White House says Biden and Harris weren’t invited to Arlington Cemetery by families of service members killed during Afghanistan withdrawal

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were not invited to Arlington National Cemetery by Gold Star families last week to commemorate the third anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate, a White House official and a Harris aide told NBC News, refuting separate claims made Sunday by GOP Sen. Tom Cotton and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

The two were speaking about former President Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week, where he has drawn criticism for posing for photos with Gold Star families in a section of the cemetery where photos are traditionally prohibited.

Last week, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said Trump’s visit was a “personal invitation by families.”

“There are many ways that we as a nation and our leaders can observe the third anniversary of Abbey Gate,” Kirby said. “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 every single day to make sure that the families of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded — not just at Abbey Gate but over the course of the 20-some-odd years that we were in Afghanistan — have the support that they need.”

The U.S. Army also accused a member of Trump’s campaign staff of “abruptly push[ing] aside” a cemetery staff member who sought to enforce restrictions on taking photos and video footage at the location.

Cotton was asked about the incident on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday and told moderator Kristen Welker, “These families, Gold Star families, whose children died because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ incompetence invited [Trump] to the cemetery and they asked him to take those photos …You know who the families also invited? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Where were they? Joe Biden was sitting at a beach. Kamala Harris was sitting at her mansion in Washington D.C.”

Cotton mentioned that he spoke to Kelly Barnett and Darin Hoover, the parents of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, who died in Afghanistan three years ago. Cotton didn’t specify whether Barnett and Darin Hoover were the family members he claims extended an invitation to Biden and Harris.

Gabbard echoed Cotton, telling CNN on Sunday, “President Biden and Harris, I heard, were invited by some of these family members. They not only didn’t come. They didn’t even respond to that invitation.” 

Trump earlier this week defended the photos and videos he took at the cemetery, telling NBC News in Michigan on Thursday that a Gold Star family, “asked me whether or not I would stand for a picture at the grave of their loved one who should not have died.”

He said he didn’t initiate the photo, adding: “While I was there, I didn’t ask for a picture. While I was there, they said, ‘Sir, could we have a picture at the grave?’”

Trump’s campaign posted a TikTok video of the ceremony and Trump’s campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita posted a video on X of the former president laying flowers at a grave.

The former president defended that on Thursday too, saying, “Well, we have a lot of people … TikTok people.”

“I don’t know who did it, and it could have been them. It could have been the parents. It could have been somebody,” he added.

On Friday, during a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Trump said “Joe Biden killed those young people because he was incompetent. And then they tell me that I use their graves for public relations services, and I didn’t.”

Trump took to X Saturday night, posting multiple videos of family members of killed service members criticizing Harris and Biden and defending the former president.

In one video, Darin Hoover addresses Harris directly saying Trump treated the family with the “utmost respect” and asked where the vice president and Biden were on “Aug. 26, 2024,” he added that they were “nowhere near Arlington Cemetery. You couldn’t be bothered to be with us or say our kid’s names.”  

In a statement accompanying the videos released by the Trump campaign Sunday members of the Gold Star families said they were “appalled” by Harris’s attempts to “politicize” Trump’s visit to the cemetery.

“President Trump was invited by us, the Gold Star families, to attend the solemn ceremonies commemorating the three-year anniversary of our children’s deaths,” the statement said. “He was there to honor their sacrifice, yet Vice President Harris has disgracefully twisted this sacred moment into a political ploy.”

The videos were posted in response to a statement Harris put out on Saturday saying that Trump “disrespected sacred ground” during his visit to Arlington National Cemetery.