Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Tom Cotton of Arkansas announced they will travel to Georgia to campaign for Herschel Walker on Tuesday.
Last week, The Daily Beast reported allegations that Walker, who supports a ban on abortion without any exceptions, paid for the abortion of a woman, who is the mother of one of his four children, in 2009.
In a statement to NBC News, Scott said, “The Democrats want to destroy this country, and they will try to destroy anyone who gets in their way. Today it’s Herschel Walker, but tomorrow it’s the American people.”
“I’m on Herschel’s team — they picked the wrong Georgian to mess with,” Scott said. “I’m proud to stand with Herschel Walker and make sure Georgians know that he will always fight to protect them from the forces trying to destroy Georgia values and Georgia’s economy, led by Raphael Warnock.”
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Cotton confirmed the trip in a tweet posted Saturday night. “Excited to be heading to Georgia to campaign for @HerschelWalker!” he tweeted.
The Washington Post first reported Scott and Cotton’s plans to rally for Walker.
National Republicans, including Scott, had rushed to defend Walker after the Daily Beast’s reporting of the abortion allegations. They described the report as a smear ahead of the midterm elections, but did not detail which parts of the report were false.
A source close to Walker’s campaign told NBC News this week that they are hearing from “a lot of other Republican senators who want to join him on the campaign trail” because those Republicans “view this race as definitive to taking over the Senate.”
The woman who alleged Walker paid for her abortion more than a decade ago also claimed she is the mother of one of his children, the Daily Beast reported. The allegation contradicted the Republican Senate nominee’s previous claim that he does not know his accuser.
Walker has denied the allegations. During an interview with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday, Walker was asked whether he knows who the accuser is and if he needs to be forgiven for anything. Walker said, “Had that happened, I would have said it, because it’s nothing to be ashamed of there.”
“You know, people have done that, but I know nothing about it,” Walker continued. “And if I knew about it, I would be honest and talk about it, but I know nothing about that.”
In a brief interview with NBC News Friday, Walker claimed he confirmed for the first time the identity of the woman when she leveled the abortion allegation in a text message to his wife, Julie Walker, on Friday morning.
The Walker campaign provided copies of the text message exchange to NBC News hours before The New York Times published an interview with the woman, who alleged that Walker had paid for the 2009 abortion and tried to pressure her to abort their young son. NBC News is withholding the woman’s and child’s names to protect their identities.
Walker is set to face off against Warnock, his Democratic opponent, on the debate stage Friday.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
