Tim Walz Grilled on ‘Good Morning America’

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz appeared on Good Morning America on Friday and faced a series of questions on a variety of hot-button issues affecting his state, the nation and, some say, his credibility.

The interview, conducted by anchor Michael Strahan in Walz’s home state, covered topics ranging from the Democratic vice presidential candidate’s comments about abolishing the Electoral College to his remarks about the military and Hong Kong. Walz, who has been at Minnesota’s helm since 2019, was questioned about discrepancies regarding things he has said publicly.

“You call yourself a knucklehead because you’ve made some statements that just aren’t true,” Strahan said in a clip posted to Alex Thompson’s X, formerly Twitter, page. “In a comment about ‘weapons of war that I carried in war,’ which you didn’t. You said you were in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, when you weren’t. You kind of chalked it up to bad grammar or getting the dates wrong. But your opponents say you lied to make yourself look better. Do they have a point?”

Walz put the discrepancies down to him being passionate in the moment about the topic at hand and that he is someone who wears his emotions on his sleeve.

“Look, 35 years ago, I got the opportunity to be in Hong Kong, to be in China,” Walz said. “I learned a lot about it, served 24 years in the National Guard. Passionately, in an instance, talking about gun violence in schools….Proud of the service I’ve done, proud to be a teacher in that classroom. Proud to have been very public all these years. And owning it when I said I was there in August of ’89.”

Walz countered the criticism by highlighting positive results and statistics during his tenure as governor of Minnesota and touched on foreign policy and “China’s human rights record,” saying he and Vice President Kamala Harris weren’t going to “pick dictators on speed dial,” seemingly referring to former President Donald Trump, Harris’ presidential election opponent.

Strahan brought the conversation back to his original question, pressing Walz by emphasizing that it was about “trust,” and “some people saying ‘he can’t even tell the truth about himself.’ What do you say to them?”

Walz responded by saying that they know who he is, and so does he, and that things get “spun” in a political environment.

On the subject of the Electoral College, Walz was asked his stance after earlier in the week supporting eliminating the system, saying: “It needs to go.”

As reported by Good Morning America, this was in contrast to a Harris campaign official previously responding to an ABC News reporter asking if Harris shared this view, saying: “Getting rid of the Electoral College is not a campaign position.”

However, in the interview, Walz referenced Harris’ views on the Electoral College, saying she had been “very clear” on this and that now “my position is the campaign’s position.”

Reactions to the interview on social media have been mixed with some calling out perceived contradictions made by Walz.

This marks more media difficulties for the Democrats this week, following Harris’ tough questions during her 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, when she was heavily criticized by many and accused of delivering “word salad” in her responses.

Newsweek reached out to Walz’s office via email on Friday for comment.