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Republican Herschel Walker pledges to sue over report he paid for abortion – live | US politics
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Walker campaign crisis in Georgia over abortion row turns heat up further in furious midterms battle for Senate
Herschel Walker, the controversial Republican candidate in Georgia for a vital US Senate seat, is attempting to weather the latest tempest that has tossed his midterm election campaign from turbulent into full-blown crisis.
As the Beast puts it in the strap below the headline to its report: “The woman has receipts – and a ‘get well’ card she says the football star, now a Senate candidate, sent her.”
Walker blasted out a top-line denial via Twitter, calling the story overall a flat-out lie, also calling it a “Democrat attack”, while the Beast insists its article is backed up to the hilt. Walker says he’ll sue the Beast today.
He also appeared on Fox News to blame politics, saying: “Now everyone knows how important this seat is and they [Democrats] will do anything to win this seat. They wanted to make it about anything except inflation, crime and the border being wide open.”
But Walker’s son, 23-year-old Christian Walker, then responded on Twitter. Yikes.
I know my mom and I would really appreciate if my father Herschel Walker stopped lying and making a mockery of us.
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.
I don’t care about someone who has a bad past and takes accountability. But how DARE YOU LIE and act as though you’re some “moral, Christian, upright man.” You’ve lived a life of DESTROYING other peoples lives. How dare you.
The sitting Senator from Georgia whom Herschel Walker is challenging, Democrat Raphael Warnock, is striving to stay above the fray – maybe hoping the former running back will be hoisted by his own petard?
Key events
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has begun today’s media briefing and is reminding everyone that Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are going to Fort Myers, Florida, tomorrow, in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Ian.
Yesterday, the US president and first lady were in Puerto Rico to announce funding in the wake of Hurricane Fiona that smashed into the island territory last month just before Ian howled in from the Atlantic.
Biden admitted that aid and assistance to Puerto Rico in the five years since Hurricane Maria hit there and now Hurricane Fiona has not been timely or sufficient.
It has been called a textbook example of discrimination against Black voters in the US. And a ruling on it from the supreme court is expected any day.
It isn’t the kind of explicit voting discrimination, like poll taxes and literacy tests, that kept voters from the polls in the south during the Jim Crow era. Instead, it is more subtle.
Let us walk you through the case with our visual explainer.
The case focuses on Alabama, where the Republican-controlled legislature, like states across the US, recently completed the once-a-decade process of redrawing the boundaries of congressional maps. If partisan politicians exert too much control over the redistricting process, they can effectively engineer their own victories, or blunt the advantages of the other side, by allocating voters of particular political persuasions and backgrounds to particular districts.
Under the new districts, Black people make up 25% of the Alabama’s population, but comprise a majority in just one of the state’s seven districts.
In late January, a panel of three federal judges issued a 225-page opinion explaining how the state was discriminating against Black voters.
“Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress,” the panel wrote. The judges gave Alabama 14 days to come up with a new plan and said the state had to draw two districts where Black voters comprise a majority.
Check out the whole terrific interactive here, from Guardian US colleagues Sam Levine and Andrew Witherspoon.
Sam Levine
The US supreme court today has been hearing a hugely important case that could ultimately gut one of the most powerful remaining provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the 1965 law that is one of America’s most powerful anti-discrimination measures.
The case deals with the seven new congressional districts that Alabama adopted last year. Six of those districts are represented by a Republican in Congress and one is represented by a Democrat. That Democratic district is 55% Black, the only Black majority district in the state.
The plaintiffs in the case argue that Alabama Republicans who control the state legislature packed as many Black voters as possible into the one Democratic district to weaken the influence of Black voters overall in the state. Black people make up about a quarter of Alabama’s population, but only are a majority in one district.
The central question in the case is how much mapmakers are required to take race into account when drawing districts. The plaintiffs argue that the Voting Rights Act requires Alabama to draw a second district where Black people make up a majority.
But Alabama argues that doing so would require the state to sort voters based on race, which is unconstitutional.
If the court, which has been extremely hostile to voting rights and the Voting Rights Act in particular, were to embrace that latter view, it would make it enormously difficult to challenge districts in the future.
A three judge panel agreed with the plaintiffs and ordered the state to redraw the map. But the US supreme court stepped in earlier this year and halted that order.
Interim summary
Hello US politics live blog readers, it’s a lively day for news and there’s much more to come in the next few hours, but here’s where things stand right now:
Joe Biden told Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy earlier today that Washington will provide Kyiv with $625 million in new security assistance, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, the White House said.
Giant tents for temporarily housing asylum seekers arriving in New York City after crossing the US-Mexico border are being moved to an island off Manhattan from a remote corner of the Bronx, after storms raised concerns over flooding at the original site.
