Moore group uses Trump’s near endorsement
WASHINGTON >> A political action committee supporting Senate candidate Roy Moore is fundraising off President Donald Trump’s near endorsement of the Alabama Republican, who is facing new allegations of decades-old sexual misconduct in the closing weeks of the campaign.
A Thanksgiving-themed email with the subject line “Giving thanks for YOU and OUR PRESIDENT!” applauds Trump, who on Tuesday discounted the sexual assault allegations against Moore and said voters must not support his “liberal” rival.
“We are thankful that his last words before leaving the White House to celebrate Thanksgiving were the strong words of support for Roy Moore,” said the email from the group Solution Fund PAC.
After staying silent for more than a week, Trump all but endorsed Moore on departing Washington, saying, “We don’t need a liberal person in there.”
Two women have accused Moore, 70, of sexually assaulting or molesting them decades ago, when he was in his 30s and they were 14 and 16. At least five others have said he pursued romantic relationships when they were teenagers and he was a prosecutor. He has vehemently denied the allegations.
The president also said he would announce next week whether he will campaign for Moore, who faces Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election to fill the seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a Republican.
Jones released a campaign ad Wednesday spotlighting Moore’s accusers. An announcer recites their names as their photographs appear on screen. “They were girls when Roy Moore immorally pursued them,” the announcer says in the opening. The ad ends with: “Will we make their abuser a U.S. senator?”
Moore’s campaign announced Wednesday that his communications director, John Rogers, had resigned. The campaign characterized the departure as part of the normal turnover that occurs in political campaigns and denied that Rogers’ decision had anything to do with the allegations against Moore.
Trump, who won election despite facing more than a dozen accusations of sexual misconduct himself, dismissed questions from reporters about backing a Republican accused of sexual assault over a Democrat. Trump pointed to Moore’s assertions that he did nothing wrong.
“Roy Moore denies it, that’s all I can say,” Trump said Tuesday.
Trump didn’t explicitly say he was endorsing Moore, but he insisted, “We don’t need a liberal person in there . ... We don’t need somebody who’s soft on crime like Jones.”
He also noted that the allegations came from behavior alleged to have happened decades ago.
Trump backed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange in a September Alabama Republican primary but moved quickly to embrace Moore after he won. A White House official said Tuesday that Trump’s attack on Jones did not amount to a formal endorsement of Moore.