Walker told reporters Wednesday that the latest accusation is “foolishness.”
“Well, I’ll just say right now you know guys I’m done with this foolishness,” he said. “I’ve already told people this is a lie and I’m not going to entertain and continue to carry a lie alone.”
“And I also want to let you know I didn’t kill JFK either,” he added.
The woman making this claim, known as “Jane Doe,” and her lawyer Gloria Allred held a press conference over Zoom Wednesday.
Doe said she cannot show her face or use her name “for fear of reprisals against myself, my family and my livelihood.”
“Herschel Walker says he is against women having abortions, but he pressured me to have one,” Doe said.
Doe said she is coming forward now because she saw Walker deny another woman’s allegations that he paid for an abortion, claiming the woman’s claims were false because he never signs cards using the letter H.
“I knew that was not true because he had often signed letter to me using H,” she said.
Earlier this month, a woman claiming to be a former girlfriend of Walker, a Republican campaigning on pro-life values, accused the candidate of paying for her abortion when she was pregnant with his child. Walker denied the claim.
Doe claims she discussed her pregnancy with Walker “several times” before he encouraged her to have an abortion and gave her the money to do so.
She said she went to a clinic in Dallas, Texas, but could not go through with the procedure, leaving the building “in tears.”
Walker was “upset” when she told him want happened and said he would return to the clinic with her the next day so she could have the abortion, Doe said.
Doe claims Walker drove her to the clinic the next day.
“I was devastated because I felt I had been pressured into having an abortion,” she said. “After the abortion, I felt Herschel began distancing himself from me.”
Doe said she left Dallas and did not return for 15 years “because I was so traumatized from what Herschel put me through.”
Doe said she is a registered Independent who voted for Donald Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential election.
She said she is speaking up now because she does not think Walker is fit to hold office.
“I do not believe that Herschel is morally fit to be a U.S. senator,” she said.
At a press conference, Allred played a voicemail Walker allegedly left for Doe as evidence that the two were having an affair. In the voicemail, Walker is allegedly heard telling Doe, “I keep trying to call you. I want to say I love you.”
Allred also showed reporters a photo allegedly depicting Walker in the bed of Doe’s hotel room.
Allred said her client became pregnant in April 1993 and that Walker was “upset” after learning the woman did not go through with an abortion. Allred said the Republican then “pressured her to go back to the clinic with him the next day to go through with the abortion.”
“Mr. Walker clearly wanted her to have an abortion and convinced her to do so,” she said. “Our client alleges that Mr. Walker gave her cash to pay for the abortion and that she went to a clinic in Dallas, Texas.”
Walker is running for U.S. Senate in Georgia against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock.
Two weeks out from the election, recent polling show Warnock maintaining a slim lead. A poll from East Carolina University shows Warnock leads Walker by two percentage points among likely voters.
The latest Monmouth University polls also have Warnock leading in the tight race.
Fellow Republicans have come to Walker’s defense.
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton said earlier Wednesday that the Democrat’s economic record is “so disastrous” that they’ll soon bring out Allred with anonymous accusations, adding that it “happens every cycle.”
“Florida Senator Rick Scott accused Warnock of being “desperate” ahead of the election,” he said in a tweet. “You know Democrats are losing when they trot out Gloria Allred to create a circus and spread lies. How desperate can [Warnock] get?”
Senator Lindsey Graham, who appeared with Walker at the press conference, said he’s “seen this movie before,” drawing parallels between the new accusations against Walker and the allegations made about Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
“Here’s the game plan Herschel: Get a celebrity lawyer, like [Michael] Avenatti who is now in jail, get a celebrity lawyer to come out and make a wild accusation right before it’s time to make a decision about who should be on the Supreme Court, or who should be in the Senate,” Graham said, adding that voters wouldn’t tolerate the claims and that there would be “a backlash in Georgia.”
Polling averages suggest Fetterman has a 2.3-percent lead over Oz as the candidates battle for a chance to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate. A Senate seat will soon be vacated by sitting Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, who is not running for re-election.
Fetterman’s campaign manager, Brendan McPhillips, announced the initial post-debate fundraising tally Tuesday night on Twitter.
By Wednesday afternoon, McPhillips said Fetterman’s campaign raised more than $2 million in the hours after the debate took place. McPhillips said the campaign will use some of those funds to air a new campaign ad that was released earlier Wednesday.
