Did President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris decline to attend a memorial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in August 2024 for the 13 U.S. military service members who were killed in Afghanistan three years earlier? No, that's not true: There's no evidence either one of them was asked to attend the public wreath-laying ceremony on August 26, 2024. An Army spokesperson told Lead Stories that "former President Trump was invited by a Gold Star family to participate." There was no mention of Biden or Harris.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) posted on X, formerly Twitter, on August 26, 2024. The post's caption said:
BREAKING: Kamala Harris and Joe Biden skip Arlington Memorial Ceremony for the 13 troopers who died in Afghanistan on the 3rd anniversary
Only 1 former president showed up
His name is Donald Trump
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Aug 30 15:14:18 2024 UTC)
The post provided nothing to support its implication that either Biden or Harris "skip[ped]" the memorial ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC).
U.S. Army
The public wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider has been a point of controversy because of an altercation involving a member of Trump's campaign and an official at the cemetery. In a statement released to Lead Stories on August 29, 2024, an 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 [Department of Defense] 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 incident was reported to the JBM-HH [Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall] 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. 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.
The Trump campaign has insisted there were no violations of the law, while cemetery officials have said the campaign was told ahead of time to avoid political activity. CNN reported this account on August 29, 2024:
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung disputed claims of a physical altercation, but said an unnamed individual decided to 'physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony.' Cheung suggested that Trump's team has video to back up the claim, though no video of the incident has been released yet.
In a separate statement provided to Lead Stories on August 30, 2024, an Army spokesperson said Trump was asked to attend the public event. The spokesperson said:
In this case, former President Trump was invited by a Gold Star family to participate in Monday's public wreath laying ceremony and was afforded the same access to ANC grounds and facilities as afforded to other unofficial visitors.
The Army's response did not say that Biden or Harris were invited to the ceremony for the servicemembers and there's no evidence that they were.
Similarly, an August 26, 2024, White House briefing by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby did not address this. In response to a reporter's question, "Why did the White House feel they did not need to host or attend public events in the way that former President Donald Trump did today?" Kirby provided this answer:
I would say there are many ways that we as a nation and our leaders can observe the third anniversary of Abbey Gate. And Mr. Trump was invited by at least one, I think maybe several, of the families to lay a wreath at Arlington, and that is certainly a way to recognize the sacrifice and the loss. But it was a personal invitation by families, and certainly I'll let him speak to that and his willingness to do it. But that was a way.
Another way is to continue to work, maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with TV cameras, but to work with might and main every single day to make sure that the families of those -- of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded, not just at Abbey Gate [in Afghanistan] but over the course of the 20-some-odd years that we were in Afghanistan, have the support that they need.
And you don't have to look very far at the President and the First Lady's track record and the Vice President's track record over the last three and a half years to see how deeply devoted they are to the men and women of our military and to our veterans and to their families ...
Lead Stories emailed the Harris campaign about the claim, but had not received a response by the time of publication. If we do receive a response, this fact check will be updated as appropriate.
Biden and Harris each released a statement on August 26, 2024, marking the third anniversary of the attack outside of Kabul Airport that killed the American servicemembers.
Read more
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to the 2024 presidential election can be read here.
