Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said in 2010 that his plan for Social Security was ‘very similar’ to one that would increase the retirement age and adjust the cap on withholdings. 

The Harris campaign is pushing back after Fox News Digital reviewed the unearthed clip from a debate Walz participated in during his 2010 re-election campaign for Congress. The debate was on Oct. 12, 2010, and was held at Minnesota State University, Mankato. 

Walz, the Democratic candidate and incumbent, faced off against Independent candidate Steve Wilson and Republican Randy Demmer. 

Wilson laid out his plan first, which discussed gradually increasing the retirement age. Walz answered after, saying his approach would be ‘very similar.’ 

Harris for President spokesperson Joseph Costello, though, told Fox News Digital that Walz ‘does not support raising the retirement age, and in fact, Walz has repeatedly voted to protect Social Security and against GOP efforts to raise the retirement age.’ 

During the 2010 debate, the three candidates were asked, ‘In regard to the federal budget deficit: what would you do about Social Security and Medicare with regard to the deficit?’ 

Wilson, the independent candidate, answered first. 

‘Social Security is one that we can fix, and we just have to all put on our thinking of what we’re going to have shared sacrifice… There are three different groups of people that are affected by Social Security: one, the group that are paying in; second, the ones that are ready to retire; and third, the ones that are receiving benefits,’ Wilson said. 

Wilson said those paying into the program currently have caps on the amounts taken out of their paychecks. 

‘If we would allow that to go a little higher, then we could bring more revenue in,’ he said. 

Wilson then said the retirement age should be raised. 

‘If we look at the second group, those who are retiring, if we adjusted that retirement age a little bit and give people enough warning – remember shared sacrifice, not just you getting affected, everybody,’ Wilson said. 

Wilson then said the individuals getting benefits from Social Security should have the Cost of Living and Adjustments (COLA) amounts adjusted.

On Wilson’s website, he further explained his position, which stated: ‘The age of retirement would gradually start to increase within three years of the deployment of the safety net. It would continue to be indexed to life expectancy over the longer term.’ 

When it was Walz’s turn, he endorsed Wilson’s plan. 

‘Social Security is absolutely critical. It is the greatest anti-poverty program the world’s ever seen,’ he said. 

‘Social Security, as Steve Wilson said, who has very good ideas on Social Security, he’s thought about it – he’s being honest about it – he’s laid out a plan that I think is very similar to the approach that I would take in working with them on that,’ Walz said. 

Walz, during that debate, advocated against any ‘partial privatization’ of Social Security. He also said his family was personally affected by Social Security after his father died when he was in high school. 

‘Social Security Survivor Benefits that were there to make sure that we had the bootstraps that we could pull ourselves up by,’ he said. ‘They were loaned to us by Social Security. It’s a smart program.’ 

A source familiar with Walz’s views at the time told Fox News Digital that ‘Walz does not support raising the retirement age now, and that is not what he suggested in this 14-year-old, misrepresented exchange.’

The source said that after winning his race in 2010, Walz went on to oppose plans to raise the retirement age. In 2012, he voted against raising the age to 68; in 2012, he voted against raising the age to 70; and in 2014, he again voted against raising the retirement age to 70.

When asked for comment, the Harris campaign stressed that Walz does not support raising the retirement age, and, while serving in Congress, voted against efforts to raise the retirement age. 

‘For nearly two decades, as a governor and congressman, Walz has been a strong defender of Social Security,’ Costello said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘Like the Biden-Harris Administration, he supports shoring up Social Security by having the super-wealthy pay their fair share.’ 

Costello added: ‘When he was a teenager, it kept his family afloat after his dad, a veteran, passed away from lung cancer.’

EAU CLAIRE, WI – Standing in front of over 15,000 supporters packed into an airport hanger at the airport in Detroit, Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris proclaimed that ‘this election’s going to be a fight.’

‘We like a good fight,’ added Harris, who rose to the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket two and a half weeks ago after President Biden suspended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president as his successor.

