Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) finally came out of hiding from the media yesterday and appeared for a live 15-minute interview on the FOX News channel’s signature Sunday morning program FOX News Sunday hosted by Shannon Bream.

The Harris-Walz campaign’s choice of FOX News for Walz’s first solo interview anywhere, considered hostile territory by the Democrats, was no doubt due to the fact that FNC is far and away the nation’s number one cable news channel, it boasts having more Democrat viewers than CNN or MSNBC, and it presented an opportunity for Walz to try to reach Never Trumper Republicans after a week that saw RINO Liz Cheney enthusiastically endorse and appear with Harris.

While Walz, like Kamala Harris, has been well-coached in avoiding and deflecting questions, his performance on FOX did not go over well — including with the left-leaning MSM.

The New York Times, for example, was less than enthused, saying of Walz:

He turned some questions into critiques of former President Donald J. Trump and sidestepped others. Asked whether Israel had the right to strike Iranian oil facilities or nuclear facilities, he did not directly answer, saying that ‘specific operations will be dealt with at the time.’

POLITICO, another left of center media outlet that purports to have some influence among the chattering classes, was even less enthused. Its extensive report and review of the FOX News interview was titled “Walz downplays past false statements in rare interview.”

Gov. Tim Walz in a rare interview Sunday downplayed some of his past false statements that came up during the vice presidential debate last week. . .

Since being tapped as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, the folksy, plain-speaking Minnesota governor has had to explain a number of inaccurate statements — and at times embellishments — about his past. They range from his repeated, inaccurate use of his retired military rank to his visit to Hong Kong more than three decades ago to clarifying that his family didn’t specifically use in vitro fertilization.

Ouch. And that was the lede in POLITICO’s story.

The video of the full interview can be accessed here.

FOX News provided this author with a transcript. Although it runs over 3,000 words, it is valuable for readers willing to dissect the strategies employed by Walz to deflect and not answer questions and to constantly pivot to attempted critiques (usually untrue) of President Trump.

This transcript is complete but has been slightly modified for length and clarity without affecting the accuracy or context of the Q&A.

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR:  Joining us now, Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Governor, great to have you with us on “FOX News Sunday”.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Great to be with you, Shannon. Thanks for having me.

BREAM:  Okay. So I want to pick up where Alexis left off there in the Middle East because you were asked in the debate the other night, a question about whether or not you would support a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran. You didn't really get to an answer on that.

So this administration continues to call for Israel to moderate its response after being attacked by Iran. Do you now think that Israel has a right to either strike oil facilities, nuclear facilities? What's your position on that?

WALZ:  Well, look, let's remember how this started, and we're approaching tomorrow a tragic anniversary, Hamas terrorists murdered over 1,200 innocent Israelis, 46 Americans, took hostages.

We have been clear -- Israel has the right to defend itself. We've always stood in that position. We need the hostages returned and we need to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

But again, the point is it, it's Iran, is at the heart of this, and their proxies that bring disruption throughout the region. That's why being in the Situation Room as vice president was working with Israelis to repel the attack we saw this week. They tried it back in April, the same thing, and that's the point of being and boxing Iran in.

President Trump tore up the nuclear deal that moved Iran closer to a nuclear weapon. He also allowed Iran to shoot down an American aircraft in international airspace with a tweet. And when Iranian weapons -- missiles fell on U.S. troops, he called it a headache when it was traumatic brain injury.

Just to be clear, we have always said, we reserve the right to protect American troops, our allies in the region and that there is consequences for Iran.

So what you're seeing right now is the ability to work with our allies, the ability to make sure Iran does not further and every administration has dealt with them for 45 years. Now, it's to make sure and there has never been a question, Israel has the right to defend itself and we stand with them to do that

BREAM:  Does that include a strike on Iran's nuclear or oil facilities?

WALZ:  Specific ops -- specific operations will be dealt with at the time, but being very clear on this, Iran -- there -- where's consequences for what they do. That's what's happening right now. Israel's right to defend itself is not in question.

Shannon Bream interviews Gov. Tim Walz on FOX News Sunday, October 6, 2024, screenshot by Peter Chowka used by permission of FOX News media

Bream next attempted to get Walz to clarify what he meant when he praised anti-Israel demonstrators who shut down a number of elite university campuses last spring and threatened Jewish students.

BREAM:  Okay. You said in a radio interview that anti-Israel protesters were speaking out, quote, for all the right reasons. You know that some of them are carrying Hamas flags, some of them are calling for the extermination of the Jewish state.

