Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for a Georgia Senate seat who has called for an abortion ban, was accused in a new report Monday night of paying for a woman’s 2009 abortion.
Walker strongly denied the claim detailed in a Daily Beast article, calling it a “total lie” and vowed to sue the news outlet.
“It’s disgusting, gutter politics,” said the former pro and college football star, whose career is being watched closely for the possibility that he could help Republicans regain majority control of the Senate.
But shortly after that story was published online, Walker’s adult son blasted him in a series of tweets, accusing him of violence and hypocrisy.
“I know my mother and would really appreciate it if my father Herschel Walker would stop lying and making fun of us,” Christian Walker tweeted.
“You are not a ‘family man’ when you let us beat a bunch of women, threaten to kill us and move us 6 times in 6 months after your violence.”
In another tweet Monday night, Christian wrote: “Herschel Walker’s family all asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some) of his past. Every single one. He decided to give -us the middle finger and airing. all his dirty laundry in public, while lying about it.”
Christian’s mother, Cindy Grossman, Herschel Walker’s ex-wife, told CNN in 2008 that he had threatened to kill her.
“The first time he held the gun to my head … he put the gun to my temple and said he was going to blow my brains out,” Grossman said in that interview.
The double blow to Walker’s candidacy Monday evening comes a month before the midterm elections, where he is seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff won both Georgia Senate seats in the early 2021 runoff election, giving Democrats majority control of the Senate.
Walker’s candidacy has been backed by former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as part of an effort by Republicans to regain control of the majority.
The Daily Beast article quoted an unidentified woman who said she became pregnant by Walker when they were dating in 2009, at a time when he was unmarried, and that he “urged her to have an abortion.”
“She supported these claims with a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic, a “get well” card from Walker, and a bank deposit slip that included an image of a signed personal check for $700 by Walker,” the Daily Beast reported.
The woman requested anonymity due to privacy concerns, according to the outlet, which said she was verifying details of her account with a friend who she said accompanied her to the procedure.
The outlet reported that the woman said she was telling her story because of Walker’s public stance as the GOP candidate on abortion, which he says he opposes without exceptions for rape or incest.
“I just can’t take the hypocrisy anymore,” the Daily Beast quoted him as saying. “We all deserve better.”
Last month, Walker said he supported proposed legislation by Sen. Lindsey Graham, RSC, that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
I am a proud pro-life Christian and will always stand up for our unborn children,” Walker said in a statement at the time.
CNBC has not independently verified the woman’s account. CNBC has reached out to Walker’s attorney for comment.
In a statement on Twitter denying the woman’s accusation, Walker wrote: “This is an outright lie, and I deny it in the strongest possible terms.”
He accused Daily Beast reporter Roger Sollenberger of being a “Democratic activist masquerading as a journalist who has obsessively attacked my family and tried to take me down since he started this race.”
Sollenberger broke the news in June that Walker had three other children with different women in addition to Christian, who until then was her only publicly known child. One of the children was a 10-year-old boy that Walker has not had an active role in raising, the Daily Beast reported in June.
Walker, who is black, has been critical of African-American absent parents.
“I find myself taking this more,” Walker wrote in his statement Monday. “I’m planning [sic] to sue the Daily Beast for this defamatory lie. It will be presented tomorrow morning.”
Walker appeared on Fox News Monday night for an interview with Sean Hannity, who asked him about the reported $700 payment to the woman who spoke to the Daily Beast.
“I send money to a lot of people,” Walker replied. “I never asked anyone to have an abortion, I never paid for an abortion.”
Daily Beast political editor Matt Fuller responded on Twitter, writing, “I can tell you that we stand behind every word and feel very strongly about the story.”
Christian Walker, in one of his tweets published after the Daily Beast story, wrote about his father: “I don’t care about someone with a bad past and answer. But how dare you lie and act like you you are a “moral, christian and upright man”. You have lived a life destroying other peoples life. How dare you.”
Herschel Walker then tweeted: “I LOVE my son no matter what.”
