As he campaigned in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Ohio Sen. JD Vance said Vice President Kamala Harris “can go to hell”

His comments came in response to a question about an altercation involving the Trump campaign at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.

What You Need To Know

  • At a campaign event in Pennsylvania, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, said Vice President Kamala Harris “can go to hell” over the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021

  • Vance's comments came in response to a question about an altercation involving the Trump campaign at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday  

  • An Army spokesperson confirmed that an employee of the cemetery "was abruptly pushed aside" when trying to stop members of Trump's campaign from filming and photographing activities in the area known as Section 60, where military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried

  • Vance accused the media of trying to manufacture a controversy surrounding the Arlington story

A report from NPR on Tuesday said that Trump campaign staffers pushed and verbally abused a staffer at Arlington National Cemetery who tried to stop them from filming and photographing activities in the area known as Section 60, where military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. Arlington National Cemetery said in a statement that federal law prohibits political “political campaign or election-related activities,” including photography “in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”

An Army spokesperson confirmed to Spectrum News that an altercation took place, but they did not want to press charges, so the matter has been closed.

"Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds," the spokesperson said. "An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside.

"Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption," they continued. "The incident was reported to the JBM-HH police department, but the employee subsequently decided not to press charges. Therefore, the Army considers this matter closed."

"This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked," the spokesperson added. "ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve."

A defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Trump's campaign was warned not to take photos in Section 60.

“The altercation at Arlington Cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think there is one,” said Vance, a Marine veteran. “There is verifiable evidence that the campaign was allowed to have a photographer there. They were invited to have a photographer there.”

Vance also noted that family members of service members killed in the August 2021 suicide bombing at an airport in Kabul, Afghanistan — who Trump was at Arlington National Cemetery to honor on Monday — had invited Trump to be there and some later issued a statement of support.

“It is is amazing to me that you have apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member had a little disagreement with somebody and.. the media has turned this into a national news story,” Vance said, before calling Harris “disgraceful” and falsely claiming “there hasn’t been a single investigation” into the 2021 attack as the U.S. was conducting a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years. The Biden administration and Congress have conducted multiple investigations into the attack in the years since. 

“Three years ago, 13 brave, innocent Americans died, and they died because Kamala Harris refused to do her job, and there hasn’t been a single investigation or a single firing,” he said. “Sometimes mistakes happen, that’s just the nature of government, the nature of military service. But to have those 13 Americans lose their lives and not fire a single person is disgraceful. Kamala Harris is disgraceful.”

“Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up?” the Republican vice presidential hopeful said, pausing before delivering his insult: “She can go to hell.”

Harris herself hasn’t commented on the cemetery incident, but her campaign communications director Michael Tyler called the situation “sad” on CNN on Wednesday, ahead of Vance's comments, and said “this is what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump and his team.”

Spectrum News' Reuben Jones contributed to this report.