Police reports complicate Herschel Walker’s recovery story

By BRIAN SLODYSKO

WASHINGTON (AP) — One warm fall evening in 2001, police in Irving, Texas, received an alarming call from Herschel Walker’s therapist. The football legend and current Republican Senate candidate in Georgia was armed with a gun and scaring his estranged wife at the suburban Dallas home they no longer shared.

Officers took cover outside, noting later that Walker had “talked about having a shoot-out with police.” Then they ordered the onetime Dallas Cowboy to step outside, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

Much of what happened that day remains shrouded from view because the report, which Irving police released to the AP only after ordered to do so by the Texas attorney general’s office, was extensively redacted.

What is apparent, though, is that Walker’s therapist, Jerry Mungadze, a licensed counselor with a history of embracing practices that experts in the field say are well outside the mainstream, played a pivotal role in extracting Walker from the situation.

The incident adds another layer to Walker’s already turbulent personal history, which includes struggles with mental health and accusations that he repeatedly threatened his ex-wife. And it will test voters’ acceptance of Walker’s assertion that he is a changed person.

Mungadze rushed to the scene to calm Walker down, the report states. In the end, police confiscated a handgun from Walker’s car, but declined to seek charges or make an arrest. Walker’s wife filed for divorce three months later.

Walker’s violent history has done little to deter Republican support for his candidacy. He has been championed by former President Donald Trump and endorsed by the Senate’s top Republicans. Last week, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, tweeted that Walker was “living proof that hard work and determination pay off.”

Walker’s campaign dismissed the newly surfaced information.

“The very same media who praised Herschel for his transparency nearly two decades ago are now running … stories stereotyping, attacking, and going so far as to question his diagnosis,” Mallory Blount, a Walker spokesperson, said in a statement.

Mungadze declined to comment.

Mungadze, a licensed therapist who holds a doctorate in philosophy, diagnosed Walker with dissociative identity disorder, following a separate 2001 episode in which Walker says he sped around suburban Dallas fantasizing about executing a man who was late delivering a car he had purchased. The two became close friends.

A former pastor, Mungadze’s professional and academic writings lean heavily into the occult, exorcism and possession by demons, which he has called a “theological and sociological reality.”

In one method of analysis he has pioneered, which experts have singled out as unscientific, patients are asked to color in a drawing of the brain, with Mungadze drawing conclusions about their mental state from the colors they choose.

He was also featured in a 2014 British TV documentary as a practitioner of gay conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice that attempts to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ people.

“It’s really disturbing that a prominent individual like Walker would be seeing someone who just looks like the most dubious caregiver,” said Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.

Walker has at times been open about his struggle with mental illness, writing at length about it in his 2008 book, “Breaking Free.” Mungadze wrote the book’s foreword.

Walker describes himself dealing with as many as a dozen personalities — or “alters” — that he had constructed as a defense against bullying he suffered as a stuttering, overweight child.

Comparing his condition to a “broken leg,” Walker wrote that Mungadze assured him “it was possible to achieve emotional stability based on the approach and methods he had developed.”

A review of court records and police reports documents a far more turbulent path than portrayed in Walker’s book, which was framed as a turnaround story.

About a year into his treatment, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader told Irving police in May 2002 that she believed Walker had been lurking outside her house. The woman said she had a “confrontation” with him roughly a year earlier, which led to Walker making threatening phone calls, according to a police report. The threats subsided, but after Walker spotted her at a local business, she told police he followed her home. The woman asked police not to contact him because it would “only make the problem worse.” She declined to comment for this story.

Walker’s wife has said that she was a repeated target of abuse.

Now going by the name Cindy Grossman, in their divorce proceedings she alleged violent outbursts, “physically abusive and threatening behavior.” When his book was released, she told ABC News that at one point during their marriage, her husband pointed a pistol at her head and said, “I’m going to blow your f’ing brains out.”

She returned to court in 2005 for a protective order after Walker repeatedly voiced a desire to kill her and her boyfriend, according to court records.

Walker “stated unequivocally that he was going to shoot my sister Cindy and her boyfriend in the head,” her sister later said in an affidavit, which the AP first reported in July. Not long after the threat, Walker confronted Grossman in public, according to court filings, which indicate he “slowly drove by in his vehicle, pointed his finger at (Grossman) and traced (her) with his finger as he drove.”

A judge granted the protective order and stripped Walker of his right to carry firearms for a period of time. Grossman did not respond to a request for comment at a number listed for her.

The pattern of behavior is alleged to have continued until at least 2012.