There is no sign of a lawsuit (yet) from Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker against the Daily Beast followingthe latest chapter of Walker’s tumultuous campaign for the Senate unfolded last night.
US climate envoy John Kerrysaid today some western government ministers avoided a so-called “family photo” of participants at climate talks in Kinshasa because they were uncomfortable with the presence of Russia’s representative.
Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign is in crisis in Georgia after the latest twist in the abortion row became very personal and turns the heat up further in the furious midterms battle for control of the US Senate.
US to give Ukraine more rocket launchers, Biden tells Zelenskiy
Joe Biden told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier today that Washington will provide Kyiv with $625 million in new security assistance, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, the White House said.
The US president was joined in the call by vice president Kamala Harris, the White House said in a statement, Reuters reports.
The president underscored that Washington will never recognize Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory, it added.
Biden:
pledged to continue supporting Ukraine as it defends itself from Russian aggression for as long as it takes,” the statement said.
Check out all the Guardian’s detailed reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here, and you can follow our global live blog on the war here.
Giant tents for temporarily housing asylum seekers arriving in New York City after crossing the US-Mexico border are being moved to an island off Manhattan from a remote corner of the Bronx, after storms raised concerns over flooding at the original site.
Mayor EricAdams announced Monday that the city’s humanitarian relief center will now be on Randall’s Island, which sits in the waters between Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. It’s connected by five bridges to the three boroughs, and people can take buses or walk off the island to reach the city’s subway system, The Associated Press reports.
The center’s tents had been put up in a parking lot at Orchard Beach, in the northeast part of the Bronx on Long Island Sound, where access to public transportation is limited. Images online showed water ponding at the site following rainfall over the weekend. In a statement announcing the change, Adams said while the city could have made the original location work, moving the center “is the most efficient and effective path forward.”
An aerial photo taken with a drone shows emergency tents being assembled to house asylum seekers bussed to New York City from Texas and Arizona by Republican governors there, without any warning to or liaison with the city. The tents were in the process of being raised last week in the parking lot of Orchard Beach, in the Bronx borough. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
The city’s plan for Orchard Beach had been met with concern by immigration advocates, who cited its inaccessibility among other reasons, and that concern extended to the new location.
The city must look to other solutions instead of tent cities, where our clients will be isolated, vulnerable to extreme weather, and far from public transportation and other critical services,” the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement today.
Here is the Guardian’s report on the tent camp when it was first set up in the Bronx.
No sign of lawsuit from Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker against Daily Beast
When the latest chapter of Herschel Walker’s tumultuous campaign for the Senate unfolded last night, the former NFL player noted that he was going to sue the Daily Beast the following morning.
It looks like the ex-running back is now running back on that. Is morning AM or just, before lunch? No sign yet of a suit from the GOP candidate in his Senate race against incumbent and Democrat, Raphael Warnock.
Was it a bluff? There’s also been mention that maybe it’s coming tomorrow morning. It remains to be seen how voters will respond to all this. The Daily Beast reported last night that despite being an anti-abortion fundamentalist in his campaigning in these mid-terms, in the past Walker paid for an ex to have an abortion. He’s called that story a flat-out lie, though, with close scrutiny, his denials are not as watertight as he’d like them to sound.
Critics are salivating about what might surface in discovery if Walker plowed ahead with a lawsuit, to say nothing of success being very much against the odds for him even if he had a flawless reputation in such a suit in the US, anyway.
Who wants to bet Hershel will NEVER file suit? The Discovery will destroy his case.
Now- every woman who was paid by a congressman in office now to have an abortion should come forward before the elections to expose the hypocrisy.
Now there is light pouring through the cracks and there may be no lawsuit at all.
NEW: Walker’s lawyer tells me “We are currently considering our options but no final decision has been made on the future handling of this matter.” https://t.co/Pq482nRRAC
Russia’s war in Ukraine further complicates global efforts on climate crisis
US climate envoy John Kerry said today some western government ministers avoided a so-called “family photo” of participants at climate talks in Kinshasa because they were uncomfortable with the presence of Russia’s representative.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shattered relations with the west, complicating international efforts to cooperate on global crises like the climate crisis, Reuters reports.
All top-level participants were meant to pose for the picture on Monday after the start of the three-day event in the Congolese capital – the last chance for countries to discuss strategies before the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt in November.
Some European delegates were notably absent from the flag-decked stage. Of those who attended, dozens of dignitaries, including the Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, and the United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed, waited for over 10 minutes before the photo was taken without the absentees.
They didn’t want to show up for the picture,” Kerry said when asked about the apparent no-shows.
