Republican Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee, criticized CNN on Sunday for overlooking comments made by Doug Julin, a former Command Sergeant Major and member of the Minnesota National Guard.

Julin had revealed that Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz bypassed him and retired before his unit’s deployment to Iraq.

Julin, who served as the command sergeant major of the brigade Walz was assigned to, appeared on CNN Saturday.

He stated that Walz was aware of the unit’s impending deployment to Iraq six months before the official orders were issued. Despite initially committing to deploy, Julin said Walz went back on his word, circumventing Julin to obtain retirement approval from higher-ranking officials.

During an interview with CNN host Dana Bash, Vance accused Walz of “lying” about his military service. He referenced the Harris-Walz campaign’s assertion that Walz had “misspoke” about using weapons of war “in a war.”

Vance pointed out that several soldiers who served with Walz, including Julin, have similarly criticized the Minnesota governor.

Bash countered by noting that Walz had filed his election paperwork on February 10, 2005, a month before the National Guard even suggested a possible deployment to Iraq, which ultimately occurred two months later. She highlighted that Walz retired two months before the unit received its official orders.

Vance responded by stating, “But on CNN last night, Dana, one of the people who was actually in charge of him said they knew they were gonna deploy to Iraq in […] fall of 2004. So, he knew he was going to Iraq. He decided to quit, to retire, whatever word you want to use—”

Bash interjected, “Retire.”

Vance continued, “Because — whatever. Because he wanted to run for Congress. He lied about that! He said that when he decided to retire, he did not know that he was going to Iraq. That is another untruth as even his senior military officer said.”

According to Minnesota Public Radio, Walz retired in May 2005, two months before his unit received mobilization orders.