The media finally took Tim Walz to task over his accumulating lies, although they let a lot slide as well. The veep candidate was forced to explain his Tiananmen Square tall tale on the debate stage. However, the CBS News moderators neglected to press him on all the lies he spewed about Minnesota's extreme abortion bill, the Biden-Harris administration's border crisis, and Project 2025.
Here's what Walz lied about during the vice presidential debate:
Tiananmen Square
"All I said on this was I got there that summer and misspoke on this. That is what I have said. So, I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests, went in, and from that I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance." - Walz
FACT-CHECK: False.
In 2014, then-Congressman Walz said he was in mainland China during the Tiananmen Square protests between April and June 1989 during a congressional hearing marking 25 years since the massacre. "As the events were unfolding, several of us went in. I still remember the train station in Hong Kong," said Walz, according to a congressional transcript, while serving as a ranking member of the Executive Commission on China.
Contemporaneous local news reports contradict Walz's summer of '89 timeline.
This week, Minnesota Public Radio exposed Walz's lie. A Chadron Record news report from April 1989 shows that Walz didn't travel to China until August 1989, months after the pro-democracy protests. In May 1989, then-Staff Sgt. Walz was touring a Nebraska Army National Guard armory, according to an Alliance Times-Herald article. A photograph of Walz's visit was featured saying Walz will "take over the job" of staffing the storeroom in lieu of a retiring guardsman and "will be moving to Alliance" accordingly. A clipping from another Nebraska newspaper reported on August 11 of that year that Walz said he would "leave Sunday en route to China."
Here’s Walz claiming in 2014 he’d been in Hong Kong during Tiananmen protests (which culminated in Tiananmen massacre) in May 1989
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) September 30, 2024
Here’s Walz in National Guard Armory in Nebraska in photo pub’d May 16, 1989
And here’s article from Aug. 1989 saying Walz would soon go to China pic.twitter.com/qZOxw6u1Fo
Walz has repeatedly claimed he witnessed the Tiananmen Square demonstrations first-hand, including on the day the massacre occurred.
As recent as in February, Walz said during an episode of "Pod Save America" that he was in Hong Kong at the time. "I was in Hong Kong when it happened – I was in Hong Kong on June 4th when Tiananmen happened […] Quite a few of our folks decided not to go in," Walz said. "There was a lot of Europeans in Hong Kong [saying] 'don't do this, don't go, don't support them in this,' and my thinking at the time was […] what a golden opportunity to go tell how it was. And I did have a lot of freedom to do that, taught American history and could tell the story."
In a June 2019 radio interview, Walz also said he was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, the day of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
"I was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, when, of course, Tiananmen Square happened. And I was in China after that. It was very strange 'cause, of course, all outside transmissions were, were blocked – Voice of America – and, of course, there was no, no phones or email or anything. So I was kind of out of touch. It took me a month to know the Berlin Wall had fallen when I was living there," Walz said.
During a 2009 hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, then-Rep. Walz said: "Twenty years ago today, I was in Hong Kong preparing to go to Foshan to teach at Foshan No. 1 Middle School. To watch what happened at the end of the day on June 4 was something that many of us will never forget, we pledge to never forget, and bearing witness and accurate telling of history is absolutely crucial for any nation to move forward."
Minnesota's Abortion Bill
VANCE: "As read the Minnesota law that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion, where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide lifesaving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion."
WALZ: "Vance is trying to distort the way the law is written, to try to make a point. That's not it at all."
VANCE: "What was I wrong about? Governor, please tell me, What was I wrong about?"
WALZ: "That is not the way the law is written."
FACT-CHECK: False.
This is exactly the way the law was written.
In 1976, Minnesota passed a law that required medical personnel to "preserve the life and the health of the child" who was born as a result of an abortion, as archived by the Catholic League.
Last year, Walz signed a law that amended this legislation to read that in such circumstances medical staff should take steps to "care for the infant who is born alive." What was stricken: the requirement to "preserve the life and the health of the child."
In other words, Walz removed that life-saving requirement and replaced it with the lower standard of "comfort care," that is merely tending to a baby born alive after a failed abortion.
"To 'care for an infant' is not the same as to 'preserve the life' of an infant. Keeping the baby warm is a poor substitute for keeping him alive," explains Catholic League president Bill Donohue. "Those who think there is no difference need to explain why Walz found it necessary to amend the law. In short, under the law that Walz signed last year, there is no medical requirement, or legal penalty, for passively promoting infanticide."
Under Walz, at least eight babies born alive after botched abortions were left to die, according to state health department data analyzed by The Daily Signal. Then he removed the reporting restrictions.
Under a 2015 law, the state formerly was required to report abortions that resulted in the live birth of a baby, what actions were taken to preserve the baby's life, and whether the baby survived.
In May 2023, Walz worked with his Democrat-controlled state legislature to eliminate both the reporting requirement and the state's legal obligation for medical professionals to administer life-saving care to infants born alive in an abortion procedure. Walz signed an omnibus bill repealing the previous measure, meaning Minnesota now no longer has to keep track of born-alive babies.
Trump was 💯% correct. Post-birth abortion is real and Harris-Walz support it. At least 5 babies were born alive after botched abortions and left to die under Walz’s watch. Two of these struggling babies were given “comfort care” instead of medical care allegedly in violation of… pic.twitter.com/OMrwWaK0NU
— Roger Severino (@RogerSeverino_) August 6, 2024
Walz also denied that the Minnesota abortion bill he signed into law doesn't allow abortion up to birth. "That's not what the bill says," he claimed.
In January 2023, the governor signed legislation that placed no limitations on when a woman may end the life of her unborn baby, including up to the moment of birth.
