Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, told CNN in an interview that Sunday that he’s not criticizing his Democratic counterpart’s military service.
Vance said he honors Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s military service.
“I’ve never criticized what Tim Walz did when he was in the military. … I’m criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain,” Vance told CNN’s Dana Bash.
Vance has been on the attack against Walz over how he decided to retire from the military and how he has characterized his service.
Both men are veterans.
Walz spent 24 years in the Nebraska and Minnesota Army National Guards. Vance served in the Marines from 2003 to 2007 and was deployed to Iraq.
Vance has been critical of Walz’s decision to retire from military service in 2005 soon before his unit was deployed to Iraq. At the time, Walz was making a bid for Congress.
Vance has also criticized Walz for, in his words, “lying about his own record.”
Vance was referring to a 2018 video in which Walz, who never served in combat, told a crowd that their efforts against gun violence should ensure that private individuals don’t have access to “those weapons of war, that I carried in war.”
The Harris-Walz campaign said Saturday that Walz “misspoke” in the 2018 video.
Vance said Harris showed “a serious lapse in judgment” in picking Walz as her running mate.
“I served in the United States Marine Corp … there are a lot of things that I’m proud about. I’ve never lied about what I did or overstated it because it would be beneficial to me in an election. I think that’s what Tim Walz did, that’s what I was criticizing, and yes, I do think it’s scandalous behavior,” Vance told Bash.
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