Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has exaggerated his National Guard service for years, according to a report based on testimony from people who served with him. Questions also remain about Walz’s long history of ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). And new questions are emerging about the investment practices of Minnesota’s state pension fund, which Walz oversees.
“The Drill Down” podcast host Peter Schweitzer and co-host Eric Eggers examine “Burning Questions” in the latest episode.
“Tim Waltz has been a frequent visitor to China,” Schweitzer says. “That in itself is not a big deal. He brought American students to China on a student exchange program. The problem here is that the program was actually funded by the Chinese. And of course, when I say funded by the Chinese, it’s not a nonprofit. It’s run by the Chinese Communist Party.”
“And we’ve had some very interesting comments from students who have participated in the program. For example, one student reported in local media that Walsh told the students to tone down their ‘Americanness’ while they were in China, which seems odd.”
As Schweitzer and the Government Accountability Institute have shown in their bestselling book, Blood Money, China’s “war of division” relies on preying on America’s elite and intimidating Chinese nationals studying or working in the United States.
“In 2019, as governor of Minnesota, he spoke to a high-profile group. [Chinese government] “When he took office as governor in January 2019, he actually invited Chinese diplomats over, which is odd and kind of weird,” Schweitzer continued.
Schweitzer and Eggers also point out that there are Chinese government agencies in the United States that they call “secret police stations” whose purpose is to monitor and police the activities of Chinese nationals in the U.S. The FBI knows of eight secret police stations, one of which is in Minneapolis.
But the state’s pension fund’s investments have received less attention since Walz became governor and then director of the fund. In the past three years alone, the state’s pension fund has lost 100% of its More than $900 million in pension funds in ChinaThat number has increased 70% since Walz took office. At a time when other state-owned investment funds are divesting China is driving Uighurs out of the country due to the business environment and China’s human rights violations against the indigenous Uighur people.
Waltz is not a wealthy man and does not appear to have sought to personally enrich himself through his ties to China, Schweitzer noted. “So the question comes down to motivation: Why is he doing this with China when he’s not being paid? … Is he aligned with China? Does he have an attachment to China for this collectivist approach?”
“Waltz criticized police brutality in the US after the George Floyd riots, but he didn’t criticize China,” Schweizer said.
Schweitzer and Eggers questioned why Walz hasn’t simply said, “I made a mistake and I apologize,” regarding his National Guard service and admitted that he misrepresented it for two decades.
“To me, he’s stubborn and doesn’t want to address the issue. To me, it’s a character issue. It’s also a question of arrogance. It’s almost like he feels he deserves this,” Schweitzer said.
GAI continues to investigate these stories for future episodes. “We’re staying on top of this story. We continue to investigate many people on both sides, which is important because Tim Waltz is not being investigated and the media definitely won’t do this job,” Schweitzer says.
For more articles by Peter Schweitzer, Drill Down Podcast.
