WASHINGTON - Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota defended himself against Republican attacks on his military service record on Aug 13 in his first solo campaign event since being named Vice-President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
Speaking at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention in Los Angeles, Mr Walz responded directly for the first time to the claims pushed by former president Donald Trump’s campaign that he exaggerated his military record to suggest he had served in combat when he had not, and that he left his Army National Guard unit to run for public office in order to avoid deploying to Iraq.
“I am damn proud of my service to this country,” Mr Walz said. “And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record.”
Mr Walz retired from the National Guard in 2005 after 24 years, a year before his artillery battalion deployed to Iraq. At the time of his retirement, soldiers knew a deployment was possible, but the actual orders came months after Mr Walz, then 41, had already left to run for a seat in the House of Representatives. On Aug 13, he framed that decision as another act of service.
“In 2005, I felt the call of duty again, this time paying service to my country in the halls of Congress,” Mr Walz said.
Speaking about gun control in 2018, when he was a member of the House of Representatives, Mr Walz said “we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at”.
He deployed after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, but did not serve in a combat zone. The Harris campaign has said that Mr Walz misspoke.
The attacks on Mr Walz’s military service are reminiscent of the sort deployed against Senator John Kerry in 2004, when he was the Democratic nominee running against then president George W. Bush. Mr Chris LaCivita, the co-chair of Trump’s campaign, was also one of the architects of the “Swift Boat” attacks against Senator Kerry, which successfully cast doubt on his military service in Vietnam. NYTIMES