Video shows Walz praising cleric promoting Hitler as 'master teacher' after campaign denies 'personal' relationship

A resurrected video shows Minnesota Democratic governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz praising a Muslim cleric who promotes Hitler as a “master teacher,” after his campaign denied they had a “personal” relationship.

Walz hosted the individual, Imam Asad Zaman, at an Islamic Center event in 2018, where he applauded his wisdom and expressed gratitude for the “lesson.”[s]”, he showed her, according to a video discovered obtained by The Washington Examiner and published Tuesday. Zaman has done so publicly promoted states that Hitler was a misunderstood hero and declared “[Palestine’s]… right to defend oneself “on the day Hamas invaded Israel on October 7 and killed approximately 1,200 people.

“I'd like to thank the imam (referring to Zaman). I'm a teacher, so when I see a master teacher, I know it. Throughout the time we've spent together, one of the things I've had the privilege of is to see things in life through the eye of a master teacher, to try to understand ourselves,” Walz told a crowd at the Islamic Center. event in Minnesota in 2018, while he was still a lawmaker in the House, according to the video. “This brings me to the second lesson the imam taught me…a lesson when the imam told me to go talk to the people.”

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Walz had hosted and met with Zaman on at least five other occasions from 2019 to 2023, and his administration awarded Zaman's activist group, the Muslim American Society (MAS) of Minnesota, with $100,000 in subsidies seconds to a review of public records.

The Harris-Walz campaign denied any close affiliation with the imam on Friday, days before the video was published by the Examiner.

“The governor and [Imam] they don't have a personal relationship,” a campaign spokesman told the Examiner's Gabby Deutch. “Governor Walz strongly condemns Hamas terrorism.”

time shared a video in 2015 titled “Adolf Hitler: The Greatest Story Never Told,” which claimed that Hitler was accused of the Holocaust and was actually a martyr, seconds to a description provided by the Anti-Defamation League. The film is popular with conspiracy theorists and neo-Nazi groups.

The day Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, Zaman shared statements that “Palestine has every right to have its freedom from the Zionists” and “Palestine will win in the end no matter how long it takes.”

“[Zaman] has a troubling history of playing on classic anti-Jewish themes and justifying violence against Israel,” a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League said. he said the Examiner “We urge all officials and public leaders to avoid meeting with him in the future.”

Harris' campaign and Walz's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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