Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio accused CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Thursday of downplaying his military service while discussing his criticism of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota over stolen valor allegations.
Vance, the Republican party’s nominee for vice president, accused Walz of lying about his military service during a Wednesday campaign event in Wisconsin.
Keilar argued on “Inside Politics” that Vance was a “public affairs specialist” during his service in Iraq, making him an “imperfect messenger” for attacking Walz, which prompted Vance to call her comments “disgusting.”
Read: Jen Psaki Argues Ohio Sen. JD Vance Truly Wants To Be Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
“At what point did military service become a liability? You know, that’s one of the things that’s sort of on my mind as I look at this,” Keilar, who is married to a Green Beret, said during a panel. “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.”
“Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves,” Vance posted Thursday on X. “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.”
Read: Trump Agrees To September 10 Debate With Harris Hosted by ABC News
The Harris campaign posted a video on Tuesday of Walz advocating for banning “weapons” that he “carried in war.”
“We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place those weapons are at,” Walz said in the video.
A 2018 letter by two senior non-commissioned officers printed in the West Central Tribune accused Walz of hurriedly retiring from the National Guard when his unit was about to be deployed to Iraq.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.