The Trump campaign continues on their warpath with stolen valor claims against VP candidate Tim Walz, claiming that he exaggerated his military service in previous public statements.
Today’s exhibit is a letter signed by 50 Republicans attempting to denounce Walz for allegedly exaggerating his service, and for retiring after 24 years of service before his National Guard unit deployed overseas.
Unfortunately, the letter itself from the Trump campaign contains misrepresentations about the military service of 29 out of the 50 signers.
The most blatant example is of course Dr. Ronny Jackson.
Jackson still claims in his bio on Twitter that he is a “Retired Rear Admiral.” This letter from the Trump campaign also claims that he is a retired Rear Admiral. However, Jackson was demoted to Captain by the Navy in 2022 after an investigation revealed he was often drunk on duty, routinely screamed at subordinates, and behaved inappropriately on a number of occasions which constituted conduct unbecoming of an officer.
Also signing the letter was Troy Nehls, who was finally forced to take off the Combat Infantryman’s badge that he wore every day on his lapel despite the fact that the Army stated in writing that he was never entitled to wear it because he never served in combat or in a unit deployed to a combat zone.
Additionally, the Trump Campaign letter also falsely claims that 29 of the signers are retired from the military when they are not. As the organization VoteVets has noted, many of them served only briefly and never achieved retired status, which is a badge of honor for vets that they never achieved. Some, like Rick Scott, served only 29 months – well short of the 20 years needed to retire.
