Tim Walz On Misstatements: 'I Won't Apologize For Speaking Passionately'

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz won’t apologize for false or misleading statements he’s made about his own background over the years.

In a joint interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Walz on a comment he made in 2018 about carrying a weapon “in war” even though he hadn’t been in war.

“I think people are coming to get to know me. I speak like they do. I speak candidly. I wear my emotions on my sleeves,” Walz said. “I speak especially passionately about our children being shot in schools and around guns.”

It was the first sit-down interview Walz or Harris has done since becoming the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees. Pressure to talk to the media had been mounting on the campaign, and Republicans have repeatedly accused Walz of lying about his military service and how his family had children.

Bash pressed Walz, noting a spokesman for his campaign has acknowledged his “misspoke” about carrying a weapon in war. He made the remark during a 2018 campaign event where he was advocating for an assault weapons ban, saying such weapons of war, like the ones he carried “in war,” should be off the streets. Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years but didn’t see combat.

“This was after a school shooting, the ideas of carrying these weapons of war, and my wife, the English teacher, told me my grammar is not always correct,” Walz said Thursday. “But again, if it’s not this, it’s an attack on my children for showing love for me, or it’s an attack on my dog.”

Bash also pressed Walz on instances he gave the impression he and his wife used in vitro fertilization, or IVF, in order to have children. Walz has repeatedly spoken about his family’s infertility in the context of Republican support for restricting reproductive health care.

“I spoke about our infertility issues because it’s hell, and families know this. And I spoke about the treatments that were available to us, that had those beautiful children there,” Walz said. “I won’t apologize for peaking passionately, whether it’s guns in schools or protecting reproductive rights, the contrast could not be clearer between what we’re running against.”

In some of his past public comments, Walz has not always been careful to state that the fertility treatments they used were not IVF. His wife, Glen Walz, said a statement last week that they used intrauterine insemination, a process that doesn’t involve fertilizing embryos outside of the womb. The Democratic campaign has said Walz used IVF as a shorthand for fertility treatments.

“I think most Americans get it if you’ve been through that. I don’t think they’re cutting hairs on IVF or IUI,” Walz said. “I think they’re cutting hairs on an abortion ban and the ability to be able to deny families the chance to have a beautiful child.”