A former staffer of Donald Trump's White House laid into her old boss's decision to film a TikTok video attacking her political opponent in a section of Arlington National Cemetery where campaign photos and videos are barred.
Trump's TikTok account posted a video showing him smiling and giving a thumbs-up in Section 60 of the cemetery as he attacked the Biden administration's handling of the Afghanistan exit. The section is reserved for military members who died after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Alyssa Farah Griffin told panelists on CNN's "NewsNight" on Wednesday night she did a number of events with former Vice President Mike Pence at the cemetery and noted there are processes and protocols that go into such visits.
"There are very strict rules of where you can be. You need certain permissions and photography is only allowed in certain places," she said.
Read also: Family of Green Beret buried in Arlington cemetery 'clearly displeased' by Trump: Haberman
Griffin noted there's a distinction with Trump's event, which she felt was a "campaign event."
"He is not the sitting president. It's not the sitting vice president. People were saying, 'Well other political figures have done events there.' He's doing it in a purely campaign capacity. It was deeply inappropriate. A professional team would've known that."
Griffin said she agreed that Trump ought to highlight criticism of President Joe Biden's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the deaths of 13 military members at Abbey Gate. But she rebuked how Trump went about such criticism.
"There are so many ways to do that that is not disgraceful and disparaging to veterans, the way that this was handled," she concluded.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, has said they were "granted access to have a photographer there" and shared a screenshot that said Trump was allowed to have an official photographer and videographer outside the main media pool.
Watch the clip below or at this link.
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