Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker admitted that he signed the $700 check being used as evidence that he paid for an abortion in 2009.
Walker confessed after NBC News chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker handed him a physical copy of the check during an interview first released Monday. The check, first published by the Daily Beast in early October, alleges that the candidate paid $700 for his then-girlfriend to undergo an abortion in 2009.
“This is still a lie because she is the mother of my child,” Walker said. “So you’re gonna see my check, or somebody giving checks, you know what I’m saying? It’s a lie.”
“Do you know what this $700 check is? Is that your signature on the check, though?” Welker asked.
“It could be, but it doesn’t matter if it’s my signature or not,” Walker said. When handed the check, he definitively admitted that is his check.
“Yes, that’s my check,” he admitted.
The Daily Beast reportedly obtained the check, a $575 abortion clinic receipt and a “get well” card signed by Walker from an anonymous female source. Daily Beast reporter Roger Sollenberger, who broke the story, doubled down on the report, saying the outlet will “stand by this report 100 percent.” (RELATED: Top Republicans Rally With Herschel Walker Amid Abortion Allegations)
Walker accused Sollenberger of attacking him for political purposes and threatened to sue the outlet.
“This is another repugnant hatchet job from a democrat activist disguised as a reporter who has obsessively attacked my family and tried to tear me down since this race started,” Walker tweeted. “He’s harassed friends of mine, asking if I fathered their children. He’s called my children ‘secret’ because I didn’t want to use them as campaign props in a political campaign.”
“Now, they’re using an anonymous source to further slander me,” he added. “They will do anything to hold onto power. I [sic] planning to sue the Daily Beast for this defamatory lie. It will be filed tomorrow morning.”
Despite the rumors of the alleged 2009 abortion, Walker has campaigned on a pro-life platform, recently supporting Georgia’s law prohibiting abortion after six weeks gestation with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.
When asked why voters should trust him, Walker said he has been “transparent” with his past. The candidate has faced allegations of domestically abusing his ex-wife and son, Christian and lying about his academic credentials and ties to law enforcement.
During Friday’s debate with Democratic opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Walker held up an honorary police badge he received by the Johnson County Sheriff in recognition for his community service at the podium, but it does not give him any actual police power.