Hours earlier in neighboring Wisconsin, another crucial battleground state that will also likely determine the outcome of the presidential election between Harris and former President Trump, the vice president’s newly named running mate took aim at Trump.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, enjoying what seemed like a hometown crowd at a rally just an hour from his own state, spoke to a sea of supporters – over 12,000 who had waited in line for hours on the roads and farm fields of mostly rural northwest Wisconsin to see Harris and her running mate.

Walz charged that the former president ‘sees the world differently than we see it. He has no understanding of service. Because he’s too busy serving himself again and again and again.’

‘This guy weakens our country to strengthen his own hands. He mocks our laws. He sows chaos and division among the people. And that’s to say nothing of the job he did as president,’ Walz argued.

Walz, a former high school teacher and football coach before entering politics, showcased his Midwestern roots as he told the ‘Packers and Badgers fans’ in the crowd that he once coached his team to a state championship and touted that he was the ‘top gun’ three years running at the trap shoot during his dozen years representing a mostly rural red-leaning district from southern Minnesota in Congress.

Hours earlier, Trump aimed to paint Harris and Walz as ultra-liberals as he called into Fox News’ ‘Fox and Friends’ for an interview.

‘You know, nobody knew how radical left she was, but he’s a smarter version of her, if you want to know the truth,’ Trump claimed in his Wednesday interview. ‘He’s probably about the same as Bernie Sanders. He’s probably more so than Bernie Sanders.’

And the former president argued that ‘this is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.’

Trump’s team was planning on painting the Democratic ticket as extreme left-leaning regardless of whom the vice president chose as her running mate, a source in Trump’s campaign told Fox News.

But Harris’ naming on Tuesday of Walz, a moderate congressman who shifted to a more progressive governor, over more moderate running mate finalists Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona seemed like a gift to Trump’s team.

‘I could not be more thrilled,’ Trump said regarding the choice of Walz as running mate. ‘I was shocked when, when it came down to the final two, that she didn’t pick Shapiro. I was very surprised.’

But the naming of a running mate has been lucrative for the Harris campaign, which highlighted that it had hauled in $36 million in fundraising in the 24 hours since the Walz announcement.

At the rally, Walz once again argued that Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio ‘are creepy and weird as hell.’

Vance, at a dueling campaign event just miles away, pushed back on the ‘weird’ label, saying he and Trump are ‘normal guys who want to make this country great.’

In a viral moment, Vance appeared to try and troll the vice president, as he approached Air Force Two at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, where the senator’s campaign plane was also parked.

‘I figured that I would come by and get a good look at the plane because hopefully it’s going to be my plane in a few months,’ Vance said in front of Air Force Two. 

And once again pointing out that Harris has yet to sit for a major interview or hold a press conference in the two and a half weeks since she replaced Biden at the top of the Democrats’ national ticket, Vance told reporters, ‘I also thought you guys may get lonely, because the VP doesn’t answer questions from reporters.’

Vance also took aim at Walz, who served nearly a quarter-century in the National Guard, for what he claimed was ‘stolen valor,’ as the Trump campaign launched a full-frontal assault on the governor, accusing him of misrepresenting his rank, his service and charging he abandoned his unit on the eve of its deployment to Iraq.

The charge, if substantiated, could be explosive, as Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita well knows.

He was the mastermind 20 years ago behind the ‘Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’ campaign that aimed to discredit Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts ahead of his narrow 2004 presidential election loss to GOP incumbent George W. Bush.

But Vance himself never served in combat. While Vance was deployed to the war in Iraq as a Marine, he worked in the public affairs department while on his deployment.

And Trump over the years has faced well-documented allegations that as a young man he dodged the Vietnam War draft by claiming to have bone spurs in his feet, which sidetracked him from service.

It’s no surprise that Harris and Walz so far this week have held rallies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, with Vance holding events nearby to stay in close proximity.

The three states make up the so-called ‘Blue Wall’ that Democrats reliably won in presidential elections for nearly a quarter-century before Trump narrowly carried them in capturing the White House eight years ago.

But in 2020, Biden won back all three states with razor-thin margins as he defeated Trump, and the states remain extremely competitive as Harris and Trump face off in the 2024 presidential election.

The latest polls now show a margin-of-error race in the Blue Wall states, as well as in Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, the other key battleground states.

