Military documents contradict Rep. Nehls' service claims

Well, an investigation by CBS News has contradicted claims made by Texas Republican Congressman Troy Nells about his military record, the report says in part. Quote. There is no question that Nells served overseas, engaged in combat and was awarded A Bronze Star for his duties there. But military documents obtained by CBS News after a months long investigation and a review of his service record by the US Army at the Pentagon show Nells received 1, not 2, Bronze Star Medals and his Combat Infantryman Badge from Afghanistan was revoked from his service record in 2023. Because Nells served as a civil affairs officer, not as an infantryman or Special Forces soldier, CBS News producer James Laporta joins us now to analyze his reporting. So James, walk us through your investigation and the discrepancies that you found. Sure. So let me just say upfront that Congressman Nells comes from a military family. His father served in Korea. He received the Distinguished Service Cross, which is second to the Medal of Honor. His brother also served in the Army and served overseas. And the congressman himself, you know, he received an honorable discharge. He engaged in combat. He did receive a Bronze Star, but upon review of his service records, we did find some discrepancies. The first being that Congressman nails in his if you look at his, you know, his official profile at the House of Representatives. If you look at any of his campaign literature, he’s always claimed to have two Bronze Star medals. But in fact a review of his records only shows that he has won. The Pentagon also confirmed that. The second issue is that in 2008, the Congressman did receive a Combat Infantryman Badge, which is it’s a it’s an award that for designed for the infantry and and special Forces soldiers who engage in ground combat operations. So he did receive that in 2008. However, in March of 2023, that was revoked because at the time that he received that he was a Civil affairs officer and not a infantryman or a Special Forces soldier. All right. And we understand that you contacted his congressional office several times. Walk us through your correspondence with them. Sure. So you know, the questions that we reached out with was, was, was there any way that this could have been an error? Was there paperwork that the congressman had, such as, for instance, the 2nd Bronze Star? Did the congressman have paperwork to support a second Bronze Star? Or was he aware that his Combat Infantryman badge in March 2023 had been revoked? His office didn’t engage with us. They wanted to take the conversation off record. We declined to do that and the only response we got from his office was the congressman does not wear medals that he has not earned. Well, well, if it’s true that he has distorted his military record, is there evidence he tried to use that to his advantage politically? So the question, the honest answer is we don’t know because the congressman would not engage with us. We we do know that historically he’s always claimed to have two Bronze Star Medals. You know, he has historically claimed to be the recipient of the the Combat Infantryman Badge. He, you know, any photograph in most photographs, you know, at the US Capitol, you can see him wearing the Combat Infantryman Badge lapel pin. And that’s actually kind of where this all got started in in September of 2023, he he posted a photograph of himself calling out Congressman Jamal Bowman after he had pulled the fire alarm at the US Capitol. And the thing I noticed was there was a lot of service members and veterans criticizing him for wearing that lapel pin. And that was kind of the precipice of what launched this investigation. All right. James Laporta in Washington for us. James, thank you. Thank you.