JD Vance Fires Back Against CNN Anchor's 'Disgusting' Attempt to Downplay His Military Service
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
GOP Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Donald Trump’s running mate, called out CNN anchor Brianna Keilar’s attempt to downplay his combat military service as a U.S. Marine in Iraq.
Keilar is apparently trying to run cover for Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who Vance and many others have accused of “stolen valor” in describing his service in the National Guard.
Walz left his Minnesota Guard unit in 2005 to run for Congress, despite being in a top leadership position, just months before his troops deployed to combat in Iraq.
Keilar said regarding the controversy: “I also think that J.D. Vance, as a messenger on this, may be an imperfect messenger. Because we have, as you introduced him as a combat correspondent, which was what his title was.”
“But when you dig a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist. Someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title ‘combat correspondent’ kind of gives you a different impression. So he may be the imperfect messenger on that,” she contended.
Talk about being totally uninformed.
Vance responded to her ridiculous statement on X: “Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves. When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went. Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie.”
Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves.
When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went.
Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie. https://t.co/kt0oxzZb83
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 8, 2024
“It’s easy to sit in the comfort and safety of a @CNN studio and trivialize the service of countless men and women who risked their lives,” he added in another post.
Both CNN and The New York Times seem to want to downplay Vance’s war experience, with the latter saying he was not a “frontline combatant.”
Of course, the future senator still likely was very much in harm’s way, given over 75 percent of injuries sustained by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were caused by improvised explosive devices commonly placed along roadsides, according to a 2010 study published by the National Institutes of Health.
Dan Lamothe, who covers military affairs for The Washington Post, wrote on X, “I can say that while combat correspondents (the service’s name for enlisted public affairs personnel) are not combat arms, they’re not all inside the wire, either. While embedded, I saw them on foot patrols, in convoys, and on helicopters. There was danger in all those places.”
“Inside the wire” means working on a secure post, and of course, even then there are dangers in a combat zone, such as improvised explosive devices getting there, mortar fire, etc.
There are a lot of fair questions to ask about JD Vance right now. But his deployment, by all accounts so far, was straightforward. And not every Marine with his former job comes home alive.
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) August 9, 2024
“There are a lot of fair questions to ask about JD Vance right now. But his deployment, by all accounts so far, was straightforward. And not every Marine with his former job comes home alive,” Lamothe pointed out.
Vance did hit Walz for stolen valor noting, “He said we shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be [used] on America’s streets.”
“Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? What was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq, and he has not spent a day in a combat zone?” former President Donald Trump’s running mate said.
CNN’s Tom Foreman must be given credit for highlighting the problem with how Walz described his military service. On more than one occasion he “has used language that has suggested that he carried weapons in a fighting situation,” the CNN correspondent said.
“There is a difference between being in a combat area, being involved at a time of war, and actually being in a position where people are shooting at you,” he continued.
“There is no evidence at any time Gov. Walz was in a position of being shot at, and some of his language could easily be seen to suggest that he was, so that is absolutely false when he said that about gun rights out there,” Foreman concluded.
Woah. CNN fact checks Tim Walz for lying about carrying weapons in war
“There is a difference between being involved in a time of war, and actually being in a position where people are shooting at you… that is absolutely false”
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) August 7, 2024
One clip the CNN reporter was likely referring to was shared by Harris’ campaign account on Aug. 6 on social media platform X. In it, Walz can be heard telling an audience, “I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt.
“I’ve been voting for common-sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can do CDC research. … We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are [allowed].”
Gov. @Tim_Walz: I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war,… pic.twitter.com/3IVaXi2RP2
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 6, 2024
Walz never served in war, or even anywhere near a combat zone, USA Today reported.
He was in the National Guard during a time of war, having enlisted in 1981 and retired in 2005.
“Walz deployed with the Minnesota National Guard in August 2003 to Vicenza, Italy, as part of support for the US war in Afghanistan, according to a Minnesota Guard spokesperson. He did not deploy to Afghanistan or Iraq or a combat zone as part of his service,” CNN said.
Perhaps Keilar was trying to downplay the truth in CNN’s own fact check of Walz.
Regardless, her attempt to try to cheapen Vance’s military service is shameful.
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