Herschel Walker acknowledges giving check to ex-girlfriend but says he doesn’t know if it was for abortion

The Republican Senate nominee says that ‘I have no idea what that can be for’

Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker acknowledged in an interview with NBC News that he did indeed send a check to his ex-girlfriend but denied that it was to pay for an abortion.

NBC News’s Kristen Welker showed an image of the $700 check that he reportedly gave an ex-girlfriend. The network spoke with the woman who purported to be Mr Walker’s ex-girlfriend and provided a copy of the check and a receipt from the medical centre in Georgia.

“This is still a lie because she is the mother of my child,” he said. “I have no idea what that can be for.”

The New York Times reported that Mr Walker pressured the woman for whose abortion he reportedly paid to have a second abortion in 2011 when she got pregnant. The woman reportedly refused to do so, which led to the dissolution of their relationship.

But when asked repeatedly, he acknowledged he wrote the check.

“Yes, that’s my check,” he said. But he denied that it was for an abortion.

“You want me to answer something that’s a lie, and everyone’s trying to trick me and make me respond,” he said. “Show where I have said that this is [for] an abortion.”

Reports from the Daily Beast that Mr Walker paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion roiled his campaign and have caused his polling numbers to decline.

The former University of Georgia running back and Heisman Trophy winner is locked in a tight race against incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock.

The two squared off against each other in their first, and so far only, debate on Friday. Mr Walker declined to take part in a debate on Sunday.

Mr Warnock declined a request from NBC for an interview, with his campaign manager saying: “This campaign will come down to who is ready to represent Georgia and it is clear that is not Herschel Walker.”