A former soldier who commanded Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the Army National Guard said the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate “did something wrong in the line of duty.”

Republicans have been fiercely attacking Walz’s military service record since he was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’s vice presidential nominee earlier this week. Senator JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, accused the governor of “stolen valor” for allegedly “abandoning” his unit by retiring before it deployed to Iraq in 2006.

Retired Command Sergeant Major Doug Julin has accused Walz of “abandoning his troops” and going over his head to secure his retirement after decades of service in May 2005, just months before the battalion received mobilization orders for deployment to Iraq. While Walz left the military before his unit was deployed, there is no hard evidence that he did so to avoid combat in Iraq.

In an interview with CNN’s Laura Coates on Thursday night, Julin said Walz had “done everything” to get him to retire at that time and accused the governor of using a “backdoor process” to retire.

“(Walz) did something wrong in the line of duty,” Julin told Coates. “He knew the policies and procedures and how we talk to leadership and address issues… He bypassed me when he should have discussed it with me.”

“There’s a chance he realized I would have said, ‘No, it’s too late, you move on,'” he added. “He knew he was going to move on. Had he gotten his orders yet? No, he hadn’t at that point.”

When Coates asked him what he thought about “political talking points” that accused Walz of “stolen courage,” Julin did not answer directly.

Newsweek contacted the Harris/Walz campaign team via email on Thursday evening and asked for comment.

Walz rose to the rank of Command Sergeant Major in the Army National Guard before retiring after 24 years of service. He had begun his political career around the same time, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 and serving six terms before winning the Minnesota governorship in 2018.

Vance served in the Marine Corps for four years, leaving the military in 2007 as a corporal to attend Ohio State University. Neither served in combat, and both spent limited time overseas. Vance was stationed in Iraq for about six months as a press secretary, and Walz was stationed in Italy for nine months supporting U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Others who served in Walz’s battalion disagree with Julin’s assessment of the governor and his decision to leave the military. Retired Staff Sergeant Ryan Marti, who deployed with the unit with Walz in Italy and without him in Iraq, expressed a different view in a CNN interview Thursday night.

“Absolutely not. I don’t think he was trying to avoid the deployment,” Marti said. “In fact, I’m really glad he went to Congress and did what he did. If you want to give someone grief because they accepted a promotion or took another job, I think that’s wrong. I think his going to Congress is like a promotion.”

“Tim is probably one of the most honorable men I know,” he added. “I’m not hurt, and a lot of other people from my unit really understand that what he did was important: He went on to the next job, went to Congress.”