at the cemetery, saying, “They ask me to have a picture, and they say I was campaigning,” without addressing the TikTok video.