Trump taps Herschel Walker for ambassador to the Bahamas
President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Herschel Walker, former football player, 2022 Senate Races After much controversy, he became the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
“Herschel has served for decades as an ambassador for our nation’s youth, military, and athletes at home and abroad,” Trump said on social media Tuesday night.
Walker will need Senate confirmation to hold the position. The Senate has not confirmed a U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas in more than a decade. Former President Barack Obama reportedly nominated Cassandra Butts for the position in 2014, but the Senate never even brought her nomination to a vote. Associated Press. She died in 2016.
Trump nominated Doug Manchester to serve as ambassador in 2017 during his first term, but his nomination stalled for more than two years. CBS News also found in 2019 Possible pay-to-play plans for this role. He eventually dropped out, and Trump moved on to nominate William Douglas in 2020. Douglas’s nomination was withdrawn when President Biden took office, and Biden instead nominated Calvin Smyer, who has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
In the absence of an official ambassador to the Bahamas, Kimberly Furnish currently serves as charge d’affaires.
Walker rose to prominence as a star running back for the Georgia Bulldogs, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1982. He spent the first few years of his career in the United States Football League before the league folded and then moved to the NFL.
Walker returned to the national spotlight when he launched a 2022 challenge to Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock for his seat at Trump’s urging. The race has sparked multiple controversies, including two women claiming that Walker, who was running as an anti-abortion candidate Pay them to have abortions.
Walker denies both accusations.
In one example, Walker Admits to writing checks One woman said he paid her to have an abortion in 2009, but he said he didn’t know what the money was used for.
Another woman claimed Walker paid her to have an abortion and the two had a six-year relationship while Walker was married to another woman and playing in the NFL. At a press conference in 2022, she said that when she went to have an abortion, she was unable to complete the procedure, so Walker took her to a Dallas-area clinic the next day and waited for her while she had the abortion.
“It was a lie a week ago and it’s a lie today,” Walker said in an interview a week after the original press conference.
Warnock will go on to win the election run-off On Election Day, both candidates received more than 50% of the vote.
Aaron Navarro and
contributed to this report.
