During Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was asked about yet another scandal that emerged in the hours leading up to the event.
On August 16, 2024, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) opened a congressional investigation into alleged ties between Walz and Chinese government officials. Comer reported that Walz has visited China at least 30 times and operated Travel Adventures Inc., a for-profit enterprise that organized trips to China for American children from 1991 through 2003.
In addition, Walz was a fellow at the Macau Polytechnic University during his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, a Chinese institution that characterizes itself as having a “long held devotion to and love for the motherland.”
Walz was asked about his frequent trips to China during Tuesday night’s debate, including his claim that he was in the country during the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. “I was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, when, of course, Tiananmen Square happened,” Walz previously said, according to a report from CNN released hours before the debate.
Walz at first attempted to sidestep the question by giving an answer about an unrelated topic. The moderators refused to let him off the hook, however, at which point Walz delivered an incoherent response.
“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,” Walz replied with a stammer. “So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protest went in,” he continued after an awkward moment of silence.