Do you want to clarify your praise for them?

WALZ: Yeah, I’m certainly not talking about them. I’m talking about the people who understand that we have to end the humanitarian crisis but they understand we need to return the hostage bring peace to the region.

Look, I will always defend people's rights to First Amendment, but that's not the folks I’m talking about. Those folks are not speaking for the entire group. So I think it's very clear on this. Israel's right as we've stood with them. Antisemitism has no place in this country and Vice President Harris has been clear about that, I’ve been clear about it.

But the ability to bring a peaceful solution and understand Israel's right to defend itself, the return of the hostages and Gazans’ right to live in -- in peace, too, is something that that we're trying to get to.

And that's going to take the leadership that we've seen out of Vice President Harris, bringing able to hold this coalition toge

And again, when Iran launched their missiles this week, she's in the Situation Room. That's different.

The people who are in the Situation Room with Donald Trump like John Kelly, his chief of staff, said he shouldn't be there. He's a damaged human being.

His -- his own defense secretary said he does not understand the situation -- and is incapable of dealing with it. So it's about character.

The next subject area – abortion – should have allowed Walz to finally score some points, since ending the life of unborn babies is the only issue that purportedly has Walz and Harris ahead of Trump in the public opinion polls.

BREAM: I want to talk about abortion, too, because this came up at the debate. It's been a winning argument for Democrats on many ballots, but I want to clarify what the law is there in Minnesota.

Abortion Finder, a website that helps women find access, says abortion is legal throughout pregnancy in Minnesota. There is no ban or limit on abortion in Minnesota based on how far along in a pregnancy you are.

You signed the bill that makes it legal through all nine months.

Is that a position you think Democrats should advocate for nationally?

WALZ:  Look, the vice president and I have been clear the restoration of Roe versus Wade is what we're asking for. This is a woman’s right --  

BREAM:  But that law goes far beyond Roe v. Wade.

WALZ:  -- to make her own choice.

The law does -- the law is very clear. It does not change that. That has been debunked on every occasion. But, look, this is a -- you talk about this being a win --

BREAM:  But, wait, wait, let's agree, what you signed is there's not a single limit through nine months of pregnancy. Roe had a trimester framework that did have limits through the pregnancy. The Minnesota law does not have that.

WALZ:  This puts -- this puts the decision with the woman and her healthcare providers. The situation we have is when you don't have the ability of healthcare providers to provide that, that's where you end up with a situation like Amanda Zurawski in Texas, where they are afraid to do what's necessary.

This doesn't change any anything. It puts the decision back on to the woman, to the physicians.

And we know that this is simply something to be brought up -- to be very clear Donald Trump's asking for a nationwide abortion ban.

BREAM:  Wait, he [Trump] has said that he --  

WALZ:  And, again, we don't see this as a winning campaign --  

BREAM:  -- he has said repeatedly that he will not sign a national abortion ban. Are you calling that just it's a flat out lie?

WALZ:  Yes, it -- of course, and Senator Vance has in the past said so too.

Now, look they may see this as an election issue. We see it as a right of women to make their own bodily decisions, and that's what the states like my state have the ability to put that in. States like Georgia force women to cross the border and then we have a death of Amber Thurman.

So let's be very clear trying to cut hairs on an issue on this is not where the American public is at. They want the restoration of Roe versus Wade. Vice President Harris said she would sign it. That's what -- we'll do when we're elected. We restore that right to women.

BREAM:  OK. To be clear, the Minnesota law is far beyond Roe v. Wade, and about the Amber Thurman case in Georgia, her family has -- and it's tragic. She is a young mother, who left behind a young son, but what her family has said is it was a complication from an abortion pill that she received and she didn't get proper care when she went to a Georgia hospital which had multiple opportunities to intervene there.

Her own attorney, the family's attorney says it wasn't the Georgia law, it was the hospitals -- what he claims is malpractice, not treating her when she clearly showed up in distress and still had the byproducts of her pregnancy because of that rare complication from the abortion pill. So just to be clear on the Georgia law and how her family and her attorney sees it.

WALZ:  I think they also indicated that had she not go to North Carolina after the debate the other night that that she would have been in a better position.

So look these are the situations you're going to get into when you take this decision and put it at the hands of politicians like Donald Trump, rather than women and their doctors. We trust women, we trust doctors and we know the outcomes of that are better.

BREAM:  Okay. Let's clarify more changes that you signed in Minnesota as well. Several things were repealed with respect to reporting infants who may have survived an abortion attempt. Language that used to be part of the statute was taken out. We'll put this on the screen so people can see.

