WASHINGTON — Donald Trump's campaign was warned about not taking photographs before an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery during a wreath-laying ceremony earlier this week to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, a defense official told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter concerning Monday's events. It came a day after NPR reported, citing a source with knowledge of the incident, that two Trump campaign staff members "verbally abused and pushed" aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The defense official told the AP that the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation. Trump was at Arlington on Monday at the invitation of some of the families of the 13 service members who were killed in the Kabul airport bombing exactly three years prior, including the father of a fallen Marine from Utah.

Arlington National Cemetery is the resting place for more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their families. Cemetery officials said in a statement that "an incident" had occurred and a report had been filed, but it did not address details of what had happened. They declined to share the report.

"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," the cemetery officials' statement said. "Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed."

Trump's spokesman Steven Cheung said the Republican presidential candidate's team was granted access to have a photographer. He contested the allegation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official.

Related:

Father of fallen marine supports controversial images at Arlington

The Trump campaign is defending the former President's visit to Arlington National Cemetery and so is the Utah family who invited him.

"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," he said.

Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, noted that Trump was there at the invitation of the families of the service members who were killed in the airport bombing. The Trump campaign posted a message signed by relatives of two of the service members killed in the bombing that said "the president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members, especially our beloved children."

"For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump's team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery," he said in a written statement, misspelling the word hallowed. "Whoever this individual is, spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces."

Michael Tyler, a spokesperson for Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, called the reports "pretty sad when it's all said and done."

"This is what we've come to expect from Donald Trump and his team," Tyler said on CNN. "Donald Trump is a person who wants to make everything all about Donald Trump. He's also somebody who has a history of demeaning and degrading military service members, those who have given the ultimate sacrifice."

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia has called on cemetery officials to release more information about what happened Monday.

Cox campaign apologizes

Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox faced criticism Wednesday for including a photo of him and Trump at the Arlington ceremony in a campaign email soliciting donations for his reelection bid. One of the victims in the suicide bombing was Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, a Utah resident.

"I'm also grateful that President Trump was so gracious in joining us in remembering the 13 heroes that lost their life at Abbey Gate," Cox said Monday in a post on X, which accompanied multiple photos of the two together at the cemetery.

Two days later, the "spencer@votecox.com" email address sent out a message drawing attention to the photos, as well as to a letter in which Cox invited President Joe Biden to meet with the family of Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover as an act of "accepting responsibility" for the tragedy.

The email, which included Cox's digital signature, gave recipients the option to host a yard sign or donate to his campaign for reelection to a second term.

Shortly after the email was sent out, one recipient, Alan Wessman, posted pictures of it on X, saying that political events are forbidden at Arlington National Cemetery and that using photos from Cox's visit in a campaign email is "evidence that it was a campaign event."

Cox's campaign has apologized for using the photo and politicizing the graveside ceremony.

"This was not a campaign event and was never intended to be used by the campaign," the governor wrote in a post on X. "It did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent."

Contributing: Brigham Tomco, Deseret News; Michelle L. Price, Farnoush Amiri, Associated Press

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