Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, responding to growing accusations of "stolen valor" concerning running mate Tim Walz's military service record, said she praises him for serving in the National Guard.
"Listen, I praise anyone who has presented themselves to serve our country, and I think that we all should," Harris said Thursday, responding to a reporter who asked her to comment on criticism that the Minnesota governor "deserted his own troops, deserted his own colleagues," reports The New York Post.
Walz, after 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard, retired in May 2005 before his battalion deployed to Iraq.
He said at the time he was retiring to run for Congress. He ended up defeating incumbent Republican Gil Gutknecht while making his opposition to the war in Iraq the center of his campaign.
Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, has led the criticism against his Democratic Party counterpart, accusing Walz of embellishing his service record.
"He said we shouldn't allow weapons that I used in war to be on America's streets," Vance said in Michigan, referring to a clip from 2018 showing Walz arguing about gun control.
"Well, I wonder. Tim Walz, when were you ever in war?" Vance has said.
Meanwhile, the Harris-Walz campaign this week tweaked Walz's biography on its website. Walz had served as a command sergeant major but reverted to the rank of master sergeant when he retired as he had not finished the required coursework for the higher rank with the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
The site now does not say that he retired as a command sergeant major, only that he had served as one.