That’s when a woman named Myka Dean told Irving police that Walker “lost it” when she tried to end an “on-off-on-off” relationship with him, which she said had lasted for 20 years. Walker, she told officers, threatened to wait outside her apartment and “blow her head off,” according to a January 2012 police report.

Dean, who died in 2019, told police she didn’t want to get Walker in trouble. But the officer decided to document the incident because of the “extreme threats” Walker made.

Walker’s campaign denied that he made the threats.

“Herschel emphatically denies these false claims. He is still friendly with Ms. Dean’s parents, who knew nothing of the allegations and are supportive of his campaign,” Blount said.

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2 Dallas police officers face charges from 2020 protests

DALLAS (AP) — Two Dallas police officers accused of injuring demonstrators during 2020 protests following George Floyd’s killing fired less-lethal ammunition at people who were backing away from police and didn’t pose any danger, arrest affidavits said.

The Dallas Morning News reports that the affidavits it obtained Thursday dispute some police and attorney statements that injured protesters weren’t complying with police.

Prosecutors announced charges Wednesday against Sr. Cpl. Ryan Mabry and former Sr. Cpl. Melvin Williams. Police say Williams was fired Jan. 25 for violating the department’s use-of-force policy in a separate incident and Mabry is on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation.

Both are accused in cases involving men who suffered serious injuries, including one who lost an eye and another whose cheekbone was smashed.

Mabry was charged with three counts each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and official oppression related to the protests, while Williams faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and three counts of official oppression.

Prosecutors said that Williams also faces an official oppression charge related to the July incident for which he was fired after being seen on video punching a man.

Williams’ attorney, Robert Rogers, said the affidavits “put a creative spin on these events,” adding that the “false narrative will be completely eviscerated” in court.

Mabry’s attorney, Toby Shook, echoed those comments, saying he expects evidence presented at trial will show at least two of those injured were provocateurs.

“There’s a lot more evidence that’s going to come to light than what’s in that affidavit,” Shook told the newspaper.

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A-Rod, once scorned by Trump, in group buying his D.C. hotel

By BERNARD CONDON

Former New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, once vilified by Donald Trump as a “druggie” and “joke” unworthy of wearing the pinstripes, is now a key part of an investment group seeking to buy the rights to the ex-president’s marquee Washington, D.C., hotel, people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

A-Rod’s involvement in the $375 million deal, which could close within weeks, would make the athlete-turned-entrepreneur an unlikely financial savior for Trump, allowing him to recoup millions he invested and perhaps even emerge with a profit from his money-losing hotel.

“This is just more proof that the only thing that matters to Trump is money,” said Trump biographer Michael D’Antonio. “If A-Rod can bail out Trump and get him out of a sticky situation and help him turn a profit, he’s going to take that deal. He’d take it from Hillary Clinton.”

While published reports late last year identified the buyer as Miami-based CGI Merchant Group, the rights to lease the 263-room property near the White House are actually being purchased by a fund led by CGI that includes Rodriguez as a general partner, two people familiar with the deal told the AP. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the deal, declined to detail Rodriguez’s stake other than to say he is a key investor.

One of the sources identified the fund as the $650 million Hospitality Opportunity Fund that CGI, Rodriguez and New York real estate financier Adi Chugh set up in late 2020 to buy hotels with plunging valuations due to coronavirus shutdowns and rebrand them as a collection of “socially conscious” and “eco-friendly” properties.

But the Trump International Hotel in Washington may not be such a bargain. If the deal is finalized at the currently offered price of $375 million, much higher than experts expected, it could allow Trump to emerge with a profit after losing tens of millions of dollars on the hotel even as it became a magnet for lobbyists, diplomats and GOP supporters.

Taking in $375 million would more than make up for the $200 million Trump’s company put into renovating the historic, federally-owned Old Post Office building into a luxury hotel after signing a lease with the General Services Administration in 2012, as well as the $70 million that a congressional oversight committee says the hotel lost during Trump’s four years in office.

Real estate experts say a more realistic price in the current Washington market would be $1 million per room, or about $260 million. But hotel brokers, consultants and other experts AP contacted say determining a fair value for this particular property is exceedingly difficult, in part because it’s a lease being sold. Also, the only name over the door since it opened more than five years ago has been Trump’s and there is no telling how many guests might come in once those divisive five letters are removed.

Rodriguez, reached through his spokesman Monday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Trump Organization. CGI and Surya Capital, the hospitality fund’s third partner run by Indian-born investor Chugh, declined to comment. The GSA, which must approve any transfer of the lease, also did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Word of Rodriguez’s involvement in the Trump hotel deal brings together two infamously polarizing figures and has cast a renewed spotlight on their often-tempestuous relationship.

