ATLANTA — U.S. Senate hopeful Herschel Walker’s marketing campaign was in turmoil Monday after his grownup son accused his father of threatening to kill his members of the family, an accusation that got here after a information outlet reported the Republican paid his then-girlfriend in 2009 to have an abortion regardless of his opposition to the process.
Walker, a former soccer star, condemned the report by The Daily Beast as a “flat-out lie” and pledged to sue the publication. But his marketing campaign was additional rocked when Christian Walker despatched a sequence of tweets attacking his father for “making a mockery” of the household.
“You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence,” Christian Walker tweeted.
In one other change, Christian Walker tweeted that “every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office because we all knew (some of) his past.”
“He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it,” he wrote.
The developments threaten to upend the race between Walker and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who’s working for a full six-year time period after successful a particular election in a 2021 runoff.
His victory was a part of a Democratic tandem of wins that flipped management of the Senate, and this yr’s race might as soon as once more decide which social gathering controls the chamber.
The flurry of tweets from Christian Walker got here after the Daily Beast reported that the girl, who requested the outlet to not be recognized due to privateness considerations, grew to become pregnant with Walker’s youngster. The outlet reported that Walker, who wasn’t married on the time, urged her to get an abortion and reimbursed her for the process.
Walker’s marketing campaign didn’t instantly touch upon his son’s remarks, however blasted the Daily Beast’s report. Since getting into the race, Walker has backed a “ total ban ” on abortion even in situations of rape or incest.
“I’m not taking this anymore,” Walker mentioned in a tweet, including that he’s “planning to sue the Daily Beast for this defamatory lie. It will be filed tomorrow morning.”
The Daily Beast reported that the girl offered a replica of a signed $700 private test from Walker, a “get well” card despatched to the girl by Walker and a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic. The outlet revealed a photograph of the “get well” card, which it mentioned included Walker’s signature.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has not verified the Daily Beast’s report. The Daily Beast mentioned that it independently corroborated particulars of the girl’s claims with a detailed buddy she advised on the time and who additionally took care of her within the days after the process.
In an announcement late Monday after Walker threatened a lawsuit, the Daily Beast mentioned: “We stand by the story 100 percent.”
The debate over abortion is likely one of the sharpest divides in race between Walker and Warnock, a Democrat who’s an outspoken supporter of abortion rights.
Warnock, the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, routinely calls the U.S. Supreme Court determination overturning Roe v. Wade a “tragedy” and notes that Walker has backed a ban on the process even within the case of rape or incest.
The Daily Beast’s report revealed as Warnock was chatting with a joint assembly of the Jewish Democratic Council of America and the Jewish Democratic Women’s Salon, the place he drew an ovation stressing his assist for abortion rights.
Asked in regards to the report following the marketing campaign occasion, Warnock advised The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was targeted on his coverage stance.
“I’ll let the pundits decide how they think it will impact the race,” Warnock mentioned of the report. “But I have been consistent in my view that a patient’s room is too narrow and cramped for space for a woman and the government. My view on that has not changed.”
Walker opposes abortion together with in circumstances of rape, incest, or when the lifetime of the mom is at stake. His marketing campaign mentioned he helps a proposal by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham that may ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks.
The Daily Beast earlier reported that Walker wasn’t forthright in regards to the variety of youngsters he fathered, resulting in days of revelations about beforehand unacknowledged youngsters that undercut his criticism of absentee dads. The AJC corroborated the report, although Walker’s prime aide on the time known as it “pure gossip.”
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