Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz suggested during a Friday interview that he keeps lying about his past and misspeaking because he wears his “emotions on [his] sleeve” and is passionate.
Walz joined ABC News’ Michael Strahan on Friday as a part of a friendly media blitz the Harris campaign is sending him over the next few days. Strahan pressed Walz about saying he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre when he wasn’t and the vice president’s desire for her running mate to be more careful with how he says things. (RELATED: ‘Nervous As Hell’: Bewildered Walz Emerges From Media Quarantine Only To Get Shelled By Vance)
“You call yourself a knucklehead but you made some statements that just aren’t true. And the 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 kinda chalked it all up to bad grammar or getting the dates wrong,” Strahan began, asking Walz if his opponents are right about him lying to make himself look better.
“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. Passionately, in an instance talking about gun violence in schools — on an instance there,” Walz started to answer, seemingly referring to when he committed a gaffe and said he was “friends with school shooters” during the vice presidential debate.
“Proud of the service that I have done. Proud to be a teacher in that classroom. Proud to have been very public all these years. And — and owning it when I — you know, when I said I was there in August of ’89. I think what you see here, you saw it in Minnesota. Been elected eight times here. These things have been very public for folks here. They see the results of things that we’ve passed,” Walz continued.
Strahan continued to press Walz on his military falsehoods and lies about his trips to China, asking the governor to respond to people who feel they cannot trust him because of all past false statements. CNN previously reported that while Walz had claimed to have been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, he was actually not there. Walz first responded to the report during the vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, calling himself a “knucklehead” and explaining that despite the lies, the people of Minnesota know who he is.
The governor was also caught lying about his time in the National Guard. After Walz joined the vice president on the ticket, the Harris campaign shared a 2018 video of the governor pushing for gun control, saying that “those weapons of war, that I carried in war” should stay only in combat. Critics, however, pointed out that the governor never saw combat. (RELATED: ‘That’s Shameful’: JD Vance Rips Tim Walz For Dipping From National Guard Before Iraq Deployment)
“Well, I — I said they know who I am. I know who I am. I know the work that I’ve done. I know things get — get spun in a political environment, but 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 there’s a big difference than — than missing a date when you’re there and, again, spinning something for political reason. I’m very clear who I have been,” the governor answered before Strahan again grilled him on his misspeaking.
“And Vice President Harris said that she told you to be a little more careful on how you say things,” Strahan followed up, referring to a previous interview with “60 Minutes” where Walz said one of the disagreements he and Harris have had since hitting the campaign trail is over his tendency to gaffe and be caught in lies.
“Yeah. Well, I did it, you know, even the other day of just speaking passionately about these gun violence situations and meeting with these survivors. I sat in the room with the Sandy Hook folks. I — a friend of David Hogg, who’s been an activist on this. People know in — that — and then it gets spun in that ‘he didn’t say something true.’ It was very clear that I was talking about these veterans,” Walz said, appearing to again discuss his “school shooters” gaffe on the vice presidential debate stage.
“Very clear that I wear — you know, my — I wear my emotions on my sleeve. And I do think in these positions, whether it be governor or being Vice President of the United States, you do need to be collect — careful. You do need to be a little more thoughtful on it. And I think that — what you see is someone who’s been in classrooms a lot. I have been around coaching a lot. I speak passionately and I — I think doing that, you need to combine the two and I think that’s what she’s — she’s referring to,” he finished.
In the weeks before joining Harris on the ticket, Walz appeared on MSNBC, PBS, CNN and Fox News a total of ten times, the Daily Caller previously reported. But after the vice president announced her running mate, Walz’s media appearances declined drastically as he largely stuck to some local interviews.
.@michaelstrahan sits down with Gov. Tim Walz for an exclusive interview with just over three weeks until the election.
Tune in Friday morning only on @GMA. pic.twitter.com/xQCw0foxvm
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 10, 2024
Strahan also grilled Walz on his previous statements at a fundraiser where he said that the electoral college “needs to go.” After the comments, the Harris campaign said that Walz’s statement is not a view of the campaign.
“I have spoken about it in the past, that [Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has] been very clear on this, and the campaign. And my position is the campaign’s position,” Walz said during his ABC News interview.