Herschel Walker is now not just denying that he paid for a woman to have an abortion in 2009, he seems to also be denying that he had secret children, something he admitted to over the summer. Wednesday night, The Daily Beast reported that the woman whose abortion Walker paid for is also the mother of one of his formerly secret children.
At the time the first of those children was reported to exist by Roger Sollenberger, Walker’s campaign released a statement saying, “Herschel had a child years ago when he wasn’t married. He’s supported the child and continues to do so. He’s proud of his children. To suggest that Herschel is ‘hiding’ the child because he hasn’t used him in his political campaign is offensive and absurd.” Sollenberger subsequently reported on two more children Walker hadn’t made public, and Walker’s campaign admitted that yes, those children also existed. But asked now who the woman might possibly be who both had an abortion and a child resulting from her relationship with him, Walker insisted it’s all untrue.
RELATED STORY: Woman that Herschel Walker denied knowing is the mother of one of his children
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Hugh Hewitt set up Walker’s denial, asking, “Do you have any idea who this alleged former lover of yours is who says you paid for an abortion and fathered a child?”
“I have no idea at all,” Walker responded, “and that’s the problem is, you know, when they said I had kids that I was hiding, a lot of people don’t know this, this same reporter found out that this was not true, never wrote a retraction, never said anything, they just let it go and went on. And this case here, they’re saying oh, some alleged woman, somebody that you used to know and you know so well, and this and that, they’re saying … they can say a lot of things, but I know for a fact, no one has ever told me I paid for an abortion, that never happened.”
Sollenberger, the reporter who has broken bombshell story after bombshell story on Walker’s history of secret children and abortion, responded. Referring to the secret children stories, Sollenberger said, “He confirmed the reports himself and has never asked for a correction.”
Elsewhere in the Hewitt interview, Walker responded to a question encompassing the abortion and the new revelation that the woman is the mother of one of his children by saying, “I’ll say the same thing I’ve said, that, you know, I know this is untrue, and I know it’s untrue, and they keep telling me things like that, and it’s totally, totally untrue, and I’m not sure why that would be told, I know nothing about any woman having an abortion.” He went on to say he had “already been forgiven, and if I’ve been forgiven, why in the world would I not be forgiven of something like that” referring to his history of domestic violence and mental health issues, but continued to insist he had no knowledge of the specific woman who says that he paid for her to have an abortion in 2009 and she then had his child some years later.
According to Sollenberger’s initial report on a child whose age matches that timeline, the child’s mother had to take Walker to court to get a declaration of paternity and child support, and beyond his legal responsibilities, Walker has no involvement in the child’s life beyond sending Christmas and birthday presents.
This is just bizarre stuff from Walker. He had already denied having paid for an abortion despite the fact that the report came with literal receipts, including a get well card he had signed. But he had admitted to fathering children he had kept secret. Now he’s denying that and complaining that he didn’t get a retraction on the thing he admitted to. This is kind of a clue for how seriously to take his denial that he paid for an abortion.
Like the man who endorsed him and pushed him into the Republican nomination for Senate in Georgia, you can’t really believe most of what Walker says. Except the part where he says he supports a national abortion ban. Definitely believe that he means that.
Republicans continue to come up with defenses of Walker, from Ben Shapiro correctly observing that “if he were pro-choice, this would not be a story” but being mad about it, to Newt Gingrich saying what we're all thinking. He’s their guy, and they’re not letting up.
The big question now—aside from “Wait, is Herschel Walker really trying to undo his admission that he had multiple secret children?”—is how many other women out there had abortions paid for by Walker, and whether any of them will come forward.
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