Donald Trump Arlington Cemetery Drama: Worker Declines to Press Charges Against Campaign Staffers for Fear of Retaliation

The cemetery worker involved in an altercation with two officials from former President Donald Trump's campaign has declined to press charges out of fear.

Two officials from Trump's campaign were accused of verbally abusing and shoving a female cemetery worker at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday, August 26, after the worker allegedly attempted to prevent the staffers from filming in a restricted area.

The camera crew was allegedly setting up their equipment in a section of the cemetery where recent U.S. military casualties are buried.

The cemetery worker "filed an incident report with the military authorities over the altercation" but ultimately declined to press charges for fear of "retaliation" from Trump supporters.

Following the incident, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denied the allegations, claiming the worker was "suffering from a mental health episode" during the altercation.

“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises, and for whatever reason, an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” Cheung claimed, adding that the Trump campaign is “prepared to release footage” of the incident to prove their side of the story.

Maggie Haberman, a reporter from the New York Times, urged the Trump campaign to release the video to clarify the situation.

"I hope they would release it. They should release it if they have video suggesting this shows that the confrontation was not as described,” Haberman told CNN. “They’ve claimed that they had permission to be there. There is nothing to support that.”

Nearly 400,000 people are buried at the cemetery, which the U.S. Army maintains.

Former army undersecretary and Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy called the Trump campaign's insistence on using the cemetery to shoot campaign material a "new low."

Fred Wellman, a 22-year army combat veteran said, "Donald Trump has no right to use our most hallowed ground for his political aims. For a lot of us, and I'm not the only one, people are aptly furious."

Wellman believes the Trump team should apologize for using the grounds to create a political ad and for attacking the cemetery official who tried to prevent them from breaking a federal regulation governing photography at the site.

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