Gold Star families defend Trump and team after media attacks over Arlington memorial for soldiers killed during Biden-Harris Afghanistan withdrawal

According to reporting from the Daily Caller as well as a source involved with planning the ceremony who spoke to The Post Millennial, after speaking with the families, Arlington officials claimed that the families did not want photos taken at all. This comes amid a media firestorm surrounding a report from NPR that cited an anonymous source making allegations about the event.

Arlington Cemetery officials claimed that the Gold Star family members did not want any photographs or video taken at Section 60 of Arlington Cemetery during Monday's ceremony when they were working on coordinating the event, according to the reporting as well as the source who spoke to The Post Millennial. This is contrary to TPM's communications with the family members, who said they told Arlington officials during the whole planning process that they wanted and invited Trump's team to videotape and take pictures of the event.

Additionally, TPM reviewed messages from last week, showing that the family members approved photography of the event taken by Trump's designated media team. NPR's piece on the matter made the claim that "Arlington officials had made clear that only cemetery staff members would be authorized to take photographs or film in the area, known as Section 60," however, this was disputed by multiple Gold Star family members who had talked to Arlington in planning for the event. The planning took a lot of back and forth leading up to what happened on Monday.

Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Sgt. Nicole Gee, disputed the reporting from NPR. Juels said that Arlington had agreed to allow Trump's designated media team to take the photos. "We wanted to have a recording of this. And we definitely agreed to have Arlington photographers and videographers there. We also agreed, if Trump had his own people there, we agreed to that as well."

Sgt. Nicole L. Gee.

Darin Hoover, father of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, also said that they invited Trump's media there and when Arlington officials originally talked to him and others that they had requested Trump's team be the ones to take photographs at Section 60. Hoover added that there were "all out blatant lies" coming from NPR about the whole event. “We’re the ones that invited Trump, he didn't invite himself. We’re the ones that invited him," he added.

Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover

Kelly Barnett, mother of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover told TPM the same, that they invited Trump’s designated media team and that was the agreement, "That's probably what they [Arlington] wanted, but that's not what was agreed to." She added, "none of us even had our phones out because we knew that it would be taken care of for us."

Barnett added that a leading official at the Arlington Cemetery who stood with Trump at the beginning of the Ceremony had spoken to her and Juels on Sunday while they were planning the event at Section 60. Juels also said that the meeting with an Arlington official took place that day. Barnett said they both relayed to the official that since the mother of Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, Paula, would not be there for the event, they wanted to get good pictures for her.

Donald Trump preparing to lay a flowers on the grave of Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss while speaking on the phone to the Knauss family: Aug. 26, 2024

Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss

Knauss was struck that the entire media had gone on attack as they were wanting to get photos of a solemn ceremony for their deceased children. She told TPM, "It's a very political move by cold-blooded people who would actually use our children - in a time of expression by the nation in mourning for them - to use it as a political issue that they want to bring up, that's very offensive to me. Because those who were doing things like placing flowers on their graves or remembering them on the day they were killed, were doing a great thing, a great thing."

Knauss emphasized that Trump and his designated media team were doing something kind, in that they wanted to record the event for her. She added, "This pettiness that I'm finding out about that happened up in Arlington that wants to be a news story is really something that's so sad.”

In regards to the altercation reported by NPR, each Gold Star family member that TPM spoke to who was at the event did not think such an incident happened as reported, with none of them witnessing it. Each also said that NPR did not contact them regarding its report that relied heavily on one anonymous source. Some said they found out about the news report when they got off the plane after flying back to their home states or the next morning. Biden and Harris had both been given notice for the event, but neither showed up.

Trump campaign advisor Steven Cheung said in a statement about the reported incident, "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."

Those of the other 13 deceased service members from the Afghanistan withdrawal not previously mentioned prior can be seen below:

Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo

Cpl. Daegan W. Page

Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza