CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Wednesday sparred with Republican Rep. Mike Walz of Florida over claims made by Minnesota Governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz about his military service.

Walz is one of 50 Republicans in Congress with military experience. letter Keilar on Wednesday called on Walz to publicly respond to “gross misrepresentations” about his 24 years of service in the Army National Guard. Keilar accused the Florida congressman of attacking Walz's military service.

“Just to be clear, I want to correct your portrayal. I'm not attacking his service. I served in the National Guard for 22 of my 27 years. I know a lot of people who served in the National Guard or Reserves. They may or may not have seen combat, but they got out with a rank. They're great and I admire them. He said he was proud of his service. If he's so proud of it, why continue to exaggerate it and lie about it? The facts are clear,” Waltz said.

“This is not an honor theft,” Keillor fired back. “Let me be clear: I'm reading this, and I quote, Mike, 'It is also not honorable to abandon the men and women under your command who are preparing to deploy.' This is an attack on his service.”

The letter accused Waltz of falsely claiming to be a “retired master sergeant” when he did not meet the requirements, and of claiming to have carried a weapon “in war” even though he left his battalion in 2005 before deploying to Iraq.

'Not a stolen honor': CNN's Brianna Keilar slams GOP lawmaker over Gov. Tim Walz's military service pic.twitter.com/stpBXDnkrn

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Walz said the Minnesota governor knew his troops were going to Iraq before they left and is accountable for their withdrawal. Keillor said Walz announced his candidacy for Congress before he “saw the orders coming out.” (RELATED: CNN's Jim Acosta corrects Democratic senator who incorrectly suggested J.D. Vance never served in the military)

“Instead of defending these decisions, we would like to have him interviewed and asked these questions, or at least have him sit down and answer these inconsistencies. The other thing we say in our letter is that he has repeatedly been portrayed as a combat veteran in his presence, featured at events, in articles, yet he has done nothing to correct that and continues to do nothing to correct it today. I mean, he clearly insinuated himself as a combat veteran and allowed others to do so, and clearly exaggerated his military history for political gain, which he should not have done. This is unacceptable to the veteran community,” the Florida congressman said.

“Well, he has some questions to answer. I'm not sure it's worth wasting 24 years of service,” Keillor responded.

In 2007, footage showed Waltz failing to correct then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she praised him for his service “in the field.” CSPAN profiled the Minnesota representative as an “Afghanistan War veteran,” even though he never served in that conflict.

Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, a former Marine, accused Walz of “defamation” by saying he possessed weapons of war without having served in combat.

“It's disgraceful to prepare troops to go to Iraq, keep your word, and then withdraw right before they're about to deploy,” Vance said at a news conference on August 7. “I also find it dishonest… He said we shouldn't have weapons left on the streets that we used in the war. Tim Waltz, it makes me wonder when you got into a war. You abandoned your troops right before they went to Iraq, you never spent a day in a combat zone, and what weapons did you bring to the war? What bothers me about Tim Waltz is all this crap about stolen valor.”

Governor Walz responded to the attacks from his political opponents at an event in Los Angeles, California on August 13, saying he was “proud” to serve in the National Guard.

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