Republican US Senate candidate Tim Sheehy admits no records support his claim that he was shot in the war | US elections 2024

Amid doubts about his claims of being shot during the war, Republican US Senate candidate Tim Sheehy has admitted there are no records to support his claim of being shot.

“There are no detailed medical records for any of these things,” the Montana candidate and former Navy Seal told conservative radio host Megyn Kelly in a recent interview.

Sheehy has claimed he was shot in the arm during combat in Afghanistan – and challenging that account would amount to a false accusation of stolen valor.

But a former ranger at Glacier National Park in Montana's Rocky Mountains has publicly recounted how Sheehy shot himself in the park in 2015 before going to a hospital for emergency treatment. The ranger then fined Sheehy $525 for illegally discharging a firearm in the national park – which he paid, according to government records, as The Washington Post previously reported.

A spokesman for Sheehy has accused the ranger, a registered Democrat named Kim Peach, of trying to spread a “defamatory story.” Sheehy himself has tried to parry Peach's version of events by saying he was never hit by gunfire that day in 2015.

As he reiterated to Kelly, Sheehy said he fell while hiking, causing his gun to explode – and the only reason he went to the hospital was because he feared the bullet he received while serving in Afghanistan was already in his Arm was wearing, could have come loose.

However, Sheehy also claims that he refused to report that he was shot by friendly fire in Afghanistan because, as he put it in his interview with Kelly, he did not want his comrades to be examined for a relatively minor injury.

Kelly asked Sheehy to address the question of whether medical records corroborated his version of events. However, in the end, Sheehy admitted that he had no such records.

“There’s no such thing as — I mean, that’s the point,” Sheehy remarked to Kelly. “You go and check it – and you go. There is no detailed medical record for all of these things.”

Kelly replied, “It's so confusing,” and then she asked Sheehy point-blank if he had ever shot himself in the arm.

“No, that was never the accusation,” Sheehy said. “That – the point is, you know, it was a friendly fire ricochet from a distance that wasn't reported at the time.”

Sheehy's military colleagues reportedly do not recall him mentioning a gunshot wound or seeing such an injury while on active duty.

The conversation between Sheehy and Kelly came in the late stages of his effort to unseat Democratic incumbent Jon Tester in a race that could determine whether Republicans can regain control of the Senate from their opponents after Tuesday's presidential election. Sheehy led the race by nearly 5% as of Monday, according to 22 polls cited by Hill and Decision Desk HQ.

Sheehy has extended his projected lead despite a series of controversies and uncertainties surrounding his shooting injury.

He drew criticism over allegations that he referred to the Crow Indians as “drunken Indians.”

An aerial firefighting company he once ran also came under scrutiny after it raised $160 million in bonds ostensibly to hire more workers and build two new airplane hangars. But as NBC News reported, the company spent most of the money to repay previous investments by New York-based Blackstone.

NBC News also reported in October that Sheehy's military discharge papers conflicted with his 2023 memoir Mudslinger.

The book – which reflected some of his comments to Kelly – claimed medical reasons prompted Sheehy's discharge from the military. But as NBC News noted, the documents themselves state that Sheehy voluntarily left the military without citing illness as a reason.