Exclusive: Harris campaign press secretary pulled Tim Walz out of gaggle during question on Gaza hostages

It's not just a Tim Walz issue anymore.

Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has been on the receiving end of plenty of criticism after a video showed him walking away as he was asked about this weekend’s tragedy involving the murder of six hostages (including one American citizen) by Hamas in Gaza.

It turns out that a top staffer on the Democratic presidential campaign prompted the decision not to speak about the atrocity that occurred over the weekend.

The Dossier has found that Governor Walz abandoned the press gaggle in question (which only lasted 90 seconds) at the Minnesota State Fair after appearing to be coaxed by a national press secretary on the Harris-Walz presidential campaign.

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While touring the state fair in Saint Paul and meeting with supporters, Walz walked over to the press area and begins to have a back and forth with the media.

One reporter asks Walz how he is balancing his two roles as governor and as vice presidential candidate, while another asks him how he’s feeling.

After all of the hard hitting journalism, a female reporter asks him about an actual issue of national intrigue, given that there are several American hostages being held by Hamas.

"What's your reaction to the six hostages being found dead in Gaza?" a reporter can be heard asking Walz during the press gaggle.

As readers can see in the video above, Walz suddenly freezes up, looks to his right, and acknowledges the man standing there. He then states, “All right, thanks everybody," before abruptly leaving the press behind.

The Dossier has confirmed that this mystery man is Teddy Tschann, a national press secretary for the Harris-Walz 2024 campaign. Tschann has a very senior role in the campaign and he is authorized to speak on its behalf. You can see his face clearly earlier in the video, when he notices that Governor Walz is speaking to the press, and proceeds to get in position out of the shot to assist his principal.

Teddy Tschann, national press secretary for Harris-Walz 24’, appears in the beginning of video

Walz looks to his right seconds after hearing the word “hostages”

Tschann’s back appears in the shot at the end, confirming that he seems to have coaxed Walz away from the press before giving an answer on the hostage question

Tschann has been on the Minnesota governor’s staff for five years and he’s been a political operative for many years. He previously worked at the United States Senate for Senators Al Franken and Tina Smith. He’s worked on several political campaigns in Minnesota, and he also served as the Minnesota Press Secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

It’s now clear that the governor’s decision to leave the question and answer session after less than two minutes was a decision made in coordination with a top staffer for the Harris-Walz presidential campaign. This newfound information should lead to further inquiries about why a top campaign staffer decided that Tim Walz shouldn’t be answering questions about the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, and the American citizen hostages who are being held in the jihadist-run territory.

Given that the tragedy in Gaza was the number one news story that day, it would certainly be ordinary practice for the comms staff on the campaign to have gameplanned what to do if their principal is asked about the hostages.

Following the blowback to his decision not to answer the question, the Walz campaign released a statement Sunday evening:

"The anguish of losing a child is something no family should have to endure. Gwen and I send our deepest condolences to the Goldberg-Polin family, after Hamas' murder of their son Hersh," read a post from Walz's X account.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American citizen, was murdered by Hamas.

"Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization – and we condemn their continued atrocities against both Americans and Israelis in the strongest possible terms, the statement added."