He is in Kinshasa for the talks but also did not join the photo.
It was not clear exactly how many delegates chose to skip the shoot, but an official with the British delegation confirmed envoy Alok Sharma was among them.
An EU official also confirmed its envoy had not joined the photo and would do the same at similar photo opportunities at Cop27.
I don’t know if a big decision was made. I do know that all the ministers of these countries were very troubled by the presence of the Russian. Russia is not a country that is treated exactly like others at the moment,” Kerry told reporters.
Kerry said delegates’ sudden camera-shyness would not affect negotiations:
“The photo is the photo, but the work at Cop, it continues.”
Russian climate envoy Ruslan Edelgeriyev, who stood at the far end of the back row for the picture, told Reuters he had not noticed anyone refusing to join the shoot due to his presence.
He said that discussing “matters irrelevant to climate change will get us nowhere”.
The US special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, and the deputy secretary general of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, meet in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Photograph: Justin Makangara/Reuters
The Guardian has extensive coverage of the war in Ukraine, which began in February with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. You can follow news developments via our global war live blog, here.
Pennsylvania’s open race to succeed retiring Republican US Senator Pat Toomey, meanwhile, is one of those on a razor’s edge.
Various outlets have Oz gaining ground against Fetterman in their nasty, personal campaign, who was placed six points ahead of his rival in a recent USA Today report – but also showing the Republican for governor of Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, tumbling badly in his race against Democratic candidate and state attorney general Josh Shapiro.
John Fetterman campaigning in Philadelphia. Photograph: Cory Clark/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Axios notes in its morning news letter that Pennsylvania is the tightest Senate race in the country, and adds that: “Besides Pennsylvania, the other tossup Senate races are in Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin.”
Meanwhile, yet another report sharply criticizes medic Oz’s track record in experimenting on animals.
A review of 75 studies published by Mehmet Oz between 1989 and 2010 reveals the Republican Senate candidate’s research killed over 300 dogs and inflicted significant suffering on them and the other animals used in experiments.
Oz, the New Jersey resident who’s currently running for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, was a “principal investigator” at the Columbia University Institute of Comparative Medicine labs for years and assumed “full scientific, administrative, and fiscal responsibility for the conduct” of his studies.
Over the course of 75 studies published in academic journals reviewed by Jezebel, Oz’s team conducted experiments on at least 1,027 live animal subjects that included dogs, pigs, calves, rabbits, and small rodents.
Thirty-four of these experiments resulted in the deaths of at least 329 dogs, while two of his experiments killed 31 pigs, and 38 experiments killed 661 rabbits and rodents.
Here’s a further quick summary of some of the controversial background about Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia who’s challenging Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock.
This one comes from NPR with a bit of help from The Associated Press.
The allegation against Walker is the latest in a series of stories about the football legend’s past that has rocked the first-time candidate’s campaign in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country. Earlier this year, Walker acknowledged reports that he had three children he had not previously talked about publicly.
Walker has often boasted of his work helping service members and veterans struggling with mental health. Yet The Associated Press reported in May that various records showed he overstated his role in a for-profit program that is alleged to have preyed upon veterans and service members while defrauding the government.
The AP also has reported that a review of public records detailed accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior. Walker himself has at times discussed his long struggle with mental illness.
As a Senate hopeful, Walker has supported a national ban on abortions with no exceptions for cases involving rape, incest or a woman’s health being at risk — particularly notable at a time when Roe v. Wade has been overturned by the Supreme Court and Democrats in Congress have been discussing codifying abortion rights into federal law.
Also noting that Walker calls reasons for having an abortion because you’ve been raped, perhaps even by a relative, or because your health or even your life are at risk “excuses.”
A reminder that even before this latest scandal, Herschel Walker was becoming notorious for saying weird nonsense on the campaign trail.
“How can global warming be real if it’s cold outside? A lot of money it’s going to trees. Don’t we have enough trees?” . “Our good air floats over to China’s bad air. China’s bad air moves over to our good air space, which would force us to clean that back up.”
— Debbie Downer stands with Ukraine💙🇺🇦💛 (@JohnstonSharon) October 4, 2022
Getting nastier:
Yes, Christian Walker is a spoiled brat, an #Influencer who was more than happy to go along with Herschel’s campaign and yes, Christian has a lying, shitty deadbeat dad with secret kids everywhere. Both things can be true at once. https://t.co/GwwRYOrMq2
— Elizabeth #WomensRightsAreHumanRights (@TheHopsbride) October 4, 2022
Georgia conservative pundit:
I’d largely thought Walker could pull this off despite his baggage. I’ll see what sort of response he mounts, but given text messages tonight, Georgia GOP’ers are praying for Dr. Oz to win. Walker hasn’t mounted a good response to any attack, and this is brutal, probably a KO.
