Herschel Walker called out for ‘prop’ badge during debate when accused of lying about working as a sheriff

‘One thing I have not done I've never pretended to be a police officer,’ Warnock says in debate

A debate moderator admonished Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker for pulling out a “prop” badge after Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia accused him of lying about being a police officer.

The exchanged happened during a question about rising crime in Georgia, when Mr Walker accused Mr Warnock of being anti-police and criticising them too much.

In response, Mr Warnock mentioned how he had supported law enforcement in the United States Senate and then pointed to a story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported that he had said he worked in law enforcement when he did not and mentioned a report that he threatened to have a shootout with officers in 2011.

“One thing I have not done I've never pretended to be a police officer. Yet, I've never I've never threatened a shootout with the police,” he said, which drew applause.

In response, Mr Walker pulled out a badge.

“And you know what’s so funny,” he said. “I am, worked with many police officers.”

In response, one of the moderators told him he was not allowed to use “props.”

“It’s not a prop,” he said. “He brought up the truth, let’s talk about the truth.”

In the past, Mr Walker has tweeted the card, which calls him a special deputy sheriff for Cobb County. Mr Walker criticised Mr Warnock for speaking out against law enforcement while saying more sheriffs had endorsed him in the race.

“They've endorsed me because they know I have that fight,” he said.

In response, Mr Warnock said he supported more funding for police officers through the COPS program and said holding police officer accountability was not mutually exclusive with the former.

Later in the evening, Mr Warnock’s campaign tweeted an image of Mr Walker holding his badge with a facepalm emoji.