Insider blows the lid off of Tim Walz National Guard scandal
An insider just made a big revelation about the National Guard scandal involving Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).
The insider, according to the Washington Examiner, is former Minnesota National Guard Command Sgt. Doug Julin.
Julin was actually Walz's superior when Walz was in the National Guard.
Before we get to what Julin revealed, we'll catch you up to speed regarding the scandal.
The details
Ever since Walz was named Harris's running mate, he has been facing significant scrutiny for, among many other things, the time he spent in the National Guard.
The initial criticism was actually a "stolen valor" accusation. In other words, Walz has been accused of embellishing his time with the National Guard, making it appear as though he received certain honors that he did not.
Reports indicate that Walz and other Democrats, for years, referred to him as a "retired command sergeant major," when, in actuality, he never achieved this rank. In fact, the Harris campaign was also referring to Walz as a "retired command sergeant major" until just recently, when the truth came out.
But, this was only part of the scandal. It has also been claimed that Walz purposely retired from the National Guard in order to avoid being deployed to Iraq in the early 2000s.
It was specifically regarding this claim that Julin weighed in.
"Backdoor process"
Julin made two big claims about Walz's retirement from the National Guard. Julin did so during a recent interview with CNN.
First off, it would appear that Walz knew that he and his battalion - the First Brigade 34th Infantry Division combat team - were going to be deployed to Iraq six months before their deployment.
In addition to this, Julin revealed that Walz used a "backdoor process" to bypass his immediate superior in order to get his retirement approved. And, Walz did this, according to Julin, after he told Julin that he would go with the battalion to Iraq.
Julin said:
The other issue that came out of this was that the individual that approved this was two levels higher than myself in the enlisted corps and should have had Tim Walz come back to me and discuss why he was going forward or not going forward now after he already told me he was going forward.
If this is all true, it adds a couple more layers on to this scandal.