If the battle for control of the US Senate overall is on a knife edge in these midterm elections, certain states’ races are on a razor’s edge.
The congressional upper chamber has been split 50-50 since the 2020 presidential election, with Democrats only maintaining the upper hand because they have the White House and therefore the vice president, who also serves as president of the senate, has the deciding vote. Even then, when most legislation needs 60 votes to pass the senate and, in cases when 51 votes will do losing just one democratic senator sinks a bill, progress for the Democrats on 2020 election promises has been difficult.
But struggles notwithstanding, of course the Democrats are desperate to keep control of the senate while the Republicans are desperate to flip it.
And Georgia is crucial. It’s also incredibly evocative because in early 2021, Democrats Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff both won their run-offs to capture seats and become first-time senators and in the process hand control of the senate to the Democrats.
Ossoff unseated Republican senator David Perdue in that race, who tried to make a comeback in these midterms by challenging current state governor Brian Kemp in the GOP gubernatorial primary, but lost despite (because of??) being endorsed by Donald Trump.
And when Warnock also unseated a Republican to win his run-off, the pastor became the first every Black US Senator from Georgia. Now, less than two years into his term, he’s being challenged for his seat by a rarity, a Black man running as a Republican who counts white conservatives as his base – and has no experience in politics, one Herschel Walker.
Guardian US is running a series of special news features this week on Georgia’s role in the midterm elections, here’s part one and part two.
Walker campaign crisis in Georgia over abortion row turns heat up further in furious midterms battle for Senate
Herschel Walker, the controversial Republican candidate in Georgia for a vital US Senate seat, is attempting to weather the latest tempest that has tossed his midterm election campaign from turbulent into full-blown crisis.
As the Beast puts it in the strap below the headline to its report: “The woman has receipts – and a ‘get well’ card she says the football star, now a Senate candidate, sent her.”
Walker blasted out a top-line denial via Twitter, calling the story overall a flat-out lie, also calling it a “Democrat attack”, while the Beast insists its article is backed up to the hilt. Walker says he’ll sue the Beast today.
He also appeared on Fox News to blame politics, saying: “Now everyone knows how important this seat is and they [Democrats] will do anything to win this seat. They wanted to make it about anything except inflation, crime and the border being wide open.”
But Walker’s son, 23-year-old Christian Walker, then responded on Twitter. Yikes.
I know my mom and I would really appreciate if my father Herschel Walker stopped lying and making a mockery of us.
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.
I don’t care about someone who has a bad past and takes accountability. But how DARE YOU LIE and act as though you’re some “moral, Christian, upright man.” You’ve lived a life of DESTROYING other peoples lives. How dare you.
The sitting Senator from Georgia whom Herschel Walker is challenging, Democrat Raphael Warnock, is striving to stay above the fray – maybe hoping the former running back will be hoisted by his own petard?
Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign in crisis over abortion story
Good morning, US politics blog readers, it’s a lively start to the day as midterm election candidates for the US Senate are making news, so is Joe Biden, the CDC on Covid and pro-abortion politicians on the rights of women 100 days after the US Supreme Court ripped up Roe v Wade.
Here’s what’s already cooking in Washington and midterm campaigns:
Herschel Walker, the Republican challenging Democratic sitting Senator Raphael Warnock in the crucial state of Georgia this election, has pledged to sue the Daily Beast today over a story last night that, despite campaigning as an anti-abortion hardliner, he paid for an abortion for a former girlfriend in 2009. Walker says the story’s a lie. His son then called his father a liar; this thing is boiling over and scalding his Senate chances – fatally?
Joe Biden has apologized to the family of the late Indiana Republican Jackie Walorski, admitting to a gaffe last week when he spoke at an event and was looking around for her, calling publicly “where’s Jackie?”, when the congresswoman had been killed in a horrific car crash in August. The US president invited her parents to the Oval Office to talk late last week, the New York Post reported.
Biden and the vice-president,Kamala Harris, this afternoon will speak at the second meeting of the administration’s special task force on reproductive healthcare access, at the White House. Cabinet members will attend, including the health secretary, Xavier Becerra, and the education secretary, Miguel Cardona. That’s expected at 3.30pm ET, and the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, is scheduled to hold the daily press briefing at 1pm.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last night announced the CDC it will discontinue a country-by-country list of advisories that inform travelers of risk and restrictions in each relating to Covid-19. The federal agency will post a notice if there is a concerning variant emerging in a country or a significant change in travel recommendations.
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