An Army spokesperson confirmed on Thursday that an Arlington National Cemetery worker was “abruptly pushed aside” Monday after attempting to stop the Trump campaign from using the cemetery for political promotion, which is a violation of federal law.

The cemetery employee filed a report with military police, but she opted not to press charges, an Army spokesperson said. 

The Trump campaign has previously denied the incident played out in the way the Army described, with senior officials accusing the unidentified cemetery official of being a “despicable individual” and “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.”

The campaign did not immediately respond to the Army’s statement on Thursday and has yet to release footage of the altercation after saying they would be willing to do so.

“Arlington National Cemetery routinely hosts public wreath laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for individuals and groups who submit requests in advance. ANC conducts nearly 3,000 such public ceremonies a year without incident,” the Army spokesperson said. “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.”

“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,” the spokesperson continued. “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. 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.”

Former President Donald Trump was at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to mark the three-year anniversary of the suicide bombing at at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 13 American service members and more than 100 Afghans amid a chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country. The former president laid wreaths in honor of service members killed that day alongside some of their family members and surviving comrades. 

His campaign took photos and videos during the trip, including when they visited graves in the cemetery’s Section 60, where dead service members from the United States’ 21st century wars are often buried. Footage was used in a campaign TikTok, accompanied by somber music and a Trump voiceover attacking President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their handling of the withdrawal.

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” an Arlington National Cemetery spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

When asked about the incident while campaigning in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Ohio Sen. JD Vance said Harris "can go to hell" over her administration's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal and claimed that the media was manufacturing the story. 

“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 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. 

“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?” Vance said. “She can go to hell.”

On Thursday, Vance doubled-down, writing on social media "this entire scandal is so fake."

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

Not every military family member was thrilled with Trump’s actions at the cemetery on Monday. Relatives of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano issued a statement to the New York Times decrying the use of footage of Section 60, including that of the grave of their deceased relative, a Green Beret recipient of Silver and Bronze Stars. 

Trump and the group of military families, veterans and elected officials visited the grave of Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover, a Marine killed in the Kabul attack.

“According to our conversation with Arlington National Cemetery, the Trump campaign staffers did not adhere to the rules that were set in place for this visit to Staff Sergeant Hoover’s gravesite in Section 60, which lays directly next to my brother’s grave,” Marckesano’s sister Michele said in a statement on behalf of their family. “We hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and that they are honored and respected accordingly.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox shared a picture on social media of Trump, veterans and military family members standing by Hoover’s grave. Trump and several others in the photo are smiling and sporting a thumbs up.

Cox apologized on Wednesday after a photo of him with Trump and others at the cemetery was included in a fundraising email.

"This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign," Cox wrote on social media. "It did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent. My campaign will be sending out an apology."

Also on Wednesday, Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat, called on the Army-run cemetery “to publicly release all that transpired” on Monday “so the American people can ensure the ground in which our nation's heroes are buried is not being debased by a man who has no concept of service and sacrifice.”

On Thursday, Sen. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, asked the Pentagon for the incident report, saying in a statement he was "troubled by the reporting."

Spectrum News' Reuben Jones contributed to this report.