CNN’s KFile Finds Walz Campaign Previously Lied About DUI: ‘He Was Drunk, Driving 96 MPH’

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A report by CNN’s KFile found that when Tim Walz ran for Congress in 2006 his campaign lied about his 1995 arrest for drunk and reckless driving.

CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski revealed in a Thursday report that Walz admitted in court that he had been drinking when police pulled him over in Nebraska for driving 96 mph on a 55 mph road.

A blood test indicated Walz had a blood alcohol level of .128, which was well above Nebraska’s legal limit of 0.1 at the time of his arrest.

However, while running for Congress in 2006 his campaign claimed that he had not been drinking that night and failed his filed sobriety test due to a misunderstanding related to hearing loss due to his service in the National Guard. The campaign also reportedly claimed that police allowed Walz to drive himself to jail that night — that is not true.

Per KFile:

A CNN KFile review of statements made by the Walz campaign at the time reveals numerous discrepancies between how the campaign described the events and the facts of what actually took place that night.

“The DUI charge was dropped for a Reason: it wasn’t true,” Walz’s then-campaign communications director told local news in 2006. “The trooper had him drive to the station and then leave on his own after being at the station. Tim feels bad about speeding and has paid the ticket and apologized to his family at the time it happened.”

In fact, the incident’s police report clearly states that Walz was transported by police to a local hospital for blood alcohol testing after being arrested. And this week, Nebraska state police confirmed to CNN that Walz was taken by a state trooper to jail.

“Under NSP procedure, a person suspected of impaired driving is not allowed to continue driving,” Cody Thomas, a spokesman for the Nebraska State Patrol, told CNN. “In this case, the suspect was transported by the trooper and was lodged in Dawes County Jail.”

During his successful 2018 campaign for governor of Minnesota, he admitted to drinking and driving in his 1995 arrest.