Minnesota Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz is in the state to cast his vote in early voting.
He traveled from his temporary Eastcliff residence to the Plato Building in St. Paul to vote alongside Minnesota’s First Lady Gwen Walz and his son Gus.
The Governor responded to comments made by former President Trump's ex-Chief of Staff John Kelly on Tuesday in interviews. Kelly issued a warning that the Republican presidential nominee meets the definition of a fascist and that while in office, Trump suggested that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “did some good things.”
"John Kelly, who I thank for showing the courage to come forward, truly telling the world those closest to Donald Trump know how dangerous he is," Walz said after he voted Wednesday morning. "The desire of Donald Trump to wish he had generals like Adolf Hitler had, Mark Milley as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff talking about, he's the most dangerous person that he's ever encountered."
Kelly, the retired Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, came in interviews published Tuesday in The New York Times and The Atlantic. They build on past warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final two weeks.
"I think for many of us, the last 24 hours certainly have been a bit shaking with the reporting coming out in the Atlantic," says Walz.
Kelly has long been critical of Trump and previously accused him of calling veterans killed in combat “suckers” and “losers.” His new warnings emerged as Trump seeks a second term vowing to dramatically expand his use of the military at home and suggesting he would use force to go after Americans he considers “enemies from within.”
"Donald Trump made it very clear that this is an election about Donald Trump taking full control of the military to use against his political enemies, taking full control of the Department of Justice to prosecute those who disagree with him, taking full control of the media on what is told and what is told to the American public," said Walz. "And the opportunity here, the absolute requirement of Americans, is to understand that this rhetoric has not been used in this country, certainly not by party's presidential nominee."
In his interview with the Atlantic, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing “German generals,” Kelly would ask if he meant “Bismarck’s generals,” referring to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who oversaw the unification of Germany. “Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals,” Kelly recalled asking Trump. To which the former president responded, “Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.”
Trump’s campaign denied the accounts Tuesday, with campaign spokesman Steven Cheung saying that Kelly had “beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated.”
Polls show the race is tight in swing states, and both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are crisscrossing the country making their final pitches to the sliver of undecided voters. Harris’ campaign has spent considerable time reaching out to independent voters, using the support of longtime Republicans such as former Rep. Liz Cheney and comments like Kelly’s to urge past Trump voters to reject his candidacy in November.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.