Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the failed Afghanistan withdrawal have blasted Vice President Kamala Harris for attacking former President Trump over his controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week.
Harris accused Trump of playing politics with his visit on Monday but, in a series of short videos, said eight families had invited Trump and slammed the Biden-Harris administration over the disastrous withdrawal three years ago that left 13 U.S. soldiers dead.
The messages, each themed on the parents of a military member killed by ISIS-K terrorists during the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021, were posted to former President Trump’s Instagram account on Saturday night.
Earlier, the vice president on Saturday criticized the Trump campaign for taking photos and video of Monday’s wreath-laying ceremony. The Army said Arlington National Cemetery officials “had abruptly removed the fact that they had been making the Trump campaign aware of federal law, Army regulations and Department of Defense policy, which clearly prohibit political activity on cemetery grounds.”
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“As vice president, I have had the opportunity to visit Arlington National Cemetery several times,” Harris said. “It is not a place for politics. However, as reported this week, Donald Trump’s team chose to hold a video shoot there, which led to an altercation with cemetery officials.”
“Let me be clear: the former president desecrated sacred ground for political stunts,” she argued, adding that she would “never politicize” such events.
Gold Star families maintained that they had asked Trump for their photos, rather than him taking them for a campaign event. In one video, Marine Corporal Jared Schmitz, the father of Harris’ post, called it “vicious, vile and disgusting.”
“Why did you have Trump there? It wasn’t to support his political campaign,” Mark Schmitz said in the video. “We wanted leaders. That’s why you and Joe didn’t get a call.”
Darren Huber, father of Marine Staff Sergeant Taylor Huber, said Harris lacked “empathy and a basic understanding” of Monday’s events and stressed that Trump’s appearance had been a show of respect.
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“Out of respect and reverence for all the military personnel buried there, we invited President Trump,” he said. “We were the ones who asked him to take a video and a photo at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”
Mr Huber added that Mr Trump had “supported us from the beginning”, and accused Ms Harris of “playing politics” over the incident.
“You should be ashamed and embarrassed at your lack of human empathy and decency,” his father added. “You are in this job only for power and prestige. You don’t care about our military or our people.”
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“You should be ashamed of your actions, or lack of them.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Harris’ campaign for comment.