'Sickening': Trump post spurs outrage — and new accusations that he broke the law



Donald Trump outraged veterans and legal experts Wednesday with a new social post that they say disrespects U.S. service members who died in the line of duty — and may have violated federal law.

Trump posted to TikTok a video montage of his visit Monday to Arlington National Cemetery, where he spurred outrage for a gravesite thumbs-up and possibly broke a law that restricts political campaign activity on military burial grounds.

Trump is filmed partaking in a wreath-laying ceremony on the third anniversary of a deadly attack that claimed 13 U.S. service members' lives amid the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

"We lost 13 great, great people," Trump says in a voiceover. "What a horrible day it was."

Trump does not mention President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris, his political opponent in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, but he appears to draw a comparison between his administration and theirs.

"We didn't lose one person in 18 months," Trump said. "And then they took over that disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan."

A link at the bottom of the post sends viewers to a 2024 Election Center and voter registration site hosted by TikTok and the nonpartisan nonprofit Democracy Works.

Trump posted the video to his @realdonaldtrump account, in which he claims the title of president and identifies himself as the 45th president of the United States.

The video does not include any disclosure messaging from Trump's campaign. It appears among videos that include Trump campaign events, criticisms of Harris and his campaign slogan "Make America Great Again."

It was shared on X Wednesday by VoteVets, a progressive political action group of U.S. war veterans that claimed Trump violated the law by posting the video publicly.

"Trump is using footage and photos his campaign took at Arlington National Cemetary [sic] for political purposes -- against the rules and laws that govern this hallowed ground," the group wrote.

"This whole episode is sickening and affront to all those hundreds of thousands of families who never agreed to allow their deceased loved ones to be dragged into politics."

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung has responded to an NPR report that Arlington National Cemetery filed a report after campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation with an official who tried to bar them from filming.

"The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony," Cheung said in the statement to NPR.

Cheung also shared a screenshot on X of what he says is official permission to film.

"Only former President Trump may have an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool," the screenshot reads.

This did not stop the Trump campaign from receiving an onslaught of criticism from political experts and stakeholders.

"It’s against the law to use images from Arlington National Cemetery for politics," Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett replied. "Someone should ask J.D. Vance today about his running mate breaking the law while using veterans as pawns."

"I don't know how much more plainly I can say it," Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal wrote. "This is outrageous."

"You can see his #BoneSpurs," said Mario Nicolais, general counsel for the Lincoln Project, referencing Trump's controversial medical deferment to avoid the U.S. military draft during the Vietnam War.

Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who specializes in American elections, reminded readers of the conclusion of Trump's criminal hush money trial in New York City.

"Convicted felon breaks the law before his sentencing," McDonald wrote.

A police official told USA Today that no criminal charges regarding the Arlington vist have been filed.



from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/mfnkbj0
via sinceretalk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PA GOP Senate candidate who says he 'started with nothing' actually grew up in a mansion

Image
David McCormick, who is Pennsylvania's presumptive Republican U.S. Senate nominee, has often suggested he grew up poor in a rural community. But a new report finds that his upbringing was far more affluent than he's suggested. The New York Times reported Friday that McCormick — a former hedge fund executive who lived in Connecticut as recently as 2022 — has been cagey with voters about his childhood. McCormick has tweeted that he was "raised in Bloomsburg working on his family's farm," said on a 2022 podcast that he " started with nothing " and told CBS News that same year that he " didn't have anything " growing up as the son of two schoolteachers. But according to the Times , McCormick's father, Dr. James H. McCormick , was appointed president of what is now Bloomsburg University by Gov. Milton Schapp (D) in 1973. He moved his family into Buckalew Place — the official mansion for presidents of the school that currently spans 5...
Read more

How misinformation could shape the Israel-Hamas war

Image
I wanted to interview Nicholas Grossman regarding the role of misinformation in the war between Israel and Hamas. In particular, I hoped to ask the professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, and senior editor of Arc Digital , about misinformation that arose from American reporting on an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. You know what? I ended up repeating a bit of misinformation! I asked him to lay out the facts about a blast that “killed hundreds, including kids,” and he said nuh-uh (not his words). In fact, Professor Grossman said, “there never were hundreds killed by an explosion at that hospital. Media reported that the hospital was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike killing 500, but that was based on something a Hamas-controlled agency said and was never supported by evidence.” Professor Grossman went on to say “what apparently did happen is something hit a nearby parking lot and caused a smaller explosion, most likely a rocket fired from Gaza towards I...
Read more

Trump was hit by glass fragments — not a bullet: report

Image
Law enforcement officials have claimed to two different sources that former President Donald Trump was not grazed by a bullet but rather by glass shards. The officials in question told both Newsmax's Alex Salvi and Axios' Juliegrace Brufke that Trump was hit by glass shards that may have erupted from the shattering of a teleprompter that was hit by gunfire. Earlier on Saturday, law enforcement sources confirmed that the person suspected of firing a weapon at a Pennsylvania Trump rally had been killed, as had at least one person in the crowd. Videos showed Trump grabbing his neck after apparent gunshots had been fired before Secret Service agents pulled him to the ground. They then took him away in an armored vehicle to a hospital where he was treated for injuries. The identity of the shooting suspect has not yet been released. from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/ILgqr53 via sinceretalk
Read more