After facing heat online for the stunt, where he was criticized for producing a prop during the debate, the Georgia Republican sat down with NBC News’ Kristen Welker for an interview that aired in part Monday today. In it, he says he has an “honorary sheriff’s badge” for Chatham County, Johnson County and Cobb County with “limited rights.” “This is a badge that was given to me by a police officer and I have the badge that I carry with me all the time. It’s a real badge. It’s not a fake signal. It’s a real badge,” Walker says in the interview, according to a transcript obtained by The Daily Beast. Questions about the former NFL star’s alleged cooperation with law enforcement have dogged his Senate campaign, including a June article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that showed there was no real evidence to back up his longstanding claims. Walker that he has worked with the FBI or the police. During Sunday afternoon’s debate, in which Walker declined to attend and was represented by an empty podium, rival Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) said Walker was not telling the truth, using the incident as her trademark Friday as an example of his lies. “The other night when I said, ‘You keep pretending to be a policeman,’ he flashed a badge as if it was proof that he really is a policeman,” Warnock said. “Now he wants us to think he’s a senator. I think the people of Georgia are wise and perceptive and they know that at the end of the day, I know who I work for: I work for them.” In the NBC interview, Welker asks Walker, “Who gave you that signal?” Walker replies, “This signal is from, um—this signal. I have badges from all over Georgia, even Chatham County. I had to wait—wait—I had from Chatham County, which is a county, which is a county, uh, which is a county from…” At this point Walker shows the signal again, but unfortunately it’s upside down. “Oh, I have it backwards. Right, which is a county Senator Warnock is from. I have an honorary sheriff’s badge for this county with limited rights.’ Welker presses Walker on where the badge he’s holding is from. “This is from my hometown,” Walker says. “This is from Johnson County, from the Sheriff from Johnson County, which is a legal badge. Anyone can make fun, but this badge gives me the right… If something happened in this county, I have the right to work with the police to get things done. People who don’t know this – I’ve been working with law enforcement for years. I do training program but they take credit for it. I’m doing a program, a leadership program. I do health and wellness programs. I visit prisons, so, everybody will scoff, but I’ve been—with men and women in black—men and women with blue backs ever since I’ve been doing it.” When asked if the badge confers any arrest powers, Walker confirms that it is a “badge of honor” but that “they can call me whenever they want and I have the authority to do things to work with them all day.” Welker then tells Walker straight out that “The National Sheriff’s Association said a badge of honor… ‘is for the trophy case’ and asks, ‘why would I decide to flash it in the debate?’” Walker responds: “That’s not true at all. You can call the guy who gave me the signal… call the woman who gave me the signal and it’s the same thing, I tell you one thing they have fun with. They told me I wasn’t cooperating with the Cobb County Police, right? Cobb County Sheriff’s Police.” Walker appeared to be referring to claims by a Walker campaign spokeswoman to the Journal-Constitution that Walker is an honorary deputy in Cobb County, though the Cobb County Sheriff’s Department told the newspaper it had no records to support the claim. “And that’s how people do media,” Walker continues. “And I had the sheriff who gave me the badge and I’ve been there for years, he came out there for years and he did a press conference with me and he said, ‘Herschel’s been with us for years, he’s been working with us. “” Walker claimed the media “were not hearing anything and wanted to try and make an excuse”. He said: “No, I will always have my men and women in blue. This is why they support me. I have more … more sheriffs who have endorsed Herschel Walker in Georgia than any candidate running today.”