Biden dropped his re-election bid on July 21, after a disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June prompted increased questions over whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House. It also sparked a rising chorus of calls from fellow Democrats for Biden to end his re-election bid.

Harris didn’t mention her boss at a large rally in Atlanta last week, nor did she or Walz reference the president at their rally Tuesday night in Philadelphia.

But Harris, in her sixth visit to Wisconsin so far this year, praised the president at the top of her comments.

‘I want to bring greetings from our incredible president, Joe Biden,’ Harris said. ‘He loves Wisconsin, and I know we are all deeply grateful for his lifetime of service to our nation and for all he continues to do.’

After the crowd broke out in a chant of ‘Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!’ the vice president responded, ‘That’s right. I’m gonna tell him what you said.’

President Biden is scheduled to hold his first public event of the week on Thursday before flying to his beach house in Delaware. 

Biden hasn’t been seen publicly since walking back to the White House from Marine One on Monday after returning with first lady Jill Biden from their residence in Wilmington, Delaware. 

None of the events on the president’s public schedule have been open to the press so far this week. 

On Thursday, Biden – during events closed to the press – is scheduled to call Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen ‘to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the tragic Maui wildfires and those who lost their lives’ and receive his presidential daily briefing. 

Biden later Thursday afternoon is to welcome the Texas Rangers to the White House to celebrate their 2023 World Series championship season during an event open to only press-credentialed media. 

The president then is scheduled to depart the White House for Joint Base Andrews, from where he will then travel to Wilmington, Delaware. Biden’s arrival in Wilmington is listed as open to the press, but the president and Jill Biden will then greet campaign staff there during an event listed on the public schedule as closed to the press. The couple will then go back to their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Thursday evening. 

Biden sat down with CBS News for his first interview since exiting his race for re-election at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. The interview isn’t scheduled to air in full until Sunday. 

Aside from a promotional clip of the interview, the public hasn’t seen Biden since Monday as he returned to the White House. The president told CBS News that he is ‘not confident at all’ that there would be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025 if former President Donald Trump loses the election, though Biden misspoke initially and said, ‘if Trump wins.’ 

‘He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it, all the stuff about, ‘If we lose, there’ll be a bloodbath, it’ll have to be a stolen election,’’ Biden said. ‘Look what they’re trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes,’ the president added, ‘or putting people in place in states that they’re going to count the votes, right?’

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the president, telling Fox News congressional correspondent Aishah Hasnie, ‘You’ll see him tomorrow. There will be more opportunities. We have five months left here. There’ll be plenty of opportunities, obviously, to see the president and, certainly, when we have events, public events to share and travel to share as we normally do, we will do just that.’ 

Asked if the president has yet spoken to any of the U.S. service members injured in the attack by Iranian proxies on a base in Iraq over the weekend, Jean-Pierre said at the White House press briefing that she did not ‘have any conversations to speak of,’ but added, ‘obviously, we are wishing them a speedy recovery. They were injured. And so we have to give them some space and opportunity, to get better, to get that treatment that they need. As the president, he’s also the commander-in-chief, as you know, and he takes that incredibly seriously.’ 

Of the seven injured U.S. personnel, Jean-Pierre said two have been returned to duty, two are recovering locally, and three have been evacuated for further treatment and remain in stable condition. 

As Pennsylvania comes into focus as a key 2024 battleground, there’s speculation about whether ‘Scranton Joe’ will campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris in the state, especially after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was passed up for Harris’ running mate. Harris announced earlier this week that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz would join her on the Democratic ticket. 

There are 89 days until Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

But if Americans vote like they did in the last two election cycles, most of them will have already cast a ballot before the big day.

Early voting starts as soon as Sept. 6 for eligible voters, with seven battleground states sending out ballots to at least some voters the same month.

It makes the next few months less a countdown to Election Day, and more the beginning of ‘election season.’

States have long allowed at least some Americans to vote early, like members of the military or people with illnesses. 

In some states, almost every voter casts a ballot by mail.

Many states expanded eligibility in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made it riskier to vote in-person.

That year, the Fox News Voter Analysis found that 71% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day, with 30% voting early in-person and 41% voting by mail.

