‘Don’t need publicity’: Donald Trump denies exploiting Arlington Cemetery’s visit

US former President Donald Trump has denied using Arlington National Cemetery‘s visit as a political stunt and said that he doesn’t need this.

While addressing a rally in Pennsylvania, on Friday, Trump said, “I don’t need publicity. I get a lot of publicity. I would like to get a lot less publicity … I would hire a public relations agent to get less publicity.”
This came after the US army accused Trump campaign officials for transforming the event which was meant to commemorate the deaths of several US soldiers in Afghanistan into a photo opportunity for the Republican presidential candidate.

The Army accused two campaign workers of disregarding an official at the cemetery who informed them that taking photographs at the graves of recently deceased soldiers was not allowed, Guardian reported.
Trump was photographed giving a thumbs up alongside family members amidst the graves of 13 US servicemen and women who were killed in a suicide bombing during the hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. At a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Trump claimed that he only posed at the invitation of the families, despite their lack of authority to approve what essentially amounted to campaign photos.
“Those families that asked me to be there,’ he said the same during a campaign rally in Michigan on Thursday. ‘So I went. And while we were there, they said, Could you take pictures over the grave of my son, my sister, my brother? Would you take pictures with us, sir? I said, Absolutely, I did,” Daily Mail quoted him saying.
Trump further stated that US President Joe Biden killed those young people because he was “incompetent” and then they are spreading the rumors that he used their graves for public relations services.
The families that invited the former president to join them at the cemetery have defended him, but other families who lost loved ones in service to US have criticized Trump for posting photos and video of the visit to his campaign accounts.
Trump, who is running for a second term in the White House, was invited to visit on Monday with family members of the some of the soldiers killed three years ago when US troops exited Afghanistan. He was there to help them mark the annivesary of the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate and honor the soldiers who died.
His campaign said they had permission ahead of time to bring a photographer.