Retired Command Sergeant Major Tom Behrends—the member of the Minnesota National Guard who blew the whistle on Gov. Tim Walz—joined Liz Collin on her podcast.
Behrends talked about how he’s tried to tell the story about Walz and his military service for so long. The media in Minnesota and beyond have ignored him for years. But now that Walz was picked as the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris, Behrends is in high demand.
He told Collin he’s lost track of how many interviews he’s done since Walz was named as the VP pick.
Harris campaign quietly scrubs ‘retired Command Sergeant Major’ from Walz’s bio
Alpha News was the first to interview Behrends in 2022, when Walz was seeking re-election as governor. But as Behrends explained, the story dates back decades as he and others tried to get Walz to stop falsely describing himself as a retired command sergeant major.
That description was quietly removed from the Harris website after Behrends and others came forward.
“I don’t think that’s enough. I think as we’re digging deeper into this … now we’re doing the excavation under it, the archeological dig, is just continuously finding more things that are under there. We’re going to get down to the bottom of it,” Behrends said.
Referring to Walz, Behrends explained, “This guy is a liar and using his fake rank for political gain. I looked up him being a military imposter, it just fits right down to what he’s done … I just can’t get the guy. I don’t know what the term is. Some type of mental illness almost, I don’t know what it is. Narcissism, I think, is the greatest word for it.”
No question about Walz’s possible deployment, even in his own words
Behrends also said there is no dispute whether Walz knew of an upcoming deployment. Multiple National Guard soldiers reported being in deployment meetings with Walz—and even a press release from Walz’s own congressional campaign confirmed that his unit was aware of the possibility of deployment.
“He filed with the FEC on the 10th of February to run for Congress. The warning order from what I’m gathering now, the evidence comes out that it was … in March. He puts out this campaign statement and it says right in there that they’re probably going to go to Iraq and he’s going to still keep running for office, whether he’s in Iraq or Minnesota. It’s very obvious, right in his own words, that he knew,” Behrends said.
Behrends added that “two months later he goes out the door. That’s just absolute cowardice. It’s an unforgivable act, really … There is a code of honor out there that we have, but he broke the code of honor. That’s the problem. He feathered his own nest, and that’s why we are where we are,” he added.
Silence and the Minnesota media
Behrends expressed disbelief at how Minnesota’s corporate media ignored the story years ago and how they are still treating it to this day.
“I had heard that that was out there, that the media was biased at times, but I’d never experienced it. I was disgusted,” Behrends said.
Collin asked why Behrends continues to speak out, especially since he was ignored for so long.
“The easiest way for evil to prevail, and Tim Walz is evil, is for good people to sit back and not do anything. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night,” Behrends said.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin has been a truth-teller for 20 years as a multi-Emmy-Award-winning reporter and anchor. Liz is a Worthington, Minnesota native who lives in the suburbs with her husband, son and loyal lab.
