Gov. Tim Walz faces more questions about his relationship with the truth after a new report shows he falsely claimed he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.
It’s a topic that is expected to come up during the highly anticipated first – and only – vice presidential debate that begins at 9 pm ET on CBS.
“I was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, when, of course, Tiananmen Square happened,” Walz said in a radio interview in June 2019. uncovered on CNN on Tuesday.
Walz repeated his claim that he was in Hong Kong during the protests during a 2009 congressional hearing.
“Twenty years ago today, I was in Hong Kong preparing to go to Foshan to teach at Foshan No. 1 Middle School,” he said on June 4, 2009.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz reportedly misstated his claim that he was in Hong Kong during the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.
“Seeing what happened at the end of the day on June 4 was something many of us will never forget, we are committed to never forget, and bearing witness and telling the story accurately is absolutely crucial for any nation moving forward.”
Minnesota Public Radio First reported Monday that Walz failed to provide documentation that he was actually in the country during the protest, followed by a Washington Free Beacon article with more details about his false claim.
A local Nebraska news published At the time he noted that Walz had plans to leave to teach in China in early August, which would have put him in the country much later than he claims.
The Trump campaign dubbed Walz ‘Tiananmen Tim’ on social media Monday night, just hours before the vice presidential debate, and criticized him for making a baseless claim.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz greets attendees at the tailgate of Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In this file photo from June 5, 1989, a Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing’s Changan Boulevard. in Tiananmen Square.
CNN also reported that Walz has exaggerated the number of trips to China. In 2016, he claimed to have visited China “about 30 times” and at a congressional meeting on China he claimed to have visited Hong Kong “dozens and dozens and dozens of times.”
But Harris’ campaign told CNN that the number of Walz’s trips to China was “probably closer to 15.”
Walz’s misrepresentations about his foreign trip only increase questions about his comments throughout his political career, including misstatements about his rank in the National Guard and his and his wife’s use of in vitro fertilization to conceive. to his daughter.
Walz has dodged questions about his military service, including his false demand that he carried ‘weapons of war, which I carried in war’ even though he had never been sent to a war zone.
“My record speaks for itself, but I think as people get to know me, I speak like them,” Walz said in an interview with CNN in August, dodging the question. “I speak frankly, I wear my emotions on my sleeve.”
He attributed his errors to imprecise grammar.
“My wife, the English teacher, tells me that my grammar is not always correct,” he added.