Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, Minnesota Gov., had to answer questions about his controversial trip to China and misrepresentations about those trips during Tuesday night’s debate.

Walz said he was in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests in the spring of 1989. But Minnesota Public Radio and other media outlets are now reporting that Walz actually didn’t travel to China until August of this year.

CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan asked Walz to explain the discrepancy.

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“Look, I grew up in a small rural town in Nebraska, a town where you rode bikes with your friends until the street lights came on, and I’m proud of that service,” said a visibly shaking Walz. “At 17, I joined the National Guard, worked on family farms, and then became a teacher on the GI Bill.”

Walz said that as a “passionate young teacher” he “had the opportunity to travel to China in the summer of 1989 – 35 years ago.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz confused the internet on Tuesday when he accidentally declared that he had “become friends with school shooters” during CBS News’ vice presidential debate against Sen. JD Vance. (Getty Images)

“I came home and then started a program to bring young people there. We took basketball teams with us. We took baseball teams with us. We took dancers with us. And we traveled back and forth to China,” Walz said, noting the trips were “trying and learning.”

“Look, my community knows who I am. She saw where I was. I’ll be the first to tell you that I put my heart into my community and tried to do my best, but I did.” “It wasn’t perfect,” Walz continued.

“And I’m a dick sometimes.”

Walz said his commitment “from the beginning” was “to make sure I was there for the people.”

“I often talk a lot and get lost in the rhetoric. But being there, what impact it had, what difference it made in my life, I learned a lot about China,” Walz said. “I hear the criticism of it.”

Walz said he would “argue that Donald Trump should have come with us on one of these trips.”

“I guarantee you he wouldn’t praise XI Jinping because of COVID. And I guarantee you he wouldn’t start a trade war that he ends up losing,” Walz said. “So this is about understanding the world. It’s about doing what’s best for the community and then it’s about getting out there and letting people understand what it’s about.”

“My involvement, whether it was through teaching, which I was good at, or whether I was a good soldier or a good member of Congress. Those are the things that I think are the values ​​that people care about.””

Senator JD Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican vice presidential candidate, debates Tim Walz at the CBS Broadcast Center on October 1, 2024 in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

But Brennan pushed back, reminding Walz of the question and again asking him to explain the discrepancy.

“All I said was that I got there that summer and I made a mistake,” Walz said. “So, I’ll just – that’s what I said. I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests, went there and learned a lot about what is important in governance.””

Walz’s ties to China have been under scrutiny since he became Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., launched an investigation into Walz’s alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Comer revealed that Walz had “collaborated and partnered” with Chinese companies, making him “vulnerable” to the CCP’s “elite capture” strategy, which aims to co-opt influential figures from elite political, cultural and academic circles, to “influence the United States.” States to the benefit of the communist regime and to the detriment of the Americans.”

Comer pointed to reports that Walz organized a trip to China for Alliance High School students while he was a teacher in the 1990s. The costs were reportedly “paid by the Chinese government.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, speaks during a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News with Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Tim Walz said he’s traveled to China “dozens of times,” now his campaign says “more like 15”

Comer is investigating Educational Travel Adventures, Inc., a private company founded by Walz in 1994 that coordinated annual student trips to China until 2003.

The company reportedly “dissolved four days after he took office in Congress in 2007.”

Comer said Walz traveled to China an estimated “30 times.”

Comer issued a subpoena to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, requiring him to produce DHS records about Walz’s alleged ties to the CCP.

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During a congressional hearing in 2016, Walz said he had “been to China dozens of times.”

“I’ve been there about 30 times,” Walz told an agriculture-focused publication in 2016.

However, a Harris-Walz campaign spokesman recently told Minnesota Public Radio that the number was “more like 15 times.”