Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance is going hard against Democrat vice presidential candidate Tim Walz about stolen valor. As we told you Wednesday, a reporter for Bloomberg went back and corrected his story about Walz's military career, having confused Italy for Iraq.
Tim Walz was stationed for a brief stint in Vicenza, Italy, which is one of the Army's most coveted duty stations.
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) August 8, 2024
He came home declaring he had just served in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), misleading Americans into believing that he fought in Afghanistan.
A serial fraud.
As we recently reported, Alyssa Farah Griffin of "The View" shared the "very cool fact" that Walz is the highest-ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in Congress. That would be very cool if it were a fact, but it's not. That honor goes to Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales.
CNN has rushed in to clear up questions about Walz's rank. Jake Tapper and his guest said that the E8 and E9 designations mean nothing to those who haven't served, and agreed that it's "crazy" to accuse Walz of stolen valor:
CNN’s Jake Tapper DEFENDS Tim Walz, calling it “crazy” for anyone to say Walz engaged in “stolen valor” regarding his service record.....
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 7, 2024
Tapper: “He retired as an E8 not as an E9. These tend to be very internal military —”
Tom Foreman: “Yeah.”
Tapper: “— debates and… pic.twitter.com/nsy9ATKr0v
One of the most shameful instincts of today's national political press is to immediately try to shut down a negative story about a Democrat rather than treat it as a matter for further investigation. https://t.co/kq5i8fx4Vc
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) August 8, 2024
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In this case, I feel like they can't handle the whiplash. They fell in love with Walz at first sight, and while riding high on their emotions, they were presented with damning news. They just don't know how to handle it other than denial.
— Dan Edmonson (@dansedmonson) August 8, 2024
OK, so maybe he embellished his rank. But did he ditch his battalion when it was informed it was headed to Iraq? CNN's Brianna Kielar was there to tag-team with Tapper:
DISGUSTING: CNN's @brikeilarcnn attacks JD Vance's military service in a despicable effort to defend Tim Walz's stolen valor lies.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 8, 2024
Brianna — the difference is that @JDVance never lied about his rank or his service, and when his unit deployed to Iraq, he didn't abandon them. pic.twitter.com/mQ8DMc2XRJ
That's really the glaring difference here. Neither Vance nor Walz was in combat, but Vance has never claimed to have been. Vance chimed in himself on this one.
Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 8, 2024
When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went.
Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie. https://t.co/kt0oxzZb83
Brianna should be fired immediately but she won’t be because CNN has no morals.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) August 8, 2024
JD Vance spoke truthfully about his military service and went to Iraq.
Tim Walz lied about his military service and abandoned the US.
There’s no comparison.
They are despicable and they know it.
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) August 8, 2024
This is ridiculous. From what I’ve seen @JDVance has been remarkably disciplined in framing his USMC service & Iraq deployment (esp vs Walz). Combat Correspondent was JD’s actual MOS + he served in a combat zone. Only thing deceptive here is CNN’s framing. pic.twitter.com/70ajHILbVp
— Peter Meijer (@RepMeijer) August 8, 2024
He was also purposefully misleading in touting a deployment for Operation Enduring Freedom - which is associated with Afghanistan more than anything else.
— Undead FOIA 3.0 (@UndeadFoia) August 8, 2024
What Walz should have said was "I was deployed to Italy."
Nothing wrong with that, but he left it open to infer he was in a…
"Nothing wrong with that, but he left it open to infer he was in a combat zone."
He sure talked like he was in a combat zone when he told a small crowd about weapons of war that he'd carried in war during a speech on gun control.
No shame for @CNN to try and put down @JDVance service in a war zone while trying to get to deflect and cover up for this misinformation that has been spread by @Tim_Walz about his service. Typical
— Eric Pistey (@shawnpisteySC) August 8, 2024
She is doing what she is paid to do.
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) August 8, 2024
You do not hate the mainstream media enough. They are the enemy of the people.
— Cash Loren (@CashLorenShow) August 8, 2024
As we said when Donald Trump agreed to debate Joe Biden with CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderating — it would be three against one. Now Trump's running mate has to fight CNN to get the truth out.
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