Is The Honeymoon Over Already? CNN Fact-Checks Tim Walz Over Stolen Valor Claims

 Just over two weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris took over the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket, media has finally shown some mild interest in tackling the difficult questions — about her newly-selected running mate, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN).

During a segment that ran on Wednesday, CNN addressed claims that over the years, Walz had embellished his 24-year military career in the Minnesota National Guard — or even that he was guilty of stolen valor.

WATCH:

“Walz did make a comment, speaking to a group — he’s done it a couple times, where he has used language that suggested that he carried weapons in a fighting situation. As you know, with your contact with the military, I know from coming from a military family, there is a difference between being in a combat area, being involved in a time of war, and actually being in a position where people are shooting at you. There is no evidence that any time that Governor Walz was in the position of being shot at and some of his language could easily be seen to suggest that he was.”

One video clip that raised the question was actually posted to X by Kamala Harris’ campaign — largely because it showcased Walz attempting to parlay his military service into a call for an assault weapons ban and increased gun control measures. But the way he did so raised eyebrows, because he appeared to claim he had actually carried such a weapon into an active war zone.

 

WATCH:

“I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt,” Walz said at a campaign event. “I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can do CDC … We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are carried.”

Jim LaPorta offered a quick fact check on Walz’s claims in just that brief clip, saying, “Quick fact check: No, Gov. Walz did not spend 25 years in the Army, it’s 24 years, 1 month and 9 days. No, he did not carry a weapon of war in war. In 2003, he deployed to Italy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.”

Despite the apparent willingness to ask a few questions of Walz, legacy media writ large does not appear concerned that Harris — the presidential candidate herself — rose to the top of the Democratic ticket without earning a single primary vote on her own and has gone over two weeks without taking an interview or even a single hard question.