Walz-Vance debate: Candidates tangle in wide-ranging debate

FACT CHECKS OF THE DEBATE | Vice presidential debate fact check: Claims made by Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance

Claim: 'Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration. What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they're now launching against our allies.'
Fact Check: False.

Vance might be referring to Iran's claims that it was able to access $100 billion in previously frozen funds when it officially entered an Obama-era nuclear pact in 2016. However, the Obama White House estimated the total sanctions relief Iran could see was around $50 billion.

And while President Biden was vice president at the time the deal was brokered, Vice President Harris was California's attorney general and had nothing to do with the agreement, which former President Trump exited in 2018.

Another GOP claim has been that Biden and Harris have allowed Iran to access $16 billion-not $100 billion-of its frozen revenue during Biden's time in office. However, that assertion is also complicated.

In July 2023, the Biden administration expanded a waiver President Trump had initially put in place that allowed Iraq to purchase energy from Iran without running afoul of sanctions, according to the administration. That move greenlit some of roughly $10 billion in Iraqi payments to be transferred to third-party countries, primarily Oman, and used by Tehran to purchase non-sanctioned goods. According to U.S. officials, those funds are protected by a vetting system to ensure they cannot be put toward nefarious purposes.

Biden administration officials have testified that Iran has been able to withdraw at least some of the money held in Oman, but it's unclear how much it has accessed and how that money was spent.

However, after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the U.S. and Qatar reached an agreement to freeze the funds indefinitely, and a State Department official confirms that Iran has not been able to access any the $6 billion.

When asked why Walz previously said he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, Walz only glancingly responded, only saying that he's "a knucklehead at times" and that his extensive travel to China "is about trying to understand the world, it's about trying to do the best you can for the community."

When pressed further, he conceded that he "misspoke" and that he was in Hong Kong the year of the massacre but not at the time it happened.

Walz repeatedly poked at Vance's past criticisms of Trump and now the CBS moderator is asking him to explain

"Because I've always been open and sometimes, of course, I've disagreed with the president but I've also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump," Vance said.

Vance blamed the media for its coverage of Trump and then said he changed his mind in part because of Trump's record in office.