Minnesota Governor and Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate has faced yet another scandal as a claim he made during a resurfaced clip from a 2014 congressional hearing has come to light. In recent months, Walz has already endured substantial controversy regarding issues such as allegedly lying about his military service, fraud that occurred under his leadership in Minnesota, and alleged ties to China.
During the congressional hearing roughly a decade ago, then-congressman Walz claimed that he was in Hong Kong in 1989 during the infamous Tiananmen Square massacre, which reportedly left many protestors dead and wounded. The claim has reportedly been repeated across the media without being fact-checked. However, local reporting reveals that Walz was in Nebraska during the period of time he claimed to be in Hong Kong.
“I was just going to teach high school in Foshan in Guangdong, and was in Hong Kong in May of ‘89,” Walz said during the congressional hearing. “And as the events were unfolding, several of us went in. And I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.” He added, “There was a large number of, especially European, I think, very angry that we would still go after what had happened, but it was my belief at that time that the diplomacy was going to happen on many levels.”
Walz continued, “Certainly people to people, and the opportunity to be in a Chinese High School at that critical time seemed to me to be really important. And it was a very interesting summer, to say the least. Because if you recall, as we moved in that summer and further on in the news blackouts and things that went on, you certainly can’t black out news from people if they want to get it. And I can still clearly remember the fall when The Berlin Wall fell and what was happening.”
In contrast to Walz’s claims, local news reports from May 1989 show him touring a National Guard facility when he claimed he was in Hong Kong. Reportedly, Walz didn’t depart for the Asian country until August of that year, months after the Tiananmen Square incident. Minnesota Public Radio’s APM Reports first covered the discrepancy in Walz’s claims and media reports on Monday.
Apparently the Walz campaign was unable to substantiate Walz’s prior claims stating it was “was unable to produce documentation to back up Walz’s statement that he was there during the uprising.” Alpha News tweeted about the reports, writing, “Tim Walz said he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre. He was home in Nebraska. It is but the latest example of Walz inflating his resume and exaggerating parts of his biography.”
The American Tribune reported on other scrutiny into Tim Walz record regarding his alleged “extensive” ties to China which have raised concerns. Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) recently wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, requesting that the agency provide any pertinent documents surrounding Walz.
“It has come to the Committee’s attention that Governor Walz has longstanding connections to CCP-connected entities and officials that make him susceptible to the Party’s strategy of elite capture, which seeks to co-opt influential figures in elite political, cultural, and academic circles to influence the United States to the benefit of the communist regime and the detriment of Americans,” Comer wrote.
Watch Walz’s 2014 claim:
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