The battle lines have been drawn. Now the fighting has begun.
And JD Vance just went on CNN and started throwing punches.
Senator JD Vance didn’t hold back when he called out CNN after one of its anchors took a swipe at his military service, accusing him of embellishing his record as the Republican vice-presidential nominee continued to hammer his Democratic opponent’s questionable military history.
Vance, a Republican from Ohio and a former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq, has been relentless in his criticism of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Questions about Walz’s portrayal of his military service have been mounting ever since Vice President Kamala Harris chose him as her running mate.
But leave it to CNN’s Brianna Keilar to try and deflect the heat away from Walz by casting doubt on Vance instead. According to Keilar, Vance “may be an imperfect messenger” on the issue.
“We have, as you introduced him, as a combat correspondent, which is what [Vance’s] title was,” Keilar remarked to her colleague Dana Bash on Thursday. “But when you dig a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist, someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title ‘combat correspondent’ kind of gives you a different impression. So he may be the imperfect messenger on that.”
Vance quickly took to social media to blast Keilar and CNN for the hit piece.
“Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves,” Vance wrote on X.
“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.”
Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves.
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
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 8, 2024
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Vance clarified, “I served in a combat zone. I never said that I saw a firefight myself, but I’ve always told the truth about my Marine Corps service. That’s the difference.”
Naturally, CNN had nothing to say when asked for a comment by Fox News Digital.
Meanwhile, the heat on Walz keeps intensifying. Critics have resurfaced an old video, conveniently shared by the Harris campaign, where Walz pushes for gun control while boasting, “We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.”
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, who served in the same battalion as Walz, was quick to debunk the governor’s self-aggrandizing claims.
“To most people, that would mean that he was actually in combat, carrying a weapon in a combat zone and getting combat pay and in a dangerous and hostile environment where he is getting shot at,” Behrends told The Ingraham Angle on Wednesday.
Even CNN couldn’t ignore the falsehoods, with one of their correspondents fact-checking Walz and confirming that “there is no evidence” he ever carried weapons in combat, as he had implied.
The truth? Walz was never in an active war zone. He was deployed with the Minnesota National Guard to Italy in 2003 to support Operation Enduring Freedom — not exactly the front lines. He stayed safely in Vicenza, Italy, far from the dangers of Iraq or Afghanistan, until his return in 2004.
Since jumping onto the Democratic ticket, Walz has found himself embroiled in controversy over his exaggerated military credentials. Despite his 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard, his repeated references to himself as a “retired command sergeant major” are misleading at best. According to the Minnesota National Guard, while Walz did serve as a command sergeant major, he actually retired as a Master Sergeant in 2005 because he failed to complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
In a classic case of too little, too late, the Harris campaign quietly updated Walz’s bio on its website after the backlash. What once stated he was a “retired Command Sergeant Major” now reads that he “served as a command sergeant major.”
Walz has also faced scrutiny over the timing of his retirement, with allegations suggesting he retired earlier than planned to dodge a deployment to Iraq. Tom Schilling, another veteran from Walz’s battalion, didn’t mince words: he said Walz “ditched” his soldiers before they were sent to Iraq in 2005.
“We all did what we were supposed to do, we did the right thing,” Schilling said on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime Wednesday. “It’s dishonorable what he did. He left somebody else up to take over his spot. He just ditched us.”
The Harris campaign, attempting damage control, released a statement insisting, “In his 24 years of service, the Governor carried, fired, and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country – in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way.”
But one thing is clear: CNN and the Harris campaign have a lot to answer for when it comes to playing fast and loose with the truth.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
