On Thursday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) responded to criticisms of 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) accounts of his service record, including him talking about carrying a weapon in war by stating that Walz was in the National Guard for over two decades and “trained numerous people on how to use their weapons for combat, and many of them did serve in conflict.” So, it’s ridiculous to question his service record.
Co-host Joe Mathieu asked, “[O]ne of the things they’ve been directing us to, Congressman, is Tim Walz’s military record, questioning his service. We heard about this from JD Vance yesterday, and the messaging from the Trump campaign suggested he abandoned his men before they deployed to Iraq when he went to run for Congress, that he lied about serving in combat, referring to a weapon he was holding in a gun control ad, that it was a weapon he held in war, and that he inflated his rank. This has upset a lot of people, Congressman, on both sides of the aisle, some of whom find this type of criticism of someone’s service inappropriate. And I wonder if you think he should talk about it.”
Krishnamoorthi answered, “Look, I think that the fact of the matter is that Tim Walz served for 24 years in the National Guard. He became an enlisted man at the age of 17. He trained numerous people on how to use their weapons for combat, and many of them did serve in conflict. And so, for anybody to question his service — plus, by the way, he was the ranking member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee when I served with him in the House and he was passionate about serving veterans. And so, at some point, he will speak about these particular ridiculous attacks. But I think it’s the height of hypocrisy for Donald Trump, who deferred serving because of bone spurs, to then criticize someone who served for more than two decades in the armed forces of our country.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
