Trump silent as Roy Moore issue divides Republicans

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump dodged questions about the turmoil in the Alabama Senate race on Wednesday, declining to join national Republicans who have called for Roy Moore to abandon the race amid allegations of sexual impropriety with teenage girls.

And far from surrendering, Moore’s camp challenged the credibility of one of the accusers.

Trump, who withstood allegations of sexual assault weeks before his own election, was uncharacteristically silent when faced with questions about the scandal, which has rattled the party and left Moore’s would-be colleagues threatening to expel him should he win. Republicans had looked to Trump as one of the few remaining hopes for pushing a fellow political rebel from the race.

Another hope was Sean Hannity, a Fox News Channel host and onetime Moore defender. On his Tuesday evening show, Hannity gave Moore 24 hours to explain “inconsistencies” in his response to allegations of child molestation or else exit the Alabama race.

Moore responded in a letter late Wednesday: “I adamantly deny the allegations of Leigh Corfman and Beverly Nelson, did not date underage girls, and have taken steps to begin a civil action for defamation. Because of that, at the direction of counsel, I cannot comment further.”

In Alabama, Moore’s campaign chairman and personal attorney did address reporters, trying to undercut the story of one of the women who has accused Moore of sexually accosting her when she was in high school.

The attorney, Phillip Jauregui, demanded that Nelson “release the yearbook” she contends Moore signed. The lawyer questioned whether the signature was Moore’s and said it should be submitted for handwriting analysis. Neither the attorney nor the campaign manager addressed the original allegations from Corfman, who says that Moore initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14. They did not take questions.

The unusual news conference suggested Moore, a judge twice removed from his post as state Supreme Court chief justice, was digging in, leaving his party with two damaging potential election outcomes.

His victory would saddle GOP senators with a colleague accused of abusing and harassing teenagers, a troubling liability heading into next year’s congressional elections, while a loss to Democrat Doug Jones would slice the already narrow GOP Senate majority to an unwieldy 51-49.

It’s too late to remove Moore’s name from the ballot, so fielding a Republican write-in at this point would almost certainly hand the election to the Democrats unless he should withdraw and persuade his supporters to vote for that substitute.

According to internal polling conducted by the Senate GOP campaign arm and reviewed by the Associated Press, Moore trails Democrat Jones by 12 points — 39 per cent to 51 per cent — in the survey conducted on Sunday and Monday. Moore led by nine points the week before in the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s internal numbers.

To a great extent, the antiestablishment forces that propelled Trump to the White House are now strongly behind Moore, and Alabama Republican leaders are reluctant to enrage his loyal conservative supporters.