A PAC supporting Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore despite sexual misconduct allegations against him hopes President Trump’s backing translates into a pile of campaign cash.
A Thanksgiving-themed email with the subject line “Giving thanks for YOU and OUR PRESIDENT!” praises Trump, who on Tuesday discounted the sexual assault allegations against Moore and said voters must not support his “liberal Democrat” rival, Doug Jones.
“We are thankful that his last words before leaving the White House to celebrate Thanksgiving were the strong words of support for Roy Moore,” read the email from the group Solution Fund PAC.
After staying silent for more than a week, Trump implicitly endorsed Moore as he departed Washington on Tuesday, telling reporters, “We don’t need a liberal person in there.”
Two women have accused Moore, 70, of sexually assaulting or molesting them decades ago, when he was in his 30s and they were 14 and 16.
At least five others have said he pursued romantic relationships when they were teenagers and he was a prosecutor.
He has vehemently denied the allegations, calling his accusers liars and blaming the scandal on a conspiracy cooked up by the liberal media, establishment Republicans and Democrats who are all in cahoots against him because he’s a conservative Christian.
The president also said he would announce next week whether he will campaign for Moore, who faces Jones in a Dec. 12 special election to fill the seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a Republican.
Trump, who won his own election despite facing more than a dozen accusations of sexual misconduct himself, dismissed questions from reporters about backing a Republican accused of sexual assault over a Democrat.
Trump pointed to Moore’s assertions that he did nothing wrong.
“Roy Moore denies it, that’s all I can say,” Trump said Tuesday.
Trump didn’t explicitly say he was endorsing Moore, but he insisted, “We don’t need a liberal person in there. We don’t need somebody who’s soft on crime like Jones.”
Jones served as a federal prosecutor in Alabama, where he brought charges against two Ku Klux Klan members over their roles in killing four girls in a 1963 Birmingham church bombing.
Trump also noted that the allegations came from behavior alleged to have happened decades ago.
“Forty years is a long time,” Trump said, questioning why it took so long for Moore’s accusers to come forward.
Other Republican leaders in Washington have called for Moore to leave the race, and the White House has repeatedly said Trump himself felt Moore would “do the right thing and step aside” if the allegations proved true.
Trump said he was “very happy” that women, in general, were speaking out about their experiences at the hands of powerful men.
“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 and I think it’s very, very good for women,” he said.
More than a dozen women came forward in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election to say that Trump had sexually assaulted or harassed them over the years.
He denied it, calling them all liars.
With Post Wires