Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told CNN host Brianna Keilar she should be questioning Gov. Tim Walz's, D-Minn., claims about his military record "rather than defending" him Wednesday. 

The "CNN News Central" host questioned Waltz Wednesday about a letter he and 50 Republican veterans in Congress penned to the Democratic vice presidential candidate about his "egregious misrepresentations."

Keilar accused the Florida representative of attacking Walz’s military service, but he disagreed with the characterization and said, "I am attacking the lies about his service."

She played a clip of veteran Joe Eustice who defended Walz and asked the congressman, "I mean that man hates Tim Walz’s politics, despises them, is not going to vote for him. But he served with him and he knows his service. So why are you and other Republicans doing this?"

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Waltz brought up the Minnesota governor repeatedly referring to himself as a retired command sergeant major despite not completing the requirements to earn the title.

"That may sound like semantics to some, but to veterans and particularly enlisted veterans, that matters. It’s a lie. It’s a misrepresentation and exaggeration, and he should account for that. I can tell you as —" Waltz said before being interrupted. 

"It’s not stolen — it’s not stolen valor," Keilar insisted. "I just want to be clear, and the letter, I’m reading this, I’m reading this, Mike, and quote ‘abandoning the men and women under your leadership, just as they were getting ready to deploy, was certainly not honorable either.’ That is an attack on his service."

"That is an attack on the decision to not go to combat with his unit as a leader," Waltz asserted.

Keilar repeatedly brought up Eustice as a counter to Waltz's arguments, despite several other veterans who'd served with the Minnesota governor coming out to criticize him.

As Keilar continued to badger Waltz about his letter, the GOP vet called on her to question Walz instead.

"Brianna, you know, rather than defending these decisions, I wish you would interview him and ask him those questions, or that he would at least sit down and answer for these inconsistencies," Waltz said.

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Keilar conceded Walz needed to answer questions regarding his military record but continued to push back against Waltz’s attacks.

"I don’t know if it’s worth burning down 24 years of service," Keilar said.

"I wish he would sit down instead of me or JD Vance and answer those questions. The American people deserve it. The veterans' community certainly deserve it," Waltz said.

Keilar came under fire earlier this month after suggesting Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance had exaggerated his own military record while attacking Walz.

Keilar said Vance was a combat correspondent, "But when you dig a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist, someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title ‘combat correspondent' kind of gives you a different impression. So he may be the imperfect messenger on that."

She later appeared to walk back her comment, acknowledging that Vance "served honorably" while still defending Walz.

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"In a country where so few shoulder the burden, military service should not be a liability, it should be an asset," Keilar said. "And despite our recent years as a country at war, many service members haven't seen combat. That doesn't make them or their service less admirable, or less necessary. Nor does retiring from the National Guard after 24 years. These kinds of attacks from the left or the right diminish the service of so many others who have served honorably, who sacrifice time away from family, who put themselves in harm's way because the military is made largely of JD Vances and Tim Walzs."

Guatemalan police on Wednesday arrested seven Guatemalans accused of having smuggled 53 migrants from Mexico and Central America who died of asphyxiation in 2022 in Texas after being abandoned in a tractor trailer in the scorching summer heat.

They were the latest arrests after years of investigation into one of the deadliest human smuggling attempts to the United States. The dead included eight children.

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Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez told The Associated Press the arrests were made possible after 13 raids in three of the country’s departments. They included Rigoberto Román Mirnado Orozco, the alleged ringleader of the smuggling gang whose extradition has been requested by the United States.

"This is a collaborative effort between the Guatemalan police and Homeland Security, in addition to other national agencies, to dismantle the structures of human trafficking, one of the strategic objectives of the government President Bernardo Arévalo in order to take on the phenomenon of irregular migration," Jiménez said.

Six people were charged previously.

Homero Zamorano Jr., who authorities say drove the truck, and Christian Martinez were arrested shortly after the migrants were found. Both are from Texas. Martinez later pleaded guilty to smuggling-related charges. Zamorano pleaded not guilty to smuggling-related charges and is awaiting trial. Four Mexican nationals were also arrested in 2023.

Authorities have said the men were aware that the trailer’s air-conditioning unit was malfunctioning and would not blow cool air to the migrants trapped inside during the sweltering, three-hour ride from the border city of Laredo to San Antonio.

When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 migrants were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included 27 people from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador.

Authorities have alleged that the men worked with human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers, some of which were stored at a private parking lot in San Antonio.

Migrants paid the organization up to $15,000 each to be taken across the U.S. border. The fee would cover up to three attempts to get into the country.

Orozco, the alleged ringleader, was arrested in the Guatemalan department of San Marcos, on the border with Mexico. The other arrests occurred in the departments of Huehuetenango and Jalapa. The police identified the gang as "Los Orozcos" because several of those arrested are family members and carry that surname.