Wounded in Afghanistan or in a national park in Montana?

The New York Times and the Washington Post published this Friday articles (here and here) questioning the credibility of businessman and former Navy Seal Tim Sheehy, Republican candidate in the senatorial election in Montana, where he is favored to take his seat from the Democratic senator Jon Tester. Drawing on his military past, Sheeny notably recounted in a book and in speeches that he was shot in one arm during an exchange of fire with the enemy in Afghanistan. THE Times and the Post present testimony indicating he may have lied.

Both dailies cite Kim Peach, a former Glacier National Park ranger, who issued a $525 ticket to Sheehy for discharging a firearm in the park in 2015. Peach previously told this story under cover of the anonymity Post last spring by revealing that Sheehy told him he accidentally shot himself in the right arm after his gun fell to the ground.

After the publication of the first story of the PostLaura Loomer and other conservative influencers successfully exposed Peach’s identity, leading to her harassment, according to her testimony. Enraged by Sheehy’s refusal to admit what he claims to be the truth, Peach testifies today with her visor up.

Sheehy, it should be remembered, declared after the publication of the first article of Post that he had lied to the ranger that he had just suffered a gunshot wound that day, in order to avoid authorities discovering a potential friendly fire incident from 2012, which he feared- it could have triggered a military investigation.

“The truth is not complicated,” Peach told the Post referring to Sheehy’s explanation.

A spokesperson for Sheehy called Peach, a Democrat, “partisan.”

Peach told the same story to Times. The New York newspaper also collected the testimony of another person.

“A former Navy Seal, Dave Madden, who had what he described as a close relationship with Mr. Sheehy before they were deployed to Afghanistan, said Mr. Sheehy never told him about an injury shot and that he certainly would have done so during a conversation they had during their deployment if he had in fact been injured,” writes the Times.

“As for the injury that occurred later in Montana, Kim Peach, a park ranger who spoke to Mr. Sheehy that day at the hospital, said that Mr. Sheehy personally told her that he He was accidentally shot in the arm and handed him a revolver with an empty cartridge case. “I’m 100 percent sure he shot himself that day,” Mr. Peach said in an interview. »

Sheehy’s lawyers continue to argue that their client did not report his injury to Afghanistan because he suspected he had been hit by friendly fire and did not want to cause problems for one of his fellow soldiers. This version followed Peach’s anonymous testimony last spring. In a book and on the campaign trail, Sheehy spoke of the bullet that lodged in his arm in Afghanistan to illustrate a story of bravery and honor that would strengthen his credibility with Montana voters.

(Photo AP)