President-elect Donald Trump announced. he will nominate Herschel Walker was a former soccer player. Running for Senate in 2022 He was embroiled in controversy while serving as the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
“Herschel has served for decades as an ambassador to our nation’s youth, military, and athletes at home and abroad,” President Trump said on social media Tuesday night.
Walker must be confirmed by the Senate to take on the role. The Senate has not confirmed a U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas in more than a decade. According to the Associated Press, former President Barack Obama nominated Cassandra Butts as a candidate in 2014, but the Senate failed to even vote on it. She died in 2016.
Trump nominated Doug Manchester as ambassador during his first term in 2017, but his nomination has been stalled for more than two years. CBS News in 2019 also found the following evidence: Possible paid play methods For the role. He eventually resigned, and Trump nominated William Douglas in 2020. Douglas’ nomination was withdrawn when President Biden took office, and Mr. Biden in turn nominated Calvin Smyer, who was not confirmed by the Senate.
Without an official ambassador to the Bahamas, Kimberly Furnish currently serves as Chargé d’Affaires.
Walker rose to national prominence as a star running back for the Georgia Bulldogs, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1982. He made the Pro Bowl his first few years in the United States Football League before it folded and then moved on to the NFL.
Walker returned to the national spotlight when, at Trump’s urging, he challenged Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock for the seat in 2022. I paid for an abortion..
Walker denied both claims.
For example, Walker admitted to writing the check It’s about a woman who said she paid for an abortion in 2009 but didn’t know where the money was being spent.
Another woman alleged that Walker paid her to have an abortion during their six-year relationship while he was married to another woman and playing in the NFL. At a press conference in 2022, she said she was unable to get the procedure when she went to get it herself, so Walker drove her to a Dallas-area hospital the next day and waited for her while she got the abortion. .
“It was a lie a week ago and it’s a lie today,” Walker said of the woman’s interview a week after the first press conference.
Warnock would go on to win the election. overflow After neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote on Election Day.
Aaron Navarro and Nikole Killion contributed to this report.
