Kamala defends Walz when asked about his stolen value, deletes claim on website [VIDEOS]

Kamala Harris defended Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday, when she confronted questions from the press for the first time in 18 days since he became the Democratic nominee.

The defense came after criticism of Walz's decision to leave the Minnesota National Guard in May 2005, just as his battalion was preparing to deploy to Iraq.

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A reporter asked Harris to address allegations that Walz had “abandoned his own troops” by retiring at the time. Harris responded, “Listen, I commend anyone who has come forward to serve our country. And I think we all should.”

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, a Navy veteran, blasted Walz on Wednesday, accusing him of embellishing his military service. Vance asked, “He said we shouldn't allow the weapons I used in the war to be on the streets of America. Well, I wonder. Tim Walz, when were you ever in a war?”

JD Vance absolutely destroys Tim Walz:

“He said, 'We shouldn't allow the weapons I used in the war to be on the streets of America.'” Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever at war?…considering you quit your unit right before we went to Iraq and he hasn't spent a day in a… pic.twitter.com/ozopgTupwd

— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) August 8, 2024

Vance also criticized what he described as “stolen value,” referencing a 2018 clip of Walz in which he stated, “We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure that these weapons of war, that I went to war, they only went to war.”

Here Walz rants about banning your guns and at the end of his rant claims he carried “weapons of war” “in war”. Everything I can find about him says he did not see combat service and it is reported that when war came he avoided deployment. pic.twitter.com/79TlC7aloB

— Military Arms (@MAC_Arms) August 7, 2024

In response to the controversy, the Harris-Walz campaign removed a statement from Walz's official biography that he had retired as a command sergeant major. Records show that Walz retired as a master sergeant, having not completed the required studies for the higher grade.