Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), blamed his stolen valor controversy over “bad grammar” during an interview on Thursday.
Walz has faced significant backlash over the past few weeks for falsely claiming that he retired from the U.S. Army National Guard as a command sergeant major, even though the National Guard confirmed that he was demoted to a master sergeant before his retirement because he did not finish the required coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. Walz also claimed to have carried weapons in war despite never having been deployed in a war zone during his time in the service.
During a Thursday interview, CNN host Dana Bash asked Walz about the controversy, saying, “You said that you carried weapons in war, but you have never deployed actually in a war zone. A campaign official said that you misspoke. Did you?”
In response, Walz said, “Well, first of all, I’m incredibly proud. I’ve done 24 years of wearing the uniform of this country. Equally proud of my service in a public school, classroom, whether it’s Congress or the governor. My record speaks for itself.”
After explaining that he speaks “especially passionately” about gun violence and “children being shot in schools,” the Minnesota governor claimed that the American people know who he is and emphasized that his record speaks for itself.
READ MORE:50 U.S. vets in Congress slam Kamala Harris’ VP for stolen valor
Following Walz’s seemingly evasive answer, Bash again asked him whether he misspoke when he said he had carried weapons in war.
“In this case, this was after school shooting, the ideas of carrying these weapons of war,” Walz said. “And my wife, the English teacher, told me my grammar is not always correct.”
After blaming bad grammar for the stolen valor controversy, Walz then claimed it was one of many political attacks against him before adding, “The one thing I’ll never do is I’ll never demean another member’s service in any way. I never have and I never will.”
Walz’s comments during Thursday’s interview on CNN were quickly met with criticism on social media. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, media personality Clay Travis wrote, “Tim Walz asked about lying and claiming he carried weapons in war said, ‘My grammar’s not always correct.’ Holy crap. He’s a moron. He’s had a month to come up with a response and this is it?!”
Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations to the Senate Judiciary Committee, also blasted Walz’s comments, tweeting, “Wow. Tim Walz is raising the ‘grammar defense’ to charges of stolen valor. Did his ‘poor grammar’ also lead him to lying—repeatedly and for years—about his military rank? Fraud.”