Trump, a longtime Yankees fan, said in a 2012 radio interview that he was never a fan of Rodriguez’s — either as a player or person — citing an unspecified “bad experience” he had with A-Rod when he lived in Trump’s Park Avenue building.

Trump has also tweeted about A-Rod dozens of times, mostly in a span from 2011 to 2013 prior to Major League Baseball suspending Rodriguez for the entire 2014 season for use and possession of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, and attempting to obstruct MLB’s investigation.

“The @Yankees should immediately stop paying A-Rod — he signed his contract without telling them he was a druggie,” @realDonaldTrump said on Opening Day 2013.

“Druggie A-Rod has disgraced the blessed @Yankees organization, lied to the fans & embarrassed NYC. He does not deserve to wear the pinstripes,” Trump said in another tweet.

But in recent years, there seemed to be a cooling off. Trump praised A-Rod when the two appeared together at a charity reception at his Bronx golf course in 2015. And Trump reportedly called the 14-time All-Star in the early days of the pandemic in 2020 for advice on how to handle the coronavirus.

That didn’t stop Rodriguez and his then-fiancee Jennifer Lopez from appearing in an online campaign ad for Joe Biden just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, urging Hispanic voters to turn out for the Democrat.

A-Rod’s prior political activity included donations to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Republican Mitt Romney in 2012, a gift Trump felt compelled to tweet about at the time: “I started to get very worried about Mitt’s chances when I heard that A-Rod donated to his campaign. Everything A-Rod touches turns bad.”

Since the 46-year-old Rodriguez’s playing days ended in 2016, he has focused heavily on investing, including being part of a $1.5 billion deal last year to buy the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves. Rodriguez also owns numerous office, retail and residential properties, and stakes in dozens of businesses, including online groceries, private plane sharing, a beer brand, and gym and yoga chains.

Rodriguez was an enthusiastic supporter of the $650 million Hospitality Opportunity Fund when it launched in December 2020 with plans to buy more than 20 hotels, praising lead investor CGI for its socially conscious approach to investing that focuses on helping “communities it calls home.”

CGI’s chief executive, Jamaican-born Raoul Thomas, has donated heavily to Democratic politicians and is turning to an increasingly popular marketing strategy that promises to combat social injustices and a warming planet. The website for CGI, owner of mostly office and retail buildings in the Miami area, trumpets what it calls “conscious certified” properties that help local groups working on social, health and environmental issues and are committed to cutting their carbon footprint.

So far, the fund has purchased and renovated two hotels under the Gabriel name in the Miami area and a third on the campus of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, a deal that included $30 million from CGI for the historically Black school to develop a hotel and hospitality training program.

If the Trump hotel purchase follows that pattern, a property that once was packed with GOP politicians rallying behind a president who ridiculed “woke” liberal culture and once called global warming a “Chinese hoax” would find itself pledging 1% of room revenue to local charities, buying from local businesses and using eco-friendly products.

Said Trump biographer D’Antonio: “The idea of someone taking over this citadel to right-wing heedless excess and turning it into a haven for the socially and environmentally conscious is delicious.”

Whoopi Goldberg returns to ‘The View’ after suspension

NEW YORK (AP) — Whoopi Goldberg returned to “The View” on Monday after a two-week suspension for remarks about the Holocaust, expressing surprise at some people who had reached out to her during her absence.

Goldberg had been criticized for comments Jan. 31 on the daytime talk show where she said the Holocaust was not about race, but rather about man’s inhumanity to others. She apologized, but ABC News President Kim Godwin told her to sit out two weeks.

“I want to thank everybody who reached out while I was away,” Goldberg said at the opening of Monday’s show. “I’m telling you, people reached out from places that made me go, ’wait, wait, what? Really? OK. I listened to what everybody was saying and I was grateful.”

She did not specify any of the people who reached out to her.

Jewish leaders had criticized her initial statement, noting that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had referred to Jews as an inferior race. Goldberg apologized online the night she made the remark, and on the next day’s show.

“Yes, I am back,” Goldberg said as she took the stage with her co-hosts on Monday.

“There is something kind of marvelous about being on a show like this because we are ‘The View’ and this is what we do,” she said. “Sometimes we don’t do it as elegantly as we could. But it’s five minutes to get in information about topics and that’s what we try to do every day.”

She said the hosts will continue to have tough conversations.