The new ad features a clip of Oz as he responded to a question about abortion rights during the debate. In the clip, Oz said he opposes a federal abortion ban but seemed to suggest he believes women’s health decisions should be made by “women, doctors, local political leaders.”
In addition to the new campaign ad, Fetterman referenced Oz’s comments several times in social media posts on Wednesday. Many of those posts urged supporters to donate to Fetterman’s campaign and included links to his campaign website.
The issue seems to be related to a problem with the internet provider and is “an issue external from our organization,” the office said.
“We will provide an update as soon as we have more information,” the Secretary of State office said in a tweet.
If residents need help with finding information about voting, checking voter registration or tracking a ballot, the Secretary of Commonwealth’s election office asks voters to call them at 1-800-462-VOTE (8683).
Early voting the the commonwealth started last Saturday and will close Nov. 4, four days ahead of election day.
“Given the high stakes of this year’s midterm elections, President Obama wants to do his part to help Democrats win next month,” his office told USA Today in a statement.
Obama recently recorded a video speaking to the importance of voting for Democrats “up and down the ballot.” He said the power to protect abortion rights is “in our hands” by codifying Roe v. Wade.
Obama will visit Atlanta, GA on October 28, where Stacey Abrams and Senator Raphael Warnock are facing tight races.
Obama is also scheduled to hold a rally on Milwaukee, WI Saturday with Governor Tony Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. He will also be joined by Senator Tammy Baldwin, Lt. Gov. nominee Sara Rodriguez, Attorney General Josh Kaul and Representative Gwen Moore.
Next week, he will campaign with Democrats in Las Vegas, NV. Obama will appear with Governor Steve Sisolak and Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto on November 1. Masto holds a narrow lead over Republican challenger Adam Laxalt.
The former president will also campaign with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II on October 29.
This comes as Obama starred in a new television advertisement in which he referred to Whitmer as “Michigan tough” and praised her accomplishments during her first term.
“Over the last few years, Governor Whitmer has moved Michigan forward,” Obama said in the ad. “She’s fought for tuition-free higher education and job skills training, paved the way for the first new car plan in Detroit in decades and is leading on next-generation battery and microchip manufacturing.”
Experts with AAA and GasBuddy said if current conditions continue, prices are likely to keep dropping in the weeks ahead.
Recent polling has indicated the cost of gas is an issue of concern for voters heading into the midterm elections on November 8. A new national average gas price record was set earlier this year amid Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.
While there was a small increase in gas demand over the last week, AAA said demand is lower now than it was this time last year. “If demand remains low and oil prices don’t spike, pump prices will likely keep falling,” AAA said in a Monday news release.
GasBuddy agreed in a tweet posted on Monday that said, “Gas prices typically decrease in the fall, and most drivers around the country can expect prices to continue to drop over the next week.”
The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas was $3.76 on Wednesday, a 9-cent decline over the national average price AAA reported one week ago. GasBuddy said there have been “steep declines” in gas prices along the West Coast and in the Great Lakes region, contributing to the second week in a row of declining gas prices.
Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said Tuesday that state average gas prices have dropped quickly in California. California often has the highest state average gas price in the U.S.
Drivers in California are experiencing “their second fastest drop ever” with statewide average gas prices more than 60 cents lower now than three weeks ago, De Haan said. He said it is possible California’s average gas price drop could exceed the current record for a sudden price decline, which was recorded in 2008.
Despite California’s recent price drops, the state continues to have the highest statewide average gas price at $5.68 per gallon. Aside from California, only four other states currently have statewide average gas prices at or above $5 per gallon. Hawaii is second with its statewide average gas price more than 40 cents lower than California’s at $5.21 per gallon. Oregon and Nevada each have statewide average gas prices of about $5.03 per gallon, and Alaska has the fifth-highest in the U.S. at $5.00 per gallon.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released a statement Wednesday that applauded the jury’s decision and the steps law enforcement officials took to halt the plot from moving forward.
The three men—Joseph Morrison, Paul Bellar and Pete Musico—have been identified as members of the Wolverine Watchmen. They were each charged with belonging to a gang, as well as “providing material support for terrorist acts” and “carrying or possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony,” according to Nessel’s office.
The jury convicted Morrison, Bellar and Musico on all charges. The three men are scheduled to be sentenced on December 15.
