Fifty Republican members of Congress who are military veterans denounced Democratic vice presidential pick Tim Walz on Wednesday for having lied about his rank in the Army National Guard and retiring before a deployment to Afghanistan to pursue his political aspirations.
The House and Senate GOP lawmakers, led by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), a retired US Army staff sergeant who chairs Veterans and Military Families for Trump, blasted out an open letter to the Minnesota governor, asking him to correct the “egregious misrepresentations” about his military record.
“[Y]ou have lied your way through a political career launched on the foundation of a title you did not earn and combat deployments you did not take part in,” the former military service members in Congress charged.
“You have stated that you are ‘damn proud’ of your service, and like any American veteran, you should be,” they wrote. “But there is no honor in lying about the nature of your service.”
“Repeatedly claiming to be a ‘Retired Command Sergeant Major‘ when you did not complete the requirements was not honorable,” they went on. “Nor was it honorable to claim to carry weapons ‘in war’ when you had not served in war, and abandoning the men and women under your leadership just as they were getting ready to deploy was certainly not honorable either.”
“To be blunt, when you falsely claim military service that did not happen and abandon your post, you diminish the real sacrifices made by veterans who did serve in combat,” they said.
“Until you admit you lied to them, there is no way you can be trusted to serve as Vice President.”
Walz, 60, served in the Army National Guard for 24 years — but retired from his artillery battalion and abandoned more than 500 men under his command two months before it deployed to Iraq in 2005.
Here is the latest on VP pick Tim Walz’s time in the military
- National Guard vet claims Walz went above him to secure retirement: ‘He knew I would have told him, “Suck it up”’
- Tim Walz falsely claimed he carried weapons ‘in war’ in resurfaced clip: ‘Absolutely false’
- Tim Walz left National Guard battalion ‘hanging,’ ‘slithered out the door’ before Iraq deployment: vets
- Tim Walz a ‘coward’ and ‘traitor’ for retiring from military before Iraq, says Guardsman who replaced VP pick
The early departure bumped him down a rank from command sergeant major to command master sergeant for not having completed a two-year commitment he had already signed onto, which involved some additional coursework.
Former brothers in arms — including the military chaplain of his unit — have called Walz cowardly for leaving to run for Congress in 2006 and accused him of “stolen valor” for repeatedly referencing his service record as part of his political career.
The Kamala Harris campaign claimed earlier this month that the two-term Minnesota governor “misspoke” during his first run for statewide office in 2018 about having carried “weapons of war … in war.”
Walz had earlier implied during his congressional races that he deployed to a combat zone such as Afghanistan, when in fact he had deployed to Italy briefly as part of Operation Enduring Freedom before leaving the National Guard.
He later went on the offensive at a campaign stop in Los Angeles and said he was “damn proud of my service to this country. And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record.”
“He should be proud of his service,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), one of the letter’s co-signatories, told reporters in a Wednesday press conference in Chicago amid the Democratic National Convention. “Why do you have to lie about it? Why do you have to exaggerate?”
“He was a sergeant major for a few months, but he didn’t do what you have to sign on the dotted line in terms of the schooling and the time and service to retire at that rank,” Waltz added. “I retired as a colonel. I’m proud of that. I’m not pretending I retired as a general.”
The former Green Beret also noted that Walz was one of just 70 Democrats who voted against a veterans bill that allowed them to choose their health care.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
