GOP senator says Roy Moore should drop out of Alabama Senate race
Candidate questions timing of allegations
WASHINGTON – Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore faced a fresh onslaught of Republican repudiation on Sunday, with one topGOP senator calling on the controversial ex- judge to drop his campaign in the aftermath of allegations that Moore pursued relationships with teenage girls when he was in his early 30s. In an interview with NBC’s Meet
the Press, Sen. Pat Toomey, R- Pa., said Moore should “step aside,” and he endorsed the idea of a write- in bid by current Alabama GOP Sen. Luther Strange. Toomey’s remarks represented yet another slap against Moore after theWashington Post reported last week that Moore pursued relationships with four teenage girls when he was in his early 30s.
One woman, Leigh Corfman, said she was 14 when Moore, then 32, took her to his home in 1979, undressed her and, according to the report, “touched her over her bra and underpants ... and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.” The age of consent in Alabama, then and now, is 16. Anotherwoman, Gloria Deason, said she was 18 when Moore took her on a date and bought her wine.
Moore and his campaign have called the story false. Moore said on Saturday that he was “not been guilty of sexual misconduct with anyone” and had never purchased alcohol for underage women. Moore and his GOP allies in Alabama have questioned the timing of the story.
“Isn’t it strange after 40 years of constant investigation, that people have waited four weeks before a general election to bring their complaint?” Moore said. “That’s not a coincidence.”
But Moore’s denials have not calmed GOP jitters inWashington.
“We’ll probably never know for sure exactly what happened,” Toomey said. “But … I think the accusations have more credibility than the denial. I think it would be best if Roy would just step aside.”
Top White House officials stopped short of calling on Moore to drop out of the race, but they decried the allegations against him.
“I said very early that the conduct as described should disqualify anyone from serving in public office, and I’ll stand by that,” White House coun- selorKellyanne Conway said on ABC’s
This Week. “Everybody should know that conduct is disqualifying.”
Marc Short, White House’s legislative affairs director, said there’s “a special place in hell for people who have done those crimes.”
Toomey and Short said the timing of the Washington Post story — just weeks before the election — raised questions about the allegations.
“We here inWashington have to be careful as well in this,” Short said. Moore has been elected several times in Alabama, he said, and “the people of Alabama know Roy Moore better than we do here inWashington, DC.” Sen. Tim Scott, R- S. C., said on CBS’
Face the Nation that Alabama voters will be the judge and jury for Moore, but that Moore’s “denial was not as strong as the allegations.”
The allegations against Moore nearly overshadowed the GOP’s focus on the Sunday shows: tax reform.
Short and others trumpeted the Republican push for a tax code overhaul, which they saidwould be a boon to the economy and to middle- class taxpayers. The House is expected to vote this week on its version of a tax bill; senators will debate a competing proposal in the Finance Committee.
“It is the most profound tax reform in over 30 years,” Toomey said. The “vast majority” of Americans would get a tax cut under the GOP bill.
GOP lawmakers tried to deflect questions about some middle- class families who would see a tax increase under the GOP bill. Toomey said there could be “some outliers” who could see an increase but itwould be limited to higher- income earners.