JD Vance Responds After CNN Anchor Claims Military Record was Embellished: ‘Disgusting’

On Friday, after CNN Anchor Brianna Keilar implied that Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance was exaggerating his military record, the Senator slammed the media personality for her “disgusting” suggestion.

When discussing comments from the Republican about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, time in the military, the host claimed he “may be an imperfect messenger.”

DISGUSTING: CNN's @brikeilarcnn attacks JD Vance's military service in a despicable effort to defend Tim Walz's stolen valor lies.

Brianna — the difference is that @JDVance never lied about his rank or his service, and when his unit deployed to Iraq, he didn't abandon them. pic.twitter.com/mQ8DMc2XRJ

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 8, 2024

“Because we have, as you introduced him, as a combat correspondent, which is what [Vance’s] title was,” she told her fellow CNN personality Dana Bash on Thursday.

“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.”

Of course, implying someone has embellished their military record is not a small statement.

It would be akin to implying someone’s son is a severe cocaine addict or had ties to the Chinese Communist Party, though of course there’s no reality in the words spoken by Keilar.

As such, Vance held back no words when he thoroughly condemned her words.

“Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves,” Vance wrote on X. “When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went.”

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. https://t.co/kt0oxzZb83

— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 8, 2024

“Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie.”

As Fox News reported:

Vance, who served as a U.S. Marine in Iraq, has taken aim at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as questions have been swirling over how he represented his military service since he was tapped by Vice President Harris as her running mate.

Critics have put a spotlight on an old video incidentally shared by the Harris campaign of Walz pushing for gun control, telling voters, “We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.”

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, who said he was a member of Walz’s battalion, blasted the governor’s comments.

“To most people, that would mean that he was actually in combat, carrying a weapon in a combat zone and getting combat pay and in a dangerous and hostile environment where he is getting shot at,” Behrends told the ‘Ingraham Angle’ on Wednesday.

A CNN correspondent even fact-checked Walz on Wednesday, declaring that “there is no evidence” he carried weapons in combat as the vice presidential candidate appeared to previously imply.

Walz was never in an active war zone. He mobilized with the Minnesota National Guard to Italy on Aug. 3, 2003, to support Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the Minnesota Guard. The battalion supported security missions at various locations in Europe and Turkey, according to the Guard, and Walz was stationed in Vicenza, Italy, until returning to Minnesota in 2004. He did not deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

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The military service of Walz and Vance are undoubtedly different, giving credence to the concerns raised by Vance and thoroughly contrasting the words of the CNN host.

Maybe the talking heads at CNN should learn all the facts before they throw petty comments next time.