Trump backs bid by Moore
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump gave GOP Senate candidate
Roy Moore a formal endorsement Monday, looking past allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers as Republican leaders in Washington, once appalled by Moore’s candidacy, began to come to grips with the possibility of his victory.
Buoyed by the taste of his own success in Congress as the Republican tax bill inches closer to passage, Trump telephoned Moore to offer encouragement as well as support and also argued in a pair of tweets that Moore’s vote was badly needed to push the president’s policies forward.
In addition, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was initially among several national Republicans to urge Moore to drop out of the race, said Sunday it was up to Alabama voters to decide whether the former state Supreme Court chief justice should be elected.
Weeks ago, when accusations of sexual misconduct with teenagers first surfaced, Trump’s spokesman had said the president believed Moore would “do the right thing and step aside” if the allegations were true.
Top Republicans vowed to expel him from the Senate if he won his Dec. 12 special election. And, publicly and privately, GOP leaders described the allegations against Moore as credible and insisted there were no circumstances under which he should serve in the Senate.
Trump’s tweets on Monday showed his thinking has evolved as Moore has rejected his party’s appeals and doggedly remained in the race.
In the phone call, Moore said, Trump offered “his full support and said he needs a fighter to help him in the US Senate.”
Moore tweeted that the president told him: “Go get ‘em, Roy!”
Trump’s move was somewhat symbolic: He had already all but endorsed Moore, repeatedly criticizing Democratic rival Doug Jones on Twitter and planning a campaign-style rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday, less than 20 miles from the Alabama border and just four days before voters head to the polls.
A Moore victory would set up a potentially explosive clash with fellow Republicans in Congress, some of whom have resoundingly called on him to quit the race. While some have softened their rhetoric recently, others have said they still will try to expel him if he is elected.
Moore’s campaign was wounded by accusations this fall of sexual misconduct, decades ago, made by women who were then teenagers. One of the women alleges he initiated sexual contact when she was 14.
Moore denies it all, saying “I do not know any of these women. I did not date any of these women I did not engage in any sexual misconduct with anyone.”
Trump first appeared to back Moore after his first choice, Sen. Luther Strange, lost the GOP primary for the seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But the president went silent after The Washington Post reported on the allegations of sexual misconduct with two teens, ages 14 and 16, and efforts to date several others while Moore was a local prosecutor in his 30s.
By late last month, however, with pressure mounting from his former chief strategist Steve Bannon and other corners of his base, Trump was making clear that he preferred Moore, raising doubts about the candidate’s accusers and criticizing Democrat Jones as the “liberal puppet” of Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.