Conn. AG Blumenthal, running for US Senate, to address Vietnam-era military service

Conn. AG Blumenthal to address Vietnam-era service

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal is planning to address a report that he has misstated his military service during the Vietnam War.

The Democrat has called a news conference for 2 p.m. at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in West Hartford to repond to a New York Times report, which posted a video of him at a 2008 event saying he had served “in Vietnam.”

Blumenthal’s campaign on Monday night called the report an “outrageous distortion” of his record.

Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty told The Associated Press that the paper stands by its story, which also said Blumenthal got five deferments to avoid going to war between 1965 and 1970.

Blumenthal told the newspaper he’s always tried to make it clear that his Marine Reserve service never took him overseas.