Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, said he has traveled far less to China than he initially emphasized in congressional hearings and media interviews.
“I've been to China dozens of times,” Walz said during a 2016 Congressional hearing. “I've been there about 30 times,” Walz told an agriculture-focused publication that year.
However, a spokesperson for the Harris Waltz campaign recently acknowledged that: minnesota public radio The number was “nearly 15 times as many”.
The amendments come amid growing scrutiny from Republican critics over Walz's potential ties to the People's Republic of China and its ruling Communist Party. Earlier this month, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said: sent a letter The FBI is renewing pressure on the FBI to produce documents related to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) groups and officials with whom Walz has been associated in the past.
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The Harris-Waltz campaign is setting a record for the number of visits to China by Governor Tim Walz. (Maxim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
According to Waltz's own testimony, he first visited China in 1989 during the Tiananmen protests. Ms. Waltz was part of the first American teacher delegation to visit a communist country during this trip. He was a participant in Harvard University's WorldTeach program, which gave Waltz the opportunity to live in China for a year and teach young students.
Waltz seemed to have enjoyed her time in China so much that she continued to travel there with her students every year even after her teaching career moved to the United States. Waltz eventually founded Education Travel Adventures with his wife, Gwen, specializing in student travel to China and other international destinations. The couple even honeymooned in China on a trip in 1993. Walz made the annual trip with his students from 1993 to the early 2000s, before he started running for public office.
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After Mr. Walz won his seat in Congress in 2006, the Walzs disbanded their student travel company. But Mr. Walz's experience in China gave him a point of pride as he, now a vice presidential candidate, sought to join Congress.
Mr. Waltz Campaign site For example, he highlighted his work as a visiting scholar at Macau Polytechnic University, a Chinese university with ties to the Chinese Communist Party at the time.
In a 2006 debate with incumbent Republican Congressman Gil Gutknecht, Walz said, “What we need in education, what we need in the military, and what we need in promoting cultural exchange with China. It's a real solution,” he said again. Focuses on his work in China.
But after Walz became Harris' running mate this year, Minnesota Public Radio began verifying the “dozens” of trips he claimed to have made. In the end, we were only able to confirm that about 12 of them actually occurred.
FOX News Media will air a special live segment of the Vance-Waltz debate.
When news organizations contacted the Harris campaign seeking documentation to prove that Walz's remaining trip had actually taken place, they instead provided no such evidence, instead claiming that Walz had previously traveled to China. He admitted he had exaggerated the number of trips he took, admitting it was actually “closer to that.” It's “up to 15 times” instead of “dozens of times.”
U.S. and Chinese flags fly over the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai on April 25, 2024. (Photo credit: Wang Gang/VCG, Getty Images)
In addition to falsely reporting the number of trips to China, Walz is also accused of falsely reporting his rank in the Army National Guard.
“I'm a retired sergeant major,” Walz claimed while running for Congress in 2006. However, although Walz served in the rank for a short time, he retired too soon to hold the rank. With Walz's retirement, he will no longer be able to deploy to the Middle East, another point of criticism against the vice presidential candidate who has hinted at combat. Meanwhile, Walz and his wife are also alleged to have made false claims about the use of in vitro fertilization.
A former National Guard veteran who reportedly served with Walz told talk show host Megyn Kelly. They say they consider Walz to be a “habitual liar.”
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“He's a habitual liar. He lies about everything. Even about things that don't make sense.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Waltz campaign but did not receive a response by press time.
