The Georgia Senate race between incumbent Raphael Warnock and football great Herschel Walker has been a wild ride, and the first debate between the two, at moments, verged on parody.
At one point Walker, who is backed by former president Donald Trump, claimed Senator Warnock has “empowered criminals to think they’re more powerful than the police.”
Warnock fired back, “We will see time and time again tonight, as we’ve already seen, that my opponent has a problem with the truth.”
As the crowd cheered, Warnock continued, “One thing I have not done, I’ve never pretended to be a police officer.” It was a reference to Walker’s repeated — and false — claims that he “worked in law enforcement” or had trained with the FBI.
Then, in a made-for-‘SNL’ moment, Walker responded by pulling out what the debate moderator called a “prop” badge and claimed, “I am work with many police officers.”
The resulting laughter from the audience made the scene all the more like an SNL skit.
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He was scolded by the moderator for bringing a “prop” to the debate.
“It’s not a prop,” Walker claimed. “This is real.”
Watch below.
Walker has repeatedly said he worked in law enforcement. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he did so at least three times before entering politics.
Walker told an audience of U.S. servicemen and women, “I worked in law enforcement, so I had a gun.” In 2017, he claimed, “I work with the Cobb County Police Department.” In 2019, Walker also told listeners, “I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?”
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The Journal-Constitution called the Cobb County Police Department, which said it had no record of Walker being employed there. Walker’s campaign then told the paper he was “an honorary deputy,” which Cobb law enforcement officials also could not confirm.
Earlier this year, Walker did tweet a photo of what he said was his honorary sheriff’s card from Cobb County. But that’s far from “working in law enforcement.” Being an honorary deputy, a local prosecutor told the AJC, is like having “a junior ranger badge.” Just don’t tell Elvis that.