Sen. Tom Cotton, who served in the Arlington Cemetery Old Guard for 16 months starting in 2007, sees no problem with Donald Trump using veterans’ cemeteries to promote his campaign. He even echoed Trump’s response to the controversy, blaming the Gold Star families for the controversial photo.
“He did not take pictures of the campaign there,” Cotton said in remarks at a news conference. Press conference “From the photo that later appeared on Trump’s TikTok. “These families, the Gold Star families, whose children died because of the incompetence of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, invited him to the cemetery. And they asked him to take those pictures, because… this is their one chance to memorialize their children, to commemorate their service and honor their sacrifice. They wanted President Trump to be there. They wanted to take those pictures.”
Last week, Trump visited Section 60 of the cemetery, where many veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. His campaign took photos of Trump standing and giving a thumbs-up next to members of Sergeant Darren Hoover’s family at his gravesite, which were later posted on Trump’s social media. When a cemetery employee tried to stop Trump’s team from taking photos, since only cemetery employees are allowed to take photos or film in that area, he was “suddenly pushed aside” by a member of the Trump campaign. According to the Army, Trump’s staff was notified of “federal laws … that explicitly prohibit political activity on cemetery grounds.”
“I gave my permission, my son was killed during the Biden-Harris administration,” Hoover's mother told NBC News.
Even with Hoover's permission, the photo violated cemetery rules, especially when used for campaign purposes, as the Trump campaign did when it posted it on social media.
Press conference Anchor Kristen Welker Cotton asked about another Gold Star family who spoke out against the Trump photo in Section 60, where their relative is buried, and whose headstone is depicted with a photo of Trump with the Hoover family.
“Let me ask you about what we heard from another family, the family of Sgt. Andrew Marchisano. He was a SEAL. His family was concerned that his grave was actually visible in a photo posted on social media. ‘We hope that those who visit this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed our freedom and that they deserve to be honored and respected accordingly,’ Marchisano’s sister, Michelle, said in a statement. ‘Has the Trump campaign failed to honor their wishes and their desires?’
“No, Christine, they respected the wishes of the 13 families whose children died at Abbey Gate. Those families wanted pictures,” Cotton replied. “They told me yesterday that they specifically asked President Trump for pictures. Obviously, the gravestones in Arlington are close together. When you take a picture of your loved one, the other gravestones will be there as well.”
The senator continued the attack. The New York Times “For their contact with the Marquesanos family. Frankly, I think it's very disappointing that The New York Times “I went and found a family whose headstone was in that photo of another Gold Star family, and then I went to them to try to embarrass the Gold Star families who wanted President Trump there,” he said.
Again, the problem isn’t that Trump visited the cemetery with his Gold Star families. The problem is that he exploited its imagery for his presidential campaign. Cotton himself even wrote about the sacred ground and “proper behavior” there in his 2019 memoir.
“Over the years, I’ve noticed something about Arlington. Although there’s a sign welcoming visitors to ‘our nation’s holiest shrine,’ there are no rules. Yet visitors somehow understand the proper code of conduct,” Cotton wrote, according to the Daily Beast. “Arlington evokes an instinctive respect from citizens and soldiers alike that this ground is more than just a cemetery… Arlington is truly sacred ground for our nation.”
