The Senate confirmed the former football star Herschel Walker on Tuesday to be an American ambassador to the Bahamas.
President Trump appointed Walker for the diplomatic post last yearAfter the retired ball carrier entered the foreground by presenting himself as a republican candidate in the race for the Senate in Georgia in 2022. He lost against The outgoing Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of 2.8 points in a runoff.
Walker is the First ambassador confirmed by the Senate in Bahamas in more than a decade.
Walker won the Heisman trophy in 1982 with the Bulldogs of the University of Georgia, and played professionally for three years for New Jersey of the American football league – a team that Trump bought towards the end of Walker’s career with the Upstart League. After the USFL folded, Walker played in the NFL for more than a decade.
He presented himself to the Senate three years ago with the support of Mr. Trump. Walker’s campaign was obstinate by the charges he paid Several women to obtain abortions in the 1990s and 2000s, despite his opposition to the procedure during the campaign campaign. Walker vehemently denied allegations.
Walker was also appointed to the President’s Council on Sports, fitness and nutrition during Mr. Trump’s first term, but was deleted during Biden administration.
“Herschel has spent decades to serve as an ambassador to the youth of our country, our men and our women in the army and the athletes in the country and abroad,” Trump wrote in a December social post office for the role of ambassador.
Walker and more than 100 other Trump candidates were confirmed on Tuesday in a single vote of 51-47, part of a Change of rules By the Republicans of the Senate, which allows them to approve large groups of nominees of executive branches “in block” with a simple majority rather than to vote on them one by one. They changed the rules In the middle of frustration That the Democrats have slowed down the process of appointing a ramp – although the Democrats accused the Republicans of going “nuclear”.
The other high -level candidates who were approved in the Tuesday package include the former assistant of the White House Sergio Gor for the ambassador to India.
The candidates were approved while the Senate remained at a dead end on government closure. The body should weigh the competing democratic and republican proposals to reopen the government on Wednesday – but the two bills were rejected several times.
contributed to this report.
