Herschel Walker's ties to veterans program face scrutiny

Herschel Walker
Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker speaks at Muscogee County GOP headquarters on Saturday, May 21, 2022, in Columbus, Ga. Walker defended his work for Patriot Support, a mental health outreach program for military members. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Herschel Walker, the football legend and leading Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, often boasts of his work helping service members and veterans struggling with mental health.

In interviews and campaign appearances, the former Dallas Cowboy and Heisman Trophy winner takes credit for founding, co-founding and sometimes operating a program called Patriot Support. The program, he says, has taken him to military bases all over the world.

“About 15 years ago, I started a program called Patriot Support,” Walker said in an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt last October. “People need to know I started a military program, a military program that treats (thousands) of soldiers a year,” he told Savannah TV station WTGS in February.