Tulsi Gabbard Embarrasses CNN Host Over Arlington Cemetery Hoax
Former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard took to CNN over the weekend where she rebuked a host for perpetuating false claims about President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery. The stop alongside Gold Star Families is threatening to consume a second week of media coverage as mainstream outlets accuse the Republican of politicizing hallowed ground.
Gabbard, who in 2020 ran against Kamala Harris for president before leaving the Democratic Party, called out Dana Bash for accusing President Trump of campaigning at the nation’s most famous final resting place for its bravest men and women. During the visit on August 26th, a groundskeeper got into a brief shouting match with a member of the former president’s staff who was videotaping a wreath-laying ceremony, prompting media outlets to foment a narrative that Trump staged a political photo op. That wasn’t true, according to Gabbard, who said Trump was “approved” to appear at Arlington National Cemetery.
“I checked with the campaign on this question and they have exchanges with the officials at Arlington Cemetery. They were approved to bring a camera there to document this historic and momentous day that should not be forgotten by any American,” Gabbard, a member of Trump’s transition team, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. She added that Trump’s team had “exchanges” with Arlington officials and staffers were given permission to “bring a camera,” according to the Daily Caller. Meanwhile, Vice President Harris has not made any effort to “console” the families of 13 American service members who were killed three years ago during an embarrassing exit from Afghanistan.
“I know President Trump wanted to share that with others, especially given the fact that President Biden [and] Harris, I heard, were invited by some of these family members. They not only didn‘t come, they didn‘t even respond to that invitation,” Gabbard continued. “Now to have Kamala Harris put this statement out yesterday saying that she stands with these families, she stands with the military and with veterans — you only have to look at the response that came from the Gold-Star families of these 13 service members of how offended they were by that statement.”
“Given she has not made any effort — not on that third anniversary or any other time — to call them directly to offer her condolences and even apologies for their decisions that led to the loss of their loved ones,” Gabbard said.
The former Hawaii lawmaker said as a former soldier she appreciates how Gold Star Family members spoke out in defense of President Trump’s visit and thanked him for honoring the memory of their fallen loved ones. “I’d just like to say one last thing on this because I think it‘s important and I‘ve seen a lot of the headlines and the stories and the concerns that people are raising about this. But to me as a soldier and as someone who has been deployed to different war zones in the world, I have friends who are buried there at Section 60,” Gabbard said. “What is more outrageous to me is that there wasn‘t universal coverage of the momentous day of the third anniversary of the loss of these 13 gold star families,” Gabbard said. “And the outrage that they feel that their loved ones are not getting the kind of coverage and memory that their great sacrifice deserves. That is what everyone should be outraged about.”
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, backed up Gabbard’s assertion that campaign staffers were given permission to film the ceremony. “We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said. “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.”