Former President Donald Trump's allies have been lobbing attacks at Gov. Tim Walz's military service record, despite the fact that Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard, while Trump has been accused of dodging the draft during the Vietnam War.
Speaking to CNN's Briana Keilar on Wednesday, Republican campaign surrogate Rep. Mike Waltz (FL) defended the attacks on Walz's record by alleging that the Minnesota governor deliberately exaggerated his achievements during his decades of service.
"I'm attacking the lies about his service," said Waltz.
"Let me say what is in the letter," replied Keilar, whose husband is a Green Beret. "The comment about the gun, the weapon of war he obviously didn't carry into war, and he should answer a question about that. And how he represented his retired rank, which is obviously different than what he was promoted to and what he retained after retirement. But also the issue of whether he abandoned his unit for a deployment to Iraq and did not go."
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She then played her interview with conservative Sgt. Maj. Joseph Eustice, who attacked the GOP allegations about Walz's service. He explained that he didn't share Walz's politics, but he knew Walz as a soldier and defended the service they shared in the unit.
"I mean, that man hates Tim Walz's politics. Despises them. Is not going to vote for him. But he served with him, and he knows his service. So, why are you and other Republicans doing this?" she asked.
Waltz insisted that he wasn't attacking Walz's service, but rather purported falsehoods that Walz has told about it.
"If he's so damn proud about it, why does he have to continue to embellish it and to lie about it?" the Republican said. "Because the facts are clear. He was promoted to Sergeant Major, but he didn't do the things necessary to retire at that rank and was demoted, and yet there are ample, hundreds, hundreds of incidences where he is describing himself as a retired command sergeant major."
He went on to call it a "lie" and "a misrepresentation and exaggeration."
Yet, the letter that Waltz put his name on accuses Walz of "abandoning the men and women under your leadership just as they were getting ready to deploy."
Keilar said that this was clearly an attack on his service. She then went on to fact-check the lawmaker saying that Walz filed to run for Congress in early February. His unit was told they might be deployed a month later. In July they were sent to Iraq, a PBS fact-check explained.
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