QUIT, TRUMP
GROPER-IN-CHIEF MUST GO:
WHILE CAMPAIGNING against Alabama’s lightning-rod Senate candidate Roy Moore, a leading Democrat called on President Trump to resign over sexual harassment claims several women have made against him.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) made the comments at a weekend campaign appearance in Alabama for Democratic candidate Doug Jones, who is locked in a tight race against Moore, the Republican nominee facing his own allegations of sexually abusing minor girls.
“I just watched Sen. Al Franken (inset right) do the honorable thing and resign from his office,” Booker told Vice News. “My question is, why isn’t Donald Trump doing the same thing — who has more serious allegations against him, with more women who have come forward.”
Franken (D-Minn.) announced Thursday he would be resigning from the Senate in the “coming weeks” after eight women accused him of either groping or trying to kiss them. Booker added that the sexual harassment claims lodged against Trump are far “more damning” than those against Franken. The New Jersey Democrat is at least the second senator to say in the wake of Franken’s resignation that Trump should quit. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Thursday, “The President should resign because he certainly has a track record with more than 17 women of horrific conduct.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, also said Trump should “think about” resigning. At least 20 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct or harassment since the 1980s. The latest is ex-Fox News anchor Juliet Huddy, who claimed Trump tried to kiss her in an elevator at Trump Tower more than a decade ago. Many of Trump’s accusers came forward to share their stories during the 2016 presidential campaign, but he denied the allegations. Trump even dismissed the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which he boasted about grabbing women “by the p---y” as “locker room talk.” “Why hasn’t Donald Trump come forward and said, ‘You know what, in this climate,
at this point in this country, I’m going to resign from my position just like Al Franken,’ ” Booker said Saturday.
After backing Moore’s GOP rival and initially balking at supporting Moore when he won the primary, Trump has emerged as Moore’s top cheerleader in a special election that has drawn the attention — and ire — of much of the nation.
The President even recorded a robocall for Moore ahead of Tuesday’s election, telling voters that “Moore is the guy we need to pass our Make America Great Again agenda.”
The Republican National Committee fell into step with the President and has restored its financial support for Moore. Jones and Moore are battling to finish the unexpired term of former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, whom Trump tapped to be attorney general.
Moore, Alabama’s former chief justice, has been dogged by persistent allegations that he sexually abused or harassed a long list of women and teenage girls. He denies the accusations. In an interview Sunday with “The Voice of Alabama Politics,” Moore said he never molested anyone and did not know his accusers.
“I don’t know why they’re saying it, but it’s not true,” he said. “I did not know any of the women who have charged me with sexual allegations, molestation.” But even Moore’s strongest denials were not enough to sway one senator from the same party as Moore — and even the same state. “I couldn’t vote for Roy Moore,” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I didn’t vote for Roy Moore. The state of Alabama deserves better. I think we’ve got a lot of great Republicans that could have won and carried the state beautifully and served in the Senate honorably.” Shelby (inset left), who cast his ballot early, said he “wrote in a distinguished Republican name. And I think a lot of people could do that.” Democrat Jones seized on Shelby’s sentiments, and featured them in a robocall. Another Republican pol, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said it was wrong for her party to again throw its full support behind Moore. “I think that’s a mistake,” she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Collins said Moore, former judge, was a bad choice for the Senate even before the allegations involving teenage girls — noting he was twice removed from the bench for defying court rulings on gay marriage and a display of the Ten Commandments he erected.
Moore also received new criticism after old audio resurfaced of him suggesting that the country should rescind all constitutional amendments adopted after the Bill of Rights.
“That would eliminate many problems,” Moore, in 2011, told the “Aroostook Watchmen” radio show, which is hosted by two conspiracy theorists from Maine.
“You know people don’t understand how some of these amendments have completely tried to wreck the form of government that our forefathers intended,” he said in the June episode.
Eliminating the 17 constitutional amendments adopted since 1794 would abolish the 14th amendment, which in 1868 granted citizenship to freed slaves, and the 19th amendment, which in 1920 gave women the right to vote.
Jones, meanwhile, accused Moore of lying low as the campaign winds down.
“What kind of senator hides from his constituencies when he runs for office?” Jones said at a Birmingham rally Sunday. “I’m going to be (as) accessible after this election as I am today.”