Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz is showing signs of being a drag on the ticket and a gaping omission by Kamala Harris’s vetting team – led by former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.
Walz was rushed through the vetting process without any apparent red flags despite past criticism of his embellishment of his military service and other missteps from his past.
Will she now be saddled with the liberal Minnesota governor for the rest of the campaign?
Walsh, head of the National Hockey League players’ union, was among three Harris confidantes charged with interviewing and vetting the VP candidates, according to Politico.
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How they could have missed such troubling red flags as Walz falsely claiming he served in combat and retired as a command sergeant major is not a good sign for Harris’ campaign, which this week had to scrub Walz’s bio to correct the misrepresentation.
Another member of Walz’s National Guard unit came forward Friday to criticize the Minnesota governor for bailing on their unit to run for Congress just two months before it was deployed to Iraq.
“Running for Congress is not an excuse,” retired Capt. Corey Bjertness, the chaplain of Walz’s field artillery regiment, told the New York Post. “I stopped everything and went to war. I left my wife with three teenagers and a 6-year-old and I was gone for 19 months.”
Thomas Behrends, who replaced Walz as command sergeant major, told the Post “He had the opportunity to serve his country and said ‘screw you’ to the United States.”
Walz and Harris have yet to hold to a formal news conference since he was named as her running mate – staying in the bunker and avoiding numerous questions about Walz’s military service. They appear to be sticking with the Biden strategy of reading from teleprompters at rallies and fear answering direct questions about the new running mate.
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Walz has also been a staunch supporter of left wing Squad member Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a fierce critic of Israel and a defund the police advocate.
“When I’m having a tough day….I think Ilhan Omar is in Congress, and I smile,” Walz said of the congresswoman.
Somebody who hates America brightens your day?
Walz has also taken more than 30 trips to China, working there as a teacher and later traveling there as a member of Congress and governor.
The Wall Street Journal reported one China trip doubled as a honeymoon for Walz.
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The mounting Walz resume goes against the Harris campaign’s attempt to frame him as a moderate Midwestern everyman father figure. In fact Walz is a classic left winger – further to the left than Harris.
The Trump campaign has already raised enough questions about Walz in an attempt to define him first, before the Harris campaign does it.
How relatable is a guy who put tampons in boys bathrooms and travels to China 30 times and heaps praise on an extremist congresswoman?
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz visit a campaign office Friday in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
ALLSTON, MASS. (WHDH) – Boston police are searching for a gunman who opened fire in Allston Thursday and left one person hurt.
Police responded to a radio call for a person shot in the area of Brighton Avenue at approximately 6:46 p.m. When officers arrived, they said they found a male “juvenile” suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim’s age has not been released.
Boston police said the shooter fled the scene and remains at large. No arrests have been made.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Boston police.
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This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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A State Police trooper who was allegedly found “slumped over” in his car at around 5 a.m. in the South End with an open container of High Noon vodka has been “relieved of duty.”
Mass State Police confirmed to the Herald Wednesday night that Trooper Donovan Preston, 31, arrested for alleged drunken driving in Boston this past weekend, “has been relieved of duty.” Preston’s base pay is listed as $80,213.
A Boston Police report states that police arrived at Herald Street on Saturday to see Preston “stopped in lane 2 of the road” with his brake lights on. The suspect was slumped over “with his eyes closed,” the report adds.
“The officer observed that the car was on and in drive. The officer observed an open container of alcohol (High Noon) in the cupholder,” according to the report. The BPD officer then knocked on the window “for approximately 10 seconds before the suspect lifted his head up.”
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Once he picked his head up, police said he appeared “confused and he looked around. The suspect’s vehicle began to roll to which the officer announced, ‘Boston Police. Open the Door.’ ”
Preston stopped on the three-lane, outbound road with his black BMW in the middle of two lanes.
A State Police spokesman said in an email: “Trooper Donovan Preston was relieved of duty and will be subject to a department discipline process.” All other comments were directed toward the police report.
That report, provided to the Herald Wednesday night, added that State Police were notified after Preston’s arrest.
The can of High Noon was logged into the evidence book.
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This latest OUI case comes as State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley is being investigated in an alleged drunken driving fatal crash in Woburn in 2023 that killed a disabled passenger in a van.
In the Quigley case, his blood alcohol level reportedly tested at a .114 at the hospital following the crash (the legal limit is .08). That detail came out in a wrongful death suit filed by the victim Angelo Schettino’s family.
‘Unless he’s s###-faced, I’m not worried’: Mass State Police dash cam catches aftermath of deadly cruiser crash [+video]
The smashed van at the Woburn crash scene. (MSP body camera video screengrab)
