“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.
Coffin meet last nail
CSM Julin of Walz’s higher HQ says Walz knew of upcoming deployment in Fall 2004
Walz told him in Feb 2005 he would deploy with them
Otherwise they would have replaced him so someone else could team build
Walz dodge the deployment & screwed troops
Done
pic.twitter.com/iuX2fIF8M3
— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC)
August 9, 2024
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
.