Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) was blasted on social media for his bizarre defense of Herschel Walker, the former football star and Republican candidate running against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia).

Speaking on Fox News, Gingrich hailed Walker as “the most important Senate candidate in the country” due to his “deep commitment to Christ.” That praise was offered despite Walker’s history of violence and domestic abuse and new accusations the supposed “pro-life” candidate paid for an abortion for a then-girlfriend in 2009.

Gingrich’s claim also ignored something else: Warnock is a senior pastor at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Media Matters clipped the comments:

Earlier this week, one of Walker’s sons ― conservative influencer Christian Walker ― publicly called him out.

“You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence,” Christian Walker wrote on Twitter.

Despite that, Gingrich talked up Walker as a “remarkable person” and praised his confidence. For some reason, Gingrich also brought up Walker’s health.

“He’s been through a long, tough period,” Gingrich said. “He had a lot of concussions coming out of football, he suffered PTSD.”

Gingrich’s critics fired back on Twitter:

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.