Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) of dodging his military service and misleading the country about his veteran status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vance made\u00a0the statement after a reporter asked him about Walz’s attempt to frame him as a member of the elite who attended an Ivy League school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I came from a family where nobody in my family had ever gone to law school. I grew up in a poor family. The fact that Tim Walz wants to turn it into a bad thing, that I actually worked myself through college, through law school and made something myself \u2013 to me, that’s the American dream. And if Tim Walz wants to insult it, I think that’s frankly pretty bizarre,” Vance said before launching into an attack on Walz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As a marine who served his country in uniform when the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do it, and I did it honorably,” he said. “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him, a fact that he’s been criticized for aggressively by a lot of the people that he served with.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vance continued, “I think it’s shameful to prepare your unit to go to Iraq, to make a promise that you’re going to follow through, and then to drop out right before you actually have to go.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Vance honed in on recent comments from Walz on gun control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“He said, ‘We shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on America’s streets.’ Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this? 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? What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen Valor garbage,” Vance said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Vance also urged reporters to hold Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris accountable. Harris has not taken questions from the press in the 17 days since President Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n