During a recent interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) fact-checked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) regarding his military retirement and subsequent deployment to Iraq.
Vance accused Walz of lying about not knowing his unit would be deployed when he chose to retire, asserting that senior military officers had indicated they were aware of the impending deployment as early as fall 2004.
He criticized Walz’s honesty rather than his military service, highlighting that Walz filed his election paperwork shortly before the National Guard announced a possible mobilization.
“On the question of when he left the National Guard, he filed his election paperwork, February 10th, 2005,” Bash said. “That was a month before the National Guard even announced that it was possible that they would deploy to Iraq and it ended up being two months — he retired two months before they actually got the paperwork.”
“But, on CNN last night, Dana, one of the people who was actually in charge of him said they knew they were going to deploy to Iraq in February of 2004, excuse me, fall of 2004,” Vance said. “So, he knew he was going to Iraq, he decided to quit, to retire, whatever word you want to use.”
“Whatever, because he wanted to run for Congress,” Vance added. “He lied about that. He said that when he decided to retire, he did not know he was going to Iraq. That is another untruth, as even his senior military officer said. So again, I’m not criticizing the service, I’m criticizing the dishonesty.”
Reports have shown that Walz retired from the National Guard before his unit was deployed to Iraq, and he had previously held the rank of master sergeant, not the command sergeant major as he had suggested.
