Sen. J.D. Vance fired back at CNN after the anchor suggested he was exaggerating his own military record as the Republican vice presidential nominee harshly criticized his Democratic rival’s record.
Sen. Vance (R-Ohio), a former Marine who served in Iraq, has been attacking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz since being tapped as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate amid questions about how he has presented his military record.
But according to CNN’s Brianna Keilar, Vance “may be an imperfect communicator” on this issue.
“As you mentioned, we’ve hired him as a combat correspondent. [Vance’s] “His title,” Keilar told CNN colleague Dana Bash on Thursday, “but if you dig a little deeper, he’s a public relations professional who’s never been in combat. Certainly the title ‘combat correspondent’ gives off a different kind of vibe. So maybe he’s an imperfect communicator in that respect.”
Vance criticized Keillor and CNN on social media.
“Brianna, this is horrible. You and your entire network should be ashamed of yourself,” Vance wrote to X. “I got the call to go to Iraq and I went. Tim Waltz said he had a gun in the war. Did he really? No, that’s a lie.”
“I’ve served in combat zones. I’ve never said I actually saw a firefight, but I’ve always told the truth about my service in the Marine Corps. That’s the difference,” Vance told reporters on Wednesday.
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Critics have focused on an old video accidentally shared by the Harris campaign in which Walz, a gun control advocate, tells voters, “I can guarantee you that the weapons of war that I carried in war will not be anywhere else.”
Here’s an update on vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s time in the military.
Retired Army Sergeant Major Thomas Behrens, who said he was a member of Waltz’s battalion, slammed the governor’s comments.
“For most people, that would mean he has actually been in combat, carried a weapon in a combat zone, received combat pay and taken fire in a dangerous, hostile environment,” Behrens told “The Ingram Angle” on Wednesday.
A CNN correspondent fact-checked Walz on Wednesday, asserting there is “no evidence” that the vice presidential nominee carried a weapon during the fight, as he had previously suggested.
Waltz has never been in a combat zone. He deployed to Italy on Aug. 3, 2003, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the Minnesota National Guard. The battalion supported security missions in various locations in Europe and Turkey, and Waltz was stationed in Vicenza, Italy, before returning to Minnesota in 2004, according to the Guard. He has never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Vance’s opponent has been at the center of controversy since becoming the Democratic nominee. Waltz, who served in the Minnesota National Guard for 24 years, has repeatedly referred to himself as a “retired master sergeant,” which is inaccurate. According to the Minnesota National Guard, Waltz served as a master sergeant but “retired with benefits as a sergeant in 2005 for failure to complete additional courses at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”
In response to the uproar, the Harris campaign on Thursday updated the wording of Waltz’s biography on its website. The biography initially described Waltz as a “retired master sergeant” but was updated to say he “served as a master sergeant.”
Walz has also faced criticism over the timing of his retirement, amid allegations that he retired early to avoid a deployment to Iraq.
“They abandoned their soldiers” before they were deployed to Iraq in 2005, said veteran Tom Schilling, who served in the same battalion as Waltz.
“We all did what we had to do. We all did the right thing,” Schilling said Wednesday on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime.” “What he did was disgraceful. He gave his position to somebody else. He abandoned us.”
Harris’ campaign released a statement saying, “During his 24 years as Governor, the Governor has carried, fired and trained others in the use of countless weapons of war. Governor Walz will never disparage or undermine Americans’ service to this country. In fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. That’s the American way.”
Fox News’ Alexa Mutebellis, Jennifer Griffin and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
