FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Monday afternoon former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump made a stop at a Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church.
The former President was in the area because he attended a wreath laying ceremony in Arlington, where he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the third anniversary of the Kabul Afghanistan airport attack. The ceremony honored the 13 American soldiers killed at the Kabul airport attack three years ago during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
After the ceremony, he and Virginia Senate candidate Hung Cao (R-Virginia) stopped by the Eden Center, a Vietnamese commercial center in Falls Church.
"The Vietnamese community loves me and I love them," Trump told the crowd inside Truong Tien.
"Was such an honor to have him here," said Huong Truong, the owner of Truong Tien.
With the help of a translator, she told WUSA9 that Cao has eaten at the restaurant a few times before, but having a former president in the restaurant was a first.
On Friday, they got a call that he might be stopping by on Monday.
Well on Monday, before he arrived, the owner says the Eden Center was packed with Secret Service members who inspected just about everything.
"It felt like the safest place to be," said one of the workers.
Truong showed WUSA9 the table he sat at and chair he sat in, which now has the date on it.
She also showed WUSA9 the menu, $100 bill, two $2 bills that he signed for her kids.
"Yes he say okay and he sign for my daughter and my son," she explained.
Truong said having a visitor of this magnitude was an honor.
"He's very friendly," she said through a translator. "I can't imagine a former president, a big person, most powerful person come here and come to a small restaurant and wishes the owners the best. He makes my hopes and my futures and also my business in the future," said Truong.
WUSA9 reached out to Cao's opponent, Senator Time Kaine, Monday afternoon. His communications director, Michael Beyer sent WUSA9 the following statement:
“Virginians have rejected Donald Trump’s candidacy twice and will do so again in November because he and Hung Cao are so out of step with our priorities. Virginians appreciate the acceleration in US manufacturing and infrastructure jobs. Virginians believe people should make their own reproductive health care decisions. Virginians support reducing prescription drug prices and health care premiums. And Virginians reject those who attack law enforcement agencies, federal employees and NATO allies. That’s why Virginians support Tim Kaine.”
WUSA9 also received a statement, from Harris-Walz Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Spokesperson Andrew Peng:
Vice President Harris is keeping our families safe and helping Asian and Vietnamese American-owned businesses thrive. As President, she will cut taxes, lower costs, and create economic opportunity so that middle-class families don’t just get by, but get ahead. Trump’s bizarre claims, on the other hand, ring hollow when you consider his disastrous record. He stoked anti-Asian hate during the pandemic, the Asian American unemployment rate nearly doubled under his watch, and his rhetoric fueled discrimination against community-owned small businesses like those in Eden Center. Trump’s dangerous agenda would increase costs for hard-working Vietnamese American families and double down on tax giveaways to the ultra-rich at our expense.