Early voting remained popular in the midterms, with 57% of voters casting a ballot before Election Day.

Elections officials stress that voting early is safe and secure. Recounts, investigations and lawsuits filed after the 2020 election did not reveal evidence of widespread fraud or corruption. 

The difference between ‘early in-person’ and ‘mail’ or ‘absentee’ voting.

There are a few ways to vote before Election Day.

The first is , where a voter casts a regular ballot in-person at a voting center before Election Day.

The second is , where the process and eligibility varies by state.

Eight states vote mostly by mail, including California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Registered voters receive ballots and send them back.

Most states allow any registered voter to request a mail ballot and send it back. This is also called mail voting, or sometimes absentee voting. Depending on the state, voters can return their ballot by mail, at a drop box, and/or at an office or facility that accepts mail ballots.

In 14 states, voters must have an excuse to vote by mail, ranging from illness, age, work hours or if a voter is out of their home county on Election Day.

States process and tabulate ballots at different times. Some states don’t begin counting ballots until election night, which delays the release of results.

Voting begins on Sept. 6 in North Carolina, with seven more battleground states starting that month

This list of early voting dates is for guidance only. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, go to Vote.gov and your state’s elections website.

The first voters to be sent absentee ballots will be in North Carolina, which begins mailing out ballots for eligible voters on Sept. 6.

Seven more battleground states open up early voting the same month, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada.

September deadlines

In-person early voting in bold.

Sept. 6

North Carolina – Absentee ballots sent to voters

Sept. 16

Pennsylvania – Mail-in ballots sent to voters

Sept. 17

Georgia – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas

Sept. 19

Wisconsin – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 20

Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas
Minnesota, South Dakota – In-person absentee voting begins
Virginia – In-person early voting begins
Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 21

Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas
Indiana, New Mexico – Absentee ballots sent
Maryland, New Jersey – Mail-in ballots sent

Sept. 23

Mississippi – In-person absentee voting begins & absentee ballots sent
Oregon, Vermont – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 26

Illinois – In-person early voting begins 
Michigan – Absentee ballots sent
Florida, Nevada – Mail-in ballots sent
North Dakota – Absentee & mail-in ballots sent

Sept. 30

Nebraska – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 4

Connecticut – Absentee ballots sent

Oct. 6

Michigan – In-person early voting begins 
Maine – In-person absentee voting begins & mail ballots sent
California – In-person absentee voting begins & mail ballots sent
Montana – In-person absentee voting begins
Nebraska – In-person early voting begins 
Georgia – Absentee ballots sent
Massachusetts – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 8

California – Ballot drop-offs open
New Mexico, Ohio – In-person absentee voting begins
Indiana – In-person early voting begins
Wyoming – In-person absentee voting begins & absentee ballots sent

Oct. 9

Arizona – In-person early voting begins & mail ballots sent

Oct. 11

Colorado – Mail-in ballots sent
Arkansas, Alaska – Absentee ballots sent

Oct. 15

Georgia – In-person early voting begins
Utah – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 16

Rhode Island, Kansas, Tennessee – In-person early voting begins
Iowa – In-person absentee voting begins
Oregon, Nevada – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 17

North Carolina – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 18

Washington, Louisiana – In-person early voting begins
Hawaii – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 19

Nevada, Massachusetts – In-person early voting begins 
Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas – In-person early voting begins 
Colorado – Ballot drop-offs open

Oct. 22

Hawaii, Utah – In-person early voting begins 
Missouri, Wisconsin – In-person absentee voting begins

Oct. 23

West Virginia – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 24

Maryland – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 25

Delaware – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 26

Michigan, Florida, New Jersey, New York – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 30

Oklahoma – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 31

Kentucky – In-person absentee voting begins

Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who immediately set social media ablaze as unearthed clips and headlines exposing his ‘radical’ political career went viral.

The Minnesota Democrat, who was being hyped up to Harris by the far-left faction of her party, including lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., accompanied Harris during a Philadelphia campaign rally Tuesday evening kicking off their swing state tour across multiple states.

‘One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep,’ Harris said Tuesday while announcing her VP choice.

