Former President of the Chamber Nancy Pelosi on Sunday defended the governor of Minnesota. Tim Walz against attacks on his service record, calling it a “sign of the bankruptcy of his ideas” to Republicans who accuse him of “stolen valor.”
“They have nothing to say, so they make things up,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki. “They are just trying to confuse things, but he came to Congress and was respected by our colleagues. Elected to be the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, where he… made historic advances for veterans in meeting their needs, more than had been done since the GI Bill during World War II.”
Shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris chose Walz as her running mate, Republicans resurfaced allegations that Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard before retiring in 2005 to run for Congress, had inflated his credentials. military. Walz faced similar attacks from opponents during his previous races for governor and for the House, where he became the oldest enlisted soldier to serve in Congress.
The Trump campaign and, in particular, the Ohio Senator. JD Vance – who was deployed to Iraq as a combat correspondent in the Marines but did not participate in combat – has attached to scrutiny of Walz’s Army recordclaiming the Democratic vice presidential nominee retired to avoid deployment to Iraq. waltz retired months before his unit received a mobilization order – a fact Pelosi emphasized.
When asked how the Harris-Walz campaign should respond to criticism of Walz’s record in the military, Pelosi advised, “Just reject it.”
“If people lie, like they are lying, and you hear the lie many times, it kind of becomes accepted in their group, and then you have to say ‘No, that didn’t happen,’” Pelosi said. “Reality has to be taken home. I’m not the type to allow your misrepresentations to persist.”
“He has been a consistent, patriotic and courageous American,” she added.
Harris’ presidential campaign made update your biography online de Walz amid questions about his military service and eliminated a reference to Walz as a “retired command sergeant major,” POLITICO reported. Instead, it now says he once served as a sergeant major.
It’s a small change that reflects Walz’s true position upon retiring from the National Guard. He returned to the rank of sergeant when he left the army because he had not completed the courses required by the U.S. Army Sergeant Academy for the highest rank.
Harris campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt also told CNN that Walz was mistaken when, in 2018, he referred to the weapons “I carried in war” when expressing support for an assault weapons ban – remarks that were featured in a clip shared by the campaign last week. Walz did not serve in a combat zone, but Hitt said he handled weapons of war.
The previous Sunday, Senator Cotton Tone (R-Ark.), who sits on the Armed Services Committee and served nearly five years on active duty in the Army, told “Fox News Sunday” that he respects Walz’s service but pointed out “past inconsistent statements about his service.”
