From IVF to his military service, Walz is a bit of a fabulist. Can't we get the truth?

I’m not sure what Tim Walz is thinking.

The Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee is getting a ton of media scrutiny – as he should – because Vice President Kamala Harris chose him as her running mate.

And it’s not all painting him in a positive light.

A growing number of examples show Walz either exaggerating or lying about his past.

We’re not close to George Santos territory here (the former Republican congressman who was outed for making up huge swaths of his past, as well as fundraising numbers), but it’s still concerning.

These are unnecessary, unforced errors, and they should make voters question what they can trust when Walz speaks.

Is Walz really confused about IVF? Nah

One fib that Walz has told repeatedly this year – and one that seems especially egregious – is that he and wife were able to have their two children only via in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Walz has spoken about this multiple times – and used the story for campaign purposes.

“Thank God for IVF, my wife and I have two beautiful children,” he said in July on MSNBC.

Walz earlier this month also said this about Ohio Sen. JD Vance, his Republican counterpart on the presidential ticket: “If it was up to him, I wouldn’t have a family because of IVF.”

That is a weird thing for Walz to say for several reasons, foremost because it’s false. (And in regard to Vance, that’s also a lie. Vance, much like former President Donald Trump, is on record supporting the procedure.)

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Last week it became clear, thanks to Walz’s wife, Gwen Walz, in an interview with Glamour, that the IVF claim is false. The couple instead used a much less costly and less invasive treatment called intrauterine insemination, or IUI. Unlike IVF, IUI does not carry similar ethical concerns, given embryos are not created outside the womb.

Walz seemed inspired to start talking about his family’s fertility journey earlier this year when IVF became a political flashpoint after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos should be recognized as children.

I’m guessing it was politically expedient for Walz to claim he and his wife had to use IVF, particularly after he became Harris’ running mate. Democrats have made abortion and reproductive rights central to this presidential election, so Walz’s “experience” in this area might have been a selling point for Harris.

Campaign spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg has tried to spin off Walz’s comments as a completely understandable error.

“Governor Walz talks how normal people talk,” she said. “He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments.”

For all the families who have had to go through the emotional rollercoaster of IVF, that’s probably not a good enough explanation.

And I don’t think Walz made a simple error. It seems to be a calculated decision to help him politically, as it's been a story he’s told to “relate” to audiences at rallies.

A bigger pattern of misleading or false statements

Shortly after Harris announced Walz as her choice, a debate over his military service erupted. Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years, which is commendable.

What’s less easy to understand is why Walz felt the need to inflate his rank upon retiring.

Dear Vice President Harris: We need more than vibes to know what your presidential campaign is all about

He has referred to himself frequently as a “retired command sergeant major,” and that claim even made it on the Harris-Walz presidential campaign website until it was “tweaked” after the uproar.

The truth is that while Walz had reached the rank of command sergeant major, he didn’t retire with that rank because he failed to complete the requirements necessary to do so.

This week, The Washington Free Beacon reported several other instances where Walz has embellished or changed his résumé. In 2006, for example, when Walz ran for Congress, he highlighted an award he had received from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce. According to the president of the chamber, however, Walz never received such an award from the state chamber, and he was asked to take down that claim.

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It’s a disturbing pattern. And it’s taken what should be humanizing stories like fertility struggles and Walz’s military service and made them controversial.

Walz owes the country a better explanation for these errors.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Walz has a problem with the truth. Will it hurt Harris in November?