The presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris admits that her running mate, Democrat Governor Tim Walz, “misspoke” about his military record, including in a video from 2018 that the campaign circulated with him discussing handling weapons used “in war.”
“Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country,” the campaign said in a statement Friday to NBC News. This comes after the GOP, led by vice presidential candidate JD Vance, blasted the governor over comments he made about his military record.
“He thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country,” said the campaign. “It’s the American way.”
However, the Harris campaign said Walz “misspoke” while “making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms.”
The campaign said Walz, a 24-year veteran of the Minnesota National Guard, “did handle weapons of war,” adding he “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.”
In the clip of Walz, the VP pick of Kamala Harris stated, “We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.”
Despite Walz’s time in the service — including overseas support units and deployments — he was never deployed to a combat zone.
Walz served for 24 years in the National Guard and was selected in 2004 to serve as command sergeant major of the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion. He retired two months prior to his unit deploying to Iraq and announced he was running for Congress, per CNN.
However, he didn’t complete the requirements to hold the rank of command sergeant major and was listed as a master sergeant in his retirement.
In the meantime, Vance served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an enlisted combat correspondent working in public affairs, reports CNN. He was deployed once to Iraq for six months and left the military in September 2007 with the rank of corporal.
Vance has accused Walz, his rival for the vice presidency, of “stolen valor”
“What bothers me about Tim Walz is this stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you’re not,” said Vance at a Michigan event. “I’d be ashamed if I was him, and I lied about my military service like he did.”
Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesperson, told NBC News he questions why Walz didn’t “address his lies himself.”
“Why does he need to send out lowly spokespeople to clean up his own mess?” asked Cheung.
On Thursday, Harris responded to growing accusations of “stolen valor” regarding her running mate and praised him for serving in the National Guard.
“Listen, I praise anyone who has presented themselves to serve our country, and I think that we all should,” said Harris Thursday, responding to a reporter who asked the vice president to respond to criticism the Minnesota governor “deserted his own troops, deserted his own colleagues.”
The campaign has also tweaked Walz’s biography on its website, where it no longer says he retired as command sergeant major but that he’d served as one.
