Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) vehemently denied Vice President Kamala Harris’ accusation that former President Donald Trump’s homage last week to the 13 fallen service members killed during the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal was a “political stunt.”
On Saturday, Harris accused her Republican opponent of “disrespecting sacred ground” by laying a wreath in honor of the 13 U.S. troops killed by a suicide bomber at the Abbey Gate entrance to the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan after President Joe Biden ordered a hasty evacuation, reportedly against the advice of some top Pentagon brass.
In her lengthy post, Harris falsely blamed the former president for engaging in an “altercation” with cemetery staff, a claim that has been thoroughly debunked.
She wrote on X, “Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.” She then repeated the thoroughly debunked “suckers and losers” hoax and wrote: “This is a man who is unable to comprehend anything other than service to himself.”
Harris as well as Biden were both invited by the same Gold Star families who invited Trump to commemorate the loss of their loved ones, according to multiple reports. However, they refused to show up while Trump made the time to be there on the solemn occasion — a fact that was not lost on the families.
“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,” said the families in a joint statement. “He was there to honor their sacrifice, yet Vice President Harris has disgracefully twisted this sacred moment into a political ploy.”
During Sunday’s episode of “Meet the Press,” Cotton, a former U.S. Army Ranger and veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, staunchly defended the former president against the Harris Campaign’s smear.
“Bottom line though, I guess, Senator, is it ever appropriate to make campaign content at military gravesites?” host Kristen Welker asked.
Cotton responded: “He didn’t take campaign photos. There are these families, Gold Star families, whose children died because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ incompetence, invited him to the cemetery. And they asked him to take those photos.”
“Because as as they told me yesterday, when I spoke to Kelly Barnett and Darren Hoover, the parents of Taylor Hoover, who has Arkansas ties, they don’t get to go to the beach on Labor Day. They don’t get to have barbecues. This is their one chance to have a memory of their children to commemorate their service and to honor their sacrifice. They wanted President Trump there,” he said.
“They wanted to take those photos. You know who the family’s 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 noted further.
Cotton said Harris was literally in the vicinity of Arlington National Cemetery and could have made the trip if she had wanted to. “Her and Joe Biden’s incompetence that those 13 Americans were killed in Afghanistan,” Cotton added.
