Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) avoided answering tough but straightforward questions Thursday from CNN’s Dana Bash about several alleged, proven, and admitted lies and false statements attributed to the Minnesotan over his long career in politics.
Bash gave Walz the opportunity to directly address millions of Americans “who aren’t sure whether they can take you at your word.”
But Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate did not take the opportunity to set the record straight.
Bash began by asking Walz about his claim — broadcast by the Harris-Walz campaign before it later claimed he misspoke — that he carried weapons in war despite having never deployed to a war zone
She asked if he agreed with the campaign’s statement that he misspoke.
But instead of agreeing and moving past it, Walz recited nonsequiturs about his record.
“My record speaks for itself, but I think people are coming to get to know me,” he added after a forced resume recap. “I speak like they do. I speak candidly. I wear my emotions on my sleeves, and I speak especially passionately about our children being shot in schools and around guns.”
Bash pressed Walz, who responded with a simple “yeah” before seeming to break with the official campaign response and blaming poor grammar for his error.
“We were talking about, in these cases, this was after school shooting, the ideas of carrying these weapons of war, and my wife, the English teacher, told me my grammar is not always correct,” he added.
Walz pivoted to frame his lie about his record as yet another routine political attack, falsely criticizing concerns with Walz’s lies about his record as an attack on his service itself.
Bash did not press Walz further on claims about his service record, including, among others, his rank upon retirement.
As Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong reported, “[Walz] has claimed that he is a retired command sergeant major, but his rank was reduced to master sergeant since he did not finish the requirements to retire as a command sergeant major. Despite this, he has boasted about retiring as a command sergeant major on multiple occasions.”
Yet Bash pressed him on other issues whereby Walz has been credibly accused of lying, specifically his claims that his wife became pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF) — he has since acknowledged she used a different method — and his 2006 congressional campaign’s repeated false statements surrounding his 1995 arrest for drunken restless driving.
“What do you say to voters who aren’t sure whether they can take you at your word?” Bash asked.
Walz again refused to address the question, saying his former students and national guard colleagues vouch for him — despite numerous guardsmen, including from his own unit, publicly attacking Walz and his claims about his record.
“I certainly own my mistakes when I make them,” he added, although he did not appear to own any mistakes during the course of the interview other than using poor grammar.
After trashing former President Donald Trump, Walz said he did not think Americans who have experienced fertility issues are “cutting hairs on IVF or IUI” (intrauterine insemination), downplaying the significant differences between the two procedures and circumstances leading to each.
He wrapped up his non-answer by making the false claim that Trump would institute a national abortion ban. Trump has specifically denied this on many occasions. And Walz implied that Trump would prohibit IVF and similar procedures despite Trump’s full-throated support for families seeking treatment for infertility.
Earlier Thursday before Harris and Walz’s interview aired, Trump told NBC he would not only protect access to IVF but have either the government or insurance carriers cover the cost.
Despite Walz’s non-answers and false statements, one statement stood out for its undeniable truth.
“I think people are coming to get to know me,” he said.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.