The Republican vice presidential nominee later addressed his attack on Harris, saying, "Sometimes I get frustrated and pissed off"
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance said Vice President Kamala Harris "can go to hell" while attempting to defend former President Donald Trump, after two of his campaign staffers allegedly got into an altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery official.
Trump, 78, was visiting the military cemetery on Monday, Aug. 26, to participate in a private wreath-laying ceremony that honored the third anniversary of adeadly attack on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
NPR reported that while they were there, Trump's team allegedly tried taking photos and video in a restricted area of the cemetery called Section 60, where “service members killed in action in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom” are buried, per the cemetery'swebsite. NPR and the U.S. Army said that when an official tried to prevent Trump's staff from staging a campaign promo in Section 60, the worker was shoved aside.
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Two days after the incident in Arlington, a CBS News reporter asked Vance, 40, for a comment on his campaign's cemetery scandal. The Republican vice presidential nominee, 40, instead responded by criticizing how the Biden administration handled the 2021 withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, directly referring to a suicide bombing that killed 13 service members during the evacuation.
"Three years ago, 13 brave, innocent Americans died, and they died because Kamala Harris refused to do her job, and there hasn't been a single investigation or a single firing," Vance said. "Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won't even do an investigation into what happened, and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up."
"She can go to hell," he added.
As CBS News notes, Biden's State Department and White House both investigated the chaos that ensued during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and each concluded that Trump's administration shares part of the blame.
PEOPLE reached out to the vice president's office as well as the Harris-Walz campaign for comment about Vance's remark.
Vance later defended his comments about Harris, 59, at an appearance in Wisconsin.
"Sometimes I get frustrated and pissed off," he said, adding that in his opinion the Harris campaign was "trying to make a massive political issue" out of the Aug. 26 incident at Arlington.
Related: J.D. Vance Said He's 'Really Disturbed' by Teachers Who Are Not Parents in Resurfaced 2021 Audio
Trump's spokesperson has denied that a physical altercation occurred at the cemetery, as NPR first reported, and accused the cemetery official of "suffering from a mental health episode" when they turned the campaign's private photographer away.
The spokesperson said that the photographer got approval to be at the cemetery and should have been allowed to accompany Trump into Section 60.
But Arlington National Cemetery told a different story in a public statement about the incident, saying that the campaign was advised of federal laws surrounding political campaign activity on the grounds.
"Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign," read the statement, which was shared with PEOPLE on Aug. 28."Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants."
On Aug. 29, a U.S. Army spokesperson released an update about the cemetery incident.
"Arlington National Cemetery routinely hosts public wreath-laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for individuals and groups who submit requests in advance. ANC conducts nearly 3,000 such public ceremonies a year without incident," their statement began. "Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds."
The Army spokesperson then offered more detail on the alleged incident, saying that a cemetery employee enforcing the rules "was abruptly pushed aside."
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"This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve," the Army's statement concluded.
The spokesperson said that the ordeal was reported to the joint base police department, but the cemetery official declined to press charges.
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