Washington-The Senate confirmed Herschel Walker on Tuesday as the United States ambassador to the Bahamas.
Walker, a faithful ally of President Donald Trump who presented himself without success for a siege in the Senate in Georgia three years ago, was confirmed with more than 100 other candidates during a vote of 51 against 47 which corresponded to the party lines.
Walker will be the first American ambassador to the Bahamas for almost 15 years. The American Embassy has been managed by a series of managers since 2011.
Walker is a former NFL player who played with Dallas, Minnesota, Philadelphia and the New York Giants. He won the Heisman trophy at the University of Georgia.
He lost his campaign in the Senate in 2022 against the Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in a second round. Walker’s campaign was marked by turbulence and scandals, including financial problems, microgestion and questions about his past to which he had trouble answering. A few weeks before the elections, a report revealed that Walker, who had presented himself on an anti-abortion program, had paid for an abortion in 2009.
He admitted to having given a check for $ 700 to an ex-partner, but denied knowing that it was an abortion in an interview in 2022 with NBC News.
Trump defended Walker in the middle of the abortion report, which shaken his campaign. Walker was perplexed in favor of Trump as the 2024 presidential election approaches.
Trump appointed Walker to the diplomatic post in December, congratulating him in his announcement as “ambassador to the youth of our country, our men and women in the army and athletes in the country and abroad”.
The position of ambassador has been vacant since the departure of Nicole before, appointed by former president Barack Obama, in 2011.
Obama appointed Cassandra Butts, who had been assistant advisor to the White House during her presidency, in this position in 2014, but the Senate did not follow up on this appointment. He renamed Butts a year later, but she died when her appointment was pending.
