On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” CNN Correspondent Tom Foreman said that while 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) did claim he carried a weapon in war and didn’t, “There is no evidence he said that last sentence often,” and “You can see it coming a little bit back on Vance here that he’s attacked his fellow veteran.”
Host Jake Tapper began by noting that “the Harris campaign shared a video where Walz claims that he carried weapons of war in war.”
Foreman then said, “JD Vance’s accusation is that Tim Walz left the National Guard and a key role with his unit just ahead of a deployment to Iraq, dodging combat to pursue his political career. But hold on, while Vance served four years in the Marines, Walz served 24 years in the Guard. He filed papers to run for Congress in February of 2005 and retired from his Guard unit in May of that year, two months before those deployment orders appeared.”
He then played the clip where Walz said, “[W]e can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” Foreman then stated, “There is no evidence he said that last sentence often, but it has drawn the fire of Team Trump. Walz did deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, but he went to Italy, not Afghanistan. The Harris campaign notes, ‘In his 24 years of service, the Governor carried, fired, and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times.’ But none of that changes the fact that Walz did not carry a weapon in war in the sense that many might understand it, meaning in combat. But neither did Vance.”
He then played video of Vance saying, “I served in a combat zone. I never said that I saw a firefight myself.”
Foreman then stated, “You can see it coming a little bit back on Vance here that he’s attacked his fellow veteran. Walz, by the way, has said nothing about Vance, except that he honors his service.”
He continued, “There is one additional dispute in this and this is over the rank that Walz achieved. He achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major, but he didn’t retire at that rank because there was some additional coursework he needed to do to retire at that rank. Some people say that’s nitpicking. Nonetheless, the Trump campaign has been going after it, and I think we’re going to see more of it. Many in the military community, as you know, are just troubled, in general. They’re saying, look, if you’ve served your country, hats off to you, that’s it.”
Tapper responded, “Yeah, he retired as an E-8, not as an E-9. These tend to be very internal military debates and discussions, and for the rest of us who never served, our instinct is, thank you for serving.”
Tapper added, “It’s not stolen valor.” And Foreman responded, “Not at all.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