It used to require medical personnel to, quote, preserve the life and health of the born alive infant. That language has been repealed. It's no longer part of the law.

Also struck from the law was language about reporting infants that are born alive, what treatment they receive, and whether they live or die.

Why was it important to you to get that protection out of the law?

WALZ: Minnesota law aligns with every other case of what physicians are required by their ethical responsibilities, and so it changed nothing other than aligning with all care that physicians provide in any circumstance for any medical case. And so its alignment, as it's always been, it's the cases we've seen in Minnesota, the outcomes we get in our health care results are the best in the nation. And all it did was align with existing law.

BREAM: But you do acknowledge it takes out the language about preserving the life of an infant who was born alive.

WALZ: Every doctor has an ethical responsibility to provide what they can in each situation. That is the way the law is written now. It's the same for any person who shows up.

And again, this is a distraction from the real issue here is, is women being forced into miscarriages, women being forced to go back home, get sepsis, potentially die like we saw in cases in Texas. And maternal mortality rates in Texas have skyrocketed off the charts because of this. This is bad policy.

Vice President and I have been very clear on this. We will restore the rights of Roe vs. Wade. We will make sure women have their health care decisions. We will not put people's lives at risk because of the geography of where they live. And it will go back to the way it was before Donald Trump gleefully said, we've got the best of both worlds here. Things are wonderful. The states are handling it. It's a beautiful thing. It's not a beautiful thing to see women dying. It's not a beautiful thing to put doctors at risk of being imprisoned.

BREAM: It is not. It is not to see any single woman suffer. And by the way, there's not a single state, no matter how pro-life or restrictive their laws are, that do not allow a doctor to intercede. That's true in Georgia and Texas as well.

After that longest segment of the interview, Bream turned the subject to the disastrous Biden-Harris economy.

BREAM: I want to turn to the economy. Our latest polling shows that 66% of Americans we talked to said that buying groceries is a, quote, "major problem" for them.

And when we ask people about how they feel about the policies of this administration versus the previous, double the amount of people surveyed say that Biden-Harris policies have hurt them rather than help them and their families economically. That's in stark contrast to how they feel when asked about the Trump administration.

So what would a Harris-Walz administration do different than a Biden-Harris administration when it comes to convincing people that the economy is going to get better for them because their perception is that it's not?

WALZ: Well, we saw a blockbuster jobs report this week. We saw interest rates come down. And we've also seen that Vice President Harris laying out a middle-class agenda.

Look, I was in Ohio yesterday in Cleveland, in Cincinnati, and talking about this. Folks in Ohio know that Donald Trump's policies led to 180,000 manufacturing jobs leaving. They understand when he left office we had more people unemployed percentage-wise than the Great Depression. What Vice President Harris is talking about is making it more affordable to buy housing. And we've seen it in Minneapolis. When you have more housing stock, we've seen rates go down. We've seen more houses available.

Also the idea of price gouging. With 37 states, Republican and Democratic states, have this. Corn is about $4.10 or so a bushel. That's where it's been for many years, up and down. But prices at the grocery stores have skyrocketed. Corporate profits have skyrocketed. And people are paying more. So we talk about that.

And then I think the fundamental difference here is Donald Trump kept his promise. He cut taxes for the wealthiest. She's talking about making sure things like a child tax credit, $6,000 child tax credit, put more money in people's pocket, making sure that we're able to buy those things, whether it's a crib or it's baby formula, get started. And she's simply asking that we can pay for it by asking those at the top to pay their fair share.

This is a fundamental difference in approaches to it. And we're seeing it working. We're seeing economists talk about Donald Trump's proposal to add a 20% sales tax will cost $4,000. That's everybody. That's not me saying it.

BREAM: And just to note, that is a tariff, which by the way, this administration not only kept most of the Trump tariffs, but they added their own as well. So that's got to be part of the conversation.

How about Walz’s record as a two-term governor of Minnesota?

BREAM: I want to talk a little bit about your record as governor because it elucidates for people how you may serve as whether you end up being the president. You'll be one heartbeat away should your ticket be successful.

"Wall Street Journal" says this after you were chosen to join the ticket. “As the Democratic governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz signed into law initiatives allowing immigrants in the country illegally to apply for driver's licenses, qualify for free tuition at state universities, and enroll in the state's free health care program for low-income residents."

Are those not magnets to draw people here many times on dangerous journeys for themselves? And why should your taxpayers in Minnesota or across the states pay for those programs?

