In yet another very bad look for Democrats, Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) got caught and pressed in lies about his military service record by CNN anchor Kate Bolduan, who argued that he has misrepresented his service record. Such came when Gov. Moore appeared on Bolduan’s CNN News Central on Thursday, June 11.
As background, the allegations that he has lied about his military record and what he has said about his time in the military come from the Baltimore Sun, and those are what Bolduan used to press him. Gov. Moore, freaking out, declared that the accusations he is facing, particularly the claim that he has used his military service for personal gain, are “slanderous.”
Bolduan, describing the allegations, began, “The way they put it is, ‘for 20 years Moore has repeatedly told versions of his story that do not match the record.’ Things that they have gone through are about receiving a Bronze Star and not — you eventually did receive a Bronze Star. Padding your resume for a White House fellowship in 2006.”
Continuing, she went on to note that the Baltimore Sun accused him of “Mischaracterizing receiving a combat action badge.” She went on to note that the accusations also included, “How long — how you got to — how long you served in Afghanistan. Misstating that you earned the top leadership award at the MP officer basic course. They report the Army did not have record of that.”
She then noted that there was much else that the Baltimore Sun claimed besides, telling him, “And there is more.” Asking for his response to the accusations of stolen valor levelled at him by the paper, she asked, “Broadly, Governor, have you misstated, mischaracterized, misrepresented in describing your military service career?”
The governor insisted that it was all false, saying that he is proud of what he did in Afghanistan and that he’s never once mischaracterized anything about his career. He snapped, “I have never mischaracterized my military career, and I’m very proud of the service that we all did in Afghanistan and my time throughout the Army.”
But it didn’t end there. Bolduan then asked, “In the interview with The Banner that — you said that you have never been ordered to lead offensive missions in Afghanistan. You also misrepresented your record. You also misstated what happened with regard to the timing of the death of a friend of yours when you were overseas, First Sergeant Toby Meister, how you grieved. You had stated that you grieved his death at your grandfather’s funeral. He died days after that funeral had taken place. How do you explain this?”
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Rambling in an incoherent response, the governor said, “I think the article helps to highlight that when I say that, you know, we led soldiers in combat, that we did. That my job was serving as a director of information operations, where I was leading a team of psyops and civil affairs. And we all fall under SOCOM, which is a special operations unit within the military. And my job was to go outside of the wire multiple times, multiple times a week.”
He added, “And the thing that we know is that while my job was never to conduct offensive operations, it was the enemy’s job to conduct offensive operations against us. And we had to then turn around and respond. And I think about the things that I — that I wrote about. Again, things that all — I factually stand by.” He also said, “Do I wish on certain things I would have — would have been more — added more context to the reader? I do. And I will own that.”
They still weren’t done. Bolduan then asked, “What is suggested in the reporting by The Baltimore Sun is that you did this knowingly. That you padded your resume in order to further or set yourself up for a future political career. And you respond to that by saying what?”
That’s when he went really berserk and claimed it was slanderous. He said, “I think it is deeply slanderous and disrespectful to think that any of us would leave our family, would go deploy to some of the most dangerous places in the world, would go and leave a wire knowing that there is a very distinct and real possibility that you’re not going to come back, that we all then now have to deal with the realities that we have friends who lost their lives overseas, or who came back remarkably different. And to think that we did it for a political purpose. I did not serve because of politics.”
He added, “And I could care less about how this impacts my political career. The same way I didn’t serve because of metals or awards or recognition. I served, we served, we served because we believe in this country and because this country asked us to. And any type of insinuation that we would have risked our lives for something other than the fact that this country asked us to, I find to be not just deeply disrespectful to all of us, but slanderous.”
Watch him here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video