Yavapai News

U.S. Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) said no veteran in the country "would approve of the stolen valor" by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz providing misleading comments about his time spent in the Armed Forces.

"Tim should be proud of his service, what he shouldn't be proud of is lying about his service," Crane said in an interview clip with Fox News. "Like you said, he lied about his rank, he lied about going into combat. Everybody covering for him says 'oh he misspoke.' That is not misspeaking. It has all of us veterans, and quite frankly the rest of America, wondering if he'll lie about this, what won't he lie about."

"I’m up in Navajo Nation right now—getting ready to celebrate Code Talker Day in honor of some of this country’s finest veterans," he shared in a post on X. "There isn’t a veteran I know that would approve of the stolen valor exhibited by VP nominee Tim Walz."

On August 6, Kamala Harris' campaign shared a video of Walz from 2018 where he discussed voting for gun control laws and requirements like background checks. During his comments, Walz mentioned his "25 years in the Army" and said "we can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war."

Walz served in the military for 24 years across different units and positions in the Army National Guard. He was deployed to Italy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003, which was not an active war zone. Walz retired from the Guard in 2005 before his unit was deployed to Iraq. He ran a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives, which resulted in him being elected to represent Minnesota in 2006. 

Walz had also previously included in his bio posted by the Harris campaign that he was a “retired command sergeant major,” however that was edited instead to say that he served at that rank. Former battalion commander of Tim Walz’s National Guard unit, John Kolb said Walz "did not earn the rank or successfully complete any assignment as an E9" and left the military at the rank of master sergeant because he didn’t complete coursework required for the higher rank.

He served a total of six terms in the U.S. House, representing Minnesota, before he was elected to serve as the state's Governor in 2018. He was re-elected as Governor in 2022. Walz was named as the Democratic nominee for Vice President alongside current Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming 2024 Presidential election. 

Crane joined the U.S. Navy in 2001, just weeks after the 9/11 attacks. He was in the Navy for 13 years, serving in five wartime deployments, including three as a Navy SEAL. After leaving the military he and his wife started a company that made bottle openers from shell casings, which grew in success and was sold in 2022. 

Crane is currently serving in the U.S. Congress, representing Arizona’s 2nd district. He replaced previous U.S Congress member Tom O'Halleran in 2023. Crane was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1980. He currently lives in Oro Valley with his wife and two daughters.