US Senate candidate Herschel Walker has defiantly claimed again that the police badge he took off in Friday’s debate is real and that he has been “working with law enforcement” for years, including training programs , leadership and health and wellness.
After dealing with the stunt online, where he was criticized for producing a prop during the debate, the Georgia Republican sat down with NBC News’ Kristen Welker for an interview that aired in part Monday today. In it, he says he has an “honorary sheriff’s badge” for Chatham County, Johnson County and Cobb County with “limited rights.”
“This is a badge that a police officer gave me, and I have the badge that I carry with me all the time. It’s a real badge. It’s not a fake badge. It’s a real badge,” Walker says in the interview, according to a transcript obtained by The Daily Beast.
Questions about the former NFL star’s alleged work with law enforcement have plagued his Senate campaign, including a June article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that said there was no real evidence to show Walker’s claims for a long time that he has worked alongside the FBI or the police.
During Sunday evening’s debate, which Walker declined to attend and was represented by an empty podium, opposing Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) said Walker is not telling the truth, using the badge incident of Friday night as an example of their lies.
“The other night, when I said, ‘You keep impersonating a police officer,’ he held up a badge as if that was proof that he really is a police officer,” Warnock said. “Now he wants us to think he is a senator. I think the people of Georgia are wise and discerning, and they know that at the end of the day, I know who I work for: I work for them.”
In the NBC interview, Welker asks Walker, “Who gave you that badge?”
Walker replies, “This badge is from, um…this badge. I have badges from all over Georgia, even from Chatham County. I had to wait, wait, I got from Chatham County, which is a county, which is a county, uh, which is a county of…”
At this point Walker shows the badge again, but unfortunately it’s upside down.
“Oh, I have it upside down. Right, which is a county where Senator Warnock is from. I have an honorary sheriff badge for that county with limited rights.”
Welker presses Walker on where the badge is.
“This is from my hometown,” Walker says.
“This is from Johnson County, from the Johnson County Sheriff, which is a legitimate badge. Everybody can make fun of it, but this badge gives me the right… If something happened in this county, I have the right to work with the police to get things done. People who don’t know: I’ve been working with law enforcement for years. I do a training program, but they get credit for it. I do a program, a leadership program. I do programs of health and welfare. I visit prisons, so everybody’s going to laugh, but I’ve been — I’ve got my men and women in black — men and women with blue backs since I’ve been doing this.”
When asked if the badge confers any arresting authority, Walker confirms that it is a “badge of honor” but that “they can call me whenever they want and I have the authority to do things for them to work with them all day.”
Welker then directly tells Walker that “The National Sheriffs Association said a badge of honor . . . is for the trophy case” and asks, “Why make the decision to bring it up in the debate?” “.
Walker replies, “That’s not entirely true. You can call the man who gave me the badge…call the woman who gave me the badge and the same thing, I’ll tell you something they’re up to funny. They said he didn’t work with Cobb County Police. , right? Cobb County Sheriff’s Police.
Walker appears to be referring to a Walker campaign spokeswoman’s claims to the Journal-Constitution that Walker is an honorary deputy in Cobb County, although the Cobb County Police Department told the newspaper that he is not had records to support the claim.
“And that’s the way people do media,” Walker continues. “And I had the sheriff give me the badge and I was there for years, he came out there and did a press conference with me and said, ‘Herschel’s been with us for years, he’s been working with us . ‘”
Walker claimed that the media “didn’t hear anything and they want to try and make an excuse”.
He said, “No, I’ll always have my men and women in blue. That’s why they support me. I have more … more sheriffs who have supported Herschel Walker in Georgia than any candidate running today.”