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In the course of Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign, the Georgia Republican nominee has won the hearts of former President Donald Trump and GOP voters in hopes he can defeat freshman Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D) in November.
But the football legend’s campaign has also been slammed by critics and Democrats over false claims he made before and during his candidacy that have surfaced in recent months – from his college education and business background to his questioning of evolution and promoting a “fog” said it would “kill any Covid on your body”.
The latest came Monday, when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Walker’s earlier speeches and statements about how he alleged in 2017 that he was cooperating with the Cobb County, Georgia police force. Two years later, Walker mentioned that he was an FBI agent.
“I worked for law enforcement, didn’t you all know?” he said in 2019. “I spent some time at Quantico at the FBI training school. You didn’t know I’m an agent?”
In fact, he hadn’t. A spokesman for the Cobb County Police Department told the Journal-Constitution, and later confirmed to the Washington Post, that there was no record of working with Walker. A campaign spokeswoman told the Atlanta newspaper that Walker has “directed women’s self-defense training, attended the FBI Academy at Quantico” and also holds the title of “volunteer deputy” in Cobb County.
The title of “honorary deputy” has no power at all and is seen as a “political sign” for people who support the sheriff and potentially want to get out of a speeding ticket, former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan told The Post. Morgan is a Democrat.
“It means absolutely nothing,” he said. “It’s the equivalent of a junior ranger badge.”
A Walker campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Neither an FBI spokesman nor an official from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office immediately responded to requests for comment.
Walker is among more than 100 GOP primary winners who have backed Trump’s false claims that there was widespread fraud during the 2020 presidential election, according to a new Post analysis. District by district, state by state, through the end of May, voters have selected at least 108 candidates for state office or Congress who have repeated Trump’s untruths. The number jumps to at least 149 winning candidates – from more than 170 races – if it includes those who, despite a lack of evidence of widespread fraud, have campaigned on a platform to tighten election rules or tighten enforcement of rules already on the books.
Despite some high-profile setbacks for his candidates, particularly in Georgia, Trump’s demand that other Republicans take up the denial cause has come as a price for admission in most Republican primaries. The collection of falsehoods that members of the House of Representatives investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol have dubbed “the big lie” is a central driving force of the Republican Party today.
Walker and Trump’s relationship dates back to 1984, when Trump bought the USFL team that lured the Heisman Trophy winner away from the University of Georgia. Walker wrote in his 2008 memoir that Trump “became a mentor to me.” At a rally last year in Perry, Georgia, Walker took the stage with the former president and told the crowd, “I want to be a leader [Trump] when I come to this Senate seat to show everyone that I love America.”
While Walker remains immensely popular with GOP voters in the state — winning more than 68 percent of the vote in last month’s primary, according to the Associated Press — he has done so while making a series of false claims that critics have used and liberals have likened him to Trump.
In December, Walker’s campaign erased a false claim that he graduated from college. According to CNN, in a text supporting his 2008 book, Walker “completed his Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice” at the University of Georgia after his first professional season. Walker acknowledged he didn’t graduate from college and said in a statement to the Journal-Constitution that “life and football got in the way.”
Walker later denied he made the false claim about his degree status in an interview with WAGA in Atlanta — and provided a false claim in response to a false claim.
“I never, I never said that statement,” he said. “Not once.”
In January, the Daily Beast spotted a 2020 podcast appearance by Walker in which he promoted a “mist” which he falsely claimed would “kill any Covid on your body”, although no mist or spray is known , which could prevent Covid-19. 19
“Do you know I’ve got something right now that can put you in a building that will clear you of Covid if you walk through that dry fog?” Walker told Conservative host Glenn Beck in August 2020. “If you walk through the door go it will kill every covid on your body. EPA and FDA approved.”
In March, during an address at a Georgia church, Walker questioned evolution and why great apes still exist if humans evolved from them. Although humans share a common ancestor that lived about 10 million years ago, they did not evolve from chimpanzees or other great apes living today and are now on different evolutionary paths.
“Science used to say that man descended from apes. Right?” Walker asked Chuck Allen, the senior pastor of Sugar Hill Church.
Allen replied, “Every time I read or hear that, I think to myself, ‘You just haven’t read the same Bible as I have.’ ”
After hearing the pastor’s reply, Walker replied, “Well, that’s interesting though. If that’s true, why are there still great apes? Think about it.”
Then, in early April, CNN reported how Walker had overstated his academic achievements for years. In addition to his false claims about his graduation, Walker claimed on at least two occasions in 2017 that he was the top student in his high school and graduated “in the top 1 percent” in Georgia.
“And people say, ‘Herschel, you played football,'” he said during a radio interview that year. “But I said, ‘Guys, I was top of my class, too. I was also in the top 1 percent of my senior year in college.” ”
There is no evidence that Walker was the farewell speaker, and the reference was eventually removed from his campaign page. Mallory Blount, a Walker campaign spokeswoman, defended the candidate in a statement at the time, saying, “There isn’t a single voter in Georgia who believes whether Herschel graduated ‘top of class’ or as a valedictorian for 40 years before that has any bearing.” on his ability to be a great United States Senator.”
Democrats say the falsehoods demonstrate Walker’s unfitness for the Senate.
“Every report and scandal that emerges about Herschel Walker confirms that he is not who he says he is, that he is unwilling to represent the people of Georgia and that he, the Georgians, cannot be trusted to serve in the US Senate,” said Dan Gottlieb, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.
Critics have also questioned claims about his business background. Months after the AP reported that Walker’s business records showed “exaggerated claims of financial success” and a history of alarming employees with “unpredictable behavior,” Walker made false claims about the revenue and size of his chicken business, Renaissance Man Food Services, to the Daily Beast.
Walker spoke about his alleged time in law enforcement at least four times between 2000 and 2019, the Journal-Constitution reported.
As news of the GOP nominee’s latest claim spread online, critics were quick to compare him to Trump.
“He may literally be the only person who lies more than Trump,” tweeted CNN analyst and attorney Bakari Sellers, a former Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
Morgan told the Post he couldn’t remember when someone like Walker was promoted to “honorary deputy,” noting he’s only heard of people using the title to avoid speeding tickets. When asked why the Georgia Senate nominee points to that honorary title as his connection to law enforcement, Morgan laughed and said he didn’t have a good reason.
“You cannot carry a firearm and have no authority to make an arrest,” he said of the title. “It is what it is, which is nothing.”
Amy Gardner and Isaac Arnsdorf contributed to this report.
