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Trump Defends Roy Moore Amid Sexual Assault Allegations: ‘He Totally Denies It’
By: Jessica Taylor | NPR
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President Trump is defending Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assaulting them when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s.
“I can tell you one thing for sure, we don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat,” the president told reporters shortly before departing the White House to head to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for Thanksgiving.
“I’ve looked at his record — it’s terrible on crime, it’s terrible on the border, it’s terrible on the military,” Trump said of Moore’s Democratic opponent, former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones.
When asked about the allegations that Moore pursued multiple teenage girls while he was in his 30s and an assistant district attorney in Alabama, Trump responded that Moore “totally denies it” and pointed out that the allegations are from roughly 40 years ago.
Trump also said he will announce next week whether he will campaign for Moore, who has been abandoned by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee in the wake of the accusations. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and other national Republicans have called on Moore to step aside, but the former state Supreme Court chief justice has refused.
Trump, McConnell and the NRSC backed Moore’s primary opponent, appointed Sen. Luther Strange, in the GOP primary earlier this year to fill the seat of now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Trump was accused of sexual assault by multiple women during the 2016 campaign, and has continued to deny those allegations. But he has waded into other sexual assault allegations that have come to light recently against Democratic politicians, tweeting criticism of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., last week.
Asked by reporters Tuesday whether or not Franken should resign, Trump equivocated but did try to talk about a broader cultural moment of women feeling emboldened to come forward with accusations of various types of sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment and sexual assault — even as he declined to say he believes the women who have made allegations against Moore.
“Women are very special,” Trump said. “I think it’s a very special time, a lot of things are coming out and I think that’s good for our society and I think it’s very very good for women and I’m very happy” these things are coming out.
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