Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the botched Afghanistan withdrawal blasted Vice President Kamala Harris over her attack on former President Trump for his controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week.
Harris accused Trump of playing politics with the Monday visit, but in a series of short videos, eight families said they had invited Trump, and bitterly blasted the Biden-Harris administration over the disastrous pullout that left 13 U.S. service members dead three years ago.
The messages, each featuring different parents of service members killed by ISIS-K terrorists amid the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021, were posted on former President Trump’s Instagram account on Saturday night.
Earlier on Saturday, the vice president criticized Trump’s team for taking photographs and videos at a wreath-laying ceremony event on Monday. The Army said that an Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” while making sure that Trump’s team was “made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”
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“As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times,” Harris said. “It is not a place for politics. And yet, as was reported this week, Donald Trump’s team chose to film a video there, resulting in an altercation with cemetery staff.”
“Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt,” she claimed, before adding that she would “never politicize” such an event.
The Gold Star family members maintained that they had asked Trump for photographs, as opposed to Trump taking pictures to advance his campaign. In one video, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz called Harris’ post “heinous, vile and disgusting.”
“Why did we want Trump there? It wasn’t to help his political campaign,” Mark Schmitz said in the video. “We wanted a leader. That explains why you and Joe didn’t get a call.”
Darren Hoover, the father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, said that Harris lacks “empathy and basic understanding” about Monday’s event, and stressed that Trump’s appearance was respectful.
“In keeping with the reverence and respect that is given to all members of our military that are buried there, we invited President Trump,” he said. “We are the ones that asked for the video and the pictures to be taken at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”
Hoover also added that Trump has “been there for us from the very beginning,” and criticized Harris for “playing politics” over the incident.
“You should be ashamed and embarrassed [about] your lack of empathy and decency as a human being,” the father added. “You are only in this for the power and prestige. You don’t care for our military or the citizens of this country.
“You should hang your head in shame at your actions or lack thereof.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
