New reporting from The Daily Beast appears to undercut Herschel Walker’s defense that he didn’t know the woman’s identity.
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This article is part of our Midterms 2022 Daily Briefing
Herschel Walker campaigning late last month in Forsyth, Ga. His campaign has been rocked by a claim that he paid for a former girlfriend’s abortion.
ATLANTA — The woman who told The Daily Beast on Monday that Herschel Walker had paid for her abortion in 2009 told the outlet on Wednesday that she was the mother of one of his children, undercutting his defense that he did not know her identity.
Mr. Walker, the Republican nominee for Senate in Georgia, had swiftly denounced the original Daily Beast article, denying its veracity and pledging to sue the outlet for defamation. So far, the campaign has not pursued any legal action.
When asked earlier Wednesday by Brian Kilmeade of Fox News whether he knew the woman’s identity, Mr. Walker said “not at all.”
“It’s sort of like everyone is anonymous, everyone is leaking. They want you to confess to something you have no clue about,” he said of Democrats and reporters. “But it just shows how desperate they are right now.”
The woman, who told The Daily Beast she wished to remain anonymous to preserve her privacy and that of her child with Mr. Walker, provided the outlet with a copy of the receipt from the abortion clinic, a $700 check and a “get well soon” card signed by Mr. Walker. The article includes a photo of the card with what it said was Mr. Walker’s signature.
The woman told The Daily Beast she was moved to say more about her relationship with Mr. Walker and the child they had together after he said he did not know her identity. The New York Times has not been able to independently confirm The Daily Beast’s reporting.
Representatives for Mr. Walker’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Since beginning his campaign in 2021, Mr. Walker has contended with a flurry of reports scrutinizing his personal and professional life. Mr. Walker, a former University of Georgia football star, has lied about and exaggerated his business dealings, and he failed to disclose three children from previous relationships that he did not mention publicly.
More recently, Democrats have put Mr. Walker’s history of domestic violence at the center of their campaign message. One television advertisement from a Democratic-aligned group, Georgia Honor, shows footage of Mr. Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, detailing a moment when he held a gun to her temple and threatened to kill her, calling the episode “not an isolated incident.” The spot has been running in Georgia’s largest media markets for a week.
Source: nytimes.com
