After a meltdown during the vice presidential debate in which he rambled about being a “knucklehead” when asked about why he said he was in China for the Tiananmen Square protest when, in actuality, he only visited Hong Kong well after the protests and crackdown, Walz was pressed about the same issue during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”
As background, Walz trips and ties to China have become something of a major issue. In fact, on August 16, 2024, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer opened a committee-level, congressional investigation into Gov. Walz’s alleged ties to various Chinese Communist Party officials. Comer, as part of the press surrounding the investigation, noted that Walz has visited China at least 30 times. Further, the investigation was recently expanded, with Comer subpoenaing DHS Secretary Mayorkas and demanding DHS information on Gov. Walz’s ties to the CCP. Additionally, Walz has said, “I was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, when, of course, Tiananmen Square happened.”
So, during the debate, he was pressed on whether he was actually in Hong Kong during the spring of ’89, as records show he didn’t travel to Asia until August of that year. He was asked to explain the discrepancy and had a bit of a meltdown. In response, he rambled about where he grew up and called himself a “knucklehead.”
Beginning, he said, “Well, and to the folks out there who didn’t get at the top of this, look, I grew up in small rural Nebraska, a town of 400, a town that you rode your bike with your buddies till the street lights come on, and I’m proud of that service.” He added, “I joined the National Guard at 17, worked on family farms, and then I used the GI Bill to become a teacher, passionate about it, a young teacher. My first year out, I got the opportunity in the summer of ’89 to travel to China.”
That is when he got to the “knucklehead” comment, saying, “I will be the first to tell you, I have poured my heart into my community, I’ve tried to do the best I can, but I’ve not been perfect, and I’m a knucklehead at times, but it’s always been about that.” Later, when pressed on the matter, he said, “No, just all I said on this was I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I will just, that’s what I’ve said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protest went in. And from that, I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance.”
Walz was pressed on the same matter during his appearance alongside VP Kamala Harris on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” with host Bill Whitaker asking him, “In your debate with JD Vance, you said, ‘I’m a knucklehead (laugh) at times.’ And I think you were referring to the time that you said that you were in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square unrest when you were not.”
Walz admitted, “Yeah.” Whitaker then asked if that was more than just a messup and was really a material misrepresentation, asking him, “Is that kind of misrepresentation, isn’t that more than just being a knucklehead?” Walz said, “I think folks know who I am. And I think they know the difference between someone expressing emotion, telling a story, getting a date wrong by–you–rather than a pathological liar like Donald Trump.”
Whitaker then noted that, really, there is more to the issue. He said, “But I think it comes down to the question of whether—whether you can be trusted to tell the truth.” Walz repeated the dumb “knucklehead” remark, saying, “Yeah. Well– I can– I think I can. I will own up to being a knucklehead at times, but the folks closest to me know that I keep my word.” Watch the interview here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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