Trump silent on Moore in Alabama upheaval

WASHINGTON >> Senate Republicans turned to President Donald Trump on Wednesday in hopes he would join their urgent attempt to force GOP nominee Roy Moore out of the Senate race in Alabama following allegations of sexual misconduct - but Trump did not oblige.

In Washington after a 12day Asia trip, Trump was silent on Moore, who has been accused by two women of initiating unwanted sexual encounters when Moore was in his 30s and they were 14 and 16. Moore has denied the allegations.

His daughter Ivanka Trump, voiced confidence in Moore’s accusers and said to the Associated Press there’s “a special place in hell for people who prey on children.” She did not call for Moore to step aside.

In Alabama, Moore showed no signs he was preparing to bow out. His campaign sought to discredit one of his previous accusers at a hastily announced news conference where officials took no questions.

On Twitter, Moore sought to align himself with Donald Trump, charging that the same forces that tried to defeat him as a presidential candidate in 2016 are now trying to beat Moore with “lies and smears.”

Moore said in a statement Wednesday: “Are we at a stage in American politics in which false allegations can overcome a public record of 40 years, stampede the media and politicians to condemn an innocent man, and potentially impact the outcome of an election of national importance?”

His Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, said in Alabama that “the statements made by the women up in Etowah County have much more credibility than the denials, whether by Roy Moore himself or by his handlers.”

After days of forcefully repudiating Moore and urging him to withdraw to no avail, Senate Republican leaders increasingly see Trump as pivotal to restoring some order to a race that has spiraled quickly out of their control. Republicans are at risk of either losing a seat to Democrats that has long been in GOP hands or being saddled with a deeply controversial figure.

“I think he’s in a position to exercise a good amount of influence on the race down there,” Sen. John Thune, S.D., the third-ranking Republican senator, said in reference to Trump. The White House consented to the Republican National Committee pulling out of a joint fundraising committee with Moore’s campaign. One administration official said discussions about Moore’s campaign have been ongoing among White House officials since Trump returned from Asia.

But there is consensus among senior White House aides that the president is in a bind.