CNN
—
Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who defended pulling out the sheriff’s badge during a closely watched debate in Georgia on Friday, told NBC in an interview that aired Sunday that it was “legal.” ‘, but a badge of honor from the Home Sheriff’s Department.
Walker pulled his badge during a discussion about pro-police — a move that was cautioned by debate moderators and drew widespread ridicule from Democrats.
“This is from my hometown. This is Johnson County from the Johnson County Sheriff, which is a legal badge,” Walker told NBC’s Kristin Welker in a clip of the interview.
A fact-check by CNN found that Walker never worked in law enforcement. He released a card showing that at some point after 2004 he was appointed as Cobb County, Georgia, “deputy honorary” and “special deputy sheriff” — titles that do not grant arrest powers.
The contest between Walker and Democratic senators. Rafael Warnock is one of the most important Senate races in the country, representing key states Democrats must hold to have a chance at taking control of the Senate next year. The race has been rocked recently by allegations that Walker paid for a woman to have an abortion and encouraged her to have another one – an accusation the Republican Party has repeatedly denied and CNN has not independently confirmed.
A survey released earlier this month following the allegations found Warnock at 52 percent of likely voters, compared with 45 percent for Walker, a rise from a mid-September poll. The polls are about the same.
During Friday’s debate, Walker accused Warnock of calling officials “names” and causing “morale” to plummet, but the Democrat cited Walker’s false claims that he had previously served in law enforcement.
“One thing I didn’t do was I didn’t pretend to be a police officer, and I never threatened a shootout with a police officer,” Warnock said, alluding to a more than two-year-old police report by the Republic The party discussed firefights with police.
“Everyone can make fun,” Walker said in an interview with NBC, arguing that the badge means he “has the right to work with police to get things done.”
However, Walker later acknowledged that it was a “badge of honor” and countered the idea that NBC’s Welker had read from the National Sheriffs Association’s statement that the badges should remain in the “trophy box.”