According to a Fox News report, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has defended Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz regarding recent criticisms of his military record.
The controversy stems from a 2018 clip in which Walz made a statement about carrying weapons in war, which his campaign later admitted was a misstatement.
Buttigieg, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," dismissed Republican attacks on Walz's military service record. He argued that the GOP's focus on this single incident from 2018 demonstrates the overall accuracy of Walz's statements about his military background.
Buttigieg characterized the GOP's attacks as an attempt to latch onto a rare slip-up in Walz's descriptions of his military service. He emphasized that the need to go back to a 2018 clip to find an inaccuracy proves how consistently precise Walz has been when discussing his military background.
The Transportation Secretary stated:
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.
This statement from Buttigieg aims to frame the GOP's criticism as an isolated incident rather than a pattern of misrepresentation.
The clip in question features Walz discussing gun control and referencing his own military background. In it, Walz stated, "We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at."
Following the circulation of this clip, a spokesperson for Kamala Harris' campaign issued a statement acknowledging that Walz had misspoken. The campaign clarified that while Walz had handled weapons of war, he was never deployed in a combat zone.
While Buttigieg focused on defending Walz against criticism related to the 2018 clip, there are other aspects of Walz's military record that have come under scrutiny. These were not addressed in Buttigieg's comments on CNN.
One such issue involves Walz's campaign website biography, which initially claimed he was a "retired Command Sergeant Major." National Guard officials have stated that Walz retired before fulfilling all requirements for this position, including coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
It has been noted that while Walz did achieve the rank of command sergeant major, he was later reduced in rank to master sergeant. In response to these concerns, Walz's biography has been updated to state that he "served as a command sergeant major."
The Washington Post fact-checker has weighed in on the controversy, labeling Walz's claim about carrying weapons in war as "sloppy and false."
The debate over Tim Walz's military record continues to be a point of contention in the ongoing vice-presidential campaign. Pete Buttigieg's defense of Walz focuses on framing the 2018 misstatement as an isolated incident, emphasizing the overall accuracy of Walz's statements about his military service. However, additional questions about Walz's military rank and retirement status remain part of the broader discussion.
