Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz falsely claimed that he carried weapons “in war” in a resurfaced clip that JD Vance blasted this week as another example of the Democratic vice presidential candidate using “stolen valor.”
Kamala Harris’ running mate made the remarks in a resurfaced 2018 clip shared by his gubernatorial campaign on social media, as he counseled a crowded room about gun violence.
“We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war,” Walz, 60, can be heard saying.
Critics were quick to point out that Walz, who retired from the National Guard in 2005, never actually served in a combat zone.
“Walz did make a comment speaking to a group, he’s done it a couple of times, where he has used language that has suggested that he carried weapons in a fighting situation,” CNN’s Jake Foreman said.
“I know from coming from a military family there is a difference between being in a combat area, being involved at a time of war, and actually being in a position where people are shooting at you,” he added.
“There is no evidence that at any time Governor Walz was in a position of being shot at, and some of his language could easily be seen to suggest he was, so that is absolutely false.”
Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, accused Walz during a campaign event Wednesday in Michigan of using “stolen valor.”
“He said we shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on America’s streets,” Vance said. “Well, I wonder. Tim Walz, when were you ever in war?”
“What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you’re not,” the Marine Corps veteran added.
In response to Vance’s comments, the Harris campaign told the Washington Post that Walz carried, fired, and trained others on how to use “weapons of war innumerable times.”
“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,” the statement said.
Vance, 40, served six months in Iraq in a noncombat role in 2005.
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Walz enlisted in the Nebraska National Guard at the age of 17. He transferred to the Minnesota National Guard in 1996, and retired nine years later as a master sergeant.
His former colleague, Al Bonnifield, said Walz heavily weighed the decision to leave his unit in order to run for Congress.
“It was a very long conversation behind closed doors. He was trying to decide where he could do better for soldiers, for veterans, for the country. He weighed that for a long time,” Bonnifield recalled to the Washington Post.
Walz retired in May 2005, and unseated a Republican incumbent in the House election the following year.
Several former Guard colleagues have griped about Walz’s decision to leave their unit on the brink of their deployment.
“Nobody wants to go to war. I didn’t want to go, but I went,” Doug Julin, a retired National Guard soldier who worked with Walz, told the Washington Post.
“The big frustration was that he let his troops down.”
In an interview for an oral history compiled by the Library of Congress, Walz said his unit — the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery — was deployed in the “European theater” during the war in Afghanistan.
A history of Walz’s battalion confirmed that the unit deployed in 2003 to Great Britain, Italy, Turkey and Belgium to support the war effort.
Walz claimed that some of his troops were “disappointed” that they were not going to see combat — but another retired Guard member who was on the deployment disagreed.
“He’s sugarcoating it to make it more than it was,” said Thomas Behrends, who has been a vocal critic of Walz since 2018.
“That was the mission from the get-go,” Behrends said of the European deployment. “There was nothing ever said about going to combat.”