Here are five standout remarks by the former lawmaker and potential future vice president, which have been dubbed as ‘weird’ by critics:

‘Weird’ goes viral

Walz was responsible for an insult that quickly became a viral hit for Democrats across the United States when he described former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance as ‘weird.’

‘These are weird people on the other side, they want to take books away, they want to be in your exam room, that’s what it comes down to,’ he said on MSNBC last month. ‘Don’t get sugarcoating this, these are weird ideas.’

It’s a quip that the Harris campaign has embraced, and appears to have stuck to the Trump campaign, which in turn has aggressively redeployed the attack against Democrats by attacking their ‘radical’ proposals.

‘You know what’s really weird?’ Donald Trump Jr. responded. ‘Soft on crime politicians like Kamala allowing illegal aliens out of prison so they can violently assault Americans.’

Vance took advantage of the label over the weekend during an Atlanta rally and listed off several policy positions Harris has espoused.

Walz has not backed off using ‘weird’ during public speeches, using it again after being announced as Harris’ running mate on Tuesday during a Philadelphia rally.

‘These guys are creepy and yes, just weird as hell,’ he said.

Socialism = neighborliness

When many people think of socialism, they think of forced redistribution of wealth, sky-high tax rates, or the worst crimes of regimes like the Soviet Union.

However, Walz recently painted socialism in a positive light by associating it with ‘neighborliness.’

‘Don’t ever shy away from our progressive values,’ the Minnesota Democrat said on a ‘White Dudes for Harris’ call last week. ‘One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.’

The clip immediately ignited backlash on social media.

‘Neighborliness killed members of my family,’ journalist Karol Markowicz posted on X. 

‘Walz’s statement that socialism is mere ‘neighborliness’ is a lie that disregards the harsh realities countless families have faced under socialist regimes,’ Virginia Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares posted on X. 

‘Weird,’ said Manhattan Institute senior fellow Ilya Shapiro.

‘A 30-foot ladder factory’

Walz’s immigration views have been a focus from critics, including his moves to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and his support for sanctuary policies.

But Walz raised eyebrows by suggesting that, should President Trump attempt to build another wall at the southern border, he would launch his own moneymaking scheme.

‘He talks about this wall, I always say, let me know how high it is. If it’s 25 feet, then I’ll invest in the 30-foot ladder factory,’ he said on CNN. ‘That’s not how you stop this.’

The Trump campaign, Republican National Committee, and several conservative critics used the soundbite to attack Harris and pointed to her record as ‘border czar,’ which still haunts her tenure as vice president.

‘Get off the couch’

Walz appeared to dip his toe in the water of some false claims about Vance on Tuesday, when he talked about his counterpart debating him.

‘I can’t wait to debate this guy,’ Walz said. ‘That’s if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up. See what I did there?’

The roar of the crowd, and Harris’ facial expression made it clear they knew to what he was referring to.

The quip references a false online rumor, debunked by multiple fact checkers, that Vance had claimed in his book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ to have had sex with a couch.

But despite the repeated debunking, Walz appeared to revel in the false claims and became its most high-profile spreader to date.

Chinese luxury

The New York Post this week unearthed remarks by Walz in 1990 in which he said he praised the living conditions he encountered in China.

‘No matter how long I live, I will never be treated that well again,’ he told a local outlet.

‘They gave me more gifts than I could bring home. It was an excellent experience,’ Walz said, adding that he was ‘treated exceptionally well.’

The remark came in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and amid continued and still ongoing mass human rights abuses in the communist regime.

Walz wasn’t the only member of his family to face the wrath of social media with unearthed clips. His wife, Minnesota’s First Lady Gwen Walz, set social media ablaze Tuesday and Wednesday when a clip from one of her 2020 interviews went viral.

‘Again we had more sleepless nights during the riots,’ Walz’s wife told KSTP in July 2020. ‘I could smell the burning tires, and that was a very real thing. And I kept the windows open as long as I could because I felt like that was such a touchstone of what was happening.’

The comment was dubbed as ‘weird’ and ‘bizarre’ on social media.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Video showing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz claiming that he carried weapons of war into actual war has surfaced. A Minnesota National Guard response to Fox News disputes the fact that Walz actually went into battle, but rather he skirted any skirmishes and retired instead, leaving his troops behind.

