(Headline USA) Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg defended Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for making false claims about his military record, insisting that Walz’s dishonesty only happened “one time.”
Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’s vice presidential pick, has come under fire for misrepresenting the extent of his military service.
For example, Walz has claimed he was a retired command sergeant major, but National Guard officials who worked with him, including his superior officer, said Walz retired before fulfilling requirements for the position.
Well I guess I don't need to worry about doxxing Walz's battalion commander, because his battalion commander has done it himself on Facebook.
So everyone understands, Walz's battalion commander was his direct supervisor, and the bond between a Lieutenant Colonel battalion… pic.twitter.com/0Ko9rloWNX
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) August 11, 2024
Walz also falsely suggested he saw combat in Iraq when, in reality, he retired from the National Guard right before his unit was deployed to the Middle East.
“We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at,” Walz said in a 2018 speech on banning guns.
Gov. @Tim_Walz: I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war,… pic.twitter.com/3IVaXi2RP2
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 6, 2024
Asked about these false claims, Buttigieg insisted Walz’s record was reputable.
“The fact that they have to go back to find a clip from 2018 to find the one time that he slipped up when he talks about the weapons of war that he carried and said something instead about carrying weapons in war,” Buttigieg told CNN. “It‘s kind of an exception that proves the rule in terms of how hard you have to look to find him all saying anything that isn’t precise and accurate.”
Buttigieg went on to dismiss the Trump campaign’s criticisms of Walz as “mushy and lazy” in a separate interview.
“Sometimes you get the feeling that Trump’s heart isn’t in this anymore, the laziness of his attacks, not to mention the, again, lack of any coherent account of what he’s actually gonna do to make Americans’ lives better,” Buttigieg claimed.
The former South Bend, Ind., mayor’s tenure as secretary of the Department of Transportation, ironically, may best be remembered for Buttigieg’s reputation for phoning it in, with the slogan “Where’s Pete?” often accompanying a major transportation-related crisis or disaster.
Following a train derailment in Palestine, Ohio, for instance, which left many residents displaced due to chemical contamination, Buttigieg repeatedly rebuffed calls to visit until a visit by Trump shamed him into doing so.
Harris’s campaign also tried to downplay Walz’s false characterizations of his military record, claiming he simply “misspoke” when he mentioned carrying weapons of war.
“In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the governor misspoke,” a campaign spokesperson said. “He did handle weapons of war and believes strongly that only military members trained to carry those deadly weapons should have access to them, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance who prioritize the gun lobby over our children.”
