Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee, has come under sustained criticism from military veterans and Republicans -- including Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), the GOP vice presidential nominee -- for allegedly embellishing his military service record.

CNN anchor Briana Keilar, who initially called out Vance as an "imperfect messenger" in criticizing Walz and seemed to downplay his own military service, has now walked back her remarks and acknowledged that the senator "served honorably" in a combat zone, according to Fox News.

Vance, among others, had lambasted the "shameful" Keilar for her "slander" of his military occupational specialty, or MOS, as a "combat correspondent" in the U.S. Marine Corps during a deployment to Iraq.

Keilar appears to question Vance's service

Mediaite reported that CNN anchors Dana Bash and Briana Keilar were discussing the critiques from Sen. Vance and others of Gov. Walz's dubious claims about his military service -- including his rank at retirement, the timing of that retirement, and whether he had served in a combat zone.

"At what point did military service become a liability? I also think that JD Vance as a messenger on this may be an imperfect messenger," Keilar said.

"You introduced him as a 'combat correspondent,' which was what his title was," she continued, "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."

"At the same time, then you have this argument going on where it seems to be, 'Did you really serve your country unless you were shot at a lot?' and I just think that’s a very, kind of, gross place to be because there is so much service and sacrifice that goes on in the military," Keilar added. "Here you have them bickering over something which should be assets that they’re both bringing."

Vance's response and Keilar's walk back

Keilar's critique of Vance went viral on social media, and he shared a clip of her remarks and wrote in response, "Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves. When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went. Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie."

Later in response to a since-deleted thread highlighting combat correspondents who were killed or wounded in the line of duty, Vance posted, "It’s easy to sit in the comfort and safety of a @CNN studio and trivialize the service of countless men and women who risked their lives. I served with some of the people mentioned in this thread. I miss them all very much. Shameful of @brikeilarcnn to slander an entire MOS."

Vance certainly was not alone in calling out Keilar for her commentary, and that criticism appears to have prompted the CNN anchor, who is herself married to a U.S. Army Green Beret, to walk back her earlier statements about the Ohio senator and his service as a Marine during the Iraq War.

"JD Vance said he didn’t see any real fighting. He said that in his book 'Hillbilly Elegy,'" she acknowledged, per Mediaite. "I had said I wondered if JD Vance was an imperfect messenger for this because of that, not to question his service, because he served honorably and he served in a combat zone."

The criticism against Walz

As for Gov. Walz, Fox News reported separately that he has come under sustained fire from fellow military veterans and Republicans for appearing to embellish his service record as a member of the Minnesota National Guard and for allegedly abandoning his unit to run for Congress just months before it deployed to Iraq.

He stands accused of falsely claiming for years that he was a "retired command sergeant major" even though records show he never completed the process to achieve that rank and actually retired in 2005 as a master sergeant.

Additionally, as part of his arguments in favor of stricter gun control, Walz has repeatedly claimed that "weapons of war, that I carried in war," should be banned for civilians, though records show that he never served in a war zone and only ever deployed to Italy two years before, according to critics, he "ditched" his unit right before it was deployed to an actual war zone in Iraq.