Fresh off his NBC News interview where he tried to justify flashing a prop badge in last Fridayโs debate, Herschel Walker will now give all of his supporters one. Instead of dialing this back, Walkerโs campaign let NBC News know it has ordered 1,000 imitation plastic law enforcement badges that say โIโm with Herschelโย as a fundraising tool. The Georgia Republican candidate will also use it in a new video with Johnson County Sheriff Greg Rowland, who gave him the badge.
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Walker hopes to hand these โpropโ badges out at a crime-themed event with law enforcement officers Thursday because thatโs what we need: more people pretending they are law enforcement.
If you ask Walkerโs campaign strategist Gail Gitcho, this strategy is to show Walker is more pro-police. However, that doesnโt align with Walkerโs words throughout his campaign. He has said he has worked โinโ and โforโ law enforcement over the years and suggested he was an FBI agent. Just because youโve received an honorary badge doesnโt mean you automatically become an officer.
From NBC News:
โHerschel Walker has been a friend to law enforcement and has a record of honoring police,โ said Gail Gitcho, the Walker campaign strategist who ordered the badges Saturday.
โIf Sen. Warnock wants to highlight this, then bring it on,โ Gitcho added. โIt just gives us a chance to talk about Herschelโs support of law enforcement and law enforcementโs support for him. Itโs a great issue for us.โ
Sen. Warnock hit back at Walkerโs dishonesty, something he also did during their only Senate debate last Friday.
โMy opponent, Herschel Walker, is not ready,โ Warnock told reporters Monday. โI pointed out the fact that he claimed to be in law enforcement โ to be a police officer โ and that he threatened a shootout with the police. And his response was to produce a fake badge? The people of Georgia deserve a serious person to represent them in serious times.โ
DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox is not too happy with Walkerโs antics either.
โIt was a disgrace, and it was disrespectful to those of us who actually wear the badge and wear it proudly and serve our communities,โ she told NBC News. โThe problem with it is that itโs not a real badge. It does not have any power to it at all. Thereโs no arrest power. And my question is: If heโs flashing the badge now, then what else is he using the badge for? Where else is he flashing it?โ
Sheriff Roland has said the badge is โhonoraryโ โ with โHerschel Walkerโ written on it only to help out in his office with no arrest powers attached. So, basically this is either a money grab or a ploy to get votes.
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