NPR has identified the two individuals involved in an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery with a cemetery official.
The two staffers, according to a source with knowledge of the incident, are deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team.
The Trump campaign was told in advance that only Arlington photographers can take pictures or videos in Section 60. But when an ANC employee tried to enforce the rules, she was verbally abused by the two Trump campaign operatives, according to a source with knowledge of the incident. Picard then pushed her out of the way according to two Pentagon officials.
An Army statement said the cemetery employee tried to de-escalate the situation after she was pushed, in hopes of not upsetting the Gold Star families in attendance. A police report was filed, but the cemetery employee refused to press charges.
Caporale was an aide to former first lady Melania Trump, but left the White House to work for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis before returning to the Trump squad.
He was also listed as the on-site contact and project manager for the Women for America First rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 when Trump urged the crowd to “stop the steal” before the Capitol was stormed by insurrectionists.
Initially, Trump goon Steven Cheung said they were “prepared to release footage” of the cemetery incident, and attacked the Arlington employee as someone “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.”
The campaign later released an ad on TikTok that featured video footage from Section 60. While Trump grins with his thumb up gesture, other gravesite tombstones are visible, including that of a Green Beret, whose family says they did not give permission for the footage to be shown in a political ad.
The family of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano, a Green Beret who died by suicide after serving multiple combat tours and who is buried in Section 60, said according to their conversations with the cemetery, “the Trump campaign staffers did not adhere to the rules that were set in place for this visit.”
“We hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that there were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and that they are honored and respected and treated accordingly,” they said in a statement.
Trump pulled some crap out of his butt on Tuesday, talking to Sean Hannity.
“Do you notice that the person represented now doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t want to speak or talk?” Trump asked, mislabeling the employee as male. “The nice thing, the beautiful thing, was all the parents and relatives got together and they said ‘That’s a false story, it was totally false.’”
