Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota appeared to disregard shouted questions on Wednesday regarding allegations that he lied about his military service with the National Guard, instead walking to a nearby vehicle.
Walz’s 2005 retirement from the Minnesota National Guard after a 24-year career was questioned in a resurfaced 2018 Facebook post by retired Army Command Sergeant Major Thomas Behrends, who replaced Walz as the top enlisted man in an artillery battalion after the Minnesota governor’s retirement. The unidentified person twice shouted questions at Walz about “stolen valor” as Walz greeted people at the airport before he hurriedly moved to an SUV.
“Governor, Vance accused you of stolen valor; your response?” the person shouted. “Governor!”
“Governor, Vance accused you of stolen valor; your response?” the person repeated about thirty seconds later as Walz and Harris walked to the motorcade.
WATCH:
Tim Walz Flees As Someone Shouts Question About Stolen Valor Accusation pic.twitter.com/hMlAMx3ceY
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 7, 2024
Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the party’s nominee for vice president, was among those accusing Walz of “stolen valor,” highlighting comments Walz made in a video posted on X by the Harris-Walz campaign in which he called for a ban on so-called “assault weapons,” labeling them “weapons of war, that I carried in war.” Walz never served in the Middle East but was deployed to Italy during the War on Terror, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
“Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war?” Vance asked during a Wednesday campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. “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? What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage.”
Vice President Kamala Harris introduced Walz, a former teacher, as her running mate during a Tuesday rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Walz claims on his official gubernatorial website that he retired as a Command Sergeant Major, but Behrends said in a letter attached to the 2018 Facebook post that Walz’s rank was reduced to Master Sergeant due to his sudden retirement.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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