https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1581071214121885696?s=20&t=-qo7Y7gGcx3Y_gR_6I4CyQ philip lewis @Phil_Lewis_ This feels like an SNL sketch
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Herschel Walker was called out Friday for pulling out a “prop” police badge during his Georgia Senate debate with Dem. Raphael Warnock.
The retired NFL player, 60, who won the Georgia Republican Senate primary in May, was responding to his opponent calling multiple past counts in which Walker lied about working in law enforcement.
“One thing I didn’t do, I never pretended to be a police officer,” Warnock said in a clip from the debate. “And I’ve never threatened to shoot the police.”
Walker then reached into his coat and replied, “And now I have to respond to that. No, no, no, I have to react to that. It’s so funny, I work with a lot of cops. [sic]”
He pulled a badge from his pocket and attempted to continue his rebuttal when moderator Tina Tyus-Shaw regained control of the debate. “Mr. Walker, you know the rules tonight very well, and you have a prop. That’s not allowed, sir. Please put this prop away,” she told him.
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“Well, it’s not a prop. That is real. And he said I have a prop and I’ve never gone into law enforcement… he brought up the truth, let’s talk about the truth,” Walker continued of Tyus-Shaw. before turning the debate into a commercial break.
A Walker representative did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Walker appeared to display a Cobb County Police Department “honorary deputy” badge, which a local prosecutor called a meaningless title, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution it was like having “a junior ranger badge.”
The outlet cited at least three instances where Walker lied about being in law enforcement, including in 2019 when he falsely claimed he “spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school.”
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In 2001, Irving, Texas, police officers said Walker “discussed a shooting with the police” when they came to his home and responded to a call from his therapist that he was “fickle,” armed, and his estranged wife according to the Associated Press.
The story goes on
Walker has been widely accused of spreading lies as he embarked on his foray into politics, such as his claims that he graduated from college, was part of the Cherokee and was given a COVID-killing spray before vaccines were introduced. Most notably, he was questioned for lying about how many children he fathered and whether he paid women to have abortions.
He has repeatedly defended his statements.
A representative for the politician did not respond to PEOPLE’s earlier requests for comment on the claims he had made.
