Tim Walz’s brother stands by criticism of his policies but says Facebook ‘wasn’t the right platform’ to express views

(CNN) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s brother said Tuesday that he doesn’t agree with the Democrat’s policies but expressed some remorse for inserting himself into the spotlight after he posted on social media last week he is “100% opposed” to his brother’s political views and was considering officially endorsing former President Donald Trump.

Jeff Walz, the older brother of Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, told NewsNation in an interview that he didn’t intend to “influence the general public” with social media posts that indicated his support for Trump over Harris’ and his brother’s campaign and said he has no plans to be campaigning “for him or against him” ahead of November’s election.

The Harris-Walz campaign declined to comment.

Jeff Walz’s comments come after he wrote on Facebook that he hasn’t spoken to his brother in eight years but is “100% opposed to all his ideology.”

In another comment on Friday, he responded to someone suggesting he “get on stage” with Trump and offer his official endorsement by saying he’s weighing his family’s privacy against his desire to keep his brother out of higher public office, indicating he knows “stories” about Gov. Walz that would reflect poorly on him.

“I’ve thought hard about doing something like that!” he wrote in response to the idea of formally endorsing Trump. “I’m torn between that and just keeping my family out of it. The stories I could tell. Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future.”

Jeff Walz said he regrets sharing his views on Facebook, and explained he made the posts to clarify his views to people in his life who thought he was aligned with Tim Walz politically.

“It was a post that – that I made because I was getting a lot of feedback from my friends, old acquaintances, thinking that I was feeling the same way that my brother did on the issues, and I was trying to clarify that just to friends,” he told NewsNation. “I used Facebook, which wasn’t the right platform to do that for.”

Jeff Walz lamented the distance between him and his brother, saying “it’s too bad” they’ve grown apart and expressing hope for the possibility they can “disagree and still be civil brothers.” He added that any “stories” he had to share about Tim Walz wouldn’t reveal anything “hidden” about him.

“My little brother, when we were younger, we would go on family trips and in a station wagon. And the thing was, nobody wanted to sit with him, because he had car sickness and would always throw up on us,” he said. “That sort of thing. There’s really nothing else hidden behind there. People are assuming something else.”

Jeff Walz declined to share with NewsNation who he would be voting for in November. But he has a history of supporting Trump dating back to 2016.

The Facebook comments he posted on Friday occurred underneath a post he originally wrote on March 30, 2023, the same day Trump was indicted by a grand jury in New York as part of the investigation into hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump was eventually found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

“We’ve just become a third world banana republic,” he wrote that day.

He previously donated $20 to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, federal campaign finance records show. And on the day after Election Day in 2022, he appeared to react to stronger than expected performances by Democrats in races across the country except in his home state of Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis won reelection by 19 points.

“Sure glad to live in Florida today!,” he wrote at the time.

Jeff Walz is one of three of Tim Walz’s siblings. They have a sister, Sandy, who lives in Nebraska, and a brother, Craig, who died in 2016.

His brother’s apparent opposition to his campaign puts Tim Walz in company with Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have both seen family members criticize their presidential bids. Trump has faced continued attacks from his niece, Mary Trump, and his nephew, Fred Trump, who have both published books about their uncle. Kennedy’s siblings condemned his campaign at various points over the past year, including after he dropped out of the race in August and endorsed Trump.

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