Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio accused CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Thursday of downplaying his military service while discussing his criticism of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota over stolen valor allegations.
Vance, the Republican party’s nominee for vice president, accused Walz of lying about his military service during a Wednesday campaign event in Wisconsin. Keilar argued on “Inside Politics” that Vance was a “public affairs specialist” during his service in Iraq, making him an “imperfect messenger” for attacking Walz, which prompted Vance to call her comments “disgusting.”
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“At what point did military service become a liability? You know, that’s one of the things that’s sort of on my mind as I look at this,” Keilar, who is married to a Green Beret, said during a panel. “I also think that J.D. Vance, as a messenger on this, may be an imperfect messenger, because we have, as you introduced him, as a combat correspondent, which was what his title was. 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.”
