On September 5, the Facebook page Georgia First News shared information claiming that the family of Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for vice president, is endorsing Donald Trump in the presidential election. The post was accompanied by a photo showing people wearing T-shirts with the inscription “Nebraska Walz’s for Trump.”
This information was also shared by Russian-speaking Facebook users.
The post by Georgia First News about Tim Walz is misleading and creates the impression that Walz’s immediate relatives support Trump instead of him. In reality, the people in the photo are distant relatives of Walz, with whom he has no contact.
The circulated photo was originally posted by Charles Herbster, a former governor candidate from Nebraska and a Trump supporter. Later, the photo was also shared by Donald Trump himself on the social platform Truth Social.
The people in the photo are descendants of Francis Walz, who was the brother of Tim Walz’s grandfather. According to Tim Walz’s mother, Darlene Walz, the people in the photo are mostly distant cousins of the family. Walz’s sister, Sandy Dietrich, stated that they had no contact with these distant relatives and did not know them. Dietrich did not comment on the political views of their distant relatives but emphasized that she and her family support Tim Walz.
In a comment to The Associated Press, the family members in the photo confirmed that they are indeed descendants of Tim Walz’s grandfather’s brother.
A few days before the photo was circulated, Tim Walz’s brother, Jeff Walz, mentioned on Facebook that he did not support his brother’s candidacy and did not share his political views.
“I was getting a lot of feedback from my friends, old acquaintances, thinking that I was feeling the same way that my brother did on the issues, and I was trying to clarify that just to friends,” Jeff Walz said. “I used Facebook, which wasn’t the right platform to do that. But I will say, I don’t agree with his policies.” Jeff Walz said in a comment to NewsNation.
Jeff Walz also mentioned that he had not spoken to Tim Walz since their younger brother Craig Walz’s funeral in 2016. He added that he did not wish to publicly endorse any candidate or influence voters and had no plans to make any further comments on the matter.
Since Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, various disinformation targeting Harris and her campaign has been going viral on social media. Myth Detector debunked a number of such false claims:
- Another photofabrication spread about Kamala Harris
- False Birth Certificate of Kamala Harris Disseminated on Russian Media (in Georgian)
- Disinformation About Kamala Harris’ Support Event in Detroit
Archive links: Georgia First NEWS
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