Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for the Georgian Senate race, said Monday that a report that he paid for an abortion more than a decade ago was a “brainless lie” and a “disgusting ax job.”
Walker’s denial came shortly after the Daily Beast reported that he paid for a woman’s abortion after the two conceived while dating in 2009. The Daily Beast reported that the woman, who the outlet said had asked to remain anonymous due to privacy concerns, backed up the claims with a US$575 receipt from the abortion clinic, a bank deposit receipt that showed the image of a signed personal check for $700 from Walker and a “recovery” card which she said was from Walker, who was unmarried at the time. The Daily Beast published a photo of the card, bearing what the outlet said was Walker’s signature.
CNN has not independently verified the allegations reported by The Daily Beast.
“This is a barefaced lie – and I deny this in the strongest possible terms,” Walker said in a statement posted to his verified Twitter account in which he called the report “disgusting ax work” and criticized what he described as the Daily Beast’s reporting tactics.
“Now they’re using an anonymous source to further slander me,” Walker said. “They will do anything to retain power. This is disgusting, gutter politics.”
Walker takes on Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in one of the most competitive Senate races in the United States.
A first-time candidate for office, Walker, a Republican backed by former US President Donald Trump, has opposed abortion rights. He said last month he would support a nationwide abortion ban after 15 weeks. He said in May that he supported banning abortion rights and that there were “no exceptions in my mind”.
In a statement on Twitter, Walker claimed he planned to sue The Daily Beast for what he called a “libelous lie” on Tuesday morning.
In an interview Monday night, Walker told Fox’s Sean Hannity that he didn’t know the woman making the accusation and hadn’t seen the card. “I send to so many people, I heal, I send so much of anything, but I can tell you right now that I have never asked anyone to have an abortion, I have never paid for an abortion, and that’s a lie.”
When asked if he remembered sending someone a check for $700, Walker replied, “I send money to a lot of people. … I give money. money to people all the time because I always help people.”
CNN reached out to Walker’s campaign for additional comment on the matter.
Warnock said Monday night he had yet to read the Daily Beast report and avoided questions about how it might affect the race.
“I’ll let the experts decide how they think this will affect the race,” Warnock said. “But I have always been of the opinion that a patient’s room is too cramped and cramped for a woman, her doctor and the government. … And my opponent, on the other hand, talks about a national ban with no exceptions.”
Christian Walker, one of Herschel Walker’s sons, took to Twitter on Monday evening just hours after Herschel Walker denied the Daily Beast report to attack his father and bring a series of accusations against him. “I don’t care about someone with a bad past and taking responsibility. But how DARE YOU LIE and act like you’re a ‘moral, Christian, righteous man,'” Christian Walker said in a tweet.
“You are not a ‘family man’,” Christian Walker said in another post.
Herschel Walker spoke frequently during the election campaign about Christian Walker, the son he and his ex-wife had together and raised with Walker’s current wife. Christian is an outspoken conservative on social media.
When asked for a statement, Herschel Walker’s campaign pointed to a tweet the Senate candidate sent Monday night saying, “I LOVE my son no matter what.”