NFL legend and Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker pushed back on claims that former president Donald Trump recruited him to run for Senate in 2022, expressing frustration that the former president is taking credit.
Mr Walker spoke with Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, one half of the musical duo Run the Jewels, and told him that Mr Trump did not recruit him to run against incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock this year.
“President Trump never asked me,” he said. Rather, Mr Walker said that he heard the idea that Mr Trump persuaded him to run for Senate on television.
“So, I’m mad at him because he never asked,” Mr Walker said. “But he’s taking credit that he asked.”
Rather, Mr Walker said that he and his wife consulted with his pastor and they prayed about it.
“And to be honest with you, I was praying that God would bring somebody else,” he said, adding that he had a good life and a successful business career. “But, I love the Lord Jesus.”
Mr Trump and Mr Walker have known each other since Mr Walker played for the New Jersey Generals, a football team the then-real estate developer owned for the US Football League, an alternative football league to the NFL. Mr Walker spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention about his and Mr Trump’s friendship and he is considered nothing short of a legend, having won the Heisman Trophy and led the University of Georgia to a championship.
Mr Walker later played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings, the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys. But he’s also faced numerous allegations of domestic violence, threatening and stalking women. Mr Walker has said that he has addressed his mental health challenges and is “accountable”.
Mr Walker will now face off against Senator Raphael Warnock, who beat Senator Kelly Loeffler in a special election in 2021 to finish the term of the late Senator Johnny Isakson. Mr Walker seeks to prevent Mr Warnock from serving a full term in the Senate.
