Sean Hannity on Tuesday attempted to spin Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker paying for a girlfriend’s abortion—as well as the resulting public rift between him and his son—as an attack on Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). The incumbent Democrat, the Fox News host asserted, is dealing with the “same” “family conflict” as Walker.
On Monday, The Daily Beast revealed that Walker, a self-described anti-abortion candidate who opposes exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, paid for an abortion in September 2009. Hours later, Walker denied doing so to Hannity, who actually pressed his chosen candidate on the details of the story, which include a get-well card and a check that Walker signed, as well as a receipt from an abortion clinic.
The next day, however, the right-wing cable host tried to shift the story onto Walker’s opponent in the November election.
“You know the news that came out yesterday,” Hannity said to Newt Gingrich. “There is a family conflict with Herschel Walker that has been very public, which I think is sad for any family. But there is also the same thing for Raphael Warnock. And as you look at Georgia, they are going to look at both of these candidates. How will they be reacting to all of this news? And do you think at the end of the day it’s going to come down to issues?”
It’s unclear what exactly the Fox anchor meant, as he didn’t explain himself during his discussion with Gingrich. And as for the former House speaker, his response made no explicit reference to any sort of “family conflict” in Warnock’s life.
In a pair of videos posted on Twitter Tuesday morning, Walker’s 23-year-old son Christian criticized his father for denying the story.
“It’s literally his handwriting in the card. They say they have receipts. Whatever. He gets on Twitter, he lies about it. OK, I’m done,” he said.
The younger Walker had also tweeted about the story shortly after it was published.
“Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one,” he wrote.
“You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence.”