Republicans rally behind Herschel Walker after report he paid for abortion
As problems continued to brew Tuesday for Herschel Walker, the GOP's Senate candidate in Georgia, Republicans flocked to stand behind him following a controversy over an alleged abortion that he paid for.
While Walker has pushed a staunch pro-life, anti-abortion platform throughout his campaign, a new report published by The Daily Beast alleges that he once paid for the abortion of a woman he had gotten pregnant. The woman told The Daily Beast that Walker pressured her into getting an abortion following the conception in 2009, and the outlet claimed that the woman provided them with a copy of the receipt from the abortion clinic, as well as an image of a signed $700 check and a "get well" card from Walker.
The Daily Beast claims to have corroborated these details, and The New York Times reported that some in the GOP privately "feared" his abortion story would get out. Despite this, Walker called the woman's story "a flat-out lie" — and Republicans across the party soon came to his defense.
This included Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), who said "Herschel has denied these allegations and the NRSC and Republicans stand with him."
Others, including the NRSC's communications director, Chris Hartline, blamed the Democrats for "[stirring] up nonsense about what has or hasn't happened in Herschel Walker's past."
Perhaps the most prominent Republican to back up Walker, though, was former President Donald Trump. In a statement, Trump claimed Walker "is being slandered and maligned by the Fake News Media and obviously, the Democrats."
FiveThirtyEight is reporting that Walker remains neck and neck with his opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).