Report: Tim Walz Praised Hitler-Supporting Imam as ‘Master Teacher,’ Contradicting Campaign

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz praised radical Imam Asad Zaman, who had posted content promoting Hitler, as a “master teacher” — contradicting claims by the Kamala Harris campaign that Walz had no personal relationship with him.

As Breitbart News noted last week, citing reporting by Gabe Kaminsky in the Washington Examiner, Walz “appeared several times with a local Muslim leader who has justified Hamas terrorist violence against Israel and once shared a pro-Hitler film on social media.” Walz’s Muslim American Society of Minnesota also received grants from the state.

The Kamala Harris campaign responded by claiming that Walz did not have a personal relationship with Zaman:

Kaminsky found video in which Walz apparently praised Zaman as a “master teacher” with whom he had spent time “together”:

Kaminsky noted:

As he campaigned to be Minnesota’s next governor, Tim Walz called a Muslim cleric who promoted a pro-Adolf Hitler film a “master teacher” who offered Walz lessons over the time they “spent together,” according to footage at a 2018 event unearthed by the Washington Examiner.

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“I would like to first of all say thank you to imam,” Walz said at the unearthed 2018 event, which was hosted by Minnesota’s Muslim American Society on Feb. 16, 2018, at the South Metro Islamic Center in Rosemount, Minnesota. Standing next to Walz as he spoke was Peggy Flanagan, now the lieutenant governor in the Gopher State.

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In a Friday statement, the Anti-Defamation League said Zaman “has a troubling history of playing into classic anti-Jewish themes and justifying violence against Israel.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.