Secretary Pete Buttigieg pushed back at Republicans accusing Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) of misrepresenting his military record with a scathing claim about presidential candidate Donald Trump .

During an appearance on CNN s State of the Union on Sunday, the Secretary of Transportation defended the new Democratic candidate for vice president for comments about his time in the Army National Guard , calling Walzs words a simple case of clumsy-speaking before he turned the criticism back on the GOP.

Look, I think in many ways, its the exception that proves the rule, If the only thing that they can find about Tim Walz to complain about is to disparage his military record that is clearly honorable, Buttigieg explained.

Turning his focus towards Republican running mate Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), who, during an earlier interview on the show, accused Walz of lying about his service for political gain, Buttigieg said, Theres something, I think, much bigger at play here.