WALZ: Well, that's not the vice president's position. But I will say this, Minnesota ranks as a top five business state. We rank as a top three state for children living and with a top state for health care access.

I would also add this. We also have some of the safest roads. Look, the Vice President has made it clear that she has policies that make a difference. Her border policies are the most strongest, the fairest we've seen. It's the bill that we saw --

BREAM: Now, Governor, you know a lot of people, including your own party, would not join that statement. There are millions of people who have come here over the last few years that, you know, they -- they see this as an open border.

WALZ: The policies -- well, simply we have a policy. Donald Trump sees it as a political. Look, James Lankford in Oklahoma, the Border Patrol agents, the "Wall Street Journal," the Chamber of Commerce all said pass this legislation.

You have to have Congress to authorize 1,500 new border agents. You have to have Congress to authorize DOJ to speed adjudications on these asylum claims. Those are things that would actually work. Donald Trump told us for four years he would deal with this. He didn't -- he didn't build his wall 2%. Mexico didn't pay for it.

This is a real bill that has bipartisan support. It has the experts on board, and it starts to tackle these issues. And we don't have to resort to demonizing people. We don't have to resort to making up or crafting stories, as Senator Vance said he did. Those things were not happening in Springfield, but it doesn't mean that we can't pass a piece of legislation to strengthen our border. That's what Kamala Harris was talking about. She's talking about solving the problem.

BREAM: Well, Governor, that piece of legislation does include the wall that you guys have been so -- you've disparaged that. I mean, the Vice President has as well, so I don't know if she really intends to move forward with that. But it was negotiated by three or four senators, and many Republicans came out against it long before President Trump indicated he didn't like it either.

Finally Bream gave Walz a chance to clarify his comment during the Vance-Walz debate last week that he – Walz – was a “knucklehead.”

BREAM: Listen, before we go, because I wish that we had a full hour, I want to give you a chance, because you called yourself a knucklehead this week, to talk about some of your misstatements.

WALZ: Yeah.

BREAM: You've modified your story or explained that you misspoke about things involving your military rank, about carrying a weapon in war, your 1995 DUI arrest, using IVF to have your beautiful children Gus and Hope, being in Hong Kong and China in the summer of 1989 during the Tiananmen events, a lot of people would say they couldn't get away with saying, I'm just too passionate, my grammar is not right, I'm a knucklehead. What do you say to the American people who think, I don't know that I can trust this guy with all those modifications to be the potential commander-in-chief of this country?

WALZ: Yeah, well I think they heard me. They heard me the other night speaking passionately about gun violence and misspeaking, and -- and I got to be honest with you, Shannon, I don't think people care whether I used IUI or IVF when we talk about this. What they understand is Donald Trump would resist those things.

Look, I speak passionately. I had an entire career, decades before I was in public office. They know, and I'm very proud of my 24 years in service and my record. I have never disparaged someone else in this, but I know that's not what Donald Trump does. They disparage everyone. The personal attacks.

I will own up when I misspeak. I will own up when I make a mistake. Let's be very clear. On that debate stage the other night, I asked one very simple question and Senator Vance would not acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. I think they're probably far more concerned with that than my wife and I used IUI to have our child and that Donald Trump would restrict that. So I think folks know who I am. My constituents here in Minnesota have elected me eight times. They know where I'm at and -- and I'm proud to be on the ticket and we'll deliver just like we have here in Minnesota.

BREAM: All right, and if we're going to deal in truth, both the president, the former president, and his nominee have said that they are very supportive of IVF. We are glad you have your precious family. We thank you for serving in uniform and your years and decades as a teacher. My mom was too. I know it's really hard work and sometimes very thankless. So Governor, we appreciate your time.

WALZ: Thanks, Shannon.

BREAM: Come back soon.

END

Readers are welcome to draw their own conclusions on how Walz did in this interview. As someone who has interviewed a number of prominent individuals myself, including ones with whom I didn’t agree, I think Bream did an excellent job of trying to get substantive answers from Walz on some key issues while remaining (unlike interviewers on CNN and MSNBC) cordial to the invited guest. The fact that he obfuscated and frustrated her attempts reveals more about him than her.

Ultimately, it was a major “get” for FOX News.

P.S. back in the day (I’m talking the 1950s and ‘60s), the “newspaper of record” (The New York Times), regularly published full transcripts of speeches, press conferences, and major media interviews with prominent politicians — especially during election years. That is no longer the case. In this case, I believe American Thinker is the only place that one can access the full transcript of this important first interview with Gov. Tim Walz.