WASHINGTON — Donald Trump spent part of his last full day as president-elect visiting the graves of three U.S. soldiers killed in the chaotic pullout from Afghanistan, a tragedy that he has long blamed on the Biden administration.
Touring Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in the Virginia suburbs Sunday, Trump stopped at the three grave sites and spoke to relatives of the fallen service members. All three died during an attack as they worked to evacuate people from Kabul on Aug. 26, 2021. They were Darin T. Hoover and Nicole L. Gee of the Marine Corps and Ryan C. Knauss of the Army.
Trump, who will be sworn in for a second term at noon Monday, has sharply criticized Biden for his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. He has described it as a “humiliation” and “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.” The choice to visit those particular grave sites reflects the relationships he has built with some of those families since the Kabul attack, including during the campaign, and may suggest he wants to keep the Biden-era Afghanistan withdrawal in focus.
After Trump won in November, NBC News reported that his transition team was compiling a list of senior current and former military officers who were involved in the pullout and studying whether they could be court-martialed.
Biden has stood by his decision to end the 20-year war in Afghanistan. A report by his National Security Council in 2023 blamed the first Trump administration for creating conditions that “severely constrained” Biden’s options.
The report mentioned that Trump had reached a deal with the Taliban in which the United States agreed to withdraw all its forces from Afghanistan by the spring of 2021, when Trump was gone and Biden was in power.
Trump traveled to the cemetery in a cold rain and began the visit by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Wearing a dark overcoat and gloves in the chill, he stood solemnly after he laid the wreath and saluted. Vice President-elect JD Vance and two people who had lost family members in combat stood alongside Trump and also laid wreaths.
Watching from a distance were Trump’s wife, Melania, and four of his children: Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany. Various Trump Cabinet picks also attended, including Pete Hegseth, his pick for secretary of defense; Marco Rubio, the secretary of state-designate; and Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence.
Trump’s last visit to the cemetery resulted in a confrontation with a worker on the grounds. He took part in a wreath-laying ceremony on Aug. 26 marking the third anniversary of the Kabul attack, which killed 13 U.S. service members. He then went to Section 60, where some service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.
NPR reported that a cemetery worker tried to stop two members of Trump’s entourage from recording at the site, resulting in an altercation.
Trump’s campaign said he had been invited to the cemetery by Gold Star families of soldiers who had died in the attack and had been permitted to bring a photographer.
The Army said in a subsequent statement that an aide to Trump “abruptly pushed aside” a cemetery employee who had tried to enforce restrictions on taking photos and defended the unnamed employee’s actions.
