After a bombshell report released by CNN, vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is facing a new wave of scrutiny for repeatedly and falsely claiming to have been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989. CNN’s K-File investigative team, led by Andy Kaczynski, unearthed audio recordings and previous statements in which Walz referenced being in China at the time of the protests — a claim now proven to be inaccurate.

In a 2019 radio interview, Walz stated, “I was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, when, of course, Tiananmen Square happened.” However, CNN’s investigation reveals that Walz did not travel to China until August of that year, three months after the infamous crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. The discrepancies were first uncovered by the Washington Free Beacon, Minnesota Public Radio News, and further corroborated by local news reports from 1989 and 1990.

The false claims, which date back several years, have surfaced just ahead of the highly anticipated Vice Presidential debate, where Walz is set to debate J.D. Vance (R-OH) in New York on Tuesday night. Critics are calling the news a serious blow to Walz’s credibility.

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While the Walz campaign has yet to directly address the claims, a source close to the governor told CNN, “The point Gov. Walz is making when he discusses this is that some folks in the World Teach program discussed dropping out after Tiananmen Square, but he continued on with the program because he believed it was important for the Chinese people to learn about American democracy and American history.”

In a 2014 congressional hearing commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Walz, then a U.S. congressman, claimed that he had been in Hong Kong in May of 1989, just before the Chinese government’s military crackdown on student protesters. Walz described witnessing the events unfold from Hong Kong and stated, “I still remember the train station in Hong Kong. There was a large number of, especially European, I think, very angry that we would still go after what had happened, but it was my belief at that time that the diplomacy was going to happen on many levels.”

“The opportunity to be in a Chinese high school at that critical time seemed to me to be really important. And it was a very interesting summer to say the least. Because if you recall, as we moved in that summer and further on and the news blackouts and things that went on, you certainly can’t black out news from people if they want to get it,” Walz said at the time. When CNN sought clarification on the number of times Walz had traveled to China, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign stated that the number is “likely closer to 15.”

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“The campaign was unable to produce documentation to back up Walz’s statement that he was there during the uprising,” MPR wrote when dissecting Walz’s experiences with China. A 1989 news report from the Chadron Record and another from the Alliance Times-Herald indicate that Walz did not leave the United States for China until August 1989, two months after the massacre took place. During May and June of that year, Walz was pictured and mentioned in local Nebraska newspapers while touring a National Guard storeroom in Alliance, Nebraska.

Before their wedding, Gwen Walz said to the Nebraska-based Star-Herald newspaper that they chose to get married on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre because “he wanted to have a date he’ll always remember.”

On Monday, a whistleblower revealed potential ties between Walz and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The GOP-led House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-KY) issued a subpoena to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for documents related to the allegations. The whistleblower pointed to a Microsoft Teams chat among DHS employees discussing Walz and his alleged CCP connections. If the allegations are proven true, this could have significant political consequences for Walz and the Democrat Party just weeks before the election. With the VP debate fast approaching, it remains to be seen how Walz will respond to the brewing controversy.

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