ICYMI: As Herschel Walker’s GOP profile rises, the falsehoods mount [Washington Post]

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Washington Post: As Herschel Walker’s GOP profile rises, the falsehoods mount
By Timothy Bella
June 14, 2022

Key Points:

• During the course of Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign… [he] has also faced blowback from critics and Democrats for false claims he made before and during his candidacy that have surfaced in recent months — from his college education and business background to his questioning of evolution and promoting a “mist” he said would “kill any covid on your body.”

• The latest came Monday when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on previous speeches and statements given by Walker about how he claimed in 2017 that he had worked with police in Cobb County, Ga. Two years later, Walker mentioned he was an FBI agent.

• “I worked for law enforcement, y’all didn’t know that either?” he said in 2019. “I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?”

• In reality, he had not. A spokesman for the Cobb County Police Department told the Journal-Constitution, and later confirmed to The Washington Post, that it has no record of working with Walker.

• In December, Walker’s campaign deleted a false claim that he had graduated from college.

• Walker later denied that he made the false claim about his graduation status in an interview with WAGA in Atlanta — delivering a false claim in response to a false claim.

• “I never, I never have said that statement,” he said. “Not one time.”

• In January, the Daily Beast unearthed a 2020 podcast appearance from Walker, in which he promoted a “mist” that he falsely claimed would “kill any covid on your body,” even though there is no known mist or spray that can prevent covid-19.

• In March, Walker questioned evolution during an address at a Georgia church, asking why apes still exist if humans have evolved from them.

• Then, in early April, CNN reported on how Walker had been overstating his academic achievements for years. In addition to his false claim surrounding his graduation, Walker asserted at least twice in 2017 that he was his high school’s valedictorian and graduated “in the top 1 percent” at Georgia.

• There is no evidence that Walker was valedictorian, and the reference was eventually removed from his campaign site.

• Critics have also questioned claims surrounding his business background.

• Months after the AP reported on how Walker’s business records showed “exaggerated claims of financial success” and a history of alarming associates with “unpredictable behavior,” Walker made false claims regarding the earnings and size of his chicken business, Renaissance Man Food Services, according to the Daily Beast.

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