As the GOP world prepared for fresh abortion allegations against Senate candidate Herschel Walker, Republican senators took an offensive position, attacking and discrediting the claims before they were officially announced at a press conference.
Less than two weeks before Election Day, high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred announced that a new woman was stepping forward with an accusation about Walker's alleged involvement in another abortion.
Allred, who has represented numerous alleged victims of sexual assault, said the woman would speak at a Wednesday press conference in Los Angeles to elaborate on claims that Walker, who is running on an anti-abortion platform, took her to an abortion clinic after she became pregnant as a result of a romantic relationship with the Senate candidate.
"You know Democrats are losing when they trot out Gloria Allred to create a circus and spread lies," GOP Senator Rick Scott tweeted ahead of the confrence. "How desperate can @ReverendWarnock get?"
Republican Senator Tom Cotton joined Scott, saying, "The Democrats' economic record is so disastrous that they'll soon trot out Gloria Allred with anonymous accusations. Happens every cycle!"
Earlier this month, Walker was accused by a woman, who claimed to be a former girlfriend, of paying her to get an abortion when she became pregnant with his child. Walker has denied the claim.
Walker held a news conference in response to the latest claim, saying, "I'm done with this foolishness. I've already told people this is a lie."
"I also want to let you know I didn't kill JFK either," Walker added on Wednesday.
GOP Senator Lindsey Graham, who appeared with Walker at the press conference, said he's "seen this movie before" and drew 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."
Walker, who is seeking to oust incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia, is running in a key midterm race that could determine who controls the Senate. Polls show the candidates in a neck-and-neck contest, with FiveThirtyEight showing Warnock with a 2.7 percentage point lead, and Cook Political Report designating the race as a "toss up."
However, a new poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group over the weekend showed Walker ahead by 2 points, suggesting that the Republican may be able to close the gap on Warnock.
On Wednesday, Allred said that 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," Allred 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."
The new woman, identified as Jane Doe, spoke alongside Allred although she did not physically appear at the news conference.
"It's sad that I cannot show my face or use my name, for fear of reprisals against myself, my family and my livelihood," the woman was heard saying.
Conservatives were quick to attack and dismiss the new claims as soon as the press event was announced.
"We're seeing the same Kavanaugh script starting to play out with #HerschelWalker. Another woman! Right before the vote! Press conference with Gloria Allred. Media circus. We've seen this routine. We know it's staged. The actors themselves know what they're doing. It's fake news!" far-right commentator Dinesh D'Souza tweeted.
Newsweek reached out to Allred for comment.
Update 10/26/2022, 3:33 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comments from Walker and Graham.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
