The Kamala Harris campaign reportedly claimed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) had “carried, fired and trained” people on how to operate “weapons of war innumerable times,” according to a recent report.
Vice President Kamala Harris recently announced Walz to be her running mate, and since then, Walz has faced accusations of stolen valor. The Harris campaign’s statement to the Washington Post comes in response to Republican vice presidential nominee and Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) criticizing Walz for claiming he had carried guns “in war.”
“He was making a point about gun control,” Vance said during a press conference. “He said we shouldn’t allow weapons ‘that I used in war’ to be on America’s streets. Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this? What was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq? And he has not spent a day in a combat zone.”
“Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country — in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country,” the Harris campaign said in a statement to the Post.
Walz can be heard claiming in a viral video that he had served in war, although he has never seen combat.
I spent 25 years in the Army, and I hunt … I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can do CDC research … We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.
In Walz’s biography on his website, he also lists himself as having a higher military rank than the one he had when he retired from the United States military.
As Breitbart News reported:
Walz served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and retired at the rank of master sergeant, or an E-8. However, on his official website bio, he lists a higher rank that he served at for a short period that ultimately was rescinded, as he did not complete all the requirements to serve at that rank. However, his bio implies that he retired at the rank of command sergeant major, or an E-9.
A video from 2006 from C-SPAN on Tuesday showed that Walz had introduced himself as being a “retired command sergeant major.”
“I’m a retired command sergeant major, I spent 24 years in the Army National Guard,” Walz said. “I spent the better part of two decades as a public school teacher, I’m a small business owner, I’m a father, and I’m a husband.”
Walz has also referred to himself as being a veteran of Afghanistan. In a 2006 press release from his campaign, he was described as being a “veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.”
Operation Enduring Freedom is the name for the war in Afghanistan, which began on October 7, 2001, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre avoided answering a question regarding accusations surrounding Walz’s stolen valor.
When asked about the accusations of stolen valor on Wednesday, Walz ignored the comment and walked away.
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