The video in question showed Walz pulling his son's arm to keep him from walking directly into a teleprompter on the stage. Weeks earlier, Walz and his wife, Gwen, revealed to People that Gus has a nonverbal learning disorder, ADHD and an anxiety disorder. According to both the NVLD Project and the Cleveland Clinic, nonverbal learning disorders can affect visual-spatial awareness.
In August 2024, users on X promoted a video clip they claimed showed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz being "abusive" toward his 17-year-old son, Gus, pulling on his arm "out of anger" when his family joined him onstage following his acceptance speech as the vice-presidential nominee at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
However, a close examination of video from Walz's Aug. 21 speech revealed that he pulled his son's arm to ensure he didn't walk directly into a teleprompter. In the same video, Walz's daughter, Hope, can be seen walking around the opposite side of the same teleprompter.
As we previously reported, Walz and his wife, Gwen, revealed to People on Aug. 7 that Gus "has a nonverbal learning disorder, ADHD and an anxiety disorder — all conditions that they call his 'secret power.'"
According to both the NVLD Project and the Cleveland Clinic, nonverbal learning disorders can affect visual-spatial awareness. The NVLD Project website specifically mentions, "spatial awareness (bumping into people and things)."
A YouTube video provided by PBS NewsHour covering Walz's full speech showed the candidate hugging his wife and his children following the conclusion of his address. In the video, Walz's family members took turns hugging him. Then they held hands to walk together to the front of the stage.
At the 17:09 mark in the video, Walz noticed his son Gus approaching one of the teleprompters and yanked his arm to help him avoid walking into it.
One of the most highlighted moments from Walz's speech featured Gus standing and applauding with tears streaming down his face as Walz spoke, saying, "That's my dad!" In another fact check, we reported that conservative commentator Ann Coulter faced backlash for posting on X that she believed Gus Walz's reaction was "weird." Coulter eventually removed the post but did not offer an apology.
Misleading Claims of 'Anger' and 'Abuse'
On Aug. 22 — the day after Walz's speech — Sophie Louise Delquié, whose X bio identified her as a strategic communications adviser for Senate Republicans and wife of U.S. Sen. JD Vance's communications director, William Martin, posted (archived): "MUST WATCH: Is it just me or did Tim Walz aggressively yank his son last night on stage? Seems like he could be a very different person behind closed doors..." As of this writing, her post displayed over 5.3 million views.
One user reposted Delquié's post, adding sarcastically, "Troubling, I've just discovered Tim Walz is the kind of dad who won't let his child walk face-first into a teleprompter. I can no longer relate with his brand of fatherhood."
Over an hour later, conservative commentator Collin Rugg, who has more than 1.4 million followers on X, misleadingly posted (archived), "Tim Walz is under fire for aggressively pulling his son Gus Walz's arm on stage at the Democratic National Convention." He also added, "Some are theorizing that Walz was pulling Gus' arm out of anger while others say he was simply excited in the moment." As of this writing, the post had more than 4.9 million views. (Rugg later posted a correction.)
Then, on Aug. 23, Newsmax TV host Greg Kelly shared to his more than 876,000 followers the same upload from Rugg's post and misleadingly remarked (archived), "Tim Walz is NOT 'nice'-he's an ABUSIVE man toward his son. Horrible but Revealing. You can't hide who you Truly Are. #nojoy."
Further, the rumor and video spread on X with the description, "Walz's Aggressive Son Incident at DNC" — an ambiguous and misleading headline that read as if Gus himself became aggressive at the convention. According to text on the page, X's artificial-intelligence tool Grok was responsible for writing the headline. Small text under the headline said Grok had not updated the headline in three hours, showing the problematic nature of allowing such a tool to display news to users. A disclaimer under the headline read, "Grok can make mistakes, verify its outputs."
Other users also posted numerous misinformed remarks about the same video.
Some Users Acknowledged Sharing Misinformation
After Rugg's initial post — which mentioned two of Gus's disorders — he acknowledged in a subsequent post (archived), "Full video of Tim Walz tugging his son's arm appears to show that he was quickly pulling him so he wouldn't run into the teleprompter on stage." He added, "Walz's daughter, who was next to Gus Walz, walked in front of the teleprompter while Gus, who appeared to be walking right towards the teleprompter, was pulled behind it."
Juanita Broaddrick, a supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump who has more 1.3 million followers on X and is known for alleging former President Bill Clinton raped her in 1978, responded to one of Rugg's posts, writing (archived), "Thank you for this, Collin. I'm glad to know the true story. I was quick to jump on it too, I guess, because of my complete and utter dislike of Tim Walz."
Rugg then replied (archived) to Broaddrick, "I think his facial expression (irritated) threw some people off but in reality, he was just looking out for his son."
In another post, Rugg said (archived) he grew up with a brother with special needs and added of Gus, "Just imagine the reaction if he ran into the teleprompter and knocked it over on TV. Give [Tim] Walz a pass on this one."
We reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign, Delquié, Rugg and Newsmax to ask if they had any further comment regarding the aforementioned posts and rumor, and will update this story if we receive any responses.