arlington national cemetery Archives

Arlington National Cemetery told gold star families that they could only be there for a specific time that did not work for everyone’s schedule and were also told the president could not join them at their children’s gravesites, the family told the Caller.

Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Michael McCaul explained to the Caller that he was contacted by Gold Star parents Darin Hoover and Kelly Barnett, the parents of SSGT Taylor Hoover, who told him that Arlington Cemetery was giving them and some of the other parents of the U.S. servicemembers killed at Abbey Gate a hard time about coordinating a ceremony with Trump on the anniversary of their deaths. The Caller is told that the Cemetery said they could only be there for a specific time that did not work for everyone’s schedule and were also told the president could not join them at their children’s gravesites. McCaul immediately reached out to Johnson to ask for his assistance with the matter and the Caller is told he continued to track it until it was fixed.

“When Darin and Kelly contacted me, I was furious to hear their request to have President Trump join them to commemorate the anniversary of Taylor’s death was being stymied, along with several of the other family members of U.S. servicemembers killed at Abbey Gate. I immediately asked what I could do to help and reached out to Speaker Johnson to see what he could do. Thankfully, Speaker Johnson and his team acted quickly and were able to get the situation resolved. But something like this should never have happened. Gold Star families have already suffered enough,” McCaul told the Caller.

California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa has called on Biden to meet with these Gold Star families on multiple occasions, his office told the Caller. He was present for the ceremonies on Monday and had been in contact with Arlington National Cemetery leading up to the anniversary, his office said.

“This administration absolutely interfered with the tributes to the 13 fallen. In its war on Trump, it made the Gold Star families collateral damage,” Issa told the Caller.

“Our office worked with Arlington National Cemetery to move the time of the event, to a time that would accommodate the attendance of President Trump. That was done as a request by the families to this office, as they were not receiving that assistance from Arlington National Cemetery,” two sources close to the discussions told the Caller.

Another source familiar with the conversations between the Gold Star families and Arlington National Cemetery said that after Johnson’s phone call, the entire situation changed.

“The Speaker of the House had to get involved. Reps Issa, Mast, and Chairman Mike McCaul were instrumental in assisting in the Gold Star families. After the Speaker’s call, the situation shifted significantly. It was only three days before the ceremonies, and Arlington National Cemetery waited until the last minute to confirm key components of the event with the families.”

“Arlington Cemetery officials claimed the families didn’t want any media, photography, or videography at Section 60, contradicting what the families had actually requested. The families were fine with the media, designated by the Trump team, but Arlington kept pushing back, obstructing the process,” the source continued. “This would have not happened without Speaker Johnson.”

Hoover told the Caller in an emotional phone call that he and other Gold Star family members were the ones who called Trump and asked for him to show up and criticized the Biden administration for not contacting them for the past three years.

“We, WE extended the invitation to President Trump. We are the ones that asked him to come. We are the ones that asked him to assist in laying a wreath for our son, and for the shooting for, Sergeant Canals and for Cole. We’re the ones that asked that. President Trump didn’t come to us. His team didn’t come to us and say, hey, this would be good for business. Business? No. President Trump has stood by us from day one. He has been compassionate. He has been loving. He’s been understanding. He’s taking the mantle of our outrage a little bit. Because to be quite honest with you, being very frank, we haven’t heard diddly squat from the current administration in three years,” Hoover said.

The Caller reached out to the Biden White House for details on why these families were having trouble with Arlington National Cemetery on agreeing to terms with Trump present. The White House referred the Caller to Arlington National Cemetery, saying: “this is a matter between the Arlington National Cemetery and the Trump campaign, not a White House matter.”

The Caller also contacted Arlington National Cemetery about these claims. The cemetery did not immediately respond.

AUTHOR

Henry Rodgers

Chief national correspondent. Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter

NPR is DEFAMING President Trump

A Trump-appointed federal judge has temporarily halted removal proceedings for the Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery that began Monday, the Associated Press reported.

Defend Arlington filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Sunday for a temporary restraining order, the AP reported. Work had already begun to remove the bronze elements of the memorial in accordance with recommendations in the Congressionally-mandated Naming Commission’s final report to scrub Department of Defense (DOD) assets of any symbolism that could be seen to honor the Confederacy.

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, according to the AP. The memorial has not been dismantled.

“Safety fencing was installed around the Memorial yesterday, Dec. 17 and the deliberate deconstruction process is currently underway,” cemetery spokesperson Rebecca Wardwell told the Daily Caller News Foundation earlier on Monday.

The Army previously said it anticipated the removal process to take place over four days.

Defend Arlington sued the Army and the Department of Defense (DOD) in a district court in February to halt the removal. The district judge dismissed the case on Dec. 12.

The cemetery claims removing the memorial is required by Congress and that doing so will comply with environmental regulations and leave the 400 Confederate graves encircling the monument undisturbed, according to the AP. However, Defend Arlington’s lawsuit argues the Army unlawfully bypassed certain regulations.

“The removal will desecrate, damage, and likely destroy the Memorial longstanding at ANC as a grave marker and impede the Memorial’s eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places,” the lawsuit states, according to the AP.

A Department of Defense spokesperson referred the DCNF to Arlington National Cemetery. The cemetery did not immediately respond to a renewed request for comment.

U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston, who issued the restraining order, said the parties should be prepared to discuss Defend Arlington’s prior, dismissed case at the court date, saying it could affect his decision whether or not to extend the stay beyond Wednesday, the AP reported.

Alston wrote that he “takes very seriously the representations of officers of the Court and should the representations in this case be untrue or exaggerated the Court may take appropriate sanctions,” AP reported.

The new lawsuit differs from the previous one in that the plaintiffs now have concrete evidence the removal efforts are disturbing the graves, David McCallister, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Save Southern Heritage Florida, told the AP.

“The Memorial represents a symbol of reconciliation aimed at healing a country divided during a brutal sectional war and reconstruction,” Defend Arlington wrote in the prior lawsuit.

BREAKING: Trump-appointed Judge Rossie Alston has issued a temporary restraining order halting the removal of the Reconciliation Monument at Arlington National Cemetery. pic.twitter.com/7AyGspadZs

— Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) December 18, 2023

Congress created the Naming Commission in 2021, which was tasked with identifying and removing names, bases and other DOD assets honoring the Confederate States of America. The final report recommended removing the bronze upper and leaving the granite base intact to avoid disturbing graves.

“The elaborately designed monument offers a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery,” Arlington National Cemetery’s web page reads.

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Investigative reporter, defense.

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