Walz, who’s the chosen vice presidential candidate for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, served a quarter of a century in the National Guard. 

A video of Walz making the controversial statement can be seen on X.

‘I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war,’ Walz said in his speech, aiming toward voters who don’t want guns on the streets.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends, who said he was a member of Walz’s battalion, blasted the governor’s comments.

‘To most people, that would mean that he was actually in combat, carrying a weapon in a combat zone and getting combat pay and in a dangerous and hostile environment where he is getting shot at,’ Behrends told the ‘Ingraham Angle’ on Wednesday.

Walz never said which war he fought. During his time in the Guard, there were two wars in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, neither of which show on his military record.

The Minnesota National Guard told Fox News that Walz was part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) while he was stationed in Italy with his unit in 2005, but that he retired before his unit went into battle.

‘Walz left the National Guard in May 2005 after 24 years of service. His unit was not given deployment orders to Iraq until July. He had put his retirement papers in 5-7 months prior to his retirement in May,’ the Minnesota National Guard said.

‘Second, there are questions about whether he served in OEF. His battalion was sent to Europe, in his case Vicenza to train units in artillery – his specialty was artillery. If you are deployed overseas in support of OEF according to the National Guard you officially served in OEF, whether you touched foot in Afghanistan or not. That is in his official military service record below.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment and received an automated response.

Walz was named this week as the running mate with Kamala Harris on the Democratic national ticket. Harris, the current vice president, will look to fill the shoes of President Biden and take on former President Donald Trump in the general election.

Trump’s running mate is J.D. Vance, who served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. While speaking at an event Wednesday in Michigan, Vance said that Walz deserted his fellow soldiers who were heading off to war.

‘You abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq,’ Vance said.

Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin contributed to this story.

: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is being called on to freeze aid to Afghanistan following revelations that the assistance could be going to the Taliban. 

A recent report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a government entity conducting oversight of U.S. aid to the country, determined that two of five bureaus within the Department of State (DOS) couldn’t prove their compliance with counterterrorism vetting.

‘Collectively, State could not demonstrate their compliance with its partner vetting requirements on awards that disbursed at least $293 million in Afghanistan,’ the report stated. 

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., said the reported oversight was ‘deeply alarming’ in a letter to Blinken and urged him to stop Afghanistan aid until the issue is addressed. 

The failure of the DOS to fully comply with counterterrorism vetting standards ‘has strengthened and enriched the Taliban and its terrorist affiliates,’ he said. ‘Further, when funds that are intended for humanitarian and development purposes end up supporting groups that perpetuate violence and instability, U.S. national security interests in the region are significantly undermined.’

‘It is imperative that State take immediate remedial and comprehensive action to rectify these issues to prevent similar occurrences in the future,’ wrote Braun. 

Further, SIGAR found that $10.9 million in U.S. taxpayer money was paid to the Taliban-controlled government by 38 of the U.S.’s 65 implementing partners. However, the report said the amount was ‘likely only a fraction of the total amount of U.S. assistance funds provided to the Taliban in taxes, fees, duties, and utilities because UN agencies receiving U.S. funds did not collect data or provide relevant information about their subawardees’ payments.’

In his letter, Braun questioned Blinken over what measures were ‘being taken against those individuals responsible for the failure to comply with vetting requirements and documentation retention’ and asked for a description of what improvements would be made to its ‘documentation and record-keeping practices to avoid lapses.’ 

The U.S. has been the largest international contributor of support to Afghans after their government collapsed, allowing the Taliban to take power following the disastrous withdrawal of American troops in August 2021 under President Biden. 

According to SIGAR, more than $2.8 billion has been provided by the U.S. in both humanitarian and development aid to the country since the withdrawal.

DOS did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. 

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, is accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of capitulating to radical left-wing voices in the Democratic Party in choosing her running mate for the November election.

‘She bent the knee to the Hamas caucus of the Democratic Party,’ Vance said during a rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.

He’s the latest GOP critic to accuse Harris of choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate against former President Trump and Vance over Josh Shapiro, because the Pennsylvania governor is Jewish. 

