CNN host Michael Smerconish said Friday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s big lie about his 1995 DUI arrest is a big deal — perhaps an even bigger deal than Walz’ stolen valor issue.
As previously reported, in 1995 Walz, then a teacher, was clocked driving 96 mph in a 55 mph zone. The police officer who pulled him over proceeded to test his sobriety. He failed and was taken to jail. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of reckless driving.
When running for Congress years later in 2006, his campaign blatantly lied to the media about what had transpired that night.
“[I]n 2006, his campaign repeatedly told the press that he had not been drinking that night, claiming that his failed field sobriety test was due to a misunderstanding related to hearing loss from his time in the National Guard,” according to CNN. “The campaign also claimed that Walz was allowed to drive himself to jail that night. None of that was true.”
Holy crap, @Tim_Walz falsely claimed his DUI — which was for driving 96 in a 55 with a .128 BAC — was because he had hearing loss from his national guard service when he ran for Congress in 2006. Per @cnn of all places. Total fraud and liar: https://t.co/nQFyXv2bxq
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 15, 2024
Appearing on CNN this Friday, Smerconish suggested this lie is an even bigger campaign liability than accusations of Walz’s stolen valor.
“Walz spoke sloppily, should not have represented a role that he had as having been a permanent role when it wasn’t,” he said of the military service issue. “But the DUI story is indefensible.”
Why? Partly because Smerconish suspects that Walz himself was behind the DUI lie.
“You and I know a thing or two about congressional campaigns — they’re very small, they’re very tight,” the CNN host said. “There’s usually like a paid campaign manager and a paid spokesperson. And that’s it. So the idea that this came from his spokesperson and it didn’t come from him — I don’t buy it.”
“And the idea that he tried to lay it off on a hearing disability from the National Guard service through the spokesperson while denying things that [CNN’s] investigation proved to be inaccurate, I think is a real issue for him,” Smerconish added.
“In the end, it’s going to be about the top of the ticket, but to me, the DUI is bigger than the stolen valor allegation. Not because of the drinking, but because of the lying,” he concluded.
Listen:
CNN host Kasie Hunt, a known leftist, then asked how Walz’s current campaign — he’s running for vice president alongside presidential candidate Kamala Harris — can best deal with this scandal.
“Full-on,” Smerconish responded before going on to question Harris’ vetting process.
“It makes me wonder whether in the vetting process — maybe this is as a result of the expedited nature of her ascendancy as the candidate — but it makes me wonder how much they really knew about it,” he said.
“I’m sure they knew of the DUI, but it makes me wonder whether they were aware of all the underlying facts,” he added.
All this comes days after The Washington Post published a lightweight fact-check pushing back on Walz’s claim — linked to the stolen valor scandal — that he’d carried “weapons of war … in war.”
Walz, the current governor of Minnesota, made the claim in 2018 while arguing for gun control.
“We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at,” he said at the time during what appeared to be a campaign speech, as seen in video posted on X.
Regarding Walz’s claim that he’d carried “weapons of war … in war,” the Post’s designated fact-checker had the decency to admit that this was a lie, though he did try to sugarcoat the lie.
“There is no evidence that Walz served in combat — and he has not claimed he did,” fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote. “He did receive ribbons for proficiency in sharpshooting and hand grenades, according to military records obtained through an open records request by MPR News.”
“Assessment: Walz’s language was sloppy and false. He did carry weapons of war — just not in war,” the fact-checker concluded.
In other words, it appears Walz lied … AGAIN!
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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