Donald Trump set a very high bar for distinction as a liar and spewer of willful ignorance. One of his most prominent 2022 endorsees clears that bar with ease, and has done so going back decades. That would be Herschel Walker, the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia.
The latest Walker lie to be uncovered, courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is that he worked in law enforcement. Walker made various versions of this claim over a period of years, but what all the versions have in common is that they were false.
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In 2000, a police report in Irving, Texas, “involving a conflict with an intoxicated man” had Walker telling police he was a “certified peace officer.”
In 2013, at a U.S. Army suicide prevention event, Walker said, “I worked in law enforcement, so I had a gun. I put this gun in my holster, and I said, ‘I’m gonna kill this dude.’” He was describing a 2001 incident that prompted him to seek mental health care.
In a 2017 speech, he said, “I work with the Cobb County Police Department, and I’ve been in criminal justice all my life.”
In a 2019 speech at a military installation, Walker claimed, “I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?”
That’s four different times over 19 years when Walker claimed law enforcement credentials he did not have. Because here’s the reality: Walker majored in criminal justice at the University of Georgia, but he did not graduate (though he lied about having done so). He rather famously spent his career in football, not law enforcement. His campaign told the AJC he was an honorary deputy in Cobb County and three other unnamed counties. And a 1989 Associated Press story recounts his single week in a program at Quantico.
”They had an obstacle course, and you shoot at targets to protect your partner as you advanced up the course,” he told the AP at the time. “I had fun. There were about 200 recruits there.” In other words, he went to FBI camp. It takes a college degree and 20 weeks of training at Quantico to be an FBI agent.
Similarly, being an honorary deputy does not mean you “worked in law enforcement” or have “been in criminal justice” for any period of time. Additionally, the Cobb County Police Department said Walker had not been associated with them, and the Cobb County sheriff’s office could not confirm any such association.
In any case, being an honorary deputy is “like a junior ranger badge,” according to former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan.
Walker lied. He didn’t even lie in a single consistent way. He blurted out claims about his supposed law enforcement experience in different ways at different moments—showing that another thing he has in common with his highest-profile supporter is liking to hear how macho and impressive he is, even if he has to be the one to say it and has to lie to do so.
This string of lies from Walker is of a piece with some of his other greatest hits. He claimed he started a program to provide health care to service members, veterans, and their families, but he didn’t start the program—he was a paid mouthpiece—and the Justice Department sued the program for “billing for medically unnecessary inpatient behavioral health services, failing to provide adequate and appropriate services, and paying illegal inducements to federal health care beneficiaries,” leading to a $122 million settlement. So maybe nothing to brag about. He claimed to have a spray that could ”clean you of COVID, as you walk through this, this dry mist,” and that it was FDA-approved. Needless to say, no such thing exists, let alone in the sole possession of Herschel Walker. Walker’s financial disclosures are also eyebrow-raising.
So claiming that he was a certified peace officer, worked in law enforcement, worked with the Cobb County Police Department, had been in criminal justice all his life, and spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school is no big surprise coming from Walker. It probably sounded nice in his head in the split second he thought about it before saying it. But he sure doesn’t belong in the United States Senate.
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