Back in early August of this year, an anchor on CNN suggested that Senator and 2024 Trump running mate JD Vance had, like Kamala’s running mate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, embellished his own military service record. Those comments came as Vance bashed Walz for misrepresenting his service record, saying he carried a rifle in war when really he didn’t.
As background, Walz dropped out of the National Guard before his unit was deployed. Those who served with him were interviewed and skewered him. For example, one of the veterans labeled the governor a “Military impersonator” over his exaggerations of his military service. Another said, “I don’t understand how he could do it morally. He has absolutely no integrity,” addressing Walz’s seemingly disingenuous claims over the years and touting his military service as a testament to his character.
Sen. Vance, in contrast, served in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq, where he served for six months as a combat journalist for the Marine Corps. He did not see any “real fighting,” as he described it in his memoirs, while in Iraq, but was deployed into what was then a highly dangerous country.
In any case, CNN’s Brianna Keilar still attacked Sen. Vance for his record, saying that Sen. Vance “may be an imperfect messenger” to attack Gov. Walz over his military service lies. “[W]e have, as you introduced him, as a combat correspondent, which is what [Vance’s] title was,” Keilar told her CNN colleague Dana Bash.
Continuing, she noted that Sen. Vance didn’t see combat, saying, “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.”
Responding, Sen. Vance skewered her in a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying that she and CNN should be utterly ashamed of her comments. He said, “Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves. 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.”
Commenting on Sen. Vance’s post, people left messages of support for him and attacks against CNN and Keilar, saying things like, “Remember, JD, these people can always sink lower. And they will,” “They are despicable and they know it,” “Vice President Vance, thank you for your service,” and “Do we expect anything else from the fake news CNN?”
Similarly, another commenter on the post added, noting that CNN was up to what many on the right expect it to do, “No shame for @CNN to try and put down @JDVance service in a war zone while trying to get to deflect and cover up for this misinformation that has been spread by @Tim_Walz about his service. Typical.”