Nessel’s statement about their convictions said acts of terrorism “are not spontaneous events” but “the result of planning, plotting and amassing resources in a build-up to violent acts.” She credited law enforcement with being “proactive” and said their actions “saved lives.”
“We are pleased the jury clearly understood that,” Nessel said.
Whitmer also released a statement on social media that addressed the new convictions.
“No threat, no plot, no rhetoric will break my belief in the goodness and decency of our people,” Whitmer’s statement said in part. “And these verdicts are further proof that violence and threats have no place in our politics.”
Whitmer, a Democrat, began serving as Michigan’s governor in 2019. She is running for a second term in the midterm elections this fall.
Republican candidate Lee Zeldin slammed Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul over rising crime rates across the state, while Hochul attacked the congressman’s record on guns.
Zeldin has surged in the polls recently after making public safety a main campaign issue.
Hochul is still ahead in the polls, according to the most recent prediction from FiveThirtyEight. Zeldin, however, has managed to rapidly close the gap between him and the incumbent governor, trailing by only 7.4 points as of Monday, compared to the 18.4-point lead Hochul held just eight weeks ago.
During the debate, Zeldin called out Hochul for failing to “actually locking up criminals” and handcuff violent individuals so that “people can go walk the streets of Manhattan.”
“We’re halfway through the debate, and she still hasn’t talked about locking up anyone committing any crimes,” Zeldin said.
The governor responded, saying anyone who commits a crime under our laws, “especially with the change we made to bail, has consequences.”
“I don’t know why that’s so important to you,” she added.
Hochul then pivoted to calls for a nationwide or state ban on teenagers getting assault weapons. She then noted Zeldin’s voting record on gun safety, arguing that “there is no crime fighting plan if it doesn’t include guns.”
“You didn’t even show up for votes in Washington, when a bipartisan group of enlightened legislators voted for an assault weapon ban,” she said to Zeldin.
Zeldin hit back, saying Hochul believes the only crimes being committed involve guns.
“You get people who are afraid of being pushed in front of oncoming subway cars. They’re being stabbed and beaten to death on the street with hammers,” the Republican candidate said. “Go talk to the Asian American community and how it’s impact them, with the loss of lives. Jewish people targeted with raw violent antisemitism on our streets.”
He added that “we need to be talking about all of these other crimes but instead Kathy locals too busy patting herself on the back job well done.”
Hochul recently announced a $28 million effort to combat gun violence across the state and a new plan with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to place and additional 1,200 police officers in the subway system.
Hochul also pressed Zeldin on his connection to former President Donald Trump.
In the debate, Zeldin doubled-down on his promise to remove Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is investigating Donald Trump’s business practices and has faced criticism for being soft on crime, if elected governor.
“If he’s not going to do his job, I’m gonna do my job and I’m going to remove him as soon as I can,” he said.
Hochul asked Zeldin if he think Trump is a “good president.”
Zeldin answered that he worked with the Trump administration on combating the MS-13 gang on Long Island, securing $2 billion for an electron ion collider at the Brookhaven National Lab, directing personal protective equipment during the pandemic and other local issues.
He also noted Trump move to switch the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and pulling out of the nuclear deal with Iran, which Zeldin called “fatally flawed.”
“I’ll take that as a resounding yes,” Hochul replied.
Warnock, who took office in early 2021 to serve a partial term in the U.S. Senate, has led Walker in most recent polls and has a 3-point average polling lead in the race, according to FiveThirtyEight. But new polling results released Tuesday by Trafalgar Group said Walker jumped to the lead with about two weeks remaining until Election Day.
According to the poll, 48.9 percent of likely voters said they would vote for Walker if the election was held on the day of the poll, while 46.5 percent of respondents said they would vote for Warnock. An additional 4.6 percent of respondents said they would vote for Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver.
The poll was conducted among 1,076 respondents from October 21 to October 23 and had a 2.9 percent margin of error.
Another poll on Georgia’s Senate race was released Wednesday by the Monmouth University Polling Institute. Those polling results indicated Warnock has retained his lead over Walker, with 49 percent of respondents saying they would “definitely” or “probably” vote for Warnock compared with 44 percent of respondents saying the same about Walker.
On Wednesday, Biden, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced new actions to combat “junk fees” that will lower the costs of everyday living, “put more money in the pockets” of working class and middle income families and hold big corporations accountable.
The White House Competition Council is working to reduce or eliminate hidden and unnecessary fees, charges and add-ons from banking services, cable bills and airline and concert tickets purchases.
