PRESS RELEASE:
Wednesday, October 19th, 2022
ATLANTA – Today, Team Herschel released the following statement in response to Raphael Warnock claiming without evidence on Tuesday that Herschel Walker is trying to “exploit” the disadvantaged residents who face eviction from the low-income apartment building owned by his church.
When presented with copies of over a dozen eviction notices, Warnock doubled down that there “were no evictions.”
The Free Beacon reported:
Warnock told reporters there have been no evictions from the building, a claim undermined by publicly available court records. It is the Democratic senator’s latest attempt at obfuscation in the wake of several Washington Free Beacon reports on the eviction lawsuits filed against residents of Columbia Tower at MLK Village, of which Ebenezer Baptist Church is a 99 percent owner. Warnock, who serves as senior pastor at Ebenezer, receives a $7,417 monthly housing allowance from the church.
Warnock also misrepresented the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s reports on his church’s building, saying the outlet reported “there have been no evictions” from Columbia Tower.
In fact, the paper confirmed that the building’s one-percent owner, Columbia Residential, had filed dispossessory notices against the building’s residents during the coronavirus pandemic, one for just $28.55 in past-due rent. The paper also reported that Columbia Residential said it had not evicted tenants for not paying rent since June 2020, implying that evictions took place during the early months of the pandemic.
Publicly available court documents show that Fulton County marshals have carried out at least two court-ordered writs of possession against residents of Columbia Tower since the start of the pandemic. One was carried out on Aug. 17, 2020, and the other on Feb. 1, 2022.
“Raphael Warnock continues to dodge important questions Georgia voters need answers to,” said campaign spokesman Will Kiley. “We have copies of the eviction notices. Raphael Warnock claims to be a pastor for the people, the disadvantaged, and the poor. But the actions he and his church have taken say otherwise.”
