The Regime Media, now fully assimilated into the K-Hive, are doing their level best to help Minnesota Governor Tim Walz make his damaging Stolen Valor scandal go away, now that he’s come out and addressed the issue (sort of).
The most egregious instance of peo-Harris sycophancy comes, no surprise here, via ABC Whirled News Tonight. Watch as Senior Campaign Correspondent Rachel Scott tries to cover for Walz by obfuscating the exact nature of the Stolen Valor Scandal, and by saying that his vice presidential opponent, Senator JD Vance, saw no combat, either (click “expand” to view transcript):
RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, in his first solo appearance on the campaign trail, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz defending himself against Republican attacks on his 24-year record of military service.
TIM WALZ: I'm going to say it again as clearly as I can, I am damn proud of my service to this country.
SCOTT: Walz spent 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard, while teaching and coaching football, leaving to run for Congress months before his unit deployed to Iraq. In the House, he was the top Democrat on the Veteran Affairs Committee. But since joining the Harris ticket, he has been under relentless attack from Donald Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, who has seized on this moment:
WALZ: We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.
SCOTT: Vance accusing Walz of lying about his service.
JD VANCE: And he has not spent a day in a combat zone. What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you're not.
SCOTT: Today, Walz pushing back at Vance, who served as a Marine in Iraq himself, but didn't see active fighting.
SCOTT: And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person's service record. To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words -- thank you for your service and sacrifice.
The truth is that the scandal isn’t just about that 10-second or so clip about Walz saying he “carried weapons in war”, but about the underlying circumstances of his non-deployment to Iraq.
To wit: Walz saw the warning his unit would deploy, issued a campaign statement saying he’d deploy anyway, accepted a conditional promotion that would’ve obligated deployment, ditched his unit ahead of deployment, and then made continuous statements suggesting or leaving listeners to infer that he deployed.
There are many parallels with Walz’s stolen valor and with the Hunter Biden laptop in terms of how the stories are covered by the media (minus the corporate-government censorship). The underlying details of the scandal are not discussed or covered until the affected party speaks first, and then the coverage is tilted so as to demonize those calling out the bad behavior in question. Viewers are left with the sensation that something bad may have happened but it’s best not to talk about it.
Rachel Scott dishonestly does this by suggesting that Vance didn’t see combat either, as though this were in any way relevant to the facts of the scandal or somehow disqualifies him from calling Walz out. It’s not, and it doesn’t.
NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell did some firefighting on this as well, although not as vigorously as Rachel Scott of ABC. The key quote from her report:
O’DONNELL: At issue, this 2018 clip posted by the Harris campaign where then-Congressman Walz, who was talking about gun restrictions, said he carried weapons in war.
WALZ: And we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.
O’DONNELL: But Walz was never in combat. Trump running mate and Marine veteran JD Vance called that Walz description “scandalous behavior”.
JD VANCE: I'm not criticizing Tim Walz's service. I'm criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain.
O’DONNELL: The Harris campaign said last Friday Walz “misspoke” when he said he carried weapons in war. Walz served 24 years in the National Guard. Today Walz did not address any specifics, but criticized the criticism.
The 2018 clip is not the whole issue. O’Donnell also throws out the “Vance wasn’t in combat” red herring, but was honest in mentioning that Walz did not address any specifics. He hasn’t, and he probably won’t unless the Regime Media develop a case of sudden-onset intellectual curiosity.
CBS’s Robert Costa devoted a few seconds of his roundup to the Walz scandal, choosing instead to focus on the viral Trump-Elon Musk X space and on the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Despite doing about a minute or so of Walz’s speech before AFSCME, PBS didn’t even mention the stolen valor incident.
This story isn’t going away, no matter how much the K-Hive media would love to make it so.
Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their evening network newscasts on Tuesday, August 13th, 2024:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
8/13/24
6:34 PM
DAVID MUIR: In the meantime, we turn now to the race for The White House. Just 84 days now until Election Day. Tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate Governor Tim Walz is now responding to attacks from the Trump campaign, defending his 24-year military record. The other major political headline tonight, the conversation between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, after what Trump said about workers who were threatening a strike. Tonight, the UAW is now hitting Trump and Musk with federal labor charges, because of what was said. ABC's Rachel Scott again tonight.
RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, in his first solo appearance on the campaign trail, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz defending himself against Republican attacks on his 24-year record of military service.
TIM WALZ: I'm going to say it again as clearly as I can, I am damn proud of my service to this country.
SCOTT: Walz spent 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard, while teaching and coaching football, leaving to run for Congress months before his unit deployed to Iraq. In the House, he was the top Democrat on the Veteran Affairs Committee. But since joining the Harris ticket, he has been under relentless attack from Donald Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, who has seized on this moment:
WALZ: We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.
SCOTT: Vance accusing Walz of lying about his service.
JD VANCE: And he has not spent a day in a combat zone. What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you're not.
SCOTT: Today, Walz pushing back at Vance, who served as a Marine in Iraq himself, but didn't see active fighting.
SCOTT: And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person's service record. To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words -- thank you for your service and sacrifice.
SCOTT: Walz today addressing the convention of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, saying Trump and Vance aren't looking out for union workers.
WALZ: The only thing those two guys knows about working people is how to work to take advantage of ‘em. That's what they know about it.
SCOTT: Seizing on Trump's comments about striking workers in a conversation with billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X. Trump praising Musk for not giving in to workers’ demands.
DONALD TRUMP: I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you say, you want to quit? They go on strike. They- I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike. And you say, that's okay, you're all gone. You're all gone. So, every one of you is gone.
SCOTT: Tonight, the head of the United Auto Workers union out with a blistering statement, insisting "When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean. When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean." Walz echoing those words.