Such junk fees include surprise overdraft fees, bounced check fees, concert ticket processing fees, checked bag fees and fees to rebook airline tickets or choose seats on a plane.
Biden said companies sneak these “unfair” charges using advanced algorithms to hide fees that hurt consumers by “taking real money out of your pockets” that add up over time.
“Each year these ‘junk’ fees that companies charge cost Americans tens of billions of dollars weighing down family budgets and making it harder for people to pay their bills,” he said. “So my administration is taking action to eliminate them.”
Biden said these fees are not only “wrong, ridiculous and unfair,” but his administration will make sure they are also “illegal.”
He said today’s actions are going to save Americans “one billion dollars a year.”
The White House is demanding companies disclose fees upfront to let consumers know what the final cost for concert tickets, hotels and flights will be before they make their purchase.
He said 15 out the country’s 20 biggest banks have already agrees to get rid of bounced check fees entirely and 10 major airlines have agreed to rebook flights they cancel for free after being called out by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Biden also boasted about the economic improvement his administration has made over the past year. He said jobs are up, people are back to work and American manufacturing is “roaring back.”
“My administration has been laser focused on easing the burden facing working class families,” Biden said.
He also noted his efforts to tame inflation, bring down the cost of prescription drugs and the price of gas that continues to fall for the third week in a row.
“The United States is in a stronger position today than any other country in the world economically,” Biden said.
These efforts are all part of a push to bolster competition.
When companies compete, Biden said products are better, prices go down, wages go up and innovation is encouraged.
“Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism, it’s exploitation,” he said.
Biden ended his remarks saying he appreciates the “frustration” of the American people regarding the economy, noting how the COVId-19 pandemic and “Putin’s war” have imposed economic strains around the world.
Biden is “optimistic” about his actions, but said it “will take time” for middle-class Americans to feel the impacts.
The plans are controversial, and some state officials have said that proceeding with a hand count could be illegal.
In Arizona, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted on October 24 to approve plans for a hand count audit for all precincts within the county. The audit was discussed as a way “to assure agreement with the voting machine count” and is expected to occur before the Board of Supervisors canvasses the election results, according to a document discussed during the meeting. The Board of Supervisors also voted against a full hand count of all ballots cast.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said the full hand count that was considered would have been illegal. She said the Board of Supervisors “made the correct decision” to throw out that full hand count plan, but said there are still “serious concerns about the legality” of a hand count audit.
In Nevada, election officials in Nye County plan to begin a hand count on Wednesday of early votes that have already been returned. The ACLU of Nevada has filed a lawsuit to challenge the county’s decision, alleging the hand count plan violates the Help America Vote Act and state law. The executive director of ACLU of Nevada told KVVU-TV that Nye County had “no real processes for how they wanted to do” the hand count when county officials first voted on it earlier this year.
Two weeks ahead of the midterm elections, 1,123,329 voters had already voted in-person, according to Georgia Votes and NBC News. It is a significant increase from this same point in the 2018 midterm elections, when some 743,700 votes had been cast.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the state had surpassed one million votes on Tuesday.
“Election officials deserve our thanks for rising to the challenge & working hard to serve our communities,” Raffensperger said. “Early Voting will continue through Nov. 4th. The deadline to request a mail ballot is Friday!”
Fifty-five percent of registered likely voters said they plan to vote for DeSantis in his bid for a second term, while 41 percent said they plan to vote for Crist, according to a new poll from the University of North Florida’s (UNF) Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL). One percent of respondents said they plan to vote for another candidate and 4 percent are undecided, pollsters said.
Michael Binder, a UNF political science professor and the faculty director at PORL, said in a Wednesday PORL news release that DeSantis’ lead is “not surprising” due to his “historic fundraising and popularity” within his party.
“The surprise in these numbers is that a statewide race in Florida is closer to a blowout than a recount,” Binder said.
Polling averages compiled by FiveThirtyEight and last updated Wednesday suggest DeSantis has a 9.1-point average polling lead over Crist.
Earlier this week, DeSantis and Crist met for a debate in Fort Pierce. While Crist applied pressure to DeSantis over whether he would commit to staying in office for a full term rather than run for president, experts told Newsweek Crist’s performance was likely not enough to win over enough voters to secure a win on November 8.
