WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, gave their first joint interview Aug. 29.
The U.S. Army issued a statement Aug. 29 rebuking former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over an alleged incident at Arlington National Cemetery, saying that participants in a ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” restricting political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery seeking to uphold those regulations.
The Biden administration said it would restart an immigration program that it previously paused over fraud concerns. And communities across the country marked the 61st anniversary of the March on Washington, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech.
Harris pledges to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected
In their first joint interview as running mates, Harris said that despite a shift in some of her political positions on issues such as fracking and immigration, she told CNN’s Dana Bash that her values have not changed, but that her time as vice president provided a new perspective on some issues.
“I believe it is important to build consensus, and it is important to find a common place of understanding of where we can actually solve problems,” Harris said, adding that her “significant” policy positions have not changed.
Harris pledged to name a Republican to serve in her Cabinet if she is elected, but did not specify whom she had in mind or for which role.
“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences,” Harris said. “And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who is a Republican.”
Harris also described for the first time the phone call she had with President Joe Biden when he informed her that he had decided to end his bid for a second term after a poor debate performance.
She was spending the day with family, Harris said, “and the phone rang.”
“And it was Joe Biden. And — and he told me what he had decided to do. And I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ And — and that’s how I learned about it,” she said.
Army rebukes Trump campaign over alleged national cemetery incident
The U.S. Army said in a statement that an employee at Arlington National Cemetery who tried to “ensure adherence” to laws and regulations that prohibit political activities at the cemetery “was abruptly pushed aside” by Trump campaign staffers, but that the employee decided not to press charges against them.
The statement followed NPR reporting on Trump’s visit to the cemetery Aug. 26, which his campaign said was to honor 13 U.S. military service members who were killed at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan on the same date in 2021. The report said two members of Trump’s campaign staff “had a verbal and physical altercation Monday with an official at Arlington National Cemetery.”
“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 statement said. “An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption. The incident was reported to the JBM-HH police department, but the employee subsequently decided not to press charges. Therefore, the Army considers this matter closed.”
NPR reported officials prohibited the Trump campaign from filming in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried known as Section 60, which is largely reserved for the casualties of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Trump campaign denied the allegation. The section is largely reserved for deceased U.S. veterans
Biden administration to restart migrant program on humanitarian grounds
The Department of Homeland Security announced Aug. 29 that it will resume issuing travel authorization to migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela as part of a program granting short-term legal status in the U.S. to up to 30,000 asylum-seekers each month from those nations combined.
The program was previously paused in July after an internal report found that more than 100,000 applicants for the program were supported by just over 3,200 U.S.-based sponsors, whom the report described as “serial sponsors.” But a DHS official told NBC the program will now include additional vetting procedures to “strengthen the integrity of the process.”
The administration indicated in March that the program was intended in part to deter illegal border crossings amid a surge. It granted some asylum-seekers two years of parole, or temporary permission, to live and work in the U.S., if they have a financial sponsor.
The move came in tandem with new Biden administration policies restricting asylum access, so it was praised and criticized in turn by Catholic immigration advocates.
March on Washington anniversary
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place Aug. 28, 1963. It was the largest gathering for civil rights of its time, with an estimated 250,000 participants, many of whom traveled from all over the country to the nation’s capital for the event, according to the National Park Service.
Participants sought to protest inequalities still faced by Black Americans a century after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Rev. King delivered the now-famous speech to the crowd, saying, “And when this happens … we will be able to speed up that day when all God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'”
A marker on the Lincoln Memorial now commemorates the event and the historic speech.
The event included many Catholic participants, including the late Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle, the archbishop of Washington (he became a cardinal in 1967), who was invited to give the invocation at the event, where he prayed for justice and equality.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @kgscanlon.
