White House aides walk tightrope on Roy Moore
WASHINGTON – White House aides continued to walk a tightrope Sunday over Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, highlighting their concerns about sexual misconduct allegations against him but stopping short of joining fellow Republicans who have called for Moore to withdraw from the Senate race.
White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said he believes the nine women who have come forward to accuse Moore of inappropriate conduct or assault are “credible,” but he stopped short of condemning Moore.
“The allegations are very serious, and they should be taken very seriously,” Mulvaney said on NBC’s Meet
the Press. “But ultimately these are up to the voters in the state.”
White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short said President Trump also thinks the accusers are credible.
“If he did not believe that the women’s accusations were credible he would be down campaigning for Roy Moore. He has not done that,” Short said on ABC’s This Week. “He has concerns about the accusations, but he is also concerned that these accusations are 38 years old. Roy Moore has been in public service for decades, and the accusations did not arise until a month before election.”
Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., have called for Moore to drop out of the race, but Trump has not. The president, however, has seized on allegations last week that Sen. Al Franken, D- Minn., inappropriately kissed and groped a Los Angeles radio host.
“I think one of the significant differences there ... is that Franken admits it and Roy Moore denies it,” Mulvaney said. “So I do think that puts them in two different categories.”
The Franken revelations fueled further calls for action on Capitol Hill, where the Senate passed a resolution two weeks ago requiring senators and their staff to take training to prevent sexual harassment.
In the House, Reps. Barbara Comstock, R- Va., and Jackie Speier, D-Calif., are leading a push for reforms.
Comstock said she believes Moore should drop out of the Alabama race.
Moore has denied the allegations that hemade inappropriate advances on teenagers, and refused to leave the race.
Polls show that since his accusers came forward, first in the Washington Post a fewweeks ago, his support has cratered and he is now tied with Democratic candidate Doug Jones, according to the RealClearPolitics average. He had been considered a shoo- in to win the special election scheduled Dec. 12 to replace Jeff Sessions.