Will new allegations prevent Herschel Walker from running for the Senate?

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Herschel Walker campaigning for his former boss and friend Donald Trump in 2020. Photo: John Bazemore / AP / Shutterstock

In his 2008 memoir Breaking Free: My Life With Dissociative Identity Disorder, football legend Herschel Walker revealed disturbing details of his own conduct as he suffered from severe mental illness, including an incident in which he pointed a loaded gun at his wife’s head. . According to the book, Walker changed his condition and his life in 2001 through a combination of behavior therapy and religion. So when Donald Trump began promoting his old friend and candidate Celebrity Apprentice to a U.S. Senate election in Georgia in 2022, it was immediately understood that Walker’s mental health story and its byproducts would likely be brought up. . But it seemed that his courage and honesty in revealing this painful side of his life, and his apparent recovery, could thwart any criticism.

Now, with Walker still equivocal about a Senate race and several potential Republican challengers of incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock remaining on the sidelines awaiting his decision, the Associated Press has published a story that may challenge the premise that Walkers’ issues are deep in the rear window:

[A]n The Associated Press’s review of hundreds of pages of public documents relating to Walkers’ business ventures and her divorce, many of which have not been previously reported, sheds new light on a turbulent personal history that could hamper her candidacy in the Senate. The documents detail accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior.

The AP found evidence that Walkers’ ex-wife Cindy Grossman had to get a protection order against him long after their 2002 divorce to deal with what she called violent and controlling behavior, resulting mainly from an apparent jealousy. Grossman told court she received calls during this time from her sister and father, both of whom were contacted by Walker. He told his family members he would kill her and her new boyfriend, according to Maria Tsettos, Cindy Grossman’s sister.

Walker denied the allegations, but a judge issued the order, which also barred the former star from owning guns for a period of time.

The AP has also published evidence that Walkers’ business dealings have been characterized by exaggerations of their size and success, and some of these allegations are fairly recent:

Walker has made disproportionate claims about its business case. In repeated interviews with the media, Walker has claimed his company employs hundreds of people, includes a chicken processing division in Arkansas, and has annual sales of $ 70 million to $ 80 million.

However, when the company applied for a federal paycheck protection program loan last year, it only reported eight employees. (He received approximately $ 182,000 in COVID-19 assistance.)

The fact that Walker even needs a PPP loan could worry some Georgian conservatives. The AP, furthermore, reports that last month a Texas bank sued Walker and another business partner for unpaid debt of $ 200,000 guaranteed to help finance a pizza place. According to court documents, Walker personally guaranteed the loan.

If Walker can adequately answer the questions raised by the PA, that could pose a low threat to his potential candidacy. He has a virtually universal identity name in Georgia thanks to his sensational career at the University of Georgia, when he led the Bulldogs to their last national championship and then won the Heisman Trophy. Before and after the publication of his memoir, Walker maintained an image of modesty and understated strength that made him even more popular with him.

But his candidacy was already going to be a heavy burden, as he is a longtime resident of Texas who has never held public office and does not have much of an ideological profile beyond his close association with Trump and his recent habit of supporting Republican candidates (including incumbent Senator Warnock defeated in 2020, Kelly Loeffler). His reluctance to take the necessary steps to prepare for a Senate candidacy surely frustrated his enthusiastic friend from Mar-a-Lago, who has publicly stated that Walker will run.

Could the new reports of more recent issues in Walker’s life deter him? It’s hard to say, but Republicans in Georgia aren’t going to wait for it forever. Several members of the United States House would consider a Senate race if Walker does not enter it, and a state politician, Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, is already a candidate. Meanwhile, Warnock is raising a lot of money: his campaign has over $ 10 million in cash as of July 15.

We may have to see if AP’s story spurs any further revelations, negative or positive, about the man most Georgians simply know as Herschel (the way fans knew Elvis Presley as name of Elvis). Politics can be tougher than football.

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