Prez backs Moore despite allegations
Mulls stumping for ’Bama candidate
WASHINGTON — President Trump offered support for embattled Alabama U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore yesterday, and didn’t rule out campaigning on behalf of the candidate mired by allegations of sexual misconduct involving women and girls as young as 14.
“We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat — Jones,” Trump told reporters yesterday, referring to Moore’s rival Doug Jones, as he departed the White House en route to his Mar-A-Lago estate for Thanksgiving. He said he’d decide whether to campaign on Moore’s behalf by next week.
“I do have to say, 40 years is a long time,” Trump said of the recent allegations by nine women against Moore of incidents dating to the 1970s. “He’s run eight races, and this has never come up. .. The women are Trump voters. Most of them are Trump voters.”
Trump didn’t elaborate on his view of the significance of the accusers’ presidential votes.
But his comments seemed to be a departure from a statement by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, less than two weeks ago, that Trump “believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”
Trump’s position is also in stark contrast to that of other top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — who said last week he believed Moore’s accusers — and House Speaker Paul Ryan, both of whom called on Moore to step aside. The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee severed ties with the Moore campaign.
It also comes as the issue of sexual impropriety is at a crescendo on Capitol Hill. Yesterday the House Ethics Committee announced it had opened an investigation into a settlement reached by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, (D-Mich.), who has been accused of sexually harassing staffers and of inappropriately using office funds to transport his mistresses. Conyers acknowledged the settlement, made through his office’s budget and concealed by a non-disclosure agreement, but said it was a severance agreement, not an admission of wrongdoing.
“I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so,” Conyers said in a statement. “My office resolved the allegations — with an express denial of liability — in order to save all involved from the rigors of protracted litigation.”
Trump yesterday declined to respond to reporters’ questions about Conyers or U.S. Sen. Al Franken (DMinn.), who is facing a Senate Ethics Committee probe.
Asked about his message to women amid growing claims of sexual misconduct of public officials, Trump said: “Women are very special.
“I think it’s a very special time because a lot of things are coming out, and I think that’s good for our society, and I think it’s very, very good for women.”
But Trump added of Moore: “He says it didn’t happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also.”
Before the allegations, Moore was heavily favored to win the special election race to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But recent polls show Jones leading Moore just weeks before the Dec. 12 election.