WALZ: He called him a scab, just to be clear. That's not name calling, it's an observation in fact, just to be clear. So…
SCOTT: The UAW has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, noting she has walked the picket line with striking workers. And tonight, the union filing federal labor charges against Trump and Musk with the National Labor Relations Board, saying they "advocated for the illegal firing of striking workers." Vice President Kamala Harris has only been in the race for three weeks, and now, she will start to roll out her policy proposals, starting with the economy. Her campaign says she wants to lower costs for middle class families and take on corporate price gouging, all issues she'll certainly address next week at the Democratic National Convention, David.
MUIR: Rachel Scott live in Washington. Rachel, thank you. As always, of course, ABC News will cover the Democratic convention in Chicago next week, beginning Monday in prime time on ABC News Live and, of course, right here on the network.
CBS EVENING NEWS
CBS EVENING NEWS
8/13/24
6:30 PM
MAJOR GARRETT: Donald Trump is working to grab attention back from Kamala Harris. He will hold two campaign stops in battleground states later this week after failing to land any significant rhetorical punches against Harris during a rambling 2-hour interview with Elon Musk. What listeners did get was a 40-minute technical delay and an ear full of talking points from the former president on immigration, foreign dictators, and the economy. Meanwhile, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz was on the trail solo for the first time, pushing for union votes while defending his military record. CBS's Robert Costa has new reporting on how Trump allies want him to take on the Harris-Walz ticket.
ROBERT COSTA: Former President Donald Trump is now using one of his favorite tools: social media, to pull the political spotlight back his way. And he kicked off the effort with an online chat with billionaire Elon Musk.
ELON MUSK I think you should support Donald Trump for president.
DONALD TRUMP: Well, I want to thank you.
COSTA: The two-hour dialogue with Musk was delayed by technical difficulties.
TRUMP: You’ve done an amazing job. You are- you’ve deftinitely got a fertile mind.
COSTA: Trump's allies say he recognizes the impact of being on X, especially as he looks to energize his core supporters, who have been following his social postings since he rose to the presidency in 2016. But there is no guarantee an X exchange will provide a political boost. Sources close to the Trump campaign tell CBS News that privately, some aides and donors are increasingly on edge about Trump's ability to adapt to the new dynamic since president Biden exited the race.
TRUMP: Biden actually did something that was impossible -- both sides hate him. You know, both sides. That was a hard thing to do, unification.
COSTA: And some Trump associates are voicing frustration that more needs to be done to better define Vice President Kamala Harris as a liberal, and sources say some confidantes have urged him to concentrate on policy attacks, not personal ones. Whether that happens remains to be seen, as Trump is ramping up his campaign schedule, with a rally Wednesday in Asheville, North Carolina slated to focus on the economy, before rallying supporters on Saturday in northeastern Pennsylvania, two days before the Democratic National Convention. Harris, meanwhile, is scheduled to unveil her economic agenda this Friday in North Carolina. And today, her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, defended his military record.
TIM WALZ: I'm going to say it again as clearly as I can: I am damn proud of my service to this country.
COSTA: And there is a new standoff with political implications. The United Auto Worker have filed federal charges against Elon Musk and former President Trump after they spoke about striking workers last night. UAW leader Shawn Fain just told me their remarks were intimidating. The Trump campaign has called the suit a political stunt. Major?
GARRETT: Robert, we also have some new details on key speakers, at least initially, announced for the Democratic National Convention.
COSTA: President Biden will have his big moment on Monday evening. So will former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, followed Tuesday by former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton will also be in Chicago. Then the big ones, Governor Walz and Vice President Harris.
GARRETT: Robert Costa, thanks so very much.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
8/13/24
6:31 PM
LESTER HOLT: Good evening and welcome. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz tonight defending his military service after attacks by his Republican opponent JD Vance over how he described his military duties and his decision to leave the National Guard before his battalion deployed to Iraq. Walz, in his first solo campaign appearance since joining the Harris campaign, didn't directly respond to the allegations but cautioned against denigrating another person's service record. The Minnesota Governor and 24-year Army National Guard veteran telling an audience of union workers that he is proud of his service to the country that includes his time in Congress. Walz today thanking Vance, who served in the Marines, and all veterans for their service and sacrifice. Kelly O'Donnell has the story.
KELLY O’DONNELL: Going solo for the first time as Kamala Harris' running mate before public service union workers. Today, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz making his first public response to attacks from the Trump campaign about how Walz talked about his time in the national Guard.
TIM WALZ: I'm going to say it again as clearly as I can. I am damn proud of my service to this country.
O’DONNELL: At issue, this 2018 clip posted by the Harris campaign where then-Congressman Walz, who was talking about gun restrictions, said he carried weapons in war.
WALZ: And we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.
O’DONNELL: But Walz was never in combat. Trump running mate and Marine veteran JD Vance called that Walz description “scandalous behavior”.
JD VANCE: I'm not criticizing Tim Walz's service. I'm criticizing the fact that he lied about his service for political gain.
O’DONNELL: The Harris campaign said last Friday Walz “misspoke” when he said he carried weapons in war. Walz served 24 years in the National Guard. Today Walz did not address any specifics, but criticized the criticism.
WALZ: And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person's service record. To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
HOLT: Kelly, you're also tracking new developments regarding potential cyber threats to both campaigns.
O’DONNELL: Lester, the FBI says it is investigating attempted hacking of both campaigns. Today the Harris campaign said it was notified by the FBI in July that a foreign actor influence operation targeted their computer systems. But they're not aware of any breaches. On the Trump side, the campaign has said Iran was behind the hacking. Lester.
HOLT: All right, Kelly, thanks very much.