Former President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have also made the claim.

‘Whatever your views on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro – and obviously he’s not in my political party. He’s criticized me. I criticized him – the amount of rage that you heard from the far left saying, ‘Kamala Harris can’t pick this guy because he’s Jewish,’ is disgraceful,’ Vance said.

‘I want my kids to grow up in a country where they can be whatever they want to be, and people aren’t attacking them for their ethnic heritage, and that’s somehow considered acceptable.’

‘It’s not just what these people said about Shapiro. It’s the way that the Harris and the Harris administration and the Harris campaign refuse to push back against it. I think it’s a real scandal,’ he said.

The Harris campaign did speak out against the allegations, however, telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, in part: ‘Assertions that Vice President Harris did not select Gov. Shapiro based on his religion or views on Israel are absolutely ridiculous and offensive.’

Republicans have mostly reacted with a mix of glee and relief to Harris’ decision to choose Walz over Shapiro, casting the Minnesota governor as a progressive radical for his COVID-19 policies, support for gender-affirming treatment for minors and government handouts to undocumented migrants.

Harris, whose husband is Jewish, is tasked with navigating the Democratic Party’s ever-widening divisions over Israel, with a growing faction of progressives calling for the U.S. to distance itself from its close Middle Eastern ally.

In the final days before her selection on Tuesday, Harris met with Shapiro, Walz and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. 

Shapiro was thought to be a frontrunner for the role as the governor of a key swing state. 

But reports indicate that, in the end, Harris believed Walz would be a better fit due to his his personality and approach to the campaign.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign and Shapiro’s office for comment on Vance’s remarks.

Vice President Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, brings a track record to the Democrat ticket that could help energize the country’s left-wing base along with several progressive transgender policies aimed at children.

Walz, a former Army National Guardsman and a former teacher, was one of the first governors to sign into law a bill making Minnesota a ‘sanctuary state’ for children seeking transgender surgical procedures and hormone prescriptions. This laid the groundwork for several of his more progressive LGBTQ policies. 

The law tells courts in Minnesota not to follow prosecutions from other states against people who come to Minnesota for treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery. Before the law was passed, Walz had already issued an order in May 2023 to prevent criminalization of transgender procedures in the state.

As neighboring states like Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota restrict medical providers from performing transgender medical procedures on children, Minnesota’s sanctuary law has turned the state into a key destination for such services.

Many individuals and families have reportedly moved from more restrictive states to Minnesota. Currently, 26 states have placed limits on doctors providing gender-affirming treatments to minors, with New Hampshire being the latest to join this list.

Walz also signed a controversial bill into law that prevents books, which may include explicit material for children, from being removed from public schools in an effort to clap back at parents who complained about certain LGBTQ+ materials in school libraries. 

The bill also made it illegal to remove books written by or about LGBTQ+ and minorities. 

In 2023, Walz signed a law banning ‘conversion therapy,’ which also included prohibiting counselors from withholding recommendations for transgender surgical procedures or hormonal treatments for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria.

Another key component of his transgender policy agenda is a law requiring free menstrual products in all public school bathrooms. Often called the ‘tampon law’ in the media, it mandates that tampons and pads be provided at no cost in public schools for grades 4 through 12 to accommodate transgender students. 

After Harris tapped Walz as her running mate, former President Trump’s campaign and its supporters began referring to him as ‘Tampon Tim.’

‘She actually chose Tampon Tim,’ Trump campaign adviser Stephen Miller, posted to X following the announcement.

Walz also opposes the traditional definition of marriage as defined as between one man and one woman, further aligning himself with the progressive flank of the Democratic Party who argue the definition is archaic and discriminatory against non-traditional couples. 

As a U.S. House representative in 2012, Walz opposed a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage solely as a union between one man and one woman. He argued that restricting rights for any group is unconstitutional, saying, ‘I think we can do better.’

Walz additionally played a crucial role in supporting legislation that recognizes sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories under federal hate crime laws. 

Harris and Walz are now traveling across several battleground states to court voters this week, as the pair have already begun attacking the Trump-Vance campaign.