President Donald Trump is weighing in on the growing scandal surrounding Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore.
Speaking from Air Force One, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump’s view was that Moore should withdraw from the race if the new accusations of sexual misconduct prove to be accurate.
“Like most Americans, the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life,” she said. “However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”
The president’s remarks come while on a multi-nation tour of Asia.
Moore is facing a full scale crisis after the Washington Post on Thursday published multiple accusations by four women of inappropriate sexual conduct by Moore in the 1970s. In once case, the accuser was just 14 years old at the time.
Moore vehemently denied the accusations and signaled his intention to press on in his campaign to fill the Senate seat of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Conservative media has largely circled the wagons around him. Breitbart — which actually scooped Washington Post’s report — used the opportunity to attack the Washington Post, while Sean Hannity spent a good chunk of his influential Fox News program casting broad aspersions against women who came forward alleging sexual harassment.
Still, the allegations create an uncomfortable situation for GOP senators who face a stark choice over whether to stand firm with Moore or disavow him — essentially ceding the race to his Democratic challenger Doug Jones.