The Trump campaign with Packers legend Brett Favre at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump on Wednesday heaped praise on former NFL star Brett Favre at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where the former Packers quarterback campaigned for the GOP presidential candidate in the final week before the election Election day.

“Thank you, Brett. What a great honor. What a great champion,” Trump said shortly after taking the stage at the Resch Center. Describing Favre’s fingers as “like sausages”, he said: “No wonder he could throw the ball.”

“I’m a little upset because I think he got more applause than me and I’m not happy,” the former president continued, joking about the ovation Favre received in a county that Trump narrowly won in 2020.

Trump later appeared on stage wearing an orange reflective vest driving a garbage truck to draw attention to President Joe Biden’s offensive statement. However, he again sparked another controversy by returning to his promise to “protect women in our country.”

After complaining that his staff told him it was “inappropriate,” Trump insisted: “I’m going to do it whether women like it or not.”

Trump rallied alongside Favre in critical condition on the battlefield just six days before the election. As a sign of the country’s importance, the Democratic vice president, Trump’s opponent Kamala Harrishe was also campaigning in predominantly Democratic Madison, about a 2 1/2-hour drive away.

Favre, who won three NFL Most Valuable Player awards and a Super Bowl for Green Bay in the 1990s, praised Trump before the former president’s arrival, telling the audience, “Just like the Packer organization, Donald Trump and his organization were winners.”

“The United States of America won because of his leadership,” Favre said.

By relying on Favre, Trump is benefiting from the state’s deep and loyal support for the Packers and the team’s former star quarterback. But Favre also has more baggage after being embroiled in a welfare spending scandal in Mississippi.

Favre, 55, has not faced any criminal charges, but he is among more than three dozen people or groups sued in the state’s attempt to recoup money badly spent. Favre repaid just over $1 million he received in speaking fees funded by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Mississippi State Auditor Shad White, a Republican, said Favre never showed up for the speeches. White said too Favre still owes money nearly $730,000 in interest.

Mississippi has been among the poorest states for decades, but only a fraction of their federal welfare money he was going to his families. Instead, the Mississippi Department of Human Services allowed well-connected individuals to waste tens of millions of welfare dollars between 2016 and 2019, White and state and federal prosecutors say.

A nonprofit organization called the Mississippi Community Education Center made two welfare payments to Favre Enterprises, the athlete’s company: $500,000 in December 2017 and $600,000 in June 2018. The TANF money was supposed to go to the fund volleyball court at the University of Southern Mississippi. Favre agreed to host a fundraiser for the facility at his alma mater, where his daughter started playing on the volleyball team in 2017.

Mississippi Community Education Center director Nancy New pleaded guilty to the charges in April 2022 misuse of welfare moneyas did her son Zachary New, who helped run the nonprofit. They are awaiting sentencing and have agreed to testify against others.

Favorite appeared in September before a Republican-led congressional committee that was examining how states were underusing welfare to help needy families. Republicans in the US House of Representatives said the Mississippi welfare misspending scandal involving Favre and others shows the need for “major reform” in the TANF program.

Favre told a congressional committee that he did diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in January.

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Wagster Pettus reported from Jackson, Mississippi. Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.