Walz Says Harris Told Him To Be Careful When He Speaks
Democrat vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has faced criticism for repeatedly misrepresenting aspects of his personal history—something that some have called lying—and it seems that even Democrat presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, is not pleased with his behavior.
During an interview with "Good Morning America" host and former NFL star Michael Strahan, Walz was pressed on his past false claims and how Vice President Harris responded to them. Strahan asked directly about the governor's history of embellishing stories.
"You call yourself a knucklehead because you’ve made some statements that just aren’t true," Strahan said. "In a comment about ‘weapons of war that I carried in war,’ which you didn’t. You said you were in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre when you weren’t. You chalked it up to bad grammar or getting the dates wrong. But your opponents say you lied to make yourself look better. Do they have a point?"
Walz attempted to deflect, citing his decades of public service. “Well, look, 35 years ago, I got the opportunity to be in Hong Kong, be in China, learned a lot about it. Served 24 years in the National Guard... Proud of the service that I have done... I was there in August of ’89. And I think what you see here, you saw it in Minnesota... these things have been very public.”
He further highlighted Minnesota's achievements under his leadership, including being a top state for business and raising children, but avoided directly addressing the inaccuracies in his past statements.
However, Strahan pushed back, questioning whether these missteps could harm public trust. "But it’s one of the things about trust. Some people will say, ‘We can’t trust him to even tell the truth about himself.’ What do you say to them?"
Walz responded by claiming that people know who he is, and that any issues have been exaggerated in the political arena. “Well, I say they know who I am. I know who I am... I think what they see is, if they want to compare that talking about immigration policy or seeing the things that Donald Trump would say... I think people in Minnesota, my students, the folks I’ve worked with, members of Congress, they know who I am.”
But the controversy lies in the fact that Walz had falsely claimed to have been in war zones and near the Tiananmen Square protests—statements that were far more than simply “missing a date.”
When asked how Vice President Harris reacted, Walz admitted she had confronted him about his need for greater caution in his public statements.
“And Vice President Harris, she told you to be a little bit more careful on how you say things?” Strahan asked.
Walz acknowledged the vice president’s advice and explained how his passionate nature sometimes leads him to speak without carefully considering his words. “Well, I did it... start speaking passionately about these gun violence situations... People know in that, and then that gets spun into, ‘Well, he didn’t say something true.’"
He added, “You do need to be a little more thoughtful on it. And I think what you see is just someone who’s been in classrooms a lot... I speak passionately... I think that’s what she’s referring to.”
Governor Walz’s misstatements and Vice President Harris’s disapproval illustrate a tension within their campaign, as they try to maintain credibility with voters amid a highly scrutinized race.