Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota has repeatedly said that he was in Hong Kong during the pro-democracy protests that culminated in the crackdown in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. He was called out on the lie during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate. Watch below and click here to get Todd’s daily breaking news alerts.
As recently as February, Mr. Walz said on a podcast that he had been in Hong Kong, then a British colony, “on June 4 when Tiananmen happened,” and decided to cross into mainland China to take up his teaching duties even though many people were urging him not to, The New York Times reports.
Walz also testified at a congressional hearing that he “was in Hong Kong in May 1989,” adding, “As the events were unfolding, several of us went in. I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.”
But it was not true, The Times reported.
“Mr. Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, indeed taught at a high school in China as part of a program sending American teachers abroad, but he did not actually travel to the country until August 1989,” the newspaper reported.