Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) “misspoke” when claiming he carried weapons “in war,” the Harris campaign claimed Friday night after struggling to move past four difficult days of escalating stolen valor controversies.
Walz has suggested on multiple occasions that he carried weapons into war — including in a video shared by the Harris campaign — despite having never served in a combat.
“We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war,” Walz said in a 2018 video advocating gun control. That clip was shared Tuesday by the Harris campaign.
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Donald Trump’s running mate who served as a Marine in a public affairs role in a combat zone during the Iraq War, has led Republicans in calling out Walz for making numerous false claims regarding his military service.
“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. It’s the American way,” an anonymous Harris campaign spokesperson said in a statement Friday, NBC reports.
The anonymous spokesperson addd:
In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the Governor misspoke. He did handle weapons of war and believes strongly that only military members trained to carry those deadly weapons should have access to them, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance who prioritize the gun lobby over our children.
Harris – in one of her first gaggles since running for president – struggled to give a straight response on Thursday when asked about the stolen valor accusations against her running mate.
“I praise anyone who has presented themselves to serve our country, and I think that we all should,” Harris carefully said.
The Trump campaign continues to hammer Harris and Walz for avoiding the media and dodging questions about Walz’s controversies – and Harris’s own record, preferring to use anonymous spokespersons to answer limited media questions.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in an email to NBC: “Why won’t Tim Walz address his lies himself? Why does he need to send out lowly spokespeople to clean up his own mess?”
Friday is the latest damage control by the Harris campaign to clean up Walz’s past claims regarding his military service.
The campaign Thursday altered its official website’s biography of Walz to remove its reference to him as a “retired command sergeant major” and instead note he once served at the command sergeant major rank, Politico reported.
As Breitbart’s Kristina Wong reported, “[Walz] has claimed that he is a retired command sergeant major, but his rank was reduced to master sergeant since he did not finish the requirements to retire as a command sergeant major. Despite this, he has boasted about retiring as a command sergeant major on multiple occasions.”
Walz’s official campaign bio now describes him “rising to the rank of Command Sergeant Major” but does not mention his rank was reduced before retirement.
And as Wong reported Thursday, “There are also accusations by veterans who served with Walz that he — as the top enlisted soldier in his unit — abandoned them right as they were preparing to deploy to Iraq at the peak of the war.”
Veterans serving with Walz have stepped forward to say that Walz knew he would have been deployed to Iraq with his unit had he not retired.
In March 2005, after Walz had declared his intent to run for Congress, his campaign issued a press release saying in part “As Command Sergeant Major I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on. I am dedicated to serving my country to the best of my ability, whether that is in Washington DC or in Iraq.”
Despite this statement, Walz retired two months later.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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