Republican U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao, himself a decorated veteran of the U.S. Navy, on Wednesday said the allegations of stolen valor levied at Democratic vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz are “disqualifying” and reveal “hypocrisy” on behalf of the media.
Cao first noted the questions he faced over his military experience, apparently referencing a USA Today article that claimed the Republican incorrectly described his time in combat.
“Because I am a Trump support [and] running against a liberal career politician, a so-called Pentagon correspondent asked me to provide documented evidence of every time I had been outside the wire on a deployment [and] every time I received incoming enemy fire,” Cao (pictured above, right) wrote in a post to the social media platform X.
He noted, “I was asked to provide my medical records [and] grilled about why my brain injury didn’t earn me a Purple Heart.”
Because I am a Trump supporter & running against a liberal career politician, a so-called Pentagon correspondent asked me to provide documented evidence of every time I had been outside the wire on a deployment & every time I received incoming enemy fire.
— Hung Cao (@HungCao_VA) August 7, 2024
Cao continued, “Contrast this with Tim Walz, whose entire political career appears to be based on a lie: that he served in Iraq when he did not.”
Walz is accused of having arranged his retirement from the Army National Guard before his unit deployed to Iraq in 2005.
Despite avoiding service in a combat zone, Walz has repeatedly suggested he carried a weapon while at war and misstated his official rank while campaigning for various political positions.
“He exaggerated his rank,” said Cao, who stated the Democrat then “implied he had seen combat when he never did” in an apparent “effort to disarm law-abiding Americans.”
The Republican Senate nominee said, “All I know for sure is, when I was deployed to Iraq, I never saw Tim Walz there.”
After summarizing the allegations levied at Walz, who was picked by Vice President Kamala Harris to complete her presidential ticket on Monday, Cao questioned why press members have not questioned Walz over the past two decades.
“While it upsets me to read how Walz abandoned his unit before the deployment,” wrote Cao, “it frankly upsets me more that this man spent 20 years as a candidate and in elected office, now seeking the Vice Presidency of the United States, and no one in the media asked him before or since any simple question like: You were supposed to deploy to Iraq, but you quit so you didn’t have to go, and then implied for years that you did. Why?”
You were supposed to deploy to Iraq, but you quit so you didn't have to go, and then implied for years that you did. Why?
— Hung Cao (@HungCao_VA) August 7, 2024
Cao concluded, “The truth is: we all know the answer. And it is disqualifying for future service as our Vice President.”
Most polls tracked by RealClearPolling show Cao losing to incumbent Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) by a significant margin, but one poll conducted after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump suggested the race could be narrowing.
When Kaine was defending President Joe Biden after his poor debate performance in June, Cao suggested Democrats’ loss of momentum would result in Virginia voting Republican for the first time in years.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Hung Cao” by Hung Cao. Photo “Tim Walz” by Tim Walz.
