Sen. Tom Cotton appeared on NBC News on Sunday, and the topic inevitably landed on Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery. As RedState reported, the press has been having a field day attacking the former president for a supposed breach in decorum regarding a wreath-laying ceremony for the 13 murdered American service members killed at the Abbey Gate during the Afghanistan withdrawal.
It didn’t take long after the event for the truth to come out, which was that the Gold Star families involved invited Trump to come and asked to pose for pictures with him. Still, the press pushed forward with the story in an egregious fashion, including Maggie Haberman of The New York Times calling up the mother of one of the names seen on a gravestone to harass her for a response.
SEE: Press Attack Gold Star Families Over Trump Arlington National Cemetery Visit
Then, on Saturday morning, Kamala Harris jumped headfirst into the fray, releasing a scathing statement claiming she respected America’s war dead but that Trump doesn’t. That led to a massive backlash in which eight Gold Star families who were at the ceremony put out video statements slamming the former vice president and noting that she has never agreed to meet with any of them.
WATCH: Gold Star Families Release Devastating Responses to Kamala Harris Politicizing Trump Cemetery Visit
You might think that would be the end of the story. After all, how do you keep pushing a false story that has even been rebuked by the very families involved who lost their loved ones due to Harris’ incompetence? The press took that as a challenge, though, and when Welker faced off against Cotton on Sunday morning, she told an inexcusable lie as she desperately tried to defend the vice president.
Cotton lays out all the important facts that have been completely misrepresented:
“[Trump] didn’t take campaign photos there. These families — Gold Star families — whose children died due to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s incompetence, invited him to the cemetery, and they asked… pic.twitter.com/mfRCJZ7gqu
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 1, 2024
WELKER: The bottom line, I guess, though, senator, is it ever appropriate to make campaign content at military grave sites?
COTTON: He didn’t take campaign photos there. These families, Gold Star families, whose children died due to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s incompetence, invited him to the cemetery, and they asked him to take those photos because 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 BBQs. 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, they wanted to take those photos.
You know who those families 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, DC. She was four miles away. Ten minutes. She could’ve gone to the cemetery and honor the sacrifice of those young men and women, but she hasn’t. She never has spoken to them or taken a meeting with them.
WELKER: Well, they did meet with them during the dignified transfer. They were with them during the dignified transfer.
COTTON: It is because of her and Joe Biden’s incompetence that those 13 Americans were killed in Afghanistan
Cotton’s takedown of Welker’s talking points is perfect, not because of some impressive political prowess, but because it’s the truth. The claim that Trump made “campaign content” at Arlington National Cemetery is simply false. None of the pictures with the family have been used in ads or placed in a political context by the Trump campaign. He was there at the behest of the Gold Star families. Given their children died defending this country, I think they have a right to snap a few pictures if they’d like.
This game has long been played left and the federal bureaucracy. When John McCain took some video of him walking among the gravestones, the press attacked him for it. When Barack Obama and Joe Biden did the same thing (including Biden being pictured in Section 60), no one said a word. No ANC official came running out telling them to put the cameras away while accusing them of breaking the rules. Let a Republican show up to honor the fallen though, and suddenly it’s a scandal. The entire thing is so transparent.
What Welker did at the end of that exchange is just inexcusable, though. Cotton specifically said Harris has never spoken to or met with the Abbey Gate Gold Star families, and the anchor jumps in to insist “they” (as in both Biden and Harris) were at the dignified transfer. Kamala Harris was not there, and every attempt by the families to connect with her since has been rebuffed. Biden was there, but he infamously checked his watch multiple times.
The rush by these hack journalists to defend Harris has them now telling outright lies on national television. If Welker wants to play the live “fact-checking” game, she should get her facts straight first. NBC News owes the Gold Star families an apology and a correction.
