WaPo Fact Check Concludes Walz Claims Of Carrying Weapons In ‘War’ Were ‘Sloppy and False’

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Glenn Kessler with The Washington Post took a dive into the military service record of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and concluded the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee used “sloppy and false” language when he once said he carried weapons in a war zone.

Kessler took up Walz’s record after days in which the Democrat found himself the subject of media scrutiny over claims he was guilty of “stolen valor” and that he had embellished his 24 years of service in the National Guard.

Earlier this week, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) accused Walz of having abandoned his troops before his unit was set to deploy to the Middle East.

“You know what really bothers me about Tim Walz? When the US Marine Corps asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it,” the Republican vice presidential nominee said. “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, he dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him. I think that’s shameful.”

Kessler wrote of Vance’s claim:

Walz knew that he might soon be deployed to Iraq. However, he had served nearly a quarter-century in the guard and had already announced he was considering a congressional race. He has said he could not do both, and so chose to run for Congress. Whether he abandoned his troops is a matter of perspective, but it is noteworthy that his retirement request was not blocked.

On claims Walz was guilty of “stolen valor,” as many on the right had alleged, Kessler looked at a previous claim the governor left the military as a “retired Command Sergeant Major” instead of a master sergeant, which Walz retired as in 2005.

Kessler wrote, “This is on the line. He did achieve the title he has claimed, for a total of seven months, but it would be more accurate to say he ‘served as command sergeant major’ rather than claim the title outright.”

The fact-checker did hit Walz over a comment he made in 2018 while calling for more gun control.

Walz said, “We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.”

The governor did serve overseas in Europe but was never deployed to a combat zone in either Afghanistan or Iraq. Kessler concluded, “Walz’s language was sloppy and false. He did carry weapons of war — just not in war.”

Kessler also wrote in his review of the controversy surrounding Walz:

Generally, Walz makes that clear. “I deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom,” he said in a 2007 C-SPAN interview. “My battalion provided base security throughout the European Theater from Turkey to England in the early stages of the war in Afghanistan.”

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