Pentagon: Complaints against brass on rise
Allegations of sexual misbehavior, other bad conduct trend upward
WASHINGTON – President Trump said Tuesday that he doesn’t want another Democrat in the U.S. Senate and stressed Alabama Republican candidate Roy Moore’s denials of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls.
“I can tell you one thing for sure: We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat,” Trump said at the White House.
Moore has been accused by several women of sexually assaulting and harassing girls as young as 14 years old when he was in his 30s. Of the allegations, Trump said, “Roy Moore denies it; that’s all I can say.”
Trump didn’t answer questions about whether he believes Moore’s denials, but he said he will announce next week whether he intends to go to Alabama to campaign for the Republican. Moore faces a tight race against Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor.
Jones, Trump said, is “terrible on crime, terrible on borders.”
Trump spoke while en route to start a Thanksgiving holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.
Trump, who has been accused of improper sexual conduct himself, said he is happy that a national discussion about sexual harassment is taking place.
“Women are very special,” he said. “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.”
It is “very, very good for women,” and “I’m very happy it’s being exposed,” he said.
After the sexual harassment charges against Moore arose this month, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders issued a statement that Trump expected that if the allegations are true, “Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”
Last week, as Republican congressional leaders called for Moore to step aside, Sanders said Trump believed that the people of Alabama should decide whether to elect him.
“Look, the president believes these allegations are very troubling and should be taken seriously, and he thinks the people of Alabama should make the decision on who their senator should be,” Sanders said.
Sanders noted last week that Trump supported the Republican National Committee’s decision to withdraw resources from the Alabama race.
At the White House on Tuesday, Trump declined to discuss other lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct.
“I don’t want to speak for Al Franken,” Trump said, referring to the Minnesota Democratic senator who apologized to a TV host and sportscaster who accused him of kissing and groping her without her consent in 2006.
Last week, Trump referred to the former Saturday Night Live writer as “Frankenstein” and tweeted that the evidence against Franken is “really bad.”
He blasted Franken for hypocrisy in condemning other acts of sexual harassment.
“The Al Frankenstien (sic) picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words,” Trump tweeted last week. “Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?”
Trump’s tweets opened the door for the president’s critics to revive the many sexual misconduct allegations against him. More than a dozen women have accused Trump of groping and kissing them against their will; Trump has denied every allegation.
The White House defended Trump’s attack on Franken by saying the allegations against the Democrat were very different from accusations against Trump.
“Specifically, Sen. Franken has admitted wrongdoing, and the president hasn’t,” Sanders said Friday. “That’s a very clear distinction.”
Before leaving for Florida, Trump said he had just heard about allegations against Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who acknowledged on Tuesday that his office reached a settlement with a former staffer accusing him of sexual harassment. The Michigan Democrat denied the harassment allegations.
Trump said Congress should release names of lawmakers who have settled sexual harassment claims.
“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.”
President Trump