The Harris campaign is acknowledging that Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz “slipped up” only “one time” on his military record.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg defends Walz saying, “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. 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.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” co-host Dana Bash asked Buttigieg about claims made by Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance that Walz lied for political purposes after serving in the military. These accusations, however, Buttigieg waved off and even called them a “mistake,” pointing to Walz’s previously unblemished record.
“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 the clip, which was posted by Kamala Harris’ campaign on X.
“In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the Governor misspoke. 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,” a Harris campaign spokesperson said.
After that video spread, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign admitted that Walz “misspoke” in the clip and noted that he wasn’t ever sent to a combat zone.
The spokesperson said, “In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the Governor misspoke. 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.”
The Washington Post’s fact-checker report Saturday labeled Walz’s statement “sloppy and false.”
