Jonathan Swan Confronts McConnell on Support For Herschel Walker: ‘His Ex-Wife Says He Pointed a Pistol at Her Head’
During a tense panel discussion, Axios reporter Jonathan Swan challenged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on some of the more unsavory Republican Senate candidates he’s backing in the midterms.
Swan asked McConnell what he means when he says the Republican Party should back “electable nominees” in advance of the 2022 midterm elections. McConnell said decisions about who to support involves a “value judgment” on candidates, particularly those who can “appeal to suburban voters.”
“After 2010 and 2012, I concluded, we need to change the business model,” McConnell said. “And by that, I meant, not so much a philosophical litmus test, or in this era, whether you do or don’t like Donald Trump, but can you appeal to a general election audience?”
Swan then asked about two Republican candidates barreling through controversies to mount bids for the Senate. The first: Former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who was forced out of office in 2018 after he was accused of grim sexual misconduct.
Greitens has also tied his campaign to Donald Trump, while scorning McConnell and his allies in the GOP.
“I want to tell you directly, Karl Rove and Mitch McConnell,” Greitens said in comments that Swan read to McConnell. “Hear me now. You are disgusting cowards. And we are coming for you. We are no longer going to allow you to attack me and attack my kids and to destroy this country.”
“I don’t have any comment about that,” McConnell replied to Swan, adding he thought Missouri primary voters would take the misconduct allegations against Greitens into account.
Swan then asked about another candidate, former football star Herschel Walker, who is running for Senate in the crucial state of Georgia.
“You endorsed him,” Swan said. “Yet his ex-wife says he pointed a pistol at her head and said, ‘I’m going to blow your effing brains out.’ And an ex-girlfriend has accused him of threatening her life. Why is he a suitable candidate?”
“Herschel Walker has addressed that issue repeatedly over the last 10 years,” McConnell replied. “I think he’s –”
“It’s a heck of an issue,” Swan said.
“Well, he had admitted he had some troubles in his life. He’s been an exemplary citizen in recent years. He’s a hero in Georgia. Almost every candidate’s had troubled periods,” McConnell said.
Swan started to point out that not “almost every” candidate has pointed a gun at their significant other’s head, but McConnell jumped in.
“I don’t want to argue with it,” he said. “I think Walker is completely electable. He’s actually ahead at the beginning of this race and we’re fully behind him.”
Swan pressed McConnell to explain how he came to endorse Walker after learning of the allegations, and McConnell, increasingly irritated by the line of questioning, eventually concluded that Walker “has a great chance of winning.”
Watch above, via Axios.