Fetterman suffered a stroke months ago, sparking doubts about his health and fitness to hold office. In his opening statement on stage, Fetterman addressed the “elephant in the room.”
“I had a stroke. He’s never let me forget that,” Fetterman said of Oz. “And I might miss some words during this debate, mush two words together, but it knocked me down and I’m going to keep coming back up.”
Earlier this month, Fetterman released a letter from his primary doctor, who said he was recovering well after suffering a stroke in May and could “work full duty in public office.”
During the debate, Fetterman was asked if he would commit to releasing his medical records. The Democrat said that “my doctor believes that I’m fit to be serving” and that’s “where I’m standing.”
Oz, a surgeon and television personality, presented himself as a moderate Republican who wants to united a divided state.
“I’m a surgeon, I’m not a politician,” Oz said. “We take big problems, we focus on them, and we fix them. We do it by uniting, by coming together, not dividing.”
Oz committed to supporting former President Donald Trump if he ran for president in 2024, saying he would “support whoever the Republican Party puts up.” After follow up questions about the several investigations into Trump, Oz said he hasn’t “followed them very carefully” amid his aggressive campaign trail.
Fetterman said he would support President Biden if he runs again in 2024.
Abortion was a key issue on the debate stage Tuesday.
Oz has avoided giving a firm answer about how he would vote on a Republican bill that would ban abortions nationwide at 15 weeks.
“There should not be involvement from the federal government in how states decide their abortion decisions,” Oz said, before calling Fetterman’s stance on abortion “radical” and “extreme.”
Oz declined to say how he would vote on the bill, allowing Fetterman to jump in.
“I want to look into the face of every woman in Pennsylvania,” Fetterman said. “You know, if you believe that the choice of your reproductive freedom belongs with Dr. Oz then you have a choice. But if you believe that the choice for abortion belongs with you and your doctor, that’s what I fight for. Roe v Wade for me is, should be the law.”
Oz later made a comment that he does not want the federal government involved with abortion at all. He said the debate about abortion should be between women, doctors and local political leaders.
Fetterman’s campaign called this a “radical belief.”
“After months of trying to hide his extreme abortion position, Oz let it slip on the debate stage on Tuesday,” Fetterman’s Director of Communications Joe Calvello said in a statement, calling Oz “out-of-touch” on the issue.
Calvello said the campaign will be “putting money behind” making sure “as many woman as possible hear Dr. Oz’s radical belief that ’local political leaders’ should have as much say over a woman’s abortion decision.”
On the topic of fracking, Fetterman was unable to clearly state his position.
The moderator asked him about his view on fracking, noting he has previously said he both supports and does not support the oil and natural gas extraction method.
“I do support fracking and I don’t I support fracking and I stand and I do support fracking,” he said.
Fetterman added that “we need independence with energy and I believe I have walked that line my entire career.”
Oz said his opponent supports President Joe Biden’s desire to ban fracking on public lands, calling this an “extreme position on energy.”
While Oz’s campaign declared victory after Tuesday’s debate, Fetterman’s team issued a statement saying he “delivered a strong debate performance.”
“We are thrilled with John’s performance. He did remarkably well tonight, especially when you consider that he’s still recovering from a stroke and was working off of delayed captions filled with errors,” said Joe Calvello, the Fetterman campaign’s communications director.
Viewers and experts are split on Fetterman’s performance during the debate. Some called it “brutal” and “painful to watch,” while others said it was a “big mistake” to put Fetterman on the debate stage. Others, including POLITICO congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett, said Fetterman won the debate “by exposing Mehmet Oz for exactly who he really is.”
This debate came as more than 600,000 ballots in Pennsylvania have already been cast.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found Biden’s approval rating declined to 39% this week. The results of the poll, conducted between October 24 and 25, show a decline of one percentage point from the week prior, when 40 percent of those polled approved of Biden’s job.
About 1,000 adults from across the U.S. were polled, including 447 Democrats and 369 Republicans. Respondents identified the economy as the biggest issue nationwide. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.
An October Gallup poll found similar results, with 40% of respondents approving of Biden’s job and 56% disapproving. The poll, taken between October 3 to 20, was also conducted among 1,009 adults across the U.S., with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
The speech comes as midterms are less than two weeks away; the economy continues to be a top concern for voters nationwide.
Biden is scheduled to deliever remarks from the South Court Auditorium at 10:30 a.m. ET. Watch live here or below:
