Former President Donald Trump isn’t backing down from his support of Herschel Walker.
The Republican Senate candidate in Georgia faces a stunning report from The Daily Beast claiming that Mr Walker paid for an abortion for a woman he was in a relationship with in 2009. The woman provided a receipt for the procedure and an image of a personal check from Mr Walker to the publication, as well as a “get well soon” card signed by the candidate.
Mr Walker is staunchly anti-abortion and favours banning the practice without exception.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump stood behind his ally now facing a withering barrage of criticism on social media as well as statements from his own son, Christian Walker, who has accused him of being an absentee father. The younger Mr Walker added in a video statement that he believes the Beast’s reporting given that the writing on the card matche’s his father’s penmanship.
“Herschel Walker is being slandered and maligned,” claimed the former president. “They are trying to destroy a man with true greatness in his future, just as he had athletic greatness in his past.”
Mr Trump added: “Herschel has denied the charges against him, and I have no doubt he is correct.”
The ex-president’s decision mirrors that of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm. NRSC officials told reporters on Tuesday that the organisation was standing firm behind Mr Walker, whose own campaign noted a record period of fundraising in the wake of the story.
Still, polls show Mr Walker trailing his incumbent opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock. The race’s dynamics have remained steady throughout the summer and a damaging revelation like this could derail his candidacy completely in its home stretch.
One person who remains unconvinced by Mr Walker’s denials is his son, Christian, who has gone on a withering social media barrage against his father sustained over the past 12 hours. The younger Mr Walker released a lengthy video about the ordeal on Tuesday morning in which he called his father a liar repeatedly.
