Senator 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 making a massive fuss about attacking the former president for an alleged breach of decorum at a wreath-laying ceremony for the 13 murdered American soldiers killed at Abbey Gate during the Afghanistan withdrawal.
It didn’t take long for the truth to emerge: The Gold Star families involved had invited Trump and asked him to pose for photos with them. Nevertheless, the press carried the story in outrageous fashion, with Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, for example, calling the mother of one of the names on a tombstone to press her for a response.
SEE: Press attacks Gold Star families over Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery
Then Kamala Harris plunged headfirst into the fray on Saturday morning, releasing a scathing statement claiming she respected America’s war dead but not Trump. That sparked a massive backlash, with eight Gold Star families present at the ceremony releasing video statements slamming the former vice president and pointing out that she never agreed to meet with any of them.
WATCH: Gold Star Families release devastating responses to Kamala Harris’ politicization of Trump cemetery visit
You might think that would be the end of the story. Because how can you continue to spread a false story that has been rejected even by the affected families who lost their loved ones because of Harris’ incompetence? The press saw this as a challenge, however, and when Welker faced Cotton on Sunday morning, she told an inexcusable lie while desperately trying to defend the vice president.
Cotton lays out all the critical facts that have been completely misrepresented:
“[Trump] did not take campaign photos there. These families – Gold Star families – whose children died because of the incompetence of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, invited him to the cemetery and asked … pic.twitter.com/mfRCJZ7gqu
– Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) 1 September 2024
WELKER: But the bottom line is, Senator, is it ever appropriate to create campaign content based on military graves?
COTTON: He didn’t take campaign photos there. These families, Gold Star families, whose children died because of the incompetence of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, invited him to the cemetery and asked him to take these photos. Because as they told me yesterday when I spoke to Kelly Barnett and Darren Hoover, the parents of Taylor Hoover, who has ties to Arkansas, they can’t go to the beach on Labor Day. They can’t have barbecues. This is their only chance to have a memory of their children, to honor their service and honor their sacrifice. They wanted President Trump there, they wanted to take these photos.
Do you know who else these families invited? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Where were they? Joe Biden was sitting on a beach. Kamala Harris was sitting in her mansion in Washington, DC. She was four miles away. Ten minutes. She could have gone to the cemetery and honored the sacrifice of these young men and women, but she didn’t. She never spoke to them or met with them.
WELKER: Well, you met with them during the dignified transfer. You were with them during the dignified transfer.
COTTON: Because of their and Joe Biden’s incompetence, these 13 Americans were killed in Afghanistan
Cotton’s critique of Welker’s arguments is perfect, not because he is so impressively political, but because it is the truth. The claim that Trump took “campaign material” at Arlington National Cemetery is simply false. None of the pictures with the family were used in ads by the Trump campaign or placed in a political context. He was there at the behest of the Gold Star families. Since their children died defending this country, I think they have the right to take some pictures if they want.
This game has long been played by the left and the federal bureaucracy. When John McCain made a video of himself walking among the gravestones, he was attacked by the press for it. When Barack Obama and Joe Biden did the same (Biden was photographed in Section 60, among others), no one said a word. No ANC official came running and told them to put the cameras away while accusing them of breaking the rules. But when a Republican shows up to honor the fallen, it’s suddenly a scandal. The whole thing is so limpid.
What Welker did at the end of that exchange, however, is simply inexcusable. Cotton specifically said Harris never spoke to or met the Abbey Gate Gold Star families, and the moderator chimes in to insist that “they” (i.e. both Biden and Harris) were present at the dignified handover. Kamala Harris was not present, and every attempt by the families to contact her since then has been rebuffed. Biden Was there, but he was known to look at the clock several times.
The rush of these bumbling journalists to defend Harris has resulted in them now spreading outright lies on national television. If Welker wants to play the “fact-checking” game on live television, she should get her facts in order first. NBC News owes the Gold Star families an apology and a correction.
