Tim Walz calls himself a 'knucklehead' again as 60 Minutes hosts ask if he can be 'trusted to tell the truth'

Vice presidential hopeful, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, again called himself a 'knucklehead' as he was quizzed by 60 Minutes about untruthful statements he's made in the past. 

Walz first used the folksy put-down on last week's debate stage when he was asked about a claim he made about being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre. 

Minnesota Public Radio News and APM Reports first reported that Walz didn't travel to the regions until months later. 

'I think folks know who I am. And I think they know the difference between someone expressing emotion, telling a story, getting a date wrong ... rather than a pathological liar like Donald Trump,' Walz told 60 Minutes' Bill Whitaker. 

Whitaker had pressed whether that kind of 'misrepresntation' was more than being a 'knucklehead.'

He then asked the Democratic vice presidential hopeful if Walz could be 'trusted with the truth.' 

'Yeah. Well - I can - I think I can,' the Minnesota governor replied. 'I will own up to being a knucklehead at times, but the folks closest to me know that I keep my word.'  

Walz's answer on Tiananmen Square on the debate stage last week was one of the most eyebrow-raising moments during his 90-plus minute back-and-forth with Republican vice presidential hopeful, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. 

Even before making the 'knucklehead' dig, Walz provided a confusing explanation for the discrepancy.  

'Well, and to the folks out there who didn't get at the top of this,' Walz began. 'I grew up in small, rural Nebraska, town of 400. Town that you rode your bike with your buddies till the streetlights come on, and I'm proud of that service.'

'I joined the National Guard at 17, worked on family farms, and then I used the GI bill to become a teacher, passionate about it, a young teacher,' he continued. 'My first year out, I got the opportunity in the summer of 89 to travel to China, 35 years ago, be able to do that.'

Walz then explained how he started a program to take young people to China. 

'We would take basketball teams, we would take baseball teams, we would take dancers, and we would go back and forth to China,' he said. 'The issue for that was, was to try and learn.'

After the autobiographical sketch, Walz segued and said that his 'community knows who I am.' 

'They saw where I was at,' he continued. 'They, look, I will be the first to tell you I have poured my heart into my community. I've tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect. And I'm a knucklehead at times, but it's always been about that.'

Walz knocked around Repubican nominee, former President Donald Trump, for his praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping over his handling of COVID and trade policies, though at the end of his response, moderator Margaret Brennan pointed out that the VP hopeful never answered her question. 

'Governor, just to follow up on that, the question was, can you explain the discrepancy?' she asked.  

He then gave a shorter explanation. 

'No, all I said on this was, is, I got there that summer and misspoke on this, so I will just, that's what I've said,' Walz said. 'So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protest, went in, and from that, I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance.'