Herschel Walker is in a contentious race for the Georgia Senate seat in a battle against incumbent Raphael Warnock. The former football player has been called out for falsely claiming he has worked in law enforcement and during a recent debate flashed a badge that the moderator called a “prop.”
Following that controversy, Walker is saying that the law enforcement badge is real and not fake.
“That’s a badge that I was given by a police officer and I do have the badge I carry with me all the time. It’s a real badge. It’s not a fake badge. It is a real badge,” Walker said during an interview with NBC News.
Walker told NBC News Chief White House Correspondent and Co-Anchor of Weekend TODAY Kristen Welker that he has badges “from all over Georgia” and the badge he had in the interview was from his hometown Johnson County.
“Everyone can make fun, but this badge give me the right- wait, let me finish. If anything happened in this county. I have the right to work with the police getting things done,” he continued adding that he has “been working in law enforcement for years.”
Walker continued, “I do training program but they get to get credit for it. I do a program, a leadership program. I do health and wellness programs. I visit prisons so, everyone will make fun, but I’ve been- have my men and women in black- men and women in bluebacks since I’ve been doing this.”
The GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Georgia clarified that it was an “honorary badge” and said law enforcement call him “whenever they want me and I have the authority to do things for them to work with them all day.”
Welker pointed out that the National Sheriffs Association “said an honorary badge ‘is for the trophy case’” and asked Walker why he flashed it during the debate.
Walker then said that Cobb County Sheriff Police that gave him the badge “came out and did a press conference with me and said, ‘Herschel has been with us for years he’d been working with us.’”
The Senate candidate also alleged he has the most support from Sheriffs “in Georgia than any candidate running today.”
More of the interview with Walker will air tomorrow on TODAY on NBC.