Van Jones: Must Fix Walz Military Record Controversy

CNN's Van Jones advised the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday to clean up the controversy surrounding Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his military service, Mediaite reported.

Walz has come under criticism that he had embellished his record in the Minnesota National Guard when it was discovered that he did not obtain the rank of sergeant major at the time of his retirement, a claim that is listed on his official biography.

When asked by host John Berman if the Harris campaign needed to address the discrepancy in a bigger way, Jones replied, "Yeah, I think that they should clean it up.

"It's conceivable that he's been loose with his language or said stuff that doesn't, that's not, I mean, there's — people are human beings on these campaign trails and so. But now he's running for a major position.

"If he needs to clean it up, clean it up. The reality is, if he said one or two things or said some things that turned out to be maybe a little bit sloppy, fix it, because he's got a gazillion people who are willing to stand up for his character," he said.

Walz came under scrutiny a second time when it was implied that he had seen time in a war zone even though he retired prior to his battalion's deployment to Iraq.

During his 2018 campaign for governor, Walz made a pitch to ban assault weapons when he told a crowd, "We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war," implying that he had served in combat.

Walz's contradictory statements were snatched up by Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, who accused the Minnesota governor of "stolen valor garbage."

"Do not pretend to be something that you're not," Vance said during a campaign event in Michigan on Wednesday. "I'd be ashamed if I was saying that I lied about my military service like you did."

Vance advised the Democrats to call upon people who have known Walz for years to vouch for his character and move past the military service dispute.

"He's got gay students who are willing to stand up for his character. He's got people he's served with who's willing to stand up for his character.

"If this comes down to a character contest between this ticket and Donald Trump, we're going to win 50 states. So let's just get this cleaned up and move on," he said.