Secretary Pete Buttigieg pushed back at Republicans accusing Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) of misrepresenting his military record with a scathing claim about presidential candidate Donald Trump.
During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, the Secretary of Transportation defended the new Democratic candidate for vice president for comments about his time in the Army National Guard, calling Walz’s words a simple case of clumsy-speaking before he turned the criticism back on the GOP.
“Look, I think in many ways, it’s the exception that proves the rule, If the only thing that they can find about Tim Walz to complain about is to disparage his military record that is clearly honorable,” Buttigieg explained.
Turning his focus towards Republican running mate Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), who, during an earlier interview on the show, accused Walz of “lying about his service for political gain,” Buttigieg said, “There’s something, I think, much bigger at play here.”
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“I watched JD Vance present himself as suddenly very particular about precision in speech and very concerned about honesty,” the cabinet member remarked.
“He’s running with Trump,” Buttigieg reminded viewers. “Somebody who has set records for lying in public life.”
Offering evidence, the secretary pointed to Trump’s rambling hour-long press conference from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, on Thursday.
“He just gave a press conference where fact checkers estimate that he told 162 distortions or lies,” Buttigieg said. “That frankly is impressive in terms of being able to physically do that. It’s like the Olympics of lying.”
NPR published a detailed fact-check on the former president this Sunday, finding that Trump either exaggerated or outright lied over 13 dozens of times.
His mistruths included comments about crime, the economy and the border, as well as a muddled account of a terrifying helicopter emergency from back in 1990.
Watch the Secretary of Transportation’s full comments here:
