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Gold Star families met with resistance after inviting Trump to Arlington, then Speaker Johnson stepped in

August 29, 2024 | | Print Article

House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to intervene when Arlington National Cemetery tried to prevent former President Donald Trump from participating in the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

This is despite Trump having been invited by several Gold Star families to participate in the anniversary event.

Speaking with The Daily Caller, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul explained that he was contacted by two Gold Star parents, Darin Hoover and Kelly Barnett, and told that the cemetery was giving Gold Star families a hard time about inviting Trump to the event.

In response, McCaul reached out to House Speaker Johnson, who then proceeded to intervene and clear things up.

“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,” the House Republican said.

“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,” he added.

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who was also present for the ceremonies, suspects the resistance faced by Gold Star families came straight from the top, i.e., from the Biden administration.

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

According to U.S. Army veteran Lucas O’Hara, the ceremony was “the most respectful and solemn ceremony” he’s ever visited, despite Trump’s presence that the left is complaining about.

Several sources have confirmed that McCaul’s side of the story is accurate.

“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,” two of the sources, both presumably from Johnson’s office, said.

“That was done as a request by the families to this office, as they were not receiving that assistance from Arlington National Cemetery,” they added.

Another source likewise confirmed that Johnson was able to fix everything.

“The Speaker of the House had to get involved,” the source said. “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. This would have not happened without Speaker Johnson,” the source added.

Also speaking with The Daily Caller, Darin Hoover was adamant that Trump had been invited by him and others to the event, and that the media-concocted lie that he’d been trying to get a photo-op is bull.

“We, WE extended the invitation to President Trump,” he said. “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,” he added.

But this isn’t the narrative being pushed by the corporate propaganda press, which has been claiming that Arlington created a fuss because Trump’s campaign staff tried to bring their cameras with them. That would have evidently been a big no-no…

Some in the media have also trotted out disgraced Gold Star father Khizr Khan to smear Trump.

“It is appetite and ego, wherever he goes, whatever he does, wherever he stands,” Khan told The Daily Beast, describing why he thinks Trump showed up at Arlington National Cemetery this week.

Never mind all the non-disgraced Gold Star families who invited him…

Vivek Saxena
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