Walz enshrined the "right" to abortion without limits into Minnesota statute through the "Protect Reproductive Options Act," an abortion-up-to-birth bill designed to shield the state's existing statutes from future Supreme Court decisions.
FACT CHECK!
— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) October 2, 2024
Walz’s bill is a simple bill, that precludes any restrictions, including abortions later in pregnancy up to the point of birth, or any role for parents of minors seeking abortions. Thus making it one of the MOST EXTREME pro-abortion bills in the country.
The… pic.twitter.com/UROsXcCs64
The Amber Thurman Case
"There's a young woman named Amber Thurman. She happened to be in Georgia, a restrictive state. Because of that, she had to travel a long distance to North Carolina to try and get her care. Amber Thurman died on that journey back and forth. The fact of the matter is, how can we as a nation say that your life and your rights as basic as the right to control your own body are determined on geography? There's a very real chance that had Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she would be alive today." - Walz
FACT-CHECK: False.
Walz is repeating a fearmongering falsehood decried by doctors, OB-GYNs in particular.
In fact, Georgia's laws allow medical intervention to save the life of the mother in an abortion-related emergency. Georgia's heartbeat bill states that "no abortion shall be performed if the unborn child has a detectable human heartbeat except in the event of a medical emergency or medically futile pregnancy."
As documented in a ProPublica article, Thurman took abortion pills and she subsequently got sepsis, a side effect listed on the abortion drug box. She suffered a known complication of the abortion drug during which her body failed to expel all of the fetal tissue.
Doctors at Piedmont Henry Hospital negligently didn't immediately do a dilation and curettage (D&C) to save Thurman, who was pregnant with twins. They reportedly waited a prolonged period before performing the necessary D&C procedure, which wasn't an abortion at this point, to clear her uterus of the dead babies whose lives were previously ended by the abortion pills. It took 20 hours for the doctors to finally operate on her, but it was too late to save her life as the infection spread, her blood pressure sunk, and her organs failed.
We, too, have many questions about the care Amber Thurman received.
— SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) September 17, 2024
One thing is clear: this tragedy began with abortion drugs.
5/6
Thurman's travel to North Carolina was not necessary. Georgia law includes an exception to save the mother's life. It also explicitly states that a D&C to remove a dead unborn baby is not a "felony" or "criminalized" in the state.
Illegal Immigration
"Look, [border] crossings are down compared to when Donald Trump left office." - Walz
FACT-CHECK: False.
Although in August, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 58,000 apprehensions along the U.S. southern border, that number only dipped because of a June executive action finally placing limits on claims of asylum. Nationwide, encounters are now 159,000 compared to 95,000 in January 2021 when former President Donald Trump exited office.
Want just general encounters, not enforcement? 95,276 in Jan 2021 when Trump left office. 158,988 for August and that's AFTER Biden's Executive Order (which he could have done years ago) brought down the number a bit. pic.twitter.com/yQSVUbvJIc
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) October 2, 2024
Yearly apprehensions at the U.S. southern border reached record highs under President Joe Biden, according to CBP data. In fiscal year 2023, the number skyrocketed to 2.2 million. Apprehensions during Trump's time peaked at around 852,000 in FY 2019.
The stats show that there were 647,000 total enforcement encounters between and at U.S. ports of entry in 2020. By the end of 2021, it numbered nearly 2 million. 10 months into 2024, it's 2.8 million.
FACT CHECK: Walz said that there are fewer crossings today than when Donald Trump left office. According to Customs and Border Patrol, Total Enforcement Encounters for 2020 was 646,822. In 2021, it was 1,956,519. 10 months into 2024 it's 2,756,646.
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) October 2, 2024
The total number of national encounters during the Biden administration so far has hit 10 million. Compare this to an estimated 3 million during all of Trump's presidency.
Walz also falsely claimed that children are not being used as drug mules. The moderators did not fact-check him on this despite CBS's own affiliates even covering the drug smuggling crisis.
Walz denies children being used as drug mules. CBS does not ‘fact check’ it.
— J. (@PresentWitness_) October 2, 2024
Here’s CBS’s own reporting covering it. pic.twitter.com/JBpd6KDbqW
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed that children are being used to smuggle drugs on behalf of the cartels.
Project 2025
"Their Project 2025 is going to have a registry of pregnancies." - Walz
FACT-CHECK: False.
Project 2025 does not call for women to have to register their pregnancies with a new federal monitoring agency.
What it does do is call for states to track abortions more meticulously than current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rules mandate or else face penalties like cuts to federal funding.
Specifically, it advocates for state reporting of "how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother's state of residence, and by what method" and calls on the existing U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to use "every available tool, including the cutting of funds" to ensure compliance.
Under the data collection section, Project 2025's policy document proposes that the federal government take steps to make sure it is receiving after-the-fact anonymous state-by-state data on abortions and miscarriages. The vast majority of states already submit such statistics to the CDC on a voluntary basis; the agency's "abortion surveillance system" has been in place for decades. Meanwhile, miscarriage data must be furnished under federal law.
Last month, Heritage Foundation Vice President Roger Severino explained on X that Project 2025 "merely recommends CDC restore the decades-long practice of compiling *anonymous* abortion statistics for all states."
Harris claims @Prjct2025 would establish a "national abortion monitor." False. P2025 merely recommends CDC restore the decades-long practice of compiling *anonymous* abortion statistics for all states. Under Harris's logic, Walz is a "miscarriage monitor" because his MN collects… pic.twitter.com/vLl5Nd2Yi1
— Roger Severino (@RogerSeverino_) September 11, 2024
Walz's home state of Minnesota already compiles abortion-related numbers. The state voluntarily submits abortion data to the CDC and it posts anonymous abortion and miscarriage figures on the Minnesota Department of Health's website every year.
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