This was announced by newly-elected President Donald Trump he will nominate Herschel Walker, the former football player whose 2022 Senate Run was plagued by controversy, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
“Herschel has served for decades as an ambassador to our nation’s youth, our men and women in the military, and athletes at home and abroad,” Trump said on social media Tuesday evening.
Walker would need to 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. Former President Barack Obama nominated Cassandra Butts for the role in 2014, but the Senate did not even put her nomination to a vote, according to The Associated Press. She passed away in 2016.
Trump, in his first term, nominated Doug Manchester for the role of ambassador in 2017, but his nomination stalled for more than two years. CBS News also revealed evidence of one in 2019 possible pay-to-play arrangement for the role. He eventually withdrew and Trump nominated William Douglass in 2020. Douglass’ nomination was withdrawn by President Biden when he took office, and Mr. Biden in turn nominated Calvin Smyre, who has not been confirmed by the Senate.
In the absence of an official ambassador to the Bahamas, Kimberly Furnish currently serves in the role of chargé d’affaires.
Walker rose to national prominence as a star running back for the Georgia Bulldogs, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1982. He spent his first few years as a professional football player in the United States Football League before it folded, then moved on to the NFL.
Walker returned to the national spotlight when, at Trump’s urging, he challenged Georgian Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock for his seat in 2022. The race brought several controversies, including two women claiming that Walker – who was running as anti-abortion candidate – had done that. paid for them to have abortions.
Walker denied both allegations.
In one case, Walker admitted to writing a check for a woman who said he paid for her to have an abortion in 2009, but he said he didn’t know what the money was for.
Another woman claimed Walker paid her to get an abortion, even though the two had a six-year relationship while he was married to another woman and playing in the NFL. At a 2022 press conference, she said she couldn’t go through with the procedure when she went to get it herself, so Walker took her to a Dallas-area clinic the next day and waited for her while she got the abortion. .
“This was a lie a week ago and it’s a lie today,” Walker said at the time after an interview the woman gave a week after the first press conference.
Warnock would win the election in no time disposal after neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote on election day.
Aaron Navarro and Nikole Killion contributed to this report.
