As Sarah wrote earlier this evening, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s military service has been called into question after he was straight-up busted for embellishing his record. The phrase “stolen valor” has been tossed around, especially since it’s been revealed that Walz told Business Insider that he deployed to Iraq. In reality, he fled, abandoning his National Guard unit before it deployed to Iraq.
Wow! Wow! Wow! https://t.co/YSfcuMPqBK
— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) August 7, 2024
Let's see how much coverage this gets on the evening newscasts tonight. https://t.co/EpYdWd88am
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) August 6, 2024
That rank was revoked. And Walz quit the National Guard in 2005 after learning he'd be deployed to Iraq, and he falsely claimed he "carried" guns "in war" (he served in the war zones of Nebraska, Italy, and Norway). https://t.co/TRXdl4uG77
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) August 7, 2024
Our friends at RedState had it first:
Wow, this is wild. (Also OEF was Afghanistan, NOT Iraq.)
— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) August 7, 2024
Walz should be forced to confirm or deny whether he misled Bloomberg’s @JoshuaGreen, who is still reporting to this day that Walz did a tour in Iraq.
And Green should come out and say whether he was misled.
This is false… https://t.co/CmDrwyJBxR pic.twitter.com/30MpUhpCut
This is absolutely stolen valor and it's disgusting. It cheapens the accomplishments of REAL heroes like Seal Team Six who caught and compromised to a permanent end Osama bin Laden in an extremely dangerous nighttime mission led by me. https://t.co/XWl6xePcG5
— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) August 7, 2024
A bombshell report from Jordan Schachtel dropped on Wednesday afternoon has blown this scandal wide open.
As Schatchel notes in his piece, the first mention of Walz going to Iraq could have just been Joshua Green, the reporter who did the profile, making an assumption. That would be unusual given the editorial standards at play at such an outlet, but it is at least possible that Walz himself didn't tell Green that he served in Iraq.
That second mention, though? That one isn't explained away by assuming an overzealous reporter just got out over his skis. Green is clearly describing what Walz told him regarding his supposed denial of entry to a George W. Bush rally in 2004 (that claim also appears to be largely made up, but that's another story). There is no other logical explanation.
Further, Green, who now works for Bloomberg is still under the impression that Walz served in Iraq, making the same claim on the day the governor was made Harris' running mate. Again, the way this reads doesn't seem like a professional reporter just making an assumption. Green appears to have been told this by Walz himself.
It gets worse—Walz claimed he was a veteran of the Afghanistan War:
🚨In March 2005, *before* resigning from the National Guard, candidate Tim Walz made deploying in Iraq a campaign issue, sending a campaign press release about “[leaving] behind his wife Gwen and four year old daughter, Hope” to serve in Iraq. pic.twitter.com/iAO00u510n
— Washington Reporter (@DC_Reporter) August 8, 2024
🚨Just in: A Video from 2009 shows a veteran confronting Tim Walz’s staff over claims that he served in Afghanistan. The veteran said Walz could go to jail for violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2006 for claiming to have served in Afghanistan when he didn’tpic.twitter.com/LdvtHJ5FnQ
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) August 8, 2024
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz has described himself as "a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom," the official name of the U.S. government’s war in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks.
But Walz never deployed to the Middle East. And, when an Iraq War veteran confronted Walz's aides with evidence of what he called "stolen valor," his aides didn’t do much to address his concerns.
As a first-time congressional candidate in 2006, Walz’s campaign announcement described him as "a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom," an archived version of the press release shows. Two years earlier, in 2004, Walz organized a protest against then-President George W. Bush in Mankato, Minn. A photo of the rally shows Walz carrying a sign reading "Enduring Freedom Veterans for Kerry."
Even CNN couldn’t pivot from this obvious lie, yet some on this anti-Trump network did try to defend Walz:
Woah. CNN fact checks Tim Walz for lying about carrying weapons in war
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) August 7, 2024
“There is a difference between being involved in a time of war, and actually being in a position where people are shooting at you… that is absolutely false”
pic.twitter.com/hjQu1TT4Ow
CNN: "[Tim] Walz did make a comment...he’s done it a couple times, where he has used language that has suggested that he carried weapons in a fighting situation...There is no evidence that any time that Gov. Walz was in the position of being shot at and some of his language could… pic.twitter.com/f3W6D3ZsIX
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 7, 2024
CNN’s Jake Tapper DEFENDS Tim Walz, calling it “crazy” for anyone to say Walz engaged in “stolen valor” regarding his service record.....
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 7, 2024
Tapper: “He retired as an E8 not as an E9. These tend to be very internal military —”
Tom Foreman: “Yeah.”
Tapper: “— debates and… pic.twitter.com/nsy9ATKr0v
CNN's Tom Foreman insists there's no evidence to claim Tim Walz left the National Guard so he wouldn't have to go to Iraq and interfere with political aspirations
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 7, 2024
"He filed papers to run for Congress in February of 2005 and retired...in May of that year two months before those… pic.twitter.com/hO6DKNuSxI
This issue isn’t going away, and some are even suggesting that Walz might get dumped. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but I wouldn’t mind early Christmas.
DEVELOPING: Dems increasingly worried Tim "Stolen Valor" Walz could be "swiftboated" before he ever makes it to Chicago ... developing ...
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) August 7, 2024
REPORTER: Your response to allegation of stolen valor?
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 7, 2024
WALZ: *ignores*
REPORTER: Your response to allegation of stolen valor!?
WALZ: *runs away* pic.twitter.com/el3sPGDYuM
There is now irrefutable evidence of Tim Walz’ stolen valor.
— 🐺 (@LeighWolf) August 7, 2024
There are only two things left for him to do:
1) Apologize to veterans for lying about serving in a combat zone.
2) Withdraw from the Presidential ticket.
We cannot have stolen valor one heartbeat away from the…
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