President-elect Donald Trump announced he will enroll Herschel Walker, former football player whose 2022 senate run He faced controversy when he served as U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas.
“Hershel has spent decades serving as an ambassador for our nation's youth, our men and women in the military, and our athletes at home and abroad,” Trump said on social media Tuesday night.
Walker would need confirmation by the Senate to assume the role. The Senate has not confirmed a US ambassador to the Bahamas in more than a decade. Former President Barack Obama nominated Cassandra Butts for the role in 2014, but the Senate never brought her nomination to a vote, according to The Associated PressHe died in 2016.
Trump nominated Doug Manchester for the ambassador role in 2017 in his first term, but his nomination was stalled for more than two years. In 2019, CBS News also exposed evidence of a Possible pay-to-play scheme For the role. He ultimately withdrew and Trump nominated William Douglas in 2020. Douglas' nomination was withdrawn by President Biden when he took office, and Mr. Biden instead nominated Calvin Smyre, who has not been confirmed by the Senate.
In the absence of an official Ambassador to the Bahamas, Kimberly Furnish currently serves in the role of Chargé d'Affaires.
Walker rose to national prominence as a star for the Georgia Bulldogs, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1982. He spent his first few years of professional ball in the United States Football League before it folded, and then moved to the NFL.
Walker again made national headlines when, at Trump's urging, he challenged Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia for his seat in 2022. The race involved several controversies, including two women claiming that Walker – who was running as an anti-abortion candidate – was they were paid to have abortions,
Walker denied both allegations.
In one example, Walker admitted to writing a check About a woman who said he paid for her to have an abortion in 2009, but said she didn't know what the money was for.
Another woman claimed that Walker paid her to have an abortion after the two carried on a six-year relationship while he was married to another woman and playing in the NFL. During a press conference in 2022, she said that she could not complete the procedure when she went to have it herself, so Walker took her to a clinic in the Dallas area the next day and waited until she had an abortion. ,
“It was a lie a week ago and it's still a lie today,” Walker said in an interview the woman gave a week after the initial news conference.
Warnock will win the election in future runoff No candidate received more than 50% of the votes on election day.
aaron navarro And
Contributed to this report.