'I was instantly furious': Marine veteran and Gold Star widow blasts Trump after seeing photo of him at her husband's grave in Arlington

• A Marine veteran and Gold Star widow sharply criticized President Donald Trump for an Arlington photo op after coming across a 2017 photo of him at her husband's grave that surfaced amid reports he disparaged US service members.
• She tweeted Monday that the president should "get off my husband's grave" and "get out of Arlington," adding that the cemetery "is not the place for politics."
• In an interview on CNN's "Right Now with Brianna Keilar" Tuesday, she said: "You can't stand on the graves of better men who fought and died for this country while you rip apart that country with your incompetence."

A Marine Corps veteran and Gold Star widow sharply criticized President Donald Trump after seeing a photo of him at her husband's grave in Arlington National Cemetery.

Kait Wyatt's husband, Marine Cpl. Derek Wyatt, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010. She came across a photo of the president at her husband's grave after The Atlantic reported Trump made disparaging remarks about US service members.

"I was instantly furious," she said Tuesday on CNN's "Right Now with Brianna Keilar."

The day before, Wyatt shared the photo, which she had not seen before, and tweeted that the president should "get off my husband's grave" and "get out of Arlington," adding that the cemetery "is not the place for politics."

—Kait Wyatt (@awidowsjourney) September 8, 2020

The photo is one of several similar photos from Trump's 2017 visit to Arlington on Memorial Day, the same visit in which Trump, according to a recent report in The Atlantic, questioned retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly about his son 1st Lt. Robert Kelly's sacrifice while visiting his grave, telling John Kelly, "I don't get it. What was in it for them?"

Kelly did not comment on the report, which also featured explosive claims that the president called fallen service members "losers" and "suckers," but his friend who is retired four-star general told The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg that the president "can't fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself."

Kelly's son was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010.

The president and other members of the White House have repeatedly denied the accusations presented in The Atlantic report, some of which have been confirmed by other outlets.

—CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) September 8, 2020

Wyatt said that when she looked at that photo, she was upset.

"It really triggered me as a widow. It triggered me as a veteran," she told CNN, adding, "I absolutely discourage political moves using veterans and our killed in action and our POWs.

She said of Kelly: "What I see in this picture is a father grieving with a person who is willing to use this opportunity as a photo op because this was obviously staged and obviously planned."

She strongly defended Kelly after Trump criticized him Friday following The Atlantic's report, saying she respected him and that "there is an immense amount of pressure that he has endured and persevered through in his life that Trump could never even imagine."

"This politician took a picture with my husband's name and tombstone in it to glorify his position to veterans," Wyatt told CNN Tuesday. "You can't stand on the graves of better men who fought and died for this country while you rip apart that country with your incompetence and unqualified presence within a position of leadership."

She added: "The sacred ground that Arlington is for us is not a place for political statements. It's a disgrace to those who have served and especially those who have died."