On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” co-host Amna Nawaz argued that there was “no evidence” behind the Trump-Vance campaign’s criticisms of 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz (D), the governor of Minnesota, about his military record, including that Walz had allegedly carried a weapon in a “war,” a criticism the Harris-Waltz campaign acknowledged was legitimate, calling the remark a “gaffe.”
In the segment, recorded before the Harris-Waltz campaign released its statement, Nawaz said:[W]We’ve also seen Sen. Vance (R-Ohio) focus on Tim Walz’s military record, which is a new attack from Republicans. We know Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard before retiring, and we’ve heard Vance attack him in this way on occasion.”
She then played a video in which Vance talks about Waltz leaving his unit before going to Iraq.
Nawaz then said, “Eliana, this is reminiscent of the Swift Boat attack against John Kerry in 2004. We know that the person behind this attack is the same Chris LaCivita who is now running the Trump campaign. There is no evidence for what they are saying now so why would they carry out such an attack?”
Eliana Johnson, editor in chief of the Washington Free Beacon, responded: “I think there’s certainly evidence for what they’re saying, but I’ll break it down into two parts. One is the substantive issue, which I think there’s no question that Tim Walz has inflated his resume, and the second is his military…”
Nawaz then interjected, asking: “How? What do you mean exactly?”
Johnson continued: “[T]The timing of his retirement is questionable and I think it will take some time before we can talk about that timeline. … He had been warned that they would be called up. And he press release “If I was called to serve on his campaign, I would be obligated to comply. He did not. It’s clear that he has exaggerated this and made it part of his career.”
to follow Ian Hanchett’s Twitter Ian Hanchett
