CNN’s Michael Smerconish said Friday that presumptive Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz’s “lie” about his DUI arrest is “indefensible.”
CNN reported Thursday that the Walz campaign in 2006 “repeatedly made false statements” denying Walz was drinking the night he was arrested in 1995 for driving 96 mph in a 55-mph zone in Nebraska, according to court records. Smerconish told CNN host Kasie Hunt that Walz’s DUI is a bigger issue than the Minnesota governor misrepresenting his military service.
“I thought the DUI issue was a really significant and serious issue. I know that Republicans have spent a lot of time talking about the alleged stolen valor,” Smerconish said, raising his fingers into air-quotes. “My own opinion, for what it’s worth, having studied the facts, is that there’s no there-there. Walz spoke sloppily, should not have represented a role that he had as having been a permanent role when it wasn’t. But the DUI story is indefensible.”
“Kasie, you and I know a thing or two about congressional campaigns,” Smerconish continued. “They’re very small, they’re very tight. There’s usually like a campaign manager and a paid spokesperson, and that’s it, so the idea that this came from his spokesperson and it didn’t come from him? I don’t buy it.”
Smerconish said it is a “real issue” that Walz tried to blame his failed sobriety test on hearing loss from his time in the National Guard. Walz had a blood alcohol level of 0.128 — significantly higher the state’s then legal limit of 0.1 — when he received a blood test after being taken to a hospital by a state trooper, according to CNN. (RELATED: ‘He Did It To Himself’: Retired Command Sergeant Major Slams Tim Walz For Misleading On Military Service)
“In the end, it’s gonna be about the top of the ticket. But to me, the DUI is bigger than the stolen valor allegation. Not because of the drinking, but because of the lie,” Smerconish said.
“How do you think the Harris campaign should be dealing with this right now?” Hunt then asked Smerconish.
“Full on, and it makes me wonder whether in the vetting process — maybe this is as a result of the expedited nature of her ascendancy as the candidate — but it makes me wonder how much they really knew about it. I’m sure they knew of the DWI, but it makes me wonder whether they were aware of all the underlying facts,” he responded.