Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. Bob Casey Defends Tim Walz Despite Stolen Valor Accusations

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) defended Democrat vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz’s (MN) military record on Monday despite evidence that he misled the American public about his service.

NBC News campaign embed Emma Barnett quoted Casey as defending the embattled Walz, who is under intense scrutiny due to stolen valor accusations.

“I think when someone serves as Gov. Walz did for 24 years, I think that service should be lauded and commended, not to be denigrated,” Casey said.

Breitbart News reached out to Casey’s office multiple times on Sunday and Monday to see if he stands with Walz despite evidence he misled the public about his service, but two separate press contacts did not respond to the inquiries.

Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee Dave McCormick, a veteran of the First Gulf War and a Bronze Star recipient, slammed Casey for “covering for Tim Walz’s lies.”

“Bob Casey is lying about Joe Biden’s failing cognitive abilities, skirting responsibility for rising costs, and refuses to take responsibility for fueling open borders,” McCormick wrote. “Now, he’s covering for Tim Walz’s lies.”

“You can’t trust Casey to tell the truth,” he added.

Donald Trump Jr. also ripped Casey on Monday, sharing Barnett’s tweet.

“So you’re perfectly fine with Tim Walz blatantly lying about his rank to advance his political career?” he wrote in a post on X. “You think it’s a good thing that he stole valor and claimed he ‘carried a weapon in war’ when he never went to war? This is what you’re defending? Disgraceful!”

Trump Jr. is referring to Walz’s false claim from a video that the Harris-Walz campaign posted that he carried weapons “in war” even though he was never deployed to a combat zone. The Washington Post even called Walz’s 2018 comments “sloppy and false.”

Furthermore, Walz has been dogged by accusations, dating back to 2018, that he “quit” on the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in the Minnesota National Guard shortly after his unit was notified it would be going to Iraq, as Retired Army Command Sergeant Majors Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr wrote in a 2018 letter to the West Central Tribune. 

In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Retired Army Command Sergeant Major Doug Julin said Walz knew about the upcoming deployment before he chose to retire:

I’m going to kind of start of back in the fall of 2004, is what we received — my own commander and myself, of the 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division Brigade Combat Team, what’s called a notification of sourcing, which is a “NOS.” We were informed that we would be alerted to go to Iraq within the next upcoming year or time period out there, start preparing your team, get your team together and let’s get the process in play.

As Breitbart News reported:

Julin said after that, he met with Walz’s battalion. Julin did not say exactly when that meeting was, but indicated it was sometime before February 2005. At the time, Walz was the senior enlisted leader of the battalion, which is a role referred to as “commander sergeant major.” Julin said Walz was conditionally serving in that rank. (Walz eventually retired at a lower rank of master sergeant since he did not complete the requirements of a sergeant major, but has since falsely claimed he was a retired command sergeant major).

“From that, going forward, we met with the [1-125th Field Artillery Battalion], introduced ourselves, gave them the heads up, this is what’s happening, we don’t have the full particulars but we will get to it,” he said.

Recalling February 2005, Julin said Walz notified him at a meeting at Camp Ripley that he had “put a bid in for Congress” but had not yet been nominated.

Julin said the division received a warning order, and, in March 2005, there was another meeting at Camp Ripley about “building a team to go forward to Iraq.”

According to Julin, Walz told him after the meeting that he was “going forward with the battalion.”

He said:

After the meeting, Tim Walz came in and sat down with me because I talked to him before, and I said I need to know what his answer is at that time. He came in, we sat and talked, he told me, he says, “I have not been nominated, I’m going forward with the battalion.” I said, “Good. Let’s go. We got the team built, and we’re starting to build the team out there.”

Command Sergeant Major Tom Behrends ultimately replaced Walz, who retired. Julin learned of this and Walz’s May retirement in June 2005 at a subsequent meeting.

“The individual that approved this was two levels higher than myself in the enlisted corps, and should have had Tim Walz come back to me and discuss this as to why he was not going forward now, after he had already told me he was going forward,” Julin said.